The Sacred Theory of The Earth

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HARVARD COLLEGE .
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OF THE LIBRARY
Received 9 April, 1879.
R
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‫المرع‬ TOANG TOR
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E
The
Sacred
Theory
of the
EARTH
O Robert Troup Prine
THE SACRED
Varvard College
När
THE нут R Y
O F THE
EARTH.
CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE
ORIGINAL OF THE EARTH,

AND OF ALL THE
GENERAL CHANGES which it hath already
undergone, or is to undergo, till the CONSUM
MATION of all Things .
IN FOUR BOOKS.
I. Concerning the DELUGE ,

II. Concerning PARADISE,
III. The Burning of the WORLD .
IV. The new HEAVENS and new EARTH.
WITH
A REVIEW ofthe THEORY, and of its proofs ;
eſpecially in reference to fcripture.
AS ALSO
The AUTHOR's Defence ofthe WORK, from the ex
ceptions of Mr. Warren, and the examination of
Mr. Keil.
AND
An ODE to the author by Mr. Addifon.
VOLUME THE FIRST.
1 Sy Thomas
GLASGOW:
Printed by R. URIE, MDCCLIIL

Fr500
1877,Afrill
7.
Paine bearest,
(You.I. ,II.).
Phil 87120705
Phil 8691.8.9
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‫م‬
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[ ]
Ad Infigniffimum Virum
D. THO. BURNETTUM,
Sacrae Theoriae Telluris Au&torem .
NON ufitatum carminis alitem ,

BUR NETTE, pofcis, non humiles modos :
Vulgare plectrum, languidaeque
Refpuis officium camoenae.
Tu mixta rerum femina confcius,
Molemque cernis diffociabilem,
Terramque concretam, et latentem
Oceanum gremio capaci :
Dum veritatem quaerere pertinax
Ignota pandis, follicitus parum
Utcunque ftet commune vulgi
Arbitrium et popularis error.
Auditur ingens continuo fragor,
Illapfa tellus lubrica deferit
Fundamina, et compage fracta
Suppofitas gravis urget undas.
Impulfus erumpit medius liquor,
Terras aquarum effufa licentia
Claudit viciffim ; has inter orbis
Relliquiae fluitant prioris.
Nunc et reclufo carcere lucidam
Balaena fpectat folis imaginem,
Stellafque miratur natantes,
Et tremulae fimulacra lunae.
Quae pompa vocum non imitabilis !
Qualis calefcit fpiritus ingeni!
Ut tollis undas ! ut frementem
Diluvii reprimis tumultum !
Quis tam valenti pectore ferreus,
It non tremifcens et timido pede
A 2
iv -
Incedat, orbis dum dolofi

Detegis inftabiles ruinas ?
Quin haec cadentum fragmina montium
Natura vultum fumere fimplicem
Coget refingens, in priorem
Mox iterum reditura formam.
Nimbis rubentem fulphureis Jovem
Cernas ; ut udis faevit atrox hyems
Incendiis, commune mundo
Et populis meditata buftum !
Nudus liquentes plorat Athos nives,
Et mox liquefcens ipfe adamantinum
Fundit cacumen, dum per imas
Saxa fluunt refoluta valles .
Jamque alta coeli moenia corruunt,
Et veftra tandem pagina, (proh nefas ! )
BURNETTE, veftra augebit ignes,
Heu focio peritura mundo.
Mox aequa tellus, mox fubitus viror
Ubique rident ; en teretem globum !
En laeta vernantis Favoni
Flamina, perpetuofque flores !
O pectus ingens ! O animum gravem,
Mundi capacem ! fi bonus auguror,
Te, noftra quo tellus fuperbit,
Accipiet renovata civem .
Fo. Addifon, e Coll. Magd. Oxon. 1699.

[ v ]
AN
O DE
To the LEARNED
Dr. THOMAS BURNET,
AUTHOR of The Sacred Theory of the EARTH.
.I.
NO common height the mufe must foar,
That wou'd thy fame in numbers try ;
Nor dare in humble verfe adore,
But rife with thee above the sky;
You ask a bold and lofty ftrain,
And what we meanly fing, disdain.
II.
You nature's early birth explore,
Her difunitedframe difclofe,
From what mix'd caufe, andjarring power,
The infant earth to being rofe :
How, in her circling bofom fleep
Th' imprisonedfeas, and bounded deep.
III.
Refolv'd great hidden truths to trace,
Each learned fable you defpife ;
And, pleas'd, enjoy the fam'd difgrace,
To think, and reaſon fingly wife :
Each tale reject by time allow'd,
And nobly leave the erring croud.
A 2
An ODE to Dr. BURNÉ T. vi
IV.
Hark! from her weak foundations tore,
The bursting earth afunder flies,
And, prop'd byyieldingfeas no more,
The dreadful crack alarms thefkies:
Whofe arches rent, their weight forego,
Andplunge in openinggulfs below.
4.
Now rushingfrom their watry bed,

The driving waves difdain a fhore ;
And with refiftlefs force o'er-Spread
That orb, which check'd their rage before :
Whilefcatter'd d'er the foamy tide,
Allnature's floating ruins ride.
VI.
New heavens difclos'd, ' the filver train
The SUN beneath their waves admire ;
Andgliding thro' the enlighten'd main,
Gaze at each far's diminish'dfire,
Wellpleas'd, the Moon's bright orb furvey,
Trembling along their azure way.
VII.
How ftrong eachline ! each thought how great!
With what an energyyou rife !
How fhines each fancy, with what heat
Does everyglowing page furprize!
While Spouting oceans upward flow,
Or fink again to caves below..
VIII.
As nature's doom you thus impart,

The moving fcene wefcarce endure;
But, fhrinking, afk our anxious heart,
If on our earth we treadfecure ?
Whofe fate, unmov'd, asyou purſue,
Westart and tremble but to view.
An ODE to Dr. BURNET. vii
IX .
"
Yet these remains we now behold,
Which tow'ring once in hills arofe,
Shallfrom a new andfairer mould
Anew andfairer earth compofe :
Which to herfate fhall owe her bloom,
And rife morelovelyfrom her tomb.
X.
Yet fee this beauteous fabric end,
This fecond pride offate expire :
While gushing from the clouds defcend
The burning form, the liquidfire;
Where worlds and men comfuming lie,
Andin one bright confufion die.
XI.
Their naked tops the hills admire,
No longer white with fleecy dew ;
And as they moan the spreading fire,
Add tothe flames diffolving too ;
While rocks from melting mountains flow,
And roll inftreams thro' vales below.
XII.
And now the kindling orbs on high
All nature's mournful end proclaim ;
When thy great WORK (alas !) muſt die,
Andfeed the rich victorious flame :
Give vigour to the wafting fire,
And with the world TOO SOON expire.
XIII.
Once more her bloom the earth renews,
Smooth'd into green, eternal vales ;
Herglebe ftill moist with fragrant dews,
Her air ftill rich with balmy gales :
No change herflow'ryfeafons breed,
But fprings retire, andSprings fucceed.
viii An ODE to Dr. BURNET .
XIV.
Oh fay, Thou great, Thou facred name,
What fcenes thy thoughtful breaſt employ,
Capacious as that mighty frame
You raife with ease, with eafe deftroy?
Each worldfhall boast thyfame ; and You,
Who charm'd the OLD, fhould grace the NEW.
JL.
TO THE
KIN G's
MOST EXCELLENT
MAJESTY.
SIR,
EW-found lands and countries accrue

NEW to the prince whofe fubject makes the
firft difcovery; and having retrieved a world
that had been loft for fome thouſands of
years, out of the memory of man, and the
records of time, I thought it my duty to lay
it at your majeſty's feet. It will not enlarge
your dominions, it is paft and gone ; nor
dare I fay it will enlarge your thoughts ;
but I hope it may gratify your princely curi
ofity to read the defcription of it, and fee
the fate that attended it.
WE have ftill the broken materials of that
firft world, and walk upon its ruins ; while
it ftood, there was the feat of paradife, and
the fcenes of the golden age ; when it fell, it
X DEDICATION.
made the deluge ; and this unfhapen earth

we now inhabit, is the form it was found in
when the waters had retired, and the dry
land appeared. Theſe things, Sir, I pro
pofe and prefume to prove in the following
treatiſe, which I willingly fubmit to your
majeſty's judgment and cenfure ; being very
well fatisfied, that if I had fought a patron
in all the lift of kings, your contemporaries ,
or in the roll of your nobles of either order,
I could not have found a more competent
judge in a fpeculation of this nature. Your
majefty's fagacity, and happy genius for na
tural history, for obfervations and remarks
upon the earth, the heavens, and the fea , is
a better preparation for inquiries of this kind,
than all the dead learning of the ſchools.
SIR, This theory, in the full extent of
it, is to reach to the laſt period of the earth,
and the end of all things ; but this firſt vo
lume takes in only fo much as is already
paſt, from the origin of the earth, to this
prefent time and fate of nature. To de
fcribe in like manner the changes and revolu
tions of nature that are to come, and fee
thorough all fucceeding ages, will require a
fteady and attentive eye, and a retreat from
the noife of the world ; eſpecially fo to con
nect the parts, and prefent them all under one
view, that we may fee, as in a mirror, the
feveral faces of nature, from firſt to last,
throughout all the circle of fucceffions.
YOUR majefty having been pleaſed to give
DEDICATION. xi
encouragement to this tranflation, I humbly

drefent it to your gracious acceptance . And
it is our intereft, as well as duty, in difquifi
tions of this nature, to addrefs ourſelves to
your majefty, as the defender of our philofo
phic liberties, againſt thofe that would ufurp
upon the fundamental privilege and birth
right of mankind, the free uſe ofreason. Your
majeſty hath always appeared the royal pa
tron of learning and the fciences ; and it is
fuitable to the greatneſs of a princely spirit to
favour and promote whatſoever tends to the
enlargement of human knowlege, and the
improvement of human nature. To be good
and gracious, and a lover of knowlege, are,
methinks, two of the moſt amiable things in
this world : and that your majefty may al
ways bear that character in preſent and fu
ture ages ; and after a long and profperous
reign enjoy a bleſſed immortality, is the con
ſtant prayer of
Your MAJESTY'S
Most humble and
Moft obedient fubject,
THOMAS BURNET.
[ xiii ]
PREFACE
TO THE
READER.
AVING given an account of this whole work in

the ofeither book,
whereof this volume confifts, in their proper places, there
remains not much to be faid here to the reader. This Theo
ry of the Earth may be called Sacred, because it is not the
common phyfiology of the earth, or ofthe bodies that com
pofe it, but respects only the great turns offate, and the
revolutions of our natural world ; ſuch as are taken notice
of in the facred writings, and are truly the hinges upon
which the providence ofthis earth moves ; or whereby it -
pens and fhuts the feveralfucceffive fcenes whereof it is
made up. This English edition is the fame in fubftance
with the Latin, though, I confefs , it is not fo properly a
tranflation, as a new compoſition upon the fame ground,
there beingfeveral additional chapters in it, andfeveral
new-moulded.
As everyfcience requires a peculiar genius, fo likewife
there is a genius peculiarly improper for every one : and as
to philofophy, which is the contemplation ofthe works of
nature, and the providence that governs them, there is no
temper or genius, in my mind, fo improperfor it, as that
which we call a mean and narrow ſpirit ; and which the
Greeks call littleness offoul. This is a defect in the firſt
make offome mens minds, which can ſcarce ever be correct
ed afterwards, either by learning or age. And as fouls
that are made little and incapacious cannot enlarge their
thoughts to take in any great compafs oftimes orthings; fo
what is beyond their compafs, or above their reach, they
VOL. I. B
xiv THE PREFACE.
are apt to look upon as fantastical, or at leaſt would willing

ly have it pafs for fuch in the world. Now as there is no
thing fo great, fo large, fo immenfe, as the works ofna
ture, and the methods ofprovidence, men of this complexi
on must needs be very unfit for the contemplation of them.
Who wouldfet apurblind man at the top of the maft to dif
cover land ? or upon an high tower to draw a landſkip of
the countryround about ? For thefame reafon, fhort-fighted
minds are unfit to make philofophers, whofe proper buſi
nefs it is to diſcover and defcribe in comprehensive theories
the Phaenomena of the world, and caufes ofthem.
This originaldifeafe of the mind isfeldom cured by learn
ing, which cures many others ; like afault in the first Sta
mina of the body, it cannot easily be rectified afterwards.
It is agreat mistake to think that every fort of learning
makes a man a competentjudge ofnaturalſpeculations : we
fee unhappy examples to the contrary amongst the Chriftian
fathers, and particularly in St. Auftin, who was unquesti
onably a man ofparts and learning ; but interpofing in a
controverfy where his talent did not lie, fhewed his zeal a
gainst the Antipodes to very illpurpoſe, though he drew his
reafons partlyfromScripture. And if within afew years
or in the next generation, it should prove as certain and
demonftrable, that the earth is moved, as it is now, that
there are antipodes ; those that have been zealous againſt
it, and engaged thefcripture in the controverfy, would have
thefame reafon to repent of their forwardness, that St.
Austin would have now, ifhe was alive. It is a danger
ous thing to engage the authority offcripture in diſputes a
bout the natural world, in oppofition to reafon; lefttime,
which brings all things to light, ſhould difcover that to be
evidentlyfalfe which we had made fcripture to affert : and
Iremember St. Auftin, in his expofition upon Genefis, hath
laid down a rule to this very purpoſe, though he had the
unhappiness, it ſeems, not to follow it always himself. The
reafon alfo, which he gives there for this rule, is very
THE PREFA C E. XV
good andfubftantial : for, faith he *, if the unbelievers

or philofophers fhall certainly know us to be miſtaken,
and to err in thoſe things that concern the natural
world, and fee that we allege our (Sacred) books for
fuch vain opinions, how fhall 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 fuch things as lie within their
certain knowlege ?
We are not tofuppofe that any truth concerning the na
tural world can be an enemy to religion ; for truth cannot
be an enemy to truth, God is not divided against him
felf; and therefore we ought not upon that account to con
demn or cenfure what we have not examined or cannot dif
prove ; as thofe, that are of this narrow spirit we are
Speaking of, are very apt to do. Let every thing be try·
ed and examined in the first place, whether it be true or
falfe ; and ifit be found falfe, it is then to be confidered,
whether it befuch a falfity as is prejudicial to religion or
110. But for every new theory that is propoſed, to be a
larmed, as ifall religion was falling about our ears, is to
- make the worldfufpect that we are very ill affured of the
foundation it ftands upon. Befides , do not all men complain,
even theſe as well as others, ofthe great ignorance ofman
kind? how little we know, and how much is ſtill unknown ?
and can we ever know more, unless fomething new be difco
vered? It cannot be old when it comes firft to light, when
firft invented, and first propofed. If a prince should com
plain of the poorness ofhis exchequer, and the ſcarcity of
money in his kingdom, would he be angry with his merchants,
Gen. ad. lit. lib. 1. c. 19. Plerumque accidit ut aliquid

de terra, de coelo, de caeteris hujus mundi elementis, etc. cum
enim quenquam chriſtianorum in ea re quam optime norunt,
errare deprehenderint, et vanam fententiam fuam ex noftris li
bris afferere, quo pacto illis libris credituri funt de refurrectione
mortuorum, et ſpe vitae aeternae regnoque coelorum, quando
de his rebus quas jam experiri vel indubitatis numeris percipere
potuerunt, fallaciter putaverint effe confcriptos ?
B 2
xvi THE PREFAC E.
if they brought him home a cargo ofgood bullion, or a maſs

ofgold out of a foreign country ? and give this reafon only
for it, he would have no new filver ; neither ſhould any be
current in his dominions but what had bis own ſtamp and i
mage upon it : how ſhould this prince or his peaple grow›
rich? To complain of want, and yet refuſe all offers of a
Supply, looks very fullen, or very fantastical.
I might mention alſo upon this occafion anothergenius and
difpofition in men, which often makes them improperfor phi
lofophical contemplations ; not fo much, it may be, from
the narrowness oftheir ſpirit and underſtanding, as becauſe
they will not take time to extend them. I mean men ofwit
andparts, but ofſhort thoughts and little meditation, and
that are apt to diſtruſt every thing for a fancy or fiction
that is not the dictate offenfe, or made out immediately to
theirfenfes. Men ofthis humour and character call ſuch
theories as thefe philofophic romances, and think themſelves
witty in the expreffion ; they allow them to be pretty a
mufements of the mind, but without truth or reality. I am
afraid ifan angelfhould write the theory ofthe earth, they
wouldpafs thefame judgment upon it ; where there is va
riety ofparts in a die contexture, with fomething of fur
prizing aptaefs in the harmony and correspondency of them,
this they call a romance ; but ſuch romances muſt all thes
ries of nature and of providence be, and must have every
part of that character with advantage, if they be well re
prefented. There is in them, as I mayfofay, a plot or my
ftery pursued through the whole work, and certain grand
iffues or events upon which the reft depend, or to which
they are fubordinate; but these things we do not make or
contrive ourselves, but find and difcover them, being made
already by the great author and governor of the univerſe :
and when they are clearly diſcovered, well digeſted, and well
reafoned in every part, there is, methinks, more ofbeauty
in fuch a theory, at least a more mafculine beauty, than in
any poem or romance ; and that folid truth that is at the
bottom gives afatisfaction to the mind that it can never
have from anyfiction, how artificial foever it be.
To enter nofurther upon this matter, it is enough to ob
THE PREFACE. xvii
obferve, that when we make judgments and cenfures upon
general prefumptions and prejudices, they are made rather
from the temper and model of our own fpirits, than from
reafon ; and therefore, ifwe would neither impose upon
ourfelves, nor others, we must lay afide that lazy andfalla
cious method ofcenfuring by the lump, and muſt bring things
clofe to the test of true orfalfe, to explicit proof and evi
dence ; and whofoever makes fuch objections againſt an hy
pothefis hath a right to be heard, let his temper and geni
ous be what it will. Neither do we intend that any thing
we havefaidhere fhould be understood in amotherfenfe.
To conclude, this theory being writ with afincere inten
tion tojustify the doctrines ofthe univerfal deluge, and of a
paradifiacalftate, and protect them from the cavils ofthose
that are no well-wishers to facred history, upon that ac
count it may reasonably expectfair usage and acceptance with
all that are well-difpofed ; and it will alſo be, I think, a
great fatisfaction to them to fee thofe pieces ofmost antient
biflory, which have been chiefly preferved in fcripture, con
firmed anew, and by another light, that of nature andphi
lofophy ; and alfo freedfrom thofe mifconceptions or mifre
prefentations, which made them fit uneafy upon the fpirits
even of the best men that took time to think. Laftly, In
things purelyfpeculative, as theſe are, and no ingredients
of our faith, it isfree to differfrom one another in our opi
nions andfentiments ; and fo I remember St. Auſtin hath
obferved upon this very ſubject ofparadife ; wherefore as
we defire to give no offence ourselves, fö neither shall we
take any at the difference ofjudgment in others ; provided
this liberty be mutual, and that we all agree tostudy peace,
truth, and a good life.
B 3
)
1
xix
THE
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
CHA P. I.
THE introduction : an account of the whole work, on
the extent and general order of it. Page 1
CHA P. II.
Ageneral account of Noah's flood. A computation what
quantity of water would be neceſſaryfor the making of it ;
that the common opinion and explication of that flood is
not intelligible. 7
CHA P. III.
All evafions concerning the flood anfwered; that there was
no creation of waters at the deluge, and that it was not
particular or national, but extended throughout the
whole earth. Aprelude and preparation to the true ac
count and explication of it. The method of the first
book. 18
CHA P. IV .
That the earth and mankind had an original, and were not
from eternity ; proved against Ariſtotle. The firstpro
pofition of our theory laid down, viz. that the antedilu
vian earth was of a different form and conftruction from
the prefent. This is proved from divine authority, and
from the nature andform of the chaos, out of which the
earth was made. 34
CHA P. V.
Thefecond propofition is laid down, viz. that the face of

the earth before the deluge was fmooth, regular and
uniform ; without mountains and without a fea. The
chaos out of which the world rofe is fully examined, and
all its motions obferved, and by what steps it wrought
itfelfinto an habitable world. Some things in antiqui
ty relating to thefirst state ofthe earth are interpreted,
andfome things in thefacred writings. The divine art
andgeometry in the construction of the first earth is ob
ferved and celebrated. a 51
1
XX THE CONTENT S.
CHA P. VI.
The diffolution of the first earth : the deluge enfuing there
upon. And the form of the prefent earth rifing from
the ruins ofthefirſt. Page 64
CHA P. VII.
That the explication we have given of an univerfal deluge

is not an IDEA only, but an account of what really
came to pass in the earth, and the true explication of
Noah's flood. An examination oftehom-rabba, or the
great abyss, and that by it the fea cannot be underſtood,
nor the fubterraneous waters as they are at prefent.
What the true notion and form ofit was, collected from
Mofes and otherfacred writers. Obfervations on Deu
calion's deluge. 75
CHA P. VIII.
The particular hiftory ofNoah's flood is explained in all the

materialparts and circumftances ofit, according to the
preceding theory. Anyfeeming difficulties removed, and
the whole fection concluded with a difcourfe how far the
deluge may be looked upon as the effect of an ordinary
providence, and how far ofan extraordinary. 93
CHA P. IX .
The fecondpart of this diſcourſe, proving the fame theory
from the effects and the prefent form of the earth. First,
by a general fcheme of what is most remarkable in this
globe, and then by a more particular induction; beginning
with an account offubterraneous cavities andfubterra
neous waters. 105
CHA P. X.
Concerning the channel of the fea andthe original of it ; the

caufes of its irregular form and unequal depths : as alfo
of the original of iflands, their fituation and other pro
perties. CHA P. XI. 124
Concerning the mountains of the earth, their greatness and

irregularform, their fituation, caufes and origin. 135
CHA P. XII.
Ashort review of what hath been already treated of, and
in what manner. All methods whether philofophical or
THE CONTENTS. xxi
theological, that have been offered by others for the ex

plication of theform ofthe earth, are examined and re
futed. A conjecture concerning the other planets, their
naturalform and state compared with ours ; efpecially
concerning Jupiter and Saturn. Page 147
BOOK II.
CHA P. I.
THE introduction and contents of the fecond book. The
general fate of the primaeval earth and of pa
radife. 167
CHA P. II.
The great change ofthe world fince the flood, from what it
was in thefirst ages. The earth under its preſentform
could not be paradifiacal, nor any part of it. 178
CHA P. III.
The original differences of the primitive earth from the

prefent or poſtdiluvian. The three characters ofpara
dife, and the golden age, found in the primitive earth.
SAM Aparticular explication of each character. 187
CHA P. IV.
A digreffion concerning the natural caufes of longaevity.

That the machine of an animal confifls ofSprings, and
which are the two principal. The age ofthe antediluvians
to be computed byfolar not lunaryears. 196
CHHA P. V.
Concerning the waters of the primitive earth : what the
State ofthe regions of the air was then, and how all wa
ters proceededfrom them. How the rivers arofe, what
was their courfe, and how they ended. Several things in
facred writ that confirm this hydrography of the first earth,
efpecially the poftdiluvian origin of the rainbow. 217
CHA P. VI .
Arecollection and review of what hath been faid concerning
the primitive earth, with a more full furvey ofthe ftate
of the first world, natural and civil, and the comparison
of it with the prefent world . 233
xxii THE CONTENT S.
CHAP. VII.
Concerning the place ofparadife ; it cannot be determined
from the theory only, nor from fcripture only ; what the
fenfe of antiquity was concerning it, as to the Jews and
Heathens, and efpecially as to the Chriftian fathers.
That they generally placed it out ofthis continent, in the
fouthern hemifphere. CHAP.
VIII. Page 244
The uses ofthis theory for the illustration ofantiquity; the

chaos of the ancients explained; the inhabitability of
the torrid zone ; the changes ofthe poles ofthe world;
the doctrine of the mundane egg ; how America was firſt
peopled; how paradife within the circle of the moon.
CHA P. IX . 257
Ageneral objection against this theory, viz. that ifthere

had been fuch a primitive earth, as we pretend, the
fame of it would have founded throughout all antiquity.
The eastern and western learning confidered ; the most
confiderable records ofboth are lost ; what footsteps re
main relating to this fubject. The Jewish and Chri
ftian learning confidered, how far loft as to this argu
ment, and what notes or traditions remain. Lastly,
how far thefacred writings bear witness to it. The
providential conduct ofknowlege in the world. Areca
pitulation andstate of the theory. 268
СНАР. X.
Concerning the AUTHOR of NATURE . 284

CHA P. XI.
Concerning NATURAL PROVIDENCE.

Several incroachments upon natural providence, or mifrepre
fentations of it, and falſe methods ofcontemplation. A
true method propofed, and a true repreſentation of the
univerfe. The mundane idea, and the univerfal fyftem
ofprovidence. Severalfubordinate fyftems ; that of our
earth andfublunary world. The courſe andperiods ofit.
How much of this is already treated of, and what re
mains. The concluſion . 306
[ 1 ]
THE
THEORY
OF THE
EARTH.
BOOK I.
Concerning the Deluge and the Diffolution of the

EARTH .
CHA P. I.
The INTRO CTION :
An account of the whole work ; ofthe extent and general

order ofit.
INCE I was firſt inclined to the contemplation

of nature, and took pleaſure to trace out the
S
caufes of effects, and the dependence of one thing
upon another in the viſible creation, I had always, me
thought, a particular curiofity to look back into the
fources and ORIGINAL of things ; and to view in my
mind, fo far as I was able, the beginning and progrefs
of a RISING WORLD.
And after fome effays of this nature, and, as I
thought, not unfuccefsful, I carried on my enquiries
further, to try whether this rifing world, when formed
The Deluge and
and finiſhed, would continue always the fame ; in the
fame form, ftructure, and confiftency ; or what changes
it would fucceffively undergo, by the continued action of
the fame caufes that first produced it ; and, laftly, what
would be its final period and confummation. This
whole feries and compaſs of things taken together, I call
ed 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 ofdivine pro
vidence, and to fhew us the grounds of all true know
lege concerning nature. And therefore, to clear up
the feveral parts of this theory, I was willing to lay a
fide a great many other ſpeculations, and all thoſe dry
fubtleties with which the ſchools and the books of phi
lofophers are ufually filled.
But when we ſpeak of a riſing world, and the con
templation ofit, we do not mean this, of the great u
niverfe ; for who can defcribe the original of that vaſt
frame ? But we speak of the fublunary world, this earth,
and its deperiencies, which roſe out of a chaos about
fix thousand years ago. And ſeeing it hath fallen to
our lot to act upon this ſtage, to have our preſent home
and refidence here, it feems most reafonable, and the
place defigned by providence, where we fhould firft em
ploy our thoughts, to underſtand the works of God and
nature. We have accordingly therefore deſigned in this
work to give an account of the original of the earth,
and of all the great and general changes that it hath al
ready undergone, or is hence-forwards to undergo, till
the confummation of all things. For if from thoſe prin
ciples we have here taken, and that theory we have be
gun in theſe two first books, we can deduce with fuccefs
and clearnefs the origin of the earth, and thoſe ſtates of
it that are already paft ; following the fame thread, and
by the conduct of the fame theory, we will purfue its
fate and hiſtory through future ages, and mark all the
grer changes and converfions that attend it while day
Diffolution of the Earth. 3
and night shall laft ; that is, fo long as it continues an
earth .
f By the ſtates of the earth that are already paſt, we
t
underſtand chiefly paradife and the deluge; names well
S known, and as little known in their nature. By the
future ftates we underſtand the conflagration, and what
F new order of nature may follow upon that, 'till the
S whole circle of time and providence be completed . As
re
to the firſt and paſt ſtates of the earth, we ſhall have lit
t tle help from the ancients, or from any of the philofo
phers, for the diſcovery or deſcription of them : we muſt
often tread unbeaten paths, and make a way where we
P do not find one ; but it fhall be always with a light in
our hand, that we may fee our ſteps, and that thoſe that W
J follow us may not follow us blindly. There is no fect
of philofophers, that I know of, that ever gave an ac
count of the univerſal deluge, or diſcovered, from the
contemplation of the earth, that there had been fuch a
thing already in nature. It is true, they often talk of an
} alteration of deluges and conflagrations in this earth, but
they fpeak of them as things to come ; at leaſt they
give no proof or argument of any that hath already de
> ftroyed the world. As to paradife, it ſeems to be repre
fented to us by the golden age ; whereof the ancients tell
many ſtories, fometimes very luxuriant, and fometimes
very defective : for they did not fo 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
ofparadife; though they had many broken notions con
cerning thoſe things. As to the conflagration in particu❤
lar, this hath always been reckoned one amongſt the a
pinions, or dogmata of the Stoics , that the world was
to be deftroyed byfire, and their books are full of this no
tion ; but yet they do not tell us the cauſes of the con
flagration, nor what preparations there are in nature, or
will be, towards that great change. And we may gene
rally obferve this of the ancients, that their learning or
philofophy confifted more in conclufions, than in de
monftrations ; they had many truths among them,
The Deluge and
whereof they did not know themſelves the premiſes or
the proofs : which is an argument to me, that the know
lege they had was not a thing of their own invention ,
or which they came to by fair reaſoning and obfervati
ons upon nature, but was delivered to them from others
by tradition and ancient fame, fometimes more public ,
fometimes more fecret : theſe conclufions they kept in
mind, and communicated to thoſe of their ſchool, or
fect, or pofterity, without knowing, for the most part,
the juſt grounds and reaſons of them .
It is the facred writings of fcripture that are the beſt
monuments of antiquity, and to thoſe we are chiefly be
holden for the hiſtory of the firſt ages, whether natural
hiſtory or civil. It is true, the poets, who were the
moſt ancient writers amongst the Greeks, and ferved
them both for hiftorians, divines, and philofophers,
have delivered fome things concerning the firſt ages of
the world, that have a fair reſemblance of truth, and
fome affinity with thoſe accounts that are given of the
fame things by facred authors, and theſe may be of uſe
in due time and place ; but yet, left any thing fabulous
ſhould be mixed 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 proved by natural reafon, or warranted by fcri
pture.
It feems to me very reaſonable to believe, that be
fides the precepts of religion, which are the principal
fubject and deſign of the books of holy fcripture, there
may be providentially conſerved in them the memory of
things and times fo 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 knowlege of men
in otherthings confequential to them : fuch points may
be, our great Epocha, or the age of the earth, the Origi
nation of mankind, The firſt and paradifiacal ſtate, The
deftruction of the old world by an univerfal deluge, The
longevity of its inhabitants, The manner oftheir prefer
vation, and of their peopling the fecond earth ; and laft
ly, The fate and changes it is to undergo. Thefe I al
ways looked upon as the feeds of great knowlege, or
heads of theories fixed on purpoſe to give us aim and di
rection how to purſue the reſt that depend upon them.
But theſe heads, you ſee, are of a mixed order, and we
propoſe to ourſelves 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 confi
der, how God hath ordered nature, and then, how the
oeconomy of the intellectual world is adapted to it ; for
of theſe two parts conſiſt the full ſyſtem of providence.
In the mean time, what fubject can be more worthy
the thoughts of any ferious perfon, than to view and
confider the rife and fall, and all the revolutions, not of
a monarchy or an empire, ofthe Grecian or Roman ſtate,
but of an entire world ?
The obfcurity of theſe things, and their remotenefs
from common knowlege, will be made an argument by
fome, why we ſhould not undertake them ; and by others,
it may be, the very fame thing will be made an argu
ment why we ſhould . For my part I think, there is
nothingfo fecretthatſhall not be brought to light, within the
compafs of our world; for we are not to underſtand that
of the whole univerfe, nor of all eternity ; our capacities
do not extend fo far ; but whatſoever concerns this fu
blunary 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 fay, betwixt the firſt chaos
and the laft completion of time and all things tempo
rary, this was given to the difquifitions of men : on ei
ther 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 culti
vate, 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 ofna
ture and of providence.
6 The Deluge and
As for the difficulty or obfcurity of an argument, that
does but add to the pleaſure of conteſting with it, when
there are hopes of victory ; and fuccefs does more than
recompenfe all the pains. For there is no fort ofjoy more
grateful to the mind of man, than that which ariſeth
from the invention of truth ; eſpecially when it is hard
to come by. Every man hath a delight fuited to his ge
nius, and as there is pleaſure in the right exerciſe of any
faculty, fo eſpecially in that of right- reaſoning ; which
is ſtill the greater, by how much the confequences are
more clear, and the chains of them more long : there is
no chaſe ſo pleaſant, methinks, as to drive a thought,
by good conduct, from one end of the world to the
ther ; and never to loſe fight of it till it fall into eterni
ty, where all things are loft, as to our knowlege.
This theory being chiefly philofophical, reaſon is to
be our first guide ; and where that falls fhort, or any
other juſt occaſion offers itſelf, we may receive further
light and confirmation from the facred writings. Both
theſe are to be looked upon as of divine original, God
is the author of both ; he that made the fcripture made
alfo our faculties, and it were a reflection upon the di
vine 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 ef
fect, to oppoſe God to himſelf. As for antiquity and
the teftimonies 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 Eng
gliſh treatiſe to multiply citations out of Greek or Latin
authors.
I am very fenfible it will be much our intereſt, that
the reader ofthis theoryfhould be of an ingenuous and un
prejudiced temper, neither does it ſo much require book
learning and ſcholarſhip, as good natural ſenſe to diſtin
guiſh true and falfe, and to difcern what is well proved,
and what is not. It often happens that ſcholaſtic edu
cation, 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
Diffolution of the Earth.
7
of that way; and fo his learning becomes a clog tohis natu
ral parts, and makes him more indocile, and more incap
able of new thoughts and new improvements, than thoſe
that have only the talents of nature. As maſters of ex
ercife had rather take a ſcholar that never learned before,
than one that hath had a bad maſter ; ſo generally one
would rather chufe a reader without art, than one ill in
ftructed ; with learning, but opinionative, and without
judgment ; yet it is not neceffary they fhould want ei
ther, and learning well placed ſtrengthens all the powers
of the mind. To conclude, juft reaſoning and a gene
rous love of truth, whether with or without erudition ,
is that which makes us moft competent judges what is
true. And further than this, in the perufal and exami
nation 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.
CHA P. II.
Ageneral account of NOAH's flood ; a computation what

quantity of water would be neceſſary for the making ofit;
that the common opinion and explication of that flood is
not intelligible.
IT is now more than five thouſand years fince our

world was made, and though it would be a great plea
fure to the mind, to recollect and view at this diftauce
thofe firſt ſcenes of nature ; what the face of the earth
was, when freſh and new, and how things differed from
the ſtate we now find them in, the fpeculation is fo re
mote, that it ſeems to be hopeleſs , and beyond the reach
of human wit. We are almoſt the laſt pofterity of the
firſt men, and fallen into the dying age of the world ;
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 di
vine providence, which fees at once throughout all the
VOL, ! с
8 The Deluge and
ages and orders of the world, fhould not be willing to
keep mankind finally and fatally ignorant of that part of
nature, and of the univerfe, 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 endowed with reafon and underſtanding ;
doth it not then properly belong to 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 ha
bitation ? And it will be found , it may be, upon a
ftricter enquiry, that in the prefent form and conftituti
on ofthe earth, there are certain marks and indications
of its firſt ſtate ; with which if we compare thofe things
that are recorded in facred hiſtory, concerning the firſt
chaos, paradife, and an univerſal deluge, we may difco
ver, by the help of thofe lights, what the earth was in
its firſt original, and what changes have fince fucceeded
in it.
And though we fhall give a full account of the ori
gin of the earth in this treatife, yet that which we have
propofed particularly for the title and fubject of it, is to
give an account of the primaeval paradife, and of the u
niverfal deluge, thofe 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 ofpara
dife : for though the ſtate of paradiſe doth precede that
of the flood in facred hiſtory, and in the nature ofthe
thing, yet the explication of both will be more fenfible
and more effectual, if we begin with the deluge ; there
being more obfervations and effects, and thofe better
known to us that may be referred to this, than to the o
ther ; and the deluge being once truly explained, we
fhall from thence know the form and quality of the ante
diluvian earth. Let us then proceed to the explication
of that great and fatal inundation, whofe hiſtory is well
known ; and according to Mofes, 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 de
ftroyed in a deluge of water. Not a deluge that was na
tional only, or over-run fome particular country or re
gion, as Judaea or Greece, or any other, but it over
fpread the face of the whole earth, from pole to pole,
and from Eaſt to Weſt, and that in fuch excefs, that the
floods over-reached the tops of the higheſt mountains ;
the rains defcending after an unuſual manner, and the
fountains of the great deep being broke open ; fo 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 preferved in a certain
ark, or veſſel made like a ſhip, and fuch kinds of living
creatures as he took in to him. After theſe waters had
raged for fome time on the earth, they began to leffen
and ſhrink, and the great waves, and fluctuations of this
deep or abyfs , being quieted by degrees, the waters retired
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 fhape wherein we now
fee it. Then the world began again, and from that lit
tle remnant preſerved in the ark, the preſent race of
mankind, and of animals, in the known parts of the
earth, were propagated. Thus perifhed the old world,
and the prefent aroſe from the ruins and remains of it.
This is a fhort ſtory of the greateſt thing that ever
yet happened in the world, the greateſt revolution and
the greateſt change in nature ; and if we come to reflect
ſeriouſly upon it, we fhall find it extremely difficult, if
not impoffible, to give an account of the waters that
compofed this delage, whence they came, or whither
they went. If it had been only the inundation of a
country, or of a province, or of the greateft part of a
continent, fome proportionable caufes perhaps might
have been found out ; but a deluge over-flowing 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 fufficient for
C 2
10 The Deluge and
this effect, as it is generally explained and underſtood,
I think is impoffible. And that we may the better judge
of the whole matter, let us firft compute, how much
water would be requifite for fuch a deluge ; or to lay
the earth, confidered in its prefent form, and the higheſt
mountains, under water. Then let us confider whether
fuch 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 com
mon opinion and explication of the general deluge.
To diſcover how much water would be requifite to
make this deluge, we muſt firſt fuppofe enough to cover
the plain furface of the earth, the fields and lower
grounds ; then we muſt heap up fo much more upon
this, as will reach above the tops of the higheſt moun
tains ; fo as drawing a circle over the tops of the higheſt
mountains quite round the earth, fuppofe from pole to
pole, and another to meet it round the middle of the
earth, all that ſpace, or capacity, contained within
thefe circles, is to be filled up with water. This I con
fefs will make a prodigious maſs of water, and it looks
frightfully to the imagination ; it is huge and great, butit
is extravagantly fo, as a great monfter: it doth not look
like the work of God or nature : however let us com
pute a little more particularly how much this will amount
to, or how many oceans of water would be neceſſary to
compofe this great ocean rowling in the air without
bounds or banks.
If all the mountains were pared off the earth, and
fo the furface of it lay even, or in an equal convexity e
very where, with the ſurface of the fea, from this fur
face of the fea, let us fuppofe 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
fea to cover half the earth, as it is generally believed to
do ; and the common depth of it, taking one place with
Diffolution of the Earth. II
another, to be about a quarter of a mile, or 250 paces.

I ſay, taking one place with another, for though the
middle channel of the great ocean be far deeper, we may
obferve, that there is commonly a defcent or declivity
from the fhore to the middle part of the channel, ſo that
one comes by degrees into the depth of it ; and thoſe
fhory parts are generally but fome fathoms deep. Be
fides, in arms of the fea, in ſtraights and among iſlands,
there is commonly no great depth, and fome places are
plain fhallows. So as upon a moderate computation,
one place compared with another, we may take a quar
ter of a mile, or about an hundred fathoms, for the
common meaſure of the depth of the ſea, if it were caſt
into a channel of an equal depth every where. This
being fuppofed, there would need four oceans to lie up
on this ocean, to raiſe it up to the top of the mountains,
or ſo high as the waters of the deluge rife ; then four
oceans more to lie upon the land, that the water there
might fwell to the fame height ; which together make
eight oceans for the proportion of the water required in
the deluge.
It is true, there would not be altogether fo much wa
ter required for the land as for the fea, to raiſe them to
an equal height ; becaufe mountains and hills would fill
up part of that ſpace upon the land, and fo make lefs
water requifite. But to compenfate this, and confirm
our computation, we muſt confider in the firſt place, that
we have taken a much leſs height of the mountains than
is requifite, if we reſpect the mediterraneous mountains,
or thoſe that are at a great diſtance from the fea ; for
their height above the furface of the fea, computingthe
declivity of the land all along from the mountains to the
fea-fide (and that there is ſuch a declivity is manifeft from
the courfe and defcent of the rivers) is far greater than
the proportion we have taken : the height of mountains
is ufually taken from the foot of them, or from the next
plain, which if it be far from the fea, we may reaſonably
allow as much for the declenfion of the land from that
place to the fea, as for the immediate height of the
C 3
12 The Deluge and
mountain: fo, for inſtance, the mountains of the moon
in Africa, whence the Nile flows, and after a long
courſe falls into the Mediterranean fea by Egypt, are ſo
much higher than the ſurface of that ſea, firſt, as the a
fcent ofthe land is from the fea to the foot of the moun
tains, 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 moun
tain, or of a mountainous land, in reſpect of the fea :
and the height of mountains to the fea being thus com
puted, there would be need of fix or eight oceans to
raiſe the ſea alone as high as the higheſt inland moun
tains : and this is more than enough to compenſate the
lefs quantity of water that would be requifite upon the
land. Befides, we muſt confider the regions of the air
upwards to be more capacious than a region of the fame
thickneſs in or near the earth, ſo as if an ocean poured
upon the furface of the dry land, fuppofing it were all
fmooth, would riſe to the height of half a quarter of a
mile every where ; the like quantity of water poured a
. gain at the height of the mountains would not have alto
gether the fame effect, or would not there raiſe the maſs
half a quarter of a mile higher ; for the furfaces of a
globe, the farther they are from their center, are the
greater ; and fo accordingly the regions that belong to
them. And, laftly, we muſt conſider, that there are
fome countries or valleys very low, and alſo many ca
verns or cavities within the earth, all which in this cafe
were to be firft filled with water. Theſe things being
compared and eſtimated, we ſhall find that, notwith
ftanding the room that hills and mountains take up on
the dry land, there would be at leaſt eight oceans re
quired, 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
ftated, the next thing to be done, is to enquire where
this water is to be found ; if any part of the fublunary
world will afford us fo much : eight oceans floating in
the air make a great bulk of water ; I do not know what

poffible fources 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 ftores we have for water ;
and Mofes directs us to no other for the cauſes of the
deluge. The fountains (he faith) of the great abyfs were
broken up, or burft afunder, and the rain defcended for
forty days, the cataracts, or floodgates, of heaven being
opened. And in theſe two, no doubt, are contained
the caufes ofthe great deluge, as according to Mofes, fo
alfo according to reafon and neceffity ; for our world
affords no other treaſures of water. Let us therefore
confider, how much this rain of forty days might a
mount to, and how much might flow out of the abyss,
that ſo we may judge whether theſe two in conjunction
will 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, ifwe
may truſt to the obfervations made by others concerning
the quantity of water that falls in rain. Mersennus gives
us this account of it, Cog. Phyf. Mech. p . 221. " It
66 appears by our obfervations , that a cubical veffel of
" brafs, whereof we made ufe, is filled an inch and an
" half in half an hour's time ; but becauſe that fucks
66 up nothing of the moiſture as the earth doth, let us
" take an inch for half an hour's rain ; whence it fol
" lows, that in the ſpace of forty days and nights rain,
" the waters in the deluge would rife, at four feet in
<< 24 hours, 160 feet, ifthe rains were conftant and e
“ qual to ours, and that it rained at once throughout
" the face of the whole earth ." But the rain of the de
luge, faith he, fhould have been 90 times greater than
this, to cover, for inſtance, the mountains of Armenia,
or to reach 15 cubits above them. So that according
to his computation, the forty days rain would fupply lit
tle more than the hundredth part of the water requifite
to make the deluge. It is true, he makes the height of
the mountains higher than we do ; but, however, if
you temper the calculation on all fides as much as you
14 The Deluge and
pleafe, the water that came by this rain would be a very

inconfiderable part of what was neceffary for a deluge. If
it rained forty days and forty nights throughout the face
of the whole earth, in the northern and fouthern hemi
ſphere all at once, it might be fufficient to lay all the low
er grounds under water, but it would fignify very little
as to the overflowing of the mountains. Whence another
author upon the fame occafion hath this paffage, Au& .
cat. in. Gen. 7. 4. " Ifthe deluge had been made by
" rains only, there would not have needed forty days,
" but forty years rain to have brought it to pafs . " And
if we ſhould fuppofe the whole middle region condenſed
into water, it would not at all have been fufficient for
this effect, according to that proportion ſome make be
twixt air and water ; for they ſay, air turned into wa
1 ter takes up a hundred times leſs room than it did before.
The truth is, we may reaſonably ſuppoſe, that all the
vapours ofthe middle region were turned into water in
1 this forty days and forty nights rain, if we admit, that
this rain was throughout the whole earth at once, in ei
ther hemifphere, in every zone, in every climate, in every
country, in every province, in every field ; and yet we
fee what a ſmall proportion all this would amount to.
Having done then with thefe fuperior regions, we are,
next to examine the inferior, and the treaſures of water
that may be had there. Mofes tells us, that the foun
tains ofthe great abyfs were broke open, or clove afun
der, as the word there uſed doth imply ; and no doubt
in this lay the great myſtery of the deluge, as will ap
pear when it comes to be rightly underſtood and ex
plained ; but we are here to conſider what is generally
underſtood by the great abyfs, in the common explicati
on of the deluge ; and it is commonly interpreted either
to be the fea, or fubterraneous waters hid in the bowels
of the earth : thefe, they fay, broke forth and raiſed the
waters, caufed by the rain, to fuch an height, that to
gether they overflowed the higheſt mountains. But
whether, or how this could be, deferves to be a little
examined.
And in the first place, the fea is not higher thanthe

land, as fome have formerly imagined, fancying the fea
ftood, as it were, upon a heap, higher than the fhore ;
and at the deluge a relaxation being made, it overflowed
the land. But this conceit is fo grofs, and ſo much a
gainſt reaſon and experience, that none I think of late
have ventured to make uſe of it. And yet on the other
hand, ifthe fea lie in an equal convexity with the land,
or lower generally than the fhore, and much more than
the midland, as it is certainly known to do, what could
the fea contribute to the deluge ? It would keep its chan
nel, as it doth now, and take up the fame place. And
fo alſo the fubterraneous waters would lie quiet in their
cells. Whatſoever fountains or paffages you fuppofe,
thefe would not iffue out upon the earth, for water doth
not afcend, unleſs by force. But let us imagine then
that force used and applied, and the waters both of the
fea and caverns under ground drawn out upon the ſurface
of the earth, we fhall not be any whit the nearer for
this ; for if you take thefe waters out of their places,
thofe places must be filled again with other waters in the
deluge ; fo as this turns to no account upon the whole .
If you have two veffels to fill, and you empty one to
fill the other, you gain nothing by that, there ftill re
mains one veifel empty, you cannot have theſe waters
both in the fea and on the land, both above ground and
under; nor can you ſuppoſe the channel of the fea would
ſtand gaping without water, when all the earth was o
ver-flowed, and the tops of the mountains covered. And
fo for fubterraneous cavities, if you fuppofe the water
pumpt out, they would fuck it in again when the earth
came to be laid under water ; fo 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
fervice as to the deluge, and where we expected the
greateſt ſupply, there we find none at all.
What ſhall we do then ? Whither ſhall we go to find
more than feven oceans of water that we ſtill want ?
We have been above and below ; we have drained the
16 ·
The Deluge and
whole middle region, and we have examined the deeps
of the earth ; they must want for themſelves, they fay,
if they give us any ; and, befides, if the earth fhould
difgorge 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 occafions. Muft we not then conclude,
that the common explication of the deluge makes it im
poffible ? There being no fuch quantity of water in na
ture as they make requifite 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 alfo con
fider if there be not waters above the heavens, and if
thoſe might not be drawn down for the deluge. Mofes
fpeaks of waters above the firmament, which though it be
generally underſtood of the middle region of the air,
yet fome have thought thoſe to be waters placed above
the higheſt heavens, or fuper-celestial waters ; and have
been willing to make uſe of them for a fupply, when
they could not find materials enough under the heavens
to make up the great mafs of the deluge . But the hea
vens, above, where thefe waters lay, are either folid or
fluid ; if folid, as glaſs or cryſtal, how could the waters
get through them to defcend upon the earth ? If fluid, as
the air or aether, how could the waters reſt upon them,
for water is heavier than air or aether ? So that I am a
fraid, thofe pure regions will prove no fit place for that
element, upon any account. But fuppofing theſe wa
ters there, how imaginary foever, and that they were
brought down to drown the world in that vaft quantity
that would be neceffary, what became of them, when
the deluge ceafed ? 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 difpofed
of when the earth was to be dryed, and the world re
newed ? It would be a hard taſk to lift them up again a
mongthe ſpheres , and we have no room for them here be
low. The truth is, I mention this opinion of the hea
venly waters, becauſe I would omit none that had ever
been made ufe of, to make good the common explicati
on of the deluge ; but otherwife, I think, fince the fy
ftem ofthe world hath been better known, and the na
ture of the heavens, there are none that would ſeriouſly
affert thefe Super-celestial waters, or, at leaſt, make uſe
of them ſo extravagantly, as to bring them down hither
for caufes of the deluge.
We have now employed our laſt and utmoſt endea
vours to find out waters for the vulgar deluge, or for
the deluge as commonly underſtood ; and you fee with
how little fuccefs ; we have left no corner unfought,
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 neceffary upon a moderate ac
count. 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 impoffible and unintelligible upon a double ac
counr, both in requiring more water than can be found,
and more than can be difpofed of, if it was found ; or
could any way be withdrawn from the earth when the
deluge fhould ceaſe . For if the earth was encompaſſed
with eight oceans of water heapt one upon another, how
theſe ſhould retire into any channels, or be drained off,
or the earth any way difengaged from them, is not in
telligible ; and that in ſo ſhort a time as fome months :
for the violence of the deluge lafted 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 fource nor iffue, beginning nor ending, for
fuch an exceffive mafs of waters as the vulgar deluge re
quired ; neither where to have them, nor if we had
them , how to get quit of them . And I think men can
not do a greater injury or injuſtice to facred hiſtory, than
to give fuch reprefentations of things recorded there, as
make them unintelligible and incredible ; and on the o
ther hand, we cannot deſerve better of religion and pro
vidence, than by giving fuch fair accounts of all things
propofed by them, or belonging to them, as may filence
18 The Deluge and
the cavils of atheifts, fatisfy the inquifitive, and recom
mend them to the belief and acceptance of all reaſonable
perfons.
1 CHA P. III.
All evafions 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,
Aprelude andpreparation to the true account and expli
cation ofit : 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 pro
ceed to ſentence of condemnation : yet having heard of
another plea, which ſome have uſed in its behalf, and
another way found out, by recourfe to the fupreme power,
to ſupply all defects , and to make the whole matter in
telligible, we will proceed no farther ' till that be confi
dered ; being very willing to examine whatſoever may
be offered, in that or any other way, for refolving that
great difficulty which we have propofed, concerning the
quantity of water requifite for fuch a deluge. And
to this they fay in fhort, that God Almighty created wa
ters 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 fhew
us the naked arm of omnipotency ; fuch arguments as
thefe come like lightening, one doth not know what ar
mour to put on againſt them, for they pierce the more,
the more they are refifted : we will not therefore oppoſe
any thing to them that is hard and ſtubborn, but by a
foft anſwer deaden their force by degrees.
And I defire to mind thofe perfons, in the first place,
of what St. Auſtin hath faid upon a like occaſion , ſpeak
ing concerning thoſe that diſproved the opinion of wa
ters above the heavens (which we mentioned before) by .
na
natural reafons. " We are not, faith he, to refute
" thofe perfons, by faying, that according to the omni
(6 potence of God, to whom all things are poffible, we
" ought to believe there are waters there, as heavy as
66 we know and feel them here below ; for our buſineſs
" is nowto enquire according to his fcripture, how God
" hath conſtituted the nature of things, and not what he
" could do or work in theſe things by a miracle of om
16
nipotency." I defire them to apply this to the pre
fent argument for the firſt anſwer.
Secondly, Let them confider, that Mofes hath affigned
caufes of the deluge ; forty days rain, and the difruption
ofthe abyss ; and ſpeaks nothing of a new creation of
water upon that occafion . Thoſe were cauſes in nature
which providence had then difpofed for this extraordina
ry effect, and thoſe the divine hiſtorian refers us to, and
not to any productions out of nothing. Befides, Mofes
makes the deluge increaſe by degrees with the rain, and
accordingly makes it ceafe by degrees, and that the wa
ters going andreturning, as the waves and great commoti
ons of the fea uſed to do, retired leiſurely from the face
of the earth, and fettled at length in their channels .
Now this manner of the beginning or ceafing of the de
luge doth not at all agree with the inftantaneous actions
of creation and annihilation.
Thirdly, Let them confider, that St. Peter hath alfo
affigned cauſes of the deluge, 2 Pet. iii . 6. namely, the
particular conftitution of the earth and heaven before the
flood ; by reafon whereof, he faith, the world that was
thenperished 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, confifting of wa
66
ter and by water ; whereby, or by reafon whereof,
" the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
" perished ."
Fourthly, They are to confider, that as we are not
rafhly to have recourfe to the divine omnipotence upon
any account, fo efpecially not for new creations ; and
leaft of all for the creation of new matter. The matter
VOL. I. D
20 The Delige and
of the univerfe was created many ages before the flood,
and the univerfe being full, if any more was created, then
there must be as much annihilated at the fame time to
make room for it ; for bodies cannot penetrate one ano❤
ther's dimensions, nor be two or more within one and
the fame fpace. Then, on the other hand, when the
deluge ceafed, and thefe waters were annihilated, fo
much other matter muſt be created again to take up their
places and methinks they make very bold with the dei
ty, when they make him do and undo, go forward and
backwards by fuch countermarches and retractions, as we
do not willingly impute to the wiſdom of God Almighty,
Lastly, I fhall not think my labour loft, if it be but
acknowleged, that we have fo far cleared the way in this
controverly, as to have brought it to this iffue; that ei
ther 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 fufficient in nature to
make a deluge of that kind. This, I fay, is a great
ſtep, and, I think, will fatisfy all parties, at leaſt all
that are confiderable ; for thoſe, that have recourſe to a
new creation of waters, are of two forts, either fuch as
do it out of laziness and ignorance, or fuch as do it
out of neceffity, feeing they cannot be had other
wife ; as for the first, they are not to be valued or gra
tified ; and as for the fecond, I fhall do a thing very ac
ceptable to them , if I free them and the argument from
that neceffity; and fhew a way of making the deluge fair
ly intelligible, and accountable without the creation of
new waters ; which is the defign 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
tied, we fhall feel the pleaſure more fenfibly when we
come to loofe it. ¿
It may be, when they are beaten from this new crea
tion ofwater, they will fay, the element of air was chang
ed into water, and that was the great ſtore-houſe for the
deluge. Forty days rain we allow, as Mofes does, but
if theyfuppofe any other tranf-elementation, it neither a
grees with Mofes's philofophy, nor St. Peter's ; for then

the openiag of the abyfs was needlefs, and the form and
conftitution ofthe antediluvian heavens and earth, which
St. Peter refers the deluge to, bore no part in the work ;
e it might have been made, in that way, indifferently un
der any heavens or earth. Befides, they offend against St.
T Auftin's rule in this method too ; for I look upon it asno
lefs a miracle to turn air into water, than to turn water
into wine. Air, I fay: for vapours indeed are but
water made volatile ; but pure air is a body of another
fpecies, and cannot by any compreffion or condenſation,
at fo far as is yet known, be changed into water. And
13 laftly, if the whole atmoſphere was turned into water, it
is very probable it would make no more than 34 foot or
thereabouts ; for fo much air or vapours , as is of the
fame weight with any certain quantity of water, it is
to likely, if it was changed into water, would also be of
at the fame bulk with it, or not much more : now accord
all ing to the doctrine of the gravitation ofthe atmoſphere,
Da it is found, that 34 foot of water does counterbalance a
as proportionable cylinder of air reaching to the top of the
it atmoſphere ; and confequently, if the whole atmoſphere
er. was converted into water, it would make no more than
eleven or twelve yards water about the earth ; which
13
C the cavities of the earth would be able in a good meaſure

‫נו‬ to fuck up, at leaſt this is very inconfiderable as to our
ir eight oceans. And if you would change the higher re
gions into water too, what muſt fupply the place of that
air which you transform into water and bring down up
or
on the earth ? There would be little left but fire and ae
and
is ther betwixt us and the moon, and I am afraid it would
endanger to fuck down the moon too after it. In a
We
word, fuch an explication as this is both purely imagina
22. Fy, and alfo very operofe, and would affect a great part
c.
of the univerſe ; and after all, they would be as hard

g
he put to it to get rid of this water, when the deluge
} was
to ceaſe as they were at firft to procure it.
a. Having now examined and anfwered all the pleas,
from first to last, for the vulgar deluge or the old way
D 2
23 The Deluge and
of explaining it, we ſhould proceed immediately to pro

poſe another method, and another ground for an uni
verfal deluge, were it not that an opinion hath been
ſtarted by fome of late, that would in effect fupplant both
thefe methods, old and new, and take away in a great
meaſure the fubject of the queſtion. Some modern au
thors obferving what ſtraights they have been put to in
all ages, to find out water enough for Noah's flood,
have ventured upon an expedient more briſk and bold
than any of the antients durft venture upon : they ſay,
Noah's flood was not univerfal, but a national inunda
X tion, confined to Judaea, and thoſe countries therea
bouts ; and confequently, there would not be fo much
water neceffary for the cauſe of it, as we have proved to
be neceffary for an univerfal deluge of that kind. Their
inference is very true, they have avoided that rock, but
they run upon another no leſs dangerous ; to avoid an
objection from reafon, they deny matter of fact, and
fuch matter offact as is well atteſted by hiſtory, both
facred and prophane. I believe the authors that ſet up
this opinion were not themſelves fatisfied with it ; but
feeing infuperable difficulties in the old way, they are
the more excufable in chufing, as they thought, of two
evils the lefs.
But the choice, methinks, is as bad on this hand, if
all things be confidered . Mofes reprefents the flood of
Noah as an overthrow and deſtruction of the whole earth ;
and who can imagine, that in fixteen or feventeen hun
dred years time, (taking the lower chronology) that the
earth had then ſtood, mankind ſhould be propagated no
farther than Judaea, or ſome neighbouring countries
thereabouts ? After the flood, when the world was re
newed again by eight perfons, they had made a far
greater progrefs in Afia, Europe, and Africa, within
the fame fpace of years, and yet it is likely they were
more fruitful in the firſt ages of the world, than after
the flood ; and they lived fix, feven, eight, nine hun
dred years a-piece, getting fons and daughters. Which
longevity of the firſt inhabitants of the earth feems to
have been providentially deſigned for the quicker multi

plication and propagation of mankind ; and mankind
thereby would become ſo numerous within fixteen hun
dred years, that there feems to me to be a greater diffi
culty from the multitude of the people that would be be
fore 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 fuppofition, there would a
rife from theſe, in fifteen hundred years, a greater num
ber than the earth was capable of; allowing every pair
to multiply in the fame decuple proportion the firſt pair
did. But becauſe this would rife far beyond the capaci
ties of this earth, let us fuppofe them to increaſe, in the
following centuries, in a quintuple proportion only, or, if
you will, only in a quadruple ; and then the table ofthe
multiplication of mankind, from the creation to the
flood, would ftand thus ;
Century 10 9 655360
40 10 2621440
3 160 II 10485760
4 640 12 41943040
5 2560 13 167772160
6 10240 14 671088640
7 40960 15— 2684354560
8—163840 16 -10737418240
This product is too exceſſive high, if compared with the

prefent 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 proporti
on of their increaſe feems to be low enough, if we take
one proportion for all the centuries ; for, in reality, the
fame meaſure cannot equally run through all the ages,
but we have taken this as moderate and reaſonable be
twixt the highest and the loweſt ; but if we had taken
only a triple proportion, it would have been fufficient
(all things confidered) for the purpofe. There are feve
D 3
24 The Deluge and
ral other ways of computing this number, and fome
more particular and exact than this is, but which wayfo
ever you try, you 1 ſhall find the product great enough
for the extent of this earth ; and if you follow the Sep
ruagint chronology, it will ftill be far higher. I have
met with three or four different calculations, in feveral
authors, ofthe number of mankind before the flood, and
never met with any yet, but what exceeded the number
of the people that are at prefent upon the face of the
earth . So as it feems to me a very groundleſs and forc
ed conceit to imagine, that Judaea only, and fome parts
about it in Afia, were ſtored with people when the de
Juge was brought upon the old world. Befides, if the
deluge was confined to thofe countries, I do not fee but
the borderers might have eſcaped, ſhifting a little into
the adjoining places where the deluge did not reach.
But efpeciallywhat needed ſo much ado to build an ark to
fave Noah and his family, if he might have faved him
felf and them, only by retiring into fome neighbouring
country; as Lot and his family faved themfelves, by
withdrawing from Sodom, when the city was to be de
ftroyed ? Had not this been a far eaſier thing, and more
compendious, than the great preparations he made of a
large veffel, with rooms, for the reception and accom
-modation of beafts and birds ? And now I mention birds,
why could not they at leaſt have flown into the next
dry country? They might have perched upon the trees ,
and the tops of the mountains by the way, to have reſt
ed themſelves if they were weary, for the waters did not
all of a fudden rife to the mountains tops.
I cannot but look upon the deluge as a much more
confiderable thing than theſe authors would reprefent it,
and as a kind of diffolution of nature ; Mofes calls it a
deftroying of the earth, as well as of mankind, Gen. vi.
13. And the bow was fet in the cloud to feal the cove
nant, that he would deſtroy the earth no more, Gen. ix. 11.
or that there fhould be no more a flood to destroy the
earth. And it is faid, ver. 13. that the covenant was
made between God and the earth, or this frame of na
ture, that it fhould periſh no more by water. And the
rain-bow, which was a token and plege of this covenant,
appears not only in Judaea, or fome other Afiatic pro
vinces, but to all the regions of the earth, who had an
equal fhare and concern in it. Mofes faith alſo, the foun
tains of the great abyſs were burſt aſunder to make the
deluge, and what means this abyss, and the burſting of
it, if reftrained to Judaea, or fome adjacent countries ?
What appearance is there of this difruption there, more
than in other places ? Furthermore, St. Peter plainly
implies, 2 Epift. c. 5, 6. that the antediluvian heavens
and earth perished in the deluge ; and oppofeth the pre
fent earth and heavens to them, as different and of ano
ther conſtitution ; and faith, that theſe fhall perifh by
fire, as the other periſhed by water. So he compares
the conflagration with the deluge, as two general diffo
lutions of nature, and one inay as well fay, that the con
flagration fhall be only national, and but two or three
countries burnt in that laſt fire, as to fay, that the de
luge was fo. I confefs that difcourfe of St. Peter, con
eerning the feveral ftates of the world, would fufficient
ly convince me, if there was nothing elfe, that the de
luge 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 thefe mun
dane revolutions or periods, that the world fhould be
fucceffively deftroyed by water and fire ; and I do not
doubt, but that this deluge of Noah's, which Mofes de
fcribes, was the firft and leading inftance of this kind;
and accordingly we fee that after this period, and after
the flood, the bleſſing for multiplication, and for reple
niſhing the earth with inhabitants, was as folemnly pro
nounced by God Almighty, as at the first creation of
man, Gen. ix. 1. with Gen. i, 28. Theſe confiderati
ens, I think, might be fufficient to give us affurance from
divine writ of the univerfality of the deluge ; and yet
Mofes affords us another argument as demonftrative as
any, when in the hiſtory ofthe deluge, he faith, Gen.
26 The Deluge and
vii. 19. The waters exceedingly prevailed upon the earth,
and all the high hills that were under the whole heavens
were covered. All the high hills, he faith, under the
whole heavens, then quite round the earth ; and if the
mountains were covered quite round the earth, fure the
plains could not eſcape . But to argue with them upon
their own grounds : let us fuppofe only the Afiatic and
Armenian mountains covered with theſe waters , this they
cannot deny ; then unleſs there was a miracle to
thefe 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 feas
that environ the continent. We cannot imagine hills
and mountains of water to have hung about Judaea, as
if they were congealed, 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 un
touched. All liquid bodies are diffufive ; for their parts
being in motion have no tie or connection one with
another, but glide and fall off any way, as gravity and
the air preffeth them ; fo the furface of water doth al
ways 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 thefe waters be
gan to rife at firft, long before they could fwell to the
height of the mountains, they would diffufe themſelves
every way, and thereupon all the valleys and plains,
and lower parts of the earth, would be filled throughout
the whole earth, before they could rife to the tops of the
mountains in any part of it : and the fea would be all
raiſed to a confiderable height before the mountains could
be covered. For let us fuppofe as they do, that this
water fell not throughout the whole earth, but in fome
particular country, and there made firſt a great lake ;
this lake when it begun to fwell would every way dif
charge itſelfby any deſcents or declivities of the ground,
and thefe iffues and derivations being once made and fup
plied with new waters puſhing them forwards, would
continue their courfe ' till they arrived at the ſea, juſt as
otherrivers do,forthefe would be but fo many rivers rifing

out of this lake, and would not be confiderably deeper
and higher at the fountain than in their progreſs or at
the fea. We may as well then expect that the Leman
lake, for inftance, out of which the Rhone runs, fhould
fwell 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 fuppofe that this diluvian
lake ſhould rife to the mountains tops in one place, and
not diffuſe itſelf equally into all countries about, and
upon the furface of the fea ; in proportion to its height
and depth in the place where it firſt fell or ſtood.
Thus much for facred hiftory. The univerſality of
the deluge is alſo atteſted by prophane hiſtory ; for the
fame of it is gone through the earth , and there are re
cords or traditions concerning it, in all parts of this
and the new-found world. The Americans do acknow
lege and fpeak of it in their continent, as Acofta wit
neffeth, and Laet, in their hiftories of them. Mart. The
Chineſes have the tradition of it, which is the fartheſt
part of our continent ; and the nearer and weſtern parts
of Afia are acknowleged the proper feat of it. Not to
mention Deucalion's deluge in the European parts, which
feems to be the fame under a difguife : fo as you may
trace the deluge quite round the globe in prophane hi
ftory ; and, which is remarkable, every one of theſe
people have a tale to tell, fome one way, fome another,
concerning the reftauration of mankind ; which is an ar
gument that they thought all mankind deftroyed by that
deluge. In the old difpute between the Scythians and
the Ægyptians for antiquity, which Juftin 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, Affyri
ans, Phoenicians and others, mention the deluge in their
ftories. And we cannot without offering violence to all
records and authority, divine and human, deny, that
there hath been an univerfal deluge upou the earth ; and
28 The Deluge and
if there was an univerfal deluge, no queftion it was
that of Noah's, and that which Mofes defcribed, and
that which we treat of at prefent.
Theſe confiderations, I think, are abundantly fuffici
ent to filence that opinion, concerning the limitation and
reſtriction of the deluge to a particular country or coun
tries. It ought rather to be looked upon as an evaſion
indeed, than opinion, feeing the authors do not offer
any pofitive argument for the proof of it, but depend
only upon that negative argument, that an univerfal
deluge is a thing unintelligible. This ftumbling-ſtone
we hope to take away for the future, and that men fhall
not be put to that unhappy choice, either to deny mat
ter of fact well attefted, or admit an effect, whereof they
cannot fee any poffible cauſes. And ſo having ſtated and
propoſed the whole difficulty, and tried all ways offered
by others, and found them ineffectual, let us now apply
ourſelves by degrees, to untie the knot.
The exceffive quantity of water is the great difficulty,
and the removal of it afterwards. Thofe eight oceans
Jay heavy upon my thoughts, and I caft about every
way, to find an expedient, or to find fome way, where
by the fame effect might be brought to paſs with lefs wa
ter, and in fuch a manner that that water might after
wards conveniently be difcharged. The first thought,
that came into my mind upon that occafion , was con
..
cerning the form of the earth, which I imagined might

poffibly at that time be different from what it is at pre
fent, and come nearer to plainneſs and equality in the
furface of it, and fo might the more eaſily be overflowed,
and the deluge performed with lefs water. This opinion
concerning the plainnefs of the firft earth, I alfo found
in antiquity, mentioned and referred to by ſeveral inter
preters in their commentaries upon Genefis, either upon
occafion of the deluge, or of that fountain which is
faid, Gen, ii. 6. to have watered the face ofthe whole
earth and a late eminent perfon, the honour of his
profeffion for integrity and learning, in his difcourfe con
cerning the origination ofmankind, hath made a like judg
ment of the ſtate of the earth before the deluge, that the
face ofit was more fmooth and regular than it is now.
But yet upon fecond thoughts , I easily fee that this alone
would not be fufficient to explain the deluge, nor to give
an accout of the preſent form of the earth, unequal and
mountainous as it is. It is true this would give a great
advantage tothe 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 thefe waters be
difpofed of when the deluge ceaſed ? Or how could it e
ver ceafe ? Befides, what means the difruption of the
great deep, or the great abyfs, or what anfwers to it
upon this fuppofition ? This was affuredly of no lefs
confideration than the rains ; nay, I believe, the rains
were but preparatory in fome meaſure, and that the vio
lence and confummation of the deluge depended upon
the difruption of the great abyfs. Therefore I faw it
neceffary, to my first thought, concerning the ſmooth
nefs and plainnefs of the antediluvian earth, to add a fe
cond, concerning the difruption and diffolution of it ;
for, as it often happens in earthquakes, when the exte
rior earth is burft afunder, and a great flood of waters
iffues out, according to the quantity and force of them,
an inundation is made in thofe parts, more or lefs ; fo
I thought, if that abys lay under ground and round the
earth , and we ſhould fuppofe the earth in this manner to
be broken in ſeveral places at once, and as it were a ge
neral diffolution made, we might fuppofe that to make a
general deluge, as well as a particular diffolution often
makes a particular. But I will not anticipate here the
explication we intend to give of the univerfal deluge in
the following chapters ; only by this previous intimati
on we may gather fome hopes, it may be, that the mat>
ter is not fo defperate as the former reprefentation might
poffibly make us fancy it.
Give me leave to add farther in this place, that it hath
been obferved by feveral, from the contemplation of
mountains and rocks and precipices, of the channel of
the ſea, and of iſlands, and of fubterraneous caverns,
30 The Deluge and
that the furface of the earth, or the exterior region which
we inhabit, hath been broke, and the parts of it diſlocat
ed : and one might inſtance more particularly in ſeveral
parcels of nature, that retain ſtill the evident marks of
fraction and ruin, and by their prefent form and poſture
fhew, that they have been once in another ſtate and fi
tuation one to another. We fhall have occafion hereaf
ter to give an account of theſe phaenomena, from which
feveral have rightly argued, and concluded fome general
rupture or ruin in the fuperficial parts of the earth. But
this ruin, it is true, they have imagined and explained
feveral ways, fome thinking that it was madethe third day
after the foundation of the earth ; when they ſuppoſe the
channel of the fea to have been formed, and mountains
and caverns at the fame time, by a violent depreſſion of
fome parts ofthe earth, and an extruſion and elevation
of others to make them room. Others fuppofe it to
have come not all at once, but by degrees, at feveral
times, and in feveral ages, from particular and acciden
tal 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. It is
true, I am not of their opinion in either of theſe expli
cations ; and we ſhall fhew at large hereafter, when we
have propoſed and ſtated our own theory, how incompe
tent fuch caufes are, to bring the earth into that form
and condition we now find it in. But in the mean time,
we may fo far make uſe of theſe opinions in general, as
not to be ſtartled at this doctrine, concerning the break
ing or diffolution of the exterior earth ; for in all ages
the face of nature hath provoked men to think of and
obferve fuch a thing. And who can do otherwiſe, to
fee the elements difplaced and difordered, as they ſeem
to lie at prefent ; the heaviest and groffeft bodies in the
higheſt places, and the liquid and volatile kept below ;
an huge mafs of ſtone or rock reared into the air, and the
water creeping at its feet ! whereas this is the more light
and active body, and by the law of nature fhould take
place of rocks and ſtones. So we fee, by the like dif
order,
order, 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 produced in
this poſture and form ? Not to mention how broke and
torn the inward ſubſtance of the earth is, which of itſelf
is an uniform mafs, cloſe and compact ; but in the con
dition we fee it, it lies hollow in many places, with great
vacuities intercepted betwixt the portions of it ; a thing
which we fee happens in all ruins more or lefs, efpe
cially when the parts of the ruins are great and inflex
ible. Then what can have more the figure and mien of
a ruin, than crags, and rocks, and cliffs, whether upon'
the fea-fhore, or upon the fides of mountains ? What
can be more apparently broke, than they are ? And thoſe
leffer rocks, or great bulky ſtones that lie often ſcattered
near the feet of the other, whether in the fea, or upon
the land, are they not manifeſt fragments and pieces of
thoſe greater maffes ? Befides, the pofture of theſe rocks,
which is often leaning or recumbent, or proftrate, fhews
to the eye, that they have had a fall, or fome kind of
diflocation from their natural fite. And the fame thing
may be obferved in the tracts and regions of the earth,
which very feldom for ten miles together have any regu
lar furface or continuity one with another, but lie high
and low, and are variouſly inclined fometimes one way,
fometimes another, without any rule or order. Where
as I fee no reafon but the furface ofthe land ſhould be as
regular as that of the water in the firſt production of it ;
and the ftrata or beds within lie as even . This I am
fure of, that this difpofition of the elements, and the
parts ofthe earth, outward and inward, hath fomething
irregular and unnatural in it, and manifeftly fhews us the
marks , or footſteps of ſome kind of ruin and diffolution ;
which we ſhall ſhew you, in its due place, happened in
fuch a way, that at the fame time a general flood of wa
ters would neceffarily over-run the face of the whole
earth. And by the fame fatal blow, the earth fell out
VOL. I. E
32 The Deluge and
of that regular form, wherein it was produced at firſt,
into all theſe irregularities which we fee in its prefeut
form and compofition ; fo that we fhall give thereby a
double fatisfaction to the mind, both to fhew it a fair
and intelligible account of the general deluge, how the
waters came upon the earth, and how they returned into
their channels again, and left the earth habitable ; and
likewife to fhew it how the mountains were brought
forth, and the channel of the fea difcovered ; how all
thofe inequalities came in the body or face of the earth,
and thoſe empty vaults and caverns in its bowels ; which
things are no lefs matter of admiration than the flood
itſelf.
But I muſt beg leave to draw a curtain before the
1 work for a while, and to keep your patience a little in
fufpence, till materials are prepared, and all things rea
dy to reprefent and explain what we have propofed .
Yet I hope, in the mean time, to entertain the mind
with ſcenes no leſs pleafing, though of quite another
face and order ; for we muſt now return to the beginning
of the world, and look upon the firſt rudiments of na
ture, and that dark but fruitful womb, out of which all
things fprang, I mean the chaos : for this is the matter
which we muſt next work upon, and it will be no un
pleafing thing to obferve, how that rude mafs will ſhoot
itſelfinto feveral 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 mea
fure, 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 fituation of the ocean, or the great abyfs , in that firſt
ftate of nature : which two things being determined, we
fhall be able to make a certain judgment, what kind of
diffolution that earth was capable of, and whether from
that diffolution an univerfal deluge would follow, with all
the confequences of it.
In the mean time, for the eaſe and fatisfaction of the
reader, we will here mark the order and diſtribution of
Diffolution of the Earth. 33 1
the firſt book, which we divide into three ſections ;
whereof the firſt is thefe three chapters paft : in the ſe
cond fection we will fhew, that the earth before the de
luge was of a different frame and form from the preſent
earth ; and particularly of fuch a form as made it
.fubject to a diffolution, and to fuch a diffolution as did
neceffarily expofe it to an univerfal deluge. And in this
place we ſhall apply our diſcourſe particularly to the ex
plication of Noah's flood, and that under all its condi
tions of the height of the waters, of their univerfality,
of the deftruction of the world by them, and of their
retiring afterwards from the earth ; and this fection will
confift ofthe fourth, fifth, fixth, feventh and eighth cha
pters. In the third fection we prove the fame diffoluti
on from the effects and confequences of it, or from the
contemplation of the prefent face of the earth : and here
an account is given of the origin of mountains, of ſub
terraneous waters and caverns, of the great channel of
the fea, and ofthe firſt production of iſlands ; and thoſe
things are the contents of the ninth, tenth, and cleventh
chapters. Then in the laft chapter, we make a gene
ral review of the whole work , and a general review of
nature ; that by comparing them together, their full a
greement and correſpondency may appear. Here féveral
collateral arguments are given for confirmation of the
preceeding theory, and fome reflections are made upon
the ſtate of the other planets compared with the earth.
And laſtly, what accounts foever have been given by
others, of the preſent form and irregularities ofthe earth,
are examined and fhewed infufficient. And this feem
eth to be all that is requifite upon this fubject.
E 2
34 The Deluge and
CHA P. IV.
That the earth and mankind had an original, and were not
from eternity; proved againſt Ariſtotle. Thefirstpro
pofition of our theory laid down, viz. That the antedilu
vian earth was of a different form and conftruction from
the prefent. This is proved by divine authority, and
from the nature andform of the chaos, out ofwhich the
earth was made.
WE are now to enquire into the original of the earth,

and in what form it was built at firft, that we may lay
our foundation for the following theory deep and fure.
It hath been the general opinion and conſent of the
learned of all nations, that the earth aroſe from a chaos .
This is attefted by hiſtory both facred and profane´; on
ly Ariftotle, whom fo great a part of the chriftian
world have made their oracle or idol, hath maintained
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 wo
men and all living creatures, trees and fruit, metals and
minerals, and whatſoever is of natural production . We
fay all theſe things arofe and had their firft exiſtence or
production not fix thouſand years ago : he faith, they
have fubfifted thus for ever, through an infinite feries of
paft generations, and fhall 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 fub
ject of our difcourfe, and therefore we muſt firſt remove`
this ſtone out ofthe way, and prove that the earth had
an original, and that from a chaos, before we fhew how
it arofe from a chaos , and what was the firſt habitable
form that it fettled into.
We are affured by divine authority, that the earth and
mankind had a beginning : Mofes faith, In the begin
ning God made the heavens aud the earth. Speaking it as
of a certain period or term, from whence he counts the
age of the world. And the fame Mofes tells us, that
Adam was the firſt man, and Eve the first woman, from
whom ſprung the race of mankind ; and this within the
compafs of fix thouſand years. We are alſo affured from
the prophets, and our Chriſtian records, that the world
fhall have an end, and that by a general conflagration,
when all mankind fhall be deſtroyed, with the form and
all the furniture of the earth . And as this proves the
fecond part of Ariftotle's doctrine to be falfe immediate
ly, fo doth it the firft, by a true confequence ; for
what hath an end had a beginning, what is not immor
tal, was not eternal : that which exifts by the ftrength
of its own nature at firft, the fame nature will enable to
exift for ever ; and indeed what exifts of itſelf, exifts
neceffarily ; and what exiſts neceſſarily, exiſts eternally.
Having this infallible affurance of the origin of the
earth and of mankind from ſcripture, we proceed to re
fute the fame doctrine of Ariſtotle's by natural reaſon.
And we will firſt confider the form of the earth, and
then mankind ; and fhew, from plain evidence and ob
ſervation, neither of them to have been eternal. It is
natural to the mind of man to confider that which is
compound, as having been once more fimple ; whether
that compofition 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 confifts
of a multitude of pieces aptly joined, we cannot but
conceive to have had thoſe pieces , at one time or another,
put together. It were hard to conceive an eternal
watch, whoſe pieces were never ſeparate one from anơ
ther, nor ever in any other form than that of a watch .
Or an eternal houſe, whoſe materials were never afun
der, but always in the form of an houſe. And it is as
hard to conceive an eternal earth, or an eternal world :
theſe are made up of more various fubftances, more in
gredients, and into a far greater compofition ; and the
living part of the world, plants and animals, have much
more variety of parts and multifarious conftruction, than
any houſe, or any other artificial thing : fo that we arc
E 3
36 The Deluge and
led as much by nature and neceffity, to conceive this
great machine of the world, or of the earth, to have
been once in a 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 fpeak without reference to immediate creation, for A
riftotle did not own any fuch thing, and + therefore the
argument ftands good against him, upon thofe grounds
and notions that he goes ; yet I gueſs what anfwer
would be made by him or his followers to this argu
mentation ; they would fay, there is not the fame reaſon
for natural things, as for artificial, though equally com
pounded. Artificial things could not be from eternity,
becauſe they fuppofe man, by whofe 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 fame thing be faid of natural
things ? Do not moſt of them require the action ofthe
T fun, and the influence of the heavens for their producti
on, and longer preparations than any artificial things
do ? Some years or ages would be neceffary for the con
coction and maturation of metals and minerals ; ſtones
themfelves, at leaſt ſome forts of them, were once li
quors, or fluid maffes ; and all vegetable productions re
quire the heat of the fun, to pre-diſpoſe and excite the
earth and the feeds. Nay, according to Ariftotle, it is
not man by himſelf that begets a man, but the fun is his
coadjutor. You fee then it was as neceflary that the fun,
that great workman of nature, ſhould pre-exiſt to
natural things, produced in, or upon the earth, as that
inan fhould pre-exiſt to artificial. So that the earth, un
der that form and conftitution it now hath, could no more
be eternal, than a ſtatue or temple, or any work of art,
Befides, that form, which the earth is under at pre
fent, is in fome fort preternatural, like a ſtatue made and
broken again ; and fo hath ſtill the lefs appearance or
pretence of being eternal . If the elements had lain in
that order, to one another, as Ariſtotle hath difpofed
them , and as feems to be their firſt difpofition ; the earth
altogether in a mafs in the middle, or towards the cen
tre ; then the water in a ſpherical maſs about that ; the
airabove the water, and thena ſphere of fire, as he fanci
ed, in the higheſt circle of the air : if they hadlain, I fay,
in this poſture, there might have been fome pretence that
they had been eternally fo ; becauſe that might ſeem to
be their original poſture, in which nature had firſt placed
them . But the form and poſture we find them in at
preſent is very different, and according to his doctrine.
muſt be looked upon as unnatural and violent ; and no
violent ftate, by his own maxim, can be perpetual, or
can have been fo.
But there is ſtill a more preſſing conſideration againſt
this opinion. If this prefent ftate and form of the earth
had been from eternity, it would have long ere this de
ſtroyed itſelf, and changed itſelf : the mountains finking
by degrees into the valleys, and into the fea, and the
waters rifing above the earth ; which form it would cer
tainly have come into, fooner or later, and in it conti
nued drowned and uninhabitable, for all fucceeding ge
nerations. For it is certain, that the mountains and
higher parts of the earth grow leffer and leffer from age
to age ; and that from many cauſes, fometimes the roots
of them are weakened, and eaten by fubterraneous fires,
and ſometimes they are torn and tumbled down by earth
quakes, and fall into thoſe caverns that are under them ;
and though thoſe violent cauſes are not conftant, or uni
verfal, 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 reached them all fooner or latter, if through infi
nite ages they had ſtood expoſed to them. But there
$
are alfo other cauſes that confume them infenfibly, and
make them fink by degrees : and thoſe are chiefly the
winds, rains, and ſtorms, and heat of the fun without ;
and within, the foaking of water and fprings, with
ftreams and currents in their veins and crannies . Thefe
two forts of caufes would certainly reduce all the moun
tains of the earth, in tract of time, to equality ; or ra
38 The Deluge and
ther lay them all under water : for whatſoever moulders,
or is washed away from them, is carried down into the
lower grounds, and into the fea, and nothing is ever
brought back again by any circulation : their loffes are
not repaired, 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 neceffity at length
come to an equality ; and the waters that lie in the
lower parts and in the channels, thoſe channels and
valleys being filled up with earth, would be thruſt out
and rife every where upon the furface ofthe earth ; which
new poft, when they had once feized on, they would
never quit, nor would any thing be able to difpoffefs
them ; for it is their natural place and fituation which
they always tend to, and from which there is no progrefs
nor regrefs in a courfe of nature. So that the earth
would have been, both now, and from innumerable ge
nerations before this, all under water and uninhabitable,
ifit had ſtood from everlaſting, and this form of it had
been its first original form .
Nor can he doubt of this argumentation, that confi
ders the coherence of it, and will allow time enough for
the effect. I do not ſay the earth would be reduced to
this uninhabitable form in ten thousand years time,
though I believe it would : but take twenty, if you
+ pleaſe, take an hundred thouſand, take a million , it is
all one, for you may take the one as eaſily as the other
out of eternity ; and they make both equally againſt their
fuppofition . Nor is it any matter how little you fuppofe
the mountains to decreaſe, it is but taking more time,
and the fame effect ſtill follows. Let them but waſte as.
much as a grain of muſtard -ſeed every day, or a foot in
8
$ 000 an age, this would be more than enough in ten thouſand
ages to confume the talleſt mountain upon earth . The
air alone, and the little drops of rain have defaced the
ſtrongeſt and the proudest monuments of the Greeks and
Romans ; and allow them but time enough, and they
will of themſelves beat down the rocks into the fea, and
and the hills into the valleys . But if we add to theſe
all thoſe other forementioned caufes that work with
more violence, and the weight of the mountains them
felves, which, upon any occafion offered, is ready to
fink them lower, we ſhall ſhorten the time, and make
the effect more fure.
We need add no more here in particular againſt this
Ariftotelian doctrine, that makes the prefent form of the
earth to have been from eternity ; for the truth is, this
whole book is one continued argument againſt that opi
nion; fhewing that it hath de facto changed its form ;
both in that we have proved that it was not capable of
an univerfal deluge in this form, and confequently was
once under another ; and alſo in that we fhall prove at
large hereafter throughout the third and fourth fections,
that it hath been broken and diffolved. We might alſo
add one confideration 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 faith, The heavens and the earth that are now,
as oppoſed to the antediluvian, and confidered in their
prefent form and conftitution, are fitted to be confumed
by fire. And whoſoever underſtands the progreſs and
revolutions of nature, will fee that neither the preſent
form of the earth, nor its firſt form, were permanent
and immutable forms, but tranfient and temporary by
their own frame and conſtitution ; which the author of
nature, after certain periods of time, had defigned for
change and for deſtruction .
Thus much for the body of the earth, that it could
not have been from eternity, as Ariftotle pretended, in
the form it hath. Now let us conſider the origination
of mankind ; and that we ſhall find could much lefs be
eternal than the other ; for whatſoever deſtroyed 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
40 The Deluge and,
foever, are but of a few thouſand years date ; we have
ſtill the memory of the golden age, of the firſt ſtate of
nature, and how mortals lived then in innocency and
fimplicity. The invention of arts, even thofe that are
neceflary or ufeful to human life, hath been within the
knowlege of men : how imperfect was the geography of
the ancients, how imperfect their knowlege of the earth,
how imperfect their navigation ! Can we imagine, if
there had been men from everlaſting, a fea as now, and
all materials for ſhipping as much as we have, that men
could have been fo ignorant both of the land and of the
fea, as it is manifeft 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 the world, which we give it,
that men fhould not have made more progrefs in the
knowlege of theſe things ; but how impoffible is it then,
if you fuppofe them to have been from everlaſting ?
They had the fame wit and paffions that we have,
the fame motives that we have ; can we then imagine,
that neither the ambition of princes, nor intereſt or gain
in private perfons, nor curiofity and the defire of know.
lege, nor the glory of difcoveries, nor any other paffi
onor confideration, could ever move them in that endleſs
time, to try their fortunes upon the fea, and know
fomething more of the world they inhabited ? Though
you ſhould ſuppoſe them generally ftupid, which there is
no reaſon to do, yet in a courfe of infinite generations,
there would be fome great genii, fome extraordinary
perfons, that would attempt things above the reſt. We
have done more within the compafs of our little world,
which we can but count (as to this) from the general
deluge, than thoſe eternal men had done in their innu
merable ages foregoing.
You will fay, it may be, they had not the advantages
and opportunities for navigation as we have, and for
difcoveries ; becauſe the ufe of the loadſtone, and the
mariners needle was not then known. But that is the
wonder, that either that invention , or any other, fhould
not be brought to light till the other day, if the world
had ſtood from eternity . I ſay this or any other practi
cal invention ; for fuch things , when they are once found
out and known, are not eaſily loſt again, becauſe they
are of daily uſe. And it is in moſt other practical arts,
as in navigation, we generally know their original and
hiſtory ; who the inventors, and by what degrees im
proved, 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 difcipline ; 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 ele
ments ; 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 . 1. 7. c. 56. and that we may
think nothing eternal here, they tell us the ages and ge.
nealogies 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 clothing, me
dicines 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 inventreffes were
deified . The world hath not ſtood fo long but we can
ſtill run it up to thofe artless ages , when mortals lived
by plain nature ; "when there was but one trade in the
world, one calling, to look to their flocks ; and after
wards 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
42 The Deluge and
naturally fociable and inclined to live in a community, a
little time would make them find out and furnish them
felves with what was neceſſary in theſe two kinds, for
the conveniencies of fingle life, and the conveniencies
of focieties ; they would not have lived infinite ages un
provided of them . If you fay neceffity is the mother of
arts and inventions, and there was no neceffity be
fore, and therefore theſe things were ſo ſlowly invented ;
this is a good anſwer upon our fuppofition, that the
world began but ſome ages before theſe were found out,
and was abundant with all things at firft ; and men not
very numerous, and therefore were not put ſo much to
the uſe of their wits, to find out ways for living commo
diouſly. But this is no anſwer upon their fuppofition ;
for if the world was eternal, and men too, there were
no firſt ages, no new and freſh earth ; men were never
lefs numerous, nor the earth more fruitful ; and confe
quently 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 man
kind. It is certain the world was not fo populous one
or two thouſand years fince, as it is now, feeing it is
obferved in particular nations, that within the ſpace of
two or three hundred years, notwithſtanding all cafual
ties, the number of men doubles . If then the earth had
ſtood from everlaſting, it had been overſtocked long ere
this, and would not have been capable to contain its in
habitants many ages and millions of ages ago. Where
as we find the earth is not yet fufficiently inhabited, and
there is ftill room for fome millions. And we must not
fly to univerfal 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 uſe
ful in human life ; then for theoretical learning and ſci
ences,
ences, there is nothing yet finiſhed or complete in thefe ;
and what is known hath been chiefly the production of
latter ages. * How little hath been diſcovered till of late,
either of our own bodies, or of the body of the earth,
and of the fuctions or motions of nature in either ?
What more obvious, one would think, than the circu
lation of the blood ? What can more excite our curio
fity than the flowing and ebbing of the fea ? Than the
nature of metals and minerals ? Theſe are either yet un
known, or were fo at leaſt till this laſt age ; which
ſeems to me to have made a greater progreſs than all
ages before put together, fince the beginning of the
world. How unlikely is it then that theſe ages were e
ternal ? That the eternal ſtudies ofour fore-fathers could
not effect ſo much as a few years have done of late ?
And the whole maſs of knowlege in this earth doth not
ſeem to be ſo great, but that a few ages more, with two
or three happy geniuſes in them, may bring to light all
that we are capable to underſtand in this ſtate of mor
tality.
To thefe arguments concerning the novelty of the
earth and the origin of mankind, I know there are ſome
fhuffling excuſes made, but they can have little effect up
on thofe inſtances we have chofen. And I would afk
thofe eternaliſts one fair queftion, What mark is there
that they could expect or defire 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 pofitive argument, and againſt all appear
ances in nature, it may be juftly rejected as unreafon
able upon all accounts. It is not the bold afferting of a
thing that makes it true, or that makes it credible againſt
evidence. If one fhould affert that fuch an one had
1
lived from all eternity, and I could bring witneſſes that
•
knew him a fucking-child, and others that remembered
him a ſchool-boy, I think it would be a fair proof, that
the man was not eternal. So ifthere be evidence, ei
ther in reafon or hiſtory, that it is not very many ages
fince nature was in her minority, as appears by all thoſe
VOL. I. F
44 The Deluge and
inftances we have given above ; fome whereof trace her
down 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 philofo
phically, giving an account of the feveral ftates of man
kind in feveral ages, and by what ſteps or degrees they
came from their firſt rudeness or fimplicity to that order
of things, both intellectual and civil, which the world
is advanced to at prefent, 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 origi
nal, by what degrees it increaſed, and how it changed .
its form and government, till it came to its greatneſs,
' doth fatisfy us very well, that the Roman empire was
not eternal.
Thus much concerning the temporal original of the
earth. We are now to confider the manner of it, and
to fhew how it rofe from a chaos. I do not remember
that any of the ancients, that acknowlege the earth to
have had an original, did deny that original to have been
from a chaos. We are affured of both from the autho
rity of Mofes, who faith, that in the beginning the earth
was tobu bohu, without form and void ; a fluid, dark,
confufed mafs, 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 confent
of interpreters both Hebrew and Chriſtian. We need
not therefore ſpend any time here to prove, that the ori
gin of the earth was from a chaos, feeing that it is a
greed on by all that give it any origin. But we will
proceed immediately to examine into what form it first
rofe when it came out of that chaos ; or what was the
primaeval form of the earth, that continued till the de
luge, and how the deluge depended upon it, and upon
its diffolution.
And that we may proceed in this enquiry by fuch ca
fyfteps as any one may readily follow, we will divide it
into three propofitions, whereof the first is this in gene
ral ; That the form of the 1 antediluvian earth, or of the

earth that rofe first from the chaos, was different from the
form of the prefent earth. I fay, different in general,
without fpecifying yet what its particular form was,
which ſhall be expreffed in the following propofition.
This firſt propofition we have in effect proved in the
fecond chapter ; where we have fhewn, 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
effe&ted without fuch an infinite mafs of water as could
neither be brought upon the earth, nor afterwards any
way removed from it. But we will not content our
felves with that proof only, but will prove it alfo from
the nature of the chaos, and the manifeſt conſequences
of it. And becauſe this is a leading propofition, we
think it not improper to prove it alſo from divine autho
rity, there being a pregnant paffage to this purpoſe in
the writings of St. Peter. Where treating of this very
fubject, the deluge, he manifeftly puts a difference be
tween the antediluvian earth and the preſent earth, as to
their form and conſtitution. The difcourfe is in the fe
cond epiftle of St. Peter, the third chapter, where cer
tain deifts, as they ſeem to have been, laughed at the
prophecy of the day ofjudgment, and of the conflagra
tion ofthe world, ufing this argument againſt it, That
fince the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as
they werefrom the beginning. All external nature hath
continued the fame without any remarkable change or
alteration, and why ſhould we believe, fay they, there
will be any? What appearance, or what foundation is
there of fuch a revolution, that all nature will be dif
folved, and the heavens and the earth confumed with
fire, as your prophecies pretend ? So from the perma
nency and immutability of nature hitherto, they argued
its permanency and immutability for the future. To
this the Apoſtle anfwers, that they are willing to forget,
that the heavens and the earth of old had a particular
form and conftitution as to water, by reaſon whereof the
world, that then was, perished by a deluge. And the
F 2
46 The Deluge and
heavens and the earth that are now, or ſince the deluge,
have a particular conſtitution in reference to fire, by rea
fon whereof they are expofed to another fort of deſtru
&tion or diffolution, namely by fire, or by an univerſal
conflagration. The words of the apoſtle, chap . iii.
5, 6, 7. are thefe ; For this they are willingly ignorant of,
that bythe word of God the heavens were ofold, and the
earth, confifting of water, and by water ; or (as we ren
der it) ftanding out ofthe water, and in the water ; where
by the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
periled. But the heavens and the earth that are now, by
the fame word are kept inftore, referved unto fire against
the day ofjudgment. We fhall have occaſion , it may be,
hereafter to give a full illuſtration of theſe words ; but
at prefent we fhall only take notice of this in general,
that the apoſtle here doth plainly intimate fome difference
that was between the old world and the preſent world,
in their form and conftitution ; or betwixt the antedilu
vian and the prefent earth , by reaſon of which difference,
that was fubject to periſh by a deluge, as this is ſubject
to perith by conflagration. And as this is the general
air and importance of this diſcourſe of the apoſtle, which
every one at firſt fight would diſcover ; ſo we may in fe
veral particular ways prove from it our firſt propoſition,
which now we muſt return to ; (viz. ) That the form
and conftitution ofthe antediluvian carth was differentfrom
that of the prefent earth. This may be inferred from the
apoftle's difcourfe, firft, becauſe he makes an oppofition
betwixt thefe two earths, or theſe two natural worlds ;
T
and not only in reſpect of their fate, the one periſhing
by water, as the other will perish by fire, but alſo in re
fpect oftheir different difpofition and conſtitution leading
to this different fate ; for otherwiſe his fifth verfe is fu
perfluous, and his inference in the fixth ungrounded.
You fee he premiſeth in the fifth verfe as the ground of
his difcourfe, what the conftitution of the antediluvian
heavens and earth was, and then infers from it in the
fixth verfe, that they therefore periſhed in a deluge of
water. Now if they had been the fame with ours, there
had neither been any ground for making an oppofition
betwixt them, nor any ground of making a contrary in
ference as to their fate. Befides , in that he implies that
the conftitution of the antediluvian earth was fuch, as
made it ſubject to a deluge ; he fhews that it was diffe
rent from the conſtitution of the prefent earth ; for the
form of that is fuch, as makes it rather incapable of a de
luge, as we have fhewn in the ſecond chapter. Then
we are to obſerve further, that when he faith , (v.6 . ) that
the first world perished in a deluge, or was deſtroyed 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 deſcribed it before by
the heavens and the earth, which make the natural
world. And the objection of the Atheiſts, or Deifts
rather, which he was to anfwer, proceeded upon the
natural world. And lastly, this periſhing of the world
in a deluge, is fet againſt, or compared with the periſh
ing of the world in the conflagration, when the frame
1 of nature will be diffolved. We muſt therefore, accord
ing to the tenor of the apoſtle's arguing, fuppofe, that
the natural world was deſtroyed or periſhed in the de- .
luge ; and feeing it did not periſh as to matter and ſub
ftance, it muſt be as to the form, frame and compofition
of it, that it periſhed ; and confequently, the preſent
earth is, of another form and frame from what it had be
fore the deluge ; which was the thing to be proved.
Laſtly, Let us confider 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 fo and fo conſtituted, after a different man
ner than they are now, and that the ſtate of nature was
changed at the deluge ; if they had known or attended
to this, they had made no fuch objection, nor uſed any
fuch argument as they did againſt the future conflagrati
on of the world. They pretended that there had been
no change in nature fince the beginning, and the apoſtle
F 3
48 The Deluge and
in anſwer tells them, that they are willingly ignorant of
the firſt conſtitution of the heavens, and the earth, and
of that change and diffolution that happened to them in
the deluge ; and how the preſent heavens and earth have
another conſtitution, whereby in like manner they are
expofed, in God's due time, to be confumed or diffolv
ed by fire. This is the plain, eafy and natural import
ofthe apostle's difcourfe ; thus all the parts of it are co
herent, and the fenfe genuine and appofite, and this is
a full confirmation of our firft and general affertion,
That the antediluvian earth was of another form from the
prefent earth. This hath been obferved formerly by ſome
of the ancients from this text ; but that it hath not been
generally obferved, was partly becauſe they had no theo
ry to back fuch an interpretation , and make it intelli
gible ; and partly becauſe they did not obferve, that the
apoftie's difcourfe here was an argumentation, and not a
bare affirmation, or fimple contradiction to thoſe
that raiſed the fcruple ; it is an anſwer upon a ground
taken ; he premiſeth, and then infers, in the fifth and
fixth verfes, concerning the deluge ; and in the ſeventh,
concerning the conflagration . And when I had difco
vered in my thoughts from the confideration of the de
luge, and other natural reaſons, that the earth was cer
tainly once in another form, it was a great affurance and
confirmation to me, when I reflected on this place of
St. Peter's ; which feems to be fo much directed and in
tended for the fame purpoſe, or to teach us the fame
conclufion, that though I deſigned chiefly a philofophi
cal 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 paffage and facred evidence ; which
feems to have been left us on purpoſe to excite our en
quiries, and ſtrengthen our reaſonings, concerning the
firit ftate of things. Thus much from divine authori
ty: we proceed now to prove the fame propofition from
reafon and philofophy, and the contemplation of the
chaos, from whence the first earth aroſe.
We need not upon this occaſion make a particular de
fcription of the chaos, but only confider it as a fluid
mafs, or a maſs of all forts of little parts and particles
of matter mixed together, and floating in confufion , one
with another. It is impoffible that the furface of this
mafs fhould be of ſuch a form and figure, as the ſurface
of our preſent earth is : or that any concretion or con
fiftent ftate which this maſs could flow into immediately,
or firſt ſettle in, could be of fuch a form and figure as
our preſent earth. The firſt of theſe aſſertions is of ea
fy proof ; for a fluid body, we know, whether it be
water or any other liquor, always cafts itſelf into a
fmooth and fpherical furface ; and if any parts, by
chance, or by fome agitation, become higher than the
reſt, they do not continue fo, but glide down again eve
ry way into the lower places, till they all come to make
a ſurface of the fame height, and of the fame diſtance
every where from the center of their gravity. A moun
tain of water is a thing impoſſible in nature, and where
there are no mountains there are no valleys. So alfo a
den or cave within the water, that hath no walls but
the liquid element, is a ſtructure unknown to art or na
ture ; all things there muſt be full within, and even and
level without, unleſs fome external force keep them by
violence in another poſture. But is this the form of our
earth, which is neither regularly made within nor with
out ? The ſurface and exterior parts are broken into all
forts of inequalities, hills and dales, mountains and val
leys ; and the plainer tracts of it lie generally inclined
or bending one way or other, fometimes upon an eaſy
defcent, and other times with a more ſenſible and unea
fy 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 the face of
the earth fhould reſemble the face of the calmeſt ſea, if
it was ſtill in the form of its firſt maſs. But what ſhall
we fay then to the huge mountains of the earth, which lie
fometimes in lumps or cluſters heapt up by one another,
fometimes extended in long ridges or chains, for many
hundred miles in length ? And it is remarkable, that in
50 The Deluge and
every continent, and in every antient and original iſland,
there is either fuch a cluſter, or fuch a chain of moun
tains. And can there be any more palpable demonſtra
tions than theſe are, that the ſurface of the earth is not
in the fame form that the furface of the chaos was, or
that any ftuid mafs can ſtand or hold itſelf in ?
Then for the form of the earth within or under its fur
face, it is no leſs impoſſible for the chaos to imitate that;
for it is full of cavities and empty places, of dens and
broken holes, whereof ſome are open to the air, and o
thers covered and encloſed wholly within the ground.
Theſe are both of them unimitable in any liquid fub
ſtance, whoſe parts will neceffarily flow together into
one continued maſs, and cannot be divided into apart
ments and ſeparate rooms, nor have vaults or caverns
made within it ; the walls would fink, and the rooffall
in : for liquid bodies have nothing to ſuſtain their parts,
nor any thing to cement them ; they are all looſe and in
coherent, and in a perpetual flux : even an heap of fand
or fine powder will fuffer no hollowneſs within them,
though they be dry ſubſtances, and though the parts of
them, being rough, will hang together a little, and ſtand
a little upon an heap ; but the parts of liquors being
glib, and continually in motion, they fall off from one
another, which way foever gravity inclines them, and
can neither have any hills or eminencies on their furface,
nor any hollownefs within their ſubſtance.
You will acknowlege, 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
confiftency and firmnefs, then it might go, you will fay,
into any form. No, not in its firſt concretion, nor in
its firft ftate of confiftence ; for that would be of the
fame form that the furface of it was when it was liquid,
as water when it congeals, the ſurface of the ice is fmooth
and level, as the furface of the water was before ; fo me
tals, or any other ſubſtances melted, or liquors that of
themſelves grow ftiff and harden, always fettle into the
fame form which they had when they were laft liquid,
and are always folid within, and ſmooth without, unleſs
they be caft in a mould, that hinders the motion and
flux of the parts. So that the firſt concrete ſtate or con
fiftent furface of the chaos muſt be of the fame form or
figure with the laſt liquid ſtate it was in ; for that is the
mould, as it were, upon which it is caft ; as the fhell of
an egg is of a like form with the furface of the liquor it
lies upon. And therefore by analogy with all other li
quors and concretions , the form of the chaos , whether
liquid or concrete , could not be the fame with that of
the preſent earth, or like it : and confequently, that form
ofthe firſt or primigenial earth, which rofe immediately
out of the chaos , 匪 was not the fame, nor like to that of
the prefent earth ; which was the firſt and preparatory
propofition we laid down to be proved . And this being
proved by the authority both of our reafon and our re
ligion, we will now proceed to the fecond, which is more
particular .
CHAP. V.
The fecond propofition is laid down, viz . That the face of

the earth, before the deluge , was fmooth , regular, and
uniform ; without mountains , and without a ſea. The
chaos out of which the world rofe is fully examined, and
all its motions obferved, andby what fteps it wrought it
felfinto an habitable world. Some things in antiquity
relating to the first state of the earth are interpreted,
andfome things in thefacred writings . The divine art
and geometry in the construction of the first earth is ob
ferved and celebrated.
WE have ſeen it proved, in the foregoing chapter,

that the form of the firſt or antediluvian earth was not
This
the fame, nor-like the form of the preſent earth.
is our firſt diſcovery at a distance, but it is only general
and negative , tells us what the form of that earth was
not, but tells us not exprefly what it was ; that must be
52 The Deluge and
our next enquiry, and advancing one ſtep farther in our
theory, we lay down this fecond propofition : that the
face of the earth before the deluge, wassmooth, regular,
and uniform ; without mountains, and without afea. 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 fcenes and pro
fpects from ours, or from any thing we have yet known.
An earth without a fea, and plain as the Elyſian fields ;
if you travel it all over, you will not meet with a moun
tain or a rock, yet well provided of all requifite things
for an habitable world ; and the fame 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 for
mation from a chaos, was of the form here deſcribed,
and fo continued for:many hundreds of years.
To examine and prove this, we muſt return to the
beginning ofthe world, and to that chaos out of which
the earth and all fublunary things arofe : it is the motions
and progrefs of this, which we muſt now confider, and
what form it fettled into when it firſt became an habitable
world.
Neither is it perhaps ſuch an intricate thing as we i
magine at firſt fight, to trace a chaos into an habitable
world ; at leaſt there is a particular pleaſure to fee things
in their origin, and by what degrees and fucceffive
changes they rife into that order and flate we fee them in
afterwards, when completed . I am fure, if ever we
would view the paths of divine wiſdom, in the works
and in the conduct of nature, we muſt not only confider
how things are, but how they came to be fo. It is plea
fant to look upon a tree in the fummer, covered with
its green leaves, decked with bloffoms, or laden with
fruit, and caſting a pleafing fhade under its ſpreading
boughs ; but to confider how this tree with all its furni
ture ſprang from a little feed ; how nature ſhaped it, and
fed it, in its infancy and growth ; added new parts, and
;
Pag. 53. Book 1. Fig.1.
!
ftill advanced it by little and little, ' till it came to this
greatneſs and perfection : this, methinks, is another
fort of pleaſure, more rational, leſs common, and which
is properly the contemplation of divine wifdom in the
works of nature. So to view this earth, and this fublu
nary world, as it is now complete, diſtinguiſhed into the
feveral orders of bodies of which it confifts, every one
perfect and admirable in its kind ; this is truly delightful,
and a very good entertainment of the mind : but to fee
all theſe in their firſt feeds, as I may fo fay; to take in
pieces this frame of nature, and melt it down into its
first principles ; and then to obferve how the divine wif 嘉
dom wrought all theſe things out of confufion into or
der, and out of fimplicity into that beautiful compofiti
on we now ſee them in ; this, methinks, is another
kind ofjoy, which pierceth the mind more deep, and is
more fatisfactory. And to give ourſelves and others
this fatisfaction, we will firft make a fhort reprefentation
of the chaos , and then fhew, how according to laws e
ſtabliſhed in nature by the divine power and wiſdom, it
was wrought by degrees from one form into another,
'till it fettled at length into an habitable earth ; and that
of fuch a frame and ſtructure, as we have defcribed in
this fecond propofition .
By the chaos I underſtand the matter of the earth and
heavens, without form or order ; reduced into a fluid 1
maſs, wherein are the materials and ingredients of all
bodies, but mingled in confuſion one with another. As
if you fhould fuppofe all forts of metals, gold, filver,
lead, etc. melted down together in a common maſs, and .
fo mingled, that the parts of no one metal could be dif- .
cerned as diftinct from the reft, this would be a little me
tallic chaos : fuppofe then, the elements thus mingled,
air, water, and earth, which are the principles of all
terreſtrial bodies ; mingled, I fay, without any order of
higher or lower, heavier or lighter, folid or volatile, in
fuch a kind of confufed mafs as is here repreſented in the
firſt ſcheme.
Let this then reprefent to us the chaos in which the
54 The Deluge and
first change that we ſhould imagine to happen would be
this, that the heavieſt and groffeft parts would fink down
towards the middle of it, (for there we ſuppoſe the cen
ter of its gravity) and the reſt would float above. Theſe
groffer parts thus funk down and compreſſed more and
more, would harden by degrees, and conftitute the in
terior parts of the earth : the reſt of the maſs, which
fwims above, would be alſo divided by the fame princi
ple of gravity into two orders of bodies, the one liquid
like water, the other volatile like air. For the more
fine and active parts difentangling 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 groffer than theſe,
and having a more languid motion, could not fly up fe
parate from one another, as theſe did, but fettle in a
mafs together, under the air, upon the body of the
earth, compofing not only water ſtrictly fo called, but
the whole mafs of liquors, or liquid bodies, belonging
to the earth. And theſe firſt feparations being thus
made, the body of the chaos would ftand in that form
which it is here repreſented in by the ſecond ſcheme.
The liquid mafs which encircled the earth was not, as
Inoted before, the mere element of water, but a collecti
on of all liquors that belong to the earth : I mean of all
that do originally belong to it. Now feeing there are
two chief kinds of terreſtrial liquors, thofe that are fat,
oily and light ; and thofe that are lean and more ear
thy, like common water ; which two are generally
found in compound liquors ; we cannot doubt but there
were of both forts in this common maſs of liquids . And
it being well known, that theſe two kinds mixed toge
ther, if left to themſelves and the general action of na
ture, ſeparate one from another when they come to fet
tle, as in cream and thin milk, oil and water, and fuch
like ; we cannot but conclude, that the fame effect
would follow here, and the more oily and light part of
this mafs would get above the other, and ſwim upon it.
The
Pag. 54. . 2.
Book1. Fig
"
Pag. 55. Book 1. Fig. 3.
Pag. 5
C
The whole mafs being divided into two leffer maffes, and
fo the globe would ſtand as we ſee it in the third figure.
Hitherto the changes of the chaos are eaſy and un
queſtionable, and would be diſpatched in a ſhort time ;
we muſt now look over again theſe two great maffes of
the air and water, and confider how their impurities or
groffer parts would be diſpoſed of; for we cannot i
magine but they were both at firſt very muddy and im
pure: and as the water would have its fediment, which
we are not here concerned to look after, fo the great re
gions of the air would certainly have their fediment too ;
for the air was as yet thick, grofs and dark, there being
an abundance of little terreftrial particles fwimming in it
ftill, after the groffeſt were funk down ; which, by their
heavinefs and lumpifh figure, made their way more cafily
and fpeedily. The leffer and lighter which remained,
would fink too, but more flowly, and in a longer time ;
fo as in their defcent they would meet with that oily li
quor upon the face ofthe deep, or upon the watry maſs ,
which would entangle and ſtop them from paffing any
further ; whereupon mixing there with that unctuous
·
fubftance, they compofed a certain flime, or fat, foft,
and light earth, fpread upon the face of the waters ; as
it is reprefented in the fourth figure.
This thin and tender orb of earth increaſed ſtill more
and more, as the little earthy parts that were detained in
i the air could make their way 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 difengage themfelves and defcend.
But this was the general rendezvous, which fooner or
later they all got to , and mingling more and more with
that oily liquor, they fucked it all up at length , and
were wholly incorporate together, and fo began to grow
more ſtiff and firm, making both but one fubftance, which
was the firſt concretion, or firm and confiftent ſubſtance
that rofe upon the face of the chaos. And the whole
globe ftood in this poſture, as in figure the fifth.
It may be, you will fay, we take our liberty, and
VOL. I. G
56 The Deluge and
Pag. 56 Book1Fig 5.
our own time for the feparation of theſe two liquors, the
oily and the earthy, the lighter and the heavier; and
fuppofe that done before the air was cleared of earthy
particles, that fo they might be caught and ſtopt there
in their deſcent. Whereas if all theſe particles were fal
len out ofthe air before that ſeparation was made in the
liquid mafs, they would fall down through the water,
as the first did, and fo no concretion would be made,
nor any earthy cruſt formed upon the face of the waters,
as we here ſuppoſe there was . It is true, there could
be no fuch orb of earth formed there, if the air was
wholly purged of all its earthy parts before the mafs of
liquids began to purify itſelf, and to feparate the oily
parts from the more heavy : but this is an unreaſonable
and incredible fuppofition, if we confider, the maſs of
the air was many thousand times greater than the water,
and would in proportion require a greater time to be pu
rified ; the particles that were in the regions of the air
having a long way to come before they reached the wa
try mafs, and far longer than the oily particles had to
rife from any part of that maſs to the furface of it. Be
fides, we may fuppofe a great many degrees of littleneſs
and lightnefs in thefe earthy particles, fo as many of
them might float in the air a good while, like exhalati
ons, before they fell down. And lastly, We do not
1
fuppofe the feparation of theſe two liquors wholly made
and finiſhed before the purgation of the air began,
though we repreſent them fo for diftinction fake : let
them begin to purify at the fame time, if you pleaſe,
theſe parts rifing upwards, and thofe falling downwards,
they will meet in the middle, and unite and grow into
one body, as we have deſcribed . And this body or new
concretion would be increaſed daily, being fed and ſup
plied both from above and below ; and having done
growing, it would become more dry by degrees, and of
a temper ofgreater confiftency and firmnefs, fo as truly
to reſemble and be fit to make an habitable earth, fuch as
nature intended it for.
But you will further object, it may be, that fuch an
effect as this would indeed be neceffary in fome degree
and proportion, but not in ſuch a proportion, and in
fuch quantity, as would be fufficient to make this cruſt
or concrete orb an habitable earth. This I confefs ap
peared to me at firſt a real difficulty, till I confidered bet
ter the great difproportion 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 lefs in depth and extent than
the regions ofthe air, taken as high as the moon, though
thefe earthy particles we fpeak of were very thinly di
fperfed through thoſe vaſt tracts of the air, when they
came to be collected and amaffed together upon the fur
face of a far leffer ſphere, they would conſtitute a body
of a very confiderable thickneſs and folidity . We fee
the earth fometimes covered with fnow 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 ſtopped and
G 2
58 The Deluge and
heaped up one upon another. But if we ſhould fuppofe
little particles of earth to ſhower down, not only from
the middle region, but from the whole capacity and ex
tent of thofe vaft ſpaces that are betwixt us and the
moon, we could not imagine but thefe would conftitute
1 an orb of earth fome thouſands of times deeper than the
greateft fnow ; which being increafed and fwoln by that
oily liquor it fell into, and incorporated with, it would
be thick, ftrong, and great enough in all reſpects to ren
der it an habitable earth.
We cannot doubt thereforefore but fuch a body as
this would be formed, and would be fufficient in quanti
ty for an habitable earth . Then for the quality of it,
it will answer all the purpoſes of a rifing world. What
can be a more proper feminary for plants and animals,
than a foll of this temper and compofition ? A finer and
lighter fort of earth, mixed with a benign juice, eafy
and obedient to the action of the fun, or of what other
caufes were employed by the author of nature, for the
production of things in the new-made earth. What
fort or difpofition of matter could be more fit and ready
to catch life from heaven, and to be drawn into all forms
that the radiments of life, or the bodies of living crea
tures would require ? What foil more proper for vege
tation 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 fure of, that the learned amongſt the ancients , both
Greeks, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and others, have
defcribed the primigenial foil, Ἰλὺς πρωτογενής, or the
temper of the earth, that was the first fubject for the ge
neration and origin of plants and animals, after fuch a
manner, as is truly expreffed, and I think with advan
tage, by this draught of the primigenial earth .
Thus much concerning the matter of the firft earth.
Let us reflect little upon the form of it alſo, whether
external or internal ; both whereof do manifeftly fhew
themfelves from the manner of its production or forma
tion, As to the external form, you fee it is according
to the propofition we were to prove, Smooth, regular and

uniform, without mountains ; and without afea. And the
proof we have given of it is very eafy: the globe of the
earth could not poſſibly riſe immediately from a chaos
into the irregular form in which it is at prefent. The
chaos being a fluid mafs, which we know doth neceffa
rily fall into a ſpherical furface, whofe parts are equi
diftant from the center, and confequently in an equal
and even convexity one with another. And feeing up
on the diftinction of a chaos and feparation into feveral
elementary maſſes, the water would naturally have a fu
perior place to the earth, it is manifeft, that there could
be no habitable earth formed out of the chaos, unleſs by
fome concretion upon the face of the water. Then laſt
ly, feeing this concrete orb of earth upon the face of the
water would be of the fame form with the furface of the
water it was ſpread upon, there being no cauſes, that we
know of, to make any inequality in it, we muſt con
clude it equal and uniform, and without mountains, as
alſo without a fea ; for the fea and all the mafs of wa
ters was encloſed within this exterior earth, which had
no other bafis or foundation to reſt upon.
The contemplation of theſe things, and of this po
fture of the earth upon the waters, doth ſo ſtrongly
bring to mind certain paffages offcripture (which will re
cur in another place) that we cannot, without injury to
truth, paſs them by here in filence. Paffages that have
fuch a manifeft refemblance and agreement to this form
and fituation of the earth, that they feem vifibly to point
at it ſuch are thoſe expreſſions of the pfalmift, God hath
founded the earth upon thefeas. And in another pfalm ,
fpeaking of the wiſdom and power of God in the creati
on, he faith, To him who alone doth great wonders ; to
him that by wiſdom made the heavens ; to him that extend
ed or stretched out the earth above the waters. What can
be more plain or proper to denote that form ofthe earth
that we have defcribed, and to exprefs particularly the
incloſure of the waters within the earth , as we have re
prefented them ? He faith in another place, By the word
G 3
60 The Deluge and
of the Lord were the heavens made ; he fhut up the waters
of the fea as in bags (for fo the word is to be rendered,
and is rendered by all, except the Engliſh) and laid up
the abyss as inftore-houſes. This, you fee, is very con
formable to that ſyſtem of the earth and fea, which we
have propofed here. Yet there is fomething more ex
prefs than all this, in that remarkable place in the Pro
verbs of Solomon, where wisdom deelaring her antiquity
and exiftence before the foundation of the earth, amongſt
other things faith, Prov. viii . 27. When he prepared the
heavens, I was there : when he drew an orb over thefur
face ofthe abyss ; or when he fet an orb upon the face
of the abyfs. We render it in the English, a compafs,
or circle, but it is more truly rendered an orb or ſphere ;
and what orb or ſpherical body was this, which at the
formation of the earth was built and placed round about
the abyfs, but that wonderful arch, whofe form and
production we have defcribed, encompaſſing the mafs of
waters, which in fcripture is often called the abyss or
deep ? [See Fig. 5. p. 56. This orb is reprefented by the
circle 1. and the abyfs by the region 2.] Laftly, This
fcheme of the firft earth gives light to that place we
mentioned before of St. Peter's, where the firft earth is
faid to confift of water, and by water ; and by reaſon
thereof was obnoxious to a deluge . The first part of
this character is plain from the defcription now given ;
and the fecond will appear in the following chapter. In
the mean time, concerning thefe paffages of fcripture,
which we have cited, we may truly and modeftly fay,
that though they would not, it may be, without a theo
ry premiſed, have been taken or interpreted in this
fenfe ; yet this theory being premiſed, I dare appeal to
any unprejudiced perfon, if they have not a fairer and
eafier, a more full and more emphatical ſenſe, when ap
plied to that form of the earth and fea we are now ſpeak
ing of, than to their prefent form, or to any other we
can imagine
Thus much concerning the external form ofthe firſt
earth. Let us now
1 reflect a little upon the internal form
of it, which confifts of feveral regions, involving one

another like orbs about the fame center, or of the feve
ral elements caft circularly about each other ; as it ap
pears in the fourth and fifth figure. And as we have
noted the external form of this primaeval earth, to have
been marked and celebrated in the facred writings ; fo
likewife in the philofophy and learning of the antients,
there are feveral remains and indications of this internal
form and compofition ofit. For it is obfervable, that
the ancients in treating of the chaos, and in raifing the
world out of it, ranged it into feveral regions or maffes,
as we have done; and in that order fucceffively, rifing
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 fignified commonly
by dark and obfcure names ; as the night, tartarus, o
ceanus, and fuch like, which we have expreffed in their
plain and proper terms. And whereas the chaos, when
it was firſt ſet on work, ran all into diviſions and ſepara
tions of one element from another, which afterwards
were all in fome meaſure united and affociated in this
primigenial earth ; the antients accordingly made conten
tion the principle that reigned in the chaos at firſt, and
then love : the one to expreſs the diviſions, and the o
ther the union of all parties in this middle and common
bond. Theſe, and fuch like notions , which we find in
the writings ofthe antients figuratively and darkly deli
vered, receive a clearer light, when compared with this
theory of the chaos ; which repreſenting every thing
plainly, and in its natural colours, is a key to their
thoughts, and an illuftration of their obfcurer philofo
phy, concerning the original of the world ; as we have
Thewn at large in the Latin treatiſe, L. 2. c. 7 .
There is another thing in antiquity, relating to the
form and conftruction of the earth, which is very re
markable, and hath obtained throughout all learned na-.
tions and ages. And that is the compariſon or refem
blance of the earth to an egg. And this is not fo much
for its external figure, though that be true too, as for
62 The Deluge and
the inward compofition ofit ; confiſting of ſeveral orbs,
one including another, and in that order, as to anſwer
the feveral elementary regions of which the new-made
earth was conſtituted. For if we admit for the yolk a
central fire (which though very reaſonable, we had no
occafion to take notice of in our theory of the chaos) and
ſuppoſe the figure of the earth oval, and a little extend
ed towards the poles , (as probably it was, feeing the
vortex that contains it is fo) thoſe two bodies do very
naturally reprefent one another, as in this ſcheme, which
repreſents the interior faces of both a divided egg or
Pag. 62. Book1.Fig.6
earth. Where, as the two inmoft regions (A. B. ) re

prefent the yolk and the membrane that lies next above
it ; fo 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 underthe ſhell. And confidering that this notion
of the mundane egg, or that the world was oviform, hath
been the fenfe and language of all antiquity , Latins,
Greeks, Perfians, Egyptians, and others, as we have
-rbs, Diffolution of the Earth. 63
wer fhewed elsewhere, [ Tell. Theor. Sac. lib. 2. c. 10. ] I
ade thought it worthy our notice in this place ; ſeeing it re
jka ceives fuch a clear and eafy explication from that origin
no and fabric we have given to the firſt earth, and alſo re
End flects light upon the theory itfelf, and confirms it to be
d no fiction : this notion, which is a kind of epitome, or
he image of it, having been conferved in the moſt antient
ry learning.
ch Thus much concerning the firft earth, its production
or and form ; and concerning our fecond propofition relat
ing to it ; which being proved by reaſon, the laws of
nature, and the motions of the chaos ; then attefted by
antiquity, both as to the matter and form of it ; and
3.
confirmed byfacred writers, we may take it nowfor a well
eſtabliſhed truth, and proceed upon this fuppofition , That
the antediluvian earth was smooth and uniform, without
mountains or fea, to the explication of the univerſal de
luge.
Give me leave only, before we proceed any further,
to annex here a fhort advertiſement, concerning the
caufes ofthis wonderful ſtructure of the firſt earth. It is
true, we have propofed the natural caufes of it, and I
do not know wherein our explication is falfe or defe
ctive ; but in things of this kind we may eaſily be too
credulous . And this ftructure is fo marvellous, that it
ought rather to be conſidered as a particular effect ofthe
divine art, than as the work of nature. The whole
globe of the water vaulted over, and the exterior earth
hanging above the deep, fuftained by nothing but its
own meaſures and manner of conſtruction : a building
without foundation or corner-ſtone. This feems to be
a piece of divine geometry or architecture ; and to this,
I think, is to be referred that magnificent challenge
which God Almighty made to Job, Job xxxviii. 4, 5,
6, 7, etc. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of
the earth? Declare if thou haft underſtanding; Who hath
laid the measures thereof, if thou knoweft ? Or who hath
ftretched the line upon it ? Whereupon are the foundations
thereoffaftened? Or who laid the corner-flone thereof?
64 The Deluge and ·
When the morning ftars fang together, and all the fons of
Godfhoutedfor joy. Mofes alfo, when he had defcribed
the chaos, faith, The Spirit of God moved upon, or fet
brooding upon, the face ofthe waters ; without all doubt
to produce ſome effects there. And St. Peter, when he
fpeaks of the form of the antediluvian earth, how it
flood in reference to the water, adds, By the word of
God, Toy 78 Ots, or by the wifdom of God it
was made fo. And this fame wisdom of God , in the
Proverbs, as we obferved before, takes notice of this
very piece of work in the formation of the earth. When
he fet an orb over the face ofthe deep, I was there. And
Laſtly, the antient philofophers, or at leaſt the beſt of
them, to give them their due, always brought in Mens
or Amor, Aiz et "Epws, as a fupernatural princi
ple to unite and confociate the parts of the chaos ; which
was first done in the compofition of this wonderful arch
of the earth. Wherefore to the great architect, who
made the boundleſs univerfe out of nothing, and formed
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.
C H A P. VI.
The diffolution of the first earth: the deluge enfuing there

upon. And theform of the prefent earth rifing from the
ruins of the firft.
WE have now brought to light the antediluvian earth

out of the dark maſs of the chaos ; and not only de
fcribed the furface of it, [ See Fig. 5, and 6. pag. 56,
and 62. ] but laid open the inward parts, to fhew in
what order its regions lay. Let us now cloſe it up, and
repreſent the earth entire, and in larger proportions,
more like an habitable world ; as in this figure, where
you ſee the fmooth convex of the earth, and may ima
gine the great abyſs ſpread under it : as at the aperture
Pag. 65.
고요
111
LIN
""
a. a. which two are to be the only ſubject of our further
contemplation.
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, fear or fracture in all its body ; no
rocks nor mountains, no hollow caves, nor gaping chan
nels, but even and uniform all over. And the ſmooth
nefs of the earth made the face of the heavens fo too ;
the air was calm and ferene ; none of thofe tumultuary
motions and conflicts of vapours, which the mountains
and the winds cauſe in ours : it was fuited to a golden
age, and to the firſt innocency of nature.
All this you will fay is well, we are got into a plea
fant world indeed, but what is this to the purpose ?
What appearance of a deluge here, where there is not fo
much as a fea, nor half fo 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 loofing the knot, this ties it
the harder. You pretend to fhew us how the deluge
was made, and you lock up all the waters within the
womb of the earth, and fet bars and doors, and a wall
of impenetrable ftrength and thickneſs to keep them
there. And you pretend to fhew 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 fea.
This is all true, and yet we are not fo far from the
fight and diſcovery of thofe things as you imagine ;
draw but the curtain , and theſe ſcenes will appear, or
fomething very like them . We must remember that St.
Peter told us, that the antediluvian earth periſhed, or
was demolished ; and Mofes faith, 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 finful
world, that this abyss was opened, or that the frame of
the earth broke and fell down into the great abyfs. At
this one ſtroke all nature would be changed, and this
66 The Deluge and
fingle action would have two great and vifible effects :
the one tranfient, and the other permanent. Firſt, an
univerfal deluge would overflow all the parts and regi
ons 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 firft and unquestionable ef
fect of this diffolution , and all that world would be de
ftroyed. Then when the agitation of the abyss was
affuaged, and the waters by degrees were retired into
their channels, and the dry land appeared, you would
fee the true image of the prefent earth in the ruins of the
first. The ſurface of the globe would be divided into
land and fea; the land would confift of plains and val
leys and mountains, according as the pieces ofthis ruin
were placed and difpofed : upon the banks of the fea
wouldſtand the rocks, and near the ſhore would be iſlands,
or leffer fragments of earth compaſſed round by water.
Then as to fubterraneous waters, and all fubterraneous
caverns and hollowneffes, upon this fuppofition thoſe
things could not be otherwiſe ; for the parts would fall
hollow in many places in this, as in all other ruins :
and feeing the earth fell into this abyſs, the waters at a
certain height would flow into all thofe hollow places
and cavities ; and would alſo fink and infinuate into ma
ny parts of the folid earth, and though theſe fubterrane
ous 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 efpecially about the roots ofthe
mountains, and the higher parts of the earth; for there
the fides bearing up one againſt the other, they could
not lie fo cloſe at the bottoms, but many vacuities would
be intercepted. Nor are there any other inequalities or
irregularities obfervable in the preſent form of the earth ;
whether in the furface of it, or interior conftruction,
whereof this hypothefis doth not give a ready, fair and in
telligible account ; and doth at one view repreſent them
all to us, with their caufes, as in a glafs : and whether
that glafs be true, and the image anſwer to the original,
if you doubt ofit, we will hereafter examine them piece
by
by piece. But in the first place, we muft confider the

general deluge, how eafily and truly this fuppofition re
prefents and explains it, and anſwers all the properties
and conditions of it.
I think it will be eaſily allowed, that fuch a diffoluti
on ofthe earth as we have propoſed, and fall of it into
the abyss, would certainly make an univerfal deluge ;
and effectually deftroy the old world, which perished in
it. But we have not yet particularly proved this diffolu
tion, and in what manner the deluge followed upon it :
and to affert things in grofs never makes that firm im
preffiom upon our underſtandings, and upon our belief,
as to fee them deduced with their caufes and circumftan
ces ; and therefore we muſt endeavour to fhew what pre
parations there were in nature for this great diffolution,
and after what manner it came to pafs, and the deluge in
confequence of it.
We have noted before, that Mofes imputed the de
luge to the difruption of the abyfs ; and St. Peter, to the
particular conftitution of that earth, which made it ob
noxious to be abforpt in water, fo that our explication
fo far is juftified. But it was below the dignity of thoſe
facred pen-men, or the ſpirit of God that directed them ,
to fhew us the caufes of this difruption , or of this ab
forption ; this is left to the enquiries of men . For it
was never the defign of providence, to give ſuch parti
cular explications of natural things, as fhould make us
idle, or the uſe of reafon unneceſſary ; but on the con
trary, by delivering great conclufions to us, to excite
our curiofity and inquifitiveneſs after the methods, by
which fuch things were brought to paſs : and it may be
there is no greater trial or inftance of natural wiſdom,
than to find out the channel, in which theſe great revo
lutions of nature, which we treat on, flow and fucceed
one another.
·
Let us therefore reſume that ſyſtem of the antediluvi
an earth, which we have deduced from the chaos, and
which we find to anſwer St. Peter's deſcription, and
Mofes's account of the deluge. This earth could not
VOL. I. H
68 The Deluge and
be obnoxious to a deluge, as the apoſtle fuppofeth it to
have been, but by a diffolution ; for the abyss was en
clofed within its bowels. And Mofes doth in effect tell
us, there was fuch a diffolution ; when he faith, The
fountains of the great abyss were broken open. For foun
tains are broken open no otherwiſe than by breaking up
the ground that covers them. We must therefore here
enquire in what order, and from what caufes the frame
of this exterior earth was diffolved, and then we fhall
foon fee how, upon that diffolution, the deluge imme
diately prevailed and overflowed all the parts of it.
I do not think it in the power of human wit to de
1 termine how long this frame would ftand, how many
years, or how many ages ; but one would foon imagine,
that this kind of ſtructure would not be perpetual, nor
laſt indeed many thouſands of years, if one confider the
effect that the heat of the fun would have upon it, and
the waters under it ; drying and parching the one, and
rarefying the other into vapours . For we muſt confider,
that the courfe of the fun at that time, or the poſture of
the earth to the fun , was ſuch, that there was no diver
fity or alternation of feaſons in the year, as there is now ;
by reafon of which alternation , our earth is kept in an e
quality of temper, the contrary ſeaſons balancing one
another ; fo as what moiſture the heat of the fummer
fucks out of the earth, it is repaid in the rains of the
next winter ; and what chaps were made in it, are filled
up again, and the earth reduced to its former conftituti
on. But if we ſhould imagine a continual ſummer, the
earth would proceed in drynefs ftill more and more, and
the cracks would be wider, and pierce deeper into the
fubftance of it : and fuch a continual ſummer there was,
at leaſt an equality of ſeaſons in the antediluvian earth,
as fhall be proved in the following book, concerning
para life. In the mean time, this being fuppofed, let us
confider 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 fun,
within the fpace of fome hundreds of years, would have
redueed this earth to a confiderable degree of dryneſs in
certain parts ; and alſo have much rarefied and exhaled
the waters beneath it : and confider the ftructure of that
globe, the exterior cruft, and the waters lying round
under it, both expoſed to the fun, we may fitly com
pare it to an aeolipile, or an hollow fphere with water
in it, which the heat of the fire rarefies and turns into
vapours and wind . The fun here is as the fire, and the
exterior earth is as the fhell of the aeolipile, and the abyfs
as the water within it ; now when the heat of the fun
had pierced through the ſhell and reached the waters, it
began to rarefy them, and raiſe them into vapours, which
rarefaction made them require more fpace and room than
they needed before, while they lay cloſe and quiet . And
finding themſelves pent in by the exterior earth, they
preffed with violence againſt that arch, to make it yield
and give way to their dilatation and eruption . So we
fee all vapours and exhalations inclofed within the earth,
and agitated there, ftrive to break out, and often ſhake
the ground with their attempts to get loofe. And in the
compariſon we uſed of an aeolipile, if the mouth of it
be ſtopped that gives the vent, the water rarefied will
burft the veffel with its force : and the refemblance of
the earth to an egg, which we uſed before, holds alfo in
this refpect ; for when it heats before the fire, the moi
fture and air within, being rarefied, makes it often burft
the ſhell . And I do the more willingly mention this
laſt compariſon, becauſe I obferve that fome of the anti
ents, when they fpeak of the doctrine of the mundane
egg, fay, that after a certain period of time it was
broken.
But there is yet another thing to be confidered in this
cafe ; for as the heat of the fun gave force to theſe va
pours more and more, and made them more ftrong and
violent ; fo on the other hand, it alſo weakened more
and more the arch of the earth, that was to refift them ;
fucking out the moiſture that was the cement of its parts,
drying it immoderately, and chapping it in fundry pla
ces. And there being no winter then to cloſe up and
H 2
70 The Deluge and
unite its parts, and reſtore the earth to its former ftrength
and compactnefs, it grew more and more diſpoſed to a
diffolution. And at length, thefe preparations in na
ture being made on either fide, the force of the vapours
increaſed, and the walls weakened which fhould have
kept them in, when the appointed time was come, that
all-wife providence had defigned for the punishment of a
finful world, the whole fabric brake, and the frame of
the earth was torn in pieces, as by an earthquake ; and
thofe great portions or fragments, into which it was di
vided, fell down into the abyss, fome in one pofture,
and fome in another.
This is a ſhort and general account how we may con
ceive the diffolution of the firſt earth, and an univerfal
deluge arifing upon it. And this manner of diffoluti
on hath ſo many examples in nature every age, that we
need not infift farther upon the explication of it. The
generality of earthquakes ariſe from like caufes, and of
ten 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 whenfoever it fo happens that the vapours and exha
lations fhut up in the caverns of the earth by rarefacti
on or compreffion come to be ſtraitened, they ftrive e
very way to fet themſelves at liberty, and often break
their prifon, or the cover of the earth that kept them
in ; which earth upon that diſruption falls into the fub
terraneous caverns that lie under it : and if it fo hap
pens that thofe caverns are full of water, as generally
they are, if they be great or deep, that city or tract of
land is drowned. And alfo the fall of fuch a maſs of
earth, with its weight and bulk, doth often force out
the water fo impetuouſly, as to throw it upon all the
country round about. There are innumerable examples
in hiſtory (whereof we fhall mention fome hereafter) of
cities and countries thus fwallowed up, or overflowed,
by an earthquake, and an inundation arifing upon it.
And according to the manner of their fall or ruin, they
either remained wholly under water, and perpetually
drowned, as Sodom and Gomorrah, Plato's Atlantis,

Bura and Helice, and other cities and regions in Greece
and Afia ; or they partly emerged, and became dry land
again ; when (their fituation being pretty high) the wa
ters, after their violent agitation was abated, retired in
to the lower places, and into their channels.
Now ifwe compare theſe partial diffolutions ofthe
earth with an univerfal diffolution, we may as eaſily
conceive an univerfal deluge from an univerfal diffoluti
on, as a partial deluge from a partial. If we can con
ceive a city, a country, an iſland, a continent, thus ab
forpt 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 fuch frequent inftances
in all ages and countries of inundations made in this
manner, and never of any great inundation made other
wife, unleſs in maritime countries, by the irruption of
the fea into grounds that lie low. It is true, they would
not fo cafily imagine this diffolution, becauſe they did
not underſtand the true form of the antediluvian earth ;
but, methinks, the examination of the deluge fhould
have led them to the diſcovery of that : for obferving
the difficulty, or impoffibility of an univerfal deluge,
without the diffolution of the earth ; as alfo frequent in
ftances of thefe diffolutions accompanied with deluges,
where the ground was hollow, and had fubterraneous
waters ; this, methinks, fhould have prompted them
to imagine, that thoſe fubterraneous waters were uni
verfal at that time, or extended quite round the earth ;
fo as a diffolution of the exterior earth could not be
made any where but it would fall into waters, and be
more or lefs overflowed. And when they had once
reached this thought, they might conclude, both what
the form of the antediluvian earth was, and that the de
Juge came to pafs by the diffolution of it. But we rea
fon with eaſe about the finding out of things, when they
are once found out ; and there is but a thin paper-wall
H 3
72 The Deluge and
" fometimes between the great difcoveries, and a perfect
ignorance of them. Let us proceed now to confider,
whether this fuppofition will anfwer all the conditions
of an univerfal deluge, and ſupply all the defects which
we found in other explications .
The great difficulty propofed, was to find water fuffi
cient to make an univerfal deluge reaching to the tops of
the mountains ; and yet that this water ſhould be tran
fient, and after fome time ſhould ſo return into its chan
nels, that the dry land would appear, and the earth be
come again habitable. There was that double impoſſi
bility in the common opinion, that the quantity of wa
ter neceffary for fuch a deluge was no where to be found,
or could no way be brought upon the earth ; and then
ifit was brought, could no way be removed again. Our
explication quite takes off the edge of this objection ;
for, performing the fame effect with a far leſs quantity
1
of water, it is both eaſy to be found, and eaſily removed
when the work is done. " When the exterior earth was
broke, and fell into the abyfs, a good part of it was co
vered with water, by the mere depth of the abyſs it fell
into, and thoſe parts of it that were higher than the a
byfs was deep, and confequently would ſtand above it
in a calm water, were notwithſtanding reached and over
toped by the waves, during the agitation and violent
commotion of the abyfs . For it is not imaginable what
the commotion of the abyss would be upon this diffolu
tion 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 fuppofe a mighty rock , or
heap of rocks to fall from that height, or a great iſland,
or a continent ; thefe would expel the waters out of
their places with fuch a force and violence, as to ſting
them among the higheſt clouds.
It is incredible to what height fometimes great ſtones
and cinders will be thrown, at the eruptions of fiery
mountains ; and the preffure of a great maſs of earth fall
ing into the abyfs, 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 ; and to
the top of any thing that lay in its way, any eminen
cy, high fragment, or new mountain : and then rolling
back again, it would fweep down with it whatſoever it
rushed upon, woods, buildings, living creatures, and
carry them all headlong into the great gulph. Some
times a maſs of water would be quite ſtruck off and ſepa
rate from the reſt, and toffed through the air like a flying
river ; but the common motion of the waves was to
climb up the hills or inclined fragments ; and then re
turn into the valleys and deeps again, with a perpetual
fluctuation going and coming, afcending and defcending,
'till the violence of them being ſpent by degrees, they
ſettled at laſt in the places allotted for them ; where
bounds arefet that they cannot paſs over, that they return
not again to cover the earth, Pfalm civ. 6, 7, 8, 9.
Neither is it to be wondered, that the great tumult of
the waters, and the extremity of the deluge lafted for
fome months ; for befides, that the firſt ſhock and com
motion of the abyfs was extremely violent, from the ge
neral fall of the earth, there were ever and anon ſome
fecondary ruins ; or fome parts of the great ruin, that
were not well ſettled, broke again, and made new commo
tions : and it was a confiderable time before the great
fragments that fell, and their leffer dependencies, could
be fo adjuſted and fitted, as to reft in a firm and im
}
moveable poſture : for the props and ſtays whereby they
leaned one upon another, or upon the bottom of the a
byfs, often failed, either by the incumbent weight, or
1 the violent impulfes of the water againſt them ; and fo
renewed, or continued the diſorder and confufion of the
abyfs. Beſides , we are to obſerve, that theſe great frag
ments falling hollow, they incloſed and bore down with
them under their concave furface a great deal of air ; and
while the water compaffed thefe fragments, and over
74 The Deluge and
flowed them, the air could not readily get out of thoſe
prifons, but by degrees, as the earth and water above
would give way ; fo as this would alſo hinder the ſettle
ment of the abyss, and the retiring of the water into
thofe fubterraneous channels, for fome time. But at
length, when this air had found a vent, and left its place
to the water, and the ruins both primary and fecondary
were fettled and fixed, then the waters of the abyſs began
to fettle 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 fubfidency
of the abyfs (which Mofes alſo hath particularly noted)
and diſcovery of the feveral parts of the earth, would
alſo take up a confiderable time.
Thus a new world appeared, or the earth put on its
new form, and became divided into fea and land ; and
the abyss, which from feveral ages, even from the be
ginning of the world, had lain hid in the womb ofthe
earth, was brought to light and diſcovered ; the greateſt
part of it conftituting our preſent ocean, and the reſt
filling the lower cavities of the earth : upon the land
appeared the mountains and the hills, and the iſlands in
the fea, and the rocks upon the ſhore. And fo the di
vine providence, having prepared nature for fo great a
change, at one ſtroke diffolved the frame of the old
world, and made us a new one out of its ruins, which
we now inhabit fince the deluge. All which things be
ing thus explained, deduced, and ſtated, we now add
and pronounce our third and laft propofition ; That the
difruption ofthe abyss, or diffolution of the primaevalearth,
and its fall into the abyss, was the cauſe of the univerfal
deluge, and ofthe deftruction ofthe old world.
Diffolution of the Earth. , 75
CHA P. VII.
That the explication we have given of an univerfal 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 proved by argument andfrom hiftory. An
examination of Tehom Rabba, or the great abyss, and
that by it the fea cannot be underſtood, nor thefubterra
neous waters, as they are at prefent. What the true
notion andform of it was, collected from Mofes and other
facred writers ; The frequent allufions in fcripture to
the opening andfhutting the abyss, and the particular
file offcripture in its reflections on the origin and the
Obfervations on Deucalion's
formation of the earth. Obfervations
deluge.
WE have now given an account of the firſt great

revolution of nature, and of the univerfal deluge, in a
way that is intelligible, and from caufes that anſwer the
greatness of the effect : we have fuppofed nothing but
what is alſo proved, both as to the first form ofthe
earth, and as to the manner of its diffolution ; and how
far from that would evidently and neceffarily ariſe a ge
neral deluge ; which was that, that put a period to the
old world, and the firſt ſtate of things. And though
all this hath been deduced in due order, and with con
nexion and confequence of one thing upon another, fo
far as I know, which is the true evidence of a theory ;
yet it may not be fufficient to command the affent and
belief offome perfons, who will allow, it may be, and
acknowlege, that this is a fair idea of a poffible deluge
in general, and of the deſtruction of a world by it ; but
this may be only an idea, they will fay; we defire it may
be proved from fome collateral arguments, taken either
from facred hiſtory, or from obfervation, that this hath
really been exemplified upon the earth, and that Noah's
flood came to pass this way. And feeing we have defigned
this first book chiefly for the explication of Noah's de
76 The Deluge and
luge, I am willing to add here a chapter or two extraor
dinary upon this occafion ; to fhew, that what we have
delivered is more than an idea, and that it was in this
very way that Noah's deluge came to pafs. But they
who have not this doubt, and have a mind to fee the if
fue of the theory, may ſkip theſe two chapters, if they
pleaſe, and proceed to the following, where the order is
continued.
To fatisfy then the doubtful in this particular, let us
lay down in the first place that conclufion which they
ſeem to admit, viz. That this is a poffible and confiftent
explication of an univerfal deluge ; and let us fee how
far this would go, if well confidered, towards the proof
of what they defire, or towards the demonftration of
Noah's deluge in particular. It is granted on both
hands, that there hath been a univerfal deluge upon the
earth, which was Noah's deluge ; and it is alſo grant
ed, that we have given a poffible and confiftent idea of
an univerfal deluge : now we have proved, chap . ii . and
iii. that all other ways hitherto aſſigned for the explica
tion of Noah's flood are incongruous or impoffible ;
therefore it came to paſs in that poffible and competent
way which we have propofed. And if we have truly
proved, in the forementioned chapters, the impoffibility
or intelligibility of it in all other ways, this argumen
tation is undeniable . Beſides, we may argue thus,-as it
is granted that there hath been an univerſal deluge upon
the earth ; fo, I ſuppoſe, it will be granted that there
hath been but one : now the diffolution of the earth,
whenfoever it happened, would make one univerſal de
luge, and therefore the only one, and the fame with
Noah's. That fuch a diffolution as we have defcribed
would make an univerfal deluge, I think, cannot be
queftioned ; and that there hath been fuch a diffolution,
befides what we have already alleged, fhall be proved at
large from natural obfervations upon the form and figure
ofthe prefent earth, in the third fection and laft chapter
of this book : in the mean time, we will proceed to hi
ftory, both facred and prophane, and by comparing our
explication with thofe, give further affurance of its
truth and reality.
In the firſt place, it agrees, which is moſt confide
rable, with Mofes's narration of the deluge ; both as to
the matter and manner of it. The matter of the deluge
Mofes makes to be the waters from above, and the wa
ters from below ; or he diſtinguiſhes the cauſes of the de
luge, as we do, into fuperior and inferior, Gen. vii . 11.
and the inferior caufes he makes to be the difruption of
the abyss, which is the principal part and the great hinge
of our explication. Then as to the manner of the de
luge, the beginning and the ending, the increaſe and
decreaſe, he faith, ver. 17 , 18, 19, 20. chap. viii. 3, 5.
it increaſed gradually, and decreaſed gradually, bygoing
and coming; that is, after many repeated fluctuations
and reciprocations of the waves, the waters of the abyſs
began to be more compofed, 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 extreme commo
tion and agitation by the fall of the earth into it, and.
this at firſt encreaſed more and more, till the whole earth
was fallen; then continuing for fome time at the height
of its rage, overwhelming the greateſt mountains, it af
terwards decreaſed by the like degrees, leaving 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 uni
form furface; by reafon of which miſtaken notion ofthe
deluge, they made more water neceſſary to it than was
poffible to be had, or being had, than it was poffible
to get quit of again ; for there are no channels
in the earth that could hold fo much water, either to
give it, or to receive it. And the Pfalmiſt, [vid. St.
Auftin in loc.] fpeaking of the deluge, as it feems to me,
78 The Deluge and
notes this violent commotion of the abyfs, Pfalm. civ.
8, 9. The waters went up by the mountains, came down by
the valleys unto the place which thou hast foundedfor them.
I know fome interpret that paffage of the ſtate of the
waters in the beginning, when they covered the face of
the whole earth, Gen. i . 2. but that cannot be, becauſe
of what follows in the next verfe ; Thou hast fet a bound
that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to co
ver the earth. Which is not true, if the preceding
words be underſtood of the ſtate of the waters at the be
ginning of the world; for they did pafs thofe bounds,
and did return fince that time to cover the earth, name
ly at the deluge: but if theſe words be referred to the
time of the deluge, and the ſtate of the waters then, it
is both a juft defcription of the motion of the abyfs, and
certainly true, that the waters fince that time are fo fet
tled in their channels, that they ſhall never overflow the
earth again. As we are affured by the promiſe made to
Noah, and that illuftrious pledge and confirmation of it,
the rainbow, that the heavens alſo ſhall never pour out
fo much waters again ; their ſtate being changed as well
as that of the earth, or ſea, from what they were before
the deluge.
But before we leave Mofes's narration of the deluge,
we muſt examine further, what is, or can be underſtood
by his tehom-rabba, or great abyfs, which he faith, was
broken up at the deluge, Gen. vii. 11. for this will help
us to difcover, whether our explication be the fame with
his, and ofthe fame flood. And firſt we muſt conſider,
whether by the tehom-rabba, or Mofaical abyſs, can be
underſtood the ſea or ocean, under that form we ſee it
in at prefent ; and it is plain, methinks, that the fea
cannot be underſtood by this great abyss, both becauſe
the ſea is not capable upon any diſruption to make fuch
an univerfal deluge ; and becauſe the narration of Mofes,
and his expreffions concerning this abyfs, do not agree
to the fea. Some of the ancients indeed did imagine,
that the waters of the fea were much higher than the
land, and ſtood, as it were, on a heap ; fo as when
thefe
thefe waters were let loofe, they overflowed the earth,
and made a deluge. But this is known to be a grofs
miſtake the fea and the land make one globe, and the
waters couch themſelves, as cloſe as may be, to the
center of this globe in a ſpherical convexity; fo that if
all the mountains and hills were fcaled, and the earth
made even, the waters would not overflow its fmooth
furface ; much less could they overflow it in the form
thatit is now in, where the ſhores are higher than the ſea,
the inland parts than the fhores, and the mountains ſtill
far above all : fo as no difruption of the fea could make
an univerfal deluge, by reafon of its fituation . But
befides that, the quantity of water contained in the fea
is no way fufficient to make a deluge in the preſent form
of the earth ; for we have fhewn before, chap. ii. that
eight fuch oceans as ours would be little enough for that
purpoſe. Then as to the expreſſions of Mofes concern
ing this abyss, if he had meant the ſea by it , and that the
deluge was made by the difruption of the ſea, why did
he not fay fo ? There is no mention of the ſea in all the
hiftory ofthe deluge : Mofes had mentioned the ſea be
fore, Gen. i. 10. and uſed a word that was common,
and known to fignify the fea ; and if he had a mind to
exprefs the fame thing here, why ſhould he not use the
fame word and the fame term ? In an hiftorical relation
we uſe terms that are moſt proper and beſt known ; but
inſtead of that he uſeth the fame term here that he did,
Gen. i. 2. when he faith, Darkness was upon the face of
the abyss, or ofthe deep, as we render it ; there the abyss
was open or covered with darkneſs only, namely, be
fore the exterior earth was formed : here the fame abyſs
is mentioned again, but covered by the formation of the
earth upon it; and the covering of this abyfs was brok
en or cloven afunder, and the waters gufhed out that made
the deluge. This I am fure is the moſt natural inter
pretation or fignification of this word, according as it is
ufed in Mofes's writings. Furthermore, we muft ob
ferve what Mofes faith concerning this abyfs, and whe
ther that will agree with the fea or no ; he faith, the
VOL. I. I
So The Deluge and
fountains of the great abyfs were broken open ; now, ifby

the great abyfs you underſtand the fea, how are its foun
tains broken open ? To break open a fountain, is to
break open the ground that covers it, and what ground
covers the fea ? So that upon all confiderations, either
of the word that Mofes here uſeth, tehom-rabba, or of
the thing affirmed concerning it, breaking open its foun
tains; or of the effect following the breaking open its
fountains, drowning ofthe earth: from all thefe heads it
is manifeft, that the fea cannot be underſtood by the
great abyfs, whofe difruption was the caufe ofthe deluge.
And as the Mofaical abyſs cannot be the fea, ſo nei
ther can it be thoſe ſubterraneous waters that are difperf
ed in the cells and caverns of the earth ; for as they are
now lodged within the earth, they are not one abyſs,
but ſeveral ciſterns and receptacles of water in feveral
places, efpecially under the roots of mountains and hills,
feparate one from another, fometimes by whole regions
and countries interpofed. Befides, what fountains, if
they were broken up, could let out this water, or bring
it upon the face of the earth ? When we fink a mine, or
dig a well, the waters, when uncovered, do not leap
out of their places out of thoſe cavities, or at leaſt, do
not flow upon the earth ; it is not as if you opened
vein, where the blood fpirts out, and rifeth higher than
its fource ; but as when you take off the cover of a vef
fel, the water doth not fly out for that ; ſo if we ſhould
imagine all the fubterraneous caverns of the earth unco
vered, and the waters laid bare, there they would lie
unmoved 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 furface of the
ground, nothing would be gained as to the deluge, by
that, for as much water would run into theſe holes again
when the deluge begun to rife ; fo that this would be but
an uſeleſs labour, and turn to no account. And lastly,
Theſe waters are no way fufficient for quantity to anſwer
to the Mofaical abyfs, or to be the principal caufe of
the deluge, as that was,
Diffolution of the Earth.
Now, ſeeing neither the fea, as it is at prefent, nor the

fubterraneous waters, as they are at preſent, can anſwer
to the Mofaical abyfs, we are fure there is nothing in
this prefent earth that can anſwer to it. Let us then on
the other hand compare it with that fubterraneous abyss,
which we have found in the antediluvian earth, repre
fented 5 Fig. 2. p . 56. and examine their characters and
correfpondency : Firſt, Mofes's abyfs was covered, and
fubterraneous, for the fountains of it are faid to have
been cloven or burſt open ; then, it was vaſt and capa
cious ; and thirdly, it was fo difpofed, as to be capable
of a difruption, that would cauſe an univerfal 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 thofe waters, as the Pfalmift
faith ; or they were incloſed 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
ed in the caverns of the earth. And lastly, it is mani
feſt its fituation was fuch, that upon a difruption or dif
folution of the earth which covered it, an univerfal de
luge would arife. Seeing then this anfwers the defcri
ption, and all the properties of the Mofaical abyfs, and
nothing elfe will, how can we in reafon judge it other
wife than the fame, and the very thing intended and pro
pofed in the hiſtory of Noah's deluge under the name of
tehom-rabba, or the great abyfs, at whofe difruption the
world was overflowed ? And as we do not think it an
unhappy diſcovery to have found out (with a moral cer
tainty) the feat of the Mofaical abyfs, which hath been
almoſt as much fought for, and as much in vain, as the
feat ofparadife; fo this gives us a great affurance, that
1 the theory we have given of a general deluge is not a
mere idea, but is to be apropriated to the deluge of
I Noah, as a true explication of it.
And to proceed now from Mofes to other divine
writers ; that our deſcription is a reality, both as to the
antediluvian earth, and as to the deluge, we may fur
ther be convinced from St. Peter's difcourfe concerning
I 2
32 The Deluge and
thoſe two things. 2. Epiſt. iii. 6. St. Peter faith, that the
conftitution of the antediluvian earth was fuch, in refe
rence to the waters, that by reafon of that it was obnoxi
ous to a deluge ; we ſay theſe waters were the great a
byfs it ſtood upon, by reafon whereof that world was (17
really expoſed to a deluge, and overwhelmed in it upon
the difruption of this abyfs, as Mofes witneffes. It is
true, St. Peter doth not ſpecify what thoſe waters were,
1
nor mention either the fea or the abyſs ; but ſeeing Mofes
tells us, that it was by the waters of the abyſs that the
earth was overwhelmed, St. Peter's waters muſt be un
derſtood ofthe fame abyfs, becauſe he ſuppoſeth them the
cauſe of the fame deluge. And, I think, the apostle's
diſcourſe there cannot receive a better illuſtration, than
from Mafes's hiſtory of the deluge. Mofes diftinguifhes
the cauſes of the flood into thoſe that belong to the hea
vens, and thoſe that belong to the earth ; the rains and
the abyss : St. Peter alfo diſtinguiſheth the cauſes of the
deluge into the conſtitution of the heavens, in reference
to its waters ; and the conſtitution of the earth, in refe
rence to its waters ; and no doubt they both aim at the
fame cauſes, as they refer to the fame effect ; only Mofes
mentions the immediate cauſes, the rains and the waters
of the abyfs ; and St. Peter mentions the more remote
and fundamental cauſes, that conftitution of the hea
vens, and that conſtitution of the earth, in reference to
their repective waters, which made that world obnoxi
ous to a deluge : and thefe two, fpeaking 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 fafely conclude, that it is no i
maginary idea, but a true account of that ancient flood,
whereof Mofes hath left us the hiſtory.
And feeing the right underſtanding of the Mofaical a
byſs is ſufficient alone to prove all we have delivered
concerning the deluge, as alſo concerning the frame of
the antediluvian earth, give me leave to take notice here
offome other places of fcripture, which we mentioned
before, that feem manifeftly to deſcribe this fame form
of the abyss with the earth above it, 4 Efdr. xvi. 58.
Pfal. xxiv. 2. He founded the earth upon the feas, and e
ftablished it upon the floods. And Pfalm . cxxxvi . 6. He
fretched out the earth above the waters. Now this foun
dation of the earth upon the waters, or extenſion of it
above the waters, 4 Efdr. c . vi. doth moſt aptly agree
to that ſtructure and fituation of the abyss and the ante
diluvian earth, which we have affigned them, and which
we have before deſcribed ; but very improperly and forc⚫
edly to the preſent form of the earth and the waters. In
that fecond place of the Pfalmift, the word may be ren.
dered either, he ftretched, as we read it, or he fixed
and confolidated the earth above the waters, as the vul
gate and Septuagint tranflate it : for it is from the fame
word with that which is uſed for the firmament, Gen i .
So that as the firmament was extended over and around
the earth, fo was the earth extended over and about the
waters, in that firſt conſtitution of things ; and I remem→
ber fome of the ancients ufe this very compariſon of the
firmament and earth, to expreſs the ſituation of the pa
radifiacal earth in reference to the ſea or abyss .
There is another remarkable place in the Pfalms , to
fhew the difpofition of the waters in the first earth ; Pfal.
xxxiii. 7. He gathereth the waters of the fea as in a bag,
he layeth up the abyffes in flore-houses. This anfwers ve
ry fitly and naturally to the place and difpofition of the
abyfs which it had before the deluge, incloſed within the
vault of the earth, as in a bag, or in a ſtore-houfe. I
know very well what I render here in a bag, is rendered
in the English as an heap: but that tranflation of the
word feems to be grounded on the old error, that the
fea is higher than the land, and fo doth not make a true
fenfe. Neither are the two parts of the verſe ſo well
fuited and confequent one to another, ifthe first exprefs
an high ſituation of the waters, and the fecond a low
one. And accordingly the vulgate, Septuagint, and o
riental verſions and paraphrafe, as alfo Symmachus, St.
Jerome, and Bafil, render it as we do here, in a bag, or
by terms equivalent.
13
84 The Deluge and
To thefe paffages of the Pfalmift, concerning the I
form of the abyss and the firſt earth, give me leave to add 51
this general remark, that they are commonly uſhered in, Wow
or followed, with fomething of admiration in the pro #1
phet. We obferved before, that the formation of the #vi
firft earth, after fuch a wonderful manner, being a piece
of divine architecture, when it was fpoken of in fcripture,
it was ufually afcribed to a particular providence ; and
accordingly we fee in thefe places now mentioned, that
it is ſtill made the object of praiſe and admiration : in the
cxxxvi. Pſalm it is reckoned among the wonders of God,
ver. 4, 5, 6. Give praiſe to him who alone doth great won
ders to him that by wisdom made the heavens : to him
that stretched out the earth above the waters. And in
like manner, in that xxxiii. Pfalm, it is joined with the
forming of the heavens, and made the fubject of the di
vine power and wiſdom : ver. 6, 7 , 8, 9. By the word
of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host ofthem
by the breath of his mouth; he gathereth the waters ofthe
fee together, as in a bag, he layeth up the abyss in ftore
boufes. Let all the earthfear the Lord; let all the inha
bitants of the worldftand in awe of him ; for hefpake, and
it was; he commanded, and it ſtood fast. Namely , all
things ſtood in that wonderful pofture in which the word
of his power and wiſdom had eſtabliſhed them. David
often made the works of nature, and the external world,
the matter of his meditations, and of his praiſes and
philofophical devotions ; reflecting fometimes upon the
prefent form of the world, and fometimes upon the pri
mitive form of it : and though poetical expreffions, as
the Pfalms are, feldom are fo determinate and diſtinct,
but that they may be interpreted more than one way;
yet, I think, it cannot but be acknowleged, that thoſe
expreffions, and paffages that we have inftanced in, are
more fairly and aptly underſtood of the ancient form of
the fea, or the abyfs , as it was encloſed within the earth,
than of the prefent form of it in an open channel.
There are alſo in the book of Job many noble refle
tions upon the works of nature, and upon the forma
tion of the earth and the abyfs ; whereof that in chap.

xxvi. 7. He stretcheth out the north over the empty places,
and hangeth the earth upon nothing, feems to parallel the
expreſſion of David ; He ſtretched out the earth upon the
waters ; for the word we render the empty place is To
HU, which is applied 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, fuftained 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 pro
per place, whither fhould it fink further, or whither
fhould it go ? But this paffage, together with the forego
ing and following verfes, requires a more critical exami
nation than this difcourfe will eaſily bear.
There is another remarkable difcourfe in Job, that
contains many things to our prefent purpofe ; it is chap.
Xxxviii. where God reproaches Job with his ignorance
of what paffed at the beginning ofthe world, and thefor
mation of the earth, ver. 4, 5 , 6. Where waft thou when
Ilaid thefoundations ofthe earth ? Declare if thou haft
understanding. Who hath laidthe meaſures thereof, ifthou
knoweft ? or who hathftretched the line upon it ? Whereupon
are the foundations thereoffastened ? or who laid the cor
ner-ſtone? All theſe queſtions have far more force and
emphaſis, more propriety and elegancy, if they be un
derſtood ofthe firſt and antediluvian form of the earth,
than if they be underſtood of the prefent ; for in the pre
fent form of the earth there is no architecture, no ſtru
V &ture, no more than in a ruin ; or at leaſt none com
paratively to what was in the firſt form of it. And that
the exterior and fuperficial part of the earth is here ſpok
en of, appears by the rule and line applied to it ; but
what rule or regularity is there in the furface ofthe pre
fent earth ? What line was uſed to level its parts? But
in its original conftruction, when it lay fmooth and re
gular in its furface, as if it had been drawn by rule and
line in every part; and when it hung poiſed upon the
86 The Deluge and
deep, without pillar or foundation-ſtone, then juſt pro

portions were taken , and every thing placed by weight
and meaſure : and this, I doubt not, was that artificial
ftructure here alluded to : and when this work was fi
nished, then the morningftars fang together, and all the
fons of God fhoutedforjoy, ver. 7.
Thus far the queſtions proceed upon the form and
conftruction of the firft earth ; in the following verfes
(8, 9, 10, 11.) they proceed from the demolition of that
earth , the opening the abyfs, and the prefent ftate of
both. Or who shut up the fea with doors when it brake
forth, as ifit had iffued out ofa womb ? Who can doubt
but this was at the breaking open of the fountains of the
abyfs ? Gen. vii. 11. when the waters guſhed out, as out
of the great womb of nature ; and by reaſon of that con
fufion 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 fecond chaos. When I made the cloud
the garment thereof, and thick darkness a fwaddling-band
for it, and brake upfor it my decreed place, and made bars
and doors. Namely (taking the words as thus ufually
rendered) the preſent channel of the fea was made when
the abyss was broke up, and at the fame time were made
the ſhory rocks and mountains, which are the bars and
boundaries of the fea. Andfaid, Hitherto fhalt thou come,
and nofurther; and here fhall thy proud waves be stayed.
Which laſt ſentence fhews, that this cannot be under
ftood of the firft difpofition ofthe waters, as they were
before the flood, for their proud waves broke thoſe
bounds, whatſoever they were, when they over-flowed
the earth in the deluge. And that the womb which
they broke out of was the great abyfs , the Chaldee para
phrafe in this place doth exprefly mention ; and what
can be understood by : the womb ofthe earth,
but that fubterraneous capacity in which the abyſs lay ?
Then that which followeth is a defcription or reprefen
tation ofthe great deluge that enfued, and of that difor
der in nature that was then, and how the waters were
fettled and bounded afterwards . Not unlike the defcri
ption in Pfam civ. 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 Mofaical abyfs, and not on
ly 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 . 23, 24, 25,
26, 27, 28. I wasſet up from everlaſting, from the begin
ning ere the earth was. When there were no deeps or a
byes, I was brought forth; when no fountains abounding
with water. Then in the 27th verfe, When he prepared
the heavens, I was there ; when he fet a compass upon the
face of the deep or abyfs . When he established the clouds
above, when he ftrengthened the fountains of the abyss.
Here is mention made of the abyſs, and of the fountains
of the abyfs ; and who can queſtion, but that the foun
tains of the abyss here are the ſame with the fountains of
the abyfs which Mofes mentions, and were broken open,
as he tells us, at the deluge ; let us obferve therefore
what form wifdom gives to this abyfs, and confequently to
the Mofaical ; and here feem to be two expreſſions that
determine the form of it, ver. 28. He ftrengthened the
fountains ofthe abyss, that is, the cover of thofe foun
tains; for the fountains could be ſtrengthened no other
way than by making a ſtrong cover or arch over them.
And that arch is expreffed more fully and diftinctly in
the foregoing verfe, When he prepared the heavens, I was
there, when hefet a compafs on theface ofthe abyfs ; we
render it compass, the word fignifies a circle or circumfe
rence, or an orb or ſphere. So there was in the begin
ning ofthe world a ſphere, orb or arch, fet round the a
byfs, according to the teftimony of wisdom, who was
then prefent. And this fhews us both the form of the
Mofaical abyfs, which was included within this vault ;
and the form of the habitable earth, which was the out
ward furface of this vault, or the cover of the abyss that
was broke up at the deluge.
And thus much, I think, is fufficient to have noted
out offcripture concerning the Mofaical abyfs, to difco
88
The Deluge and
cover the form, place, and fituation of it ; which I have
done the more largely, becauſe that being determined,
it will draw in eaſily all the reſt of our theory concern
ing the deluge. I will now only add one or two general
obfervations, and fo conclude this difcourfe : the firſt
obfervation is concerning the abyfs ; namely, that the
opening andfhutting of the abyfs , is the great hinge upon
which nature turns in this earth : this brings another
face of things, other ſcenes, and a new world upon the
ftage and accordingly it is a thing often mentioned and
alluded to in fcripture, fometimes in a natural, fome
times in a moral or theological fenfe ; and in both fenfes,
our Saviour ſhuts and opens it as he pleaſeth . Our Sa
viour, 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 abyfs, 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 thofe places that refer to the fhutting and
opening of the abyſs in a natural fenfe, I cannot but
particularly take notice of that in Job, chap . xii . 14,
15. and chap. xi. 10. God breaketh down, and it cannot
be built again : he ſhutteth up man, and there can be no o
pening behold, he with-holdeth the waters, and they dry
up: alfo hefendeth them out and they overturn the earth.
Though theſe things be true of God in leffer and com
mon inſtances, yet to me it is plain, that they principal
ly refer to the deluge, the opening and fhutting the a
byfs, with the diffolution or fubverfion of the earth
thereupon ; and accordingly they are made the great ef
fects of the divine power and wiſdom in the 13th verfe
of chap. xii. With God is wisdom and strength, he hath
counsel and understanding; behold, he breaketh down, etc.
And alfo in the conclufion it is repeated again, ver. 16.
With him is ftrength and wisdom ; which folemnity would
fcarce have been used for common inftances of his
power. When God is faid to build or pull down, and
no-body can build again, it is not to be underſtood of
an houfe 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
fhall the mountains be reared up again to make part of
the roof? This is the fabric, which when God breaketh
down, none can build up again. He with-holdeth the
waters, and they dry up: as we fhewed the earth to have
been immoderately chaped and parched before its diffo
lution. He fendeth them forth, and they overturn the
earth. What can more properly exprefs the breaking
out of the waters at the difruption of the abyss, and the
fubverfion or diffolution of the earth in confequence of
it ? It is true, this laft paffage may be applied to the
breaking out of waters in an ordinary earthquake, and
the fubverſion of fome part of the earth, which often
follows upon it ; but it muſt be acknowleged, that the
fenſe is more weighty, if it be referred to the great de
luge, and the great earthquake which laid the world in
ruins and in water. And philofophical defcriptions in
facred writings, like prophefies, have often a leffer and
a greater accompliſhment and interpretation.
I could not pafs by this place without giving this
fhort explication of it. We proceed now to the fecond
obfervation, which is concerning the ſtile offcripture in
moſt of thoſe places we have cited, and others upon the
fame fubject. The reflections that are made in feveral
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 ſtile ſomething approaching to the nature of a
prophetical ſtile,and to have more of a divine enthufiafm
and elocution in them, than the ordinary text of fcri
pture ; the expreffions are lofty and ſometimes abrupt,
and often figurative and difguifed, as may be obferved
in moſt ofthoſe places we have made ufe of, and parti
cularly in that fpeech of wisdom, Prov. viii. where the
26th verfe is fo obfcure, that no two verfions that I
have yet met with, whether ancient or modern, agree
90 The Deluge and
in the tranflation of that verfe. And therefore though
I fully believe that the conſtruction of the firſt earth is
really intended in thoſe words ; yet feeing it could not
be made out clear without a long and critical difcuffion
of them, I did not think that proper to be inſiſted upon
here. We may alſo obferve, that whereas there is a
double form or compofition of the earth, that which it
had at firſt, or till the deluge, and that which it hath
fince; fometimes the one, and fometimes the other may
be glanced upon in theſe ſcripture phraſes and deſcripti
ons ; and fo there may be in the fame diſcourſe an in
termixture of both. And it commonly happens fo in
an enthuſiaſtic or prophetic ſtile, that by reaſon of the
eagerness and trembling of the fancy, it doth not always
regularly follow the fame even thread of diſcourſe, but
ftrikes many times upon fome other thing that hath rela
tion to it, or lies under or near the fame view. Of this
we have frequent examples in the Apocalypſe, and in that
prophecy of our Saviour's, Matth . xxiv. concerning the
deftruction of Jerufalem, and of the world. But not
withſtanding any fuch unevenneſs or indiſtinctneſs in the
ftile of thofe 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, it is not imaginable what ſhould
give occafion to all thofe expreffions and paffages that we
have cited ; which being fo ftrange in themſelves and
paradoxical, fhould yet fo much favour, and fo fairly
comply with our fuppofitions. What I have obferved
in another place, Tell . Theor. lib . ii. c. 6. in treating
ofparadife, that the expreffions of the ancient fathers
were very extravagant, if paradife was nothing but a lit
tle plot of ground in Mefopotamia, as many of late have
fancied, may in like manner be obſerved concerning the
ancient earth and abyfs ; if they were in no other form,
nor other ſtate than what they are under now, the ex
preffions of the facred writers concerning them are very
frange and inaccountable, without any fufficient ground,
that
that we know, or any juſt occaſion for fuch uncouth re
prefentations. If there was nothing intended or referred
to in thoſe deſcriptions, but the preſent form and ſtate
of the earth, that is fo well known, that in deſcribing
of it there would be nothing dark or myfterious, nor any
occafion for obfcurity in the ftile or expreffion, whereof
we find fo much in thoſe. So as, all things confidered,
what might otherwiſe be made an exception to fome of
thefe texts alleged by us, viz. that they are too obfcure,
becomes an argument for us ; as implying that there is
fomething more intended by them than the preſent and
known form of the earth. And we having propofed a
nother form and ftructure of the earth, to which thoſe
characters fuit and anſwer more eaſily ; as this opens and
gives light to thofe difficult places, fo it may be reaſon
ably concluded to be the very ſenſe and notion intend
ed by the holy writers.
And thus much, I think, is fufficient to have obferv
ed out of fcripture, to verify our explication of the de
luge, and our application of it to Noah's flood, both ac
cording to the Mofaical hiſtory of the flood, and accord
ing to manyoccafional reflections and difcourfes difperfed
in other places of fcripture concerning the fame flood, or
concerningthe abyfs and the firſt form ofthe earth . And
though there may be fome other paffages of a different
afpect, they will be of no force to difprove our conclu
fions, becauſe they reſpect the preſent form of the earth
and fea ; and alfo, becauſe expreſſions, that deviate more
from the common opinion, are more remarkable and
more proving ; in that there is nothing could give occa
fion to fuch, but an intention to expreſs the very truth.
So, for instance, if there was one place in ſcripture that
faid the earth was moved, and ſeveral that ſeemed to im
ply that thefun was moved, 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 affirmed
the motion of the earth, could not be ſpoke upon any
VOL. I. K
92 The Deluge and
other ground, but only for truth and inſtruction-fake. I
leave this to be applied to the preſent ſubject.
Thus much for the facred writings . As to the hifto
ry of the ancient heathens, we cannot expect an account
or narration of Noah's flood, under that name and noti
on ; but it may be of uſe to obferve two things out of
that hiſtory . First, that the inundations recorded there
came generally to pafs in the manner we have deſcribed
the univerſal deluge ; namely, by earthquakes and an eru
ption of fubterraneous 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 fuppofed by most of the
antient fathers to repreſent Noah's flood, is faid to have
been accompanied with a gaping or difruption of the
earth. Apollodorus faith, Bibl. lib. 1. that the moun
tains of Theffaly were divided afunder, or ſeparate
one from another at that time : and Lucian (De Dea Sy
ria) tells a very remarkable ſtory to this purpoſe, con
cerning Deucalion's deluge, and a ceremony obferved in
the temple of Hieropolis, in commemoration of it ;
which ceremonyfeems to have been of that nature, as im
plied that there was an opening of the earth at the time
of the deluge, and that the waters fubfided into that a
gain when the deluge ceaſed. He faith, that this tem
ple at Hieropolis was built upon a kind of abyſs, or had
a bottomlefs pit, or gaping of the earth in one part of
it ; and the people of Arabia and Syria, and the coun
tries thereabouts, twice a year repaired to this temple, and
brought with them every one a veſſel of water, which
they poured out upon the floor of the temple, and made
a kind of an inundation there in memory of Deucalion's
deluge ; and this water funk by degrees into a chaẩm or
opening of a rock, which the temple ſtood upon, and fo
left the floor dry again . And this was a rite folemnly
and religiouſly performed both by the prieſts and by the
people : if Mofes had left fuch a religious rite among the
Jews, I fhould not have doubted to have interpreted it
concerning his abyfs, 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 con
cerning the prefent queftion, and the true application of
our theory to Noah's flood.
CHA P. 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 feeming difficulties removed,
and the wholefection concluded, with a diſcourſe how
far the deluge may be looked upon as the effect of an or
dinary 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 fince 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 pafs ; in what method all thoſe
things happened and fucceeded one another, that make
up the hiſtory of it, as cauſes or effects, or other parts
or circumftances : as how the ark was borne upon the
waters, what effect the rains had, at what time the earth
broke, and the abyfs was opened ; and what the condi
tion of the earth was upon the ending of the flood , and
fuch like. But I defire to propofe my thoughts concern
ing theſe things only as conjectures, which I will
ground as near as I can upon ſcripture and reaſon, and
am very willing they fhould be rectified where they hap
pen to be amifs . I know how fubject we are to mi
ſtakes in theſe great and remote things, when we de
fcend to particulars ; but I am willing to expofe the
theory to a full trial, and to ſhew the way for any to ex
amine it, provided they do it with equity and fincerity.
I have no other deſign than to contribute my endeavours
K 2
94 The Deluge and
to find out the truth in a fubject of fo great importance,
and wherein the world hath hitherto had fo little fatis
faction; and he that in an obfcure argument propofeth
an hypothesis that reacheth from end to end, though it be
18
not exact in every particular, it is not without a good
effect ; for it gives aim to others to take their meaſures
better, and opens their invention in a matter, which o
therwife, it may be, would have been impenetrable to
them as he that makes the firſt way through a thick
foreft, though it be not the ftreighteft and fhorteſt, de
ferves better, and hath done more, than he that makes it
freighter and fmoother afterwards.
Providence that ruleth all things and all ages, after
the earth had ſtood above fixteen hundred years, thought
fit to put a period to that world ; and accordingly it was
revealed to Noah, that for the wickedneſs and degenera
cy 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 fa
mily, as a ſtock for the new world, to build a great vef
fel or ark, to float upon the waters, and had inſtructi.
ons given him for the building of it, both as to the mat
ter, and as to the form. Noah believed the word of
God, though againſt his fenfes, and all external appear
ances, and ſet himſelf to work to build an ark, accord
ing to the directions given, which after many years la
bour was finished ; whilſt the incredulous world, fecure
enough, as they thought, againſt a deluge, continued
ftill in their exceffes and infolencies, and laughed at the
admonition of Noah, and at the folly of his defign of
building an extravagant machine, a floating houfe, to
fave himſelf from an imaginary inundation ; for they
thought it no leſs, ſeeing, it was to be in an earth where
there was no fea, nor any rain neither in thoſe parts, ac
cording to the ordinary courfe of nature ; as fhall be
fhewn in the fecond 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
firft furpriſing caufes and preparatives to the deluge: they
fell, we fuppofe, (though we do not know how that could
proceed from natural caufes) throughout the face of the
whole earth ; which could not but have a confiderable
effect on that earth, being even and ſmooth, without
hills and eminencies, and might lay it all under water to
fome depth ; fo as the ark, if it could not float upon
thoſe rain-waters, at leaſt taking the advantage of a ri
yer, or of a dock or ciftern made to receive them, it
might be afloat before the abyſs was broken 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 mentioned together, I am apt
to think thoſe flood-gates were diſtinct from the common
rain, and were fomething more violent and impetuous.
So that there might be preparatory rains before the dif
ruption of the abyfs : and I do not know but thoſe
rains, fo covering up and encloſing the earth on every
fide, might providentially contribute to the diſruption
ofit; not only by foftening and weakening the arch of
the earth in the bottom of thoſe cracks and chaẩms which
were made by the fun, and which the rain would firſt
run into, but eſpecially by ſtopping on a fudden all the
pores ofthe 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
guſhed out, as out of a womb.
However, when the rains were fallen, we may fup
pofe the face of the earth covered over with water ; and
whether it was theſe waters that St. Peter refers to, or
that ofthe abyss afterwards, I cannot tell, when he faith
in his firſt epiſtle, chap. iii. 20. Noah and his family
were faved by water ; fo as the water which deſtroyed
the rest of the world was an inſtrument of their confer
vation, in as much as it bore up the ark, and kept it
from that impetuous fhock, which it would have had, if
eitherit had ſtood upon dry land when the earth fell, or if
the earth had been diffolved without any water on it or
under it. However, things being thus prepared, let us
K 3
96 The Deluge and
fuppofe the great frame of the exterior earth to have
broke at this time, orthe fountains of the great abyfs, as
Mofes faith, to have been then opened ; from thence
would iffue upon the fall of the earth, with an unfpeak
able violence, fuch 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 . Befides ,
if the flood-gates of heaven were any thing diſtinct from
the forty days rain, their effuſion , it is likely, was at
this fame time when the abyfs was broken open ; for the
finking ofthe earth would make an extraordinary con
vulfion of the regions of the air, and that crack and
noiſe that muſt be in the falling world, and in the colli
fion of the earth and the abyss, would make a great and
univerfal concuffion above ; which things together muſt
needs fo fhake, or fo fqueeze 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 preffing more in fome places than in other,
where the center of the convulfion was , there would be
the chiefeft collection , and there would fall not fhowers
of rain or fingle drops, but great fpouts or cafcades of
water; and this is that which Mofes feems to call, not
improperly, the cataracts of heaven, or the windows of
heaven beingfet open.
Thus the flood came to its height ; and it is not ea
fy to reprefent to ourſelves this ſtrange ſcene of things,
when the deluge was in its fury and extremity ; when
the earth was broken and ſwallowed up in the abyfs,
whofe raging waters rofe higher than the mountains, and
filled the air with broken waves with ' an univerfal mift,
and with thick darkneſs, ſo as nature ſeemed to be in a
fecond chaos ; and upon this chaos rid the diftreffed ark,
that bore the ſmall remains of mankind. No fea was e
ver fo tumultuous as this, nor is there any thing in pre
fent nature to be compared with the diſorder of theſe
waters ; all the poetry, and all the hyperboles that are
ufed in the defcription of ſtorms and raging feas, were li
Pag. 97 109
terally 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 de
luge and of the ark, which was a type of the church in
this world, David feems to have alluded in the name of
the church, Pfal. xlii . 7. Abyss calls upon abyfs at the
noife of thy cataracts or water-spouts ; all thy waves and
billows have gone over me. It was no doubt an extraor
dinary and miraculous providence, that could make a
veffel fo ill manned, live upon fuch a fea ; that kept it
from being dafhed againſt the hills, or overwhelmed in
the deeps . That abyfs which had devoured and fwal
lowed up whole forefts of woods, cities and provinces,
nay the whole earth, when it had conquered all, and
triumphed over all, could not deftroy this fingle fhip. I
remember in the ſtory of the Argonautics, Dion . Argo
naut. l . 1. v. 47. when Jaſon fet out to fetch the gold
en fleece, the poet faith, all the gods that day looked
down from heaven to view the fhip ; and the nymphs
ftood upon the mountain-tops to fee the noble youth of
Theffaly pulling at the oars ; we may with more reaſon
fuppofe the good angels to have looked down upon this
ſhip of Noah's ; and that not out of curiofity, as idle
fpectators, but with a paffionate concern for its fafety
and deliverance. A fhip, whofe cargo was no leſs than
a whole world ; that carried the fortune and hopes of all
pofterity ; and if this had perifhed, the earth, for any
thing we know, had been nothing but a defart, a great
ruin, a dead heap of rubbish, from the deluge to the
conflagration . But death and hell, the grave and de
Atruction, have their bounds. We may entertain our
felves with the confideration of the face of the deluge,
and of the broken and drowned earth, in this ſcheme,
with the floating ark, and the guardian angels.
Thus much for the beginning and progreſs of the de
Juge. It now remains only that we confider it in its
decreaſe, and the ſtate of the earth after the waters were
retired into their channels, which makes the prefent ſtate
98 The Deluge and
of it. Mofes faith, God brought a wind upon the wa
ters, and the tops of the hills became bare, and then
the lower grounds and plains by degrees ; the waters
being funk into the channels of the ſea, and the hollow
nefs of the earth, and the whole globe appearing in the
form it is now under. There needs nothing be added
for explication of this, it is the genuine conſequence of
the theory we have given of the deluge ; and whether
this wind was a defcending wind to deprefs and keep
down the fwellings and inequalities of the abyfs, or whe
ther it was only to dry the land as faſt as it appeared,
or might have both effects, I do not know ; but as no
thing can be perpetual that is violent, fo this commoti
on of the abyſs abated after a certain time, and the great
force that impelled the waters decreafing, their natural
gravity began to take effect, and to reduce them into the
loweſt places, at an equal height, and in an even fur
face, and level one part with another : that is, in ſhort,
the abyss became our fea, fixt within its channel, and
bounded by rocks and mountains : Then was the decreed
place eftablished for it, and bars and doors were fet ; then
was it foid, Hithertofhall thou come, and nofurther, and
here fhall thyproud waves be ſtopt, Job xxxviii. 10, 11.
and the deluge being thus ended, and the waters fettled
in their channels, the earth took fuch a broken figure as
is repreſented in thoſe larger ſchemes, p. 75. 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.
But to purſue this profpect of things a little further ;
we may eafily imagine, that for many years after the de
luge ceaſed, the face of the earth was very different from
what it is now, and the fea had other bounds than it
hath at preſent. I do not doubt but the ſea reached
much further in-land, and climbed higher upon the fides
of the mountains ; and I have obferved in many places
a ridge of mountains fome diſtance from the fea, and a
plain from their roots to the fhore ; which plain no
doubt was formerly covered by the fea, bounded againſt
thofe hills as its first and natural ramparts, or as the
ledges or lips of its veffel. And it feems probable, that
the fea doth ftill grow narrower from age to age, and
finks more within its channel and the bowels of the
earth, according as it can make its way into all thoſe
fubterraneous cavities, and croud the air out of them.
We fee whole countries of land gained from it, and by
feveral indications, as antient fea-ports left dry and uſe
lefs, old fea-marks far within the land, pieces of fhips,
anchors, etc. left at a great diſtance from the preſent
fhores ; from thefe figns, and fuch like, we may con
clude that the fea reached many places formerly that now
are dry land, and at firſt I believe was generally bound in
on either fide with a chain of mountains. So I ſhould
eafily imagine the Mediterranean fea, for inftance, to
have been bounded by the continuation of the Alps
through Dauphine and Languedoc to the Pyreneans, and
at the other end by the Dramatic mountains almoſt to
the Black fea. Then Atlas major, which runs along
with the Mediterranean from Egypt to the Atlantic o
cean, and now parts Barbary and Numidia, may pof
fibly have been the ancient barrier on the Afric fide.
And in our own iſland I could eaſily figure to myſelf, in
many parts of it, other fea-bounds than what it hath at
prefent ; and the like may be obſerved in other coun
tries.
And as the fea had much larger bounds for fome
time after the deluge, fo the land had a different face in
many respects to what it hath now ; for we fuppofe the
valleys and lower grounds, where the defcent and deri
vation of the water was not ſo eaſy, to have been full
of lakes and pools for a long time ; and theſe were of
ten converted into fens and bogs, where the ground, be
ing fpungy, fucked up the water, and the loosened earth
fwelled into a ſoft and pappy ſubſtance ; which would ſtill
continue fo, if there was any courfe of water ſenſible or
infenfible, above or within the ground, that fed this
moift place : but if the water ſtood in a more firm baſin,
or on a foil, which for its heaviness or any other reaſon
100 The Deluge and
would not mix with it, it made a lake or clear pool. 69

And we may eaſily imagine there were innumerahle fuch
lakes, and bogs, and faftneffes, for many years after the
deluge, till the world begun to be pretty well stocked
with people, and human induſtry cleanfed and drained WL
thoſe unfruitful and unhabitable places. And thoſe
countries that have been later cultivated, or by a lazier
people, retain ftill, in proportion to their fituation and
foil, a greater number of them.
Neither is it at all incongruous or inconvenient to fup
pofe that the face of the earth ſtood in this manner for
many years after the deluge ; for while mankind was
fmall and few, they needed but a little ground for their
feats or fuftenance ; and as they grew more numerous,
the earth proportionably grew more dry, and more parts
of it fit for habitation . I eafily believe that Plato's ob
fervation or tradition [ de. leg. lib . iii . ] is true, that men
at firſt, after the flood, lived in the up-lands and fides
of the mountains, and by degrees funk into the plains
and lower countries, when nature had prepared them for
their uſe, and their numbers required more room. The
hiſtory of Mofes, Gen. xi. tells us, that fome time after
the deluge, Noah, and his pofterity, his fons and his
grand-children, changed their quarters , and fell down
into the plains of Shinar, from the fides of the hills
where the ark had refted ; and in this plain was the laſt
general rendezvous of mankind ; fo long they feem to
have kept in a body, and from thence they were divid
ed and broken into companies, and differfed, firſt, into
the neighbouring countries, and then by degrees through
out the whole earth ; the feveral fucceffive generations,
like the waves of the fea when it flows, over-reaching
one another, and ſtriking out further and further upon
the face of the land. Not that the whole earth was
peopled by an uniform propagation of mankind every
way, from one place, as a common center ; like the
fwelling of a lake upon a plain : for fometimes they ſhot
out in length, like rivers, and fometimes they flew into
remote countries in colonies, like fwarms fromthe hive,
and ſettled there, leaving many places uninhabited be
twixt them and their firſt home. Sea-fhores 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 fo near their late enemy ;
or at leaſt, to be incloſed and ſurrounded by his forces .
And this may be fufficient to have difcourfed concern
ing 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 hiftory of Mofes ; there refts one only
thing in that hiſtory to be taken notice of, which may
be thought poffibly not to agree ſo well with our account
of the deluge ; namely, that Mofes feems to fhut up the
abyſs again at the end of the deluge, which our explica
tion fuppofeth to continue open. But befides that half
the abyfs is ftill really covered, Mofes faith the fame
thing of the windows of heaven, that they were ſhut up
too ; and he ſeemeth in both to expreſs only the ceſſati
on of the effect which proceeded from their opening:
for as Mofes had afcribed the deluge to the opening of
theſe two, fo when it was to ceaſe, he faith, theſe two
were ſhut up ; as they were really put into fuch a con
dition, both of them, that they could not continue the
deluge any longer, nor ever be the occafion of a fecond;
and therefore in that fenfe, and as to that effect, were
for ever ſhut up. Some may poffibly make that alſo an
objection against us, that Mofes mentions and fuppofes
the mountains at the deluge, for he faith, the waters
reached fifteen cubits above the tops of them ; whereas
we fuppofe the antediluvian earth to have had a plain
and uniform ſurface, without any inequality of hills and
valleys. But this is eaſily anſwered ; it was in the
height of the deluge that Mofes mentioned the moun
tains, and we ſuppoſe them to have riſen then , or more
towards the beginning of it, when the earth was broke ;
and theſe mountains continuing ftill upon the face ofthe
earth, Mofes might very well take them for a ſtandard
to meaſure and expreſs to poſterity the height of the wa
ters, though they were not upon the earth when the de
102 The Deluge and
luge begun. Neither is there any mention made, as is www

obferved by fome, of mountains in fcripture, or of rain, 41
till the time of the deluge.
We have now finiſhed our account of Noah's flood,
both generally and particularly ; and I have not witting
ly omitted or concealed any difficulty that occurred to 40!
me, either from the hiſtory, or from abſtract reaſon ;
our theory, fo far as I know, hath the confent and au
thority of both and how far it agrees and is demon
ftrable from natural obfervation , or from the form and
phaenomena of this earth, as it lies at prefent, fhall be 4.
the fubject of the remaining part of this firſt book. In
the mean time I do not know any thing more to be ad
ded in this part, unleſs it be to conclude with an adver
tiſement 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 fatisfy all reaſonable and intelligent perfons in
this particular, I anfwer and declare, firſt, That we are
far from excluding divine providence, either ordinary
or extraordinary, from the cauſes and conduct of the de
luge. I know a fparrow 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
1
and fuperintendency. 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 conferved by him. So intimate and uni
verfal is the dependence of all things upon the divine
will and power.
In the fecond place, they are guilty, in my judg
ment, of a great error or indifcretion, that oppofe the
courfe
Diffolution of the Earth. roz
Courſe ofnature to providence. St. Paulfays, (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 fea as well as upon the land.
In like manner our Saviour, Mat. vi. 21. makes thoſe
things inftances of divine providence, which yet come to
paſs in an ordinary courſe of nature : in that part of his
excellent fermon upon the mount, Luke xii. 24. that
concerns providence, he bids them confider the lilies how
theygrow, they toil not, neither do theyfpin, and yet So
lomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of thefe :
he bids them alfo confider the ravens, they neither ſow nor
reap, neither have they ftore-houfe nor barn, and God feed
eth them. The lilies grow, and the ravens are fed ac ¿t
cording to the ordinary courfe of nature, and yet they
are juſtly made arguments of providence by our Saviour ;
nor are theſe things lefs providential, becauſe conſtant
and regular ; on the contrary, fuch a difpofition or eſta
bliſhment of ſecond caufes as will, in the beſt order, and
for a long fucceffion, produce the moſt regular effects, af
fifted only with the ordinary concourſe of the firſt cauſe,
is a greater argument of wiſdom and contrivance, than
fuch a diſpoſition of caufes as will not in fo good an or
der, or for fo long a time, produce regular effects with
out an extraordinary concourſe and interpoſition of the
firft caufe. This I think is clear to every man's judg
ment. We think him a better artiſt that makes a clock,
that ftrikes 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 ftrike : and if one fhould contrive a
piece of clock-work, fo that it fhould beat all the hours,
and make all its motions regularly for fuch a time, and
that time being come, upon a fignal given, or a ſpring
touched, it should of its own accord fall all to pieces ;
would not this be looked upon as a piece of greater art
than if the workman came at that time prefixed, and with
a great hammer beat it into pieces ? I uſe theſe com
parifons to convince us, that it is no detraction from
VOL . I. L
104 The Deluge and
D
divine providence, that the courſe of nature is exact and
03
regular, and that even in its greateſt changes and revo
lutions it ſhould ſtill confpire and be prepared to anſwer
the ends and purpoſes of the divine will in reference to
the moral world. This feems to me to be the great art
of divine providence, ſo to adjuſt the two worlds, hu
man and natural, material and intellectual, as feeing
through the poffibilities and futuritions of each, accord
ing to the firſt ſtate and circumſtances he puts them un
der, they ſhould all along correfpond and fit one ano
ther, and efpecially in their great crifes and periods .
Thirdly, Befides the ordinary providence of God in
the ordinary courſe of nature, there is doubtleſs an ex
traordinary providence that doth attend the greater
fcenes and the greater revolutions of nature. This, me
thinks, befides all other proof from the effects, is very
rational and neceffary in itſelf; for it would be a limitati
on of the divine power and will fo to be bound up to
fecond cauſes, as never to uſe, upon occafion, an extra
ordinary influence or direction : and it is manifeft, tak
ing any ſyſtem of natural cauſes, if the beſt poſſible, that
there may be more and greater things done, if to this,
upon certain occafions, you join an extraordinary con
duct. And as we have taken notice before, that there
was an extraordinary providence in the formation or
compofition ofthe firft earth, fo I believe there was alfo
in the diffolution of it and I think it had been impof
fible for the ark to have lived upon the raging abyſs, or
for Noah and his family to have been preſerved, if there
had not been a miraculous hand of providence to take
care of them . But it is hard to ſeparate and diſtinguiſh
an ordinary and extraordinary providence in all caſes,
and to mark just how far one goes, and where the o
ther begins . And writing a theory of the deluge here,
as we do, we were to exhibit a ſeries of caufes whereby
it might be made intelligible, or to fhew the proximate
natural caufes of it ; wherein we follow both the exam
ple of Mofes and St. Peter ; and with the fame venera
tion of the divine power and wifdom in the government
of nature, by a conftant ordinary providence, and an oc
cafional extraordinary.
. So much for the theory ofthe deluge, and the fecond
fection of this difcourfe.
CHA P. IX.
The fecond part of this difcourfe, proving the fame theory

from the effects and prefent form of the earth. First,
by a generalfcheme of what is most remarkable in this
globe, andthen by a more particular induction ; beginning
with an account offubterraneous cavities andfubterrane
ous waters.
WE have nowfiniſhed our explication of the univer

fal deluge, and given an account, not only of the pof
fibility of it, but (fo far as our knowlege can reach) of
its caufes ; and of that form and ftructure of the earth,
whereby the old world was fubject to that fort of fate.
We have not begged any principles or fuppofitions for
the proof of this ; but taking that common ground,
which both Mofes and all antiquity prefent to us, viz.
that this earth rose from a chaos ; we have from that
deduced, by an eafy train of confequences, what the
firſt form of it would be ; and from that form, as from
a nearer ground, we have by a fecond train of confe
quences made it appear, that at fome time or other that
firft earth would be fubject to a diffolution, and by that
diffolution to a deluge. And thus far we have proceed
ed only by the intuition of caufes, as is moft proper to
a theory. But for the fatisfaction of thofe that require
more ſenſible arguments, and to complete our proofs on
either hand, we will now argue from the effects ; and
from the prefent ſtate of nature, and the prefent form
of the earth, prove that it hath been broken and
undergone fuch a diffolution as we have already defcrib
ed, and made the immediate occafion of the deluge.
And that we may do this more perfpicuouſly and di
ftinctly, we will lay down this propofition to be proved,
L 2
106 The Deluge and
viz. That the prefent form and ſtructure ofthe earth, both
as to the furface and as to the interior parts of it, fo fur
as they are known and acceffible to us, doth exactly anfwer
to our theory concerning the form and diffolution of the firſt
earth, and cannot be explained upon any other hypothefis yet
known.
Orators and philofophers treat nature after a very dif
ferent manner ; thoſe repreſent her with all her grace
and ornaments, and if there be any thing that is not cap
able of that, they diffemble it, or pafs it over flightly.
But philofophers view nature with a more impartial eye,
and without favour or prejudice give a juſt and free ac
count, how they find all the parts of the univerfe, ſome
more, fome lefs perfect. And as to this earth in parti
cular, if I was to deſcribe it as an orator, I would fup
pofe it a beautiful and regular globe ; and not only fo,
but that the whole univerſe was made for its fake ; that
it was the darling and favourite of heaven, that the fun
ſhined only to give it light, to ripen its fruit, and make
freſh its flowers ; and that the great concave of the fir
mament, and all the ſtars in their ſeveral orbs, were de
figned only for a ſpangled cabinet to keep this jewel in.
This idea I would give of it as an orator. But a philo
fopher that overheard me would either think me in jeſt,
or very injudicious, if I took the earth for a body fo re
gular in itſelf, or fo confiderable, if compared with the
reſt of the univerſe . This, he would fay, is to make
the great world like one of the heathen temples, a beau
tiful and magnificent ftructure, and of the richeſt mate
rials, yet built only for a little brute idol, a dog, or a cro
codile, or fome deformed creature placed in a corner of it.
We must therefore be impartial where the truth re
quires it, and deſcribe the earth as it is really in itſelf;
and though it be handſome and regular enough to the
eye in certain parts of it, ſingle tracks and ſingle regi
ons ; yet if we confider the whole furface of it, or
the whole exterior region , is as a broken and confuſed
heap of bodies, placed in no order to one another, nor
with any correfpondency or regularity of parts : and ſuch
a body as the moon appears to us, when it is looked upon

with a good glaſs , rude and ragged ; as it is alfo re
preſented in the modern maps of the moon ; fuch a
thing would the earth appear if it was feen from the
moon. They are both in my judgment the image or
picture of a great ruin, and have the true afpect of a world
lying in its rubbish. See Fig. in chap. xi.
Our earth is firſt divided into fea and land, without
any regularity in the portions, either of the one or the
other ; in the fea lie the iſlands, fcattered like limbs torn
from the reſt of the body ; great rocks ſtand reared up
in the waters ; the promontories and capes fhoot into
the fea, and the finuſes and creeks , on the other hand,
run as much into the land ; and theſe without any or
der or uniformity. Upon the other part of our globe'
ftand great heaps of earth or ſtone, which we call moun
tains ; and if theſe were all placed together, they would
take up a very confiderable part of the dry land : în the
reft of it are leſſer hills, valleys, plains, lakes and marſh
es, fands and defarts, etc. and theſe alfo without any
regular difpofition. Then the infide of the earth, or
inward parts of it, are generally broken or hollow, eſpe
cially about the mountains and high lands, as alſo to
wards the fhores of the ſea, and among the rocks . How
many holes and caverns, and ſtrange fubterraneous paf
fages do we fee in many countries ! And how many
more may we eafily imagine, that are unknown and un
3 acceffible to us !
This is the portraiture of our earth, drawn without
flatttery ; and as odly as it looks, it will not be at all
furprizing to one that hath confidered the foregoing
theory : for it is manifeſt enough, that upon the diffo
lution of the firſt earth, and its fall into the abyfs, this'
very face and poſture of things, which we have now de
fcribed, or fomething extremely like it, would immedi
ately refult. The fea would be opened, and the face of
the globe would be divided into land and water, and ac
cording as the fragments fell, fome would make iſlands
or rocks in the fea, others would make mountains or
L 3
108. The Deluge and
plains upon the land ; and the earth would generally be

full of caverns and hollowneſſes , eſpecially in the moun f
tainous parts of it. And we ſee the reſemblance and i 0
mitation of this in leffer ruins, when a mountain finks
and falls into fubterraneous 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 fo deep as to
overflow and cover all its parts, you may fee 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 fee mountains, and precipices, and plains,
and moſt of the varieties that we fee and admire in the
parts ofthe earth . What need we then feek any fur
ther for the explication of theſe things ? Let us fuppofe
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 leffer
and greater, the fame things appearing in both. But we
have naturally that weakness or prejudice, that we think
great things are not to be explained from eafy and fa
miliar inftances ; we think there muſt be fomething diffi
cult and operofe in the explication of them, or elſe we
are not fatisfied ; whether it is that we are afhamed to fee
our ignorance and admiration to have been fo ground
lefs, or whether we fancy there muſt be a proportion be
tween the difficulty ofthe explication, and the greatneſs
of the thing explained : but that is a very falfe judg
ment ; for let things be never fo great, if they be fimple,
their explication muſt be fimple and eafy : and on the
contrary, fome things that are mean, common, and or
dinary, may depend upon cauſes very difficult to find
out ; for the difficulty of explaining an effect doth not
depend upon its greatnefs or littleness, but upon the fim
plicity or compofition of its caufes. And the effects and
phaenomena we are here to explain, though great, yet de
pending upon caufes very fimple, you muſt not wonder
ifthe explication, when found out, be familiar and ve
ry intelligible.
And this is fo intelligible, and fo eafily 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 propofed to him, or being inftructed what the
form of the earth was, how it ſtood over the waters, and
then how it was broke and fell into them, he would ea
fily of his own accord foretel what changes would ariſe
upon this diffolution ; and what the new form of the
earth would be. As in the first place he would tell
you, that this fecond earth would be diftinguiſhed and
checkered 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 drowned under wa
ter ; and thoſe that ſtood above would make the dry
land or habitable part 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 fome would be higher and ſome lower,
fome in one poſture and ſome in another ; and confe
quently would make mountains, hills, valleys and plains,
and all other varieties we have in the fituation of the parts
ofthe earth. And lastly, a blind man would eaſily di
vine 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 fo fay ; for this we fee happens in
all ruins more or lefs ; and where the fragments are great
and hard, it is not poffible they ſhould be ſo adjuſted
in their fall, but that they would lie hollow in many
places, and many unfilled ſpaces would be intercepted a
mongst them ; fome gaping in the furface of the earth,
and others hid within ; fo as this would give occafion to
all forts of fractures and cavities either in the fkin ofthe
earth, or within its body. And thefe cavities, that I
may add that in the laft place, would be often filled with
fubterraneous waters, at leaſt at fuch a depth ; for the
foundations of the earth ſtanding now within the waters,
110 The Deluge and
fo high as thofe waters reached, they would more or lefs
F
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
diffolution ; and we find his reafonings and inferences
very true. Theſe are the chief lineaments and features of
our earth ; which appear indeed very irregular and very
inaccountable when they are looked upon naked in them
felves ; but if we look upon them through this theory,
we fee as in a glafs all the reafons and cauſes of them.
There are different geniuſes of men, and different con
ceptions, and every one is to be allowed their liberty as
to things of this nature ; I confefs, for my own part,
when I obferve how eafily and naturally this hypothefis
doth apply itſelf to the general face of this earth, hits
and falls in fo luckily and furprizingly with all the odd
poſtures of its parts, I cannot, without violence, bear
offmy mind from fully affenting to it : and the more odd
and extravagant, as I may fo fay, and the more diver
fified the effects and appearances are, to which an hypothe
fis is to be applied, if it anſwers them all and with ex
actnefs, it comes the nearer to a moral certitude and in
fallibility. As a lock that confifls of a great deal of
workmanship, many wards, and many odd pieces and
contrivances, if you find a key that anfwers to them all,
and opens it readily, it is a thouſand to one that it is the
true key, and was made for that purpoſe,
An eminent philofopher of this age, Monfieur de Car
tes, hath made ufe of the like hypothesis to explain the
irregular form of the prefent earth ; though he never
dreamed of the deluge, nor thought that first orb, built
over the abyss, to have been any more than a tranfient
cruſt, and not a real habitable world that laſted for more
than fixteen hundred years , as we fuppofe it to have been.
And though he hath, in my opinion, in the formation
of that firſt orb, and upon the diſſolution of it, commit
ted fome great overfights , whereof we have given an ac
•
count in the Latin treatiſe, G. 7. et. lib. ii . c. 4. how
ever he faw a neceffity of fuch a thing, and of the diſru
ption 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 fuppofition with the pre
fent face of the earth, and the eafy account it gives of
the cauſes of it. And though I believe to ingenuous
perfons, that are not prejudiced by the forms and opi
nions of the ſchools againſt every thing that looks like a
novelty or invention, thus much might be fufficient ; yet
for the fatisfaction of all, we will, as a further proof of
our theory, or that part of it which concerns the diffo
lution ofthe earth, defcend to a particular explication
of three or four of the moſt confiderable and remarkable
things that occur in the fabric of this prefent earth ;
namely, The great channel ofthe ocean ; fubterraneous ca
vities andfubterraneous waters; and laſtly, mountains and
rocks. Thefe are the wonders of the earth as to the
viſible frame of it ; and who would not be pleaſed to ſee
a rational account of thefe, of their origin, and of their
properties ? Or who would not approve of an hypothe
fis, when they fee that nature in her greateſt and ſtrang
eft works may eaſily be underſtood by it, and is in no
other way, that we know of, intelligible ?
We will ſpeak firſt of fubterraneous cavities and wa
ters, becauſe they will be of eafier diſpatch, and an in
troduction to the reſt.
That the infide 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 eafy obſerva
tions to prove : how many caves and dens and hollow
paffages into the ground do we fee in many countries,
efpecially amongft mountains and rocks ; and fome of
them endleſs and bottomlefs fo far as can be diſcovered !
We have many of theſe in our own iſland, in Derby
fhire, Somerſetſhire, Wales, and other counties, and
in every continent or iſland they abound more or leſs .
Thefe hollowneffes of the earth the ancients made pri
fons, or ſtore-houſes for the winds, and fet a God over
them to confine them, or let them looſe at his pleaſure.
IN The Deluge and
For fome ages after the flood, as all antiquity tells us,
thefe were the firſt houſes men had, at leaſt in ſome parts
of the earth ; here rude mortals fheltered themſelves, as
well as they could, from the injuries of the air, till they
were beaten out by wild beaſts that took poffeffion of
them. The ancient oracles alſo uſed to be given out of
thefe vaults and receffes under ground, the Sibyls had
their caves, and the Delphic oracle, and their temples
ſometimes were built upon an hollowrock. Places that are
ftrange and folemn ſtrike an awe into us, and incline us to
a kind of fuperftitious timidity and veneration, and there
fore they thought them fit for the feats and refidences of
their deities. They fancied alſo that ſteams rife fome
times, or a fort of vapour in thoſe hollow places, that
gave a kind of divine fury or inſpiration . But all theſe
uſes and employments are now in a great meaſure worn
out; we know no ufe of them but to make the places
talked on where they are, to be the wonders of the coun
try, to pleaſe our curiofity 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 pleafant to read good defcriptions
of theſe fubterraneous places , and of all the ſtrange
works of nature there ; how fhe furnisheth theſe dark
neglected grotto's ; they have often a little brook runs
murmuring through them, and the roof is commonly a
kind of petrefied earth, or icy fret-work, proper enough
for fuch rooms . But I fhould be pleafed eſpecially to
view the fea-caves, or thoſe hollow rocks that lie upon
the fea, where the waves roll in a great way under
ground, and wear the hard rock into as many odd fhapes
and figures as we fee in the clouds. It is pleaſant alſo
to fee a river in the middle of its courfe throw itſelf in
to the mouth of a cave, or an opening of the earth, and
run under ground fometimes many miles ; ftill purſuing
its way through the dark pipes of the earth, 'till at laſt
it find an out-let. There are many of theſe rivers tak
en notice of in hiſtory in the ſeveral parts of the earth, as
the Rhone in France, Guadiana in Spain, and ſeveral
in Greece, Alpheus, Lycus, and Erafinus ; then Niger
9
in Africa, Tygris in Afia, etc. And I believe if we
could turn Derwent, or any other river, into one of the
holes of the peak, it would groop its way 'till it found
an iſſue, it may be in fome other county. Thefe fub
terraneous rivers, that emerge again, fhew us that the
holes of the earth are longer and reach further than we
imagine, and ifwe could fee 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 areſometimes of a prodigious greatnefs : Strabo
[Geo. 1. 16. ] mentions fome 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 fix hundred men, fo as Saul, when he was in
the mouth of it, did not perceive them . In the moun-.
tains ofthe Traconites there are many of theſe vaſt dens
and receffes, and the people of that country defended
themſelves a long time in thoſe ſtrong holds againſt He
rod and his army : they are placed among fuch craggy
rocks and precipices , that as Jofephus [Ant. Jud. 1. 14.
c. 27. ] tells us, Herod was forced to make a fort of open
cheſts, and in thoſe by chains of iron he let down his
foldiers from the top of the mountains to go fight them
in their dens. I need add no more inftances of this kind:
in the natural hiſtory of all countries, or the geographi
cal deſcriptions of them, you find fuch places taken no
tice of, more or lefs ; 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 fenfible how broken
and torn the body of the earth is.
There are fubterraneous cavities of another nature,
and more remarkable, which they call volcano's, or fiery
mountains ; that belch out flames and ſmoke and afhes,
and fometimes great ſtones and broken rocks, and lumps
of earth, or ſome metalic 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 ma
114 The Deluge and
gazines of combuftible matter treaſured up in them. And

as the exhalations within thefe places muſt be copious,
fo they muſt lie in long mines or trains to do fo great
execution, and to laft fo long. It is fcarce credible
what is reported concerning fome eruptions of Vefuvius
and Ætna. The eruptions of Vefuvius ſeem to be more
frequent and lefs 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, fo as
it looks at the top, when you ftand upon the brims of
it, like an amphitheatre, or like a great caldron, about
a mile in circumference, and the burning furnace lies un
der it. The outſide of the mountain is all ſpread with
afhes, but the infide much more ; for you wade up to
the mid-leg in afhes to go down to the bottom of the
cavity, and it is extremely heavy and troubleſome to get
up again. The infide lies floping, and one may fafely
go down, if it be not in a raging fit ; but the middle
part of it, or center, which is a little raifed like the bot
tom ofa platter, is not to be ventured upon, the ground
there lies falfe and hollow, there it always fmokes, and
there the funnel is fuppofed 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 covered its ſtreets and palaces with its afhes ; and
in fight of the fea (which lies by the fide of them
both) and as it were in defiance to it, threatens at one
time or another to burn that fair city. Hiftory tells us,
that fome eruptions of Vesuvius have carried cinders and
afhes as far as Conftantinople ; this is atteſted both by
Greek and Latin authors ; particularly, that they were
fo affrighted with theſe aſhes and darkneſs, that the em
peror left the city, and there was a day obſerved yearly
for a memorial of this calamity or prodigy.
Ætna is ofa greater fame than Vefuvius, and ofgreat
er fury all antiquity fpeaks ofit ; not only the Greeks.
and Romans, but, as far as hiſtory reacheth, either real or
fabulous, there is fomething recorded of the fires of At
na: the figure of the mountain is inconftant, by reaſon
of
of the great confumptions and ruins it is ſubject to ; the
fires and aeftuations of it are excellently defcribed by
Virgil, upon occafion of Æneas's paffing bythofe coafts.
-Horrificis juxta tonat Aetna ruinis,

Interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem,
Turbinefumantem pices, et candente favillä;
Attollitque globos fammarum, et fidera lambit ;
Interdum fcopulos, avulfaque vifcera montis
Erigit eructans, liquefectaque faxa fub auras
Cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exaefluat imo.
Fama eft, Enceladi femuflum fulmine corpus
Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque infuper Aetnam
Impofitam, ruptis flammam expirare caminis:
Et, feffum quoties mutat latus, intremere omnem
Murmure Trinceriam, et coelumfubtexerefumo.
-Etna, whofe ruins make a thunder;

Sometimes black clouds of Smoke, that rowl about
Mingled with flakes offire, it belches out,
Andfometimes balls offlame it darts on high,
Or its torn bowels flings into the sky.
Within deep cells under the earth, a store
Offire-materials, molten ſtones, and ore,
It gathers, then fpews out, and gathers more. }
Enceladus, when thunder-ftruck by Jove,
Was bury'd here, and Etna thrown above ;
And when, to change his weariedfide, he turns,
The island trembles and the mountain burns.
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 Weft- Indies,
and in the Eaſt, in the northern and fouthern parts of
the earth, there are fome of thefe volcano's, which are
fenfible evidences that the earth is incompact and full of
caverns ; befides, the rorings and bellowings, that ufed
to be heard before an eruption of thefe volcano's, argue
VOL. I. M
116 The Deluge and
fome dreadful hollowneſs in the belly, or under the
roots of the mountain, where the exhalations ſtruggle
before they can break their priſon .
The fubterraneous cavities, that we have ſpoke of hi
therto, are fuch as are viſible in the ſurface of the earth,
and break the ſkin by fome gaping orifice ; but the min
ers, 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 fince
the great fall of the earth. And where we think the
ground is firm and folid, as upon heaths and downs, it
often betrays its hollowness , by founding under the horſes
feet and the chariot wheels that pafs over it. We do not
know when and where we ftand upon good ground, ifit
was examined deep enough ; and to make us further fen
fible of this, we will inftance in two things that argue
the unfoundnefs and hollowness of the earth in the in
ward receffes of it, though the ſurface be intire and un
• broken ; theſe are earthquakes, and the communication of
fubterraneous waters and feas : of which two we will
ſpeak a little more particularly.
Earthquakes are too evident demonftrations of the
hollowness of the earth , being the dreadful effects or con
fequences of it ; for if the body of the earth was found
and compact, there would be no fuch thing in nature as
an earthquake. They are commonly accompanied with
an heavy dead found, like a dull thunder, which arifeth
from the vapours that are ſtriving in the womb of nature,
when her throws are coming upon her. And that theſe ca
verns, where the vapours lie, are very large and capacious,
we are taught fometimes by fad experience ; for whole ci
ties and countries have been fwallowed up into them, as
Sodom and Gomorrah, and the region of Pentapolis and
feveral cities in Greece, and in Afia, and in other parts.
Whole iflands alfo have been thus abforpt in an earth
quake ; the pillars and props they stood upon being
broken, they have funk and fallen in as an houfe blown
up. I am alſo of opinion, that thoſe iſlands that are

made by divulfion from a continent, as Sicily was brok
en off from Italy, and Great- Britain, as fome think,
from France, have been made the fame way ; that is,
the isthmus, or necks of land, that joined theſe iſlands
with their continents before, have been hollow, and be
ing either worn by the water, or ſhaked by an earth
quake, have funk down, and fo 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 continu
ed ſtanding, and the fea overflowed it, and fo made an
ifland ; for then, all thofe paffages between fuch iflands,
and their reſpective continents , would be extremely fhal
low and unnavigable, which we do not find them to be.
Nor is it any more wonder if fuch a neck of land ſhould
fall, than that a mountain ſhould fink , or any other tract
of land, and a lake rife in its place, which hath often
happened. Plato fuppofeth his Atlantis to have been
greater than Afia and Africa together, and yet to have funk
all into the fea; whether that be true or no, I do not
think it impoffible that fome arms of the fea, or finnfes,
might have had fuch an original as that ; and I am very
apt to think, that for fome years after the deluge , ' till the
fragments were well fettled and adjuſted, great alterati
ons would happen as to the face of the fea and the land ;
many of the fragments would change their posture, and
many would fink into the water, that ſtood out before,
the props failing that bore them up, or the joints and
corners whereby they leaned upon one another ; and
thereupon a new face of things would arife, and a new
deluge for that part ofthe earth. Such removes and in
terchanges, I believe, would often happen in the firſt
ages after the flood ; as we fee in all other ruins, there
happen leffer and ſecondary ruins after the firſt, 'till the
parts be fo well poifed and fettled, that without fome vio
lence they ſcarce change their poſture any more .
But to return to our earthquakes, and to give an in
ftance or two of their extent and violence : Pliny men
ons one in the reign of Tiberius Caefar, that ſtruck down
M 2
118 The Deluge and
twelve cities of Afia in one night. And Fournier gives
us an account of one in Peru, that reached three hundred
leagues along the fea-fhore, and ſeventy leagues in-land;
and leveled the mountains all along as it went, threw
down the cities, turned the rivers out of their channels,
and made an univerfal havoe and confuſion : and all this,
he faith, was done within the ſpace of ſeven or eight mi
nutes. There must be dreadful vaults and mines under
that continent, that gave paffage to the vapours, and li
berty to play for nine-hundred miles in length, and a
bove two hundred in breadth. Afia alfo hath been ve
ry fubject to thefe defolations by earthquakes ; and ma
ny 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
fo does the greateſt part of the outward frame of the
earth, and therefore it is no wonder if it be often ſhak
en; there being quantities of exhalations within theſe
mines, or cavernous paffages, that are capable of rare
faction and inflammation ; and, upon fuch occafions, re
quiring more room, they ſhake or break the ground that
covers them . And thus much concerning earthquakes ,
A fecond obfervation, that argues the hollowness of
the earth, is the communication of the feas and lakes
under ground. The Cafpian and Mediterranean feas,
and feveral lakes, receive into them great rivers, and yet
have no visible out-let : theſe muſt have fubterraneous
out-lets, by which they empty themſelves, otherwife
they would redund and overflow the brims of their vef,
fel. The Mediterranean is moſt remarkable in this kind,
becauſe it is obferved that at one end the great ocean
flows into it through the ſtraits of Gibraltar, with a ſen
fible current, and towards the other end about Conſtan
tinople the Pontus flows down into it with a ftream fo
ftrong, that veffels have much ado to ſtem it ; and yet
it neither hath any viſible evacuation or out-let, nor o
verflows its banks. And befides that it is thus fed at
either end, it is fed by the navel too, as I may ſo ſay;
it fucks in, . by their channels, feveral rivers into its bel
ly, whereof the Nile is one very great and confiderable.

Theſe things have made it a great problem, What bee
comes ofthe water ofthe Mediterranean fea ? And for my
part, I think the folution is very eafy, namely, that it
is diſcharged by fubterraneous paffages, or conveyed 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
fea, and other feas and lakes , that receive great rivers
into them, and have no vifible iffue.
I know there have been propofed feveral other ways
to anſwer this difficulty concerning the efflux or confum
ption of the waters of the Mediterranean : fome have
fuppofed a double current in the ſtraight of Gibraltar,
one that carried 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 ; fo they fuppofed one current upon the
furface, which carried the 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 confifted of liquors very
different, theſe cross currents would mingle and deſtroy
one another. Others are of opinion, thatall the water that
flows into the Mediterranean, or a quantity equal to it,
is confumed in exhalations every day : this feems to be
a bolder fuppofition than the other ; for if ſo much be
confumed in vapours and exhalations every day as flows
into this fea, what if this feahad an out-let, and difcharged
by that everyday as much as it received ? In a few days
the vapours would have confumed all the reft ; and yet
we fee many lakes that have as free an out-let as an in
let, and are not confumed or fenfibly diminiſhed by the
vapours. Befides, this reafon is a fummer reafon, and
would paſs very ill in winter, when the heat of the fun
is much less powerful ; at leaſt there would be a veryfen
fible difference betwixt the height of the waters in fum
mer and winter, if fo much was confumed every day, as
M 3
120 The Deluge and
this explication fuppofeth . And the truth is, this want

of a vifible out-let is not a property belonging only to the
Mediterranean fea, as we noted before , but is alſo in o
ther feas and great lakes , fome lying in one climate and
fome in another, where there is no reaſon to fuppofe
fuch exceffive exhalations ; and though it is true fome
rivers in Afric, and in other parts of the earth, are thus
exhaled and dried up, without ever flowing into the fea
(as were all the rivers in the firſt earth) yet this is where
the fands and parched ground fuck up a great part of
them ; the heat of the climate being exceffively ftrong,
and the channel of the river growing fhallower by de
grees, and it may be, divided into leffer branches and ri
vulets ; which are cauſes that take no place here. And
therefore we muſt reti rn to our firſt reaſon , which is u
niverfal, for all feafons of the year and all climates ; and
feeing we are affured that there are fubterraneous chan
nels and paffages , for rivers often fall into the ground,
and fometimes rife again, and fometimes never return ;
why fhould we doubt to aſcribe this effect to fo obvious
a caufe ? Nay, I believe the very ocean doth evacuate
itfelf by fubterraneous out-lets ; for confidering what a
prodigious mafs 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 fyrtes or great whirl
pools, that are conftant in certain parts or ſinuſes ofthe
fea, as upon the coaſt of Norway and of Italy, ariſe pro
bably from fubterraneous out-lets in thoſe places, where
by the water finks, and turns, and draws into it what
foever comes within fach a compafs ; and if there was 1
no iffue at the bottom, though it might by contrary cur
rents turn things round within its fphere, yet there is
Ho reafon from that, why it fhould fuck them down to
the bottom . Neither does it feem improbable, that the
currents ofthe fea are from theſe in-draughts, and that
there is always a fubmarine in- let in fome part of them,'
to make a circulation of the waters . But thus much for
the fubterraneous communication of feas and lakes.
And thus much in general concerning fubterraneous
cavities, and concerning the hollow and broken frame
of the earth. If I had now magic enough to fhew you
at one view all the infide of the earth, which we have
imperfectly deſcribed ; 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
fink under ground, and follow its courſe and all its wind
ings 'till it rife again , or led us to the fea, 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
defcriptions collected from reaſon . The ancients I re
member uſed to repreſent theſe hollow caves and fubter
raneous regions in the nature of a world under ground,
and ſuppoſed it inhabited by the nymphs, eſpecially the
nymphs of the waters and the fea-goddeffes ; fo Orphe
us fung of old ; and in imitation of him Virgil hath
made a defcription of thofe regions ; feigning the nymph
Cyrene to fend for her fon to come down to her, and
make her a vifit in thofe fhades where mortals were not
admitted.
Duc age, duc ad nos ; fas illi limina divẩm

Tangere, ait : fimul alta jubet difcedere late
Flumina, qua juvenis greffus inferret : at illum
Curvata in montis faciem circumftetit unda,
Accepitquefinu vafto, mifitque fub amnem.
Famque domum mirans genetricis et humida regna,
Speluncifque lacos claufos, lucofquefonantes,
Ibat; et ingenti motuftupefactus aquarum,
Omnia fub magna labentia flumina terra
Spectabat diverfa locis ; Phafimque Licumque, etc.
Et thalami matris pendentiapumice tecta, etc. VIRGIL.
Come, lead the youth below, bring him to me,

The gods arepleas'd our manfions he shouldfee:
Streight ſhe commands the floods to make him way,
They open their wide bofom and obey
Soft is the path, and eafy is his tread,
A wat'ry arch bends o'er his dewy head;
422 The Deluge and
And as he goes, he wonders, and looks round,
Tofee this new-found kingdom under ground.
The filent lakes in hollow caves hefees,
And on their banks an ecchoing grove oftrees ;
The fall of waters 'mongst the rock below
He hears, andfees the rivers how they flow :
Allthe great rivers of the earth are there,
Prepar'd, as in a womb, by nature's care.
Laft, to his mother's bed-chamber he's brought,
Where the high roofwith pumice-ftone is wrought, etc.
1
If we now could open the earth as this nymph did the
water, and go down into the bofom of it ; fee all the
dark chambers and apartments there, how ill contrived,
and how ill kept ; fo many holes and corners, fome fill
ed with ſmoke and fire, fome with water, and fome 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 inmediately out of no
thing : it would have coft no more to have made things
in better order ; nay, it had been more eaſy and more
fimple and accordingly we are affured that all things
were made at firſt in beauty and proportion. And if we
confider nature and the manner of the first formation of
the earth, it is evident that there could be no fuch holes
and caverns, nor broken pieces, made then in the body
of it ; for the groffer parts of the chaos falling down to
wards the center, they would there compofe a maſs of
earth uniform and compact, the water ſwimming above
it ; and this firſt maſs under the water could have no ca
verns or vacuities in it ; for if it had had any, the earthy
parts,whilethe maſs was liquid or femi-liquid, would have
funk into them and filled them up, expelling the air or
water that was there ; and when afterwards there came
to be a crust or new earth formed upon the face of the
waters, there could be no cavities, no dens, no frag
ments in it, no more than in the other ; and for the
fame general reaſon, that is, paſſing from a liquid form
into a concrete or folid,leifurely and by degrees, it would
flow and fettle together in an entire mafs ; there being
nothing broken, nor any thing hard, to bear the parts
off from one another, or to intercept any empty ſpaces
between them.
It is 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, feeing there is neither
ufe nor beauty in this kind of conſtruction . Do we not
then, as reaſonably, as aptly, afcribe it to that defola
tion that was brought upon the earth in the general de
luge, when its outward frame was diffolved and fell into
the great abyfs ? How eafily doth this anſwer all that we
have obferved concerning the fubterraneous regions !
That hollow and broken poſture of things under ground,
all thofe caves and holes, and blind receſſes that are o
therwife fo inaccountable, fay but that they are a ruin,
and you have in one word explained them all. For
there is no fort of cavities, interior or exterior, great or
little, open or fhut, wet or dry, of what form or fafhi
on foever, but we might reaſonably expect them in a ruin
of that nature. And as for the fubterraneous waters,
ſeeing the earth fell into the abyfs, the pillars and foun
dations of the preſent (exterior) earth muſt ſtand im
merfed in water, and therefore at fuch a depth from the
furface every where, there muſt be water found, if the
foil be of a nature to admit it. It is true, all fubterra¬
neous waters do not proceed from this original, for
many of them are the effects ofrains and melted fnows
funk into the earth ; but that in digging any where you
conſtantly come to water at length, even in the moſt ſo
lid ground ; this cannot proceed from theſe rains or
fnows, but muſt come from below, and from a caufe 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 abyfs , whereof, as a great part lies
open in the fea, fo the reft lies hid and covered among
the fragments of the earth ; fometimes difperfed and on
ly moiſtening the parts, as our blood lies in the fleſh,
and in the habit of the body ; fometimes in greater or lef
124 The Deluge and
fer maffes, as the blood in our veffels . And this I take
to be the true account of fubterraneous waters, as di
ftinguiſhed from fountains and rivers, and from the mat
ter and caufes of them .
Thus much we have ſpoke to give a general idea of
the inward parts of the earth, and an eafy explication of
them by our hypothefis ; which, whether it be true or no,
if you compare it impartially with nature, you will con
fefs at least, that all theſe things are juſt in ſuch a form
and poſture as if it was true.
CHA P. X.
Concerning the channel of the fea, and the original ofit ;

the caufes ofits irregular form and unequal depths : as
alf of the original of islands, their fituation and other
properties.
WE have hitherto given an account of the fubterrane

ous regions and of their general form ; we now come
above ground to view the furface of the globe, which we
find terraqueous, or divided into fea and land : thefe we
muſt ſurvey, and what is remarkable in them as to their
frame and ſtructure, we muſt give an account of from
our hypothefis, and fhew to be inaccountable from any
other yet known.
" As for the ocean, there are two things confiderable
in it, the water and the channel that contains it. The
water no doubt is as ancient as the earth, and cotem
porary with it, and we ſuppoſe it to be part of the great
abyfs wherein the world was drowned ; the reſt lying
covered under the hollow fragments of continents and
iflands. But that is not ſo much the ſubject of our pre
fent diſcourſe as the channel of the ocean, that vaft and
prodigious cavity that runs quite round the globe, and
reacheth, for ought we know, from pole to pole, and
in many places is unfearchably deep : when I prefent this
' great gulfto my imagination , emptied of all its waters,
naked and gaping at the fun, ftretching its jaws from
one end of the earth to another, it appears to me the

moft ghaftly thing in nature. What hands or inftru
ments could work a trench in the body of the earth of
this vaſtneſs, and lay mountains and rocks on the fide
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 it is as deform
ed and irregular as it is great. And there appearing no
thing 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 the firſt
model that was drawn in meaſure and proportion by the
line and by the plummet, but a ſecondary work, and the
beft that could be made of broken materials . And up
on this fuppofition it is eafy to imagine, how, upon the
diffolution of the primaeval earth, the channel of the fea
was made, or that huge cavity that lies between the fe
veral continents of the earth ; which fhall be more par
ticularly explained after we have viewed a little better
the form of it, and the iſlands that lie fcattered by its
fhores.
There is no cavity in the earth, whether open or fub
terraneous, that is comparably fo great as that ofthe o
cean, nor would any appear of that deformity, if we
could fee it empty. The infide of a cave is rough and
unfightly; 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 with
out grafs, nothing but bare ground and bare ftones,.
from the tops of the mountains, would have a ghaſtly
afpect ; but the fea-channel is the complex of all thefe;
1 here caves, empty lakes, naked valleys, are reprefented
as in their original, or rather far exceeded and out-done
as to all their irregularities ; for the cavity of the ocean
is univerfally irregular, both as to the fhores and bor
ders of it ; as to the uncertain breadth and the uncertain
depth of its feveral parts, and as to its ground and bot
tom and the whole mould : if the fea had been drawn
round the earth in regular figures and borders, it might
126 The Deluge and
have been a 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 con
trary all the marks of diforder and difproportion in it,
we may as reaſonably conclude that it did not belong to
the first order of things , but was fomething fuccedane
ous, when the degeneracy of mankind, and the judg
ments of God, had deſtroyed the first world, and fubject
ed the creation to fome kind of vanity.
Nor can it eaſily be imagined, if the fea had been al
ways, and the earth, in this terraqueous form, broke in
to continents and iſlands , how mankind could have been
propagated at firſt through 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 feveral parts of the world, if
they had been diſtant or ſeparate then, as they are now
by the interpofal of the great ocean ? But this confide
ration we will inſiſt upon more largely in another place ;
let us reflect upon the irregularities of the fea-channel a
gain, and the poffible causes of it.
If we could imagine the channel of the fea to have
been made as we may imagine the channel of rivers to
have been, by long and infenfible attrition, the water
wearing by degrees the ground under it, by the force it
hath from its deſcent and courſe, we ſhould not wonder
at its irregular form ; but it is not poſſible this channel
ſhould have had any fuch original ; whence ſhould its
water have defcended, from what mountains, or from
what clouds ? Where is the fpring-head of the fea ?
What force could eat away half the furface of the earth,
and wear it hollow to an immeaſurable depth ? This
muſt not be from feeble and lingering cauſes, ſuch as the
attrition of waters, but from fome great violence offered
to nature, fuch as we fuppofe to have been in the gene
ral deluge, when the frame of the earth was broken. And
after
after we have a little furveyed the fea-coaft, and, fo far

as we can, the form of the fea-channel, we ſhall the
more eaſily believe that they could have no other origi
nal than what we aſſign.
The shores and coafts of the fea are no way equal or
uniform, but go in a line uncertainly crooked and broke ;
indented and jagged as a thing torn, as you may fee in
the maps of the coafts and the fea charts ; and yet there
are innumerable more inequalities than are taken notice
of in thofe draughts ; for they only mark the greater
promontories and bays ; but there are befides thoſe a
multitude of creeks and out-lets , necks of land and angles,
which break the evenness of the fhore in all manner of
ways. Then the height and level of the fhore is as un
certain as the line of it ; it is fometimes high and fome
times low, fometimes fpread in fandy plains, as ſmooth
as the fea itſelf, and of fuch an equal height with it, that
the waves feem to have no bounds, but the mere figure
and convexity of the globe ; in other places it is raifed .
into banks and ramparts of earth ; and in others it is
walled in with rocks ; and all this without any order
that we can obferve, or any other reaſon than that this
is what might be expected in a ruin.
As to the depths and foundings of the fea, they are
under no rule nor equality any more than the figures of
the fhores; fhallows in fome places, and gulphs in others;
beds of fands fometimes, and fometimes rocks under wa
ter ; as navigators have learned by a long and dangerous
experience : and though we, that are upon dry land, are
not much concerned how the rocks and the shelves lie in
the fea, yet a poor fhipwreckt-mariner, when he hath
run his veffel upon a rock in the middle of the channel,
expoftulates bitterly with nature, who it was that placed
that rock there, and to what purpofe ? Was there not
room enough, faith he, upon the land or the fhore, to
lay your great ſtones, but they muſt be thrown into the
middle of the fea, as it were in fpite to navigation ? The
best apology that can be made for nature in this cafe, fo
far as I know, is to confefs that the whole bufines of
VOL. I. N
128 The Deluge and
the fea-channel is but a ruin, and in a ruin things tumble
uncertainly, and commonly lie in confufion : though, to
fpeak the truth, it ſeldom happens, unleſs in narrow feas,
that rocks, or banks, or iſlands, lie in the middle of
them, or very far from the ſhores.
Having viewed the more vifible parts of the channel
of the ſea, we muſt now deſcend to the bottom of it, and
fee the form and contrivance of that ; but who ſhall
guide us in our journey, while we walk, as Job faith ,
chap. xxxviii . 16. in the fearch of the deep ? Or who can
make a defcription of that which none hath feen ? 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
fee upon land ; beſide theſe, it is very likely there are
caves under water, and hollow paffages into the bowels
of the earth, by which the feas circulate and communi
cate one with another, and with fubterraneous waters ;
thofe great eddies, and infamous fyrtes and whirlpools, that
are in fome feas, as the Baltic and the Mediterranean ,
that fuck into them and overwhelm whatever comes
within their reach, fhew that there is fomething below
that fucks from them in proportion, and that drinks up
the fea, as the fea drinks up the rivers. We ought al
fo to imagine the fhores within the water to go inclined
and floping, but with great inequality; there are many
fhelves in the way, and chambers, and ſharp angles ; and
many broken rocks and great ſtones lie rolled down to
the bottom .
It is true theſe things affect us little, becauſe they are
not exposed to our fenfes ; and we feldom give ourſelves
the trouble to collect from reafon what the form of the
invifible and inacceffible parts of the earth is ; or if we
do fometimes, thofe ideas are faint and weak, and make
no lafting impreffion upon our imagination and paffions ;
but if we fhould fuppofe the ocean dry, and that we
looked down from the top of fome high cloud upon the
empty ſhell, how horridly and barbaroudly would it look !
And with what amazement ſhould we ſee it under us like
an open hell, or a wide bottomlefs pit ; fo deep, and
hollow, and vaft ; fo broken and confufed, fo every
way deformed and monftrous ! This would effectually
waken our imagination, and make us enquire and won
der how fuch a thing came in nature ; from what caufes,
by what force or engines could the earth be torn in this
prodigious manner ? Did they dig the fea with fpades,
and carry out the mould in hand-baſkets ? Where are
the entrails laid ? and how did they cleave the rocks a
funder ? If as many pioneers, as the army of Xerxes, had
been at work ever fince the beginning of the world, they
could not have made a ditch of this greatnefs. Nor is
it the greatnefs only, but that wild and multifarious
confuſion which we fee in the parts and faſhion of it,
that makes it ſtrange and unaccountable ; it is another
chaos in its kind ; who can paint the fcenes of it? Gulphs,
and precipices, and cataracts ; pits within pits, and
rocks under rocks, broken mountains and ragged iflands,
that look as if they had been countries pulled up by the
roots, and planted in the ſea.
If we could make true and full reprefentations of thefe
things to ourfelves, I think we ſhould not be ſo bold as
to make them the immediate product of divine omnipo
tence ; being deſtitute of all appearance of art or coun
fel. The first orders of things are more perfect and re
gular, and this decorum feems to be obferved, that na
ture doth not fall into diforder till mankind be firſt dege
nerate and leads the way. Monſters have been often
made an argument againſt providence ; if a calf have two
heads , or five legs, ftraight, 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
confequence at all to the rest of the world : but if we
make the ſtanding frame of nature monftrous, or deform
ed and difproportioned, and to have been ſo not by cor
ruption and degeneracy, but immediately by divine crea
tion or formation, it would not be ſo eaſy to anſwer that
objection against providence. Let us therefore prevent
N 2
130 The Deluge and
this imputation ; and fuppofing, according to our theo
ry, that theſe things were not originally thus, let us now
explain more diſtinctly how they came to paſs at the de
luge, or upon the diffolution of the first earth.
And we will not content ourſelves with a general an
fwer to thefe obfervations concerning the fea-channel, as
if it was a fufficient account of them to ſay they were the
effects of a ruin ; there are other things to be confidered
and explained beſides this irregularity, as the vaſt hol
lowness ofthis cavity, bigger incomparably than any o
ther belonging to the earth ; and alſo the declivity of
the fides of it, which lie fhelving from top to bottom :
for notwithſtanding all the inequalities we have taken
notice of in the channel of the fea, it hath one general
form, which may, though under many differences, be
obferved throughout ; and that is, that the fhores and
fides within the water lie inclined, and you deſcend by
degrees to the deepeft part which is towards the middle.
This, I know, admits of many exceptions ; for fome
times upon a rocky fhore, or among rockyiſlands, the fea
is very deep cloſe to the rocks, and the deeper, common
lythe higher andſteeper the rocks are. Alſo where the de
fcent is more leiſurely, it is often after a different manner,
in fome coafts more equal and uniform, in others more
broken and interrupted ; but ftill there is a deſcent to the
channel or deepeſt part, and this in the deep ocean is
fathomlefs ; and fuch a deep ocean and ſuch a deep chan
nel there is always between continents. This, I think , is
a property as determinate as any we can pitch upon in the
channel of the fea, and with thofe other two mention
ed, its vaft cavity, and univerfal irregularity, is all
one can defire an account of, as to the form of it ; we
will therefore from this ground take our rife and firſt
meaſures for the explication of the fea-channel.
Let us fuppofe then in the diffolution of the earth,
when it began to fall, that it was divided only into three
or four fragments, according to the number of our con
tinents ; but thofe fragments, being vaftly great, could
not defcend at their full breadth and expanfion, or at
theg
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made in that general form of declivity in its fides from

the land: the third thing was the irregularities of it , both
as to its various depths, and as to the form ofthe ſhores
and of the bottom. And this is. as cafily and naturally
N 3
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h e nur t fra gme nts , according to the number of our con
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but thofe fragments , being vaftly great , could
tine def
nt s cend at their full breadth and expanfion , or at
tine ;
leaft could not defcend 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 confequently its de
fcent there would be more refifted and fufpended ; but
the fides in the mean time would continually defcend,
bending the fragment with their weight, and fo making
it of a leffer compaſs and expanſion than it was before :
and by this means there would be an interval and di
ftance made between the two falling fragments, and a
good part of the abyfs, after their defcent, would lie
uncovered in the middle betwixt them ; as may be ſeen
in the annexed figure, where the fragments A. B. bend
ing downwards in their extremities, feparate as they go,
and after they are fallen, leave a good ſpace in the abyss
betwixt them altogether uncovered : this ſpace is the main
channel of the great ocean, lying betwixt two conti
nents ; and the inclining fides fhew the declivity of the
fhores.
This we have repreſented here only in a ring or circle
of the earth in the first figure; but it may be better re
preſented in a broader ſurface, as in the fecond figure,
where the two fragments A. B. that are to make the two
oppofitecontinents, fall in like double doors, opening down
wards, the hinges being towards the land on either fide,
fo as at the bottom they leave in the middle betwixt them
a deep channel of water, a.a. a . fuch as is betwixt all con
tinents; and the water reaching a good height upon the
4 land, on either fide, makes ſea there too , but ſhallower,
and by degrees you defcend into the deepeſt channel.
This gives an account of two things that we menti
oned to be confidered and explained as to the fea, how the
great cavity of its channel was made, and how it was
made in that general form of declivity in its fides from
the land : the third thing was the irregularities of it, both
as to its various depths, and as to the form ofthe ſhores
and of the bottom . And this is as cafily and naturally
N 3
132 The Deluge and
explained from the fame fuppofition as the former two
for though we have hitherto reprefented the fragments
A. B. as even and regular after their fall, becauſe that
was molt fimple, and there was no occafion then to re,
prefent them otherwife, yet we muft fuppofe, that as foon
as in their fall they hit upon the top or bottom of the a
byfs, that great force and weight, with which they de
fcended, broke off all the edges and extremities, andfo
made innumerable ruptures and inequalities in the fhores,
and as many within the fea, and at the bottom ; where
the broken rocks and lumps of earth would lie in all i
maginable diſorder ; as you may conecive from the third
Figure. For when the motion came on a ſudden to be
obſtructed, the load of the fragment ſtill preffing it for
wards, fuch a concuffion aroſe, as made thouſands of
leffer fragments, of all ſhapes and magnitudes, and in all
poſtures and forms, and moſt of them irregular. And
by theſe fractions and fecondary ruins the line of the
fhores was broken, and the level of them too : in fome
places they would ſtand high, in others low, fometimes
rough, and fometimes even, and generally crooked , with
angles and in-lets , and uncertain windings. The bot
tom alfo by the ſame ſtroke was diverfified into all man
ner of forms, fometimes rocky with pits and gulphs, and
fometimes ſpread in plain beds, fometimes fhallow, and
fometimes deep ; for thoſe differences would depend only
upon the fituation of the fecondary fragments ; and fo it
might come to pafs, that fome places near the fhore
might be exceffive deep when a rock or rocks ſtood in a
fteep pofture, as Figure 3. b. b. b. and, on the con
trary, fometimes places much more advanced into the o
cean might be lefs deep, where a fragment of earth lay
under water, or one bore up another, as c. c. c . but theſe
cafes would not be very frequent. To conclude, There
are no properties of the fea-channel, that I know of,
por differences or irregularities in the form of it, which
this hypothefis doth not give a fair account of: and hav
ing thus far opened the way, and laid down the general
grounds for their explication, other things that are more
minute, we leave, to the curiofity of particular geniuses ;
being unwilling to clog the theory at firſt with things
that may feem unneceffary. We proceed now to the con
fideration of iſlands.
We muſt in the firſt place diſtinguiſh between original
iflands and factitious iflands : thofe I call factitious, that
are not ofthe fame date and antiquity with the fea, but
have been made fome at one time, fome at another, by
accidental cauſes, as the aggeſtion of fands and fand
beds , or the fea leaving the tops of fome fhallow places
that lie high, and yet flowing about the lower fkirts 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 divulfion from fome continent, when
an ifthmus, or the neck of a promontory running into
the fea, finks or falls in, by an earthquake or otherwiſe,
and the fea, entering in at the gap, paffeth through, and
makes that promontory or country become an iſland.
Thus the iſland Sicily is fuppofed to have been made,
and all Africa might be an iſland, if the isthmus between
the Mediterranean and the Red fea fhould fink down.
And theſe iſlands may have rocks and mountains in them,
if the land had fo before. Lastly, there are iſlands that
have been ſaid to rife from the bottom of the fea ; hiſto
ry mentions fuch in both the Archipelagos, Egaean and
Indian ; and this feems to argue that there are great
fragments or tracks of earth that lie loofe at the bottom
of the fea, or that are not incorporated with the ground;
which agrees very well with our explication of the fear
channel.
But befides theſe iſlands, and the feveral forts ofthem,
there are others which I call original; becauſe they could
not be produced in any of the forementioned ways, but
are of the fame origin and antiquity with the channel of
the fea; and fuch are the generality of our iflands ; they
were not made of heaps of fands, nor torn from any
continent, but are as ancient as the continents them
felves, namely, ever fince the deluge, the common pa
rent of them both. Nor is there any difficulty to under
134 The Deluge and
ftand how iflands were made at the diffolution of the
earth any more than how continents were made ; for
iflands are but leffer continents , or continents greater
iflands ; and according as continents were made of great
er maſſes of earth, or greater fragments ſtanding above
the water, fo iſlands were made of lefs , but ſo big always,
and in fuch a pofture, as to bear their tops -aabove the
water. Yet though they agree thus far, there is a par
ticular difference to be taken notice of, as to their ori
gin ; for the continents were made of thoſe three or four
primary maffes 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 maffes and primary fragments came to
dafh upon the abyss in their fall, the fudden ftop of the
motion, and the weighty bulk of the defcending frag
ment 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 fcattered along
the fides of the continents, and are but fplinters, as it
were, of thoſe greater bodies. It is true, beſides theſe,
there were an infinite number of other pieces broke off
that do not appear, fome making rocks under water,
fome fhallows and banks in the fea ; but the greateſt of
them when they fell either one upon another, or in fuch
a poſture as to prop up one another, their heads and
higher parts would ftand out of the water and make
inlands. 1. 4
Thus I conceive the iſlands of the fea were at firſt
produced ; we cannot wonder therefore that they ſhould
be fo numerous, or far more numerous than the conti
nents ; thefe are the parents, and thofe are the children ;
nor can we wonder to fee along the fides of the conti
nents feveral iflands, or fets of iflands , fown, as it
were by handfuls, or laid in trains ; for the manner of
their generation would lead us to think they would be
fo placed. So the American iſlands lie ſcattered upon
the coaft of that continent; the Maldivian and Phik.p
pine upon the Eaſt-Indian fhore, and the Hefperides up

on the Afric ; and there feldom happen to be any to
wards the middle of the ocean, though, by an acci
dent, that alfo might come to paſs. Laſtly, It fuits
very well with our explication, that there fhould be
mountains and rocks, fometimes in cluſters, fometimes
in long chains, in all iſlands ; (as we find there are in
all that are true and original) for it is that makes them
high enough to appear above the water, and ſtrong e
nough to continue and preferve themſelves in that high
fituation.
And thus much may fuffice for a fummary explicati
on of the cauſes of the fea-channel and iſlands, accord
ing to our hypothefis.
CHA P. XI.
Concerning the mountains of the earth, their greatneſs and

irregular form, their fituation, caufes, and origin.
WE have been in the hollows of the earth, and the

chambers of the deep, amongſt the damps and fteams of
thofe lower regions ; let us now go air ourſelves on the
tops of the mountains, where we ſhall have a more free
and large horizon, and quite another face of things will
prefent itſelf to our obfervation.
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
ftars inhabit, there is nothing that I look upon with
more pleaſure than the wide fea and the mountains of
the earth. There is fomething auguft and ftately in the
air of theſe things, that infpires the mind with great
thoughts and paffions ; we do naturally, upon fuch occa
fions, think of God and his greatnefs : and whatſoever
hath but the fhadow and appearance of INFINITE, as all
things have that are too big for our comprehenfion,
they fill and over-bear the mind with their excefs, and
caft it into a pleafing kind of ftupor and admiration .
136, The Deluge and
And yet theſe mountains we are ſpeaking of, to cons
fefs the truth, are nothing but great ruins ; but fuch as
fhew a certain magnificence in nature : as from old tem
ples and broken amphitheatres of the Romans we collect
the greatness of that people . But the grandeur of a na
tion is lefs fenfible to thofe that never fee the remains
and monuments they have left ; and thoſe who never
fee the mountainous parts of the earth fcarce ever reflect
upon the cauſes of them, or what power in nature could
be fufficient to produce them. The truth is, the gene
rality of people have not ſenſe and curiofity enough to
raiſe a queſtion concerning theſe things, or concerning
the original of them. You may tell them that mounains
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 fearcę 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
pafs current for philofophy ; fo much is the worl. d
drowned in ftupidity and fenfual pleafures, and fo little
inquifitive into the works of God and nature.
There 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 ex
perience myſelf, when it was my fortune to cross the
Alps and Appenine mountains ; for the fight of thofe
wild, vaft, and indigefted heaps of ftones and earth did
fo deeply ſtrike my fancy, that I was not eafy till I could
give myself fome tolerable account how that confufion
came in nature. It is true, the height ofmountains, com
pared with the diameter of the earth, is not confider
able, but the extent of them and the ground they ſtand
upon bears a confiderable proportion to the furface of
the earth ; and if from Europe we may take our mea
fures for the reft, 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 defcribe or note in
their charts the multitude or fituation of mountains ;
they mark the bounds of countries, the fite of cities and

towns, and the courfe of rivers, becauſe theſe are
things of chief ufe to civil affairs and commerce, and
that they deſign to ſerve, and not philofophy or natu
ral history. But Cluverius, in his defcription of ancient
Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, hath given maps of
thofe countries more approaching to the natural face of
them, and we have drawn (at the end of this chapter)
fuch a map of either hemifphere, without marking coun
tries or towns, or any fuch artificial things ; diſtinguiſh
ing only land and fea, iſlands and continents, mountains
and not mountains ; and it is very uſeful to imagine the
earth in this manner, and to look often upon fuch bare
draughts, as fhew us nature undreft ; for then we are
beſt able to judge what her true ſhapes and proportions
are.
It is certain that we naturally imagine the furface of
the earth much more regular than it is ; for unleſs we
be in fome mountainous parts, there feldom occur any
great inequalities within fo much compafs of ground as
we can at once reach with our eye ; and to conceive the
reft, we multiply the fame idea, and extend it to thoſe
parts ofthe earth that we do not fee, and fo fancy the
whole globe much more fmooth and uniform than it is.
But fuppofe a man was carried aſleep out of a plain coun
try amongſt the Alps, and left there upon the top of one
of the higheſt mountains, when he waked and looked a
bout him, he would think himſelf in an inchanted coun
try, or carried into another world ; every thing would
appear to him fo different to what he had ever feen or i
magined before. To ſee on every hand of him a multi
tude of vaft bodies thrown together in confufion, as thofe
mountains are ; rocks ftanding naked round about him ;
and the hollow valleys gaping under him ; and at his
feet, it may be, an heap of frozen fnow in the midſt of
fummer. He would hear the thunder come from below,
and fee the black clouds hanging beneath him ; upon fuch
a profpect it would not be eaſy to him to perfuade him
felfthat he was ftill upon the fame earth ; but if he did,
138 The Deluge and
he would be convinced, at leaſt, that there are ſome re◄
gions of it ftrangely rude, and ruin-like, and very diffe
rent from what he had ever thought of before. But the
inhabitants of thefe wild places are even with us ; for
thofe that live amongst the Alps , and the great moun
tains, think that all the reſt of the earth is like their
country, all broken into mountains and valleys, and pre
cipices ; they never fee other, and moſt people think of
nothing but what they have ſeen at one time or another.
Thefe Alps we are fpeaking of are the greateft range
of mountains in Europe ; and it is prodigious to fee and
to confider of what extent thefe heaps of ſtones and rub
bifh are ; one way they over-fpread Savoy and Dauphine,
and reach through France to the Pyrenean mountains,
and fo to the ocean . The other way they run along
the ſkirts of Germany, through Styria, Pannonia, and Dal
matia, as far as Thrace and the Black fea. Then back
wards they cover Switzerland and the parts adjacent ;
and that branch of them which we call the Appenines
ftrikes through Italy, and is, as it were, the back-bone
of that country . This muſt neeeds be a large ſpace of
ground which they ſtand upon ; yet it is not this part
of Europe only that is laden with mountains ; the nor
thern part is as rough and rude in the face of the coun
try, as in the manners of the people ; Bohemia, Silefia,
Denmark,Norway, Sweedland, Lapland and Ifeland, and all
the coafts of the Baltic fea, are full of clifts, and rocks,
and crags of mountains : befides the Riphean mountains
in Mufcovy, which the inhabitants there ufe 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 difcover two or three
new worlds or continents more, they would ſtill find
them there. Neither is there any original ifland upon
the earth, but is either all a rock , or hath rocks and
mountains in it. And all the dry land, and every conti
nent,
nent, is but a kind of mountain ; though that mountain
hath a multitude of leffer ones, and valleys , and plains,
and lakes, and marshes, and all variety of grounds .
In America, the Andes, or a ridge of mountains fo
called, are reported to be higher than any we have,
reaching above a thouſand leagues in length , and twenty
in breadth, where they are the narrowelt. In Afric the
mountain Atlas , that for its height was faid to bear the
heavens on its back, runs all along from the weſtern ſea
to the borders of Ægypt, parallel with the Mediterrane
an. There also are the mountains of the moon , and ma
ny more, whereof we have but an imperfect account,
as neither indeed of that country in the remote and in
ner parts of it. Afia is better known, and the moun
tains thereof better defcribed : Taurus, which is the
principal, was adjudged by the ancient geographers the
greateſt in the world . It divides Afia into two parts,
which have their denomination from it : and there is an
Anti- Taurus the greater and the leſs, which according
ly divide Armenia into greater and lefs . Then the
Cruciform mountains of Imaus, the famous Caucafus, the
long chains of Tartary and China, and the rocky and
mountainous Arabia. If one could at once have a pro
fpect of all theſe together, one would be eaſily fatisfied
that the globe of the earth is a more rude and indigeſted
body than it is commonly imagined ; if one could fee, I
fay, all the kingdoms and regions of the earth at one
view, how they lie in broken heaps ; the fea hath over
whelmed one half of them, and what remains are but
the taller parts of a ruin. Look upon thofe great ranges
of mountains in Europe or in Aſia, whereofwe have gi
ven a fhort furvey ; in what confufion do they lie !
They have neither form nor beauty, nor fhape, nor or
der, no more than the clouds in the air. Then how
barren, how defolate, how naked are they ! How they
ſtand neglected by nature ! Neither the rains can foften
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
VOL. I. O
140 The Deluge and
to have, or that conceit, that the preſent earth is regu
larly formed. And to this purpoſe I do not doubt but
that it would be of very good ufe to have natural maps
of the earth, as we noted before, as well as civil ; and
done with the fame care and judgment. Our common
maps I call civil, which note the diſtinction of countries
and of cities, and reprefent the artificial earth as
inhabited and cultivated : but natural maps leave
out all that, and reprefent the earth as it would
be if there was not an inhabitant upon it, nor e
ver had been ; the ſkeleton of the earth, as I may fo
fay, with the fight of all its parts. Methinks alfo eve
ry prince ſhould have ſuch a draught of his own country
and dominions, to fee how the ground lies in the feveral
parts of them , which higheft, which loweft ; what re
fpect they have to one another, and to the fea ; how the
rivers flow, and why ; how the mountains ſtand ; how
the heaths and how the marshes are placed. Such a map
or furvey, would be uſeful both in time of war and peace,
and many good obfervations might be made by it, not
only as to natural hiſtory and philofophy, but alfo in
order to the perfect improvement of a country. But to
return to our mountains.
As this view of the multitude and greatnefs of them,
may help to rectify our miſtakes about the form of the
earth, ſo before we proceed to examine their caufes, it
will be good to obferve further, that theſe mountains are
placed in no order one with another, that can either re
fpect ufe or beauty ; and if you confider them fingly,
they do not confiſt of any proportion of parts that is re
ferable to any defign, or that hath the leaſt footſteps of
art or counsel . There is nothing in nature more ſhape
lefs and ill-figured than an old rock or a mountain , and
all that variety that is among them, is but the various
modes of irregularity ; ſo as you cannot make a better 1
character of them, in ſhort, than to fay they are of all
forms and figures except regular. Then if you would
go within theſe mountains (for they are generally hol
low) you would find all things there more rude, if pof
fible, than without : And lastly, if you look upon an
heap of them together, or a mountainous country, they
are the greateſt examples of confufion that we know in
nature ; no tempeft or earthquake puts things into more
diforder. It is true, they cannot look fo ill now as they
did at firſt ; a ruin, that is freſh, looks much worſe than
afterwards, when the earth grows difcoloured and ſkin
ed over . But I fancy, if we had feen the mountains
when they were new born and raw, when the earth
was freſh broken, and the waters of the deluge newly
retired, the fractions and confufions of them would have
appeared very ghaftly and frightful .
After this general furvey of the mountains of the
earth and their properties, let us now reflect upon the
cauſes of them . There is a double pleaſure in philofo
phy ; first, that of admiration , whilft we contemplate
things that are great and wonderful, and do not yet un
derſtand their caufes ; for though admiration proceed
from ignorance, yet there is a certain charm and fweet
nefs in that paffion . Then the fecond pleaſure is great
er and more intellectual, which is that of diſtinct know
lege and comprehenfion , when we come to have the key
that unlocks thoſe ſecrets, and fee the methods wherein
thoſe things come to paſs that we admired before : the
reaſons why the world is fo or fo, and from what cauſès
nature, or any part of nature, came into fuch 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 ftrange frame and ſtructure. In the
beginning of our world, when the earth rofe from a cha
os, it was impoſſible it ſhould come immediately into this
mountainous form ; becaufe a mafs that is fluid, as a
chaos is, cannot lie in any other figure than what is re
gular ; for the conſtant laws of nature do certainly bring
all liquors into that form : and a chaos is not called fo
from any confuſion or brokenneſs in the form of it, but
44 from a confufion and mixture of, all forts of ingredients
in the compofition of it. So we have already produced,
in the precedent chapters, a double argument that the
0 2
142 The Deluge and
earth was not originally in this form, both becauſe it
rofe from a chaos, which could not of itſelf, or by any
immediate concretion, fettle into a form of this nature,
as hath been fhewn 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 proved in
the ſecond and third chapters. If this be then a fecon
dary and fuccedaneous form, the great question is, from
what caufes it arifes.
Some have thought that mountains, and all other ir
regularities in the earth, have rife from earthquakes, and
fuch like caufes ; others have thought that they came
from the univerfal deluge ; yet not from any diffolution
of the earth that was then, but only from the great agi
tation of the waters, which broke the ground into this
rude and unequal form. Both theſe cauſes ſeem to me
very incompetent and infufficient. Earthquakes feldom
make mountains, they often take them away, and ſink
them down into the caverns that lie under them ; be
fides, earthquakes are not in all countries and climates
as mountains are ; for, as we have obſerved more than
once, there is neither iſland that is original, nor conti
nent any where in the earth, in what latitude foever,
but hath mountains and rocks in it. And lastly, what
probability is there, or how is it credible, that thoſe
vaft tracts of land which we fee filled with mountains
both in Europe, Aſia and Africa, were raiſed by earth
quakes, or any eruptions from below ? In what age of
the world was this done, and why not continued ? As
for the deluge, which they allege 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 happened then, but not from fuch 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 fuppoſe as well as we do, the
waters could have little or no power over a ſmooth fur
face 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 fodden and comprefs it ; there is
no poffibility how it ſhould raiſe mountains in it. And
if we could imagine an univerfal 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 ori
gin ofmountains, either from particular earthquakes, or
from the general deluge, according to the common no>
tion and explication of it ; thefe not being caufes an
fwerable to fuch vaft effects ; let us try our hypothefis a
gain ; which hath made us a channel large enough for the
fea, and room for all fubterraneous cavities, and I think
will find us materials enough to raiſe all the mountains
of the earth. We fuppofe the great arch or circumfe
rence of the firſt earth to have fallen into the abyfs at the
deluge, and feeing that was larger than the furface it fell
upon, it is abfolutely certain, that it could not all fall
flat, or lie under the water : now as all thoſe parts that
food above the water made dry land, orthe prefent ha
bitable earth, fo fuch parts of the dry land, as ftood high
er than the reſt, made hills and mountains ; and this is
the first and general account of them, and of all the ine
qualities of the earth. But to confider theſe things a lit
tle more particularly : there is a double cauſe and necef
fity of mountains ; first this now mentioned, 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 fecondly, becauſe this exterior orb did not fall fo
flat and large as it might, or did not cover all the bot
tom of the abyfs, as it was very capable to do ; but
as we fhewed before in explaining the channel of the
ocean,it left a gaping in the middle, or an abyfs-channel,
as I fhould call it ; and the broader this abyfs-chan
nel was, the more mountains there would be upon
03
144 The Deluge and
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
fhould tell ; but all that we have hitherto obferved con
cerning mountains, how ftrange foever, and otherwiſe
unaccountable, may eafily be explained and deduced
from this original ; we fhall not wonder at their great
neſs and vaſtneſs , ſeeing they are the ruins of a broken
world ; and they would take up more or lefs 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, it is juſt fuch as anfwers our expe
.
ctation, and no more than what the hypothefis leads us
to ; for you would eafily believe that theſe heaps would
be irregular in all manner of ways, whether confidered a
part, or in their fituation 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. Laftly, We cannot won
der that mountains fhould be generally hollow ; for great
bodies falling together in confufion , or bearing and lean
ing againſt one another, muft needs make a great many
hollownelfes in them, and by their unequal applications
empty spaces will be intercepted. We fee alfo from the
fame reaſon why mountainous countries are fubject to
earthquakes ; and why mountains often fink 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 fee
hang upon one and the ſame ſtring, and are juſt confe
quences from our fuppofition concerning the diffolution
of the first earth. And there is no furer 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 applied
to, and is adequate to nature in her whole extent.
But how full or easily foever theſe things may anſwer
nature, you will fay, it may be, that all this is but an hy
pothefis; that is, a kind of fiction or fuppofition that things

were ſo and ſo at firſt, and by the coherence and agree
ment of the effects with a ſuch a ſuppofition, you would
argue and prove that they were really fo. * This I con
fefs is true, this is the method, and if we would know
any thing in nature further than our fenfes go, we can
know it no otherwife thanby an hypothefis . When things
are either too little for our fenfes, or too remote and in
acceſſible, we have no way to know the inward nature,
and the cauſes of their fenfible properties, but by reaſon
ing upon an hypothefis. If you would know for exam
ple, of what parts water, or any other liquor confifts,
they are too little to be difcerned by the eye ; you muſt
therefore take a fuppofition concerning their inviſible fi
gure 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 na
ture of a comet, or of what matter the fun confiſts,
which are things inacceffible to us, you can do this no
otherwiſe than by an hypothefis ; and if that hypotheſis be
eafy and intelligible, and anfwers all the phaenomena of
thoſe two bodies, you have done as much as a philofo
pher or as human reafon can do. And this is what we
have attempted concerning the earth and concerning the
deluge: We have laid down an hypothesis that is eafy
and perfpicuous, confifting of a few things, and thofe
very intelligible, and from this we have given an account
how the old world was deftroyed by a deluge of water,
and how the earth came into this preſent form ſo diſtin
guiſhed and interrupted with fea and land, mountains
and valleys, and fo broken in the furface and inward
parts of it.
But to ſpeak the truth, this theory is fomething more
than a bare hypothefis ; becauſe we are affured that the
general ground that we go upon is true, namely, That
the earth rose at firſt from a chaos ; for befides reafon and
antiquity, fcripture itſelf doth affure us of that ; and
that one point being granted, we have deduced from it
all the reſt by a direct chain of confequences, which I
146 The Deluge and
think cannot be broken eaſily in any part or link of it.
Befides, the great hinge of this theory, upon which all
the reft turns, is the diftinction we make of the antedilu
vian earth and heavens from the poftdiluvian, as to the
form and conſtitution . And it will never be beaten out
of my head, but that St. Peter, 2 Epiſt. iii. 5, 6. hath
made the fame diftinétion fixteen hundred years fince,
and to the very fame purpoſe ; fo that we have fure
footing here again, and the theory rifeth above the cha
racter of a bare hypothefis ; and whereas an hypothesis that
is clear and proportioned to nature in every refpect, 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 particulari
ties I look upon them only as problematical, and accord
ingly I affirm nothing therein but with a power of re
vocation, and a liberty to change my opinion when I
fhall be better informed . Neither do I know any author
that hath treated a matter new, remote, and confiſting
of a multitude of particulars, who would not have had
occaſion, if he had lived to have ſeen his hypothefis fully
examined, to have changed his mind and manner of ex
plaining things in many material inftances.
To conclude both this chapter and this fection, we
have here added a map or draught of the earth, accord
ing 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, diftincti
ons of countries made, or any alterations by human in
duftry. It is chiefly to expoſe more to view the moun
tains of the earh, and the proportions of fea and land ;
to fhew it as it lies in itfelf, and as a naturalift ought to
conceive and confider it. It is true, there are far more
mountains upon the earth than what are here repreſent
ed, for more could not conveniently be placed in this
narrow fcheme ; 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 roughglobe, ex
preffing all the confiderable inequalities that are upon the
Pag. 146. Book 1.
EURO
阿
S 南市
t
r
e
e
B
FRIC
WE have finifhed the three www.

in this laſt chapter we will make a fhort review and re
Дection upon what hath been hitherto treated of, and
wou be, not in plain tables, but by a rough globe, ex
preffing all the confiderable inequalities that are upon the
earth . The fmooth globes, that we uſe, do but nouriſh
in us the conceit of the earth's regularity ; and though
they may be convenient enough for geographical pur
poſes, they are not ſo proper for natural ſcience ; nothing
would be more ufeful in this refpect, than a rough globe
of the largest dimenfions, wherein the channel of the fea
fhould be really hollow, as it is in nature, with all its
unequal depths according to the beſt foundings, and the
fhores expreffed both according to matter and form, lit
tle rocks ftanding where there are rocks, and fands and
beaches in the places where they are found ; and all the
iflands planted in the fea-channel in a due form, and in
their folid dimenfions. Then upon the land fhould
ſtand all the ranges of mountains, in the fame order or
diforder that nature hath fet them there : and the in
land feas, and great lakes , or rather the beds they lie in,
fhould be duly repreſented ; as alſo the vaſt deſarts of
fand 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 fhould fee, befides other
inſtructions, what a rude lump our world is, which we
are fo apt to doat upon .
CHA P. XII.
A fhort review of what hath been already treated of, and

in what manner. The feveralfaces andfchemes under
which the earth would appear to a ftranger, that should
view itfirft at a distance, and then more clofely, and the
application of them to our fubject. All methods, whe
ther philofophical or theological, that have been offered
by others for the explication of the form ofthe earth, are
examined and difproved. A conjecture concerning the o
ther planets, their naturalform andftate compared with
ours,
W E have finiſhed the three fections of this book, and

in this laſt chapter we will make a ſhort review and re
flection upon what hath been hitherto treated of, and
148 The Deluge and
"
add fome further confirmations of it. The explication
of the univerfal deluge was the firſt propofal and defign
of this difcourfe, to make that a thing credible and in
telligible to the mind of man : and the full explication
of this drew in the whole theory of the earth ; whoſe
original we have deduced from its first fource, and fhew
ed both what was its primaeval form, and how it came
into its preſent form. The fum of our hypothefis con
cerning the univerſal deluge was this ; That it came not
to paſs, as was vulgarly believed, by any excefs of
rains, or any inundation of the fea, nor could ever be
effected by a mere abundance of waters ; unless we fup
pofe fome diffolution of the earth at the ſame time, name
ly, whenthe great abyfs was broken open. And accord
ingly wefhewed, that without fuch a diffolution, or if the
earth had been always in the fame form it is in now,
no mass of water any where to be found in the world,
could have equalled the height of the mountains, or made
fuch an univerfal deluge. Secondly, We fhewed that
the form of the earth at firft, and till the deluge, was
fuch as made it capable and ſubject to a diffolution : and
thirdly, that fuch a diffolution being fuppofed, the do
&trine ofthe univerſal deluge is very reaſonable and in
telligible ; and not only the doctrine of the deluge, but
the fame fuppofition is a key to all nature befides, fhew
ing us how our globe became terraqueous, what was
the original of mountains, of the fea- channel, of iſlands,
of fubterraneous cavities ; things which without this
fuppofition are as unintelligible as the univerfal flood it
felf. And theſe things reciprocally confirming one ano
ther, our hypotheſis of the deluge is armed, both breaſt
and back, by the cauſes and by the effects.
It remains now, that as to confirm our explication of
the deluge, we fhewed all other accounts that had been
given of it to be ineffectual or impoffible, fo to confirm
our doctrine concerning the diffolution of the earth, and
concerning the original of mountains, feas, and all ine
qualities upon it, or within it, we muſt examine what
cauſes have been affigned by others, or what accounts
given of theſe things ; that feeing their defectiveness,

we may have the more affurance and fatisfaction in our
own method.
And in order to this, let us obferve firſt the general
forms under which the earth may be confidered, or
under which it doth appear accordingly as we viewed
it more nearly or remotely; and the firſt of theſe and
the moſt general is that of a terraqueous globe. If a phi
lofopher ſhould come out of another world out of curio
fity to ſee our earth, the firſt diſcovery or obfervation
he would make would be this, that it was a terraqueous
globe : thus much he might obferve 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 divifion
camewouldbe his firſt remark and inquiry concerning our
earth ; and how alfo thofe fubdivifions of iſlands , or little
earths which lie in the water ; how theſe were formed,
and that great channel that contains them both.
The fecond form that the earth appears under, is that
of an uneven and mountainous globe. When our travel
ler had got below the circle of the moon, he would dif
cern the bald tops of our mountains, and the long rang
es of them upon our continents. We cannot from the
earth diſcern mountains and valleys in the moon direct
ly ; but from the motion of the light and ſhadows
which we ſee there, we easily collect that there are fuch
inequalities : and accordingly we fuppofe that our moun
tains 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 fecond
enquiry, how thofe mountains were formed, and how
our globe came to be fo rude and irregular ? For we
mayjuſtly demandhow any irregularity came into nature,
feeing all her firſt motions and her firſt forms are regular,
and whatſoever is not fo, is but fecondary, and the con
fequence of fome degeneracy, or of ſome decay.
The third vifible form of our earth is that of a brok
en globe and broken throughout, but in the outward
150 The Deluge and
parts and regions of it. This, it may be, you will fay,
is not a vifible form ; it doth not appear to the eye,
without reaſoning, that the furface of the earth is fo
broken. Suppofe our new viſitant had now paffed the
middle region of the air, and was alighted upon the top
of Pic Teneriffe for his firſt reſting place, and that fit
ting there, he took a view of the great rocks, the wide
fea, and of the fhores of Afric and Europe ; for we
will fuppofe his piercing eye to reach fo far ; I will not
ſay that at firſt fight he would pronounce that the ſurface
of this globe was broken, unlefs he knew it to be fo by
compariſon with fome 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,
fome inclined, fome proftrate, fome erected, would natu
rally lead him to that thought, that they were a ruin ;
he would fee alfo the iſlands tore from the continents,
and both the fhores ofthe continents and their inland
parts in the fame diſorder and irregular ſituation . Beſides,
he had this great advantage in viewing the earth at a di
ftance, that he could fee a whole hemifphere together,
which, as he made his approaches through the air,
would have much what the fame aſpect and countenance
as it is reprefented within the great fcheme, p. 146. and
if any man fhould 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 brok
en body or ruined frame of matter ; and the original, I
am fure, is more manifeftly fo. But we will leave our
ftrange philofopher to his own obfervations, and wiſh
him good guides and interpreters in his furvey 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 purfue, in our own way, this
third idea of the earth a little further, as it is a broken
globe. Nature, I know, hath diffembled and covered this
form as much as may be, and } time hath helped to repair
fome of the old breaches, or fill them up ; befides, the
changes that have been made by art and human induſtry,
by
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 mankind is much alter
ed from its priſtine ſtate, from what it was four thouſand
years ago, or towards the firſt ages after the flood, when
the nations lived in fimplicity or barbaroufnefs ; fo is
the earth too, and both fo difguifed and transformed,
that if one of thofe primitive fathers fhould rife from the
dead, he would fcarce know this to be the fame world
which he lived in before. But to difcern the true form
of the earth, whether intire or broken, regular or difor
dered, we muſt in the firſt place take away all thofe or
naments or additions made by art or nature, and view
the bare carcafs of the earth, as it hath nothing on it but
rocks and mountains, deſerts and fields, and hollow
valleys, and a wide fea. Then fecondly, we must in
our imagination empty this channel of the fea, take out
all the waters that hinder the fight of it, and look upon
the dry ditch, meaſure the depth and breadth of it in our
mind, and obferve the manner of its conftruction, and
in what a wild poſture all the parts of it lie ; according as
it hath been formerly reprefented, chap . x. And laftly,
we must take off the cover of all fubterraneous places and
deep caverns , to fee the infide of the earth ; and lay
bare the roots of mountains, to look into thofe holes
and vaults that are under them, filled fometimes with
fire, fometimes with water, and fometimes with thick
air and vapours. The object being thus prepared, we
are then to look fixedly upon it, and to pronounce what
we think of this disfigured mafs, whether this exterior
frame doth not feem to be ſhattered ; and whether it
doth more aptly reſemble a new-made world , or the
ruins of one broken. I confefs, when this idea ofthe
earth is prefent to my thoughts, I can no more believe
that this was the form wherein it was firft produced,
than if I had feen the temple of Jerufalem in its ruins,
when defaced and facked by the Babylonians , I could
have perfuaded myfelf, that it had never been in any o
VOL. I. P
152 The Deluge and
ther poſture, and that Solomon had given orders for

building it fo,
So much for the form ofthe earth : it remains now
that we examine what caufes have been affigned by o
thers, of thefe irregularities in the form ofthe earth,
which we explain by the diffolution of it ; what accounts
any of the ancients have given, or attempted to give,
how the earth fwelled into mountains in certain places,
and in others was depreffed into low valleys, how the
body of it was fo broken, and how the channel of the
fea was made. The elements naturally lie in regular
forms one above another, and now we find them mixed,
confounded and tranſpoſed, how comes this diſturbance
and difordination in nature ? The explications of theſe
things, that have been given by others, may be reduced
to two general forts, philofophical or theological, and we
will try them both for our fatisfaction .
Of philofophers, none was more concerned to give
an account of ſuch things than Epicurus, both becauſe
he acknowleged the origin of the earth to have been
from a chaos, and alfo admitted no cauſes to act in na
ture 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 fo flight and
trivial, that methinks it doth not deſerve the name of a
philofophical explication . They fay that the earth and
water were mixed at firſt, or rather, the earth was above
the water, and as the earth was condenſed by the heat of
the fun and the winds, the water was ſqueezed out in cer
tain places, which either it found hollow or made fo ;
and fo was the channel of the fea made. Then as for
mountains, while fome parts of the earth fhrunk and
funk in this manner, others would not fink; and theſe
ſtanding ſtill, while the others fell lower, made the moun
tains. How the fubterraneous cavities were made ac
cording to them, I do not find.
This is all the account that Monfieur Gaffendi (who
feems to have made it his bufinefs, as well as his plea
fure, to embelliſh that philofophy) 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 pleaſed. Do
the fun and the wind ufe to fqueeze pools of water out
of the earth, and that in fuch a quantity as to make an
ocean ? They dry the earth, and the waters too, and
rarefy them into vapours, but I never knew them to be
the cauſes of preffing water out of the earth by conden
fation. Could they comprefs the earth any otherwife,
than by drying it and making it hard ? And in propor
tion, as it was more dry, would it not the more imbibe
and fuck up the water ? And how were the great moun
tains of the earth made in the North and in the South,
where the influence of the fun is not great ? What funk
the earth there, and made the fleſh ſtart from the bones ?
But it is no wonder that Epicurus ſhould give fuch a
mean account of the origin of the earth, and the form of
its parts, who did not ſo much as underſtand the gene
ral figure of the body of it, that it was in fome manner
ſpherical, or that the heavens encompaſſed it round.
One muſt have a blind love for that philofophy, and
for the conclufions it drives at, not to fee its lameness
and defects in thoſe firſt and fundamental parts.
Ariftotle, though he was not concerned to give an ac
count how the earth came into this prefent form, as he
fuppofed it eternal ; yet upon another confideration he
feems obliged to give fome reafon how the elements
came into this diforder ; feeing he fuppofeth, that, ac
cording to the order of nature, the water fhould lie a
bove 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 fo gently and fear
fully, as if he was handling hot coals. He faith the
fea is to be confidered as the element, or body of wa
ters that belongs to this earth, and that theſe waters
change places, and the fea is fome ages in one part of
the globe, and fome ages in another ; but that this is
at fuch great diſtances of time, that there can be no me
mory or record of it. And he ſeems willing to fuppofc
P 2
134 The Deluge and
that the water was once all over the earth, but that it
dried up in certain places, and continuing in others, it
there made the fea.
What a miferable account is this ! As to his change or
removal of the fea-channel in feveral ages, as it is with
out all proof or probability, if he mean it of the channel
of the great ocean, fo it is nothing to the purpoſe here ;
for the question is not, why the channel of the fea is in
fuch a part of the earth , rather than in another, but why
there is any fuch prodigious cavity in or upon the earth
any where . And if we take his fuppofition , that the e
lement 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 o
cean was made, and how the mountains rife ; for this e
lementary earth , which lay under the water, was, I fup
pofe, equal and fmooth when it lay there ; and what
reafon was there, that the waters fhould be dried 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 diftinction , for there is
fea towards the poles, as well as under the aequator ;
but fuppofe they were dried up in certain places, that
would make no mountains, no more than there are
mountains in our dried marfhes : and the places, where
they were not dried, would not therefore become as
deep and hollow as the fea-channel, and tear the earth
and rocks in pieces . If you fhould fay that this very ele
mentary earth, as it lay under the waters, was unequal,
and was fo originally formed into mountains and val
leys, and great cavities ; befides that the fuppofition is
altogether irrational in itſelf, you muſt fuppofe a prodi
gious mafs of water to cover ſuch an earth ; as much as
we found requifite for the vulgar deluge, namely, eight
oceans ; and what then is become ofthe other feven ?
Upon the whole, I do not fee that either in Epicurus's
way, who ſeems to fuppofe that the waters were at firſt
within the earth ; nor in Ariſtotle's way, who ſeems to
fuppofe them upon the earth, any rational or tolerable
account can be given of the prefent form of the earth.
Wherefore fome modern authors , diffatisfied , as very
well they might be, with thefe explications given us by
the ancients concerning the form of the earth, have
pitched upon other cauſes, more true indeed in their
kind, and in their degree, but that fall as much ſhort of
thofe effects to which they would apply them. They
ſay that all the irregularities of the body of the earth
have rifen from earthquakes in particular places, and
from torrents and inundations , and from eruptions of
fire, or fuch-like caufes, whereof we fee fome inftances
more or lefs every age ; and thefe have made that ha
voc upon the face of the earth , and turned things upfide
down, raiſing the earth, in fome places, and making
great cavities or chafms in others, fo as to have brought
it at length into that torn, broken, and diforderly form
in which we now fee it.
Thefe authors do fo far agree with us, as to acknow
lege, that the prefent irregular form of the earth, muft
have proceeded from ruins and diffolutions of one fort
or other ; but theſe ruins they make to have been parti
al only in this or in that country, by piece-meal, and in
feveral ages, and from no other caufes, but fuch as ſtill
continue to act in nature, namely, accidental earthquakes
and eruptions of fires and waters. Thefe caufes we ac
) knowlege as readily as they do, but not, as capable to
produce fo great effects as they would afcribe to them ;
the furface of the earth may be a little changed by fuch
accidents as thefe, but for the most part, they rather
fink the mountains, than raiſe new ones : as when houf
es are blown up by mines of powder, they are not ſet
higher, but generally fall lower and flatter : or fuppofe
they do fometimes raiſe an hill, or a little mount, what
is that to the great mountains of our world, to thoſe
·
long and vaft piles of rocks and ftones, which the earth
can fcarce bear? What is that to ftrong-backt Taurus or
Atlas , to the American Andes, or to a mountain that
reacheth from the Pyreneans to the Euxine fea ? There
P 3
156 The Deluge and
is as much difference between theſe, and thoſe fictitious
mountains they fpeak of, as betwixt them and mole-hills.
And to anſwer more diftinctly to this opinion ; as be
fore in fpeaking of iſlands we diſtinguiſhed between facti
tious and original iflands, fo, if you pleafe, we may di
" ftinguish here betwixt factitious and original mountains ;
and allowing fome few, and thoſe of the fifth or fixth mag
nitude, to have rifen from fuch accidental cauſes, we en
quire concerning the reft and the greateſt, what was their
original? If we fhould fuppofe, that the feven hills, upon
which Rome ftands, came from ruins or eruptions, or
any ſuch cauſes, it doth not follow that the Alps were
made fo too. And as for mountains, fo for the cavities
of the earth, I fuppofe there may be difruptions fome
times made by earthquakes, and holes worn by fubterra
neous fires and' waters ; but what is that to the channel
of the Atlantic ocean, or of the Pacific ocean, which is
extended an hundred and fifty degrees under the aequator,
and towards the poles ſtill further ? He that ſhould de
rive fuch mighty things from no greater cauſes, I ſhould
think him a very credulous philofopher. And we are
too fubject indeed to that fault of credulity in matter of
philofophizing : many, when they have found out caufes
that are proper for certain effects within fuch a compaſs,
they cannot keep them there, but they will make them
do every thing for them ; and extend them often to o
ther effects of a fuperior nature or degree, which their
activity can by no means reach to. Ætna hath been a
burning mountain ever fince, and above the memory of
man, yet it hath not deſtroyed that iſland, nor made any
new channel to the fea, though it ſtands ſo near it. Nei
ther is Vefuvius above two or three miles diftant from
the fea-fide, to the beſt of my rememberance, and yet
in fo many ages it hath made no paffage to it, neither o
pen nor fubterraneous. It is true, fome isthmus's have
been thrown down by earthquakes , and ſome lakes have
been made in that manner, but what is 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 fuch an inſtance ? And
how many thouſand ages muſt be allowed to them to do
their work, more than the chronology of our earth will
bear !
Befides, when were theſe great earthquakes and dif
ruptions, that did fuch great execution upon the body of
the earth ? Was this before the flood , or fince ? If be
fore, then the old difficulty returns, how could there be
a flood , if the earth was in this mountainous form be
fore that time ? This, I think, is demonftrated impof
fible in the ſecond and third chapters. Iffince the flood,
where were the waters of the earth before thefe earth
quakes made a channel for them ? Befides, 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 grewfrom
little ones? How the earth groned 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 fucceffive ages ? Theſe cauſes con
tinue ftill in nature, we have ſtill earthquakes, and ſub
terraneous fires and waters, why ſhould they not ſtill o
perate and have the fame effects ? We often hear of ci
ties thrown down by earthquakes, or countries fwallow
ed up, but whoever heard of a new chain of mountains
made upon the earth, or a new channel made for the o
cean ? We do not read that there hath been fo much as
a new finus ofthe fea, ever fince the memory of man ;
which is far more feaſible than what they pretend. And
things of this nature, being both ſtrange and fenfible, ex
cite admiration and great attention when they come to
pafs, and would certainly have been remembered or pro
pagated in fome way or other, if they had ever happened
fince 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 echipfes or obfcu
158 The Deluge and
rations of the fun, and any thing that84 looked ſtrange or
prodigy-like, whether in the heavens or on earth : and
thefe, which would have been the greateſt prodigies, and
greateſt changes that ever happened in nature, would
thefe have eſcaped all obfervation and memory of men ?
That is as incredible as the things themſelves are.
Laſtly, to comprehend all theſe opinions together,
both of the ancient and modern authors, they feem all
to agree with us in this, that the earth was once under
another form ; otherwiſe why do they go about to fhew
the cauſes how it came into this form ? I defire then to
know what form they fuppofe the earth to have been
under, before the mountains were made, the channel of
the fea, or fubterraneous cavities ? Either they muſt
take that form which we have affigned it before the
deluge, or elſe they muft fuppofe it covered with water,
' till the fea-channels were made, and the mountains
brought forth ; as in Fig. 2. p. 54. and no doubt
it was once in this form ; both reafon and the autho
rity of Mofes affure us of it ; and this is the teſt
which every opinion muſt be brought to, how the earth
emerged out of that watery form ? And in particular, as
to that opinion which we are now examining, the que
ftion is, how by earthquakes, and fiery eruptions, fub
terraneous waters, and fuch like caufes, the body of the
earth could be wrought from that form to this prefent
form ? And the thing is impoffible at firſt fight ; for fuch
caufes as thefe could not take place in fuch an earth. As
for fubterraneous waters, there could be none at that
time, for they were all above ground; and > as for fub
terraneous exhalations, whether fiery or aery, there was
no place for them neither for the earth, when it lay
under the water, was a folid uniform maſs, compact and
clofe united in its parts, as we have fhewn before upon
feveral occafions ; no mines or hollow vaults for the va
pours to be lodged in, no ftore-honfes of fire ; nothing
that could make earthquakes, nor any fort of ruins or
eruptions thefe are engines that cannot play but in an
earth already broken, hollow and cavernous . Theres
fore the authors of this opinion do in effect beg the que
ftion ; they affign fuch caufes of the prefent form of the
earth, as could not take place, nor have any activity until
the earth was in this form : thefe caufes may contribute
fomething 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 difpro
portion to fuch effects, but alſo becauſe of their incapa
city, or non-exiſtence at that time, when theſe effects
were to be wrought.
Thus much concerning the philofophical opinions or
the natural caufes that have been affigned for the irregu
lar form of this prefent earth. Let us now confider the
theological opinions, how mountains were made at firft,
and the wonderful channel of the fea : and theſe authors
fay, God Almighty made them immediately when he
made the world ; and fo difpatched the buſineſs in a few
words. This is a fhort account indeed, but we muſt
take heed that we do not derogate from the perfection
of God, by afcribing all things promifcuouſly to his im
mediate action. I have often fuggeſted that the firſt or
der of things is regular and fimple, according as the di
vine nature is, and continues fo till there is fome dege
neracy in the moral world ; I have alſo noted upon fe
veral occafions, eſpecially in the Lat. Treat. cap. xi . the
deformity and incommodioufnefs of the prefent earth ;
and from thefe two confiderations we may reafonably
infer, that the preſent ſtate of the earth was not origi
nal, but is a ſtate of ſubjection to vanity, where'n it
muſt continue till the redemption and reſtitution of all
things.
But befides this general confideration, there are many
others, both natural and theological, againſt this opini
on, which the authors of it, I believe , will find unan
fwerable. As first, St. Peter's diftinction betwixt the
prefent earth and the antediluvian ; 2 Ep. iii. 5, 6. and
that in oppofition to certain profane perfons, who ſeem
to have been of the fame opinion with theſe authors,
namely, that the heavens and the earth were the fame
160 The Deluge and
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 then
with ignorance or forgetfulneſs of the change that was
brought upon nature at the deluge, or that the antedilu
vian heavens and earth were of a different form and
conſtitution from the prefent, whereby that world was
obnoxious to a deluge of water, as the prefent is to a
deluge of fire. Let theſe authors put themſelves in the
place of thofe objectors, and fee what answer they can
make to the apoſtle, whom I leave to difpute the cafe with
them . I hope they will not treat this epiſtle of St. Pe
ter's fo rudely as Didymus Alexandrinus did, an ancient
Chriſtian, and one of St. Jerome's mafters ; he was of
the fame opinion with theſe theological authors, and fo
fierce in it, that feeing St. Peter's doctrine here to be
contrary, he ſaid, this epiftle of St. Peter's was corrupt
ed, and was not to be received into the canon . And
all this, becauſe it taught, that the heavens and the earth
had changed their form, and would do fo again at the
conflagration ; ſo as the fame world would be triform in
fuccefs of time. We acknowlege his expofition of St.
Peter's words to be very true ; but what he makes an
argument of the corruption of this epiftle, is rather, in
my mind, a peculiar argument of its divine infpiration.
In the fecond place, theſe writers daſh upon the old
rock, the impoffibility of explaining the deluge ; if there
were mountains from the beginning, and the earth then
in the fame form as it is in now. Thirdly, They make
the state of paradife as unintelligible as that ofthe de
luge ; forthoſe properties, that are affigned to paradiſe by
the ancients, are inconſiſtent with the preſent form of the
earth ; as will appear in the fecond book. Laftly, They
muſt anſwer, and give an account of all thoſe marks
which we have obſerved in nature (both in this chapter,
and the ninth, tenth, and eleventh) of fractions, ruins
and diffolutions that have been upon the earth, and
which we have ſhewn to be inexplicable, unleſs we admit
that earth was once in another form.
Thefe arguments being premifed, let us now bring

their opinion cloſe to the teſt, and ſee in what manner
thefe 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 tranfient, incomplete form which it had
when the abyss encompaſed the whole body of it, Fig. 2.
p. 54. we both agree that the earth was once in this
ftate, and they fay, that it came immediately out of this
ſtate into its preſent form, there being made by a ſuper
natural power a great channel or ditch in one part of it,
which drew off the waters from the reſt, and the earth,
which was ſqueezed and forced out of this ditch, made
the mountains. So there is the channel of the ſea made,
and the mountains of the earth ; how the fubterraneous
cavities were made according to theſe authors, I do not
well know. This I confefs feems to me a very grofs
thought, and a way of working very un-God-like ; but
however, let us have patience to examine it.
And in the firſt place, if the mountains were taken
out of the channel of the fea, then they are equal to it,
and would fill it up if they were thrown in again. But
thefe proportions upon examination will not agree ; for
though the mountains ofthe earth be very great, yet they
do not equal by much the great ocean . The ocean ex
tends to half the furface of the earth ; and if you fup
poſe the greateſt depth of the ocean to anſwer the height
of the greatest mountains, and the middle depth to the
middle fort of mountains, the mountains ought to cover
all the dry land to make them anſwer to all the capacity
of the ocean ; whereas we fuppofed them upon a rea
fonable computation to cover but the tenth part of the
dry land ; and confequently neither they nor the fea
channel could have been produced in this manner, be
cauſe of their great diſproportion to one another. And
the fame thing appears, if we compare the mountains
with the abyss which covered the earth before this chan
nel was made ; for this channel being made great enough
to contain all the abyss, the mountains taken out of it
162 The Deluge and
muft alfo be equal to all the abyfs ; but the aggregate of
the mountains will not anſwer this by many degrees ; for
fuppofe the abyss was but half as deep as the deep ocean,
to make this calculus anfwer, all the dry land ought to be
covered with mountains, and with mountains as high as
the ocean is deep, or doubly high to the depth of the a
byfs, becauſe they are but upon one half of the globe.
And this is the first argument against the reciprocal pro
duction of mountains and the fea, their incongruency or
difproportion.
Secondly, We are to confider that a great many
mountains of the earth are far diftant from any feas, as
the great inland mountains of Aſia and of Afric, and the
Sarmatic mountains, and others in Europe, how were
theſe great bodies flung thorough the air from their re
fpective feas whence they were taken, to thofe places
where they ftand ? What appearance is there in com
mon reafon or credibility, that thefe huge maffes of
earth and ſtone that ftand in the middle of continents
were dug out of any feas ? We think it ſtrange, and ve
ry deſervedly, that a little chapel ſhould be tranſported
from Paleſtine to Italy over land and fea ; 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 furely upon all accounts appear in
congruous and incredible : befides, neither the hollow
form of mountains, nor the ftony matter whereof they
commonly confift , agrees with that fuppofition, that
they were preffed or taken out of the channel ofthe fea.
Laftly, we are to confider, 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
feems to fuppofe ; but they are one continued fubftance'
with the body of the earth, and their roots reach into
the abyfs ; as the rocks by the fea-fide go as deep as the
bottom of the fea in one continued maſs : and it is a ri
diculous thing to imagine the earth firſt a plain ſurface,
then all the mountains fet upon it, as hay-cocks in a
field, ftanding upon their flat bottoms. There is no
fuch
fuch common furface in nature, nor confequently any

fuch fuper-additions : it is all one frame or mafs, only
broken and disjointed in the parts of it. To conclude,
it is not only the mountains that make the inequalities
of the earth, or the irregularity of its furface ; every
country, every province, every field, hath an unequal
and different ſituation, higher or lower inclined more or
lefs, and fometimes one way fometimes another, you'
can ſcarce take a mile's compaſs in any place where the
furface of the ground continues uniform ; and can you'
imagine, that there were moulds or ſtones brought from
the fea-channel to make all thoſe inequalities ? Or that
earthquakes have been in every county and in every
field ? The inner veins and lares, the beds or ftrata of
the earth, are alfo broken as well as the furface . Thefe
muft proceed from univerfal caufes ; and all thofe that
have been alleged, whether from philofophy or theology,
are but particular or topical . I am fully fatisfied , in
contemplation of theſe things, and ſo I think every un
prejudiced perfon may be, that to ſuch an irregular vari
ety of fituation and conſtruction as we fee every where
in the parts of the earth, nothing could anfwer, but
fome univerfal concuffion or diſlocation, in the nature of
a general ruin .
We have now finifhed this first part of our theory,
and all that concerns the deluge or diffolution of the
earth ; and we have not only eſtabliſhed our own hypo
thefis by poſitive arguments, but alſo produced and ex
amined all fuppofitions that have been offered by others,
whether philofophical or theological, for the explication
of the fame things ; fo as nothing feems now to remain
further upon this fubject. For a conclufion of all, we
will confider, if you pleaſe, the reſt of the earths, or of
the planets within our heavens, that appertain to the
fame common fun ; to fec, fo far as we can go by ra
tional conjectures, if they be not of the fame fabric, and
have undergone the like fate and forms with our earth .
It is now acknowleged by the generality of learned men,
that the planets are opake bodies, and particularly our
VOL. I. Q
164 The Deluge and
next neighbour the moon, is known to be a terraqueous
globe, confifting of mountains and valleys as our earth
does ; and we have no reaſon to believe, but that the
came into that form by a diffolution, or from like cauſes ,
as our earth did . Mercury is fo near the fun, that we
cannot well difcern his face, whether ſpotted or no, nor
make a judgment of it. But as for Venus and Mars, if
the ſpots that be obſerved in them be their waters or their
fea, as they are in the moon , it is likely they are alfo
terraqueous globes, and in much what a like form with
the moon, and the earth, and for ought we know, from
like caufes. Particularly as to Venus, it is a remarkable
paffage that St. Auftin ( De Civ. Dei, lib xxi. c. 8.)
hath preferved out of Varro : he faith, that about the
time of the great deluge there was a wonderful alteration
or catastrophe happened to the planet Venus, and that she
changed her colour, form, figure, and magnitude. This
is a great prefumption that the fuffered her diffolution
about the fame time that our earth did. I do not know
that any fuch thing is recorded concerning any of the o
ther planets ; but the body of Mars looks very rugged,
broken, and much difordered.
Saturn and Jupiter deferve a diſtinct confideration , as
having fomething particular and different from the reſt
of the planets ; Saturn is remarkable for his hoop or
ring, which feems to ftand off, or higher than his body,
and would ſtrongly induce one to believe, that the ex
terior earth of that planet, at its diffolution , did not
all fall in, but the polar parts finking into the abyſs,
the middle or equinoctial parts ftill fubfifted, and bore
themſelves up in the nature of an arch about the planet,
or of a bridge as it were, built over the fea of Saturn .
And as fome have obferved concerning the figure of Ju
piter, that it is not wholly ſpherical , but a ſpheroid, pro
tuberant in the equator, and depreſſed towards the poles :
fo I fhould fufpect Saturn to have been much more fo be
fore his difruption : namely, that the body of that pla
net, in its firſt ſtate, was more flat and low towards the
poles, and alfo weaker and thinner ; and about the e
quator higher, fuller and ftronger built : by reafon of
which figure and conftruction, the polar parts did more
eaſily fall in, or were fucked in (as cupping glaffes draw
in the flesh) when the abyfs below grew more empty.
Whereas the middle parts about the equator, being a
more juſt arch and ſtrongly built, would not yield or
fink, but ſtood firm and unbroken , and continues ſtill
in its firſt poſture. Planets break in different ways, ac
cording to the quality of their matter, the manner of
Ctheir conftruction, and the nature of the cauſes that act
upon them. Their diffolutions are fometimes total, as
in our earth, ſometimes partial ; and both of theſe may
be under great variety. In partial diffolutions, the mid
dle parts fometimes ftand, and the polar are broke ; or
the polar ftand, and the middle are broke. Or one he
mifphere, or part of an hemifphere, may be funk, the
reft ftanding. There may be caufes and occafions for
all thefe varieties and many more, in diverfifying the
phaenomena of an immenfe univerfe. But to return to
Saturn .
That this prefent uncouth form of Saturn was not its
original form, I am very well fatisfied, if that planet
rofe from a chaos, as ours did . And if this be an ad
ventitious form, I know no account can be given of it
with more probability, than by fuppofing it the effect
offome fraction or difruption in the polar parts. Nei
ther do I know any phaenomenon hitherto obſerved con
cerning Saturn, that does difprove this hypothefis or con
jecture.
As to Jupiter, that planet without doubt is alfo turned
about its axis, otherwife how fhould its four moons be
carried round him ? And , this is alfo collected from the
motion of that permanent ſpot (if it be found to be fo)
that is upon its body. Which fpot I take to be either
a lake, or a chaſm and hiatus into the abyfs of the planet ;
that is, part of the abyss open or uncovered like the a
perture we made in the feventh figure, C. 6. p . 64. And
this might either have been left fo by providence, at firſt,
for fome reaſons and caufes fitting that earth ; or it may
Q2
166 The Deluge, etc.
have fallen in afterwards, as Plato's Atlantis, or as So
dom and Gomorrah , for fome judgment upon part of
that world.
To conclude ; feeing all the planets that are placed in
this heaven, and are the fofter-children of this fun, ſeem
to have fome affinity one with another, and have much
what the fame countenance, and the fame general phae
nomena ; it feems probable, that they rife much what the
fame way, and after the like manner, as our earth, each
one from its reſpective chaos ; and that they had the
fame elementary regions at firft, and an exterior orb
formed over their abyfs and laftly, that every one of
them hath fuffered, or is to fuffer its deluge, as our earth
hath done. Thefe, I fay, are probable conjectures ac
cording to the analogy of reafon and nature, fo far as
we can judge concerning things very remote and inac
ceffible.
And thefe things being thus, and our theory of the
delege, and the diffolution which brought it, having
fuch a general agreement both with our heavens and our
earth, I think there is nothing but the uncouthneſs of
the thing to fome mens underſtandings, the cuſtom
of thinking otherwiſe, and the unealinefs of entering in
to a new ſet of thoughts, that can be a bar or hinderance
to its reception. But it may be improved, I doubt not,
in many respects, and in fome particularities rectified .
The first attempts in great things are feldom or never
perfect : fuch is the weaknefs of our underſtandings, and
the want of a full natural hiftory . And in affigning
caufes of fuch great effects, fair conjectures are to be al
lowed, till they be difplaced by others more evident and
more certain. Accordingly I readily fubmit to theſe
terms, and leave this, and all other parts ofthe theory,
to further examination and enquiries.
[ 167 ]
THE
THEORY
OF THE
EARTH.
BOOK II.
Concerning the primaeval earth, and concerning

paradife.
CHA P. I.
The introduction and contents of the fecond boook. The

generalstate of the primaeval earth, and of paradife.
E have already feen a world begin and periſh ;

an earth raiſed from the rudiments of a cha
W
os, and diffolved and deſtroyed in an univer
fal deluge. We have given alfo an imperfect defcription
of that primaeval earth, fo far as was neceffary to ſhew
the caufes and manner of its diffolution. But we muſt
not content ourſelves with this ; feeing that earth was
the first theatre upon which mortals appeared and acted,
and continued fo for above fixteen hundred years ; and
that with ſcenes, as both reafon and hiſtory tell us, very
extraordinary and very different from theſe of our pre
fent earth ; it is reaſonable we fhould endeavour to
make a more full difcovery and defcription of it; efpe
Q3
168 Ofthe Primaeval Earth,
cially feeing paradife was there ; that feat of pleaſure
which our firſt parents loft, and which all their poſterity
have much ado to find again.
In the first book, we fo far deſcribed this new-found
world, as to fhew it very different in form and fabric
from the prefent earth ; there was no fea there, no moun
tains, nor rocks, nor broken caves, it was all one con
tinued and regular mafs, fmooth, fimple and complete,
as the firft works of nature ufe to be. But to know
thus much only doth rather excite our curiofity than
fatisfy it ; what were the other properties of this world ?
How were the heavens, how the elements ? What ac
commodation for human life ? Why was it more proper
to be the feat ofparadife than the prefent earth ? Unleſs
we know theſe things, you will fay, it will feem but an
airy idea to us ; and it is certain that the more proper
ties and particularities that we know concerning any
thing, the more real it appears to be.
As it was our chief deſign therefore in the precedent
book, to give an account ofthe univerfal deluge, by
way of a theory ; fo we propofe to ourſelves chiefly in
this book, from the fame theory, to give an account of
paradifes and in performing of this, we fhall be led into
a more full examination and diſplay of that firſt earth,
and of its qualities. And if we be fo happy, as by the
conduct of the fame principles and the fame method, to
give as fair an account, and as intelligible of the ſtate of
paradife in that original earth, as we have done of the
deluge by the diffolution of it, and of the form of this
earth which fucceeded, one muſt be very morofe or me
lancholy to imagine, that the grounds we go upon , all
this while, are wholly falfe or fictitious . A foundation,
which will bear the weight of two worlds without fink
ing, muft furely ftand upon a firm rock. And I am apt
to promife myſelf that this theory of the earth will find
acceptance and credit, more or lefs, with all but thoſe
that think it a fufficient anfwer to all arguments, to fay,
It is a novelty. } 1.
But to proceed in our difquifition concerning paradife
and Paradife. 169
we may note, in the firft place, two opinions to be a

voided, being both extremes ; one that placeth paradife
in the extra-mundane regions, or in the air, or in the
moon ; and the other that makes it ſo inconfiderable, as
to be confined to a little fpot of ground in Mefopotamia,
or ſome other country of Afia, the earth being now as it
was then. This offends as much in the defect, as the
other in the excess. For it is not any fingle region of
the earth that can be paradiſiacal, unleſs all nature con
fpire, and a certain order of things proper and peculiar
for that ſtate. Nor is it of lefs importance to find out
this peculiar order of things, than to find out the par
ticular feat of paradife, but rather pre-requifite to
it : we will endeavour therefore to difcover and deter
mine both, fo far as a theory can go, beginning with
that which is more general. 章黑暗
. It is certain there were fome qualities and conditions
of paradife that were not merely topical, but common
to all the reft of the earth at that time ; and theſe we
muft confider in the firft place, examine what they were,
and upon what they depended . Hiftory, both facred
and prophane, muft tell us what they were, and our
theory muſt ſhew us upon what cauſes they depended. I
had once, I confefs, propofed to myſelf another me
thod, independent upon hiſtory or effects ; I thought to
have continued the deſcription of the primitive or ante
diluvian earth from the contemplation of its caufes 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 paradife ftood. For I had obferved
three conditions or characters of it, which I thought
were fufficient to answer all that we knew concerning
that firſt ſtate of things, viz. The regularity ofits fur
face; the fituation or pofture of its body to thefun; and
the figure ofit : from theſe three general cauſes I thought
might be deduced all the chief differences of that earth
from the prefent, and particularly thofe that made it
more capable of being paradifiacal.
But upon fecond thoughts I judged it more uſeful and
170 Of the Primaeval Earth,
expedient to lay afide the cauſes at prefent, and begin
with the effects, that we might have ſome ſenſible mat
ter to work upon. Bare ideas of things are looked up
on as romantic till effects be propoſed, whereof they are
to give an account ; it is that makes us value the caufes
when neceflity puts us upon enquiry after them ; and
the reaſons of things are very acceptable, when they cafe
the mind, anxious and at a lofs how to underſtand na
ture without their help. We will therefore, without
more ado, premiſe thoſe things that have been taken no
tice of as extraordinary and peculiar to the firft ages of
the world, and to paradife, and which neither do, nor
can, obtain in the prefent earth ; whereof the first is a
perpetualSpring of equinox ; the ſecond, the longaevity of
animals ; and the third, their production out ofthe earth,
and the great fertility of the foil in all other things.
Thefe difficulties guard the way to paradife like the
flaming fword, and muſt be removed before we can en
ter ; theſe are general preliminaries which we muft ex
plain before we proceed to enquire after the particular
place of this garden of pleaſure. The ancients have
taken notice of all theſe in the firſt ages of the world,
or in their golden age, as they call it ; and I do not
doubt but what they afcribe to the golden age was more
remarkably true ofparadife ; yet was not fo peculiar to
it, but that it did in a good meaſure extend to other
parts ofthe earth at that time. And it is manifeft that
their golden age was contemporary with our paradife;
for they make it begin immediately after the production
and inhabitation of the earth (which they, as well as
Mofes, 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 ob
ferve, that as we fay that the whole earth was in ſome
fenfe, paradifiacal in the firſt ages of the world, and that
there was befides one region or portion of it that was
peculiarly fo, and bore the denomination of paradiſe ;
fo the ancients, befides their golden age, which was com
mon to all the earth, noted fome parts of it that were
and Paradife. 171
more golden, if I may fo fay, than the reſt, and which
did more particularly anfwer toparadife ; as their Elyfi
an fields, Fortunate iſlands, Gardens of Hefperides, Al
cinous, etc. theſe had a double portion of pleaſantneſs,
and, befides the advantages which they had common with
the reſt of the earth at that time, had fomething proper
and fingular, which gave them a diſtinct confideration
and character from the reſt.
Having made this obfervation, let us proceed, and
fee what antiquity faith, concerning that firſt and para
difiacal ſtate of things, upon thoſe three heads foremen
tioned ; 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.
Non alios prima crefcentis origine mundi

Illuxiffe dies, aliumve habuiſſe tenorem,
Crediderim : ver illud erat, ver magnus agebat
Orbis, et hybernisparcebant flatibus Euri. VIRGIL.
Such days the new -born earth enjoy'd ofold,

Andthe calm heavens in thisfame tenor roll'd :
All the great world had then one conſtant ſpring,
No cold eaf-winds, fuch as our winters bring.
For I interpret this in the fame fenfe with Ovid's

verfes of the golden age:
Ver erat aeternum : placidique tepentibus auris

Mulcebant zephyri natos fine femine flores.
Thefpring was conftant, andfoft winds, that blew,

Rais'd, withoutfeed, flow'rs always fweet and new.
Andthenupon the expiration ofthe golden age, he fays,
Jupiter antiquicontraxit tempora veris, etc.
When Jove begun to reign, he chang'd the year,

Andfor onefpring, fourſeaſons made appear.
VOL. I.
The ancients fuppofed, that in the reign of Saturn,
who was an ante-diluvian god, as I may fo call him,
time flowed with a more even motion, and there was no
diverfity of feafons in the year ; but Jupiter, they fay,
first introduced that, when he came to manage affairs.
This is expreffed after their way, who ſeldomgive anyſe
vere and philofophical accounts of the changes of nature.
And as they ſuppoſed this perpetual ſpring in the golden
age, ſo they did alſo in their particular Elyfiums ; as I
could fhew largely from their authors, ifit would not
multiply citations too much. It is true, their Elyfiums
reſpected the new heavens, and new earth to come, ra
ther than the past ; but they are both framed upon the
fame model, and have common properties.
The Chriſtian authors have no lefs celebrated the per
petual ſpring and ferenity of the heavens in paradife ;
fuch expreffions or defcriptions you will find in Juftin
Martyr, S. Bafil, Damafcen, Ifidore Hifpalenfis, Bellar
mine De Grat. prim. hom. and others ; infomuch that
I remember, Bellarmine, reflecting upon thoſe characters
ofparadife, which many of the fathers have given in
theſe refpects, faith, fuch things could not be, unleſs the
fun had then another courfe from what he hath now ;
or, which is more eaſy, the earth another fituation.
Which conjecture will hereafter appear to have been well
grounded. In the mean time, let us fee the Chriſtian poe
try upon this fubject, as we have ſeen the Roman upon
the other. Alcimus Avitus hath thus deſcribed paradife
in his notes upon Geneſis :
Non hic alterni fuccedit temporis unquam

Bruma, nec aeftivi redeunt poft frigorafoles ;
Hic ver affiduum coeli clementia fervat.
Turbidus aufter abeſt, ſemperque fub aerefudo
Nubila diffugiunt, jugi ceffurafereno.
Nec pofcit natura loci, quos non habet, imbres,
Sed contentafuo dotantur germina rore .
Perpetuo viret omnefolum, terraeque benignae
Blanda nitet facies : ftantfemper collibus herbae,
Arboribufque comae, etc.
and Paradife. 173
No change offeafons or excess was there,
No winter chill'd, nor fummer fcorch'd the air,
But with a conftant fpring, nature was fresh andfair..
Rough winds or rains that region never knew,
Water'd with rivers and the morning dew ;
The heav'ns ftill clear, thefields ftillgreen andgay,
No clouds above, nor on the earth decay;
Trees kept their leaves and verdure all theyear,
Andfruits were never out offeafon there.
And as the Chriſtian authors, fo likewife the Jewiſh, have

fpoken of paradife in the fame manner ; they tell us al
fo that the days there were always of the ſame length
throughout the whole year ; and that made them fancy
paradife to lie under the equinoctial ; as we ſhall ſee in
its due place. It is true, we do not find theſe things
mentioned exprefly in the ſacred writings, but the effects
that flowed from them are recorded there, and we may
reaſonably fuppofe providence to have foreſeen, that
when thoſe effects came to be ſcaned and narrowly look
ed into, they would lead us to a diſcovery of the cauſes,
and particularly of this great and general cauſe, that per
petual equinox, and unity of ſeaſons in the year, till the
deluge. The longevity of the antediluvians cannot be
explained upon any other fuppofition, as we ſhall have
occafion to fhew hereafter ; and that you know is re
corded carefully in fcripture: as alſo that there was no
rainbow before the flood ; which goes upon the fame
ground, that there was no variety of ſeaſons, nor any
rain : and this by many is thought to be underſtood by
Mofes's words , Gen. ii . 5 , 6. which he ſpeaks of the
firſt and paradifiacal earth . Laſtly, feeing the earth then
brought forth the principles of life and all living crea
tures (man excepted) according to Mofes, Gen. i . 24.
we muſt ſuppoſe that the ſtate of the heavens was fuch
as favoured thefe conceptions and births, which could
not poffibly be brought to perfection, as the feafons of
the year are at prefent. The firſt time that we have
mention made in fcripture of fummer and winter, and
the differences of ſeaſons, is at the ending of the defuge,
Gen. viii. 22. Henceforward all the days of the earth, feed
time and harvest, heat and cold, fummer and winter, day
and night, fhall not ceafe. It is true, theſe words are fo
lax, that they may be underſtood either of a new courſe
of nature then inſtituted, or of an old one reſtored ; bur
feeing it doth appear from other arguments and con
fiderations, that there was at that time a new courſe of
nature conſtituted, it is more reaſonable to interpret
the words in that fenfe ; which, as it is agreeable to
truth, according to reaſon and antiquity ; fo it renders
that remark of Mofes, of far greater importance, ifit be
underſtood as an indication of a new order then fettled
in nature, which ſhould continue thenceforwards fo long
as the earth endured . Nor do I at all wonder that fuch
things ſhould not be exprefly and pofitively declared in
fcripture ; for natural myſteries in the holy writings as
well as prophetical, are many times on fet purpoſe, in
completely delivered fo as to awaken, and excite our
thoughts rather than fully refolve them ; this being of
ten more fuitable to the defigns of providence in the go
vernment of the world. But thus much for this firſt
common or general character of the golden age, and of
paradife, a perpetualferenity andperpetual equinox.
The fecond character, is the longevity of men, and,
as is probable, of all other animals in proportion . This,
methinks, is as ftrange and furprizing as the other, and
I know no difference betwixt the antediluvian world and
the prefent, fo apt to affect us, if we reflect upon it, as
this wonderful difproportion in the ages of men, our
forefathers and their pofterity : they lived feven, eight,
nine hundred years and upwards, and it is a wonder
now ifa man live to one hundred . Our oaks do not
laft fo long as their bodies did ; ftone and iron would
ſcarce outwear them . And this property of the firſt
ages, or their inhabitants, how ſtrange foever, is well
attefted, and beyond all exception , having the joint con
fent of facred and prophane hiſtory. The fcripture fets
down the precife age of a ſeries of antediluvian patri
archs,
and Paradife. 175
archs, and by that meaſures the time from the beginning

of the world to the deluge ; fo as all facred chronology
ftands upon that bottom. Yet I know fome have thought
this fo improbable and incongruous a thing, that to
fave the credit of Mofes and the facred hiftory, they in
terpret theſe years oflunar years or months ; and fo the
ages of theſe partriarchs are reduced to much what the
fame meaſure with the common life of man at this time.
It may be obferved in this, as in many other inftances,
that for want of a theory to make things credible and in
telligible, men of wit and parts have often depreffed the
fenfe of fcripture ; and not out of any ill will to fcri
pture or religion , but becauſe they could not otherwiſe,
upon the ſtock of their notions, give themſelves a rati
onal account of things recorded there. But I hope when
we come to explain the caufes of this longaevity, we ſhall
fhew that it is altogether as ftrange a thing that men
fhould have fuch fhort lives as they have now, as that
they had fuch long lives in the firſt ages of the world.
In the mean time, there are a great many collateral rea
fons to affure us that lunar years cannot be here under
ſtood by Mofes, for all antiquity gives the fame account
of thoſe firſt ages of the world, and of the firſt men, that
they were extremely long-lived . We meet with it gene
rally in the defcription of the golden age ; and not only
fo; but in their topical paradifes alſo they always fup
poſed a great vivacity or longaevity in thofe that enjoy
ed them. And Jofephus fpeaking upon this fubject,
Book I. c. iv. Jew. Ant. faith, the authors of all the
learned nations, Greeks, or Barbarians, bare witneſs to
Mofes's doctrine in this particular. And in the Mofai
cal hiſtory itself, there are feveral circumftances and
marks that diſcover plainly that the years of the patri
archs cannot be underſtood of lunar years ; as we ſhall
have occaſion to fhew in another place. Ch . iv . We
proceed in the mean time to the third and laſt character,
The extraordinary fertility of the foil, and the produ
ction of animals out of the new-made earth .
The first part of this character is unquestionable ; all
VOL. I. R
antiquity fpeaking of the plenty of the golden age, and
of their paradifes, whether Chriftian or Heathen. The
fruits of the earth at firft were fpontaneous, and the
ground, without being torn and tormented, fatisfied the
wants or defires of man. When nature was freſh and
full, all things flowed from her more eaſily aud more
pure, like the first running of the grape, or the honey
comb; but now the must be preffed and fqueezed, and her
productions tafte more of the earth and of bitterneſs.
The ancient poets have often pleaſed themſelves in mak
ing deſcriptions of this happy ftate, and in admiring the
riches and liberality of nature at that time ; but we need
not tranſcribe their poetry here, feeing this point is not,
I think, contefted by any. The fecond part of this
character, concerning the ſpontaneous origin of living
creatures out of that firſt earth, is not ſo unquestionable;
and as to man, Mofes plainly implies, that there was a
particular action or miniſtry of providence in the forma
tion of his body ; but as to other animals, he feems to
fuppofe that the earth brought them forth as it did herbs
and plants. (Gen. i. 24. compared with the 11th verfe.)
And the truth is, there is no fuch great difference be
twixt vegetable and animal eggs, or betwixt the feeds
out of which plants riſe, but that we may conceive all
animals rife, and the eggs out of which the one as well
as the other in the firft earth ; and as fome warmth and
influence from the fun is required for the vegetation of
feeds, fo that influence or impregnation , which is ne
ceffary to make animal eggs fruitful, was imputed by the
ancients to the aether, or to an active and pure element
which had the fame effect upon our great mother the
earth, as the irradiation of the male hath upon the fe
male's eggs.
Tun pater omnipotens foecundis imbribus aether

Conjugis in gremium laetae defcendit.
In fruitfulflowers ofaether Jove did glide

Into the bofom ofhis joyful bride.
and Paradife. 177,
It is true, this opinion of the ſpontaneous origin of
animals in the firſt earth hath lain under fome odium, be
cauſe it was commonly reckoned to be Epicurus's opini
雞 on peculiarly ; and he extended it not only to all brute
1 creatures, but to mankind alfo, whom he ſuppoſed to
C grow out of the earth in great numbers, in feveral parts
and countries, like other animals ; which is a notion
contrary to the facred writings ; for they declare, that
all mankind, though diffuſed now through the feveral
parts and regions of the earth, roſe at firſt from one
Ho head or fingle man and woman ; which is a conclufion of
W great importance, and that could not, I think, by the
CL light of nature, have ever been diſcovered . And this
makes the Epicurean opinion the more improbable ; for
why ſhould two rife only, if they ſprung from the earth?
Or how could they rife in their full growth and perfecti
$1 on, as Adam and Eve did ? But as for the opinion of a
1 nimals rising out of the earth at firſt, that was not at all
0 peculiar to Epicurus ; the Stoics were of the fame mind,
and the Pythagoreans and the Egyptians, and I think,
all that fuppofed the earth to riſe from a chaos. Nei
* ther do I know any harm in that opinion, if duly limit
ed and ſtated ; for what inconvenience is it, or what
diminution of providence, that there fhould be the prin
ciples of life, as well as the principles of vegetation, in
the new earth ? And unleſs you ſuppoſe all the firſt ani
C mals, as well as the firſt man, to have been made at one
ftroke, 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
fhould fpring from their great mother the earth . Laſtly,
confidering the innumerable little creatures that are upon
the earth, infects and creeping things ; and that theſe
were not created out of nothing, but formed 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 thofe little operations or manufa
R 2
I

&
tures, how ſmall foever, that would lefs become the
dignity of fuperior agents. }
Thus much for the preliminaries, or three general
characters ofparadife, which were common to it with the
reft of the primaeval earth ; and were the chief ingredi
ents of the golden age, fo much celebrated by the anci
ents. I know there were feveral other differences be
twixtthat earth and this ; but theſe are the original ; and
fuch as are not neceffary to be premiſed for the general
explication ofparadife , we referve for another place. We
may in the mean time obferve, how prepofterouſly they
go to work, that fet themſelves immediately to find
out fome pleaſant place of the earth to fix paradife in,
before they have confidered, or laid any grounds, to
explain the general conditions of it, wherefoever it was.
Thefe must be firſt known and determined, and we muſt
take our aim and directions from theſe, how to proceed
further in our enquiries after it ; otherwife we fail with
out a compafs, or feck a port and know not which way
it lies. And as we ſhould think him a very unſkilful pi
lot that fought a place in the new world, or America,
that really was in the old ; fo they commit no leſs an er
ror, that feck paradife in the prefent earth, as now con
ftituted, 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 worldfince the flood from what it

was inthe first ages. The earth under its prefentform
could not be paradifiacal, nor any part of it.
THE ſcheme ofthis world paſſeth away, faith an ho

ly author: the mode and form both of the natural and
civil world changeth continually more or lefs, but moſt
remarkably at certain periods, when all nature puts on
another face ; as it would do at the conflagration, and
hath done already from the time of the deluge. We
and Paradife. 179
may imagine how different a profpect the firſt world would
make from what we ſee now in the preſent ſtate of things,
if we confider only thofe generals, by which we have
defcribed it in the foregoing chapter, and what their in
fluence would be upon mankind and the reft of nature.
For every new ſtate of nature doth introduce a new civil
order, and a new face and oeconomy of human affairs :
EX and I am apt to think, that fome two planets, that are
m under the ſame ſtate or period , do not fo much differ
from one another, as the fame planet doth from itſelf in
t different periods of its duration. We do not ſeem to
inhabit the fame world that our firſt fore-fathers did, nor
fcarce to be the fame race of men. Our life now is fo
t fhort and vain, as if we came into the world only to fee
it and leave it ; by that time we begin to underſtand
ourfelves 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 mere novices as we were ourſelves at our firſt
enterance. And this fhort life is employed in a great
meaſure to preſerve ourſelves from neceffity, or diſeaſes
4 or injuries of the air, or other inconveniencies ; to make
one man eaſy, ten muſt work and do drudgery ; the bo
1 dy takes up fo much time, we have little leiſure for con
templation, 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 eafy
liberality, can ſcarce now be extorted from her. Nei
ther are the heavens more favourable, fometimes in one
extreme, fometimes in another ; the air often impure or
infectious, and, for a great part of the year, nature her
1 felffeems to be fick or dead. To this vanity the exter
nal creation is made fubject as well as mankind, and ſo
muft continue till the reſtitution of all things.
Can we imagine in thofe happy times and places we
are treating of, that things ſtood in this fame pofture ?
Are thefe the fruits of the golden age and of paradife, or
confiftent with their happiness ? And the remedies of
thefe evils muſt be ſo univerfal, you cannot give them
to one place or region of the earth, but all muſt part"
R 3
cipate : for theſe are things that flow from the courfe of
the heavens, or fuch general cauſes, as extend at once
to all nature. If there was a perpetual ſpring and per
petual equinox in paradife, there was at the fame time a
perpetual equinox all the earth over ; unless you place
paradife in the middle of the torrid zone. So alfo the
long lives of the antediluvians were an univerſal effect,
and muſt have had an univerfal caufe. It is truein fomefin
gle parts or regions of the prefent earth, the inhabitants
live generally longer than in others, but do not approach
inany meaſure the age of their antediluvian fore-fathers ;
and that degree of longevity which they have above the
reft, they owe to the calmneſs and tranquillity of their
heavens and air ; which is but an imperfect participation
of that cauſe which was once univerfal, and had its ef
fect throughout the whole earth. And as to the fertili
ty of this earth, though in fome fpots it be eminently
more fruitful than in others, and more delicious, yet
that of the first earth was a fertility of another kind, be
ing fpontaneous, and extending to the production of a→
nimals, which cannot be without a favourable concourſe
from the heavens alfo.
Thus much in general ; we will now go over thoſe
three fore-mentioned characters more diftinctly, to fhew,
by their unfuitableneſs to the preſent ſtate of nature, that
neither the whole earth, as it is now, nor any part of
it, could be paradifiacal. The perpetual ſpring, which
belonged to the golden age, and to paradife , is an hap
pineſs this prefent earth cannot pretend to, nor is cap,
able of, unless we could transfer the fun from the ecliptic
to the equator, or, which is as eafy, perfuade the earth,
to change its poſture to the fun. If Archimedes had
found a place to plant his machines in for removing of
the earth, all that I fhould have defired of him, would
have been only to have given it an heave at one end, and
fet it a little to rights again with the fun, that we might
have enjoyed the comfort of a perpetual fpring, which
we have loft by its diflocation ever fince the deluge.
And there being nothing more indifpenfably neceifary to
and Paradife. 181
a paradifiacal state than this unity and equality of fea

fons, where that cannot be, it is in vain to ſeek for the
reſt of paradife.
The fpontaneous fruitfulness of the ground was a
thing peculiar to the primogenial foil, which was fo
tempered, as made it more luxuriant at that time than
it could ever be afterwards ; and as that rich tempera
ment was ſpent, fo by degrees it grew lefs fertile. The
origin or production of animals out of the earth depend
ed not only upon this vital conftitution of the foil at firſt,
but alfo upon fuch a pofture and afpect of the heavens,
as favoured, or at leaſt permitted, nature to make her beſt
works out of this prepared matter, and better than could
be made in that manner after the flood. Noah, we fee,
had orders. given him to preferve the races of living crea>
tures in his ark, when the old world was. deſtroyed ;
which is an argument to me, that providence forefaw
that the earth would not be capable to produce them un,
der its new form ; and that, not only for want of fitneſs
in the foil, but becauſe of the diverfity of ſeaſons which
were then to take place, whereby nature would be di
fturbed in her work, and the ſubject to be wrought upon
wouldnot continue long enough in thefame due temper.
But this part ofthe fecond character, concerning the or
riginal of animals, deferves to be further examined and
explained.
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 poffible, that they ſhould
be wrought with that curiofity, and drawn into all thofe
little fine threads and textures that we fee and admire in
fome parts of the bodies of animals . And as the matter
muſt be fo.conftituted at firſt, ſo it muſt be kept in a due
temper till the work be finished, without any excefs. of
heat or cold ; and accordingly we ſee that nature hath
made proviſion in all forts of creatures, whether ovipa
rous or viviparous, that the first rudiments. of life fhould
be preſerved from all injuries of the air, and kept in a
moderate warmth. Eggs are encloſed in a ſhell, or film,
and muſt be cheriſhed with an equal gentle heat, to be
gin formation and continue it, otherwiſe the work mif
carries and in viviparous creatures, the materials of
life are fafely lodged in the female's womb, and conferv
ed in a fit temperature betwixt heat and cold, while the
cauſes that providence hath employed are buſy at work,
faſhioning and placing and joining the parts in that due
order, which fo wonderful a fabric requires. I 1
Let us now compare theſe things with the birth of a
nimals in the new-made world, when they firſt roſe out
of the earth, to ſee what provifion could be made there
for their fafety and nouriſhment, while they were a mak
ing, and when newly made ; and though we take all
advantages we can, and ſuppoſe both the heavens and the
earth favourable, a fit foil and a warm and conftant tem
per of the air, all will be little enough to make this way
of production feaſible or probable. But if we fuppofe
there was then the fame inconftancy of the heavens that
is now, the fame viciffitude of feaſons, and the fame in
equality of heat and cold, I do not think it at all pof
fible that they could be fo formed, or, being new form
ed, preferved and nouriſhed. It is true, fome little crea
tures that are of ſhort diſpatch in their formation, and
find nourishment enough wherefoever they are bred,
might be produced and brought to perfection in this
way, notwithſtanding any inequality of feafons ; becauſe
they are made all at a heat, as I may fo fay, begun and
ended within the compaſs of one ſeaſon . But the great
queftion is concerning the more perfect kinds of animals,
that require a long ſtay in the womb, to make them cap
able to fuftain and nourish themſelves when they firſt
come into the world. 2 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 come
mon motions of their body : and accordingly we fee na
ture hath ordained for thefe: a longer time of geftation,
that their limbs and members might have time to acquire
ftrength and folidity. Befides, the young ones of theſe
and Paradife. 183
animals have commonly the milk of the dam to nouriſh

them after they are brought forth, which is a very pro
per nouriſhment, and like to that which they had before
in the womb ; and by this means their ftomachs are
prepared by degrees for coarfer food ; whereas our ter
1
rigenous animals muſt have been weaned as ſoon as they
were born, or as ſoon as they were feparated from their
mother the earth, and therefore muſt be allowed a long
er time of continuing there.
Theſe things being coníidered, we cannot in reafon
but fuppofe, 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 feeing in this fpace of time they must have
fuffered, upon the common hypothefis, all viciffitudes and
variety of ſeaſons, and great exceffes of heat and cold,
which are things incompatible with the tender principles
of life, and the formation of living creatures, as we have
fhewn before ; we may reafonably and fafely conclude,
that nature had not, when the world began, the fame
courſe ſhe hath now, or that the earth was not then in
its prefent poſture and conftitution : feeing, I fay, theſe
firſt ſpontaneous births, which both the holy writ, rea
S fon and antiquity feem to allow, could not be finiſhed
and brought to maturity, nor afterwards preſerved and
Į nouriſhed, upon any other fuppofition.
Longevity is the laſt character to be confidered, and
as inconfiftent with the preſent ſtate of the earth as any
other. There are many things in the ftory ofthe firſt
ages that ſeem ſtrange, but nothing fo prodigy- like as
the long lives of thoſe men ; that their houſes of clay
fhould ftand eight or nine hundred years and upwards,
and thoſe we build of the hardeſt ſtone, or marble, will
not now laſt fo long. This hath excited the curioſity
of ingenious and learned men in all ages, to enquire af
ter the poffible cauſes of that longevity and if it had
been always in conjunction with innocency of life and
manners, and expired when that expired, we might have
thought it fome peculiar bleffing or reward attending

that ; but it was common to good and bad, and laſted
till the deluge, whereas mankind was degenerate long be
fore. Amongſt natural caufes, fome have imputed it to
the fobriety and fimplicity 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 fince invented . This might have ſome effect, but
not poffibly to that degree and meaſure that we ſpeak of.
There are many monaftical perfons now, that live abſte
miously all their lives, and yet they think, an hundred
years a very great age amongſt them. Others have im
puted it to the excellency of their fruits, and fome un
known virtue in their herbs and plants in thoſe days ;
but they may as well fay nothing, as ſay that which can
neither be proved nor understood. It could not be ei
ther the quantity or quality of their food that was the
cauſe of their long lives, for the earth was faid to be
curft 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 fee that their longevity de
creaſed at all, from the beginning of the world to the
flood, Methuselah was Noah's grandfather, but one:
intire remove from the deluge, and he lived 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 otherwife; 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
caufes hinder: neither do we obſerve that in thoſe parts
of the prefent earth, where people live longer than in o
thers, 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 enjoyed 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 hun
and Paradife. 185
dred years go over their heads, though they had been

nouriſhed with Nectar and Ambrofia.
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 fole and
adequate caufe of their longevity, as will appear both
from hiſtory and reafon. Shem, who was born before
the flood, and had in his body all the virtue of the ante
diluvian ftamina and conftitution, fell three hundred
years fhort of the age of his fore-fathers, becaufe the
greatest part of his life was paſt after the flood. That
theirftamina were ſtronger than ours are, I am very rea
dy to believe, and that their bodies were greater ; andany
race offtrongmen, livinglong in health, would have chil
dren ofa proportionably ſtrong conſtitution with them
felves; but then the queftion is, how was this interrupt
ed ? We that are their pofterity, why do we not inhe
rit their long lives ? How was this conſtitution broken
at the deluge, and how did the ſtamina fail fo faft
when that came? Why was there fo great a crifis then
and turn of life, or why was that the period of their
ftrength ?
We fee this longevity funk half in half immediately
after the flood, and after that, it funk by gentler degrees,
but was ftill in motion and declenfion 'till it was fixt at
length before David's time, Pfal. xc. 10. (called a Pfalin
of Mofes,) in that which hath been the common ſtandard
of man's age ever fince : as when fome excellent fruit is
tranfplanted into a worſe climate and foil, it degenerates
continually till it comes to fuch a degree of meannefs as
fuits that air and foil, and then it stands. That the age
of man did not fall all on a fudden from the antediluvian
meaſure to the prefent, I impute it to the remainingſta
mina of thoſe firſt ages, and the ftrength of that priſtine
conſtitution which could not wear off but by degrees.
We ſee the Blacks do not quit their complexion imme
diately, by removing into another climate, but their po-.
fterity changeth by little and little, and after ſome gene

rations they become altogether like the people of the
country where they are. Thus by the change of nature
that happened at the flood, the unhappy influence ofthe
air and unequal feaſons weakened by degrees the innate
ftrength oftheir 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 pofition. To
conclude this particular, ifany think that the antediluvi
an longevity proceeded only from the ftamina, or the
mere ftrength of their bodies, and would have been fo
under any conſtitution of the heavens, let them refolve
themſelves theſe queſtions : first, Why theſe ftamina, or
this ftrength of conftitution failed ? Secondly, Why did
it fail fo much and ſo remarkably at the deluge ? Third
ly, Why in fuch proportions as it hath done fince the
deluge ? And lastly, Why it hath ſtood fo long immov
able, and without any further diminution ? Within the
compaſs of five hundred years they funk from nine hun
dred to ninety ; and in the compaſs of more than three
thousand years fince, they have not funk ten years, or
fcarce any thing at all. Who confiders the reaſons of
theſe things, and the true refolution of theſe queſtions,
will be fatisfied, that to underſtand the caufes of that
longevity, fomething more must be confidered than the
make and ſtrength of their bodies ; which, though they
had been made as ſtrong as the behemoth or leviathan,
could not have lafted fo many ages, if there had not
been a particular concurrence of external cauſes, ſuch as
the preſent ſtate of nature doth not admit of.
C By this fhort review of the three general characters of
paradife and the golden age, we may conclude how little
confiftent they are with the prefent form and order of
the earth. Who can pretend to aſſign any place or re
gion 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
paradifes, or by the Chriſtian fathers of ſcripture-para
dife?
and Paradife. 187
C dife ? But where then, will you fay, muft we look for
it, if not upon this earth ? This puts us more into de
fpair of funding it than ever ; it is not above nor below,
2 in the air or in the fubterraneous regions : no, doubt
lefs it was upon the furface of the earth, but of the
A primitive earth, whofe form and properties, as they
were different from this, fo they were fuch as made it
X capable of being truly paradifiacal, both according to the
To forementioned characters, and all other qualities and
+ privileges reaſonably afcribed to paradife.
CHAP. III.
Or The original differences of the primitive earthfrom thepre

fent or poft-diluvian. The three characters of paradife
and the golden age found in the primitive earth. A
particular explication of each character.
WE have hitherto only perplexed the argument and

ourſelves, by fhewing how inexplicable the ftate of pa
radife is, according to the preſent order of things, and
the preſent condition of the earth. We muſt now there
fore bring into view that original and antediluvian earth
where we pretend its feat was, and fhew it capable of
all thofe privileges which we have denied to the prefent ;
in virtue of which privileges, and of the order of nature
eſtabliſhed there, that primitive earth might be truly pa
radifiacal, as in the golden age; and fome region of it
might be peculiarly fo, according to the received idea of
paradife. And this, I think, is all the knowlege and
fatisfaction that we can expect, or that providence hath
allowed us in this argument .
The primigenial earth, which in the first book
(chap. 5.) we raiſed from a chaos, and ſet up in an ha
bitable form, we must now furvey again with more care,
? to obſerve its principal differences from the prefent earth,
and what influence they will have upon the queſtion in
hand. Thefe differences, as we have faid before, were
chiefly three ; the form of it, which was fmooth , even,
VOL. I. S
and regular ; the poſture and fituation of it to the fun,

which was direct, and not as it is at prefent, inclined
and oblique ; and the figure of it, which was more ap
parently and regularly oval than it is now. From theſe
three differences flowed a great many more, inferior and
fubordinate ; and which had a confiderable influence up
on the moral world at that time, as well as the natural.
But we will only obſerve, here, their more immediate ef
fects, and that in reference to thofe general characters
or properties of the golden age and of paradiſe, which
we have inſtanced in , and whereof we are bound to give
an account by our hypothefis.
And in this refpect the moſt fundamental of thoſe
three differences we mentioned was that of the right po
fture and fituation of the earth to the fun ; for from this
immediately followed a perpetual equinox all the earth
over, or, if you will, a perpetual fpring : and that
was the great thing we found wanting in the prefent
earth to make it paradifiacal, or capable of being fo.
Wherefore this being now found and eſtabliſhed in the
primitive earth, the other two properties of longevity,
and of fpontaneous and vital fertility, will be of more
eafy explication. In the mean time, let us view a little
the reafons and caufes of that regular fituation in the firſt
earth .
The truth is, one cannot fo well require a reafon of
the regular fituation the earth had then, for that was moſt
ſimple and natural ; as of the irregular ſituation it hath
now, ftanding oblique and inclined to the fun or the e
cliptic ; wherebythe courſe ofthe year is become unequal,
and we are caft into a great diverfity of feaſons. But
however, ftating the first aright with its circumftances,
we fhall have a better proſpect upon the ſecond, and fee
from what cauſes, and in what manner it came to paſs.
Let us therefore fuppoſe the earth , with the reſt of its
fellow planets, to be carried about the fun in the eclip
tic, by the motion of the liquid heavens ; and being at
that time perfectly uniform and regular, having the fame
center of its magnitude and gravity, it would by the e
and Paradife. 189
quality ofits libration neceffarily have its axis parallel
to the axis of the fame ecliptic, both its poles being e
qually inclined to the fun. And this pofture I call a
right fituation, as oppofed to oblique or inclined ; or a
parallelfituation, if you pleaſe . Now this is a thing
that needs no proof befides its own evidence ; for it is
the immediate refult and common effect of gravity or li
bration, that a body, freely left to itſelf in a fluid medi
um, fhould fettle in ſuch a poſture as beſt anſwers to its
gravitation ; and this firft earth whereof we speak, being
uniform and every way equally balanced, there was no
reaſon why it thould incline at one end, more than at the
other, towards the fun. [As if you ſhould ſuppoſe a ſhip
to ſtand North and South under the equator, if it was
equally built and equally ballaſted , it would not incline
to one pole or other, but keep its axis parallel to the axis
ofthe earth ; but if the ballaſt lay more at one end, it
would dip towards that pole, and rife proportionably
higher towards the other . [So thofe great ſhips that fail a
bout the fun once a year, or once in fo many years, whilft
they are uniformly built and equally poifed, they keep
ſteady and even with the axis of their orbit ; but if they
lofe 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 aery fleet, when it eſcaped fo narrowly from being
ſhipwrecked in the great deluge, was however fo broken
and difordered, that it loft its equal poife, and thereupon.
the center of its gravity changing, one pole became
more inclined towards the fun, and the other more re
5 moved from it, and ſo its right and parallel ſituation
which it had before, to the axis of the ecliptic, was
changed into an oblique ; in which ſkew poſture it hath
ftood ever fince, and is likely fo to do for fome ages to
come. I inſtance in this , as the moſt obvious cauſe of
the change of the fituation of the earth, though, it may
be, upon this followed a change in its magnetifm, and
that might alſo contribute to the fame effect,
Sa
However, this change and obliquity of the earth's
pofture had a long train of confequences depending upon
it ; whereof that was the moſt immediate, that it al
tered the form of the year, and brought in that inequa
lity of feafons, which hath fince obtained : as, on the
contrary, while the earth was in its firſt and natural po
ſture, in a more eafy and regular diſpoſition to the fun,
that had alſo another refpective train of confequences,
whereof one of the firſt, and that which we are moſt con•
cerned in at prefent, was, that it made a perpetual equi.
nox or fpring to all the world ; all the parts of the
year had one and the fame tenor, face and temper ;
there was no winter or fummer, fced-time or harveſt,
but a continual temperature of the air and verdure of the
earth. And this fully anfwers the firſt and fundamental
character of the golden age and of paradife ; and what
antiquity, whether Heathen or Chriſtian, hath ſpoken
concerning that perpetual ferenity and conſtant ſpring
that reigned there, which in the one was accounted fa
bulous, and in the other hyperbolical, we fee to have been
really and philofophically true. Nor is there any won
der in the thing, the wonder is rather on our fide, that
the earth ſhould ſtand and continue in that forced 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 fay, is more ſtrange than that
it once flood in a poſture that was ſtreight and regular ;
as we more juſtly admire the tower at Pifa, that ſtands
crooked, than twenty other ftreight towers that are
much higher.
Having got this foundation to ftand upon, the reft of
our work will go on more eaſily ; and the two other cha
racters, which we mentioned, will not be of very difficult
explication . The fpontaneous fertility of the earth,
and its production of animals at that time, we have in
fome meafure explained before, fuppofing it to proceed
partly from the richness of the primigenial foil, and part
ly from this conſtant ſpring and benignity of the heavens
which we have now eſtabliſhed : thefe were always ready
and Paradife. 191
to excite nature, and put her upon action, and never to
interrupt her in any ofher motions or attempts. We
1 have fhewed in the fifth chapter of the firſt book, how
5 this primigenial foil was made, and of what ingredients ;
t which were fuch as compoſe the richeſt and fatteſt ſoil,
M being a light earth mixed with unctuous juices, and then
afterwards refreshed and diluted with the dews of hea
ven all the year long, and cheriſhed with a continual
D -warmth from the fun. What more hopeful beginning
R of a world than this ! You will grant, I believe, that
whatſoever degree, or whatſoever kind of fruitfulneſs
could be expected from a foil and a fun, might be rea
fonably expected there. We fee great woods and foreſts
of trees rife ſpontaneouſly, and that fince the flood (for
who can imagine that the ancient foreſts, whereof fome
were fo vaſtly great, were planted by the hand of man ?)
ED why ſhould we not then believe that fruit-trees and corn
rofe as fpontaneouſly in that firſt earth ? That which
1 makes huſbandry and human arts ſo neceffary now for
the fruits and productions of the earth, is partly indeed
the decay of the foil, 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 fum
mer, every feaſon was a feed-time to nature, and every
fcafon an harveſt.
This, it may be, you will allow as to the fruits of
the earth, but that the fame earth ſhould produce ani
mals alſo, will not be thought fo intelligible. Since it,
hath been diſcovered, that the firſt materials of all ani
mals are eggs, as feeds are of plants, it doth not feem
fo hard to conceive that theſe eggs might be in the firſt
earth, as well as thofe feeds ; for there is a great analo
gy and fimilitude betwixt them ; eſpecially if you com
pare theſe ſeeds firſt with the eggs of infects or fiſhes, and
then with the eggs of viviparous animals. And as for
thofe juices which the eggs of viviparous animals imbibe
thorough their coats from the womb, they might as well
imbibe them, or fomething analogous to them, from a
5
conveniently tempered earth, as plant-eggs do ; and
S 3
theſe things beings admitted, the progreſs is much-what
the fame in feeds as eggs, and in one fort of eggs as in
another.
It is true, animal- eggs do not feem to be fruitful of
themſelves, without the influence of the male ; and this
is not neceffary in plant-eggs or vegetable feeds . But
neither doth it ſeem neceffary in all animal -eggs, if there
be any animals fponte orta, as they call them, or bred
without copulation. And, as we obferved before, ac
cording to the beſt knowlege that we have of this male
influence, it is reaſonable to believe, that it may be fup
plied by the heavens or aether. The ancients, both the
Stoics and Ariſtotle, have fuppofed that there was fome
thing of an aethereal element in the malegeniture, from
whence the virtue of it chiefly proceeded ; and if fo, why
may we not fuppofe, at that time, ſome general impref
fion or irradiation of that purer element to fructify the
new made earth ? Mofes faith there was an incubation
of the Spirit of God upon the mafs, and without all
doubt that was either to form or fructify it, and by the
mediation of this active principle ; but the ancients
fpeak more plainly with expreſs mention of this aether,
and of the impregnation of the earth by it, as betwixt
male and female. As in the place before cited ;
Tumpater omnipotens foecundis imbribus aether

Conjugis ingremium laetae defcendit ; et omnes
Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore, foetus.
Which notion, I remember, St. Auſtin faith, De Civ.

D. lib. iv. c. 10. Virgil did not take from the fictions
of the poets, but out of the books of the philofophers.
Some of the graveft authors amongſt the Romans have
reported, that this virtue hath been conveyed into the
wombs offome animals by the winds, or the Zephiri ;
and as I eafily believe that the firſt freſh air was more
impregnated with this aethereal principle than ours is, fo
I fee no reafon but thoſe balmy dews, that fell every
night in the primitive earth, might be the vehicle of it
and Paradife. "
193
as well as the malegeniture is now ; and from them the
teeming earth, and thofe vital feeds which it contained,
were actuated, and received their firſt fruitfulneſs.
Now this principle, howsoever conveyed to thoſe ru
diments of life which we call eggs, is that which gives
the firſt ſtroke towards animation ; and this feems to be,
by exciting a ferment in thoſe little maffes, whereby the
parts are loofened, and difpofed for that formation which
is to follow afterwards. And I fee nothing that hinders,
but that we may reaſonably fuppofe 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 foever that great
work is carried on in the womb of the female, it might
by the fame be carried on there. Neither would there
be any danger ofmifcarrying by exceſs of heat or cold,
for the air was always of an equal temper and moderate
warmth ; and all other impediments were removed, and
all principles ready, whether active or paffive ; fo as we
may justly conclude, that as Eve was the mother ofall
living , as to mankind, ſo was the earth the great mother
of all living creatures befides.
The third character to be explained, and the moſt
extraordinary in appearance, is that of longaevity. This
fprung from the fame root, in my opinion, with the o
ther ; though the connexion , it may be, is not fo vi
fible. We fhewed in the foregoing chapter, that no ad
vantage of diet, or of ftrong conftitutions, could have
carried their lives, before the flood, to that wonderful
length, if they had been expoſed to the fame changes of
air and of ſeaſons that our bodies are : but taking a per
petual equinox, and fixing the heavens, you fix the life
of man too ; which was not then in fuch a rapid flux as
it is now, but feemed to ſtand ſtill as the fun did once
without declenfion. 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 ftability 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 fuffers no
thing to be long in quiet : either by inteftine motions and
fermentations excited within, or by outward impreffions,
bodies are no fooner well conftituted, but they are tend
ing again to diffolution . The aether in their little pores
and chinks is unequally agitated, and differently moved
at different times, and fo is the air in their greater, and
the vapours and atmoſphere round about them : all theſe
fhake and unfettle both the texture and continuity of bo
idies. Whereas in a fixed ſtate of nature, where theſe
principles have always the fame conftant and uniform
motion, when they are once fuited to the forms and
compofitions of bodies, they give them no further di
fturbance ; they enjoy a long and lafting peace, without
any commotions or violence within or without.
We find ourselves fenfible changes in our bodies up
on the turn of the year, and the change offeaſons ;
'new fermentations in the blood and refolutions of the
humours ; which if they do not amount to diſeaſes, at
leaſt they diſturb nature, and have a bad effect, not on
ly upon the fluid parts, but alſo upon the more folid,
upon the ſprings and fibres in the organs of the body, to
weaken them and unfit them by degrees for their reſpe
ative functions. For though the change is not fenfible
immediately in theſe parts, yet after many repeated im
preffions every year, by unequal heat and cold, dryneſs
and moiſture, contracting and relaxing the fibres, their
'tone at lengthis in a great meaſure deftroyed, and brought
to a manifeſt debility ; and the great fprings failing, the
leffer, that depend upon them, fall in proportion, and
all the fymptoms of decay and old age follow. We
fee by daily experience, that bodies are kept better in
the fame medium, as we call it, than if they often change
their medium, as fometimes in air, fometimes in water,
moiſtened and dried, heated and cooled ; theſe different
ftates weaken the contexture of the parts : but our bo
dies, in the preſent ſtate of nature, are put into an hun
dred different mediums in the courſe of a year ; fome
and Paradife. 195
I times we are ſteeped in water, or in a mifty foggy air,

for ſeveral days together ; ſometimes we are almoſt fro
00 zen 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 preffure, according to
the weather and the ſeaſons : theſe things would wear
叉
our bodies, though they were built of oak, and that in
a very fhort time, in compariſon of what they would
d
laft, if they were always encompaffed with one and the
fame medium, under one and the fame temper, as it was
in the primitive earth .
IL
The ancients feem to have been fenfible of this, and
of the true caufes of thofe long periods of life ; for
wherefoever they affigned a great longaevity, as they did
not only to their golden age, but alſo to their particular
and topical paradifes, they alfo affigned there a conftant
ferenity and equality of the heavens, and fometimes ex
prefly a conftant equinox ; as might be made appear
from their authors. And fome of our Chriftian authors
have gone farther, and connected theſe two together, as
caufe and effect, for they ſay that the longaevity of the
antediluvian patriarchs proceeded from a favourable a
ſpect and influence of the heavens at that time ; which
afpect of the heavens, being rightly interpreted, is the
fame thing that we call the poſition of the heavens, or
the right fituation of the fun and the earth, from whence
came a perpetual equinox. And if we confider the pre
fent earth, I know no place where they live longer than
in that little ifland of the Bermudas, where, according
to the proportion of time they hold out there, after they
4 are arrived from other parts, one may reaſonably fup
pofe that the natives would live two hundred years, and
1 there is nothing appears in that iſland that ſhould give
long life above other places, but the extraordinary ftea
dinefs of the weather, and of the temper of the air
throughout the whole year, fo as there is fcarce any con
fiderable difference of ſeaſons.
But becauſe it would take up too much time to fhew
in this place the full and juſt reaſons why, and how thoſe
long periods of life depend upon the ſtability of the heas
vens : and how on the contrary, from their inconftan
cy and mutability thefe periods are ſhortened, as in the
preſent order of nature ; we will fet apart the next cha
pter to treat upon that fubject ; yet by way of digreſſi
on only, ſo as thoſe that have a mind may paſs to the
following, where the thread of this difcourfe is continu
ed. In the mean time you fee, we have prepared an
earth for paradife, and given a fair and intelligible ac
count of thoſe three general characters, which, according
to the rules of method, muſt be determined before any
further progreſs can be made in this argument. For in
the doctrine of paradife there are two things to be confi
dered, the ſtate of it, and the place of it ; and as it is
first in order of nature, fo 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 in
terpretation of hard names, to difcover this, we take
more faithful guides ; the unanimous reports of anti
quity, facred and prophane, fupported 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.
CHA P. IV.
A digreffion concerning the natural caufes of longaevity.

That the machine of an animal confifts ofSprings, and
which are the twoprincipal. The age of the antedilu
vians to be computed by folar, not lunar years.
To confirm our opinion concerning the reaſons of

longaevity in the firſt inhabitants of the world, it will
not be amifs to deduce more at large the natural caufes
of long or short periods oflife. And when we ſpeak of
long or short periods of life, we do not mean thofe little
differences of ten, twenty, or forty yerrs, which we fee a
mongſt men now a-days, according as they are of ſtrong
and Paradife. 197
er or weaker conſtitutions, and govern themfelves better
or worse ; but thoſe grand and famous differences of fe
I veral hundreds of years, which we have examples of in
IG the different ages of the world, and particularly in thoſe
that lived before and fince the flood . Neither do we
think it peculiar to this earth to have fuch an inequality
in the lives of men ; but the other planets, if they be in
habited, have the fame property, and the fame diffe
rence in their different periods ; all planets that are in
their antediluvian ſtate, and in their firſt and regular fitu
ation to the fun, have long-lived inhabitants ; and those,
that are in an oblique fituation , have fhort-lived ; un
lefs there be fome counter caufes that hinder this gene
ral rule of nature from taking place.
3 We are now fo uſed to a fhort life, and to drop away
X after threeſcore or fourfcore years, that when we com
pare our lives with thoſe of the antediluvians, we think
the wonder lies wholly on their fide, why theylived folong;
and fo it doth popularly fpeaking ; but if we fpeak philo
fophically,the wonder lies rather on our fide, why we live fo
little, orfo fhort a time. Forfeeing our bodies are fuch ma
chines as have a faculty of nouriſhing themſelves, that is,
of repairing their loft or decayed parts, fo long as they
have good nouriſhment to make uſe of, why ſhould they
not continue in good plight, and always the fame, as a
Alame does, fo long as it is fupplied with fewel ? And
that we may the better fee on whether fide the wonder
lies, and from what caufes it proceeds, we will propofe
.‫י‬.‫י‬.‫ה‬
this problem to be examined, Why the frame or machine

of an human body, or of another animal, having that con
ftruction ofparts, and thofefaculties which it hath, lafts
fo fhort a time? And though it fall into no difeafe, nor
have any unnatural accident, within the ſpace of eighty
years, more or lefs, fatally and inevitably decays, dies,
and perisheth.
That the ſtate and difficulty of this queſtion may the
better appear, let us confider a man in the prime and vi
gour of his life, at the age of twenty or twenty four
years, of an healthful conftitution, and all his vitals
found; let him be nouriſhed with good food, ufe due
exerciſe, and govern himſelf with moderation in all other
things; the queſtion is, Why this body fhould not
continue in the ſame plight, and in the ſame ſtrength,
for fome ages ? or at leaſt, why it ſhould decay ſo foon
and fo faft as we fee it does ? We do not wonder at
things that happen daily, though the caufes of them be
never fo hard to find out ; we contract a certain famili
arity with common events, and fancy we know as much
of them as can be known, though in reality we know
nothing ofthem, but matter of fact ; which the vulgar
knows as well as the wife or the learned . We fee daily
inftances of the fhortnefs of man's life, how foon his
race is run, and we do not wonder at it, becauſe it is
common ; yet if we examine the compofition ofthe bo
dy, it will be very hard to find any good reaſon why the
frame of it ſhould decay fo foon.
I know it is eafy to give general and fuperficial an
fwers and accounts of theſe things ; but they are fuch,
as being ſtrictly examined, give no fatisfaction to an in
quifitive mind ; you will fay, it may be, that the interi
or parts and organs of the body wear and decay by de
grees, fo as not performing fo well their feveral offices
and functions, for the digeſtion and diſtribution of the
food and its juices, all the other parts fuffer 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 confequences 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 bo
dy in its full ſtrength and vigour ; why doth it not conti
nue thus, as a lamp does, if you fupply it with oil ?
The cauſes being the fame, why doth not the fame effect
ftill 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 fay, it may be, the cafe is not the fame in
a fimple body, fuch as a lamp or a fire, and in an orgas
nical
and Paradife. 199
mrical body, which being variouſly compounded of multi

plicity of parts, and all thofe parts put in connexion and
dependence one upon another, if any one fail, it will
diforder the whole frame ; and therefore it muſt needs
be more difficult for fuch a body to continue long in the
fame ſtate, than for a ſimple body, that hath no variety
of parts or operations. I acknowlege fuch a body is
much more fubject to diſeaſes and accidents than a more
fimple ; but barring all diſeaſes and accidents, as we do,
it might be of as long a duration as any other, if it was
ſupplied with 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 thefe oils could be all mixed together in fome
common ciftern, whence they were to be diftributed in
to the ſeveral branches, either according to their diffe
rent degrees of lightneſs , one riſing higher than another ;
or according to the capacity and figure of the little pipes
they were to pafs through ; fuch a compounded lamp,
made up of fuch artifices, would indeed be more ſubject.
to accidents and to be out of order, by the obſtruction
offome of the little pipes, or fome unfit qualities in the
oils ; but all theſe cafualties and diſorders excepted, as
they are in our cafe, if it was fupplied with convenient
liquors, it would burn as long as any other ; though
more plain and fimple.
To inſtance, yet for more plainneſs , in another fort
of machine ; fuppofe a mili , where the water may repre
ſent the nouriſhment and humours in our body, and the
frame of wood and ſtone, the folid parts ; if we could
fuppofe this mill to have a power of nouriſhing itſelf by
the water it received , and of repairing all the parts that
were worn away, whether of the wood- work or of the
ſtone, feed it but with a conftant ftream, and it would
fubfift and grind for ever. And it is the fame thing for
all other artificial machines of this nature, if they had a
faculty of nourishing themfelves, and repairing their
parts. And ſeeing thoſe natural machines we are ſpeak
ing of, the body of man, and of other animals, have
VOL. I. T
and enjoy this faculty, why fhould they not be able to
preferve themſelves beyond that fhort period of time,
which is now the meaſure of their life ?
Thus much we have faid, to fhew the difficulty pro
pofed, and inforce it ; we muſt now confider the true
anfwer and refolution of it ; and to that purpoſe bring
into view again thoſe cauſes which we have affigned,
both ofthe long periods of life, before the flood, and of
the fhort ones fince. That there was a perpetual equi
nox and ſtability of the heavens before the flood, we
have ſhewed both from hiſtory and reaſon ; neither was
there then any thing of clouds, rains, winds, ftorms,
or unequal weather, as will appear in the following cha
pter ; and to this fteadineſs of nature, and univerfal
calmnefs ofthe external world, we have imputed thoſe
long periods of life which men enjoyed 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 caft in another mould, then was brought
in, befides many other new fcenes, that fhortneſs and
vanity in the life of man, and a general inftability in all
fublunary things, but efpecially in the animate world.
It is not neceffary to fhew more than we have done
already, how that primitive ftate of nature contributed
to long life ; neither is it required that it would actively
contribute, but only be permiſſive, and fuffer our bodies
to act their parts ; for ifthey be not diſturbed, 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 obferved before, concerning the poſture of
the earth, that that which it had at fitft, being fimple and
regular, was not fo much to be accounted for, as its
prefent pofture, which is irregular ; fo likewife for the
life of man, the difficulty is not why they lived fo long
in the old world ; that was their due and proper courſe ;
but why our bodies, being made after the fame manner,
fhould endure fo fhort a time now. This is it therefore,
which we muſt now make our buſineſs to give an account
o. , namely, how that viciflitude of feafons, inconftancy
and Paradife. 201
of the air, and unequal courſe of nature, which came

in at the deluge, do fhorten life ; and indeed haften the
diffolution of all bodies, animate or inanimate.
In our bodies we may confider three feveral qualities
or difpofitions, and according to each whereof they fuf
fer decay: First, Their continuity ; Secondly, That
difpofition whereby they are capable of receiving nou
rifhment, which we may call nutribility ; and Thirdly,
The tone or tonic difpofition of the organs, whereby
they perform their feveral functions. In all thefe three
refpects they would decay in any ſtate of nature, but
far fooner and fafter in the prefent ftate, than in the
primaeval. As for the continuity, we have noted before
that all confiftent bodies muſt be lefs durable now, than
under that first order of the world, becauſe of the une
qual and contrary motions of the elements, or of the air
and aether that penetrate and pervade them ; and it is
part of that vanity which all things now are ſubject to ,
to be more periſhable than in their first conftitution . If
we ſhould confider our bodies only as breathing ftatues,
confifting of thoſe parts they do, and of that tender
neſs, the air which we breathe, and wherewith we are
continually incompaft, changing fo often betwixt moiſt
and dry, hot and cold, a flow and eager motion , theſe
different actions and reſtleſs changes would fooner weak
en and deſtroy the union of the parts, than if they were
always in a calm and quiet medium.
But it is not the grofs and vifible continuity of the
parts of our body that firſt decays ; there are finer tex
tures that are ſpoiled infenfibly, and draw on the decay
ofthe reft; fuch are thofe other two we mentioned ; that
difpofition and temper of the parts whereby they are fit
e to receive their full nourishment ; and efpecially that
· conſtruction and texture of the organs that are prepara
tory to this nutrition . The nutribility of the body de
pends upon a certain temperament in the parts, ſoft and
yielding, which makes them open to the blood and juic
es in their circulation and paffage through them, and
mixing intimately and univerfally, hold fast and retain
T 2
many oftheir particles ; as muddy earth doth the parts

of the water that runs into it and mixeth with it and
when thefe nutritious particles retained are more than the
body ſpends, that body is in its growth ; as when they
are fewer, it is in its decay. And as we compared the
flefh and tender parts, when they are young, and in a
growing difpofition, to a muddy foil, that opens to the
water, fwells and incorporates with it ; fo when they
become hard and dry, they are like a fandy earth, that
fuffers the water to glide through it, without incorporat
ing or retaining many of its parts ; and the fooner they
come to this temper, the fooner follows their decay :
for the fame caufes, that fet limits to our growth, fet
alfo limits to our life ; and he that can refolve that que
ftion, why the time of our growth is fo fhort, will alſo
be able to refolve the other in a good meaſure, why the
time of our life is ſo ſhort. In both cafes, that which
ftops our progrefs is external nature, whofe courſe,
while it was even and ſteady, and the ambient air mild
and balmy, preſerved the body much longer in a freſh
and fit temper to receive its full nouriſhment, and con
fequently gave larger bounds both to our growth and
life.
But the third thing we mentioned is the moft confi
derable, the decay of the organic parts ; and efpecially
of the organs preparatory to nutrition. This is the
point chiefly to be examined and explained, and there
fore we will endeavour to ftate it fully and diſtinctly.
There are ſeveral functions in the body of an animal,
and feveral organs for the conduct of them ; and I am
of opinion, that all the organs of the body are in the na
ture of fprings, and that their action is tonical. The
action of the muſcles is apparently ſo, and fo is that of
the heart and the ftomach ; and as for thoſe parts, that
make fecretions only, as the glandules and parenchymata,
if they be any more than merely paffive, as ſtrainers, it
is the tone of the parts, when diſtended, that performs
the feparation and accordingly in all other active or·
gans, the action proceeds from a tone in the parts.
and Paradife. 203
And this feems to be eaſily proved, both as to our bo
dies, and all other bodies ; for no matter, that is not
fluid, hath any motion or action in it, but in virtue of
20 fome tone ; if matter be fluid, its parts are actually' in
motion, and confequently may impel or give motion to
other bodies ; but if it be folid or confiftent, the parts
are not ſeparate or ſeparately moved from one another,
and therefore cannot impel or give motion to any other,
but in virtue of their tone ; they having no other moti
on themſelves. Accordingly we fee in artificial machines,
there are but two general forts, thoſe that move by fome
fluid or volatile matter, as water, wind, air, or fome
active fpirit ; and thoſe which move by fprings, or by
MA the tonic difpofition of fome part that gives motion
to the reſt : for, as for fuch machines as act by
weight, it is not the weight that is the active principle,
but the air or aether that impels it . It is true, the bo
dy of an animal is a kind of mixed machine, and thofe
organs, that are the primary parts of it, partake of both.
thefe principles ; for there are fpirits and liquors that
do affift in the motions of the muſcles, ofthe heart, and
of the ſtomach ; but we have no occafion to confider
them at preſent, but only the tone of the folid organs.
This being obferved in the firſt place, wherein the
force of our organs confifts, we might here immediately
fabjoin, how this force is weakened and deſtroyed by
the unequal courſe of nature which now obtains, and
confequently our life fhortened ; for the whole ftate and
oeconomy of the body depends upon the force and acti
on of theſe organs. But to underſtand the buſineſs more
1
diftinctly , it will be worth our time to examine upon
which of the organs of the body, life depends more im
T mediately, and the prolongation of it ; that fo reducing
our inquiries into a narrower compafs, we may manage
them with more eaſe and more certainty.
In the body of man there are ſeveral compages, or fets
of parts, fome whereof need not be confidered in this
5
queſtion ; there is that fyftem that ferves for fenfe and
local motion, which is commonly called the animal com
T 3
pages ; and that which ferves for generation, which is

called the genital. Thefe have no influence upon long
life, being parts nouriſhed, not nouriſhing, and that are
fed from others, as rivers from their fountain : where
fore having laid theſe aſide, there remain two compages
more, the natural and vital, which confft of the heart
and ſtomach, with their appendages. Thefe are the
fource of life, and theſe are all that is abfolutely necef
fary to the conftitution of a living creature ; what parts
we find more, few or many of one fort or other, ac
cording to the feveral kinds of creatures , is accidental to
our purpoſe : the form of an animal, as we are to confi
der it here, lies in this little compafs, and what is ſuper
added is for fome new purpoſes, beſides that of mere
life, as for fenfe, motion, generation, and fuch like. As
in a watch, befides the movement which is made to tell
you the hour of the day, which conftitutes a watch ;
you may have a fancy to have an alarum added, or a
minute-motion, or that it ſhould tell you the day of the
month ; and this fometimes will require a new fpring,
fometimes only new wheels ; however, if you would ex
amine the nature of a watch, and upon what its motion,
or, if I may ſo ſay, its life, depends , you muſt lay a
fide thoſe fecondary movements, and obſerve the main
fpring, 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
muft lay afide thofe additional parts or ſyſtems of parts,
which are for other purpoſes, and confider only the firſt
principles and fountains of life, and the causes of their
natural and neceffary decay.
Having thus reduced our inquiries to theſe two or
gans, the ftomach and the heart, as the two maſter
fprings in the mechaniſm of an animal, upon which all
the reft depend, let us now ſee what their action is, and
how it will be more or lefs durable and conſtant, ac
cording to the different ſtates of external nature. We
determined before, that the force and action of all organs
and Paradife. 205
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
thefe organs, or of their fibres is, that makes them to
nical, yet it is manifeſt by their actions , that they are
fo. In the ſtomach, beſides a peculiar ferment that o
pens and diffolves the parts of the meat, and melts them
into a flour 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 received, and when turned
into chyle, prefs it forwards, and ſqueeze it into the in
晚 teſtines ; and the inteſtines alſo, partaking of the fame
12
motion, puſh and work it ſtill forwards into thofe little
veins that convey it towards the heart. The heart hath
the fame general motions with the ftomach, of opening
and ſhutting, and hath alſo a peculiar ferment, which
rarefies the blood that enters into it ; and that blood, by
the fpring ofthe heart, and the particular texture of its
fibres, is thrown out again to make its circulation through
the body. This is, in ſhort, the action of both theſe
organs ; and indeed the myſtery of the body of an ani
mal, and of its operations and oeconomy, confiſts chief
ly in fprings and ferments : the one for the folid parts,
1 the other in the fluid.
But to apply this fabric of the organic parts to our
purpofe; we may obferve and conclude, that whatfoever
weakens the tone or ſpring of theſe two organs, which
are the bafes of all vitality, weaken the principle of life,
and fhorten the natural duration of it ; and if of two
orders or courfes of nature, the one be favourable and
eaſy to theſe tonic principles in the body, and the other
uneafy and prejudicial, that courſe of nature will be at
tended with long periods of life, and this with fhort..
And we have ſhewn, that in the primitive earth the
courfe of nature was even, ſteady, and unchangeable,
without either different qualities of the air, or unequal
ſeaſons ofthe year, which muſt needs be more eafy to
theſe principles we ſpeak of, and permit them to conti
nue longer in their ſtrength and vigor, than they can

poffibly do under all thofe changes of the air, of the at
mofphere, and of the heavens, which we now fuffer
yearly, monthly, and daily. And though facred hiſto
ry had not acquainted us with the longevity of the ante
diluvian patriarchs, nor prophane hiſtory with thoſe of
the golden age, I fhould have concluded from the theo
ry 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.
I confefs, I am of opiuion that it is this that makes
not only theſe living ſprings or tonic organs of the bo
dy, but all artificial fprings alfo, though made of the
hardeft metal, decay ſo faſt. The different preffure of
the atmoſphere, fometimes heavier, fometimes lighter,
more rare or more denfe, moiſt or dry, and agitated
with different degrees of motion, and in different man
ners ; this muſt needs operate upon that nicer contexture
of bodies, which makes them tonical or elaſtic ; alter
ing the figure or minutenefs of the pores, and the
ftrength and order of the fibres upon which that propri
ety depends ; bending and unbending, cloſing and open
ing the parts . There is a fubtle and aethereal element
that traverſeth the pores of all bodies, and when it is
ftraitened and pent up there, or ſtopt in its uſual courſe
and paffage, its motion is more quick and eager, as al
current of water, when it is obftructed, or runs through
a narrower channel ; and that ſtrife and thofe attempts
which theſe little active particles make to get free, and
follow the fame tracks they did before, do ftill prefs up
on the parts of the body that are changed to reprefs and
reduce them to their firſt and natural poſture, and in this
confifts the force of a ſpring. Accordingly we may ob
ferve, that there is no body that is or will be tonical or
elaftic, if it be left to itſelf, and to that poſture it would
take naturally ; for then all the parts are at eaſe, and
the fubtle matter moves freely and uninterruptedly with
in its pores ; but if by diftention, or by compreffion,
and Paradife. 207
or by flexion, or any other way, the fituation of the
parts and pores be fo altered, that the air fometimes,
but for the moſt part that ſubtiler element, is uneafy and
compreffed too much, it caufeth that renitency or ten
dency to reftitution, which we call the tone, or ſpring
:0 of a body. Now as this difpofition of bodies doth far
more eaſily periſh than their continuity, fo I think, there
20
is nothing that contributes more to its periſhing (whe
ther in natural or artificial ſprings) than the unequal a
ction and different qualities of the aether, air, and at
moſphere.
It will be objected to us, it may be, that in the be
. ginning of the chapter we inftanced in artificial things,
that would continue for ever, if they had but the pow
+
er of nouriſhing themſelves, as lamps, mills, and fuch
like ; why then may not natural machines that have that
power laft for ever ? The cafe is not the fame as to the
bodies of animals, and the things there inftanced in ; for
thoſe were ſpringlefs machines, that act only by fome
external caufe, and not in virtue of any tone or interi
or temper of the parts, as our bodies do ; and when
that tone or temper is deſtroyed, no nouriſhment can
repair it. There is fomething, I fay, irreparable in the
tonical difpofition of matter ; which when wholly loſt
cannot be reſtored by nutrition. Nutrition may anfwer
to a bare confumption of parts ; but where the parts are
to be preſerved in fuch a temperament, or in fuch a de
gree of humidity and drynefs, warmth, rarity or denfi
ty, to make them capable of that nouriſhment, as well
as of their other operations, as organs, (which is the
cafe of our bodies) there the heavens, the air, and exter
ternal cauſes will change the qualities of the matter in
fpite of all nutrition ; and the qualities of the matter
being changed, (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 hin
dered of its effect by the indifpofition or incapacity of
the recipient. And as they fay, a fault in the firſt
concoction cannot be corrected in the fecond ; fo nei
ther can a fault in the prerequifites 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 folid parts, and fuppofed 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 thefe decayed, life decayed. But
who is wifer 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 pleafe ; this is but a fort of cant, for we know
no more of the real phyſical cauſes of that effect we en
quired 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 failure is not in the fluid, but in the folid
parts, which if they continued the fame, the humours
would do fo too . Befides, what befel this radical moiſture
and heat at the deluge, that it ſhould decay ſo faſt after
wards, and laſt fo longbefore ? There is a certain temper,
no doubt, of the juices and humours of the body, which
is more fit than any other to conferve the parts from
drynefs and decay ; but the cauſe of that dryneſs and
decay, or other inability of the folid parts, whence is
that, if not from external nature ? It is thither we muſt
come at length in our fearch of the reaſons of the na
tural decay of our bodies ; we follow the fate and laws
of that ; and I think, by thoſe cauſes, and in that or
der, that we have already deſcribed and explained.
To conclude this difcourfe, we may collect from it
what judgment is to be made of thoſe projectors of im
mortality, or undertakers to make men live to the age
of Methuselah, if they will ufe their methods and medi
cines : there is but one method for this, to put the fun
into his old courſe, or the earth into its firſt poſture ;
there is no other fecret to prolong life ; our bodies will
fympathize with the general courfe of nature, nothing
éan guard us from it, no elixir, no fpecific, no philo.
and Paradife. 209
fopher'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 of truth. And fo much for this
difquifition , concerning the caufes of longevity, or of the
long and ſhort periods of life in the different periods of
the world .
That the age ofthe antediluvian patriarchs is to be com

puted by folar or commonyears, not by lunar or months.
i
Having made this difcourfe of the unequal periods
of life, only in reference to the antediluvians and their
famed longevity, left we ſhould ſeem to have proceeded
upon an ill-grounded and miſtaken fuppofition, 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 fo would bear us in hand,
that they lived only fo many months, as fcripture faith
they lived years. Seeing there is nothing could drive
men to this bold interpretation but the incredibility of
I the thing, as they fancied ; they having no notions or
hypothefis whereby it could appear intelligible or poſſible
to them ; and feeing we have taken away that ſtumbling
ſtone, and fhewed it not only poffible, but neceffary,
according to the conſtitution of that world, that the pe
riods of life fhould be far longer than in this ; by remo
ving the ground or occafion of their miſinterpretation,
we hope we have undeceived them, and let them fee that
there is no need of that fubterfuge, either to prevent an
incongruity, or fave the credit of the ſacred hiſtorian.
But as this opinion is inconſiſtent with nature, truly
underſtood, fo is it alſo with common hiſtory ; for be
fides, what I have already mentioned in the firſt chapter
of this book, Jofephus tells us, (Lib. i . Jew. Ant. chap.
iv.) that the hiſtorians of all nations, both Greeks and
Barbarians, give the fame account of the firſt inhabitants
of the earth ; Manetho, who writ the ſtory ofthe Ægyp
tians ; Berofus, who writ the Chaldaean Hiſtory, and
thofe authors that have given us an account ofthe Phoeni
cian antiquities, befides Molus and Heſtiaeus, and Hiero
nymus the Egyptian : and amongst the Greeks, Hefiodus,
Hecateus, Hellanicus, Acufilaus, Ephorus and Nicolaus :
we have thefuffrages of all these, and their common con
fent, that in the first ages ofthe worldmen lived a thousand
years. Now we cannot well ſuppoſe that all theſe hiſto
rians meant lunar years, or that they all confpired toge
ther to make and propagate a fable.
Laſtly, As nature and prophane hiſtory do difown
and confute this opinion, fo much more doth ſacred hi
ftory ; not indeed in profeffed terms , for Mofes doth
not ſay that he uſeth folar years ; but by ſeveral marks
and obfervations, 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 .
ke faith in the fix hundredth year of Noah's life, in the
fecond month, etc. It cannot be imagined that in the
fame verfe and fentence theſe two terms ofyear and month
fhould be fo confounded as to fignify the fame thing ;
and therefore Noah's years were not the fame with
months, nor confequently 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 perti
nent to reckon, as Mofes does there, firſt, ſecond, third
month, as fo many going to a year, if every one of them
was a year? And feeing the deluge begun in the fix hun
dredth year of Noah's life, and in the fecond month,
and ended in the fix hundredth and firſt year, (chap.
vii. 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 fo much ;
and we know Mofes reckons a great many months in
the duration of the deluge; fo as this is ademonſtration,
that Noah's years are not to be underſtood of lunar.
And to imagine that his years are to be underſtood one
way, and thofe of his fellow-patriarchs another, would I
be
and Paradife. 211
be an unaccountable fiction. This argument therefore ex

tends to all the antediluvians , and Noah's life will take in
I the poftdiluvians too ; for you fee part ofit runs amongſt
them, and ties together the two worlds : fo that if we ex
clude lunar years from his life, we exclude them from
all ; thofe 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
refpects incongruous . 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 chro
nology, and befides, makes the number of people fo
11
finall and inconfiderable at the time of the deluge, that
deſtroying of the world then was not fo much as de
a!
ftroying of a country town would be now : for from one
couple you cannot well imagine there could arife above
five hundred perfons in fo fhort a time ; but if there was
a thouſand, it is not fo many as we have fometimes in a
good country village. And were the flood-gates of hea
ven opened, and the great abyfs broken up to deſtroy
fuch an handful of people, and the waters raiſed 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 ? Befides,
Jo
this fhort interval doth not leave room for ten generati
ons, which we find from Adam to the flood, nor allows
the patriarchs age enough at the time when they are faid
to have got children . One hundred twenty-feven years
for ten generations is very ftrait ; and oftheſe you muft
I
take off forty-fix years for one generation only, or for
Noah, for he lived fix hundred years before the flood,
and if they were lunar, they would come however to for
ty-fix of our years ; fo that for the other nine generati
ons you would have but eighty one years, that is, nine
years apiece ; at which age they muft all be fuppofed to
have begun to get children ; which you cannot but think
a very abfurd fuppofition. Thus it would be, if you
VOL. I. U
divide the whole time equally amongſt the nine genera

tions ; but if you confider fome ſingle inftances as they
are fet down by Mofes, it is ftill worfe ; for Mahaleel
and his grandchild Enoch are faid to have got children
at fixty five years of age, which if you fuppofe months,
they were but five years old at that time ; now I appeal
to any one, whether it is more incredible that men fhould
live to the age of nine hundred years, or that they
fhould beget children at the age of five years.
You will fay, it may be, it is true theſe inconvenien
cies follow, if our Hebrew copies of the Old Teſtament
be authentic but if the Greek tranſlation by the Septu
agint be of better authority, as fome would have it to
be, that gives a little relief in this cafe ; for the Septua
gint make the diſtance from the creation to the flood fix
hundred years more than the Hebrew text does, and fo
give us a little more room for our ten gencrations : and
not only fo, but they have fo conveniently difpofed thofe
additional years, as to falve the other inconvenience too,
of the patriarchs having children fo young ; for what
patriarchs are found to have got children fooner than the
reft, and fo foon , that, upon a computation by lunar
years, they would be but mere children themfelves at
that time ; to theſe more years are added, and placed op
portunely, before the time of their getting children ; fo
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
fo like an artifice, and as done to ſerve a turn, that one
cannot but have a lefs opinion of that chronology for it.
But not to enter upon that difpute at preſent, me
thinks they have not wrought the cure effectually e
nough ; for with theſe fix hundred lunar years added, the
fum will be only one hundred feventy three common
years and odd months ; and from theſe deducting, as we
did before, for Noah, forty fix years, and for Adam,
or the first generation, about eighteen, (for he was two
hundred and thirty years old, according to the Septua
gint when he begot Seth) there will remain but one hun
and Paradife. 213
F dred and nine years for eight generations ; which will be
thirteen years apiece and odd months ; a low age to get
lyge children in, and to hold for eight generations together.
‫ון‬ Neither is the other inconvenience, we mentioned, well
I cured by the Septuagint account, namely, the ſmall
number ofpeople that would be in the world at the de
luge ; for the Septuagint account, if underſtood of lu
nar years, adds but forty fix common years to the He
brew account, and to the age of the world at the deluge,
in which time there could be but a very finall acceſſion
to the number of mankind. So as both theſe incongrui
ties continue, though not in the fame degree, and ſtand
good in either account, if it be underſtood of lunar years .
Thirdly, It is manifeſt from other texts ofſcripture, and
from other confiderations, that our firſt fathers lived very
long, and confiderably longer than men have done fince,
whereas, if their years be interpreted lunar, there is not
one of them that lived to the age that men do now ;
Methuselah himſelf did not reach threescore and fifteen
years, upon that interpretation ; which doth deprefs
them not only below thofe that lived next to the flood,
but below all following generations to this day ; and
thoſe firſt ages of the world, which were always celebrat
ed for ſtrength and vivacitý, are made as weak and feeble
as the laſt dregs of Nature. We may obferve, that af
ter the flood for fome time, ' till the priftine crafis ofthe
body was broken by the new courſe of nature, they liv
*
ed five, four, three, two hundred years, and the life of
men fhortened by degrees ; but before the flood, when
they lived longer, there was no fuch decreaſe or gradual
declenfion in their lives. For Noah, who was the laſt,
lived longer than Adam ; and Methuselah, who was laſt
but two, lived the longeſt of all : fo that it was not fim
ply their diſtance from the beginning of the world that
made them live a fhorter time, but fome change which
happened in nature after fuch a period of time ; namely
at the deluge, when the declenſion begun . Let us fet
down the table of both ſtates.
U 2
ATABLE of the ages of the antediluvianfathers.
Years.
Adam 939
Seth 912
Enos 905
Cainan 919
Mahaleel 895
Jared 962
Enoch 365
Methuselah 969
Lamech 777
Noah 959
ATABLE of the ages of the poſtdiluvian fathers

from Shem to Jofeph.
Years.
Shem 600
Arphaxad 438
Salah ·433
Eber 464
Peleg 239
Reu 239
Serug 230
Nahor 148
Terah 205
Abraham 175
Ifaac 180
Jacob 147
Jofeph 110
and Paradife. 215
From thefe tables we fee that mens lives were much
longer before the flood, and next after it, than they are
now; which alſo is confirmed undeniably by Jacob's
father
complaint ofthe fhortnefs of his life, in compariſon of
his forefathers, when he had lived one hundred and
thirty years, Gen. xlvii. 9. The days oftheyears of my
Years
jämäkä
pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil

1 have the days of the years of my life been, and have not
attained unto the days of the years ofthe life ofmy fathers.
There were then, it is certain, long-lived men in the
world before Jacob's time ; when were they, before the
flood or after ? We fay both, according as the tables
fhew it. But if you count by lunar years, there never
were any, either before or after, and Jacob's complaint
969 was unjust and falfe ; for he was the oldeft man in the
world himſelf, or at leaſt there was none of his fore
fathers that lived fo long as he.
The patrons of this opinion muſt needs find them
felves at a lofs, how or where to break off the account
of lunar years in facred hiſtory, if they once admit it.
If they fay that way of counting muft only be extended
to the flood, then they make the poſtdiluvian fathers
longer-lived than the antediluvian : did the flood bring
in longevity ? how could that be the cauſe of fuch an
Firs effect ? Befides, if they allow the poftdiluvians to have
lived fix hundred (common) years, that being clearly be
6ec
yond the ſtandard of our lives, I ſhould never ſtick at
two or three hundred years more for the firſt ages of the
world. If they extend their lunar account to the poſt
64
diluvians too, they will ſtill be intangled in worſe ab
furdities ; for they muſt make their lives miferably ſhort,
and their age of getting children altogether incongruous
and impoffible. Nahor, for example, when he was but
two years and three months old, muft have begot Te
rah, Abraham's father ; and all the reft betwixt him and
Shem muſt have had children before they were three
years old : a pretty race of pigmies ! Then their lives
were proportionably fhort, for this Nahor lived but ele
ven years and fix months at this rate ; and his grandchild
U 3
Abraham, who is faid 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 fcripture
chronology and genealogies ! But you will fay, it may
be, theſe lunar years are not to be carried fo far as A
braham neither ; tell us then where you will ftop, and
why you stop in fuch 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 fuch a time, or in fuch a place ?
All our ancient chronology is founded upon the books
of Mofes , where the terms and periods of times are ex
preffed by years, and often by genealogies and the lives
of men ; now if theſe years are fometimes to be inter
preted lunar, and fometimesfolar, without any diftincti
on made in the text, what light or certain rule have we
to 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 fhew, that their
method is not only arbitrary, but abfurd and incoherent.
To conclude this difcourfe, we cannot but repeat
what we have partly obferved before, how neceffary it is
to underſtand nature, if we would rightly underſtand
thofe things in holy writ that relate to the natural world .
For without this knowlege, as we are apt to think fome
things confiftent and credible, that are really impoſſible
in nature ; fo on the other hand, we are apt to look up
on other things as incredible and impoffible that are real
ly founded in nature. And feeing every one is willing
fo to expound fcripture, as it may be to them good
fenfe, and confiftent with their notions in other things,
they are forced 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 fay, a great inftance of this before us in the fcri
pture-history, of the long lives of the antediluvians,
where, without any ground or fhadow of ground, in
the narration, only to comply with a miſtaken phi
and Paradife. 217
lofophy, and their ignorance of the primitive world,

many men would beat down the fcripture account of
years into months, and fink the lives of thofe firſt fa
thers below the rate of the worſt of ages. Whereby
that great monument, which providence hath left us of
the firſt world, and of its difference from the ſecond,
would not only be defaced, but wholly demoliſhed .
And all this ſprung only from the feeming incredibility
of the thing ; for they cannot fhew in any part of fcri
pture, new or old, that theſe lunar years are made uſe
of, or that any computation, literal or prophetical, pro
ceeds upon them ; nor that there is any thing in the
text or context of that place, that argues or intimates
any fuch account. We have endeavoured, upon this
occafion, effectually to prevent this mifconftruction of
facred hiſtory for the future ; both by fhewing the in
congruities that follow upon it, and alfo that there is
no neceffity from nature, of any fuch ſhift or evaſion, as
that is but rather on the contrary, that we have juſt
and neceffary 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 par
ticularly the lives of men, and of other animals.
CHA P. V.
Concerning the waters of the primitive earth : what the

State ofthe regions of the air was then, and how all
waters proceeded from them : how the rivers arofe,
what was their courfe, and how they ended. Some
1 things infacred writ that confirm this hydrography of
the firft earth; efpecially the origin of the rainbow.
1
1 Having thus far cleared our way to paradife, and giv
1 en a rational account of its general properties ; before
we proceed to diſcourſe of the place of it, there is one.
1 affair of moment, concerning this primitive earth, that
muſt firſt be ſtated and explained ; and that is , how it
was watered; from what caufes, and in what manner ?
How could fountains rife, or rivers flow in an earth of

that form and nature ? We have fhut up the fea with
thick walls on every ſide, and taken away all communi
cation that could be betwixt it and the external earth ;
and we have removed all the hills and the mountains
where the ſprings uſe to rife ; and whence the rivers de
fcend to water the face of the ground : and laftly, we
have left no iffue 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 bar
ren wilderneſs, and fo far from being paradifiacal, that it
would fcarce be habitable.
I confefs there was nothing in this whole theory that
gave fuch a ſtop to my thoughts, as this part ofit, con
cerning the rivers of the firſt earth ; how they rofe, how
they flowed, and how they ended. It feemed at first,
that we had wiped away at once the notion and whole
doctrine of rivers ; we had turned the earth ſo ſmooth,
that there was not an hill, or rifing, for the head of
a fpring, nor any fall or defcent for the courfe of a ri
ver : befides, I had fucked in the common opinion of
philofophers, that all rivers rife from the ſea, and return
to it again, and both thofe paffages, I fee, were ſtopped
up in that earth. This gave me occafion to reflect up
on the modern and more folid opinion concerning the
origin of fountains and rivers, that they rife chiefly from
rains and melted fnows, and not from the fea alone ;
and as foon as I had demurred in that particular, I faw
it was neceſſary to confider 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 fooner applied myſelfto that inquiry, but
I eaſily diſcovered, that the order of nature in the regi
ons of the air would be then very different from what it
is now, and the meteorology of that world was of ano
ther fort from that of the preſent. The air was always
calm and equal, there could be no violent meteors there,
nor any that proceeded from extremity of could ; as ice,
fnow, or hail ; nor thunder neither; for the clouds
and Paradife. 219
could not be of a quality and confiftency fit for fuch an
effect, either by falling one upon another, or by their
difruption . And as for winds, they could not be either
impetuous or irregular in that earth ; feeing there were
neither mountains nor any other inequalities to obftru&
As the courſe of the vapours ; nor any unequal feafons, or
# unequal action of the fun, nor any contrary and ſtrug
gling motions of the air : nature was then a ſtranger to
all thofe diforders . But as for watery meteors, or thoſe
that riſe from watery vapours more immediately, as dews
and rains, there could not but be plenty of theſe in fome
part or other of that earth ; for the action of the fun in
raifing vapours was very ſtrong and very conſtant, and
the earth was at firſt moiſt and foft, and according as it
grew more dry, the rays ofthe fun would pierce more
deep into it, and reach at length the great abyfs which
lay underneath, and was an unexhaufted ftore-houſe of
new vapours. But, it is true, the fame heat, which
extracted theſe vapours fo copiouſly, would alfo 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 fuch caufes to ſtop
them, or comprefs them, we muſt confider which way
they would tend, and what their courfe would be, and
whether they would any where meet with cauſes capable
to change or condenſe them ; for upon this, it is mani
feft, would depend the meteors of that air, and the
waters of that earth.
And as the heat of the fun was chiefly towards the
middle parts ofthe earth, fo the copious vapours, raiſed
there, were moſt rarefied and agitated ; and being once
in the open air, their courfe would be that way, where
they found leaft refiſtance to their motion ; and that
would certainly be towards the poles, and the colder re
gions of the earth . For Eaſt and Weft they would meet
with as warm an air, and vapours as much agitated as
themſelves, which therefore would not yield to their pro
grefs that way; but towards the North and the South,
they would find a more eafy paffage, the cold of thoſe
parts attracting them, as we call it, that is, making
way to their motion and dilatation without much refift
ance, as mountains and cold places uſually draw va
pours from the warmer. So as the regular and conſtant
courfe of the vapours of that earth, which were raiſed
chiefly about the equinoctial and middle parts of it, would
be towards the extreme parts of it, or towards the poles.
And in confequence of this, when theſe vapours were
arrived in thofe cooler climates, and cooler parts of the
air, they would be condenfed into rain ; for wanting
there the cauſe of their agitation , namely, the heat of
the fun, their motion would foon begin to languifh, and
they would fall cloſer to one another in the form of wa
ter. For the difference betwixt vapours and water is
only gradual, and confiſts in this, that vapours are in a "
flying motion, feparate and diftant each from another;
but the parts of water are in a creep motion, cloſe to one
another ; like a fwarm of bees, when they are fettled ;
as vapours reſemble the fame bees in the air, before
they fettle together. Now there is nothing puts theſe
vapours upon the wing, or keeps them fo, but a ſtrong
agitation by heat ; and when that fails, as it muſt do in
all colder places and regions, they neceffarily return to
water again . Accordingly therefore, we muſt ſuppoſe
they would foon, after they reached thefe cold regions,
be condenſed, and fall down in a continual rain, or dew,
upon thofe parts of the earth . I fay a continual rain ;
for feeing the action of the fun, which raiſed the va
pours, was (at that time) always the fame, and the ſtate
of the air always alike, nor any croſs winds, nor any
thing else that could hinder the courſe of the vapours to
wards the poles, nor their condenſation when arrived
there ; it is manifeſt there would be a conſtant ſource or
ftore-houſe of waters in thoſe parts of the air, and in
thofe parts of the earth .
And this, I think, was the eſtabliſhed order of na
ture in that world ; this was the ſtate of the antediluvi
an heavens and earth ; all their waters came from above,
and that with a conftant fupply and circulation ; for
Pag. 221.
and Paradife. 221
when the croud ofvapours, raiſed about the middle parts

of the earth, found vent and iſſue this way towards the
poles, the paffage being once opened, and the channel
made, the current would be ſtill continued without in
termiffion ; and as they were diffolved and ſpent there,
they would fuck in more and more of thoſe which fol
lowed, and came in freſh ſtreams from the hotter cli
mates. Ariſtotle, I remember, in his Meteors, ſpeak
ing of the courſe of the vapours, faith, there is a river
in the air, conftantly flowing betwixt the heavens and
the earth, made by the aſcending and defcending va
pours : 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 va
pours rifing in one region of the earth, and flowing to
another, and there continually diftilling in dews and
rain, which made this aerial river. As may be cafiy ap
prehended from this ſcheme of the earth and air.
Thus we have found a fource for waters in the firſt
earth, which had no communication with the fea ; and
a fource that would never fail, neither diminiſh or over
flow, but feed the earth with an equal fupply through
out all the parts of the year. But there is a fecond dif
ficulty that appears at the end of this, how theſe waters
would flow upon the even furface of the earth, or form
themſelves into rivers ; there being no deſcent or decli
vity for their courſe. There were no hills, nor moun
tains, 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 and pools, having no deſcent one
way more than another ; and fo the reſt of the earth
would be no better for them . This, I confefs, appear
ed as great a difficulty as the former, and would be un
anfwerable for ought I know, if that firſt earth was not
watered by dews only(as I believe fome worlds are) or had
been exactly ſpherical ; but we noted before, that it was
oval or oblong ; and in fuch a figure it is 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 prefent remedy, and

fets us free of the fecond difficulty ; for, by this means
the waters, which fell about the extreme parts of the
earth, would have a continual defcent towards the mid
dle parts of it ; this figure gives them motion and diſtri
bution ; and many rivers and rivulets would flow from
thoſe mother-lakes, to refreſh the face of the earth ,
bending their courfe ftill towards the middle parts of it.
It is true, theſe derivations of the waters at firſt would

be very irregular and diffufe, till the channels were
a little worn and hollowed ; and though that earth was
fmooth and uniform, yet it is impoffible, upon an in
clining furface, but that waters fhould find a way of
creeping downwards, as we fee upon a ſmooth table, or
a flagged pavement ; if there be the leaft inclination,
water will flow from the higher to the lower parts of it,
either directly, or winding to and fro : fo the fmooth-1
nefs of that earth would be no hinderance to the courſe
of the rivers, provided there was a general declivity
in the fite and libration of it, as it is plain there was'
from the poles towards the equator. The current in
deed would be eafy and gentle all along, and if it chanc
ed in fome places to reft or be stopped, it would ſpread
itfelf
and Paradiſe. 223
itfelf into a pleaſant lake, till by fresh fupplies it had
raiſed its waters fo high as to overflow and break loofe
again ; then it would purfue its way, with many other
rivers its companions, through all the temperate cli
mates, as far as the torrid zone.
But you will fay, 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 iffue could
they have, when they were come to the middle parts of
it, whither it ſeems they all tended ? There was no fea
to loſe themſelves in, as our rivers do ; nor any fubter
raneous paffages to throw themselves into ; how would
they die, what would be their fate at laft ? I anſwer,
The greater rivers, when they were come towards thofe
parts ofthe earth, would be divided into many branches,
or a multitude of rivulets ; and thoſe would be partly ex
haled by the heat of the fun, and partly drunk up by the
dry and fandy earth. But how and in what manner
this came to pafs, requires a little further explication.
We must therefore obferve in the first place, that
thofe rivers, as they drew nearer to the equinoctial parts,
would find a leſs declivity or defcent of ground than in
the beginning, or former part of their courfe ; that is e
vident from the oval figure of the earth ; for near the
middle parts of an oval, the femi-diameters, as I may
call them, are very little ſhorter one than another ; and
for this reafon the rivers, when they were advanced to
wards the middle parts of the earth, would begin to
flow more flowly, and , by that weakneſs of their cur
1 rent, fuffer themſelves eafily to be divided and diſtract
ed into feveral leffer ftreams and rivulets ; or elfe having
no force to wear a channel, would lie ſhallow upon the
ground like a plaſh of water ; and in both cafes their
waters would be much more expoſed to the action of the
fun, than if they had kept together in a deeper channel,
as they were before.
Secondly, We must obferve, that ſeeing thefe waters
could not reach to the middle of the torrid zone, for
VOL. I. X
want of defcent ; that part of the earth having the fun
always perpendicular over it, and being refreſhed by no
rivers, would become extremely dry and parched, and be
converted at length into a kind of ſandy defert ; ſo as all
the waters that were carried thus far, and were not ex
haled and confumed by the fun, would be fucked up, as
1 in a fpunge, by theſe fands of the torrid zone. This
was the common grave wherein the rivers of the firft
earth were buried ; and this is nothing but what hap
pens ftill in feveral parts of the preſent earth, eſpecially
in Afric, where many rivers never flow into the ſea, but
expire after the fame manner as thefe did, drunk up by
the fun and the fands. And one arm of Euphrates dies,
as I remember, amongſt the fands of Arabia, after the
manner of the rivers of the firſt earth.
Thus we have conquered the greateſt difficulty, in my
apprehenfion, in this whole theory, to find out the ſtate
of the rivers in the primitive and antediluvian earth,
their origin, courfe, and period. We have been forced
to win our ground by inches, and have divided the dif
ficulty into parts, that we might encounter them fingle
with more eaſe. The rivers of that earth, you fee,
were in moſt refpects different, and in fome, contrary to
ours ; and if you could turn our rivers backwards, to
run from the fea towards their fountain-heads, they
would more reſemble the courſe of thoſe antediluvian ri
vers ; for they were greateſt at their firſt ſetting out, and
the current afterwards, when it was more weak, and the
channel more fhallow, was divided into many branch
es and little rivers ; like the arteries in our bo
dy, that carry the blood ; they are greateſt at firſt,
and the further they go from the heart, their fource,
the lefs they grow, and divide into a multitude of
little branches, which lofe themſelves infenfibly in the
habit of the fleſh, as theſe little floods did in the fands of
the earth .
Becauſe it pleaſeth more, and makes a greater im
preffion upon us, to fee things reprefented to the eye,
than to read their deſcription in words, we have ven .
Ma
-
Fig. 2.
and Paradife. 225
tured to give a model of the primaeval earth, with its

zones or greater climates, and the general order and
tracks of its rivers : not that we believe things to have
been in the very fame form as here exhibited ; but this
may ferve 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 reprefented, refemble the belts or fafciae of
Jupiter, fo we fuppofe them to proceed from like cauſes,
if that planet be in an antediluvian ſtate, as the earth we
here reprefent. As for the polar parts in that firſt earth,
I can fay very little of them, they would make a ſcene
by themſelves, and a very particular one ; the fun 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 feat and receptacle. That they flow
ed from thence in fuch a like manner as is here repre
fented, we have already proved ; and fometimes in their
paffage fwelling into lakes, and towards the end of their
courſe parting into feveral ſtreams and branches, they
would water thoſe parts of the earth like a garden.
We have before compared the branchings of thefe ri
vers towards the end of their courfe, to the ramificati
ons of the arteries in the body, when they are far from
the heart near the extreme parts ; and ſome, it may be,
looking upon this fcheme, would carry the comparifon
further, and fuppofe, that as in the body the blood is
not loft in the habit of the fleſh, but ſtrained through it,
and taken up again by the little branches of the veins ;
fo in that earth the waters were not loft in thoſe fands of
the torrid zone, but ftrained or percolated thorough
them, and received into the channels of the other he
mifphere. This indeed would in fome meaſure anſwer
the notion which feveral of the ancient fathers make uſe
1
of, that the rivers ofparadife were trajected out of the
other hemifphere into this, by fubterraneous paffages.
But I confess I could never fee it poffible how fuch a tra
jection could be made, nor how they could have any
X 2
motion, being arrived in another hemifphere ; and there.
fore I am apt to believe that doctrine amongſt the anti
ents arofe from an entanglement in their principles : they
fuppofed generally, that paradife was in the other hemi
fphere, as we fhall have occafion to fhew hereafter ; and
yet they believed that Tygris, Euphrates, Nile, and
Ganges, were the rivers of paradife, or came out of it;
and thefe two opinions they could not reconcile, or
make out, but by fuppofing that theſe four rivers had
their fountain-heads in the other hemifphere, and by
fome wonderful trajection broke out again here. This
was the expedient they found out to make their opinions
confiftent 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 anti
quity . How there could be any fuch communication,
either above ground, or under ground, betwixt the two
hemifpheres , does not appear ; and therefore we muſt
fill fuppofe the torrid zone to have been the barrier be
twist them, which nothing could pafs either way.
We have now examined and determined the ftate of
the air, and ofthe waters in the primitive earth, by the
light and confequences of reafon ; and we muſt not
wonder to find them different from the preſent order of
nature ; what things are faid of them , or relating to
them in holy writ, do teftify or imply as much ; and it
will be worth our time to make fome reflection upon
thofe paffages for our further confirmation. Mofes tells
us, that the rainbow was fet in the clouds after the de
" luge ; thofe heavens then, that never had a rainbow be
fore, were certainly of a conſtitution very different from
ours. And St. Peter, 2 Epift. iii. 5. doth formally
and exprefly tell us, that the old heavens, or the antedi
luvian heavens had a different conftitution from ours,
and particularly, that they were compofed or conftituted
of water which philofophy of the apoftle's may be ea
fily understood, if we attend to two things ; firſt, that
1 the heavens he ſpeaks of were not the ſtarry heavens,
but the aerial heavens, or the regions of our air, where
and Paradife. 227
the meteors are : fecondly, that there were no meteors

in thofe regions, or in thofe heavens, till the deluge,
but watery meteors, and therefore, he ſays, they confiſt
ed of water. And this fhews the foundation upon which
that defcription is made, how coherently the apoſtle ar
gues, and anſwers the objection there propofed ; how
alt justly alſo he diſtinguiſheth the firſt heavens from the pre
ſent heavens, or rather oppoſeth them one to another ;
becaufe as thofe were conftituted of water, and watery
meteors only, fo the preſent heavens, he faith, have
treaſures of fire, fiery exhalations and meteors, and a dif
pofition to become the executioners of the divine wrath
DR and decrees in the final conflagration of the earth .
This minds me alfo of the celestial waters, or the
waters above the firmaments, which fcripture fometimes
0 mentions, and which, methinks, cannot be explained
6 fo fitly and emphatically upon any fuppofition as this of
ours. Thofe, who place them above the ſtarry heavens,
feem neither to underſtand aſtronomy nor philoſophy ;
and, on the other hand, if nothing be underſtood by
them , but the clouds and the middle region of the air,
#ha as it is at preſent, methinks that was no fuch eminent
and remarkable thing, as to deſerve a particular comme
moration by Mofes in his fix days work ; but if we un
derſtand them, not as they are now, but as they were
then, the only ſource of waters, or the only fource of
waters upon that earth, (for they had not one drop of
water but what was celeftial) this gives it a new force
and emphaſis : befides the whole middle region having
no other fort of meteors but them , that made it ſtill the
greater fingularity, and more worthy commemoration.
As for the rivers of paradife, there is nothing faid con
cerning their fource, or their iffue, that is either contra
ry 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 faid to riſe from any mountain, but from
a great river or a kind of lake in Eden, according to the
cuſtom ofthe rivers of that earth . And as for their end
and iffue, Mofes doth not fay, that they diſburden
X 3
themſelves into this or that fea, as they ufually do in
the deſcription of great rivers, but rather implies that
they ſpent themſelves in compaffing and watering certain
countries, which falls in again very eaſily with our hypo
thefis. But I fay this rather to comply with the opini
ons of others, than of my own judgment : for I think,
that fuggeſtion about the fuperceleftial waters made by
Mofes, was not fo much according to the ſtrict nature
and fpeciality of cauſes, as for the eaſe and profit of the
people, in their belief and acknowlegement of providence
for fo great a benefit, by what caufes foever it was
brought to pafs.
But to return to the rainbow which we mentioned be
fore, and is not to be paft over fo flightly. This we
fay 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 fays, the bow was fet in the clouds after the de
luge, as a confirmation of the promife, or covenant,
which God made with Noah, that he would drown the
world no more with water. And how could it be a fign
of this, or given as a pledge and confirmation offuch a
promife, if it was in the clouds before, and with no re
gard to this promife, and ftood there, it may be, when
the world was going to be drowned ? This would have
been but cold comfort to Noah, to have had ſuch a
pledge of the divine veracity. You will fay, it may be,
that it was not a fign or pledge, that fignified naturally,
but voluntarily only, and by divine inftitution : I am
of opinion, I confefs, that it fignified naturally, and by
connexion with the effect, importing thus much, that
the ſtate of nature was changed from what it was before,
and fo changed, that the earth was no more in a condi
tion to perish by water. But however, let us grant that
it fignifieth only by inftitution, to make it fignificant in
this fenfe, it must be fomething new, otherwiſe it could
not fignifyany new thing, or be the confirmation of a new
promife. If God Almighty had ſaid to Noah, I make a
promife to you, and to all living creatures, that the world
and Paradife. 229
fhall never be deftroyed by water again, and for confir

mation of this, behold, Ifet the fun in the firmament :
would this have been any ftrengthening of Noah's faith,
or any fatisfaction to his mind ? Why, fays Noah, the
fun was in the firmament when the deluge came, and
was a ſpectator of that fad tragedy ; why may it not be
fo again? What fign or affurance is this againſt a fecond
deluge ? When God gives a fign in the heavens, or on
the earth, of any prophecy or promife to be fulfilled, it
1 muſt be by ſomething new, or by fome change wrought
in nature ? whereby God doth teſtify to us, that he is
able and willing to ftand to his promife. God fays to
f Ahaz, Ifai. vii. 11. Aſk a fign of the Lord; afk it either
in the depth, or in the height above : and when Ahaz
1 would ask no fign, God gives one unafked, Behold, a
virgin fhall conceive, and bear a fon. So when Zachary,
Luke i. 18. was promiſed a fon, he aſketh for a fign,
Wherebyfhall I know this ? for I am old, and my wife well
ftricken in years ; and the fign given him was, that he
became dumb, and continued fo till the promife was ful
1 filled. Accordingly, when Abraham afked a fign where
by he might be affured of God's promiſe that his feed
fhould inherit the land of Canaan, Gen. xv . 8. it is faid
(ver. 17.) When thefun went down, and it was dark, be
hold a fmoking furnace and a burning lamp paſſed betwixt
the pieces of the beaſts that he had cut afunder. So in
other inſtances of figns given in external nature, as the
fign given to king Hezekiah, Ifai. xxxviii. for his re
covery, and to Gideon for his victory, Judges vi. to
confirm the promife made to Hezekiah, the fhadow went
back ten degrees in Ahaz's 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. Thefe were all figns very proper, fignificant, and
fatisfactory, having fomething furprizing and extraordi
nary, yet theſe were ſigns by inſtitution only ; and to be
fuch they muſt have fomething new and ſtrange, as a
mark of the hand of God, otherwife they can have no
force or fignificancy. Accordingly we fee, Mofes him
felf, in another place, fpeaks this very ſenſe, when in
the mutiny or rebellion of Corah and Dathan, he ſpeaks
thus to the people ; Ifthese men die the common death of
men, then the Lord hath not fent me. But if the Lord
make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, andſwal
low them up, etc. then you shall underſtand that theſe men
have provoked the Lord. - Numb. xvi. 29, 30. So in
the cafe of Noah, if God created a new creature, (which
are Mofes's words in the forecited place) the fign was ef
fectual : but where every thing continues to be as it was
before, and the face of nature, in all its parts, the ve
ry fame, it cannot fignify any thing new, nor any new
intention in the author of nature ; and confequently,
cannot be a ſign or pledge, a token or affurance of the
accompliſhment of any new covenant or promiſe made
by him.
This, methinks, is plain to common fenfe, and to -
every man's reafon ; but becauſe it is a thing of impor
tance, to prove that there was no rainbow before the
flood, and will confirm a confiderable part of this theo
ry, 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 af
fenting to clear reaſon. I know it is afually faid, that
figns, like words, fignify any thing by inftitution, or
may be applied to any thing by the will of the impofer;
as hanging out a white flag, is calling for mercy ; a
bush at the door, a fign of wine to be fold, and fuch
like . But thefe are inftances nothing to our purpoſe,
thefe are figns of fomething prefent, and that fignify on
ly by ufe and repeated experience ; we are fpeaking of
figns of another nature given in confirmation of a pro
mife, or threatening, or prophecy, and given with de
fign to cure our unbelief, or to excite and beget in us
faith in God, in the prophet, or in the promiſer; fuch
figns, I fay, 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 fign, but only the affirmation ofthe promiſer;
and Paradife. 231
for otherwife the pretended fign is a mere cypher and
fuperfluity. But a thing that obtained before, and in
the fame manner, (even when that came to paſs, which
we are now promiſed ſhall not come to paſs again) figni
fies no more, than if there had been no fign at all : it
can neither fignify another courfe in nature, nor ano
ther purpoſe in God ; and therefore is perfectly infig
nificant. Some inftance in the facraments, Jewiſh
or Chriftian, and make them figns in fuch a fenfe
as the rainbow is : but thofe are rather fymbolical re
preſentations or commemorations ; and fome of them
marks of diftinction and confecration of ourſelves to God
in ſuch a religion ; they were alſo new, and very parti
cular when firſt inſtituted ; but all fuch inftances fall
fhort, and do not reach the cafe before us ; we are
fpeaking of figns confirmatory of a promife ; when
there is fomething affirmed de futuro, and to give us a
further argument of the certainty of it, and ofthe power
and veracity of the promiſer, a fign is given. This,
we fay, muſt indiſpenſably be fomething new, otherwiſe
it cannot have the nature, virtue, and influence of a
fign.
We have ſeen how incongruous it would be to admit,
that the rainbow appeared before the deluge, and how
dead a fign that would make it, how forced, fruitless,
and ineffectual, as to the promiſe it was to confirm :
let us now on the other hand ſuppoſe, that it firſt ap
peared to the inhabitants of the earth after the deluge,
1 how proper, and how appofite a ſign would this be for
providence to pitch upon, to confirm the promiſe made
" to Noah and his poſterity, that the world ſhould be no
more deſtroyed by water ! It had a fecret connexion
with the effect itſelf, and was ſo far a natural fign ; but
however, appearing first after the deluge, and in a wa
tery cloud, there was, methinks, a great eafinefs and
propriety of application for fuch a purpoſe. And if we
fuppofe, that while God Almighty was declaring his pro
miſe to Noah, and the fign of it, there appeared at the
fame time in the clouds a fair rainbow, that marvelous
and beautiful meteor, which Noah had never feen before,
it could not but make a moſt lively impreſſion upon him,
quickening his faith, and giving him comfort and affur
ance, that God would be ſtedfaſt to his promiſe.
Nor ought we to wonder that interpreters have com
monly gone the other way, and fuppofed that the rain
bow was before the flood : this, I fay, was no wonder
in them, for they had no hypothesis that could anfwer 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 philofophy
and notions : as we have a great inftance in that difcourfe
of St. Peter's ( 2 Epiſt. iii. 5. ) concerning the deluge and
the antediluvian heavens and earth, which, for want ofa
theory, they have been ſcarce able to make ſenſe of; for
they have forcedly applied to the preſent earth, or the
prefent form of the earth, what plainly refpected ano
ther. A like inſtance we have in the Mofaical abyfs, or
tehom-rabba, by whoſe difruption the deluge was made ;
this they knew not well what to make of, and ſo have
generally interpreted it of the ſea, or of our ſubterrane
ous waters ; without any propriety either as to the word,
or as to the fenfe. A third inſtance is this of the rain
bow, where their philofophy hath miſguided them again;
for to give them their due, they do not allege, nor pre
tend to allege any thing from the text, that fhould 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 rain.
bow; and ifthe rainbow was not before the flood, then
all things were not made within the fix days creation :
to whom theſe reaſons are convictive, they muſt be led
into the fame belief with them, but not by any thing in
the text, nor in the true theory, at leaſt, if ours be fo ;
for by that you fee, that the vapours were never con
denfed into drops, nor into rain, in the temperate and
inhabited climates of that earth, and confequently there
could never be the production or appearance of this bow
in the clouds. Thus much concerning the rainbow.
and Paradife. 233
READ
To recollect ourselves, and conclude this chapter, and
**
the whole difquifition concerning the waters of the pri
mitive earth; we feem to have fo well fatisfied the diffi
culties propoſed in the beginning of the chapter, that
they have rather given us an advantage ; a better difce
very, and fuch a new proſpect of that earth, as makes
19 it not only habitable, but more fit . to be paradifiacal.
The pleaſantneſs of the ſite ofparadife is made to con
fift chiefly in two things, its waters, and its trees,
(Gen. ii. and chap. xiii . 10. Ezek. xxxi. 8.) and confi
dering the richneſs of that firſt ſoil in the primitive earth,
it could not but abound in trees, as it did in rivers and
EX rivulets ; and be wooded like a grove, as it was watered
like a garden, in the temperate climates of it ; fo as it
-9ivi would not be, methinks, fo difficult to find one paradife
there, as not to find more than one.
CHAP . VI.
A recollection and review of what hath been ſaid concern

ing the primitive earth ; with a morefullfurvey ofthe
ftate of the first world natural and civil, and the compa
rifon of it with the prefent world.
WE have now, in a good meaſure, finiſhed our de

fcription ofthe firſt and antediluvian earth : and as tra
C vellers, when they fee ftrange countries, make it part
of their pleaſure and improvement to compare them with
their own, to obferve the differences, and wherein they
j excel, or come fhort of one another ; fo it will not be
inpleaſant, nor unuſeful, it may be, having made a dif
covery, not of a new country, but of a new world, and
1 travelled it over in our thoughts and fancy, now to fit
down and compare it with our own : and it will be no
.۱ hard task, from the general differences which we have
i taken notice of already, to obferve what leffer would
P arife, and what the whole face of nature would be.
It is alſo one fruit of travelling, that by ſeeing varie M
ty of places, and people, of humours, faſhions, and
forms of living, it frees us by degrees, from that pe
dantry and littleneſs of ſpirit, whereby we are apt to
cenfure every thing for abfurd and ridiculous, that is
not according to our own way and the mode of our own
country : but if, inſtead of croffing the feas, we could
waft ourſelves over to our neighbouring planets, we
fhould meet with fuch varieties there, both in nature
and mankind, as would very much enlarge our thoughts
and fouls, and help to cure thoſe diſeaſes of little minds,
that make them troubleſome to others, as well as unea
fy to themſelves.
But feeing our heavy bodies are not made for ſuch
voyages, the beſt and greateſt thing we can do, in this
kind, is to make a furvey and reflection upon the ante
diluvian earth, which in ſome ſenſe was another world
from this, and, it may be, as different as fome two pla
nets are from one another. We have declared already
the general grounds upon which we muſt proceed, and
muſt now trace the confequences of them, and drive
them down into particulars, which will fhew us in moſt
things, wherein that earth, or that world, differed from
the prefent. The form of that earth, and its fituation
to the fun, were two of its moſt fundamental differen
ces from ours : as to the form of it, it was all one 1
fmooth continent, one continued furface of earth, with
out any fea, any mountains, or rocks ; any holes,
dens, or caverns : and the fituation of it to the fun was
fuch as made a perpetual aequinox . Theſe two joined
together, lay the foundation of a new aftronomy, meteo
rology, hydrography, and geography ; fuch as were pro .
per and peculiar to that world. The earth by this means
having its axis parallel to the axis of the ecliptic, the
heavens would appear in another poſture ; and their di
urnal motion, which is imputed to the primum mobile,
and ſuppoſed to be upon the poles of the equator, would
then be upon the fame poles with the fecond and perio
dical motions of the orbs and planets, namely, upon
the poles of the ecliptic ; by which means the phaenome
na of the heavens would be more fimple and regular,
and
and Paradife. 235
and much of that entangledneſs and perplexity, which

we find now in aftronomy, would be taken away.
Whether the fun and moon would fuffer any eclipſes
then, cannot well be determined, unleſs one knew what
the courſe of the moon was at that time, or whether ſhe
was then come into our neighbourhood: her prefence
re
feems to have been lefs needful, when there were no
1. long winter nights, nor the great pool of the fea to
move or govern .
As for the regions of the air and the meteors, we
have in the preceding chapter fet down 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 difplaced, and the courſe of nature
changed nothing violent, nothing frightful, nothing
troubleſome or incommodious to mankind, came from
above, but the countenance of the heavens was always
fmooth and ferene. I have often thought it a very de
firable piece of power, if a man could but command a
fair day, when he had occafion for it, for himſelf, or
1 for his friends ; it is more than the greateſt prince or
potentate upon earth can do ; yet they never wanted
one in that world, nor ever faw a foul one. Beſides,
they had conftant breezes from the motion of the earth,
and the courſe of the vapours, which cooled the open
plains, and made the weather temperate as well as fair.
3 But we have ſpoken enough in other places upon this
ſubject of the air, and the heavens ; let us now defcend
to the earth.
The earth was divided into two hemifpheres, feparat
ed by the torrid zone, which at that time was uninha
bitable, and utterly unpaffable ; fo as the two hemi
ſpheres made two diſtinct worlds, which, ſo far as we
"
can judge, had no manner of commerce or communica
on one with another. The fouthern hemisphere the an
tients called antichthon, the opposite earth, or the other
world. And this name and notion remained long after
the reaſon of it had ceafed . Juft as the torrid zone
was generally accounted uninhabitable by the ancients,
VOL. I. Y
even in their time, becauſe it really had been ſo once,

and the tradition remained uncorrected, when the cauſes
were taken away; namely, when the earth had chang
ed its poſture to the fun, after the deluge.
This may be looked upon as the firſt diviſion of that
primaeval earth, into two hemifpheres, naturally fever
ed and difunited : but it was alfo 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 prefent. For all the zones of our earth are habi
table, and their diſtinctions are in a manner but imagi
nary, not fixed by nature ; whereas in that earth where
the rivers failed, and the regions became uninhabitable,
by reason of dryneſs and heat, there began the torrid
zone ; and where the regions became uninhabitable by
reafon of cold and moiſture, there began the frigid zone ;
and theſe being determined, they became bounds on ei
ther fide to the temperate. But all this was altered, when
the poſture of the earth was changed, and changed for
that very purpoſe, as fome of the ancients have ſaid,
that the uninhabitable parts of the earth might become ha
bitable. Yet though there was ſo much of the firſt earth
uninhabitable, there remained as much to be inhabited,
as we have now ; for the ſea, ſince the breaking up of
the abyſs, hath taken away half of the earth from us, a
great part whereof was to them good land . Befides, we
are not to fuppofe, that the torrid zone was of that ex
tent we make it now, twenty three degrees and more on
either fide of the equator : theſe bounds are ſet only by
the tropics, and the tropics by the obliquity of the courſe
of the fun, or of the poſture of the earth, which was
not in that world. Where the rivers ſtopped, there
the torrid zone would begin ; but the fun was directly
perpendicular to no part of it but the middle.
How the rivers flowed in the firft earth, we have be
fore explained fufficiently, and what parts the rivers did
not reach, were turned into fands and defarts by the heat
and Paradife. 237
1 of the fun; for I cannot eafily imagine, that the fandy
defarts of the earth were made fo at first, immediately
and from the beginning of the world : from what caufes
fhould that be, and to what purpoſe in that age ? But in
pho
thofe tracts of the earth that were not refreſhed with ri
vers and moiſture, which cement the parts, the ground
would moulder and crumble into little pieces, and then
C thofe pieces by the heat of the fun were baked into
tone. And this would come to paſs chiefly in the hot
and fcorched regions of the earth, though it might hap
pen fometimes where there was not that extremity of
heat, ifby any chance a place wanted rivers and water
to keep the earth in due temper ; but thofe fands would
mane not be fo early or ancient as the other. As for great
Ling er looſe ſtones, and rough pebbles, there were none in
71. that earth ; Deucalion and Pyrrha, when the deluge was
over, found new made ftones to caft behind their backs ;
the bones of their mother earth ; which then were
F
broken in pieces, in that great ruin.
1. As for plants and trees, we cannot imagine but that
they muſt needs abound in the primitive earth, ſeeing it
was fo well watered, and had a foil fo fruitful ; a new
unlaboured foil, replenifhed with the feeds of all vege
tables ; and a warm fun that would call upon nature ear
ly for her firſt-fruits, to be offered up at the beginning
of her courfe ." Nature had a wild luxuriancy at firſt,
1 which human induſtry by degrees gave form and order
t to the waters flowed with a conftant and gentle cur
[ rent, and were eaſily led which way the inhabitants had
a mind, for their ufe, or for their pleaſure ; and fhady
4 trees, which grow beſt in moiſt and warm countries,
graced the banks of their rivers or canals. But that,
$ which was the beauty and crown of all , was their per
petual fpring, the fields always green , the flowers always
freſh, and the trees always covered with leaves and fruit :
but we have occafionally fpoken of theſe things in feve
ral places, and may do again hereafter, and therefore
need not enlarge upon them here.
As for fubterraneous things, metals and minerals, I
Y 2
believe they had none in the firſt earth ; and the happier
they ; no gold, nor filver, nor coarſer metals . The
afe of thefe is either imaginary, or in fuch works, as,
by the conftitution of their world, they had little occa
fion for. And minerals are either for medicine, which
they had no need of further than herbs ; or for materi
als to certain arts, which were not then in uſe, or were
fupplied by other ways. Thefe fubterraneous things,
metals and metallic minerals, are factitious, not original
bodies, coaeval with the earth ; but are made in proceſs
of time, after long preparations and concoctions , by the
action of the fun within the bowels of the earth . And
if the ftamina, or principles of them rife from the lower
regions that lie under the abyss , as I am apt to think
they do, it doth not feem probable that they could be
drawn through fuch a maſs of waters, or that the heat
of the fun could on a fudden penetrate fo deep, and be
able to loofen them, and raiſe them into the exterior
earth . And as the firſt age of the world was called gold
en, though it knew not what gold was ; fo the follow
ing ages had their names from feveral metals, which lay
then aſleep in the dark and deep womb of nature, and
faw not the fun till many years and ages afterwards.
Having run through the feveral regions of nature,
from top to bottom, from the heavens to the lower parts
of the earth , and made ſome obſervations upon their or
der in the antediluvian world ; let us now look upon man
and other living creatures, that make the fuperior and
animate part of nature. We have obferved, and fuffi
ciently spoken to that difference betwixt the men of the
old world, and thofe of the prefent, in point of longe
vity, and given the reaſons of it ; but we must not i
magine that this long life was peculiar to man ; all other
animals had their ſhare of it, and were in their propor
tion longer-lived than they are now. Nay, not only a
nimals, but alſo vegetables ; and the forms of all living
things were far more permanent : the trees of the field
and of the foreft, in all probability, out-lafted the lives
of men ; and I do not know but the firſt groves of pines
and Paradife. 239
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 fee, from firſt to
laſt, the entire courfe and period of a world.
We might add here, with St. Auſtin, ( Civ. Dei, lib.
15. c. 9. another obfervation, both concerning men
and other living creatures in the firſt world, that they
were greater as well as longer-lived, than they are at
prefent: this feems to be a very reaſonable conjecture ;
5 for the ſtate of every thing that hath life is divided into
the time ofits growth, its confiftency, and its decay ; and
when the whole duration is longer, every one of theſe
S parts, though not always in like proportions, will be
longer. We muſt ſuppoſe then, that the growth both
M in men and other animals lafted longer in that world
than it doth now, and confequently carried their bodies
both to a greater height and bulk . And in like man
X ner, their trees would be both taller, and every way
bigger than ours ; neither were they in any danger

P there, to be blown down by winds and ſtorms, or ſtruck
with thunder, though they had been as high as the Æ
gyptian pyramids ; and whatſoever their height was, if
they had roots and trunks proportionable, and were
ftreight and well poifed, they would ftand firm, and with
a greater majefty: The fowls ofheaven making their nests
" in their boughs, and under their ſhadow the beasts of the
field bringingforth their young. When things are fairly
poffible in their caufes, and poffible in feveral degrees,
higher or lower, it is 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 uſed to . And whofoever
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
ftrange that thoſe of the firſt earth fhould much exceed
any that we now fee in this world. That allegorical
defcription of the glory of Affyria in Ezek, chap. xxxi .
by allufion to trees, and particularly to the trees ofpa
radife, was chiefly for the greatneſs and ſtatelineſs of
Y 3
them ; and there is all fairneſs of reaſon to believe, that
in that firſt earth, both the birds of the air, and the
beafts of the field, and the trees and their fruit, were all
in their ſeveral kinds more large and goodly than nature
produces any now.
So much in fhort, concerning the natural world, ins
animate or animate ; we fhould now take a profpect of
themoral world of that time, or of the civil and artifici¬
al world ; what the order and oeconomy of thefe was,
what the manner of living, and how the fcenes of hu
man life were different from ours at prefent. The an
cients, eſpecially the poets, in their defcription of the
golden age, exhibit to us an order of things, and a form
of life, very remote from any thing we fee in our days ;
but they are not to be truſted in all particulars ; many
times they exaggerate matters on purpoſe, that they may
feem more ſtrange, or more great, and by that means move
and pleaſe us more. A moral or philofophic hiftory of the
world, well writ, would certainly be a very uſeful work,
to obferve and relate how the ſcenes of human life have
changed in feveral ages , the modes and forms of living,
in what fimplicity men begun at firſt, and by what de
grees they came out of that way, by luxury, ambition,
improvement, or changes in nature ; then what new
forms and modifications were fuperadded by the inventi
on of arts, what by religion, what by fuperftition . This
would be a view of things more inftructive, and more
fatisfactory, than to know what kings reigned in fuch
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 defign is of another nature, and of far
greater extentand confequence. But to return to thefubject .
As the animate world depends upon the inanimate, fo
the civil world depends upon them both, and takes its
meafures from them ; nature is the foundation ſtill, and
the affairs of mankind are a fuperſtructure that will be
always proportioned to it. Therefore we muſt look
back upon the model, or picture, of their natural world,
and Paradife. 241
which we have drawn before, to make our conjectures,
or judgment, of the civil and artificial, that were to ac
1 company it. We obferved from their perpetual equinox,
and the ſmoothneſs of the earth, that the air would be
always calm, and the heavens fair, no cold or violent
winds, rains, or ftorms, 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
3 great part of the affairs of life is to preferve ourſelves
from thofe inconveniencies, by building and clothing.
How many hands, and how many trades are employ→
ed about theſe two things ? Which then were in a
manner needlefs, or at leaſt in ſuch plainneſs and ſimpli
city, 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 eafi
C eft ways of living, till neceffity or vice put them upon
5 others that are more laborious, and more artificial. We
2 alſo obſerved and proved, that they had no fea in the
primitive and antediluvian world, which makes a vaſt
difference betwixt us and them. This takes up half of
our globe, and a good part of mankind is bufied with
fea-affairs and navigation . They had little need of
merchandizing then, nature fupplied them at home with
all neceffaries, which were few, and they were not fo
greedy of fuperfluities as we are. We may add to thefe,
what concerned their food and diet ; antiquity doth ge
nerally fuppofe, that men were not carnivorous in thofe
ages of the world, or did not feed upon flesh, but only
upon fruit and herbs. And this feems to be plainly con
firmed by fcripture ; for after the deluge, God Almigh←
ty 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 preſcribed them herbs and fruit for their diet ; Gen.
i. 29. Behold I have given you every herb bearing feed,
which is upon the face of all the earth ; and every tree, in
the which is thefruit of a tree yieldingfeed, toyou itſhall
be for meat. And of this natural diet they would be
provided to their hands, without further preparation , as
the birds and the beafts are.
Upon thefe general grounds we may infer and con
clude, 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 clothing, building
and traffic, with that train of arts, trades and manufa
ctures that attend them, the civil order of things is in a
great meaſure conftituted and compounded ; theſe make
the buſineſs of life, the feveral occupations of men, the
noife 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 neceffitouf
nefs, and were, for the most part, needlefs and unknown
in that firft ftate of nature. The ancients have told us
the fame things in effect ; but telling us them without
their grounds, which they themſelves did not know,
they looked like poetical ftories, and pleafant fictions,
and with moſt men paffed for no better. We have
fhewn them in another light, with their reaſons and
caufes, deduced from the ſtate of the natural world,
which is the bafis upon which they ſtand ; and this doth
not only give them a juft and full credibility, but alſo
lays a foundation for after-thoughts , and further dedu
ctions, when they meet with minds diſpoſed to purſue
fpeculations 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 obferved, we may be able to make a better
judgment ofthoſe traditional accounts which the anci
ent have left us concerning theſe things, in the early
ages of the world, and the primitive ſtate of nature.
No doubt in thefe, as in all other particulars, there was
a great eafinefs and fimplicity, in compariſon of what is
and Paradife. 243
now, we are in a more pompous, forced, and artificial
method, which partly the change of nature, and partly
the vices and vanities of men have introduced and eſta
bliſhed. But theſe things, with many more, ought to
24
be the fubject of a philofophic history of the world, which
we mentioned before.
This is a fhort and general ſcheme of the primaeval
world, compared with the modern ; yet theſe things did
R not equally run through all the parts and ages of it;
The there was a declenfion 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 that heavens and earth, till
then alfo this civil frame of things would ſtand in a great
13 meaſure. And though ſuch a ſtate of nature, and of
mankind, when it is propofed crudely, and without its
ĥ grounds, appear fabulous or imaginary, yet it is really
in itſelf a ſtate, not only poffible, but more eaſy and na
1
tural, than what the world is in at prefent. And if one
of the old antediluvian patriarchs fhould rife from the
dead, he would be more furprized to fee our world in
j that poſture it is, than we can be by the ſtory and de
fcription of his . As an Indian hath more reaſon to won
der at the European modes, than we have to wonder at
their plain manner of living. It is we that have left the
track of nature, that are wrought and ſcrewed up into
artifices, that have diſguiſed ourſelves ; and it is in our
world that the fcenes are changed, and become more
ftrange and fantaſtical .
I will conclude this difcourfe with an eaſy remark, and
without any particular application of it. It is a ftrange
power that cuſtom hath upon weak and little fpirits ,
whofe thoughts reach no further than their ſenſes ; and
what they have ſeen and been uſed to, they make the
ftandard and meaſure of nature, of reaſon, and of all
decorum. Neither are there any fort of men more pofi
tive and tenacious of their petty opinions, then they are ;
nor more cenforious, even to bitterneſs and malice.
And is is generally ſo, that thoſe that have the leaſt evi
dence for the truth of their beloved opinions, are moſt

peevish and impatient in the defence of them. This
fort of men are the laſt that will be made wife men, if
ever they be, for they have the worſt of diſeaſes that ac
company ignorance, and do not ſo much as know them
felves to be fick.
CHA P. VII.
The place ofparadiſe cannot be determinedfrom the theory

only, nor from feripture only. What the fenfe ofanti
quity was concerning it, both as to the Jews and Hea
thens, and especially as to the Chriftianfathers. That
theygenerally placed it out ofthis continent, in theSouth
ern hemisphere.
WE have now prepared our work for the laſt finiſh

ing ftrokes ; defcribed the firft earth, and compared it
with the prefent ; and not only the two earths, but in a
good meaſure the whole ſtate and oecomony of thoſe two
worlds. It remains only to determine the place of pa
radife in that primaeval earth ; I fay, in that primaeval
earth, for we have driven the point fo far already, that
the feat of it could not be in the prefent earth, whoſe
form, fite, and air, are ſo difpofed, as could not con
fiſt with the firſt and moſt indiſpenſible properties of pa
radife : and accordingly, we fee with what ill fuccefs our
modern authors have ranged over the earth, to find a
fit fpot of ground to plant paradife in ; fome would fet
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 feat it in a plain,
orin a river-ifland, that they might have water enough ;
but then it would be fubject to the injuries of the air,
and foul weather at the ſeaſons ofthe year ; from which,
both reafon and all authority have exempted paradiſe. It
islike feeking a perfect beauty in a mortal body, there
and Paradife. 245
are fo many things required to it, as to complexion , fea

tures, proportions and air, that they never meet altoge
ther in one perfon ; neither can all the properties of a
terreſtrial paradife ever meet together in one place, though
never fo well chofen, in this preſent earth.
But in the primaeval earth, which we have deſcribed,
it is eafy to find a feat that had all thoſe beauties and
conveniencies . We have every where, through the tem
perate climates, a clear and conftant air, a fruitful ſoil,
27 pleaſant waters, and all the general characters of para
TV dife; fo that the trouble will be rather in that competi
# tion, what part or region to pitch upon in particular.
But to come as near it as we can, we muft remember in
the first place, how that earth was divided into two he
mifpheres, diftant and ſeparated from one another, not
by an imaginary line, but by a real boundary that
could not be paffed ; ſo as the first inquiry will be, in
whether of theſe hemifpheres was the feat of paradife.
‫ا‬ To anſwer this only according to our theory, I confefs,
I fee no natural reafon or occafion to place it in one he
miſphere more than in another ; I fee no ground of dif
1 ference or pre-eminence, that one had above the other;
and I am apt to think, 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
thefe two regions more than in the other, for planting
1 în it the garden of God. Neither doth ſcripture deter
1 mine, with any certainty, either hemifphere for the place
of it ; for when it is faid to be in Eden, or to be the
garden of Eden, it is no more than the garden ofplea
fure or delight, as the word fignifies : and even the
Septuagint, who render this word Eden, as a proper
name twice, (Gen , ii. 8, and 10. ) do in the ſame ſtory
render it twice as a common name, fignifying Tрvon
pleaſure, (chap. ii. 15. and chap . iii. 24. ) and fo 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 rendered in the Eaft, or Eaſtward, as we read
it, and therefore determined the ſite of paradife; but it
is only the Septuagint tranſlate it fo ; all the other Greek
verfions, and St. Jerome, the Vulgate, the Chaldee Pa
raphrafe, and the Syrian, 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 infpir
ed, have no reaſon to prefer their fingle authority above
all the reſt. Some alfo think the place of paradife may
be determined by the four rivers that are named, as be
longing to it, and the countries they ran thorough ; but
the names of thoſe rivers are to me uncertain, and two
of them altogether unintelligible. Where are there four 1
rivers in our continent that come from one head, as theſe
are faid to have done, either at the enterance or iſſue of
the garden ? It is true, if you admit our hypotheſis, con
cerning the fraction and difruption of the earth at the de
luge, then we cannot expect to find rivers now as they
were before ; the general fource is changed, and their
channels are all broke up ; but if you do not admit ſuch
a diffolution of the earth, but ſuppoſe the deluge to have
been only like a ſtanding pool, after it had once covered
the furface of the earth, I do not ſee why it ſhould make
any great havoc or confufion in it ; and they that go
that way, are therefore the more obliged to fhew us ſtill,
the rivers of paradife. Several of the ancients, as we
fhall fhew hereafter, fuppofed theſe four rivers to have
their heads in the other hemifphere ; and iffo, the feat
ofparadife might be there too. But let them firſt agree
amongst themſelves concerning thefe rivers, and the
countries they run through, and we will undertake to
fhew that there cannot be any fuch in this continent.
Seeing then neither the theory doth determine, nor
fcripture, where the place of paradife was, nor in whe
ther hemifphere, we muſt appeal to antiquity, or the
'opinions of the ancients ; for I know no other guide but
one of these three, fcripture, reaſon, and ancient tradi
tion ; and where the two former are filent, it ſeems ve
ry reaſonable to confult the third. And that our inqui
ries may be comprehenfive enough, we will confider
what
and Paradife. 247
what the Jews, what the Heathens, and what the Chri
ſtian fathers, have ſaid, or determined, concerning the
feat ofparadife. The Jews and Hebrew doctors place
Fron it in neither hemifphere, but betwixt both, under the
opder equinoctial, as you may fee plainly in Abravanel, Ma
naffes Ben-Ifrael, Maimonides, Eben Ezra, and others.
But the reaſon why they carried it no further than the
line, is, becauſe they fuppofed it certain, as Eben Ezra
tells us, that the days and nights were always equal in
paradife, and they did not know how that could be, un
T lefs it ſtood under the equinoctial. But we have fhewn
another method, wherein that perpetual equinox came
35 to paſs, and how it was common to all the parts and cli
mates of that earth, which if they had been aware of,
and that the torrid zone at that time was utterly uninha
ne bitable, having removed their paradife thus far from
home, they would probably have removed it a little fur
ther into the temperate climates of the other hemifphere. 1.
The ancient Heathens, poets and philofophers, had
the notion ofparadife, or rather of ſeveral paradifes in
6
10% the earth; and it is remarkable, that they placed them

generally, if not all of them, out of this continent ; in
ST
the ocean, or beyond it, or in another orb or hemifphere.
The garden of the Hefperides, the Fortunate Islands,
the Elyſian Fields, Ogygia, and Toprabane, as it is de
fcribed by Diodorus Siculus, with others fuch like ;
Jez which as they were all characterized like fo many para
"
difes, fo they were all feated out of our continent, by
their geography and deſcriptions of them .
Thus far antiquity feems to incline to the other he
mifphere, or to fome place beyond the bounds of our
M continent, for the feat of paradife : but that which we
De are moſt to depend upon in this affair, is Chriſtian an
tiquity, the judgment and tradition of the fathers upon .
1 this argument. And we may ſafely ſay in the firſt place,
negatively, that none of the Chriſtian fathers, Latin or
Greek, ever placed paradife in Mefopotamia ; that is a
conceit and invention of fome modern authors, which
hath been much encouraged of late, becauſe it gave men
VOL. I. Z
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 placed paradife
in any determinate region of our continent, Afia, Afric,
or Europe. I have read of one or two authors, I think,
that fancied paradife to have been at Jerufalem ; but it
was a mere fancy, that no-body regarded or purfued.
The controverſy amongſt the fathers concerning paradife
was quite another thing from what it is now of late :
they difputed and controverted, whether paradife was
corporeal or intellectual only, and allegorical ; this was
the grand point amongst them. Then of thofe that I
thought it corporeal, fome placed it high in the air,
fome inacceffible, by defarts or mountains, and many
beyond the ocean, or in another world ; and in thefe
chiefly confifted the differences and diverſity of opinions
amongſt them ; nor do we find that they named any par
ticular place or country in the known parts of the earth
for the feat ofparadife, or that one conteſted for one
fpot 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 fet
their foot upon the centre of the garden . Theſe have
corrupted and mifrepreſented the notion of our paradife,
juſt as fome modern poets have the notion of the Elyſi
an fields, which Homer and the ancients placed remote,
on the extremities of the earth, and theſe would make a
little green meadow in Campania Felix to be the famed
Elyfium .
Thus much concerning the fathers, negatively ; but
to diſcover as far as we can, what their poſitive aſſerti
ons were in this argument, we may obſerve, that though
their opinions be differently expreffed, they generally
concenter in this, that the ſouthern hemisphere was the
feat of paradife. This, I fay, feems manifeftly to be
the fenfe of Chriſtian antiquity and tradition, fo far as
there is any thing definitive in the remains we have up
on that fubject. Some of the fathers did not believe pa
radife to be corporeal and local, and thoſe are to be laid
and Paradife. 249
afide 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, though they have expreſſed themſelves
in various ways, and under various forms ; yet, upon
a due interpretation, they all meet in one common and
general conclufion, that paradife was feated beyond the
equinoctial, or in the other hemiſphere.
And to underſtand this aright, we muſt reflect, in the
firſt place, upon the form of the primaeval earth, and of
2
the two hemifpheres of which it confifted, altogether in
communicable one with another, by reaſon of the torrid
zone betwixt them ; fo as thoſe two hemifpheres were
then as two diftin&t 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 an
tichthon, and its inhabitants antichthones : for thoſe words
comprehend both the antipodes and antoeci, or all beyond
3 the line, as is manifeſt from their beſt authors, as A
chilles Tatius, and Caefar Germanicus , upon Aratus,
Probus Grammaticus, Cenforinus, Pomponius Mela,
and Pliny. And theſe were called another world, and
looked upon as another ſtock and race of mankind, as
•
appears from Cicero (Somn . Scip .) and Macrobius. But
as the latter part was their miſtake, fo the former is ac
" knowleged by Chriſtian authors, as well as others ; and
particularly St. Clement, in his epiftle to the Corinthi
ans, mentions a world, or worlds beyond the ocean, ſub
ject to divine providence, and the great Lord ofnature, as
well as ours . This paffage of St. Clement is alfo cited
by St. Jerome, in his commentary upon Eph. ii . 2. and
T by Origen Peri- Archon, ( Lib. 2. c. 3. ) where the inhabi
tants of that other world are called antichthones.
I make this remark in the firſt place, that we may un
derſtand the true fenfe and importance of thoſe phraſes
and expreffions amongſt the ancients, when they fay pa
radife was in another world. Which are not to be fo
underſtood, as if they thought paradife was inthe moon,
Z 2
or in Jupiter, or hung above like a cloud or a meteor ;

they were not fo extravagant : but that paradife was in
another hemifphere, which was called antichthon, another
earth, or another world from ours ; and juſtly reputed
fo, becauſe of an impoffibility of commerce or intercourfe
betwixt their refpective inhabitants. And this remark
being premifed, we will now diftribute the Chriſtian au
thors and fathers , that have delivered their opinion con
cerning the place of paradife, into three or four ranks
or orders ; and though they exprefs themſelves different
ly, you will fee, when duly examined and expounded,
they all confpire and concur in the forementioned con
clufion, that the feat ofparadife was in the other hemi
fphere .
In the first rank then, we will place and reckon thoſe
that have fet paradife in another world, or in another
earth ; feeing, according to the foregoing explication,
that is the fame thing as to affirm it feated beyond the
torrid zone in the other hemifphere. In this number
are Ephrem Syrus, Mofes Bar Cepha, Tatianus, and of
later date, Jacobus de Valentia. To thefe are to be ad
ded again fuch authors as fay, that Adam, when he was
turned out of paradife, was brought into our earth, or
into our region of the earth ; for this is tantamount with
the former ; and this feems to be the fenfe of St. Jerome
in feveral places againſt Jovinian, as alſo of Conftantine,
in his Oration in Eufebius, and is poſitively afferted by
Sulpitius Severus. And lastly, Thoſe authors that re
prefent paradife as remote from our world, and inaccef
fible ; fo St. Auſtin, Procopius Gazaeus, Beda, Strabus
Fuldenfis, Hiftoria Scholiaftica, and others ; theſe, I
fay, purſue the fame notion of antiquity ; for what is
remote from our world, (that is, from our continent,
as we before explained it) is to be underſtood to be that
antichthon, (Oixsμern) or anti-hemiſphere, which the
ancients oppofed to ours .
Another fet of authors, that interpret the flaming
fword that guarded paradife to be the torrid zone, do
plainly intimate, that paradife in their opinion lay beyond
and Paradife. 251
the torrid zone, or in the anti-hemifphere ; and thus
Tertullian interprets the flaming fword, and in fuch
words as fully confirm our ſenſe : paradife, he fays, by
the torrid zone, as by a wall offire, was fevered from the
communication and knowlege ofour world. It lay then on
M the other fide of this zone. And St. Cyprian, or the
ancient author that paſſeth under his name, in his com
ment upon Genefis, expreffeth himſelf to the fame ef
fect ; fo alfo St. Auſtin and Ifidore Hifpalenfis are
thought to interpret it : and Aquinas , who makes pa
radife inacceffible, gives this reafon for it, Propter vehe
10 mentiam aeftus in locis intermediis ex propinquitate folis, et
hoc fignificatur perflammeum glaudium : because ofthat ve
hement heat in the parts betwixt us and that, arifingfrom
the nearness of the fun, and this is fignified by the flaming
fword. And this interpretation of the flaming fword
1 receives a remarkable force and emphaſis from our theo
De ry and deſcription of the primaeval earth, for there the
C 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. W
There is another form of expreffion amongſt the anci
ents concerning paradife, which, if decyphered, is ofthe
T
fame force and fignification with this we have already in
ftanced in : they ſay ſometimes, paradife was beyond the
ocean, or that the rivers of paradife came from beyond
the ocean . This is of the fame import with the former
head, and points ftill at the other hemifphere ; for, as
we noted before, fome of them fixed their antichthon and
antichthones beyond the ocean ; that is, fince there was
S
an ocean ; fince the form of the earth was changed, and
]
5 the torrid zone became habitable, and confequently could
not be a boundary or feparation, betwixt the two worlds ..
1 Wherefore, as fome run ftill upon the old divifion by
the torrid zone, others took the new divifion by the
ocean. Which ocean they ſuppoſed to lie from Eaſt
to Weſt betwixt the tropics ; as may be ſeen in ancient
authors, Geminus, Herodotus, Cicero de republica, and
Clemens Romanus, whom we cited before. St.. Auflin
Z. 3
(De Civ. Dei. lib. 16. c. 9. ) alfo fpeaks upon the fame
fuppofition when he would confute the doctrine of the
antipodes, or antichthones ; and Macrobius, I remember,
makes it an argument of providence, that the fun and
the planets, in what part of their courſe foever they
are betwixt the two tropics, have ſtill the ocean under
them, that they may be cooled and nouriſhed by its
moiſture. They thought the fea, 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 obferved, it is not material whether their
notion was true or falfe, it ſhews us what their meaning
was, and what part of the earth they defigned, when
they ſpoke of any thing beyond the ocean ; namely,
that they meant beyond the line, in the other hemifphere
or in the antichthon ; and accordingly, when they fay
paradife, or the fountains of its rivers, were beyond the
ocean, they fay the fame thing in other terms with the
reft of thofe authors we have cited . In Mofes Bar Ce
pha above mentioned, we find a chapter upon this fub
ject, Quomodo trajecerint mortales inde ex paradifi terra
in hanc terram. How mankind paffed out ofthat earth or
continent, where paradife was, into that where we are :
namely, how they paffed the ocean, that lay betwixt
them, as the answer there given explains it. And fo E
phrem Syrus is cited often in that treatiſe, placing para
dife beyond the ocean. The Effenes alfo, who were the
moſt philofophic fect of the Jews, placed paradiſe, ac
cording to Jofephus, beyond the ocean, under a perfect
temperature of air. And that paffage in Eufebius , in
the oration of Conftantine, being corrected and reſtor
ed to the true reading, repreſents paradiſe, in like man
ner, as in another continent, from whence Adam was
brought after his tranfgreffion, into this. And lastly,
there are fome authors, whofe teftimony and authority
may deſerve to be confidered, not for their own antiqui
ty, but becauſe they are profeſſedly tranſcribers of anti
quity and traditions ; fuch as Strabus, Comeftor, and
and Paradife. 253
the like, who are known to give this account or report
ofparadife from the ancients, that it was interpofito o
ceano ab orbe noftro vel a zona noſtra habitabili ſecretus,ſe
paratedfrom our orb or hemifphere, by the interpofition of
the ocean.
"? It is alſo obfervable, that many of the ancients that
took Tigris, Euphrates, Nile and Ganges, for the ri
vers of paradife, faid, that thoſe heads or fountains of
them, which we have in our continent, are but their ca
pita feconda, their fecond fources, and that their firſt
fources were in another orb where paradife was ; and
C thus Hugo de Sancto Victore fays, fanctos communiter
fenfiffe, that the holy men of old were generally of that
opinion. To this fenſe alfo Mofes Bar Cepha often ex
preffeth himſelf; as alfo Epiphanius, Procopius Gazaeus,
a and Severianus in Catena. Which notion amongſt the
ET ancients, concerning the trajection or paffage of the pa
radiſiacal rivers under ground, or under fea, from one
continent into another, is to me, I confefs, unintelli
gible, either in the firſt or fecond earth ; but however it
diſcovers their fenfe and opinion of the feat of paradife,
that it was not to be fought for in Afia or in Afric,
where thofe rivers rife to us ; but in fome remoter parts
ofthe world, where they fuppofed their first fources to be.
This is a fhort account of what the Chriſtian fathers
10 have left us concerning the feat of paradife ; and the
6 truth is, it is but a ſhort and broken account ; yet it is
R no wonder it ſhould be fo, if we confider, as we noted
before, that ſeveral of them did not believe paradife to
} be local and corporeal ; others that did believe it ſo, yet
1 did not offer to determine the place of it, but left that
matter wholly untouched and undecided : and the reſt,
that did fpeak to that point, did it commonly both in
5 general terms, and in expreffions that were diſguiſed, and
needed interpretation ; but all theſe differences and ob
Scurities of expreſſion, you fee, when duly ftated and
expounded, may fignify one and the fame thing, and
terminate all in this common conclufion, that paradife
was without our continent, according to the general o
pinion and tradition of antiquity. And I do not doubt
but the tradition would have been both more expreſs and
more univerſal, ifthe ancients had underſtood geography
better ; for thoſe of the ancients that did not admit or
believe that there were antipodes or antichthones, as La
&tantius, St. Auſtin, and ſome others ; theſe could not
join in the common opinion about the place of paradife,
becauſe they thought there was no land, nor any thing
habitables oixvμévns, or befides this conti
nent. And yet St. Auſtin was fo 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 ofparadife ; fo on the other hand, he had that
reſpect for it, that he would not fay any thing to the
contrary ; therefore being to give his opinion, he fays
only, Terreftrem effe paradifum, et locum ejus ab hominum
cognitione effe remotiſſimum : that it is fomewhere upon the
earth, but the place ofit very remotefrom the knowlege of
men.
And as their ignorance of the globe of the earth was
one reaſon why the doctrine of paradife was fo broken
and obfcure, ſo another reaſon why it is much more ſo at
preſent is, becauſe the chief ancient books writ upon that
fubject are loft. Ephrem Syrus, who lived in the fourth
century, writ a commentary in Genefin, five de Ortu re
rum, concerning the origin of the earth ; and by thofe
remains that are cited from it, we have reaſon to be
lieve that it contained many things remarkable concern
ing the firſt earth, and concerning paradife. Tertullian
alfo writ a book de Paradifo, which is wholly loft ;
and we fee to what effect it would have been, by his
making the torrid zone to be the flamingfword, and the
partition betwixt this earth and paradife ; which two
earths he more than once diſtinguiſheth as very different
from one another, (Cont. Marc. lib. 2. c. ii. c. v.) The
moſt ancient author that I know upon this fubject, at
leaſt of thoſe that writ of it literally, is Mofes Bar Ce
pha a Syrian biſhop, who lived about 700 years fince,
and his book is tranflated into Latin by that learned and
and Paradife. 255
judicious man Andreas Mafius . Bar Cepha writes upon

the fame views of paradife that we have here reprefented,
that it was beyond the ocean, in another tract of land,
or another continent from that which we inhabit : as
appears from the very titles of his 8th , 10, and 14th
chapters. But we muft allow him for his miſtaken no
tions about the form of the earth ; for he ſeems to have
fancied the earth plain, (not only as oppofed to rough
" and mountainous, for fo it was plain ; but as oppofed
to fpherical) and the ocean to have divided it in two
parts, an interior, and an exterior, and in that exterior
part wasparadife. Such allowances must often be made for
"
[A] geographical miſtakes, in examining and underſtanding
the writings of the ancients. The reft of the Syrian fa
thers, as well as Ephrem and Bar Cepha, incline to the
fame doctrine of paradife, and feem to have retained
more of the ancient notions concerning it, than the
Greek and Latin Fathers have ; and yet there are in all
fome fragments of this doctrine, and but fragments in
the beſt .
We might add in the laſt place, that as the moſt an
cient treatiſes concerning paradife are loft, fo alfo the
ancient gloſſes and catenae upon fcripture, where we
D
might have found the traditions and opinions of the an
cients upon this fubject, are many ofthem either loft or
unpublished ; and upon this confideration , we did not
think it improper to cite fome authors of finall antiqui
ty, but fuch as have tranſcribed feveral things out of
ancient manufcript- gloffes into their commentaries ; they
ho
living however before printing was invented, or learning
$ well reſtored, and before the reformation. I add that
14
alfo, before the reformation ; for fince that time the pro
0 teftant authors having leffened the authority of traditi
I ons, the pontifical doctors content themſelves to infift
only upon fuch as they thought were uſeful or neceſſary,
left by multiplying others that were but matter of curio
fity, they ſhould bring the firſt into queſtion, and render
the whole doctrine of traditions more dubious and ex
ceptionable ; and upon this account, there are ſome au
thors that writ an age or two before the reformation,

that have with more freedom told us the tenets and tra
ditions of the ancients in theſe ſpeculations, that are but
collateral to religion , than any have done fince.
And I must confeſs I am apt to think, that what re
mains concerning the doctrine of paradife, and the pri
maeval earth, is in a good meaſure traditional ; for one
may obſerve, that thofe, that treat upon theſe ſubjects,
quote the true opinions, and tell you fome of the anci
ents held fo and fo ; as that paradife was in another
earth, or higher than this earth ; that there were no
mountains before the flood, nor any rain, and ſuch
like ; yet they do not name thoſe ancient authors that
held thefe opinions ; which makes me apt to believe,
either that they were conveyed by traditional communi
cation from one to another, or that there were other
books extant upon thoſe ſubjects, or other gloffes, than
what are now known.
Finally, To conclude this difcourfe concerning the
feat ofparadife, we muſt mind you again upon what ba
fis it ftands. We declared freely, that we could not by
our theory alone determine the particular place of it, on
ly by that we are affured, that it was in the primaeval
earth, and not in the prefent ; but in what region, or in
whether hemifphere of that earth it was feated, we can
not define from ſpeculation only. It is true, if we hold
faft to that ſcripture conclufion , that all mankind rofe
from one head, and from one and the fame ſtock and li
neage, (which doth not feem to be according to the fen
timents of the heathens) we muſt ſuppoſe they were
born in one hemifphere, and after fome 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 tranflation ; 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
fucceed, than upon natural cauſes and differences . Some
ofthe ancients, I know, made both the foil and the ſtars
more noble in the ſouthern hemiſphere, than in ours ;
and Paradife. 257
-but I do not fee any proof or warrant for it ; wherefore,
laying aſide all natural topics, we are willing, in this
particular, to refer ourſelves wholly to the report and
and majority of votes among the ancients ; who yet do
not feem 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 inacceffible. This, together with the old
tradition, that paradife was in another earth, feems to
3
1 me to give an account of moſt of their opinions con
cerning the feat of paradiſe, and that they were gene
3
rally very uncertain where to fix it.
CHA P. VIII.
E
The ufes ofthis theory for the illuftration ofantiquity; the

ancient chaos explained; the inhabitability of the torrid
3
zone; the change of the poles ofthe world; the doctrine
of the mundane egg ; how America was firſt peopled;
how paradife within the circle of the moon.
WE have now diſpatched the theory of the primae

val earth, and revived a forgotten world. It is pity the
first and faireft works of nature ſhould be loft out ofthe
memory of man, and that we ſhould ſo much dote upon
the ruins, as never to think upon the original ſtructure.
As the modern artiſts, from fome broken pieces of an
ancient ſtatue, make out all the other parts and propor
tions ; fo from the broken and ſcattered limbs ofthe firſt
world, we have fhewn you how to raiſe the whole fa
bric again; and renew the proſpect of thoſe pleaſant
fcenes that firſt ſaw the light, and firſt entertained 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 paradife ; but as when
one lights a candle to look for one or two things which
they want, the light will not confine itſelf to thofe two
objects, but fhews all the other in the room ; fo, me

thinks, we have unexpectedly caſt a light upon all anti
quity, in feeking after theſe two things, or in retrieving
the notion and doctrine of the primaeval earth, upon
which they depended. For in ancient learning, there
are many diſcourſes, and many conclufions delivered to
us, that are ſo obſcure and confuſed, and ſo remote from
the prefent ſtate of things, that one cannot well diſtin
guiſh whether they are fictions or realities : and there is
no way to diſtinguiſh with certainty but by a clear theory
upon the fame fubjects ; which fhewing us the truth di
rectly and independently upon them, fhews us alfo by
reflection, how far they are true or falſe, and in what
fenſe they are to be interpreted and underſtood . And
the preſent theory being of great extent, we ſhall find it
ferviceable in many things, for the illuſtration of fuch du
bious and obfcure doctrines in antiquity.
To begin with their ancient CHAOS, what a dark
ſtory have they made of it, both their philofophers and
poets ; and how fabulous in appearance ! It is delivered
as confuſedly as the mafs itſelf could be, and hath not
been reduced to order, nor indeed made intelligible by
any. They tell us of moral principles in the chaos, in
ftead of natural, offtrife and difcord, and divifion on the
one hand, and love, friendſhip, and Venus on the other ;
and after a long conteft, love got the better of difcord,
and united the difagreeing 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 fprungfirſt
night, and tartarus, or oceanus ; night was a teeming
mother, and of her were born aether and the earth ; the
earth conceived by the influences of aether, and brought
forth man and all animals .
This ſeems to be a poetical fiction rather than philo
fophy; yet when it is fet in a true light, and compared
with our theory of the chaos, it will appear a pretty re
gular account, how the world was formed at firſt, or how
the chaos divided itſelf fucceffively into ſeveral regions,
rifing
and Paradife. 259
rifing one after another, and propagated one from ano
ther, as children and poſterity from a common parent.
We ſhewed in the firſt book, chap . v. how the chaos,
from an uniform maſs, wrought itſelf into ſeveral regi
ons or elements ; the groffeft part finking to the center ;
贊 upon this lay the mafs of water, and over the water
17 was a region of dark, impure, caliginous air ; this im
pure caliginous air is that which the ancients call night,
dr. and the mafs of water oceanus or tartarus ; for thoſe two
terms with them are often of the like force, tartarus being
oceanus inclofed and locked up : thus we have the firſt
offspring of the chaos, or its firft-born twins, nox and
oceanus. Now this turbid air purifying itſelf by degrees,
as the more fubtle parts flew upwards, and compofed the
aether ; fo the earthy parts, that were mixed with it,
dropped down upon the furface of the water, or the li
quid mafs ; and that mafs, on the other hand, fending
up its lighter and more oily parts towards its furface,
theſe two incorporate there, and by their mixture and
union compofe a body of earth quite round the maſs of
waters : and this was the firſt habitable earth, which , as
as it was, you fee, the daughter of nox and oceanus, fo
it was the mother of all other things, and all living crea
+ tures, which at the beginning ofthe world fprung out of
its fruitful womb.
This doctrine of the chaos, for the greater pomp of
the buſineſs, the ancients called 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 goddeffes, or their deities prefided over them .
in fuch a manner, that the names were uſed promifcu
oufly for one another. We alfo mentioned before fome
moral principles which they placed in the chaos, eris and
eros ; ftrife, difcord, and difaffection, which prevailed
at first ; and afterward love, kindness, and union, got the
upper hand, and in fpite of thoſe factious and dividing
principles, gathered together the feparated elements, and
united them into an habitable world. This is all eaſily
VOL. I. A a
underſtood, if we do but look upon the fchemes ofthe
rifing world, as we have fet them down in that fifth cha
pter; 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 maffes ;
and in this ftate and poſture things continued a good
while, which the ancients, after their poetic or moral
way, called the reign of eris or contention, of hatred,
flight, and difaffection ; and if things had always conti
nued in that ſyſtem, we ſhould never have had an habi
table world. But love and good-nature conquered at
length ; Venus rofe out of the ſea, and received into her
bofom, and intangled into her embraces, the falling ae
ther, viz. the parts of lighter earth, which were mix
ed with the air in that firſt ſeparation, and gave it the
name of night : thefe, I fay, fell down upon the oily
parts of the fea-mafs, which lay floating upon the fur
face of it, and by that union and conjunction a new bo
dy, and a new world was produced, which was the firſt
habitable earth . This is the interpretation of their my
ftical philofophy of the chaos, and the refolution of it
into plain natural hiftory : which you may fee more ful
ly difcuffed in the Latin treatiſe, Lib . ii , c. 7 .
In confequence of this, we have already explained, in
feveral places, the golden age of the ancients, and laid
down fuch grounds as will enable us to difcern 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 re
fers to another earth, as Plato's Atlantis, which, he
fays, was abforpt by an carthquake, and an inundation,
as the primaeval carth was ; or his aetherial earth, men
tioned in his Phaedo, which he oppofeth to this broken
hollow earth ; makes it to have long- lived inhabitants,
and to be without rains and ſtorms, as that firſt earth
was alo ; or the pendulous gardens of Alcinous, or fuch
like, to which nothing anſwers in prefent nature ; by re
feeling upon the ſtate of the first carth, we find an eafy
explication of them . We have alfo explained what the
and Paradife. 261
antichthon and antichthones of the ancients were, and
what the true ground of that diſtinction was. But no
thing feems more remarkable, than the inhabitability of
the torrid zone, if we confider what a general fame and
beliefit had amongst the ancients ; and yet in the prefent
form of the earth, we find no fuch thing, nor any foun
dation for it . I cannot believe that this was fo univer
fally received upon a flight prefumption only, becauſe it
lay under the courfe of the fun, if the fun had then the
fame latitude from the equator, in his courfe and
motion, that he hath now, and made the fame variety
of ſeaſons ; whereby even the hotteſt parts of the earth
have a winter, or fomething equivalent to it. But if
we apply this to the primaeval earth, whofe pofture was
direct to the fun, ftanding always fixt in its equinoctial,
we fhall eafily believe, that the torrid zone was then un
inhabitable by extremity of heat, there being no diffe
rence of feaſons, nor any change of weather, the fun
hanging always over head at the fame diftance, and in the
fame direction. Befides this, the defcent of the rivers.
1 in that firſt earth was ſuch, that they could never reach
the equinoctial parts, as we have fhewn before ; by which
means, and the want of rain, that region muſt neceffa
rily be turned into a dry defart . Now this being really
the ftate of the firft earth, the fame and general belief
that the torrid zone was uninhabitable had this true ori
ginal, 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 fame tradition and opinion cur
rent, till obfervation and experience taught later ages to
correct it. As the true miracles that were in the Chri
ftian church, at firft, occafioned a fame and belief of
their continuance long after they had really ceaſed.
This gives an eaſy account, and, I think, the true
cauſe of that opinion , amongſt the ancients generally re
ceived, that the torrid zone was uninhabitable. I fay, ge
nerally received ; for not only the poets, both Greek
and Latin, but their philofophers, aftronomers and
A a 2
geographers, had the fame notion, and delivered the

fame doctrine ; as Ariftotle, Cleomedes, Achilles ,
Tatius, Ptolemy, Cicero, Strabo, Mela, Pliny, Macro
bius, etc. And to ſpeak truth, the whole doctrine of
the zones is calculated more properly for the firſt
earth, than for the prefent ; for the divifions and
bounds of them now are but arbitrary, being ha
bitable all over, and having no viſible diftinction ;
whereas they were then determined by nature, and the
globe ofthe earth was really divided into ſo many regi
ons of a very different aſpect and quality ; which would
have appeared at a diſtance, if they had been looked up
on from the clouds, or from the moon, as Jupiter's belts,
or as fo many girdles or fwathing-bands about the body
of the earth and fo the word imports, and fo the an
cients ufe to call them cinguli and fafciae. But in the
prefent form ofthe earth, if it was feen at a diſtance, no
fuch diftinction would appear in the parts of it, nor
fcarce any other but that of land and water, and of
mountains and valleys, which are nothing to the pur
pofe 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 occafion
of its diſtinction by zones ; fo we might confider all
that earth as a paradife, and paradife as a garden ; (for
it is always called fo in fcripture, and in Jewiſh authors. )
And, as this torrid zone, bare of grafs 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 tempe
rate zones ; and beyond thofe lay a canal, which water
ed the garden from either fide. (See Fig. 3. c. v.)
But to return to antiquity ; we may add under this
head another obſervation or doctrine amongſt the anci
ents, ſtrange enough in appearance, which yet receives
an eafy 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 happened. This the ancient
philofophers often make mention of, as Anaxagoras,
and Paradife. 263
Empedocles, Diogenes, Leucippus , Democritus ; ( See
the Lat. Treat. lib. ii. c. 10.) as may be ſeen in Laerti
us, 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 obferved, and told
you in other words, namely, that the earth changed its
poſture at the deluge, and thereby made theſe ſeeming
changes in the heavens ; its poles before pointed to the
poles of the ecliptic, 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 ofwhat
they ſay in other terms ; this makes the different a
fpect of the heavens and of its poles: and I am apt to
think, that thofe changes in the courfe of the ſtars,
which the ancients fometimes fpeak of, and cfpecially
the Egyptians, if they did not proceed from defects in
their kalendar, had no other phyſical account than this.
And as they fay the poles of the world were in ano
ther fituation at firſt, ſo at first they fay, there was no
variety of feafons 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 obferve, that all
thefe things, we have inſtanced in hitherto, are but links
of the fame chain, in connexion and dependence upon
one another. When the primaeval earth was made out
of the chaos, its form and poſture was fuch, as of courſe
brought on all thoſe ſcenes which antiquity hath kept the
rememberance of; though now in another ſtate of na
ture they feem very ftrange ; efpecially being difguifed,
as fome of them are, by their odd manner of repre
fenting them, that the poles of the world food once
in another poſture ; that the year had no diverfity of
feafon's ; that the torrid zone was uninhabitable ; that
2 the two hemifpheres had no poffibility of intercourfe, and
fuch like theſe all hang upon the fame ftring ; or lean
r one upon another as ftones inthe fame building ; whereof
1 we have, by this theory, laid the very foundation bare,
that you may ſee what they all ſtand upon, and in what
order.
A a 3
There is ftill one remarkable notion or doctrine a
mongſt the ancients which we have not ſpoken to ; it is
partly fymbolical, and the propriety of the fymbol,
or of the application of it, hath been little underſtood ;
it is their doctrine of the mundane egg, or their compar
ing the world to an egg, and eſpecially in the originał
compofition of it. This feems to be a mean compari
fon, the world and an egg ; what proportion , or what
refemblance betwixt thefe two things ? And yet I do
not know any fymbolical doctrine, or conclufion, that
hath been fo univerfally entertained by the myftae, or
wife and learned of all nations ; as hath been noted be
fore in the fifth chapter of the first book, and at large
in the Latin Treatife ( Lib . ii . c. 10. ) It is certain , that
by the world in this fimilitude, they do not mean the
great univerfe, for that hath neither figure, nor any de
terminate form of compofition, and it would be a great
vanity and rafhnefs in any one to compare this to an
egg : the works of God are immenfe, as his nature is
infinite, and we cannot make any image or reſemblance
of either ofthem ; but this compariſon is to be under
flood of the fublunary 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 an
cients havefaid concerning the form andfigure ofthe world,
or concerning the original of it from a chaos, or about its
periods and diffolution, are never to be understood of the
great univerfe, but of cur earth, or of this fublunary and
terreftrial world. And this obfervation being made, do
but reflect upon our theory of the earth, the manner of
its compofition at firſt, and the figure of it, being com
pleted, and you will need no other interpreter to under
ftand this mystery. We have fhewed there, (Bock. i.
6.5 . ) that the figure of it, when finiſhed , was oval, and
the inward form of it was a frame of four regions , en
compading one another, where that of fire lay in the
middle like the yolk, and a fhell of earth inclofed them
all . This gives a folution fo eafy and natural, and
fhews fuch an aptnefs and elegancy in the reprefentati
and Paradife. 265
on, that one cannot doubt upon a view and compare of

circumſtances, but that we have truly found out the rid
dle of the mundane egg.
Amongst other difficulties arifingfrom the form ofthis
prefent earth, that is one, how America could be peopled,
or any other continent, or iſland remote from all conti
nents, the fea interpofing. This difficulty does not hold
in our theory of the firſt earth, where there was no fea.
And after the flood, when the earth was broken and the
fea laid open, the fame race of men might continue
there, if fettled there before. For I do not fee any ne
ceffity of deducing all mankind from Noah, after the
flood. If America was peopled before, it might conti
nue fo ; not but that the flood was univerfal. But when
the great frame of the earth broke at the deluge, provi
* dence forefaw into how many continents it would be di
vided after the ceafing of the flood ; and accordingly,
1 as we may reaſonably fuppofe, made provifion to fave a
S remnant in every continent, that the race of mankind
+ might not be quite extinct in any of them. What pro
viſion he made in our continent we know from facred
hiſtory ; but as that takes notice of no other continent
but ours, fo neither could it take notice of any method
that was uſed there for faving of a remnant of men ;
but it were great prefumption, 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 . Afia, Afric
and Europe, were repeopled by the fons of Noah, Shem,
Ham, and Japhet : but we read nothing of their going
over into America, or fending any colonies thither ; and
that world, which is near as big as ours, muſt have ſtood
h long without people, or any thing of human race in it,
after the flood, if it ſtood fo till this was full, or till men
navigated the ocean, and by chance difcovered it : it
ſeems more reaſonable to ſuppoſe, that there was a ſtock
1 providentially referved there, as well as here, out of
which they fprung again ; but we do not pretend in an
argument of this nature to define or determine any thing
pofitively. To conclude, as this is but a fecondary dif
ficulty, 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 fuppofe any reaſonable way
whereby the fons of Noah might be tranfplanted into A
merica, with all myheart ; but all the ways, that I have met
with hitherto, have feemed to me mere fictions, or mere
prefumptions . Befides, finding birds and beafts there,
which are no where upon our continent, nor would live
in our countries if brought hither ; it is a fair conjecture
that they were not carried from us, but originally bred
and preferved there.
Thus much for the illuſtration of antiquity in fome
points of human literature, by our theory of the primae
val earth ; there is alfo in Chriſtian antiquity a tradition
or doctrine, that appears as obfcure and as much a pa
radox as any of theſe, and better deſerves an illuſtration,
becauſe it relates more cloſely and exprefly to our pre
fent fubject: itis that notion or opinion amongſt the an
cients concerning paradife, that it was feated 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
paradife taken apart from the reſt of the earth, but ofthe
whole primaeval earth, wherein the feat ofparadife was;
that was really feated much higher than the prefent earth,
and may be reaſonably fuppofed to have been as much
elevated as the tops of our mountains are now. And
that phrafe, of reaching to the sphere of the moon, figni
fies no more than thoſe other expreffions of reaching
to heaven, or reaching above the clouds ; which are phraſes
commonly uſed to exprefs the height of buildings, or
of mountains, and fuch like things : fo the builders of
Babel faid, they would make a tower ſhould reach to
heaven ; Olympus and Parnaffus are faid by the poets to
reach to heaven, or to rife above the clouds ; and Pliny
⚫ and Solinus ufe this very expreffion of the lunar circle,
when they deſcribe the height of mount Atlas, eductus
in viciniam lunaris circuli, (Solin. c. xvii. ) The ancients,
and Paradife. 267
I believe, aimed particularly by this phrafe, to exprefs
an height above the middle region, or above our atmo
fphere, that paradife might be ferene ; and where our at
T moſphere ended, they reckon the ſphere of the moon be
gun, and therefore ſaid it reached to the ſphere of the
2 moon. Many of the Chriſtian fathers expreſſed their o
1 pinion concerning the high fituation ofparadife in plain
2 and formal terms, as St. Bafil, Damafcen, Mofes Bar Ce
pha, etc. but this phrafe of reaching to the lunar circle
is repeated by feveral of them, and faid to be of great
antiquity. Aquinas, Albertus, and others, afcribe it to
Bede, but many to St. Auftin ; and therefore Ambrofius
Catharinus, Com . in Gen. c. ii. ) is angry with their great
ſchoolman, that he ſhould derive it from Bede, feeing
St. Auſtin, writing to Orofius, delivered this doctrine,
which furely, fays he, St. Auſtin neither feigned nor
dreamed only, but had received itfrom antiquity : and from
fo great antiquity, that it was no less than apoftolical,
if we credit Albertus Magnus, and the ancient books he
# appeals to ; ( Sum. Theol. par. 2. tract. 13. q. 79. ) for
he fays this tradition was derived as high as from St.
Thomas the apoſtle. His words are theſe , after he had
5 delivered his own opinion, Hoc tamen dico, etc. But
this I fay without prejudice to the better opinion, for I
have foundit in fome most ancient books, that Thomas the
apostle was the author of that opinion, which is ufually at
tributed to Bede and Strabus, namely, that paradife wasfo
high as to reach to the lunar circle. But thus much con
cerning this opinion, and concerning antiquity.
To conclude all, we fee this theory, which was
drawn only by a thread of reaſon, and the laws of na
ture, abſtractly from all antiquity, notwithſtanding caſts
a light upon many paffages there, which were other
wife accounted fictions, or unintelligible truths ; and
though we do not allege theſe as proofs of the theory,
for it carries its own light and proof with it ; yet, whe
ther we will or no, they do mutually confirm, as well as,
illuſtrate one another ; and it is a pleaſure alſo, when
one hath wrought out truth by mere dint of thinking,
and examination of caufes, and propoſed it plainly and
openly, to meet with it again amongst the ancients ,
difguifed, and in an old-fashioned drefs ; fcarce to be
known or diſcovered, but by thoſe that beforehand knew
it very well. And it would be a further pleaſure and
fatisfaction to have rendered thoſe doctrines and notions
for the future, intelligible and ufeful to others, as well
as delightful to ourſelves.
CHA P. IX .
A general objection against this theory, viz . that ifthere

had been fuch a primitive earth, as we pretend, the
fame of it would have founded throughout all antiquity.
The eastern and western learning confidered. The moft
confiderable records ofboth are loft. What footsteps re
main relating to thisfubject. The Jewish and Chrifti
an learning confidered; how far loft as to this argument,
and what notes or traditions remain. Lastly, how far
the facred writings bear witneſs to it. The providenti
al conduct of knowlege 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 concerning the
primitive world, the univerfal deluge, and the ſtate of
paradife, we have leiſure now to reflect a little, and con
fider what may probably be objected againſt a theory of
this nature. I do not mean fingle objections againſt
fingle parts, for thoſe may be many, and fuch as I can
not foreſee ; but what may be faid againſt the body and
fubſtance of the theory, and the credibility of it appear
ing new and furprizing, and yet of great extent and
importance. This, I fancy, will induce many to fay,
furely this cannot be a reality ; for if there had been
fuch a primitive earth, and ſuch a primitive world as is
here reprefented, and fo remarkably different from the
prefent, it could not have been fo utterly forgotten, or
lain hid for ſo many ages ; all antiquity would have
and Paradife. 269
rung ofit ; the memory of it would have been kept freſh
bybooks or traditions. Can we imagine that it ſhould lie
buried for fome thouſands of years in deep filence and
oblivion ? And now only when the fecond world is
drawing to an end, we begin to diſcover that there was
a firft, and that of another make and order from this.
To fatisfy this objection, or furmife 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 loft out of the memory of man,
or out of hiſtory, for we have fome hiſtory and chrono
logy of it preferved by Mofes, and likewife in the monu
ments of the ancients, more or leſs ; for they all fuppof
ed a world before the deluge. But it is the philofophy
of this primitive world that hath been loft in a great
meaſure ; what the ſtate of nature was then , and where
in it differed from the prefent or poſtdiluvian order of
things. This, I confefs, had been little taken notice
of; it hath been generally thought or prefumed, that
the world before the flood was of the fame form and
conftitution with the prefent world : this we do not de
1
ny, but rather think it defigned and providential, that
there ſhould not remain a clear and full knowlege of
that firſt ſtate of things ; and we may eaſily fuppofe how
it might decay and perifh, if we confider how little of
Ľ
the remote antiquities of the world have ever been
brought down to our knowlege.
TheGreeks and Romans divided the ages of the world
into three periods or intervals, whereof they called the
firft the obfcure period, the ſecond the fabulous, and the
third hiftorical. The dark and obfcure period was from
the beginning of the world to the deluge ; what paffed
then, either in nature, or amongſt men, they have no
records, no account, by their own confeffion ; all that
ſpace of time was covered with darkneſs and oblivion ;
fo 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 faved out of the
common fhipwreck, than to expect from them the phi
lofophy ofthat world, and all its differences from the
prefent. And as for the other nations that pretend to
greater antiquities, to more ancient history and chrono
logy, 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 befides that our expectations cannot be great from
the learning ofthe Gentiles, we have not the means or
opportunity to inform ourſelves well what notions they
did leave us concerning the primitive world ; for their
books and monuments are generally loft, or lie hid un
known to us. The learning of the world may be divided
into the eaſtern learning and the weſtern ; and I lookupon
the eaſtern as far more confiderable for philofophical an
tiquities, and philofophical conclufions ; I fay conclufi
ons, for I do not believe either of them had any confi
derable theory, or contexture of principles and conclufi
ons together: but it is certain that in the Eaſt, from
what fource foever it came, human or divine, they had
fome extraordinary doctrines and notions difperfed a
mongst them . Now as by the weſtern learning we un
derſtand that of the Greeks and Romans ; fo by the ea
ftern that which was amongſt the Egyptians, Phoenici
ans, Chaldaeans, Affyrians, Indians , Ethiopians, and
Perſians ; and of the learning of theſe nations, how little
have we now left ! except fome fragments and citations
in Greek authors, what do we know of them? The mo
dern Brachmans, and the Perfees, or Pagan Perfians,
have fome 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 reverfions only ; but all that have perifhed befides,
eſpecially in that famous library at Alexandria ; if theſe,
I fay, were all reſtored to the world again, we might
promiſe ourſelves the fatisfaction of feeing more of the
antiquities, and natural hiſtory of the firft world, than
we have now left, or can reaſonably expect. That li
brary we speak of, at Alexandria, was a collection, be
befides Greek books, of Egyptian, Chaldaean, and all
the
and Paradife. 271
the eaſtern learning ; and Cedrenus makes it to conſiſt

of an hundred thouſand volumes : but Jofephus faith,
when the tranſlation of the Bible by the Septuagint was
to be added to it, Demetrius Phalereus, (who was keep
Tags er or governor of it) told the king then , that he had al
ready two hundred thouſand volumes, and that he hop
ed to make them five hundred thoufand ; and he was
C better than his word, or his fucceffors for him ; for Am
$0 mianus Marcellinus, and other authors, report them to
have increaſed to ſeven hundred thouſand . This libra
ry was unfortunately burnt in the facking of Alexandria
by Caefar ; and confidering that all theſe were ancient
books, and generally of the eaftern wifdom, it was an
J.
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 fciences in China, burnt by the
command or caprice of one of their kings . Wherein the
Chineſes, according to their vanity, were uſed to ſay, great
er riches were loft, than will be in the laſt conflagration.
We are told alſo of the Abyffine, or Ethiopic libra
ry, as fomething very extraordinary. It was formerly
in great reputation, but is now, I fuppofe, embezzled
and loft. But I was extremely furprized by a treatiſe
brought to me fome few months fince, wherein are men
tioned fome Ethiopic antiquities relating to the primae
val earth and the deluge : to both which they give fuch
characters and properties as are in effect the very fame
with thofe affigned them in this theory. They ſay the
firſt earth was much greater than the preſent, higher and
more advanced into the air; that it was ſmooth and re
gular in its furface, without mountains or valleys , but
hollow within ; and was fpontaneoufly fruitful, without
ploughing or fowing . This was its first flate : but when
mankind became degenerate and outrageous with pride
and violence, the angry gods, as they fay, by earth
quakes and concuffions, broke the habitable orb of the
earth, and thereupon the fubterraneous waters , gufhing
AB
out, drowned it in a deluge, and deſtroyed mankind.
Upon this fraction it came into another form, with a
VOL. I. Bb
fea, lakes and rivers, as we now have. And thoſe parts

of the broken earth that ftood above the waters became
mountains, rocks, iflands, and fo much of the land as
we now inhabit. This account is given us by Barnar
dinus Ramazzinus, (in his treatiſe De Fontium Muti
nenfium Scaturigine,* ) taken from a book writ by
Francifco Patricio, to whom this wonderful tradition
was delivered by perfons of credit, from an Ethiopian
philofopher then in Spain. I have not yet had the good
fortune to fee that book of Franciſco Patricio ; it is writ
in Italian with this title, Della Rhetorica degli Antichi :
printed at Venice, 1562. This ſtory indeed deferves
to be enquired after, for we do not, any where amongſt
the ancients, meet with ſuch a full and explicit narration
of the ſtate ofthe firſt and ſecond earth. That which
comes neareſt to it, are thofe accounts we find in Plato,
from the Ægyptian antiquities, in his Timaeus , Politi
Page 41. Francifcus Patricius, vir eruditione fat clarus, in

quodam libellofuo de antiquorum rhetorica, Italico idiomate confcri
S pto, ac Venetiis impreſſo per Francifcum Senenfem, dialogo primo
fatis lepidam narrationem habet, quam refert Julium Strozzam a
comite Balthafare Caftilioneo audiviffe, Illum vero a philofopho quo
dam Abyffino in Hifpania accepiffe. Narrabat ergo fapiens ille A
byffinus in antiquiffimis Ethiopiae annalibus defcriptam eſſe hiftori
am perditionis humani generis et difruptionis totius terrae. In mundi
fcilicetprimordiis fuifle terram multo ampliorem quam nunc eft, ac coe
loproximiorem, perfecte rotundam, fine montibus , ac vallibus, totam
tamen intus cavernoſam ad inſtarſpongiae, hominefque in illa habitantes,
ac aethere puriffimo gaudentes, jucundum aevum duxiſſe, terra inarata
optimasfruges, et fructus ferente. Cum autem poft diuturnum fae
culorum fluxum homines, fuperbia elati, a priſca illa bonitate deſci 1
viffent, deos iratos terram adeo valide concuſſiſſe, ut major illius pars
intra proprias cavernas deciderit , atque hoc pacto aquam in latebroſis
receffibus ante concluſam, expreſſam violenter fuiſſe, atque ita fontes,
flumina, lacus et mare ipfum ortum duxiffe . Eam vero terraeportio
nem quae intra has cavernas non decidiffet, fed reliqua elatior fte
tiffet, montium formam exhibuiffe. Infulas porro etfcopulos in me
dio mari nil aliud effe nifi fegmenta terrae cavernofae ab illo totius
terrenae molis praecipiti cafu fuperftitis.
and Paradife. 273
do er er
eus, and Phoe , of anoth earth, and anoth fſtate of
nature and mankind . But none of them are fo full and
diſtinct as this Æthiopian doctrine .
D As for the weſtern learning , we may remember what
E the Egyptian prieft fays to Solon, in Plato's Timaeus ,
You Greeks are always children, and know nothing of an
tiquity ; and if the Greeks were fo, much more the Ro
mans , who came after them in time ; and for fo great a
people, and fo much civilized , never any had leſs phi
E lofophy, and lefs of the fciences amongst them than the
Romans had. They ftudied only the art offpeaking, of
governing , and of fighting ; and left the reft to the
Greeks and eaftern nations, as unprofitable. Yet we
have reafon to believe, that the beſt philofophical anti
quities, that the Romans had, perifhed with the books of
G4 Varro, of Numa Pompilius , and of the ancient Sibyls .
T Varro writ, as St. Auſtin tells us, ( De Civ. Dei, lib. 6.
Dion. Halic. Ant. Rom. lib. 4.) a multitude of volumes ,
1 andof various forts ; and I had rather retrieve his works,
A than the works of any other Roman author ; not his e
tymologies and criticifins , where we fee nothing admir
able, but his theologia phyfica, and his antiquitates ;
which in all probability would have given us more light
', into remote times, and the natural hiftory of the paſt
world , than all the Latin authors beſides have done. He
has left the forementioned diſtinction of three periods of
time ; he had the doctrine of the mundane egg, as we fee
in Probus Grammaticus ; and he gave us that obfervati
on of the ftar Venus, concerning the great change fhe
fuffered about the time of our deluge.
Numa Pompilius was doubtlefs a contemplative man,
and it is thought that he underſtood the true ſyſtem of
the world, and reprefented the fun by his Veftalfire;
though, methinks , Vefta does not fo properly refer to
the fun, as to the eatth , which hath a facred fire too,
that is not to be extinguiſhed. He ordered his books
* to be buried with him, which were found in a ſtone
cheft by him, four hundred years after his death . They
were in all twenty-four, whereof twelve contained facred
Bb 2
:
rites and ceremonies, and the other twelve the philofo
phy and wisdom of the Greeks. The Romans gave them
to the Praetor Petilius to peruſe ; and to make his report
to the fenate, whether they were fit to be publiſhed or
no. The Praetor made a wife politic report, that the con
tents ofthem might be of dangerous confequence to the
eſtabliſhed laws and religion ; and thereupon they were
condemned to be burnt, and poſterity was deprived of
that ancient treaſure, whatfoever it was. What the
nine books of the Sibyls contained, that were offered to
king Tarquin, we little know ; the valued them high,
and the higher ftill, the more they feemed to flight or
neglect them ; which is a piece of very natural indigna
tion or contempt, when one is ſatisfied of the worth of
what they offer. It is likely they reſpected, beſides the
fate of Rome, the fate and feveral periods of the world,
both past and to come, and the moſt myſtical paſſages
of them. And in theſe authors and monuments are loft
the greateſt hopes of natural and philoſophic antiquities,
that we could have had from the Romans.
And as to the Greeks , their beſt and facred learning
was not originally their own ; they enriched themſelves
with the fpoils of the Eaft, 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
fhould not need to go any further for witneffes to con
firm all the principal parts of this theory. With what
regret does one read in Laertius, Suidas, and others,
the promifing titles of books writ by the Greek philofo
phers, hundreds or thoufands, whereof there is not one
now extant ; and thoſe that are extant are generally but
fragments ! Thofe authors alfo that have writ their
lives, or collected their opinions, have done it more con
fufedly and injudicioufly. I fhould hope for as much
light and inſtruction , as to the original of the world,
from Orpheus alone, if his works had been preſerved,
as from all that is extant now of the other Greek philo
ſophers . We may ſee from what remains of him, that
he underſtood in a good meaſure how the earth roſe from
and Paradife. 275
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 afcribed to Orpheus and his difciples ; and
the doctrine of the mundane egg is ſo peculiarly his, that
it is called by Proclus, the Orphic 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, eaftern
and weſtern, and the fmall remains of it in things philo
fophical ; it is no wonder then if the account we have
left us from them of the primitive earth, and the anti
quities of the natural world, be very imperfect. And yet
} we have traced, (in the precedent chapter, and more
1 largely in our Latin treatiſe) the footsteps of feveral
! parts of this theory amongſt the writings and traditions
of the ancients , and even of thoſe parts that ſeem the
moſt ſtrange and fingular, and that are the bafis upon
which the reſt ſtand. We have ſhewn there, that their
account of the chaos, though it ſeemed to many but a
poetical rhapsody, contained the true myſtery of the for
mation of the primitive earth (Tell. Theor . lib. ii . c. 7.)
We have alfo fhewn upon the fame occaſion, that both
the external figure and internal form of that earth were
comprized and fignified in their ancient doctrine of the
mundane egg, which hath been propagated through alt
the learned nations, ( ibid. cap. 10.) And lastly, as to
the fituation of that earth, and the change of its poſture
fince, that the memory of that has been kept up, we have
brought feveral teftimonies and indications from the
Greek philofophers (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 prefent order of nature. You fee then, though
providence hath ſuffered the ancient Heathen learning
and their monuments, in a great part, to perish, yet we
are not left wholly without witneffes amongst them, in a
fpeculation of this great importance.
You will fay, it may be, though this account, as to
the books and learning ofthe Heathen, may be looked
Bb 3
upon as reaſonable, yet we might expect however, from
the Jewish and Chriſtian authors, a more full and fatif
factory account of that primitive earth, and of the old
world. Firſt, as to the Jews, it is well known that
they had no ancient learning, unleſs by way of traditi
on, amongst them. There is not a book extant in their
language excepting the canon of the Old Teftament, that
hath not been writ fince our Saviour's time. They are
very bad maſters of antiquity, and they may in ſome
meaſure be excufed, becauſe of their feveral captivities,
difperfions, and defolations. In the Babyloniſh capti
vity their temple was ranfacked, and they did not pre
ferve, as is thought, fo much as the autograph, or ori
ginal 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 fe
wenty years, they ſeem to have forgot their native lan
guage fo much, that the law was to be interpreted to
them in Chaldee, after it was read in Hebrew ; for fo I
underſtand that interpretation in Nehemiah. (chap . viii.
7,8.) It was a great providence, methinks, that they
hould any way preſerve their law, and other books of
fcripture, in the captivity, for fo long a time; for it is
likely they had not the liberty of using them in any pub
lic worship, feeing they returned fo ignorant of their own
language, and, as it is thought, of their alphabet and
character too. And if their facred books were hardly
preferved, we may eafily believe all others periſhed in
that public defolation.
Yet there was another deftruction of that nation, and
their temple, greater than this, by the Romans ; and
if there were any remains of learning preſerved in the
former ruin, or any recruits made fince that time, this
fecond defolation would fweep them all away. And ac
cordingly we fee they have nothing left in their tongue,
befides the Bible, fo ancient as the deſtruction of Jeru
falem. Theſe and other public calamities of the Jewiſh
nation may reaſonably be thought to have waſted their
records of ancient learning, ifthey had any; for to ſpeak
and Paradife. 277
truth, the Jews are a people of little curiofity, as
to fciences and philofophical enquiries : they were
very tenacious of their own cuſtoms, and careful of
thofe traditions that did refpect them ; but were not
remarkable, that I know of, or thought great proficients,
in any other fort of learning. There has been a great
fame, it is true, of the Jewiſh Cabala, and of great my
31 fteries contained in it ; and, I believe, there was once
a traditional doctrine among ſome of them, that had ex
traordinary notions and conclufions : but where is this
now to be found ? The Effenes were the likelieſt ſect,
I one would think, to retain fuch doctrines ; but it is
probable they are now fo mixt with things fabulous and
fantaſtical, that what one ſhould allege from thence
would be of little or no authority. One head in this
Cabala was the doctrine of the Sephiroth, (Vide Men.
Ben Ifr. de Great. prob. 28.). and though the explicati
on of them be uncertain, the inferior Sephiroth in the
corporeal world cannot fo well be applied to any thing,
as to thoſe ſeveral orbs and regions, infolding one ano
ther, whereof the primogenial earth was compofed.
Yet fuch conjectures and applications, I know, are of
no validity, but in confort with better arguments. I
have often thought alſo, that their firſt and ſecond tem
C ple repreſented the first and fecond earth or world ; and
that of Ezekiel's, which is the third, is ftill to be erect
ed, the moſt beautiful of all, when this fecond temple of
the world fhall be burned down. If the prophecies of
Enoch had been preſerved, and taken into the canon by
Ezra, after their return from Babylon, when the colle
ction of their facred books is fuppoſed to have been
made, we might probably have had a confiderable ac
count there, both of times paſt and to come, of anti
quities and futuritions ; for thoſe prophecies are gene
rally ſuppoſed to have contained both the first and fecond
fate of this earth, and all the periods of it. But as this
book is loft to us, fo I look upon all others that pretend to
be Ante-mofaical or patriarchal, as fpurious and fabulous.
Thus much concerning the Jews. As for Chriftian
authors, their knowlege must be from fome oftheſe fore
mentioned Jews or Heathens ; or elſe by apoſtolical tra
dition : for the Chriftian fathers were not very fpecula
tive, ſo as to raiſe a theory from their own thoughts and
contemplations, concerning the origin of the earth.
We have inftanced, in the laſt chapter, in a Chriſtian
tradition concerning paradife, and the high fituation of
it, which is fully confonant to the fite of the primitive
earth, where paradiſe ſtood , and doth feem plainly to
refer to it, being unintelligible upon any other fuppofi
tion. And it was, I believe, this elevation ofparadiſe,
and the penfile ſtructure of that paradifiacal earth, that
gave occafion to Celfus , as we fee by Origen's anſwer,
to fay, that the Chriftian paradife was taken from the
penfile gardens of Alcinous : but we may fee now what
was the ground of ſuch expreſſions or traditions amongſt
the ancients , which providence left to keep mens minds
awake ; not fully to inftruct 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
perifhed, and are loft out of the world, fuch as Ephrem
Syrus de ortu rerum, and Tertullian de Paradifo ; and
that piece, which is extant of Mofes Bar Cepha's upon
this fubject, receives more light from our hypothefis,
than from any other I know ; for, correcting ſome mi
ftakes about the figure of the earth, which the ancients
were often guilty of, the obfcurity or confufion of that
difcourfe in other things may be cafily rectified, if com
pared with this theory.
Of this nature alfo is that tradition that is common both
to Jewsand Chriſtians, and which wehave often mentioned
before, that there was a perpetual ferenity and perpetual e
quinox inparadife ; which cannot be upon this earth, notfo
much as under the equinoctial ; for they have a fort of win
ter and fummer there, a courſe of rains at certain times
of the year, and great inequalities of the air, as to heat
andcold, moiſture and drought. They had alſo traditions.
and Paradife. 279
amongst them, that there was no rainfrom the beginning

of the world till the deluge, and that there were no moun
tains tillthe flood, (Lat . Treat. lib . ii . c. 10. ) and ſuch
like. Thefe, you ſee, point directly at ſuch an earth as
we have deſcribed . And I call theſe traditions, becauſe
we cannot find the original authors of them ; the anci
ent ordinary glofs (upon Genefis) which ſome make eight
W
hundred years old, mentions both thefe opinions ; fo
do Hiftoria Scholaftica, Alcuinus, Rabanus Maurus,
Lyranus, and fuch collectors of antiquity. Bede alfo
relates that of the plainneſs or ſmoothness of the antedi
luvian earth . Yet theſe are reported traditionally, as it
were, naming no authors or books from whence they
3
were taken : nor can it be imagined that they feigned
5
them themſelves : to what end or purpoſe ? It ſerved no
intereft ; or upon what ground ? feeing they had no
J theory that could lead them to fuch notions as theſe, or
1
that could be ftrengthened and confirmed by them.
1
Thofe opinions alfo of the fathers, which we recited in
the feventh chapter, placing paradife beyond the torrid
zone, and making it therefore inacceffible, fuit very
well to the form, qualities, and bipartition ofthe primae
1 val earth, and feem to be grounded upon them.
Thus much may ſerve for a fhort furvey of the anci
ent learning, to give us a reaſonable account, why the
} memory and knowlege of the primitive earth ſhould be
fo much loft out of the world ; and what we retain of it
ftill ; which would be far more, I do not doubt , if all
manufcripts were brought to light, that are yet extant in
public or private libraries . The truth is, one cannot
judge with certainty, neither what things have been re
corded and preferved in the monuments of learning, nor
what are ftill. Not what have been, becauſe ſo many of
thofe monuments are loft : the Alexandrian library, which
we spoke of before, feems to have been the greateſt col
lection that ever was made before Chriſtianity, and the
Conftantinopolitan (begun by Conftantine, and deftroy.
ed in the fifteenth century, when it was raiſed to the
number, as is ſaid, of one hundred twenty thousand vo⚫
lumes) the moſt valuable that was ever fince ; and both
theſe have been permitted by providence to perish in the
merciless flames ; befides 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 Afia and Afric.
It is hard therefore to pronounce what knowlege hath
been in the world, or what accounts of antiquity. Nei
ther can we well judge what remain, or of what things
the memory may be ftill latently conferved : for befides
thofe manufcripts that are yet unexamined in theſe parts
of Chriftendom, there are many, doubtlefs, of good
value in other parts ; befides thofe that lie hid in the
unchriftianized dominions. The library of Fez is faid
to contain thirty two thouſand volumes in Arabic ; and
though the Arabic learning was moſt-what weſtern, and
therefore of lefs account, yet they did deal in eaftern
learning too ; for Avicenna writ a book with that title,
Philofophia Orientalis. There may be alfo, in the east,
thousands of manuſcripts unknown to us, of greater va
lue than moſt books we have : and as to thofe fubjects
we are treating of, I fhould promife myfelf more light
and confirmation from the Syriac authors than from any
others . Theſe things being confidered, 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, bọth for what
books are wholly loft, and for what lie afleep or dead, in
libraries, we have reafon to be fatisfied, in a theory of
this nature, to find ſo good atteſtations as we have pro
duced for the feveral parts of it ; which we purpoſe to
enlarge upon confiderably at another time and occafion.
But to carry this objection as far as may be, let us
fuppofe it to be urged ftill in the laft place, that though
thefe human writings have perifhed 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,
fhould have been preferved . To this I anfwer, in ſhort,
that we could not expect in the fcriptures any natural
and Paradife. 281
theory of that earth, nor any account of it, but what

was general ; and this we have, both by the tehom rabba
of Mofes, and the deſcription of the fame abyſs in other
places of fcripture, as we have fhewn at large in the firſt
book, chap. vii . and alfo by the deſcription which St.
Peter hath given of the antediluvian heavens and earth,
and their different conftitution from the prefent ; which
is alfo proved by the rainbow, not ſeen in the firſt
world. You will fay, it may be, that that place of St.
Peter, 2 Pet. iii. 5 , 6, etc. is capable of another inter
pretation ; ſo are moſt places of fcripture, 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 fuitable to the words, fuitable to
the argument, and fuitable to the context, wherein is
nothing fuperfluous or impertinent, that we prefer and
Hol accept ofas the moſt reaſonable interpretation . Beſides,
1 in fuch texts as relate to the natural world, if of two in
terpretations propofed, one agrees better with the theo
ry of nature than the others, caeteris paribus, that
ought to be preferred . And by theſe two rules we are
willing to be tried, in the expoſition of that remarkable
difcourfe of St. Peter's, and to ftand to that ſenſe which
is found moſt agreeable to them.
Give me leave to conclude the whole difcourfe with
this general confideration : it is reaſonable to ſuppoſe,
that there is a providence in the conduct of knowlege, as
well as of other affairs on the earth ; and that it was
not defigned that all the myſteries of nature and provi
dence ſhould be plainly and clearly underſtood through
out all the ages of the world ; but that there is an order
eftabliſhed for this, as for other things, and certain pe
riods and ſeaſons ; and what was made known to the
ancients only by broken conclufions and traditions will
be known (in the later ages of the world) in a more per
fect way, by principles and theories. The increaſe of
knowlege being that which changeth fo much the face of
the world, and the ſtate of human affairs, I do not doubt
but there is a particular care and fuperintendency for the
conduct of it ; by what ſteps and degrees it fhould come
to light, at what feafons and in what ages ; what evi
dence ſhould be left, either in fcripture, reafon, or tra
dition, for the grounds of it ; how clear or obfcure,
how difperfed or united : all theſe things were weighed
and confidered, and fuch meaſures taken as beſt fuit the
defigns of providence, and the general project and me
thod propofed 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 fcri
pture in fuch a meaſure and proportion , as is fit for this
forementioned 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 unprejudiced, and to thoſe who are inquifitive, and
have their minds open and prepared for the diſcernment
of myſteries of fuch a nature.
Thus much in anſwer to that general objection which
might be made againſt this theory, that it is not found
ed in antiquity. I do not doubt but there may be many
particular objections againſt parts and fections of it, and
the expofing it thus in our own tongue may excite fome
or other, it may be, to make them ; but if any be fo
minded, I defire ( 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 fubftance of the theory, and wound that as much
as they can but to make excurfions upon things acci
dental or collateral , that do not deftroy the hypothefis,
is but to trouble the world with impertinencies. Now
the fubftance 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 aſcribed to it,
namely, a perpetual equinox or ſpring, by reaſon of its
right fituation to the fun ; was of an oval figure, and the
exterior face of it ſmooth and uniform , without moun
tains or a fea. That in this earth ſtood paradife ; the
doctrine whereof cannot be underſtood but upon fuppo
fition
and Paradife. 283
fition ofthis primitive earth, and its properties. Then
that the difruption and fall of this earth into the abyſs,
which lay under it, was that which made the univerfal
deluge, and the deſtruction of the old world ; and that
neither Noah's flood, nor the prefent form of the earth,
can be explained in any other method that is rational,
nor by any other cauſes that are intelligible, at leaſt,
that have been hitherto propofed to the world. Theſe
are the vitals of the theory, and the primary affertions ,
whereof I do freely profefs my full belief; and whofo
ever by folid reaſons will fhew me in an error, and un
1 deceive me, I fhall be very much obliged to him. There
are other leffer conclufions which flow from thefe, and
may be called fecondary, as that the longaevity of the
antediluvians depended upon their perpetual equinox,
and the perpetual equality and ferenity of the air: that
the torrid zone in the primitive earth was uninhabitable,
and that all their rivers flowed from the extreme 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 paradife, according
to the opinion of antiquity, (for I determine no place
by the theory) was in the fouthern hemifphere. Thefe,
I think, are all truly deduced and proved in their feve
ral ways, though they be not fuch effential parts of the
theory, as the former. There are alfo, befides, many
particular explications that are to be confidered with
more liberty and latitude, and may be perhaps upon
better thoughts, or better obfervations, corrected, with
out any prejudice to the general theory. Thofe places
of fcripture, which we have cited, I think, are all tru
ly applied ; and I have not mentioned Mofes's Cofmo
poeia, becauſe I thought it delivered by him as a law
giver, not as a philofopher ; which I intend to fhew at
large in another treatiſe, not thinking that difcuffion
proper for the vulgar tongue . Upon the whole, we are
to remember, that fome allowances are to be made fɔr
every hypothefis that is new propofed and untried ; and
that we ought not, out of levity of wit, or any pri
VOL. I. Сс
vate defign, diſcountenance free and fair effays ; nor
from any other motive, but the only love and concern
of truth .
CHA P. X.
Concerning the Author of nature.
SEEING the theory which we have propofed in

this work is of that extent and comprehenfion, 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
cor.clude, to make fome reflections and remarks what
nature is, and upon what fuperior caufes fhe depends in
all her motions and operations : and this will lead us to
the difcovery of the Author of nature, and to the true
notion and ſtate of natural providence, which feems to
have been hitherto very much neglected, or little un
derftood in the world. And it is the more reaſonable
and fitting that we fhould explain theſe notions before
we fhut up this treatiſe, left thofe natural explications
which we have given of the deluge, and other things,
ſhould be miſtaken or mifapplied ; feeing fome are apt to
run away with pieces of a difcourfe, which they think
applicable to their purpoſe, or which they can malici
oufly reprefent, 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 eſtabliſhed for their action
and conduct according to the ordinary courſe of things.
And this extends both to intellectual beings and corpo
real ; but feeing it is only the material world that hath
been the fubject of our difcourfe, nature, as to that,
may be defined, the powers of matter, with the laws e
ftablished for their action and conduct. Seeing alſo
matter hath no action , whether from itſelf, or impreffed
upon it, but motion , as to the corporeal world, nature
is no more than the powers and capacities of matter,
and Paradife. 285
with the laws that govern the motions of it. And this
6 definition is fo plain and cafy, that, I believe, all par
ties will agree in it. There will alſo be no great contro
verfy what theſe laws are : as that one part of matter
cannot penetrate another, nor be in feveral places at
once; that the greater body overcomes the lefs , and the
ſwifter the flower ; that all motion is in a right line,
till ſomething obſtruct it or divert it ; which are points
little difputed as to the matter of fact ; but the points
1. concerning which the controverfy arifeth, and which are
to lead us to the Author of nature, are thefe ; Who or
what is the Author of thefe laws ? of this motion, and
even of matter itſelf; and of all thofe modes and forms
of it which we fee in nature ?
The queſtion ufeth chiefly to be put concerning moti
on, how it came into the world ; what the first fource of
C it is, or how matter came at firft to be moved ? For the
fimple notion of matter, not divided into parts, nor di
verfified, doth not imply motion, but extenſion only :
it is true, from extenfion there neceffarily follows mobi
7 lity, or a capacity of being moved by an external power,
but not actual or neceffary motion fpringing from itſelf.
For dimenſions, or length, breadth, and depth, which
is the idea of matter, or of a body, do no way include
S local motion, or tranſlation of parts ; on the contrary,
we do more eaſily and naturally conceive fimple extenfi
on as a thing ſteady and fixed ; and if we conceive mo
tion in it, or in its parts, we muft fuperadd fomething
to our first thought, and fomething that does not flow
from extenfion. As when we conceive a figure, a tri
$ angle, fquare, or any other, we naturally conceive it
4 fixed or quiefcent ; 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 fhould be
motion in it ; it hath no inward principle from whence
that can flow, and its nature is complete without it ;
wherefore, if we find motion and action in matter, which
is of itſelf a dead inactive mafs ; this fhould lead us im
mediately to the Author of nature, or to fome external
Cc 2
power distinct from matter, which is the caufe of all
motion in the world.
In fingle bodies, and fingle parts of matter, we rea
dily believe and conclude, that they do not move, un
lefs fomething move them, and why ſhould we not con
clude the fame thing of the whole mafs ? If a rock or
mountain cannot move itſelf, nor divide itſelf, either in
to great gobbets, or into fmall powder, why fhould it
not be as impoffible for the whole maſs of matter to do
fo? It is true, matter is capable both of motion and reſt ;
yet to conceive it undivided, undiverſified and unmov
ed, is certainly a more fimple notion, than to conceive
it divided and moved ; and this being firſt in order of
nature, and an adequate conception too , we ought to
enquire and give ourfelves an account how it came out
of this ftate, and by what caufes, or, as we ſaid before,
how motion came first into the world.
In the fecond place, That diverſity which we ſee in
nature, both as to the qualities of matter, and the com
pofitions of it, being one step further than bare motion,
ought alfo to be a further indication of the Author of na
ture, and to put us upon enquiry into the cauſes of this
diverfity. There is nothing more uniform than ſimple
extenfion, nothing more the fame throughout, all of a
piece, and all of a fort, fimilar, 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,
ftars, meteors, light, darknefs, ftones, wood, animals,
and- all terreſtrial bodies. Theſe diverfifications are ſtill
further removes from the natural unity and identity of
matter, and a further argument of fome external and fu
perior power that hath given theſe different forms to the
feveral portions of matter, by the intervention of moti
on. For ifyou exclude the Author of nature, and ſup .
pofe nothing but matter in the world, take whether hy
pothefis you will, either that matter is without motion of
itfelf, or that it is of itfelf in motion, there could not
arife this diverſity, and theſe compofitions in it. If it
was without motion, then the cafe is plain, for it would
and Paradife. 287
be nothing but an inflexible lump of impenetrable exten

14 fion, without any diverfity at all . And if you fuppofe
44 it moved of itſelf, or to have an innate motion, that
would certainly hinder all fort of natural concretions
and compofitions, and in effect destroy all continuity.
d.
For motion, if it be effential to matter, it is effential to
ཕྱོག
every atom of it, and equally diffuſed throughout all its
Tab
parts ; and all thofe 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 poffible, and confe
quently all equal to one another, there being no rea
fon why you ſhould ſtop thoſe divifions, or the effect
of this innate impetus in any one part fooner than in a
nother, or in any part indeed, till it was divided as
much as was poffible : wherefore upon this principle, or
in this method, all the matter of the univerſe would be
one liquid or volatile mafs, fmaller than pin-duft, nay,
than air or aether ; and there would be no diverſity of
forms, only another fort of identity from the former,
when we fuppofed it wholly without motion . And fo,
upon the whole, you fee, that matter, whether we allow
j it motion, or no motion, could not come into that va
riety of tempers and compofitions in which we find it in
the world, without the influence and direction of a
fuperior external caufe, which we call the Author of
nature.
But there is ſtill a further and ſtronger argument from
this head, if we confider not only the diverfity of bodies
-that the mafs of matter is cut into, but alſo that that di
verfity is regular, and in fome parts of it admirably art
ful and ingenious . This will not only lead us to an
Author of nature, but to fuch an Author as hath wif
dom as well as power. Matter is a brute being, ftupid
and fenfelefs ; and though we ſhould fuppofe it to have
a force to move itſelf, yet that it should be able to medi
tate and confult, and take its meaſures how to frame a
world, a regular and beautiful ſtructure, confifting offuch
and fuch parts and regions, and adapted to fuch and fuch
Cc 3
purpoſes, this would be too extravagant to imagine ; to

allow it not only motion from itſelf, but wit and judg
ment too ; and that before it came into any organical
or animate compoſition .
You will fay, it may be, the frame of the world was
not the refult of counſel and confultation , but of neceſſi=
ty: matter being once in motion under the conduct of
thofe laws that are effential to it, it wrought itſelf by de
grees 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 fee ifthey can be confuted ; and fo
they may cafily be; for we have fhewn already, that if
matter had innate motion, it would be fo far from run
ning into the orderly and well difpofed frame of the
world, that it would run into no frame at all, into no
forms or compofitions, or diverfity of bodies ; but
would either be all fluid, or all folid ; either every ſingle
particle in a feparate motion, or all in one continued
mafs, with an univerfal tremor, or inclination to move
without actual feparation ; and either of theſe two ſtates
is far from the form of a world. Secondly, As to the
laws of motion, as fome of them are effential to matter,
fo others are not demonftrable, but upon fuppofition of
an Author of nature. And thirdly, Though all the laws
of motion be admitted, they cannot bring matter into
the form of a world, unlefs fome meaſures be taken at firſt
by an intelligent being ; I fay, fome meaſures be taken
to determine the primary motions upon which the reſt
depend, and to put them in a way that leads to the for
mation of a world. The mafs muſt be divided into re
gions, and centers fixed, and motions appropriated to
them ; and it muſt be confidered of what magnitude the
firft bodies, or the first divifions of matter thould be,
and how moved : befides, there muſt be a determinate
proportion, and certain degree of motion impreffed upon
the univerfal matter, to qualify it for the production of
a world. If the dofe was either too ſtrong or too weak;
the work would mifcarry ; and nothing but infinite wif
and Paradife. 289
dom could fee through the effects of every proportion,

or every new degree of motion, and difcern which was
beft for the beginning, progreſs, and perfection of á
world. So you fee the Author of nature is no way ex
cluded, or made uſeleſs by the laws of motion ; nor if
matter was promifcuouſly moved, would theſe be ſuffici
ent cauſes of themſelves to produce a world, or that re
gular diverfity of bodies that compoſe it.
But it is hard to fatisfy men againſt their inclinations,
or their intereſt : and as the regularity of the univerſe
was always a great ftumbling-ſtone to the Epicureans ;
ſo they have endeavoured to make ſhifts of all forts 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 luc
ky fet of motions, which, though it were cafual and for
tuitous, might happily lead them to the forming of a
world. A lucky hit indeed, for chance to frame a world!
But this is a mere fhuffle and collufion ; for if there was
nothing in nature but matter, there could be no fuch thing
aschance, all would be pure mechanicalneceffity; and fo this
anfwer, though it ſeem very different, is the fame in ef
fect with the former, and Epicurus with his atomiſts are
obliged to give a juſt mechanical account, how all the
parts of nature, the moſt compound and elaborate parts
not excepted, rife from their atoms by pure neceffity:
there could be no accidental concourfe or coalition of
them ; every ſtep , every motion , every compoſition was
fatal and neceffary, and therefore it is nonfenfe for an
Epicurean to talk of chance, as chance is oppofed to
neceffity; and if they oppofe it to counsel and wisdom, it
is little better than nonfenfe, to ſay the world and all its
furniture rofe by chance, in that notion of it. But it
will deferve our patience a little, to give a more full and
diftinct anſwer to this, feeing it reacheth all their pleas
and evafions at once.
What proof or demonftration of wisdom and counfel
can be given, or can be defired, that is not found in
fome 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 fome fmall parcels of it, there is more
ofart, 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, more of exquiſite in
vention, and fit difpofition of parts, than is in all the
temples, palaces, fhips, theatres, or any other pieces of
architecture the world ever yet faw: and not archite
cture only, but all other mechaniſm whatſoever, en
gines, clock-work, or any other, is not comparable to
the body ofa living creature. Seeing then we acknow
lege theſe artificial works, wherefoever we meet with
them, to be the effects of wit, underſtanding and reaſon,
is it not manifeft partiality, or ftupidity 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 human art, or any machine framed by the
wit of man, and compare it with the body of an animal,
either for diverfity and multiplicity of workmanship, or
curioſity in the minute parts, or juſt connection and de
pendence of one thing upon another, or fit ſubſerviency
to the ends propoſed , of life, motion, ufe and ornament
to the creature ; and if in all theſe reſpects they find it
fuperior to any work of human production (as they cer
tainly muſt do) why ſhould it be thought to proceed from
inferior and fenfeleſs 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 honeft verdict
for nature as well as art ?
In the compofition of a perfect animal, there are four
feveral frames or compages joined together, the natural,
vital, animal and genital : let them examine any one of
thefe apart, and try if they can find any thing defective
or fuperfluous, or any way inept for matter or form.
Let them view the whole compages of the bones, and e
fpecially the admirable conftruction, texture, and difpo
and Paradife. 291
fition of the muſcles, which are joined with them for
moving the body, or its parts. Let them take an ac
count of the little pipes and conduits for the juices and
the liquors, of their form and diſtribution ; or let them
42
take any fingle organ to examine, as the eye, or the ear,
the hand, or the heart : in each of theſe they may diſco
Г ver fuch arguments of wiſdom, and of art, as will either
convince them, or confound them ; though ftill they
muft leave greater undiſcovered. We know little the
infenfible 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 exactnefs 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 conferved : how they anfwer the feveral operations
of the mind : why fuch little difcompoſures of it diſturb
our fenfes, and upon what little differences in this the
great differences of wits and geniufes depend. Yet fee
3 ing in all theſe organs, whoſe make and manner of acti
on we cannot diſcover, we ſee however by the effects,
that they are truly fitted for thoſe offices to which nature
hath defigned them, we ought in reafon to admire that
art which we cannot penetrate . At leaſt we cannot but
judge it a thing abfurd, that what we have not wit e
nough to find out or comprehend, we should not allow
to be an argument of wit and underſtanding in the au
thor, or inventor of it. This would be against all lo
gic, common fenfe, and common decorun. Neither do
I think it poſſible to the mind of man, while we attend
to evidence, to believe that theſe, and fuch 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 defign , or in the executi
on ; in the preparation to them, or in the finishing of
them.
Wherefore, in my judgment, if any be of this per
fuafion, it cannot be fo much the effect of their under
ſtanding, as of their difpofition 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 forts of opinions in all men , inclinati
on-opinions, and reafoned-opinions ; opinions that grow
upon mens complexions, and opinions that are the re
fults of their reaſon ; and I meet with very few that are
of a temperament fo equal, or a conftitution fo even
poifed, but that they incline to one fet of opinions ra
ther than another, antecedently to all proofs of reafon :
and when they have efpoufed their opinions from that fe
cret fympathy, then they find out as good reafons as
they can, to maintain them, and fay, nay think ſome
times, that it was for the fake of thoſe reaſons that they
first embraced them . We may commonly diſtinguiſh
thefe 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 flender arguments . One might give in
ftances of this, both in fects of religion and philofophy,
in Platonists, Stoics, and Epicureans, that are fo by
their temper more than their reaſon ; but to our purpoſe
it will be fufficient to inftance in one hearty Epicurean,
Lucretius, who is manifeftly fuch, more from his incli
nation, and the bent of his fpirit, than from the force
of argument. For though his fuppofitions be very pre
carious, and his reafonings all along very flight, he will
many times ſtrut and triumph, as if he had wreſted the
thunder out of Jove's right hand ; and a mathematici
an is not more confident of his demonſtration , than he
feems to be of the truth of his fhallow philofophy. From
fuch a principle of natural complexion as this , I allow a
man may be atheiſtical, but never from the calm dictate of
his reaſon ; yet he may be as confident and as tenacious
of his conclufion, as if he had a clear and diſtinct evi
dence for it. For I take it to be a true maxim in human
nature, that a ſtrong inclination, with a little evidence, is
equivalent to a strong evidence. And therefore we are
not to be furprized if we find men confident in their opi
and Paradife. 293
nions many times far beyond the degree of their evi
dence, ſeeing there are other things, befides evidence,
= that incline the will to one conclufion rather than ano
2 ther. And as I have inftanced in natural complexion,
fo intereft hath the fame effect upon human nature,
becauſe it always begets an inclination to thoſe o
pinions that favour our intereſt, and a difinclination to
? the contrary : and this principle may be another ingredi
ent, and fecret perfuafive to atheifm ; for when men
have run themſelves fo deep into vice and immorality,
that they expect no benefit from a God, it is in a man
ner neceſſary to their quiet, and the eaſe of their mind,
that they ſhould fancy there is none ; for they are a
fraid, if there be a God, that he will not ſtand neuter,
and let them alone in another world . This, I fay, is
neceffary to the quiet of their mind, unleſs they can at
tain that great art, which many labour after, of non-re
flection, or an unthinkingfaculty, as to God and a world
I to come. But to return to our argument, after this
fhort digreffion
And as that regular diverſity which we fee in the
forms of nature, and especially in the bodies of animals,
I could not be from any blind principle, either of neceffity
or of chance ; fo in the laſt place, that ſubordination
which we fee in the parts of nature, and fubferviency to
one another, the lefs noble to the more noble, the inani
mate to the animate, and all things upon earth unto
! man, muſt needs have been the effect of fome being
; higher than matter ; that did wifely difpofe all things
fo at firft, and doth ftill conferve them in the fame
order. If men had been born into the world, and a nu
merous hoſt of creatures, without any proviſion or ac
commodation made for their fubfiftence and convenien
cies, we might have fufpected that they had come by
chance, and therefore were fo ill provided for : but
which of them can complain ? Through their various
kinds and orders, what is there a-wanting ? They are all
fitted to their feveral elements, and their ways of liv
ing, birds, beafts, and fishes, both by the form and fhape,
of their bodies, the manner of their covering, and the
quality of their food. Befides, they are inſtructed in lit
tle arts and inſtincts for their confervation ; and not on
ly for their proper confervation, 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 fuch
a pretty train of actions, as is really admirable.
Man is the mafter of all , and of him a double care is
taken ; that he ſhould neither want what nature can af
ford, nor what art can fupply. He could not be pro
vided of all conveniencies by nature only, eſpecially to
fecure him againſt the injuries of the air ; but in recom
pence, nature hath provided materials for all thofe arts
which fhefaw would be needful in human life, as building,
clothing, navigation, agriculture, etc. that fo mankind
might have both wherewithal to anſwer their occaſions,
and alfo to employ their time, and exerciſe their inge
nuity. 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 wifdom, and is
every way far above the powers of brute matter. All
regular adminiſtration we abſcribe to conduct and judg
ment : if an army of men be well provided for, in
things neceffary both for food, clothes, arms, lodging,
fecurity and defence, fo as nothing is a-wanting in fo
great a multitude, we fuppofe it the effect of care and
forecaſt in thoſe perſons that had the charge of it : they
took their meaſures at firft, computed and proportioned
one thing to another, made good regulations, and gave
orders for convenient fupplies. And can we fuppofe the
great army of creatures upon earth, managed and pro
vided for with lefs 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
and Paradife. 295
to an end ; and wherefoever we meet, either with regu
lar 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 thefe two being
found in the natural world, and that in an eminent de
gree, 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 vifible to things in
2 viſible, that there is an author of nature, fuperior both
to human power and human wiſdom.
Before we proceed to give any further proofs or dif
coveries ofthe Author of nature, let us reflect a little up
on thoſe we have already infifted upon ; which have been
taken wholly from the material world, and from the
common courſe of nature. The very exiſtence of mat
ter is a proof of a deity ; for the idea of it hath no con
nexion with exiſtence, as we ſhall fhew hereafter; how
ever we will take leave now to fet it down with the reft
in order as they follow one another.
1. The existence of matter.

2. The motion of matter.
3. The juft quantity and degree ofthat motion.
4. Thefirst form of the universe upon motion impreſſed;
both as to the divifions 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 ofnature, andfit fubordination of one
part of the world to another.
The five firft of thefe heads are pre-requifites and pre

paratives to the formation of a world, and the two laſt
are as the image and character of its Maker, of his
power, goodneſs and wiſdom, impreffed upon it. Every
one of them might well deſerve a chapter to itſelf, if the
fubject was to be treated on at large ; but this is only
VOL. I. D d
an occafional differtation , to ſtate the powers of matter,
left they ſhould be thought boundlefs, and the Author
of nature unneceffary, as the Epicureans pretend ; but
notwithſtanding their vain confidence and credulity, I
defy them, or any man elſe, to make ſenſe of the mate
rial world, without placing a God at the center of it.
To theſe confiderations, taken wholly from the cor
poreal world, give me leave to add one of a mixed na
ture, concerning the union of our foul and body. This
ftrange effect, if rightly underſtood, doth as truly difco
ver the Author of nature, as many effects that are ac
counted more fupernatural. The incarnation, as I may
fo fay, of a fpiritual fubftance is to me a kind of ſtand
ing miracle ; that there ſhould be fuch an union and con
nexion reciprocally betwixt the motions of the body, and
the actions and paffions of the foul ; betwixt a ſubſtance
intellectual, and a parcel of organized matter, can be
no effect of either of thoſe ſubſtances ; being wholly di
ſtinct in themſelves, and remote in their natures from
one another. For inſtance, when my finger is cut, or
when it is burnt, that my foul thereupon fhould feel
fuch a ſmart and violent pain, is no confequence of na
ture, or does not follow from any connexion there is
betwixt the motion or divifion of that piece of matter,
I call my finger, and the paſſion of that ſpirit I call my
foul ; for theſe are two diftinct effences, and in them
felves independent upon one another, as much as the
fun and my body are independent ; and there is no more
reaſon in ſtrict nature, or in the effential chain of cauſes
and effects, that my foul fhould fuffer, or be affected
with this motion in the finger, than that the fun ſhould
be affected with it ; nay, there is leſs reaſon, if lefs can
be, for the fun being corporeal, as the finger is, there
is fome remote poffibility that there might be communi
cation of motion betwixt them ; but motion cannot be
get a thought, or a paffion, 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 caufe.
Wherefore this union is not by any neceflity of nature,
and Paradife. 297
I
+= but only from a poſitive inftitution or decree eſtabliſhed
by the Author of nature, that there should be fuch a
communication betwixt theſe two ſubſtances for a time,
I viz. during the vitality of the body.
It is true indeed, if thought, apprehenfion, and rea
fon was nothing but corporeal motion, this argument
would be of no force ; but to fuppofe this, is to admit
an abfurdity 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 ideas in the mind, as any two di
fparate things we can propofe or conceive ; number and
colour, a triangle and virtue, free-will and a pyramid,
are not more unlike, more diftant, or of more different
forms, than thought and local motion. Motion is no
T
thing but a body's changing its place and fituation a
mongſt other bodies ; and what affinity or refemblance
hath that to a thought ? How is that like to pain , or to
a doubt of the mind ? to hope or to defire ? to the idea
of God? to any act of the will or underſtanding, as
judging, confenting, reaſoning, remembering, or any
other ? Theſe are things of ſeveral orders that have no
fimilitude, nor any mixture of one another. And as
this is the nature of motion, fo, on the other hand, in
1
a thought there are two things, confciouſneſs and a repre
fentation. Confcioufnefs is in all thoughts indifferently,
whether diftinct or confuſed ; for no man thinks but he
is confcious that he thinks, nor perceives any thing but
he is conſcious that he perceives it. There is alfo in a
thought, efpecially if it be diftinct, a reprefent tion ; it
is the image of that we think upon , and makes its ob
ject prefent to the mind. Now what hath local motion
to do with either of theſe two, conſciouſneſs or reprefen
tativeneſs ? How doth it include either of them, or hold
them any way affixed to its nature ? I think one may
with as good fenfe and reaſon aſk of what colour a
thought is, green or fcarlet, as what fort of motion it is ;
for motion of what fort foever can never be conſcious,
nor repreſent things as ourthoughts do. I have noted thus
D d 2
much in general, only to fhew the different nature of

motion and cogitation, that we may be the more fenfible
that they have no mutual connexion in us, nor in any
other creatures, from their effence or effential proper
ties, but by a fupervenient power from the author of
nature, who hath thus united the foul and the body in
their operations .
We have hitherto only confidered the ordinary courſe
of nature, and what indications and proofs of its Au
thor, that affords us. There is another remarkable head of
arguments from effects, extraordinary and fupernatural,
fuch as miracles, prophecies, infpirations, prodigies, ap
paritions, witchcraft, forceries, etc. thefe, at one ſtep,
lead us to fomething above nature, and this is the ſhort
eft way and the moſt popular ; feveral arguments are
fuited to feveral tempers, and God hath not left himſelf
without a proper witneſs to every temper that is not
wilfully blind. Of theſe witneſſes we now ſpeak of, the
moſt confiderable are miracles, and the moſt confiderable
records of them are the books ofſcripture ; which if we
confider only as an hiftory, and as having nothing fa
cred 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 Mofes and the pro
phets, our Saviour and his apoſtles, wrought miracles,
I can no more queſtion, than that Caefar and Alexander
fought battles, and took cities. So alſo that there were
true prophecies and infpirations, we know from fcri
pture, only confidered as a true hiftory. But as for o
ther fupernatural effects that are not recorded there, we
have reaſon to examine them more ſtrictly before we re
ceive them , at leaſt as to particular inftances ; 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 prize at all, the lottery would not have credit to fub.
fift, and would be cried down as a perfect cheat : fo if
amongſt thoſe many ftories of prodigies, apparitions,
and witchcrafts, there were not fome true, the very
fame and thought of them would die from amongſt men,
and Paradife. 299
and the first broachers of them would be hooted at as
cheats. As a falfe religion, that hath nothing true and
folid mixed with it, can fcarce be fixed upon mankind ;
I but where there is a mixture of true and falſe, the
ftrength ofthe one fupports the weakneſs of the other.
As for forcery, the inſtances and examples of it are un
deniable ; not fo much thofe few ſcattered inftances that
happen now and then among us, but ſuch as are more
conſtant, and in a manner national, in fome countries,
and amongſt barbarous people. Befides, the oracles,
and the magic that was fo frequent amongſt the ancients,
fhew us that there have been always fome powers more
than human, tampering with the affairs of mankind.
But this topic from effects extraordinary and ſupernatu
ral, being in a great meaſure hiſtorical, and refpecting
evil spirits as well as the Author of nature, is not fo
proper for this place.
There is a third fet or head of arguments, that to
fome tempers are more cogent and convictive than any
of thefe, namely, arguments abstract and metaphyfical
and thefe do not only lead us to an Author of nature in
general, but fhew us more of his properties and perfecti
ons; repreſent him to us as a fupreme 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 fome preparation
of mind to make us difcern them well and be duly fen
C fible of them. When a man hath withdrawn himſelf
from the noiſe of this buſy world, locked up his fenfes
and his paffions , and every thing that would unite him
with it; commanded a general filence in the foul, and
fuffers not a thought to ftir, but what looks in
wards ; let him then reflect ferioufly, and afk himſelf,
What am I, and how came I into being ? If I was author
and original to myſelf, furely I ought to feel that migh
ty power, and enjoy the pleaſure of it ; but, alas ! I am
confcious of no fuch force or virtue, nor of any thing:
în my nature, that ſhould give me neceſſary exiſtence ; it
1 hath no connexion with any part of me, nor any faculty
D d 3
300 Ofthe Primaeval Earth ,
in me, that I can difcern . And now that I do exift,

from what caufes foever, Can I fecure myfelfin being?
Now that I am in poffeffion, am I fure to keep it ? Am
I certain that three minutes hence I fhall ſtill exift ? I
may or I may not, for ought I fee ; either feems pof
fible in itſelf, and either is contingent as to me ; I find
nothing in my nature that can warrant my fubfiftence
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 fucceffive, and as dying as they are, and re
newed to me every moment. This I am fure of, that
fo far as I know myſelf, and am conſcious what I am,
there is no principle of immutability, or of neceffary and
indefectible exiſtence in my nature ; and therefore I
ought in reafon to believe, that I ftand or fall at the
mercy of other cauſes, and not by my own will, or my
own fufficiency .
Beſides, I am very fenfible, and in this I cannot be
miſtaken, that my nature is in feveral reſpects weak and
imperfect, both as to will and underſtanding. I will
many things in vain and without effect, and I wish of
ten 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 ig
norant of? Almoſt all the intellectual world is fhut up
to me, and the far greateſt part of the corporeal ; and
in thoſe things that fall under my cognizance, how of
ten am I miſtaken? I am confined to a narrow ſphere,
and yet within that ſphere I often err ; my conceptions
of things are obfcure and confuſed, my reafon ſhort
fighted ; I am forced often to correct myſelf, to acknow
lege that I have judged falſe, and confented to an error.
In fum, all my powers I find are limited, and I can ea
fily conceive the fame kind of perfections in higher de
grees than I poffefs them, and confequently there
are beings, or may be, greater and more excellent than
myfelf, and more able to fubfift by their own power,
{Τὸ τελειον πρότερον τῇ φύσει τῇ ἀτελῆς. Arift . )
and Paradife. 301
Why should I not therefore believe that my original is

from thofe beings rather than from myſelf? For every
nature, the more great and perfect it is, the nearer it
approaches to neceffity of exiſtence, and to a power of
producing other things. Yet, the truth is, it muſt be
acknowleged, that fo long as the perfections of thofe o
ther beings are limited and finite, though they be far ſu
perior to us, there is no neceffity arifeth from their na
ture that they ſhould exiſt ; and the fame arguments that
2 we have uſed againſt ourſelves, they may, in proporti
16 on, uſe againſt themſelves ; and therefore we muſt ſtill
advance higher to find a ſelf-originated being, whofe ex
2 iſtence muſt flow immediately from his effence, or have
a neceffary connexion with it.
And indeed, all thofe different degrees of higher and
2 higher perfections lead us directly to an higheft, or fu
preme degree, which is infinite and unlimited perfecti
on. As fubordinate caufes lead to the firſt, ſo natures
more perfect one than another lead us to a nature infi
nitely 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 ar
rive there ; and being arrived there at that fovereign and
original perfection, it finds a firm and immoveable ground
to ſtand upon ; the ſteady centre of all being, wherein
the mind refts and is fatisfied . All the fcruples or ob
jections that we moved againſt ourſelves, or other crea
tures, take no place here : this being is conſcious of an
all-fufficiency in itfelf, and of immutability as to any
thing elfe ; including in it all the cauſes of exiſtence, or,
to ſpeak more properly, all neceffity of existence. Be
fides, that we exift ourselves, notwithſtanding the imper
fection and infufficiency of our nature, is a juft, colla
teral proof of the exiſtence of this fupreme being ; for
fuch an effect as this cannot be without its caufe, and it
can have no other competent cauſe but what we menti
on. And as this being is its own origin, fo it mult
needs be capable of producing all creatures ; for whatfo
ever is poffible, must be poffible to it; and that creatures
or finite beings are poffible, we both fee by experience,
and may alſo diſcern by reaſon ; for thoſe ſeveral de
grees of perfection or limitations of it, which we men
tioned before, are all confiftent notions, and confequent
ly make confiftent natures, and fuch as may exiſt ; but
contingently indeed, and in dependence upon the firſt
caufe.
Thus we are come at length to a fair refolution of
that great queſtion, Whence we are, and how we continue
in being? And this hath led us by an eaſy aſcent to the
fupreme Author of nature, and the firſt cauſe of all
things ; and prefents us alfo with fuch a fcheme and
draught 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 raiſed itſelf into this view of a be
ing infinitely perfect, it is in a region of light, hath a
free proſpect every way, and fees all things from top to
bottom, as pervious and tranſparent. Whereas with
out God and a firſt cauſe, there is nothing but darkneſs
and confufion in the mind, and in nature ; broken views.
of things, fhort interrupted glimpfes of light, nothing
certain or demonſtrative, no bafis of truth, no extent
of thought, no fcience, no contemplation.
You will fay, it may be, it is true, fomething muft
be eternal, and of neceffary existence, but why may not
matter be this eternal neceſſary being ? Then our fouls
and all other intellectual things must be parts and parcels
of matter ; and what pretenfions can matter have to
thoſe properties and perfections that we find in our fouls,
how limited foever ? much lefs to neceffary exiftence, and
thefe perfections that are the foundation of it ? What ex
ifts eternally, and from itſelf, its exiſtence muſt flow im
mediately from its effence, as its cauſe, reafon, or
ground; for as exiſtence hath always fomething antece
dent to it in order of nature, fo that which is antece
dent to it must infer it by a neceffary connexion, and
fo may be called the cauſe, ground, or reafon of it.
And nothing can be fuch a ground, but what is a per
and Paradife. 303
fection ; nor every perfection neither, it muſt be fove
reign and infinite perfection ; for from what elſe can ne
ceffary exiſtence flow, or be inferred ? Befides, if that
being was not infinitely perfect, there might be another
being more powerful than it, and confequently able to
oppoſe and hinder its exiſtence ; and what may be hin
dered 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 fubftance ; neither life,
fenfe, will or underſtanding ; nor fo much as motion
from itfelf; as we have fhewed before. And therefore
this brute inactive mafs, which is but, as it were, the
drudge of nature, can have no right or title to that fo
vereign prerogative of ſelf-exiſtence.
We noted before, as a thing agreed upon, that fome
thing 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 producefomething.
Therefore it is undeniably true on all hands, that there
was fome being from eternity. Now, according to our
underſtandings, truth is eternal: therefore, fay we,
fome intellect or intelligent being. So alfo the reaſons
ofgoodness and justice appear to us eternal ; and therefore
fome good and juſt being is eternal. Thus much is
plain, that theſe perfections, which bear the fignatures of
eternity upon them, are things that have no relation to
matter, but relate immediately to an intellectual being:
therefore fome fuch being, to whom they originally be
long, muſt be that eternal. Befides, we cannot poffibly
but judge fuch a being 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 no
thing, the more it approaches to neceffity of exiſtence,
and confequently to eternal exiftence.
Thus we have made a fhort furvey, fo far as the
bounds of a chapter would permit, of thoſe evidences
and affurances which we have from abftract 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 thefe, in the laft place, that univerfal
confent of mankind, or natural inftinct of religion
which we fee, more or lefs, throughout all nations, bar
barous or civil. For though this argument, it is true,
be more difputable than the reft, yet having fet down
juft grounds already from whence this natural judgment
or perfuafion might ſpring, we have more reaſon to im
pute it to ſome of thoſe, and their infenfible 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 fuch a propenſion in human 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 cafes , and we do at the mere
motion of our natural fpirit, and indeliberately, invoke
God and heaven, either in cafe of extreme danger, to
help and affift us ; or in caſe of injuſtice and oppreſſion,
to relieve or avenge us ; or in cafe of. falfe accu
fation, to vindicate our innocency ; and generally in all
cafes defperate and remedilefs as to human power, we
feem to appeal and addrefs ourſelves to fomething higher.
And this we do by a ſudden impulſe of nature, without
reflection or deliberation . Beſides, as witneffes of our
faith and veracity, we uſe to invoke the gods, or fupe
rior powers, by way of imprecation upon ourſelves, if
we be falfe and perjured ; and this hath been uſed in
moſt nations and ages, if not in all . Theſe things alſo
argue, that there is a natural confcience in man , and a
diftinction of moral good and evil; and that we look up
on thoſe inviſible powers as the guardians of virtue and
honesty. There are alfo few or no people upon the
earth but have fomething 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
fomething above them, and above vifible nature ;
though what that fomething was, they ſeldom were able
to make a good judgment. But to purſue this argument
particularly, would require an hiftorical deduction of
and Paradife. 305
times and places, which is not ſuitable to our preſent
defign.
To conclude this chapter and this fubject, if we
fet religion apart, and confider the Deiſt and Atheiſt on
lyas two fects in philofophy, or their doctrine as two dif
ferent hypothefes propofed 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 phaenomena? I fay if we confider them only
thus, and make an impartial eſtimate whether ſyſtem is
more reaſonable, more clear, and more fatisfactory ; to
me there ſeems to be no more compariſon than betwixt
light and darkneſs. The hypothefis of the Deiſt reach
X eth from top to bottom, both thorough the intellectual
and material world, with a clear and diſtinct light every
where ; is genuine, comprehenfive, and fatisfactory ;
hath nothing forced, nothing confuſed, nothing preca
rious ; whereas the hypothefts of the Atheiſt is ftrained
and broken, dark and uneafy to the mind, commonly
precarious, often incongruous and irrational, and fome
times plainly ridiculous. And this judgment I fhould
make of them abftractly from the intereft of religion,
confidering them only as matter of reaſon and philoſo
phy. And I dare affirm with aſſurance, if the faculties
of our fouls be true, that no man can have a ſyſtem of
thoughts reaching thorough nature, coherent and con
fiftent in every part, without a deity for the baſis of it,
CHA P. XI.
Concerning NATURAL PROVIDENCE .
Several incroachments upon natural providence, or miſrepre

fentations ofit, andfalſe methods ofcontemplation. Atrue
method propofed, and a true reprefentation oftheuniverse.
The mundane idea, and the univerfal fyftem of provi
dence. Several fubordinate fyftems, that of our earth
and fublunary world. The courfe and periods of it.
How much ofthis is already treated of, and what re
mains. The conclufion.
WE have ſet bounds to nature in the foregoing cha

pter, and placed her Author and governor upon his
throne, to give laws to her motions, and to direct and
limit her power in fuch ways and methods as are moſt
for his honour. Let us now confider nature under the
conduct of providence, or confider natural providence,
and the extent of it ; and as we were cautious before not
to give too much power orgreatnefs to nature, confidered
apart from providence ; ſo we muſt be careful now, un
der this ſecond confideration, not to contract her bounds
too much ; left we ſhould, by too mean and narrow
thoughts of the creation, eclipfe the glory of its Author,
whom we have fo lately owned as a being infinitely
perfect.
And to uſe no further introduction, in the firstplace,
we muſt not by any means admit or imagine, that all
nature, and this great univerfe, was made only for the
fake of man, the meanest of all intelligent creatures that
we know of; nor that this little planet, where we ſo
journ in a few days, is the only habitable part of the
univerfe : theſe are thoughts fo groundleſs and unreafon
able in themſelves, and alfo fo derogatory to the infi
nite power, wiſdom and goodneſs of the firſt cauſe, that
as they are abfurd in reaſon, ſo they deſerve far better
to be marked and cenfured for herefies in religion, than
many
and Paradiſe. 307
many opinions that have been cenfured for fuch in for
mer ages. How is it poffible that it ſhould enter into
the thoughts of vain man to believe himſelf the principal
EXT part of God's creation , or that all the reſt was ordained
for him, for his ſervice or pleaſure ! man, whofe follies
we laugh at every day, or elſe complain of them ; whofe
pleaſures are vanity, and his paffions ftronger than his
reafon ; who ſees himſelf every way weak and impotent,
hath no power over external nature, little over hinifelf;
cannot execute fo much as his own good reſolutions,
ft mutable, irregular, prone to evil. Surely, if we made
Atth the leaſt reflection upon ourſelves with impartiality, we
fhould be ashamed of fuch an arrogant thought. How
few oftheſe fons of men, for whom, they fay, all things
de were made, are the fons of wifdom ! How few find the
paths of life ! They ſpend a few days in folly and ſin,
ctand and then go down to the regions of death and mifery.
mal And is it poffible to believe that all nature, and all pro
the vidence, are only or principally for their fake ? Is it not
lence, a more reaſonable character or conclufion which the pro
enot phet hath made, Surely every man is vanity ? Man that
dered comes into the world at the pleaſure of another, and
Un goes out by an hundred accidents ; his birth and educa
Sunds tion generally determine his fate here, and neither of
TOW thoſe are in his own power ; his wit alſo is as uncertain
thor as his fortune ; he hath not the moulding of his own
brain, however a knock on the head makes him a fool,
itely
ftupid as the beaſts of the field ; and a little excefs of
paſſion or melancholy makes him worſe, mad and fran
ਚੁੱਕੇ
Jace,
tic. In his beſt ſenſes he is fhallow, and of little under
ftanding; and in nothing more blind and ignorant than
ਨੂੰ
that in things facred and divine ; he falls down before a ſtock

fo. or a ſtone, and fays, Thou art my God ; he can believe
the nonfenfe and contradictions, and make it his religi
on to do fo. And is this the great creature which God
n
fi. hath made by the might of his power, andfor the honour
hat of his Majefty? upon whom all things muſt wait, to
ter whom all things muſt be ſubfervient ? Methinks we have
noted weakneſſes and follies enough in the nature of
10
VOL. I. E e
man ; this need not be added as the top and accom
plishment, that with all thefe he is fo vain as to think that
all the rest of the world was made for his fake.
And as due humility and the confideration of our own
meannefs ought to fecure us from any fuch vain opinion
of ourselves, fo the perfection of other beings ought to
give us more refpect and honour for them. With what
face can we pretend that creatures far fuperior to us, and
more excellent both in nature and condition , ſhould be
made for our fake and fervice ? How prepoſterous would
it be to aſcribe ſuch a thing to our Maker, and how in
tolerable a vanity in us to affect it ? We that are next to
the brutes that perifh, by a facrilegious attempt would
make ourſelves more confiderable than the higheſt digni
ties . It is thought to have been the crime of Lucifer,
who was thrown down from heaven to hell, that he affe
cted 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 ma
ny orders of beings above us, as there are ranks of crea
tures below us ; there is a greater diſtance fure 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
vifible and corporeal
Was that made only for our fake ? King David was
more wife, and more juſt both to God and man , in his
viiith Pfalm ; where he fays, He wonders, when he con
fiders the heavens, that the Maker of them could think on
man. He truly fuppofes the celestial bodies, and the in
habitants of them, much more confiderable than we are,
and reckons up only terreftrial things as put in fubjecti
on to man. Can we then be fo fond as to imagine all
the corporeal univerfe made for our uſe ? It is not the
millioneth part of it that is known to us, much leſs uſe
ful ; we can neither reach with our eye, nor our imagi
nation, thofe armies of ſtars that lie far and deep in the
boundless heavens . If we take a good glafs, we difco
and Paradife. 309
ver innumerably more ftars in the firmament than we
can with our fingle eye ; and yet if you take a fecond
glafs, better than the first, that carries the fight to a
greater diſtance, you ſee more ftill lying beyond the o
ther ; and a third glaſs, that pierceth further, ſtill makes
new diſcoveries of ftars ; and fo 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
ufe of them ? And can we believe that thofe and all the
reft were made for us ? Of thoſe few ftars that we en
joy, 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 conveni
ency, they would have been put in fome better order in
reſpect of the earth. They lie carelefly ſcattered, as if
they had been fown in the heaven , like feed, by hand
fuls ; and not by a ſkilful hand neither. What a beauti
ful hemifphere they would have made, ifthey had been
placed in rank and order ! if they had been all difpofed
into regular figures, and the little ones fet with due re
gard to the greater, then all finiſhed and made up into
one fair piece or great compofition, according to the
rules of art and fymmetry ; what a furprizing 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 have been all made for us ; but left any fuch
vain imagination fhould now enter into our thoughts,
providence (befides more important reaſons ) ſeems on
purpoſe to have left them under that negligence or difor
der, which they appear in to us.
The fecond part of this opinion fuppofeth this pla
net, where we live, to be the only habitable part of the
univerfe ; and this is a natural confequence of the for
mer : if all things were made to ferve us, why fhould
any more be made than what is uſeful to us ? But it is
only our ignorance of the fyftem of the world, and of
the grandeur of the works of God, that betrays us to
E e 2
fuch narrow thoughts* . If we do but confider what this
earth is, both for littlenefs and deformity, and what its
inhabitants are, we ſhall not be apt to think that this mi
ferable atom hath engroffed 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, left it ſhould carry us too far from the fub
ject, and it will fall of its own accord, with the former.
Upon the whole we may conclude, that it was only the
fublunary world that was made for the fake of man, and
not the great creation , either material or intellectual ;
and we cannot admit or affirm any more without mani
feft injury, depreffion, and mifrepreſentation of provi
dence, as we may be eafily convinced from theſe four
heads ; The meannefs of man and of this earth ; the ex
cellency of other beings ; the immenfity of the univerſe,
and the infinite perfection of the firſt cauſe. Which I
leave to your further meditation, and paſs on to the ſe
cond rule concerning natural providence.
In the fecond place, then, If we would have a fair
view and right apprehenfions of natural providence, we
muft not cut the chains of it too fhort, by having re
courfe without neceffity, either to the firſt cauſe, in ex
plaining the origins of things ; or to miracles, in ex
plaining particular effects. This, I fay, breaks the
chains of natural providence, when it is done without
neceffity ; that is, when things are otherwife intelligible
from fecond caufes. Neither is any thing gained by it
to God almighty ; for it is but as the proverb fays, To
rob Peter to pay Paul ; to take fo much from his ordina
ry providence, and place it to his extraordinary. When
a new religion is brought into the world, it is very rea
fonable and decorous that it fhould be ufhered in with
miracles, as both the Jewiſh and Chriſtian were ; but af
terwards things return into their channel, and do not
change or overflow again but upon extraordinary occa
fions or revolutions. The power extraordinary of God
is to be accounted very facred, not to be touched or ex
* See the Lat. Treat. lib. i. c. 10. p. 108, 109, etc.
and Paradife. 311
pofed for our pleaſure or conveniency ; but I am afraid
we often make uſe of it only to conceal our own igno
rance, or to fave us the trouble of inquiring into natu
ral cauſes . Men are generally unwilling to appear igno
rant, eſpecially thofe that make profeffion of knowlege ;
and when they have not ſkill enough to explain fome
2 particular effect in a way of reafon, they throw it upon
C the firſt cauſe, as able to bear all ; and fo placing it to
སྐྱུ that account, they excufe themſelves, and fave their
credit ; for all men are equally wife, if you take away
fecond cauſes ; as we are all of the fame colour, if you
take away the light.
But to ftate this matter, and fee the ground of this
rule more diſtinctly, we muſt obſerve and confider, that
the courfe ofnature is truly the will ofGod; (See Book I.
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 neceffity. And as in matter of religion, we are to
follow the known revealed will of God, and not to truſt to
; every impulſe or motion of enthufiafm, as coming from
S the divine Spirit, unleſs there be evident marks that it is
fupernatural, and cannot come from our own ; fo nei
ther are we, without neceffity, to quit the known and
ordinary will and power of God, eſtabliſhed in the courſe
of nature, and fly to fupernatural caufes, or his extra
ordinary will ; for this is a kind of enthuſiaſm or fana
ticiſm, as well as the other : and no doubt that great
prodigality and waste of miracles, which fome make, is no
way to the honour of God or religion . It is true, the
other extreme is worſe than this, for to deny all mi
racles, is in effect to deny all revealed religion ; there
fore due meaſures are to be taken betwixt theſe two, fo
as neither to make the divine power too mean and
cheap, nor the power of nature illimited and all-ſuf
ficient.
In the thirdplace, to make the fcenes of natural pro
vidence confiderable, and the knowlege of them fatisfa
ctory to the mind, we muſt take a true philofophy, or
the true principles that govern nature, which are geo
Ee 3
metrical and mechanical. By theſe you diſcover the
footsteps of the divine art and wiſdom, and trace the
progrefs of nature ſtep by ſtep, as diftinctly as in artifi
cial things, where we fee howthe motions depend upon
one another, in what order, and by what neceffity.
God made all things in number, weight and measure,
which are geometrical and mechanical principles ; he is
not faid to have made things by forms and qualities, or
any combination of qualities ; but by theſe three prin
ciples, which may be conceived to expreſs the ſubject of
three mathematical fciences ; number, of arithmetic ;
weight, offtatics ; and meafure and proportion, of geo
metry: ifthen all things were made according to theſe
principles, to underſtand the manner of their conſtructi
on and compofition, we muft proceed in the fearch of
them by the fame principles, and refolve them into theſe
again. Befides, the nature of the ſubject does direct us
fufficiently ; for when we contemplate or treat of bodies,
and the material world, we muſt proceed by the modes
of bodies, and their real properties , fuch as can be re
prefented either to fenfe or imagination, for theſe facul
ties are made for corporeal things ; but logical notions,
when applied to particular bodies, are mere ſhadows of
them , without light or ſubſtance. No man can raiſe a
theory upon fuch grounds, nor calculate any revolutions
of nature, nor render any fervice, or invent any thing
ufeful in human life. And accordingly we fee, that for
theſe many ages, that this dry philofophy hath governed
Christendom, it hath brought forth no fruit, produced
nothing good to God or man, to religion or human
fociety.
To theſe true principles of philofophy, 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 fyftem, or that which Ariſtotle and others
have propofed, 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 uni
verfe, but in thofe little removes that happen here be
and Paradife. 313
low, one quality or form fhifting into another : there
would therefore be no great exerciſe of reaſon or medi
tation in fuch a world ; no long feriefes of providence :
the regions above being made of a kind of immutable
matter, they would always remain in the fame form,
ftructure, and qualities : fo as we might lock up that
: part ofthe univerſe as to any further inquiries, and we
fhould find it ten thouſand years hence in the fame form
and ſtate wherein we left it. Then in this fublunary
world, there would be but very ſmall doings neither ;
things would lie in a narrow compaís, no great revolu
tion of nature, no new form of the earth, but a few an
niversary corruptions and generations, and that would be
the fhort and the long of nature, and of providence, ac
cording to Ariſtotle. But if we confider the earth, as
one of thoſe many planets that move about the fun, and
毋 the fun as one of thoſe innumerable fixed ſtars that adorn
the univerſe, and are the centers of its greateſt motions ;
3 and all this fubject 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 prepared your mind,
and the fubject, for the contemplation of natural provi
2
dence, do not content yourſelf to confider only the pre
fent face of nature, but look back into the firstfources of
things, into their more fimple and original ſtates ; and
obferve the progreſs of nature from one form to another,
through various modes and compofitions. For there is
no fingle effect, nor any fingle ſtate of nature, how
perfect foever, that can be fuch an argument and de
monſtration of providence, as a period of nature, or a
revolution of feveral ſtates confequential to one another;
and in fuch an order and dependence, that as they flow
and fucceed, they fhall ſtill be adjuſted to the periods of
the moral world ; fo as to be ready always to be mini
fters of the divine juftice or beneficence to mankind.
This fhews the manifold riches of the wiſdom and power
•
of God in nature. And this may give us juft occafion
to reflect again upon Ariſtotle's fyftem and method,
which deſtroys natural providence in this refpect alfo ;
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
fame; fo asall the great turns of nature, and the principal
fcenes ofprovidence in the natural world, are quite ftruck
out ; and we have but this one ſcene for all, and a piti
ful one too, if compared 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 con
templation ofthe little world, or in the body of man,
we ſhould alſo follow in the great ; take it in its firſt
mafs, in its tender principles and rudiments , and obferve
the progreſs of it to a complete form ; in theſe firſt
ftrokes of nature are the fecrets of her art ; the eye muſt
be placed in this point to have a right proſpect, and fee
her works in a true light. David admires the wiſdom
of God in the origin and formation of his body ; My bo
dy, fays he, was not hidfrom thee, when I was made infe
cret, curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth;
thine eyes did fee myſubſtance being yet imperfect, and in
thy book all my members were written ; which in continuance
werefashioned, when as yet there was none of them, or
being at firſt in no form. How precious are thy thoughts
to me, O God! etc. Pfal. cxxxix . 15 , 16. This was
the fubject of David's meditations , how his body was
wrought from a fhapeleſs maſs into that marvellous com
poſition which it had when fully framed ; and this, he
fays, was under the eye of God all along , and the mo
del of it, as it were, was defigned and delineated in the
book of providence, according to which, it was by de
grees fafhioned and wrought to perfection . Thine eyes
did fee my fubftance yet being imperfect, in thy book all my
members were drawn, etc. Job alfo hath aptly expreffed
and Paradife. 315
thoſe firſt rudiments of the body, or that little chaos
out of which it rifeth ; Haft thou not poured me out as
milk, and curdled me like cheese ? Thou haft clothed me with
fkin andflesh, and fenced me with bones andfinews, Job
X. 10, 11. Where he notes the firſt matter and the laft
form of his body, its complete and moſt incomplete
ftate. According to thefe examples, we muſt likewife
confider the greater bodies of nature, the earth and the
fublunary world ; we muſt go on to the origin of them,
the feminal maſs, the chaos out of which they rife ; look
upon the world firſt as an embryo world, without form
or ſhape, and then conſider how its members were faſhi
oned, how by degrees it was brought into that diverfity
of parts and regions which it confifts of, with all their
furniture, and with all their ornaments. The idea of
all which was before-hand, according to David's expref
C fion, 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 neceffary preparatives or directions
to thoſe that would contemplate, with profit, natural pro
vidence, and the great works of God in the viſible crea
tion. We confidered nature in the precedent chapter
abſtractly, and in herſelf ; and now we confider her un
der the conduct of providence, which we therefore call
natural providence : and as we have endeavoured to re
move thoſe falſe notions and fuppofitions that lay as
clouds upon her face, ſo we muſt now endeavour to re
preſent her in a better light, and in a fuller beauty: By
natural providence therefore we underſtand, the form or
courfe of univerfal nature, as actuated by the divine power;
with all the changes, periods, and viciffitudes that attend it,
according tothe method and establishment made at firft by the
Author of it. I faid of univerſal nature, through all the
orders of beings in the intellectual world, and all the re
gions and ſyſtems of matter in the corporeal. For, hav
ing proved in the foregoing chapter, that there is an
Author of nature, a being infinitely perfect, by whoſe
power and influence alone all finite natures exift and
316 Of the Primaeval Earth ,
act, we have an affured ground to conclude, that no
thing can come to pafs, throughout the whole creation,
without the preſcience and permiffion of its Author ; and
as it is neceffary to ſuppoſe that there is an idea in the
divine underſtanding of all the mafs of beings produced
or created, according to the feveral ranks and orders
wherein they ſtand ; fo there is alſo an idea there, ac
cording to which this great frame moves, and all the
parts of it in beauty and harmony.
And theſe two things, The effences of all beings, and
the ſeries of their motions, compofe the M UND A NE
IDEA, as I may fo call it ; or that great all-compre
henfive thought in the divine underſtanding, which con
tains the fyftem of univerſal providence, and the ſtate of
all things paſt, prefent, or to come. This glorious idea
is the expreſs image of the whole creation, of all the
works of God, and the difpofition of them : here lie the
myfteries of providence, as in their original ; the fuccef
five forms of all nature ; and herein, as in a glafs , may
be viewed all the ſcenes of time or eternity. This is an
abyfs of facred wiſdom, the inexhauſted treaſure of all
fcience, the root of truth, and fountain of intellectual
•
light and in the clear and full contemplation of this is
perfect happiness, and a truly beatific vifion.
But what concerns the intellectual world in this idea,
and the orders or natures that compofe it, is not our
prefent buſineſs to purfue ; we are to ſpeak of the cor
poreal univerfe, whereof we will make now a ſhort and
general furvey, as it lies under providence. The cor
poreal univerfe, how immenie foever it be, and divided
into innumerable regions, may be confidered all as one
fyftem, made up of feveral fubordinate fyſtems . And
there is alfo one immenſe deſign of providence co-ex
tended with it, that contains all the fate, and all the re
volutions of this great maſs . This, I ſay, is made up
of feveral fubordinate fyftems, involving one another,
and comprehending one another, in greater and greater
orbs and compofitions ; and the aggregate of all theſe is
that which we call the univerſe. But what the form af
and Paradife. 317
* theſe compofitions is, and what the defign ofprovidence
I that runs through them all, and comprehends them all,
this is unfearchable, not only to human underſtanding,
but even to angels and archangels.
$ Wherefore leaving thoſe greater ſyſtems and compo
fitions of the univerſe, as matter of our admiration, ra
E ther than of our knowlege ; there are two or three kinds
! of leſſer ſyſtems that are viſible to us, and bring us near
er to our fubject, and nearer home : That of a fixed
ftar fingle ; that of a fixed ſtar with its planets, and that
of a fingle planet, primary or fecondary. Theſe three
ſyſtems we ſee and enjoy more or lefs. No doubt there
are fixed ſtars ſingle, or that have no planets about them,
as our fun hath ; nay it is probable, that at firſt the
whole univerſe confifted only of fuch globes of liquid
fire, with ſpheres about them of pure light and aether.
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, concern
ing 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 aethereal
worlds, what periods they have, what changes or viciffi
tudes they are capable to undergo, becaufe fuch inqui
ries would feem too remote, and carry us too far from
our fubject, we leave theſe heavenly ſyſtems to the en
joyment and contemplation of higher and more noble
creatures.
The fun, with all the planets that move about him,
and depend upon him, make a good fort of fyftem ; not
confiderable indeed , if compared with the whole univerſe,
or fome of the greater compofitions in it ; but in reſpect
of us, the ſyſtem of the fun is of vaft extent : we can
not meaſure the greatnefs of his kingdom, and his domi
nion is without end. The diſtance from the higheſt pla
net to the neareſt fixed ftar in the firmament is unmea
furable, and all this belongs to the empire of the fun ;
befides the feveral planets and their orbs, which caſt
al arth
318 Of the Primaev E ,
themſelves cloſer about his body, that they may receive
a warmer and ſtronger influence from him ; for by him
they may be faid to live and move. But thofe vaſt ſpaces,
that lie beyond thefe opaque bodies, are regions of per
petual light ; one planet may eclipſe the fun to another,
and one hemifphere of a planet to the other hemiſphere
makes night, and darkneſs ; but nothing can eclifpe the
fun, or intercept the courſe of his light to theſe remote
aethereal regions ; they are always luminous, and always
pure and ferene. And if the worſt and planetary parts
of his dominions be repleniſhed with inhabitants, we
cannot ſuppoſe the better to lie as defarts unenjoyed and
uninhabited; his fubjects then muſt be numerous, as
well as his dominions large ; and in both repects this
fyftem of a fixed ftar, with its planets, (of which kind
we may imagine innumerable in the univerſe, befides this
of the fun, which is near and viſible to us) is of a noble
character and order, being the habitation of angels and
glorified fpirits, as well as of mortal men.
A planetary fyeftem is the laſt and loweft ; and of
thefe, no doubt, there is great variety, and great diffe
rences; not only of primary and fecondary, or of the
principal planet, and its moons or attendants, but alſo
amongſt planets of the fame rank ; for they may differ
both in their original conſtitution, and according to the
form and ſtate they are under at prefent ; of which fort
of differences we have noted fome amongſt our planets,
(Book i. chap. laft, p. 164, etc. ) though they ſeem to be
all of much-what the fame original conſtitution . Beſides,
according to external circumftances, their diſtance, man
ner of motion, and poſture to the fun, which is the
heart of the whole ſyſtem, they become different in
many things. And we may obferve, that thofe leading
differences, though they feem little, draw after them in
numerable others, and ſo make a diſtinct face of nature,
and a diſtinct world ; which ſtill fhews the riches and fe
cundity 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
and Paradife . 319
or planetary ſyſtems to our meditations only, we muſt
particularly confider our own.
Having therefore made this general furvey ofthe great
} univerfe, run through the boundlefs regions of it, and
with much ado found our way home to that little planet
t where our concerns lie, this earth or fublunary world,
1 we muſt reſt here as at the end of our courfe. And
having undertaken to give the general theory of this
earth, to conclude the preſent treatiſe, we will reflect
[ upon the whole work, and obſerve what progrefs we
T have hitherto made in this theory, and what remains to
be treated of hereafter. This earth, though it be a
! fmall part or particle of the universe, hath a diftinét fy
1 ftem of providence belonging to it, or an order efta
E blished by the Author of nature for all its phaenomena
C (natural or moral) throughout the whole period of its
duration, and every interval of it ; for, as there is no
thing fo great as to be above the divine care, fo neither
is there any thing fo little as to be below it. All the
changes of our world are fixed ; how, or how often to
be deſtroyed, and how renewed ; 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 enterance, and what
the confummation of all. Neither is there any fort of
knowlege more proper, or of more importance to us
that are the inhabitants of this earth, than to underſtand
this its natural and facred hiſtory , as I may fo call it,
both as to what is paſt, and what is to come. And as
thofe greater volumes and compofitions of the univerſe
are proportioned to the underſtanding of angels and fu
periorbeings, fo thefe little fyftems are compendiums ofthe
divine wifdom more fitted to our capacity and compre
henfion.
The providence of the earth, as of all other fyftems,
confifts oftwo parts, natural, and facred or theological.
I call that facred or theological that refpects religion,
and the difpenfations of it ; the government of the rati
onal world, or of mankind, whether under the light of
VOL. I. Ff
nature only, or of a revelation ; the method and terms
of their happineſs and unhappineſs in a future life : the
ftate, oeconomy, and conduct of this, with all the my
fteries contained in it, we call theological providence ;
in the head whereof ſtands the foul of the bleſſed Meffi
ah, who is Lord of both worlds, intellectual and mate
rial . When we call the other part of providence natu
ral, we uſe that word in a reſtrained ſenſe, as reſpecting
only the material world ; and accordingly this part of
providence orders and ſuperintends the ſtate of the earth,
the great viciffitudes and mutations of it ; for we muſt
not imagine but that theſe are under the eye of provi
dence, as well as human affairs, or any revolutions of
ſtates and empires . Now feeing both in the intellectual
and corporeal world there are certain periods, fulneſſes
of time, and fixed feafons, either for ſome great cata
ftrophe, or fome great inftauration ; it is providence
that makes a due harmony or fynchroniſm betwixt theſe
two, and meaſures out the concurrent fates of both
worlds, fo as nature may be always a faithful minifter
of the divine pleafure, whether for rewards or puniſh
ments, according as the ftate of mankind may require.
But theological providence not being the ſubject of this
work, we fhall only obferve, as we faid before, what
account we have hitherto given of the natural ſtate of
the earth, and what remains to be handled in another
treatiſe, and fo conclude.
I did not think it neceffary to carry the ſtory and o
riginal of the earth, higher than the chaos, as Zoroafter
and Orpheus feem to have done ; but taking that for
our foundation, which antiquity facred and prophane
doth fuppofe, and natural reafon approve and confirm ,
we have formed the earth from it. But when we fay
the earth rofe from a fluid rafs, it is not to be fo crude
ly understood, as if a rock of marble, fuppofe, was
fluid immediately before it became marble; no, things
had a gradual progreílion from one form to another, and
came at length to thofe more permanent forms they are
now fettled in : ftone was once earth, and earth was
and Paradife. 321
once mud, and mud was once fluid. And fo other
things may have another kind of progreſſion from fluidi
ty ; but all was once fluid, at leaſt all the exterior regi
ons ofthis earth. And even thofe ftones and rocks of
marble, which we ſpeak of, feem to confefs they were
once foft or liquid, by thofe mixtures we find in them of
heterogeneous bodies, and thofe fpots and veins difperf
ed thorough their fubftance ; 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 foften
rocks and ſtones, and run them down into their firſt li
quors, as theſe obſervations ſeem to do , we may eaſily
believe that other bodies alſo that compoſe the earth were
once in a fluid mafs, which is that we call a chaos .
We therefore watched the motions of that chaos, and
the feveral transformations of it, while it continued
fluid ; and we found at length what its firſt concretion
would be, and how it fettled into the form of an habi
table earth . But that form was very different from the
prefent form of the earth , which is not immediately de
1 ducible from a chaos by any known laws of nature, or
by any wit of man ; as every ore, that will have pati
ence to examine it, may eafily be fatisfied . That first
earth was of a ſmooth, regular furface, as the concretions
of liquors are, before they are difturbed or broken ; un
der that furface lay the great abyfs, which was ready to
“ใจ fwallow up the world that hung over it, and about it,
whenfoever God ſhould give the command, and the vault
I fhould break ; and this conftitution ofthe primaeval earth
gave occafion to the firſt cataſtrophe of this world, when
it periſhed in a deluge of water. For that vault did
break, as we have ſhewn at large, and by the diffolution
and fall of it, the great deep was thrown out of its bed,
forced upwards into the air, and overflowed, in that im
petuous commotion, the higheſt tops of the fragments of
the ruined earth, which now we call its mountains . And
as this was the firſt great and fatal period of nature ; fo
upon the iffue of this, and the return of the waters into
their channels, the ſecond face of nature appeared, or
Ff2
the prefent broken form ofthe earth, as it is terraque
ous, mountainous , and cavernous. Theſe things we have
explained fully in the firſt book, and have thereby ſettled
two great points, given a rational account of the univerſal
deluge, and fhewn the cauſes of the irregular form of the
prefent or poftdiluvian earth. This being done, we have
applied ourſelves in the fecond book to the deſcription
of the primaeval earth, and the examination of its pro
perties; and this hath led us by an eaſy track to the
difcovery ofparadife, and ofthe true notion and myſte
ry of it ; which is not fo much a fpot of ground
where a fine garden flood, as a courſe of nature, or a
peculiar ftate of the earth ; paradifiacal in many parts,
but especially in one region of it ; which place or regi
on we have alfo endeavoured to determine, though not
fo much from the theory, as from the fuffrages of anti
quity, ifyou will take their judgment.
Thus much is finiſhed, and this contains the natural
theory of the earth till this preſent time ; for fince the
deluge all things have continued in the fame ftate, 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 fccond part of this theory. Dividing the
duration of the world into two parts, paft and future,
we have difpatched 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 be
ginning ofthe world, and forwards to the end and con
fummation of all things, though the firſt be a longer pro
fpect, yet there are as many general changes and revolu
tions of nature in the remaining part, as have already
happened ; and in the evening of this long day the
fcenes will change faſter, and be more bright and illu
ftrious. 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 CONFLA
GRATION, to which a new face of nature will accord
ingly fucceed, new heavens and a new earth, paradife
and Paradife. 323
renewed, and ſo it is called the reſtitution of things, or
regeneration of the world , ᾿Αποκατάςασις, Παλιγο
evería. And that period of nature and providence
being expired, then follows the confummation ofall things,
or the general apotheofis ; when death and hell fhall be
fwallowed up in victory ; when the great circle of time
and fate is run ; or, according to the language of fcri
pture, when the heavens and the earth shall pass away,
and time fhall be no more.
May we, in the mean time, by a true love ofGod above
all things, and a contempt of this vain world which paffeth
away; by a careful ufe ofthe gifts ofGod and nature, the
light of reafon and revelation, prepare ourſelves, and the
ftate of things, for the great coming of our Saviour. To
whom be praiſe and honour for evermore.
THE END
5
KBATAS
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The Sacred Theory of The Earth

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The Sacred Theory of The Earth

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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized

by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the

ROBERT TROUP PAINE

Received 9 April, 1879.

CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE

ORIGINAL OF THE EARTH,

I. Concerning the DELUGE ,

Printed by R. URIE, MDCCLIIL

Sacrae Theoriae Telluris Au&torem .

NON ufitatum carminis alitem ,

Incedat, orbis dum dolofi

Fo. Addifon, e Coll. Magd. Oxon. 1699.

Dr. THOMAS BURNET,

AUTHOR of The Sacred Theory of the EARTH.

Now rushingfrom their watry bed,

As nature's doom you thus impart,

EW-found lands and countries accrue

made the deluge ; and this unfhapen earth

encouragement to this tranflation, I humbly

Most humble and

Moft obedient fubject,

AVING given an account of this whole work in

are apt to look upon as fantastical, or at leaſt would willing

good andfubftantial : for, faith he *, if the unbelievers

Gen. ad. lit. lib. 1. c. 19. Plerumque accidit ut aliquid

if they brought him home a cargo ofgood bullion, or a maſs

Thefecond propofition is laid down, viz. that the face of

That the explication we have given of an univerfal deluge

The particular hiftory ofNoah's flood is explained in all the

Concerning the channel of the fea andthe original of it ; the

Concerning the mountains of the earth, their greatness and

theological, that have been offered by others for the ex

The original differences of the primitive earth from the

A digreffion concerning the natural caufes of longaevity.

The uses ofthis theory for the illustration ofantiquity; the

Ageneral objection against this theory, viz. that ifthere

Concerning the AUTHOR of NATURE . 284

Concerning NATURAL PROVIDENCE.

Concerning the Deluge and the Diffolution of the

The INTRO CTION :

An account of the whole work ; ofthe extent and general

INCE I was firſt inclined to the contemplation

Ageneral account of NOAH's flood ; a computation what

IT is now more than five thouſand years fince our

another, to be about a quarter of a mile, or 250 paces.

the air make a great bulk of water ; I do not know what

pleafe, the water that came by this rain would be a very

And in the first place, the fea is not higher thanthe

All evafions answered; That there was no new creation of

THOUGH in the preceding chapter we may ſeem

grees with Mofes's philofophy, nor St. Peter's ; for then

C the cavities of the earth would be able in a good meaſure

of the univerſe ; and after all, they would be as hard

of explaining it, we ſhould proceed immediately to pro

have been providentially deſigned for the quicker multi

This product is too exceſſive high, if compared with the

otherrivers do,forthefe would be but fo many rivers rifing

cerning the form of the earth, which I imagined might

WE are now to enquire into the original of the earth,

ral ; That the form of the 1 antediluvian earth, or of the

The fecond propofition is laid down, viz . That the face of

WE have ſeen it proved, in the foregoing chapter,

to the propofition we were to prove, Smooth, regular and