The sacred theory of the Earth_ Volume 1 (of 2) _ Containing an account of the original of the Earth_ and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone_ or is to under

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Title: The sacred theory of the Earth, Volume 1 (of 2)
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 consummation of all things.

Author: Thomas Burnet

Release date: March 17, 2025 [eBook #75644]

Language: English

Original publication: London: J. Hooke, 1726

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75644

Credits: Paul Murray, David King, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SACRED
THEORY OF THE EARTH, VOLUME 1 (OF 2) ***

The Sacred Theory of the Earth

The Sacred Theory of the Earth

Effigies Authoris.

The Sacred Theory of 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 Consummation
of all Things.

In Two Volumes.
The Two First Books
Concerning the DELUGE
AND
Concerning PARADISE

The Two Last Books
Concerning the Burning of the WORLD,
AND
Concerning the New Heavens and New Earth

With a Review of the THEORY, and of its
Proofs; especially in reference to Scripture.

The Sixth Edition.
To which is added,

The Author’s Defence of the WORK, from
the Exceptions of Mr. Warren, and the Examination
of Mr. Keil.
AND

An ODE to the Author by Mr. Addison.
LONDON: Printed for J. Hooke, at the Flower-de-Luce
against St. Dunstan’s-Church in Fleet-street. MDCCXXVI.

Ad Insignissimum Virum
D. THO. BURNETTUM,
Sacræ Theoriæ Telluris Autorem.

Non usitatum carminis alitem,
Burnette, poscis, non humiles modos:
Vulgare plectrum, languidæque
Respuis officium camœnæ.
Tu mixta rerum semina conscius,
Molémque cernis dissociabilem,
Terrámque concretam, & latentem
Oceanum gremio capaci:
Dum veritatem quærere pertinax
Ignota pandis, sollicitus parùm
Utcunque stet commune vulgi
Arbitrium & popularis error.
Auditur ingens continuò fragor,
Illapsa tellus lubrica deserit
Fundamina, & compage fractà
Suppositas gravis urget undas.
Impulsus erumpit medius liquor,
Terras aquarum effusa licentia
Claudit vicissim: has inter orbis
Reliquiæ fluitant prioris.
Nunc & recluso carcere lucidam
Balæna spectat solis imaginem,
Stellasque miratur natantes,
Et tremulæ simulacra lunæ.
Quæ pompa vocum non imitablis!
Qualis calescit spiritus ingenî!
Ut tollis undas! ut frementem
Diluvii reprimis tumultum!
Quis tam valenti pectore ferreus
Ut non tremiscens & timido pede
Incedat, orbis dum dolosi
Detegis instabiles ruinas?

Quin hæc cadentûm fragmina montium
Natura vultum sumere simplicem
Coget resingens, in priorem
Mox iterum reditura formam.
Nimbis rubentem sulphureis Jovem
Cernas; ut udis sævit atrox Hyems
Incendiis, commune mundo
Et populis meditata Bustum!
Nudus liquentes plorat Athos nives,
Et mox liquescens ipse adamantinum
Fundit cacumen, dum per imas
Saxa fluunt resoluta valles.
Jamque alta cœli mœnia corruunt,
Et vestra tandem pagina (proh nefas!)
Burnette, vestra augebit ignes,
Heu socio peritura mundo.
Mox æqua tellus, mox subitus viror
Ubique rident: En teretem Globum!
En læta vernantis Favonî
Flamina, perpetuósque flores!
O pectus ingens! O animum gravem,
Mundi capacem! si bonus auguror,
Te, nostra quo tellus superbit,
Accipiet renovata civem.

Jo. Addison, è Coll. Magd. Oxon. 1699.

AN ODE
To the Learned

Dr. Thomas Burnet,
AUTHOR of The Sacred Theory of

the Earth.
I.

No common Height the Muse must soar,
That wou’d thy Fame in Numbers try;
Nor dare in humble Verse adore,
But rise with Thee above the Sky:
You ask a bold and lofty Strain,
And what we meanly sing, disdain.

II.

You Nature’s early Birth explore,
Her disunited Frame disclose,
From what mix’d Cause, and jarring Power,
The Infant Earth to Being rose:
How, in her circling Bosom sleep
Th’ imprisoned Seas, and bounded Deep.

III.

Resolv’d great hidden Truths to trace,
Each learned Fable you despise;
And, pleas’d, enjoy the fam’d Disgrace,
To think, and reason singly wise:
Each Tale reject by Time allow’d,
And nobly leave the erring Crowd.

IV.

Hark! from her weak Foundations tore,
The bursting Earth asunder flies,
And, prop’d by yielding Seas no more,
The dreadful Crack alarms the Skies:
Whose Arches rent, their Weight forego,
And plunge in opening Gulphs below.

V.

Now rushing from their watry Bed,
The driving Waves disdain a Shore;
And with resistless Force o’erspread
That Orb, which check’d their Rage before:
While scatter’d o’re the foamy Tide,
All Nature’s floating Ruins ride.

VI.

New Heavens disclos’d, the silver Train
The Sun beneath their Waves admire;
And gliding thro’ the enlight’ned Main,
Gaze at each Star’s diminish’d Fire,
Well pleas’d, the Moon’s bright Orb survey,
Trembling along their azure Play.

VII.

How strong each Line, each Thought how great,
With what an Energy you rise!
How shines each Fancy? with what Heat
Does every glowing Page surprize?
While spouting Oceans upward flow,
Or sink again to Caves below.

VIII.

As Nature’s Doom you thus impart,
The moving Scene we scarce endure;
But, shrinking, ask our anxious Heart,
If on our Earth we tread secure?
Whose Fate, unmov’d, as you persue,
We start and tremble but to view.

IX.

Yet these Remains we now behold,
Which tow’ring once in Hills arose;
Shall from a new and fairer Mould
A new and fairer Earth compose:
Which to her Fate shall owe her Bloom,
And rise more lovely from her Tomb.

X.

Yet see This beauteous Fabrick end,
This second Pride of Fate expire;
While gushing from the Clouds descend
The burning Storm, the liquid Fire;
Where Worlds and Men consuming lie,
And in one bright Confusion die.

XI.

Their naked Tops the Hills admire,
No longer white with fleecy Dew;
And as they moan the spreading Fire,
Add to the Flames dissolving too;
While Rocks from melting Mountains flow,
And roll in Streams thro’ Vales below.

XII.

And now the kindling Orbs on high
All Nature’s mournful End proclaim;
When thy great Work, (Alas!) must die,
And feed the rich victorious Flame:
Give Vigour to the wasting fire,
And with the World TOO SOON expire.

XIII.

Once more her Bloom the Earth renews,
Smooth’d into Green, eternal Vales;

Her Glebe still moist with fragrant Dews,
Her Air still rich with balmy Gales:
No Change her flow’ry Seasons breed,
But Springs retire, and Springs succeed.

XIV.

Oh say, Thou Great, Thou sacred Name,
What Scenes Thy thoughtful Breast employ,
Capacious as that mighty Frame
You raise with Ease, with Ease destroy?
Each World shall boast thy Fame; and You,
Who charm’d the Old, should grace the New.

TO THE
KING’s
MOST
Excellent Majesty.
SIR,
New-found Lands and Countries accrue to the Prince whose Subject makes
the first Discovery; and having retriev’d a World that had been lost for some
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. ’Twill not enlarge your
Dominions, ’tis past and gone; nor dare I say it will enlarge your Thoughts;
but I hope it may gratify your Princely Curiosity to read the Description of
it, and see the Fate that attended it.
We have still the broken Materials of that first World, and walk upon its
Ruins; while it stood, there was the Seat of Paradise, and the Scenes of the
Golden Age; when it fell, it made the Deluge; and this unshapen Earth we
now inhabit, is the Form it was found in when the Waters had retir’d, and
the dry Land appear’d. These things, Sir, I propose and presume to prove in
the following Treatise, which I willingly submit to your Majesty’s Judgment

and Censure; being very well satisfied, that if I had sought a Patron in all
the List 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
Speculation of this Nature. Your Majesty’s Sagacity, and happy Genius for
natural History, for Observations and Remarks upon the Earth, the Heavens,
and the Sea, 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 Volume takes in only so much
as is already past, from the Origin of the Earth, to this present Time and
State of Nature. To describe in like manner the Changes and Revolutions of
Nature that are to come, and see thorough all succeeding Ages, will require
a steady and attentive Eye, and a Retreat from the Noise of the World;
especially so to connect the Parts, and present them all under one View, that
we may see, as in a Mirror, the several Faces of Nature, from first to last,
throughout all the Circle of Successions.
Your Majesty having been pleas’d to give Encouragement to this
Translation, I humbly present it to your gracious Acceptance. And ’tis our
Interest, as well as Duty, in Disquisitions of this Nature, to address our
selves to your Majesty, as the Defender of Philosophick Liberties, against
those that would usurp upon the fundamental Privilege and Birthright of
Mankind, The free Use of Reason. Your Majesty hath always appear’d the
Royal Patron of Learning and the Sciences; and ’tis suitable to the
Greatness of a Princely Spirit to favour and promote whatsoever tends to
the Enlargement of human Knowledge, and the Improvement of human
Nature. To be Good and Gracious, and a Lover of Knowledge, are,
methinks, two of the most amiable Things in this World: And that your
Majesty may always bear that Character in present and future Ages; and
after a long and prosperous Reign enjoy a blessed Immortality, is the
constant Prayer of

Your Majesty’s
Most Humble and
Most Obedient Subject,

Thomas Burnet.

PREFACE TO THE READER.

Having given an Account of this whole Work in the first Chapter, and of the
Method of either Book, whereof this Volume consists, in their proper
Places, there remains not much to be said here to the Reader. This Theory of
the Earth may be called Sacred, because it is not the common Physiology of
the Earth, or of the Bodies that compose it, but respects only the great Turns
of Fate, and the Revolutions of our natural World; such as are taken notice
of in the Sacred Writings, and are truly the Hinges upon which the
Providence of this Earth moves; or whereby it opens and shuts the several
successive Scenes whereof it is made up. This English Edition is the same
in Substance with the Latin, though, I confess, ’tis not so properly a
Translation, as a new Composition upon the same Ground, there being
several additional Chapters in it, and several new-moulded.
As every Science requires a peculiar Genius, so likewise there is a Genius
peculiarly improper for every one: And as to Philosophy, which is the
Contemplation of the Works of Nature, and the Providence that governs
them, there is no Temper or Genius, in my Mind, so improper for it, as that
which we call a mean and narrow Spirit; and which the Greeks call
Littleness of Soul. This is a Defect in the first Make of some Mens Minds,
which can scarce ever be corrected afterwards, either by Learning or Age.
And as Souls that are made little and incapacious cannot enlarge their
Thoughts to take in any great Compass of Times or Things; so what is
beyond their Compass, or above their Reach, they are apt to look upon as
fantastical, or at least would willingly have it pass for such in the World.
Now as there is nothing so great, so large, so immense, as the Works of
Nature, and the Methods of Providence, Men of this Complexion must
needs be very unfit for the Contemplation of them. Who would set a
purblind Man at the Top of the Mast to discover Land? Or upon an high
Tower to draw a Landskip of the Country round about? For the same
Reason, short-sighted Minds are unfit to make Philosophers, whose proper

Business it is to discover and describe in comprehensive Theories the
Phænomena of the World, and the Causes of them.
This Original Disease of the Mind is seldom cur’d by Learning, which
cures many others; like a Fault in the first Stamina of the Body, it cannot
easily be rectified afterwards. ’Tis a great Mistake to think that every sort of
Learning makes a Man a competent Judge of Natural Speculations: We see
unhappy Examples to the contrary amongst the Christian Fathers, and
particularly in St. Austin, who was unquestionably a Man of Parts and
Learning; but interposing in a Controversy where his Talent did not lie,
shew’d his Zeal against the Antipodes to very ill purpose, though he drew
his Reasons partly from Scripture. And if within a few Years, or in the next
Generation, it should prove as certain and demonstrable that the Earth is
mov’d, as it is now, that there are Antipodes; those that have been zealous
against it, and engag’d the Scripture in the Controversy, would have the
same Reason to repent of their Forwardness, that St. Austin would have
now, if he was alive. ’Tis a dangerous thing to engage the Authority of
Scripture in Disputes about the Natural World, in Opposition to Reason; lest
Time, which brings all Things to Light, should discover that to be evidently
false which we had made Scripture to assert: And I remember St. Austin, in
his Exposition upon Genesis, hath laid down a Rule to this very purpose,
though he had the Unhappiness, it seems, not to follow it always himself.
The Reason also, which he gives there for his Rule, is very good and
substantial: For, saith he[1], if the Unbelievers or Philosophers shall
certainly know us to be mistaken, and to err in those things that concern the
Natural World, and see that we alledge our (Sacred) Books for such vain
Opinions, how shall they believe those same Books when they tell them of
the Resurrection of the Dead, and the World to come, if they find them to be
fallaciously writ in such things as lie within their certain Knowledge?
We are not to suppose that any Truth concerning the Natural World can be
an Enemy to Religion; for Truth cannot be an Enemy to Truth, God is not
divided against himself; and therefore we ought not upon that Account to
condemn or censure what we have not examin’d or cannot disprove; as
those, that are of this narrow Spirit we are speaking of, are very apt to do.
Let every thing be try’d and examin’d in the first Place, whether it be True
or False; and if it be found false, ’tis then to be consider’d whether it be
such a Falsity as is prejudicial to Religion or no. But for every new Theory

that is propos’d, to be alarm’d, as if all Religion was falling about our Ears,
is to make the World suspect that we are very ill assur’d of the Foundation
it stands upon. Besides, do not all Men complain, even these as well as
others, of the great ignorance of Mankind? how little we know, and how
much is still unknown? and can we ever know more, unless something new
be discover’d? It cannot be old when it comes first to light, when first
invented, and first propos’d. If a Prince should complain of the Poorness of
his Exchequer, and the Scarcity of Money in his Kingdom, would he be
angry with his Merchants, if they brought him home a Cargo of good
Bullion, or a Mass of Gold out of a foreign Country? and give this Reason
only for it, He would have no new Silver; neither should any be current in
his Dominions but what had his own Stamp and Image upon it: How should
this Prince or his People grow rich? To complain of Want, and yet refuse all
offers of a Supply, looks very sullen, or very fantastical.

I might mention also upon this occasion another Genius and Disposition in
Men, which often makes them improper for Philosophical Contemplations;
not so much, it may be, from the Narrowness of their Spirit and
Understanding, as because they will not take Time to extend them. I mean
Men of Wit and Parts, but of short Thoughts and little Meditation, and that
are apt to distrust every Thing for a Fancy or Fiction that is not the Dictate
of Sense, or made out immediately to their Senses. Men of this Humour and
Character call such Theories as these philosophick Romances, and think
themselves witty in the Expression; they allow them to be pretty
Amusements of the Mind, but without Truth or Reality. I am afraid if an
Angel should write the Theory of the Earth, they would pass the same
Judgment upon it; where there is Variety of Parts in a due Contexture, with
something of surprizing Aptness in the Harmony and Correspondency of
them, this they call a Romance; but such Romances must all Theories of
Nature and of Providence be, and must have every Part of that Character
with Advantage, if they be well represented. There is in them, as I may so
say, a Plot or Mystery pursued thro’ the whole Work, and certain grand
Issues or Events upon which the rest depend, or to which they are
subordinate; but these Things we do not make or contrive our selves, but
find and discover them, being made already by the great Author and
Governor of the Universe: And when they are clearly discover’d, well
digested, and well reason’d in every Part, there is, methinks, more of

Beauty in such a Theory, at least a more masculine Beauty, than in any
Poem or Romance; and that solid Truth that is at the Bottom gives a
Satisfaction to the Mind, that it can never have from any Fiction how
artificial soever it be.
To enter no further upon this Matter, ’tis enough to observe, that when we
make Judgments and Censures upon general Presumptions and Prejudices,
they are made rather from the Temper and Model of our own Spirits, than
from Reason; and therefore, if we would neither impose upon our selves,
nor others, we must lay aside that lazy and fallacious Method of censuring
by the Lump, and must bring things close to the Test of True or False, to
explicit Proof and Evidence; and whosoever makes such Objections against
an Hypothesis, hath a Right to be heard, let his Temper and Genius be what
it will. Neither do we intend that any thing we have said here should be
understood in another Sense.
To conclude, This Theory being writ with a sincere Intention to justify the
Doctrines of the Universal Deluge, and of a Paradisiacal State, and protect
them from the Cavils of those that are no Well-wishers to sacred History,
upon that Account it may reasonably expect fair Usage and Acceptance with
all that are well-dispos’d; and it will also be, I think, a great Satisfaction to
them to see those Pieces of most ancient History, which have been chiefly
preserv’d in Scripture, confirm’d anew, and by another Light, that of Nature
and Philosophy; and also freed from those Misconceptions or
Misrepresentations, which made them sit uneasie upon the Spirits even of
the best Men that took Time to think. Lastly, In things purely speculative, as
these are, and no Ingredients of our Faith, it is free to differ from one
another in our Opinions and Sentiments; and so I remember St. Austin hath
observ’d upon this very Subject of Paradise; wherefore as we desire to give
no Offence our selves, so neither shall we take any at the Difference of
Judgment in others; provided this Liberty be mutual, and that we all agree
to study Peace, Truth, and a good Life.

CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS.

The FIRST BOOK.
CHAP. I.
The Introduction: An Account of the whole Work, of the Extent and general
Order of it. ... Page 1
CHAP. II.
A general Account of Noah’s Flood. A Computation what Quantity of Water
would be necessary for the making of it; That the common Opinion and
Explication of that Flood is not intelligible. ... 10
CHAP. III.
All Evasions concerning the Flood answer’d; That there was no Creation of
Waters at the Deluge, and that it was not particular or national, but
extended throughout the whole Earth. A Prelude and Preparation to the true
Account and Explication of it. The Method of the first Book. ... 25
CHAP. IV.
That the Earth and Mankind had an Original, and were not from Eternity;
prov’d against Aristotle. The first Proposition of our Theory laid down, viz.
That the Antediluvian Earth was of a different Form and Construction from
the present. This is prov’d from divine Authority, and from the Nature and
Form of the Chaos, out of which the Earth was made. ... 47
CHAP. V.
The second Proposition is laid down, viz. That The Face of the Earth before
the Deluge was smooth, regular and uniform; without Mountains, and
without a Sea. The Chaos out of which the World rose is fully examin’d, and
all its Motions observ’d, and by what Steps it wrought it self into an
habitable World. Some things in Antiquity relating to the first State of the

Earth are interpreted, and some things in the sacred Writings. The divine
Art and Geometry in the Construction of the first Earth is observ’d and
celebrated. ... 71
CHAP. VI.
The Dissolution of the first Earth: The Deluge ensuing thereupon. And the
Form of the present Earth rising from the Ruins of the first. ... 89
CHAP. VII.
That the Explication we have given of an universal Deluge is not an IDEA
only, but an Account of what really came to pass in the Earth, and the true
Explication of Noah’s Flood. An Examination of Tehom-Rabba, or the great
Abyss, and that by it the Sea cannot be understood, nor the subterraneous
Waters as they are at present. What the true Notion and Form of it was,
collected from Moses and other sacred Writers. Observations on
Deucalion’s Deluge. ... 103
CHAP. VIII.
The particular History of Noah’s Flood is explain’d in all the material
Parts and Circumstances of it, according to the preceding Theory. Any
seeming Difficulties remov’d, and the whole Section concluded with a
Discourse how far the Deluge may be lookt upon as the Effect fect of an
ordinary Providence, and how far of an extraordinary. ... 129
CHAP. IX.
The second Part of this Discourse, proving the same Theory from the
Effects and the present Form of the Earth. First, by a general Scheme of
what is most remarkable in this Globe, and then by a more particular
Induction; beginning with an Account of Subterraneous Cavities and
Subterraneous Waters. ... 146
CHAP. X.
Concerning the Channel of the Sea and the Original of it; The Causes of its
irregular Form and unequal Depths: As also of the Original of Islands,
their Situation and other Properties. ... 172
CHAP. XI.

Concerning the Mountains of the Earth, their Greatness and irregular
Form, their Situation, Causes and Origin. ... 188
CHAP. XII.
A short Review of what hath been already treated of, and in what manner.
All Methods, whether philosophical or theological, that have been offer’d
by others for the Explication of the Form of the Earth, are examin’d and
refuted. A Conjecture concerning the other Planets, their Natural Form and
State compar’d with ours; especially concerning Jupiter and Saturn. ... 206
The Second Book.
CHAP. I.
The Introduction and Contents of the Second Book. The general State of the
Primæval Earth, and of Paradise. ... 235
CHAP. II.
The great Change of the World since the Flood, from what it was in the first
Ages. The Earth under its present Form could not be Paradisiacal, nor any
Part of it. ... 251
CHAP. III.
The Original Differences of the Primitive Earth from the Present or
Postdiluvian. The three Characters of Paradise, and the Golden Age, found
in the Primitive Earth. A particular Explication of each Character. ... 264
CHAP. IV.
A Digression concerning the Natural Causes of Longævity. That the
Machine of an Animal consists of Springs, and which are the two principal.
The Age of the Antediluvians to be computed by Solar, not Lunar Years. ...
277
CHAP. V.
Concerning the Waters of the Primitive Earth: What the State of the
Regions of the Air was then, and how all Waters proceeded from them. How
the Rivers arose, what was their Course, and how they ended. Several
things in sacred Writ that confirm this Hydrography of the first Earth,
especially the Postdiluvian Origin of the Rainbow. ... 307

CHAP. VI.
A Recollection and Review of what hath been said concerning the Primitive
Earth, with a more full Survey of the State of the First World, Natural and
Civil, and the Comparison of it with the present World. ... 329
CHAP. VII.
Concerning the Place of Paradise; It cannot be determin’d from the Theory
only, nor from Scripture only; What the Sense of Antiquity was concerning
it, as to the Jews and Heathens, and especially as to the Christian Fathers.
That they generally plac’d it out of this Continent, in the Southern
Hemisphere. ... 345
CHAP. VIII.
The Uses of this Theory for the Illustration of Antiquity; The Chaos of the
Ancients explain’d; The Inhabitability of the Torrid Zone; The Change of
the Poles of the World; The Doctrine of the Mundane Egg; How America
was first peopled; How Paradise within the Circle of the Moon. ... 363
CHAP. IX.
A general Objection against this Theory, viz. That if there had been such a
Primitive Earth, as we pretend, the Fame of it would have sounded
throughout all Antiquity. The Eastern and Western Learning consider’d, the
most considerable Records of both are lost; what Footsteps remain relating
to this Subject. The Jewish and Christian Learning consider’d, how far lost
as to this Argument, and what Notes or Traditions remain. Lastly, How far
the Sacred Writings bear witness to it. The Providential Conduct of
Knowledge in the World. A Recapitulation and State of the Theory. ... 379
CHAP. X.
Concerning the Author of Nature. ... 401
CHAP. XI.
Concerning Natural Providence.
Several Incroachments upon natural Providence, or Misrepresentations of
it, and false Methods of Contemplation. A true Method propos’d, and a true
Representation of the Universe. The Mundane Idea, and the universal
System of Providence. Several subordinate Systems. That of our Earth and

sublunary World. The Course and Periods of it. How much of this is already
treated of, and what remains. Conclusion. ... 432

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

CHAP. I.
The Introduction.

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

Since I was first inclin’d to the Contemplation of Nature, and took Pleasure
to trace out the Causes of Effects, and the Dependance of one thing upon
another in the visible Creation, I had always, methought, a particular
Curiosity to look back into the Sources and Original of Things; and to view
in my Mind, so far as I was able, the Beginning and Progress of a Rising
World.
And after some Essays of this Nature, and as I thought, not unsuccessful, I
carried on my Enquiries further, to try whether this Rising World, when
form’d and finish’d, would continue always the same; in the same Form,
Structure, and Consistency; or what Changes it would successively
undergo, by the continued Action of the same Causes that first produc’d it;
and, lastly, what would be its final Period and Consummation. This whole
Series and Compass of Things taken together, I call’d a Course of Nature,
or, a System of Natural Providence; and thought there was nothing
belonging to the external World more fit, or more worthy our Study and
Meditation, nor any thing that would conduce more to discover the Ways of
Divine Providence, and to shew us the Grounds of all true Knowledge
concerning Nature. And therefore, to clear up the several Parts of this
Theory, I was willing to lay aside a great many other Speculations, and all
those dry Subtilties with which the Schools and the Books of Philosophers
are usually fill’d.
But when we speak of a Rising World, and the Contemplation of it, we do
not mean this, of the Great Universe; for who can describe the Original of
that vast Frame? But we speak of the Sublunary World, this Earth, and its
Dependencies, which rose out of a Chaos about Six Thousand Years ago.
And seeing it hath fallen to our Lot to act upon this Stage, to have our
present Home and Residence here, it seems most reasonable, and the Place

design’d by Providence, where we should first employ our Thoughts, to
understand the Works of God and Nature. We have accordingly therefore
design’d in this Work to give an Account of the Original of the Earth, and of
all the great and general Changes that it hath already undergone, or is hence
forwards to undergo, till the Consummation of all things. For if from those
Principles we have here taken, and that Theory we have begun in these two
first Books, we can deduce with Success and Clearness the Origin of the
Earth, and those States of it that are already past; following the same
Thread, and by the Conduct of the same Theory, we will pursue its Fate and
History thro’ future Ages, and mark all the great Changes and Conversions
that attend it while Day and Night shall last; that is, so long as it continues
an Earth.
By the States of the Earth that are already past, we understand chiefly
Paradise and the Deluge; Names well known, and as little known in their
Nature. By the future States we understand the Conflagration, and what
new Order of Nature may follow upon that, ’till the whole Circle of Time
and Providence be compleated. As to the first and past States of the Earth,
we shall have little help from the Ancients, or from any of the Philosophers,
for the Discovery or Description of them: We must often tread unbeaten
Paths, and make a Way where we do not find one; but it shall be always
with a Light in our Hand, that we may see our Steps, and that those that
follow us may not follow us blindly. There is no Sect of Philosophers that I
know of, that ever gave an Account of the Universal Deluge, or discover’d,
from the Contemplation of the Earth, that there had been such a Thing
already in Nature. ’Tis true, they often talk of an Alternation of Deluges and
Conflagrations in this Earth, but they speak of them as Things to come; at
least, they give no Proof or Argument of any that hath already destroyed the
World. As to Paradise, it seems to be represented to us by the Golden Age;
whereof the Ancients tell many Stories, sometimes very luxuriant, and
sometimes very defective: For they did not so well understand the
Difference betwixt the new-made Earth and the present, as to see what were
the just Grounds of the Golden Age, or of Paradise; though they had many
broken Notions concerning those Things, as to the Conflagration in
particular. This hath always been reckon’d one amongst the Opinions, or
Dogmata of the Stoicks, That the World was to be destroyed by Fire, and
their Books are full of this Notion; but yet they do not tell us the Causes of
the Conflagration, nor what Preparations there are in Nature, or will be,

towards that great Change. And we may generally observe this of the
Ancients, that their Learning or Philosophy consisted more in Conclusions,
than in Demonstrations; they had many Truths among them, whereof they
did not know themselves the Premises or the Proofs: Which is an Argument
to me, that the Knowledge they had, was not a Thing of their own
Invention, or which they came to by fair Reasoning and Observations upon
Nature, but was delivered to them from others by Tradition and ancient
Fame, sometimes more publick, sometimes more secret: These Conclusions
they kept in Mind, and communicated to those of their School, or Sect, or
Posterity, without knowing, for the most part, the just Grounds and Reasons
of them.
’Tis the Sacred Writings of Scripture that are the best Monuments of
Antiquity, and to those we are chiefly beholden for the History of the first
Ages, whether Natural History or Civil. ’Tis true, the Poets, who were the
most ancient Writers among the Greeks, and serv’d them both for
Historians, Divines, and Philosophers, have delivered some Things
concerning the first Ages of the World, that have a fair resemblance of
Truth, and some Affinity with those Accounts that are given of the same
Things by Sacred Authors, and these may be of Use in due Time and Place;
but yet, lest any thing fabulous should be mix’d with them, as commonly
there is, we will never depend wholly upon their Credit, nor assert any
Thing upon the Authority of the Ancients which is not first prov’d by
natural Reason, or warranted by Scripture.
It seems to me very reasonable to believe that besides the Precepts of
Religion, which are the principal Subject and Design of the Books of Holy
Scripture, there may be providentially conserved in them the Memory of
Things and Times so remote, as could not be retrieved, either by History, or
by the Light of Nature; and yet were of great Importance to be known, both
for their own Excellency, and also to rectify the Knowledge of Men in other
Things consequential to them: Such Points may be, Our great Epocha, or
the Age of the Earth, The Origination of Mankind, The First and
Paradisiacal State, The Destruction of the old World by an Universal
Deluge, The Longevity of its Inhabitants, The manner of their Preservation,
and of their Peopling the second Earth; and lastly, The Fate and Changes it
is to undergo. These I always look’d upon as the Seeds of great Knowledge,
or Heads of Theories fix’d on Purpose to give us Aim and Direction how to

pursue the rest that depend upon them. But these Heads, you see, are of a
mix’d Order, and we propose to our selves in this Work only such as belong
to the natural World, upon which I believe the Trains of Providence are
generally laid; and we must first consider, how God hath order’d Nature,
and then, how the Occonomy of the Intellectual World is adapted to it; for
of these two Parts consist the full System of Providence. In the mean Time,
what Subject can be more worthy the Thoughts of any serious Person, than
to view and consider the Rise and Fall, and all the Revolutions, not of a
Monarchy or an Empire, of the Grecian or Roman State, but of an entire
World?
The Obscurity of these Things, and their Remoteness from common
Knowledge, will be made an Argument by some, why we should not
undertake them; and by others, it may be, the very same Thing will be made
an Argument why we should. For my Part I think There is nothing so secret
that shall not be brought to Light, within the Compass of our World; for we
are not to understand that of the whole Universe, nor of all Eternity, our
Capacities do not extend so far; but whatsoever concerns this Sublunary
World in the whole Extent of its Duration, from the Chaos to the last Period,
this I believe Providence hath made us capable to understand, and will in its
due Time make it known. All I say, betwixt the first Chaos and the last
Completion of Time and all Things temporary, this was given to the
Disquisitions of Men: On either Hand is Eternity, before the World and
after, which is without our reach: But that little spot of Ground that lies
betwixt those two great Oceans, this we are to cultivate, this we are Masters
of, herein we are to exercise our Thoughts, to understand and lay open the
Treasures of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness hid in this part of Nature
and of Providence.
As for the Difficulty or Obscurity of an Argument, that does but add to the
Pleasure of contesting with it, when there are Hopes of Victory; and
Success does more than recompense all the Pains. For there is no sort of Joy
more grateful to the Mind of Man, than that which ariseth from the
Invention of Truth; especially when ’tis hard to come by. Every Man hath a
Delight suited to his Genius, and as there is Pleasure in the right Exercise of
any Faculty, so especially in that of Right-Reasoning; which is still the
greater, by how much the Consequences are more clear, and the Chains of
them more long: There is no Chace so pleasant, methinks, as to drive a

Thought, by good Conduct, from one end of the World to the other; and
never to lose Sight of it till it fall into Eternity, where all things are lost, as
to our Knowledge.
This Theory being chiefly Philosophical, Reason is to be our first Guide;
and where that falls short, or any other just Occasion offers it self, we may
receive further Light and Confirmation from the Sacred Writings. Both
these are to be look’d upon as of Divine Original, God is the Author of
both; he that made the Scripture made also our Faculties, and ’twere a
Reflection upon the Divine Veracity for the one or the other to be false
when rightly used. We must therefore be careful and tender of opposing
these to one another, because that is, in effect, to oppose God to himself. As
for Antiquity and the Testimonies of the Ancients, we only make general
Reflections upon them, for Illustration rather than Proof of what we
propose; not thinking it proper for an English Treatise to multiply Citations
out of Greek or Latin Authors.
I am very sensible it will be much our Interest, that the Reader of this
Theory should be of an ingenuous and unprejudiced Temper, neither does it
so much require Book-learning and Scholarship, as good natural Sense to
distinguish True and False, and to discern what is well prov’d, and what is
not. It often happens that Scholastick Education, like a Trade, does so fix a
Man in a particular Way, that he is not fit to judge of any thing that lies out
of that Way; and so his Learning becomes a Clog to his natural Parts, and
makes him more indocile, and more incapable of new Thoughts and new
Improvements, than those that have only the Talents of Nature. As Matters
of Exercise had rather take a Scholar that never learn’d before, than one that
hath had a bad Master; so generally one would rather chuse a Reader
without Art, than one ill instructed with Learning, but opinionative, and
without Judgment; yet it is not necessary they should want either, and
Learning well plac’d strengthens all the Powers of the Mind. To conclude,
just Reasoning and a generous Love of Truth, whether with or without
Erudition, is that which makes us most competent Judges what is true. And
further than this, in the Perusal and Examination of this Work, as to the
Author, as much Candor as you please; but as to the Theory, we require
nothing but Attention and Impartiality.

Chap. II.

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

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

Subject of it, is to give an Account of the primæval Paradise, and of the
Universal Deluge, those being the two most important things that are
explained by the Theory we propose. And I must beg leave in treating of
these two, to change the Order, and treat first of the Deluge, and then of
Paradise: For though the State of Paradise doth precede that of the Flood in
Sacred History, and in the Nature of the Thing, yet the Explication of both
will be more sensible and more effectual, if we begin with the Deluge; there
being more Observations and Effects, and those better known to us that may
be referr’d to this, than to the other; and the Deluge being once truly
explain’d, we shall from thence know the Form and Quality of the Ante-
diluvian Earth. Let us then proceed to the Explication of that great and fatal
Inundation, whose History is well known; and according to Moses, the best
of Historians, in a few Words is this——
Sixteen Hundred and odd Years after the Earth was made, and inhabited, it
was over-flowed and destroyed in a Deluge of Water. Not a Deluge that was
National only, or over-run some particular Country or Region, as Judea or
Greece, or any other, but it over-spread the Face of the Whole Earth, from
Pole to Pole, and from East to West, and that in such Excess, that the Floods
over-reacht the tops of the highest Mountains; the Rains descending after an
unusual Manner, and the Fountains of the Great Deep being broke open; so
as a general Destruction and Devastation was brought upon the Earth, and
all Things in it, Mankind and other living Creatures; excepting only Noah
and his Family, who by a special Providence of God was preserved in a
certain Ark, or Vessel made like a Ship, and such kinds of living Creatures
as he took in to him. After these Waters had rag’d for some time on the
Earth, they began to lessen and shrink, and the great Waves and
Fluctuations of this Deep or Abyss being quieted by degrees, the Waters
retir’d into their Channels and Caverns within the Earth; and the Mountains
and Fields began to appear, and the whole habitable Earth in that Form and
Shape wherein we now see it. Then the World began again, and from that
little Remnant preserv’d in the Ark, the present Race of Mankind, and of
Animals, in the known Parts of the Earth, were propagated. Thus perish’d
the Old World, and the present arose from the Ruins and Remains of it.
This is a short Story of the greatest Thing that ever yet hap’ned in the
World, the greatest Revolution and the greatest Change in Nature; and if we
come to reflect seriously upon it, we shall find it extreamly difficult, if not

impossible, to give an Account of the Waters that compos’d this Deluge,
whence they came, or whither they went. If it had been only the Inundation
of a Country, or of a Province, or of the greatest part of a Continent, some
proportionable Causes perhaps might have been found out; but a Deluge
overflowing the whole Earth, the whole Circuit and whole Extent of it,
burying all in Water, even the greatest Mountains in any known Parts of the
Universe, to find Water sufficient for this Effect, as it is generally explained
and understood, I think is impossible. And that we may the better judge of
the whole matter, let us first compute, how much Water would be requisite
for such a Deluge; or to lay the Earth, consider’d in its present Form, and
the highest Mountains, under Water. Then let us consider whether such a
Quantity of Water can be had out of all the Stores that we know in Nature:
And from these two, we will take our Ground and Rise, and begin to reflect,
whether the World hath not been hitherto mistaken in the common Opinion
and Explication of the general Deluge.
To discover how much Water would be requisite to make this Deluge, we
must first suppose enough to cover the plain Surface of the Earth, the Fields
and lower Grounds; then we must heap up so much more upon this, as will
reach above the tops of the highest Mountains; so as drawing a Circle over
the tops of the highest Mountains quite round the Earth, suppose from Pole
to Pole, and another to meet it round the middle of the Earth, all that Space,
or Capacity, contain’d within these Circles, is to be fill’d up with Water.
This I confess will make a prodigious Mass of Water, and it looks
frightfully to the Imagination; ’tis huge and great, but ’tis extravagantly so,
as a great Monster: It doth not look like the Work of God or Nature:
However let’s compute a little more particularly how much this will amount
to, or how many Oceans of Water would be necessary to compose this great
Ocean rowling in the Air, without Bounds or Banks.
If all the Mountains were pared off the Earth, and so the Surface of it lay
even, or in an equal Convexity every where, with the Surface of the Sea,
from this Surface of the Sea, let us suppose that the height of the Mountains
may be a Mile and a half; or that we may not seem at all to favour our own
Opinion or Calculation, let us take a Mile only for the perpendicular height
of the Mountains. Let us on the other side suppose the Sea to cover half the
Earth, as ’tis generally believ’d to do; and the common Depth of it, taking
one Place with another, to be about a quarter of a Mile, or 250 Paces. I say,

taking one Place with another, for though the middle Channel of the great
Ocean be far deeper, we may observe, that there is commonly a Descent or
Declivity from the Shore to the middle Part of the Channel, so that one
comes by Degrees into the Depth of it; and those shory Parts are generally
but some Fathoms deep. Besides, in Arms of the Sea, in Straits and among
Islands, there is commonly no great Depth, and some Places are plain
Shallows. So as upon a moderate Computation, one Place compar’d with
another, we may take a quarter of a Mile, or about an hundred Fathoms, for
the common Measure of the Depth of the Sea, if we were cast into a
Channel of an equal Depth every where. This being suppos’d, there would
need four Oceans to lie upon this Ocean, to raise it up to the top of the
Mountains, or so high as the Waters of the Deluge rise; then four Oceans
more to lie upon the Land, that the Water there might swell to the same
height; which together make eight Oceans for the Proportion of the Water
requir’d in the Deluge.
’Tis true, there would not be altogether so much Water required for the
Land as for the Sea, to raise them to an equal height; because Mountains
and Hills would fill up part of that Space upon the Land, and so make less
Water requisite. But to compensate this, and confirm our Computation, we
must consider in the first Place, that we have taken a much less height of
the Mountains than is requisite, if we respect the Mediterraneous
Mountains, or those that are at a great distance from the Sea; for their
Height above the Surface of the Sea, computing the Declivity of the Land
all along from the Mountains to the Sea-side (and that there is such a
Declivity is manifest from the Course and Descent of the Rivers) is far
greater than the Proportion we have taken: The height of Mountains is
usually taken from the Foot of them, or from the next Plain, which if it be
far from the Sea, we may reasonably allow as much for the Declension of
the Land from that place to the Sea, as for the immediate Height of the
Mountain: So, for Instance, the Mountains of the Moon in Africa, whence
the Nile flows, and after a long Course falls into the Mediterranean Sea by
Egypt, are so much higher than the Surface of that Sea, first, as the Ascent
of the Land is from the Sea to the Foot of the Mountains, and then as the
Height of the Mountains is from the bottom to the top: For both these are to
be computed when you measure the Height of a Mountain, or of a
mountainous Land, in respect of the Sea: And the Height of Mountains to
the Sea being thus computed, there would be need of six or eight Oceans to

raise the Sea alone as high as the highest Inland Mountains: And this is
more than enough to compensate the less Quantity of Water that would be
requisite upon the Land. Besides, we must consider the Regions of the Air
upwards to be more capacious than a Region of the same Thickness in or
near the Earth, so as if an Ocean pour’d upon the Surface of the dry Land,
supposing it were all smooth, would rise to the Height of half a quarter of a
Mile every where; the like Quantity of Water pour’d again at the Height of
the Mountains would not have altogether the same effect, or would not
there raise the Mass half a quarter of a Mile higher; for the Surfaces of a
Globe, the farther they are from their Center, are the greater; and so
accordingly the Regions that belong to them. And, lastly, we must consider,
that there are some Countries or Valleys very low, and also many Caverns
or Cavities within the Earth, all which in this Case were to be first fill’d
with Water. These Things being compar’d and estimated, we shall find, that
notwithstanding the Room that Hills and Mountains take up on the dry
Land, there would be at least eight Oceans required, or a Quantity of Water
eight times as great as the Ocean, to bring an Universal Deluge upon the
Earth, as that Deluge is ordinarily understood and explained.
The Proportion of Water for the Deluge being thus stated, the next thing to
be done, is to enquire where this Water is to be found; if any part of the
Sublunary World will afford us so much: Eight Oceans floating in the Air
make a great Bulk of Water, I do not know what possible Sources to draw it
from. There are the Clouds above and the Deeps below, and in the Bowels
of the Earth; and these are all the Stores we have for Water; and Moses
directs us to no other for the Causes of the Deluge. The Fountains (he saith)
of the great Abyss were broken up, or burst asunder, and the Rain
descended for Forty Days, the Cataracts, or Floodgates of Heaven being
opened. And in these two, no doubt, are contain’d the Causes of the great
Deluge, as according to Moses, so also according to Reason and Necessity;
for our World affords no other Treasures of Water. Let us therefore consider,
how much this Rain of Forty Days might amount to, and how much might
flow out of the Abyss, that so we may judge whether these two in
conjunction would make up the eight Oceans which we want.
As for the Rains, they would not afford us one Ocean, nor half an Ocean,
nor the tenth part of an Ocean, if we may trust to the Observations made by
others concerning the Quantity of Water that falls in Rain. Mersennus gives

us this Account of it, Cog. Phys. Mech. p. 221. “It appears by our
Observations, that a Cubical Vessel of Brass, whereof we made use, is fill’d
an Inch and an half in half an Hour’s Time; but because that sucks up
nothing of the Moisture as the Earth doth, let us take an Inch for half an
Hour’s Rain; whence it follows, that in the Space of Forty Days and Nights
Rain, the Waters in the Deluge wou’d rise, at four Feet in 24 Hours, 160
Feet, if the Rains were constant and equal to ours, and that it rain’d at once
throughout the Face of the whole Earth.” But the Rain of the Deluge, saith
he, should have been 90 times greater than this, to cover, for Instance, the
Mountains of Armenia, or to reach 15 Cubits above them. So that according
to his Computation, the Forty Days Rain would supply little more than the
hundredth Part of the Water requisite to make the Deluge. ’Tis true, he
makes the Height of the Mountains higher than we do; but, however, if you
temper the Calculation on all Sides as much as you please, the Water that
came by this Rain would be a very inconsiderable part of what was
necessary for a Deluge. If it rain’d Forty Days and Forty Nights throughout
the Face of the whole Earth, in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere all at
once, it might be sufficient to lay all the lower Grounds under Water, but it
would signify very little as to the overflowing of the Mountains. Whence
another Author upon the same Occasion hath this Passage, Auct. cat. in
Gen. 7. 4. “If the Deluge had been made by Rains only, there would not
have needed Forty Days, but Forty Years Rain to have brought it to pass.”
And if we should suppose the whole middle Region condens’d into Water, it
would not at all have been sufficient for this Effect, according to that
Proportion some make betwixt Air and Water; for they say, Air turn’d into
Water takes up a hundred times less Room than it did before. The Truth is,
we may reasonably suppose, that all the Vapours of the middle Region were
turn’d into Water in this Forty Days and Forty Nights Rain, if we admit, that
this Rain was throughout the whole Earth at once, in either Hemisphere, in
every Zone, in every Climate, in every Country, in every Province, in every
Field; and yet we see what a small Proportion all this would amount to.
Having done then with these superior Regions, we are next to examine the
inferior, and the Treasures of Water that may be had there. Moses tells us,
that the Fountains of the great Abyss were broke open, or clove asunder, as
the Word there us’d doth imply; and no doubt in this lay the great Mystery
of the Deluge, as will appear when it comes to be rightly understood and
explained; but we are here to consider what is generally understood by the

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

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

been able to collect the eighth part of what was necessary upon a moderate
Account. May we not then with Assurance conclude, that the World hath
taken wrong Measures hitherto, in their Notion and Explication of the
general Deluge? They make it impossible and unintelligible upon a double
Account, both in requiring more Water than can be found, and more than
can be dispos’d of if it was found; or could any way be withdrawn from the
Earth when the Deluge should cease. For if the Earth was encompass’d with
eight Oceans of Water heapt one upon another, how these should retire into
any Channels, or be drain’d off, or the Earth any way disengag’d from
them, is not intelligible; and that in so short a time as some Months: For the
Violence of the Deluge lasted but four or five Months, and in as many
Months after the Earth was dry and habitable. So as upon the whole
Enquiry, we can neither find Source nor Issue, Beginning nor Ending, for
such an excessive Mass of Waters as the vulgar Deluge required; neither
where to have them, nor if we had them, how to get quit of them. And I
think Men cannot do a greater Injury or Injustice to Sacred History, than to
give such Representations of things recorded there, as make them
unintelligible and incredible; and on the other Hand, we cannot deserve
better of Religion and Providence, than by giving such fair Accounts of all
things proposed by them, or belonging to them, as may silence the Cavils of
Atheists, satisfy the Inquisitive, and recommend them to the Belief and
Acceptance of all reasonable Persons.

Chap. III.

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

Though in the preceding Chapter we may seem to have given a fair Trial to
the common Opinion concerning the State of the Deluge, and might now
proceed to Sentence of Condemnation: Yet having heard of another Plea,
which some have us’d in its Behalf, and another way found out by recourse
to the Supream Power, to supply all Defects, and to make the whole matter
intelligible, we will proceed no farther ’till that be consider’d; being very
willing to examine whatsoever may be offer’d, in that or any other way, for
resolving that great Difficulty which we have proposed, concerning the
Quantity of Water requisite for such a Deluge. And to this they say in short,
that God Almighty created Waters on purpose to make the Deluge, and then
annihilated them again when the Deluge was to cease; and this, in a few
Words, is the whole account of the Business. This is to cut the Knot when
we cannot loose it; they shew us the naked Arm of Omnipotency; such
Arguments as these come like Lightning, one doth not know what Armour
to put on against them, for they pierce the more, the more they are resisted:
We will not therefore oppose any thing to them that is hard and stubborn,
but by a soft Answer deaden their Force by degrees.
And I desire to mind those Persons, in the first Place, of what St. Austin
hath said upon a like Occasion, speaking concerning those that disproved
the Opinion of Waters above the Heavens (which we mention’d before) by
natural Reasons. “We are not, saith he, to refute those Persons, by saying,
that according to the Omnipotence of God, to whom all things, are possible,
we ought to believe there are Waters there, as heavy as we know and feel
them here below; for our Business is now to enquire according to his

Scripture, how God hath constituted the Nature of Things, and not what he
could do or work in these Things by a Miracle of Omnipotency.” I desire
them to apply this to the present Argument for the first Answer.
Secondly, Let them consider, that Moses hath assign’d Causes of the
Deluge; Forty Days Rain, and the Disruption of the Abyss; and speaks
nothing of a new Creation of Water upon that Occasion. Those were Causes
in Nature which Providence had then dispos’d for this extraordinary Effect,
and those the Divine Historian refers us to, and not to any Productions out
of nothing. Besides, Moses makes the Deluge increase by degrees with the
Rain, and accordingly makes it cease by degrees, and that the Waters going
and returning as the Waves and great Commotions of the Sea use to do,
retir’d leisurely from the Face of the Earth, and settled at length in their
Channels. Now this manner of the Beginning or Ceasing of the Deluge doth
not at all agree with the instantaneous Actions of Creation and Annihilation.
Thirdly, Let them consider, that Saint Peter hath also assign’d Causes of
the Deluge, 2 Pet. 3. 6. namely the particular Constitution of the Earth and
Heavens before the Flood; by reason whereof, he saith, the World that was
then perish’d in a Deluge of Water; and not by reason of a new Creation of
Water. His Words are these: “The Heavens and the Earth were of old,
consisting of Water, and by Water; whereby, or by reason whereof, the
World that then was, being overflowed with Water, perished.”
Fourthly, They are to consider, that as we are not rashly to have recourse to
the Divine Omnipotence upon any Account, so especially not for new
Creations; and least of all for the Creation of new Matter. The Matter of the
Universe was created many Ages before the Flood, and the Universe being
full, if any more was created, then there must be as much annihilated at the
same time to make Room for it; for Bodies cannot penetrate one another’s
Dimensions, nor be two or more within one and the same Space. Then, on
the other Hand, when the Deluge ceas’d, and these Waters were annihilated,
so much other Matter must be created again to take up their Places. And
methinks they make very bold with the Deity, when they make him do and
undo, go forward and backwards by such countermarches and retractions,
as we do not willingly impute to the Wisdom of God Almighty.
Lastly, I shall not think my Labour lost, if it be but acknowledg’d, that we
have so far clear’d the Way in this Controversy, as to have brought it to this

Issue; that either there must be new Waters created on purpose to make a
Deluge, or there could be no Deluge as it is vulgarly explained; there not
being Water sufficient in Nature to make a Deluge of that kind. This, I say,
is a great step, and, I think, will satisfy all Parties, at least, all that are
considerable; for those that have recourse to a new Creation of Waters, are
of two sorts, either such as do it out of Laziness, and Ignorance, or such as
do it out of Necessity, seeing they cannot be had otherwise; as for the first,
they are not to be valued or gratified; and as for the second, I shall do a
thing very acceptable to them, if I free them and the Argument from that
Necessity; and shew a way of making the Deluge fairly intelligible, and
accountable without the Creation of new Waters; which is the Design of this
Treatise. For we do not tie this Knot with an Intention to puzzle and perplex
the Argument finally with it; but the harder it is ty’d, we shall feel the
Pleasure more sensibly when we come to loose it.
It may be, when they are beaten from this new Creation of Water, they will
say, the Element of Air was chang’d into Water, and that was the great
Store-house for the Deluge. Forty Days Rain we allow, as Moses does, but
if they suppose any other Transelementation, it neither agrees with Moses’s
Philosophy, nor St. Peter’s; for then the Opening of the Abyss was needless,
and the Form and Constitution of the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth,
which St. Peter refers the Deluge to, bore no part in the Work; it might have
been made, in that way, indifferently under any Heavens, or Earth. Besides,
they offend against St. Austin’s Rule in this Method too; for I look upon it
as no less a Miracle to turn Air into Water, than to turn Water into Wine.
Air, I say: For Vapours indeed are but Water made volatile; but pure Air is a
Body of another Species, and cannot by any Compression or Condensation,
so far as is yet known, be chang’d into Water. And lastly, if the whole
Atmosphere was turn’d into Water, ’tis very probable it would make no
more than 34 Foot or thereabouts; for so much Air or Vapours as is of the
same weight with any certain Quantity of Water, ’tis likely, if it was chang’d
into Water, would also be of the same Bulk with it, or not much more: Now
according to the Doctrine of the Gravitation of the Atmosphere, ’tis found,
that 34 Foot of Water does counterballance a proportionable Cylinder of Air
reaching to the top of the Atmosphere; and consequently, if the whole
Atmosphere was converted into Water, it would make no more than eleven
or twelve Yards Water about the Earth; which the Cavities of the Earth
would be able in a good measure to suck up, at least this is very

inconsiderable as to our eight Oceans. And if you would change the higher
Regions into Water too, what must supply the Place of that Air which you
transform into Water, and bring down upon the Earth? There would be little
left but Fire and Æther betwixt us and the Moon, and I am afraid it would
endanger to suck down the Moon too after it. In a Word, such an
Explication as this is both purely imaginary, and also very operose, and
would affect a great part of the Universe; and after all, they would be as
hard put to it to get rid of this Water, when the Deluge was to cease, as they
were at first to procure it.
Having now examin’d and answered all the Pleas, from first to last, for the
vulgar Deluge, or the old way of explaining it, we should proceed
immediately to propose another Method, and another Ground for an
universal Deluge, were it not that an Opinion hath been started by some of
late, that would in effect supplant both these Methods, old and new, and
take away in a great measure the Subject of the Question. Some Modern
Authors observing what straits they have been put to in all Ages, to find out
Water enough for Noah’s Flood, have ventur’d upon an Expedient more
brisk and bold than any of the Ancients durst venture upon: They say,
Noah’s Flood was not Universal, but a National Inundation, confin’d to
Judea, and those Countries thereabouts; and consequently, there would not
be so much Water necessary for the Cause of it, as we have prov’d to be
necessary for an Universal Deluge of that kind. Their Inference is very true,
they have avoided that Rock, but they run upon another no less dangerous;
to avoid an Objection from Reason, they deny matter of Fact, and such
matter of Fact as is well attested by History, both Sacred and Prophane. I
believe the Authors that set up this Opinion were not themselves satisfy’d
with it; but seeing insuperable Difficulties in the old Way, they are the more
excusable in chusing, as they thought, of two Evils the less.
But the Choice, methinks, is as bad on this Hand, if all things be
considered; Moses represents the Flood of Noah as an Overthrow and
Destruction of the whole Earth; and who can imagine, that in sixteen or
seventeen hundred Years time, (taking the lower Chronology) that the Earth
had then stood, Mankind should be propagated no farther than Judea, or
some neighbouring Countries thereabouts? After the Flood, when the World
was renew’d again by eight Persons, they had made a far greater Progress in
Asia, Europe, and Africa, within the same space of Years, and yet ’tis likely

they were more fruitful in the first Ages of the World, than after the Flood;
and they liv’d six, seven, eight, nine hundred Years a Piece, getting Sons
and Daughters. Which Longevity of the first Inhabitants of the Earth seems
to have been providentially design’d for the quicker Multiplication and
Propagation of Mankind; and Mankind thereby would become so numerous
within sixteen hundred Years, that there seems to me to be a greater
Difficulty from the Multitude of the People that would be before the Flood,
than from the want of People: For if we allow the first Couple at the End of
one hundred Years, or of the first Century, to have left ten Pair of Breeders,
which is no hard Supposition, there would arise from these, in fifteen
hundred Years, a greater Number than the Earth was capable of; allowing
every Pair to multiply in the same decuple Proportion the first Pair did. But
because this would rise far beyond the Capacities of this Earth, let us
suppose them to increase, in the following Centuries, in a quintuple
Proportion only, or, if you will, only in a quadruple; and then the Table of
the Multiplication of Mankind, from the Creation to the Flood, would stand
thus;
Century

1— 10
2— 40
3— 160
4— 640
5— 2560
6— 10240
7— 40960
8— 163840
9— 655360
10— 2621440
11— 10485760
12— 41943040
13— 167772160
14— 671088640
15— 2684354560

16— 10737418240
This Product is too excessive high, if compar’d with the present number of
Men upon the Face of the Earth, which, I think, is commonly estimated to
be betwixt three and four hundred Millions; and yet this Proportion of their
Increase seems to be low enough, if we take one Proportion for all the
Centuries; for, in reality, the same Measure cannot run equally through all
the Ages, but we have taken this as moderate and reasonable betwixt the
highest and the lowest; but if we had taken only a tripple Proportion, it
would have been sufficient (all things consider’d) for the Purpose. There
are several other ways of computing this Number, and some more particular
and exact than this is, but which way soever you try, you shall find the
Product great enough for the Extent of this Earth; and if you follow the
Septuagint Chronology, it will still be far higher. I have met with three or
four different Calculations, in several Authors, of the Number of Mankind
before the Flood, and never met with any yet, but what exceeded the
Number of the People that are at present upon the Face of the Earth. So as it
seems to me a very groundless and forc’d Conceit to imagine, that Judea
only, and some Parts about it in Asia, were stor’d with People when the
Deluge was brought upon the old World. Besides, if the Deluge was
confin’d to those Countries, I do not see but the Borderers might have
escap’d, shifting a little into the adjoining Places where the Deluge did not
reach. But especially what needed so much ado to build an Ark to save
Noah and his Family, if he might have sav’d himself and them, only by
retiring into some neighbouring Country; as Lot and his Family sav’d
themselves, by withdrawing from Sodom, when the City was to be
destroyed? Had not this been a far easier thing, and more compendious,
than the great Preparations he made of a large Vessel, with Rooms, for the
Reception and Accommodation of Beasts and Birds? And now I mention
Birds, why could not they at least have flown into the next dry Country?
They might have pearch’d upon the Trees, and the tops of the Mountains by
the way to have rested themselves if they were weary, for the Waters did not
all of a sudden rise to the Mountains tops.
I cannot but look upon the Deluge as a much more considerable thing than
these Authors wou’d represent it, and as a kind of Dissolution of Nature;
Moses calls it a destroying of the Earth, as well as of Mankind, Gen. 6. 13.
And the Bow was set in the Cloud to seal the Covenant, that he would

destroy the Earth no more, Gen. 9. 11. or that there would be no more a
Flood to destroy the Earth. And ’tis said, Verse 13. That the Covenant was
made between God and the Earth, or this Frame of Nature, that it should
perish no more by Water. And the Rain-Bow, which was a Token and
Pledge of this Covenant, appears not only in Judea, or some other Asiatick
Provinces, but to all the Regions of the Earth, who had an equal Share and
Concern in it. Moses saith also, the Fountains of the great Abyss were burst
asunder to make the Deluge; and what means this Abyss, and the bursting of
it, if restrain’d to Judea, or some adjacent Countries? What Appearance is
there of this Disruption there, more than in other Places? Furthermore, St.
Peter plainly implies, 2 Epist. c. 5. 6. That the Antediluvian Heavens and
Earth perished in the Deluge; and opposeth the present Earth and Heavens
to them, as different and of another Constitution; and saith, that these shall
perish by Fire, as the other perished by Water. So he compares the
conflagration with the Deluge, as two general Dissolutions of Nature, and
one may as well say, that the Conflagration shall be only National, and but
two or three Countries burnt in that last Fire, as to say, that the Deluge was
so. I confess that Discourse of St. Peter, concerning the several States of the
World, would sufficiently convince me, if there was nothing else, That the
Deluge was not a particular, or national Inundation, but a mundane Change,
that extended to the whole Earth, and both to the (lower) Heavens and
Earth.
All Antiquity, we know, hath spoke of these mundane Revolutions or
Periods, that the World should be successively destroyed by Water and Fire;
and I do not doubt, but that this Deluge of Noah’s, which Moses describes,
was the first and leading Instance of this kind; and accordingly we see that
after this Period, and after the Flood, the Blessing for Multiplication, and
for replenishing the Earth with Inhabitants, was as solemnly pronounc’d by
God Almighty, as at the first Creation of Man, Gen. 9. 1. with Gen. 1. 28.
These Considerations, I think, might be sufficient to give us Assurance from
Divine Writ of the Universality of the Deluge; and yet Moses affords us
another Argument as demonstrative as any, when in the History of the
Deluge, he saith, Gen. 7. 19. The Waters exceedingly prevail’d upon the
Earth, and all the high Hills that were under the whole Heavens were
covered. All the high Hills, he saith, under the whole Heavens, then quite
round the Earth; and if the Mountains were covered quite round the Earth,
sure the Plains could not scape. But to argue with them upon their own

Grounds: Let us suppose only the Asiatick and Armenian Mountains
covered with these Waters, this they cannot deny; then unless there was a
Miracle to keep these Waters upon Heaps, they would flow throughout the
Earth; for these Mountains are high enough to make them fall every way,
and make them join with our Seas that environ the Continent. We cannot
imagine Hills and Mountains of Water to have hung about Judea, as if they
were congeal’d, or a Mass of Water to have stood upon the middle of the
Earth like one great Drop, or a trembling Jelly, and all the Places about it
dry and untouch’d. All liquid Bodies are diffusive; for their Parts being in
Motion have no Tie or Connexion one with another, but glide and fall off
any way, as Gravity and the Air presseth them; so the Surface of Water doth
always conform into a Spherical Convexity with the rest of the Globe of the
Earth, and every part of it falls as near to the Center as it can; wherefore
when these Waters began to rise at first, long before they cou’d swell to the
height of the Mountains, they would diffuse themselves every way, and
thereupon all the Valleys and Plains, and lower Parts of the Earth would be
filled throughout the whole Earth, before they cou’d rise to the Tops of the
Mountains in any Part of it: And the Sea would be all raised to a
considerable height before the Mountains could be covered. For let us
suppose, as they do, that this Water fell not throughout the whole Earth, but
in some particular Country, and there made first a great Lake; this Lake
when it begun to swell would every way discharge it self by any Descents
or Declivities of the Ground, and these Issues and Derivations being once
made and supply’d with new Waters pushing them forwards, would
continue their Course ’till they arrived at the Sea, just as other Rivers do;
for these would be but so many Rivers rising out of this Lake, and would
not be considerably deeper and higher at the Fountain than in their Progress
or at the Sea, We may as well then expect that the Leman Lake, for instance,
out of which the Rhone runs, should swell to the Tops of the Alps on the one
Hand, and the Mountains of Switzerland and Burgundy on the other, and
then stop, without overflowing the plainer Countries that lie beyond them;
as to suppose that this Diluvian Lake should rise to the Mountains Tops in
one Place, and not diffuse it self equally into all Countries about, and upon
the Surface of the Sea; in Proportion to its Height and Depth in the Place
where it first fell or stood.
Thus much for Sacred History. The Universality of the Deluge is also
attested by Profane History; for the Fame of it is gone thro’ the Earth, and

there are Records or Traditions concerning it, in all Parts of this and the
new-found World. The Americans do acknowledge and speak of it in their
Continent, as Acosta witnesseth, and Laet in their Histories of them. Mart.
The Chineses have the Tradition of it, which is the farthest part of our
Continent; and the nearer and Western part of Asia is acknowledg’d the
proper Seat of it. Not to mention Deucalion’s Deluge in the European Parts,
which seems to be the same under a disguise: So as you may trace the
Deluge quite round the Globe in profane History; and, which is remarkable,
every one of these People have a Tale to tell, some one way, some another,
concerning the Restauration of Mankind; which is an Argument that they
thought all Mankind destroy’d by that Deluge. In the old Dispute between
the Scythians and the Ægyptians for Antiquity, which Justin mentions, they
refer to a former Destruction of the World by Water or Fire, and argue,
whether Nation first rose again, and was original to the other. So the
Babylonians, Assyrians, Phœnicians and others, mention the Deluge in their
Stories. And we cannot without offering Violence to all Records and
Authority, Divine and Human, deny, that there hath been an universal
Deluge upon the Earth; and if there was an universal Deluge, no question it
was that of Noah’s, and that which Moses describ’d, and that which we treat
of at present.
These Considerations, I think, are abundantly sufficient to silence that
Opinion, concerning the Limitation and Restriction of the Deluge to a
particular Country or Countries. It ought rather to be look’d upon as an
Evasion indeed, than Opinion, seeing the Authors do not offer any positive
Argument for the Proof of it, but depend only upon that negative Argument,
That an universal Deluge is a Thing unintelligible. This Stumbling-stone we
hope to take away for the future, and that Men shall not be put to that
unhappy Choice, either to deny Matter of Fact well attested, or admit an
Effect, whereof they cannot see any possible Causes. And so having stated
and proposed the whole Difficulty, and try’d all ways offered by others, and
found them ineffectual, let us now apply our selves by degrees, to untie the
Knot.
The excessive Quantity of Water is the great Difficulty, and the Removal of
it afterwards. Those eight Oceans lay heavy upon my thoughts, and I cast
about every way, to find an Expedient, or to find some way, whereby the
same Effect might be brought to pass with less Water, and in such a manner

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

gather some Hopes, it may be, that the Matter is not so desperate as the
former Representation might possibly make us fancy it.
Give me leave to add farther in this Place, that it hath been observ’d by
several, from the Contemplation of Mountains and Rocks and Precipices, of
the Channel of the Sea, and of Islands, and of Subterraneous Caverns, that
the Surface of the Earth, or the exterior Region which we inhabit, hath been
broke, and the parts of it dislocated: And one might instance more
particularly in several Parcels of Nature, that retain still the evident Marks
of Fraction and Ruin, and by their present Form and Posture shew, that they
have been once in another State and Situation one to another. We shall have
occasion hereafter to give an Account of these Phænomena, from which
several have rightly argu’d, and concluded some general Rupture or Ruin in
the superficial Parts of the Earth. But this Ruin, it is true, they have
imagin’d and explain’d several ways, some thinking that it was made the
third Day after the Foundation of the Earth; when they suppose the Channel
of the Sea to have been form’d, and Mountains and Caverns at the same
time, by a violent Depression of some Parts of the Earth, and an Extrusion
and Elevation of others to make them Room. Others suppose it to have
come not all at once, but by Degrees, at several Times, and in several Ages,
from particular and accidental Causes, as the Earth falling in upon Fires
under Ground, or Water eating away the lower parts, or Vapours and
Exhalations breaking out and tearing the Earth. ’Tis true, I am not of their
Opinion in either of these Explications; and we shall shew at large hereafter,
when we have propos’d and stated our own Theory, how incompetent such
Causes are, to bring the Earth into that Form and Condition we now find it
in. But in the mean time, we may so far make use of these Opinions in
general, as not to be startled at this Doctrine, concerning the Breaking or
Dissolution of the Exterior Earth; for in all Ages the Face of Nature hath
provok’d Men to think of and observe such a Thing. And who can do
otherwise, to see the Elements displac’d and disorder’d, as they seem to lie
at present; the heaviest and grossest Bodies in the highest Places, and the
liquid and volatile kept below; an huge Mass of Stone or Rock rear’d into
the Air, and the Water creeping at its Feet; whereas this is the more light and
active Body, and by the Law of Nature should take Place of Rocks and
Stones? So we see, by the like Disorder, the Air thrown down into
Dungeons of the Earth, and the Earth got up among the Clouds; for there
are the tops of the Mountains, and under their Roots in Holes and Caverns

the Air is often detained. By what regular Action of Nature can we suppose
things first produc’d in this Posture and Form? Not to mention how broke
and torn the inward Substance of the Earth is, which of it self is an uniform
Mass, close and compact; but in the Condition we see it, it lies hollow in
many places, with great Vacuities intercepted betwixt the Portions of it; a
Thing which we see happens in all Ruins more or less, especially when the
Parts of the Ruins are great and inflexible. Then what can have more the
Figure and Mien of a Ruin, than Crags, and Rocks, and Cliffs, whether
upon the Sea-shore, or upon the Sides of Mountains? What can be more
apparently broke, than they are? And those lesser Rocks, or great bulky
Stones that lie often scatter’d near the Feet of the other, whether in the Sea,
or upon the Land, are they not manifest Fragments and pieces of these
greater Masses? Besides, the Posture of these Rocks, which is often leaning
or recumbent, or prostrate, shews to the Eye, that they have had a Fall, or
some kind of Dislocation from their natural Site. And the same thing may
be observed in the Tracks and Regions of the Earth, which very seldom for
ten Miles together have any regular Surface or Continuity one with another,
but lie high and low, and are variously inclin’d sometimes one way,
sometimes another, without any Rule or Order. Whereas I see no Reason
but the Surface of the Land should be as regular as that of the Water in the
first Production of it; and the Strata or Beds within lie as even. This I am
sure of, that this Disposition of the Elements, and the Parts of the Earth,
outward and inward, hath something irregular and unnatural in it, and
manifestly shews us the Marks, or Footsteps of some kind of Ruin and
Dissolution; which we shall shew you, in its due Place, happen’d in such a
way, that at the same time a general Flood of Waters wou’d necessarily
over-run the Face of the whole Earth. And by the same fatal Blow, the Earth
fell out of that regular Form, wherein it was produc’d at first, into all these
Irregularities which we see in its present Form and Composition; so that we
shall give thereby a double Satisfaction to the Mind, both to shew it a fair
and intelligible Account of the general Deluge, how the Waters came upon
the Earth, and how they return’d into their Channels again, and left the
Earth habitable; and likewise to shew it how the Mountains were brought
forth, and the Channel of the Sea discover’d: How all those Inequalities
came in the Body or Face of the Earth, and those empty Vaults and Caverns
in its Bowels; which things are no less matter of Admiration than the Flood
it self.

But I must beg leave to draw a Curtain before the Work for a while, and to
keep your Patience a little in suspence, till Materials are prepar’d, and all
things ready to represent and explain what we have propos’d. Yet I hope, in
the mean time, to entertain the Mind with Scenes no less pleasing, tho’ of
quite another Face and Order; for we must now return to the Beginning of
the World, and look upon the first Rudiments of Nature, and that dark but
fruitful Womb, out of which all things sprang, I mean the Chaos: For this is
the Matter which we must next work upon, and it will be no unpleasing
thing to observe, how that rude Mass will shoot it self into several Forms
one after another, ’till it comes at length to make an habitable World. The
steady Hand of Providence, which keeps all things in Weight and Measure,
being the invisible Guide of all its Motions. These Motions we must
examine from first to last, to find out what was the Form of the Earth, and
what was the Place or Situation of the Ocean, or the great Abyss, in that
first State of Nature: Which two things being determined, we shall be able
to make a certain Judgment, what kind of Dissolution that Earth was
capable of, and whether from that Dissolution an Universal Deluge would
follow, with all the Consequences of it.
In the mean time, for the Ease and Satisfaction of the Reader, we will here
mark the Order and Distribution of the first Book, which we divide into
three Sections; whereof the first is these three Chapters past: In the second
Section we will shew, that the Earth before the Deluge was of a different
Frame and Form from the present Earth; and particularly of such a form as
made it subject to a Dissolution and to such a Dissolution, as did
necessarily expose it to an Universal Deluge. And in this Place we shall
apply our Discourse particularly to the Explication of Noah’s Flood, and
that under all its Conditions, of the Height of the Waters, of their
Universality, of the Destruction of the World by them, and of their retiring
afterwards from the Earth; and this Section will consist of the Fourth, Fifth,
Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Chapters. In the Third Section we prove the same
Dissolution from the Effects and Consequences of it, or from the
Contemplation of the present Face of the Earth: And here an Account is
given of the Origin of Mountains, of subterraneous Waters and Caverns, of
the great Channel of the Sea, and of the first Production of Islands; and
those things are the Contents of the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Chapters.
Then, in the last Chapter, we make a general Review of the whole Work,
and a general Review of Nature; that by comparing them together, their full

Agreement and Correspondency may appear. Here several collateral
Arguments are given for Confirmation of the preceding Theory, and some
Reflections are made upon the State of the other Planets compar’d with the
Earth. And lastly, what Accounts soever have been given by others of the
present Form and Irregularities of the Earth, are examin’d and shew’d
insufficient. And this seemeth to be all that is requisite upon this Subject.

Chap. IV.

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

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

Man, and Eve the first Woman, from whom sprung the Race of Mankind;
and this within the Compass of Six Thousand Years. We are also assur’d
from the Prophets, and our Christian Records, that the World shall have an
End, and that by a general Conflagration, when all Mankind shall be
destroyed, with the Form, and all the Furniture of the Earth. And as this
proves the second Part of Aristotle’s Doctrine to be false immediately, so
doth it the first, by a true Consequence; for what hath an End had a
Beginning, what is not Immortal, was not Eternal: That which exists by the
Strength of its own Nature at first, the same Nature will enable to exist for
ever; and indeed what exists of it self, exists necessarily; and what exists
necessarily, exists eternally.
Having this infallible Assurance of the Origin of the Earth and of Mankind
from Scripture, we proceed to refute the same Doctrine of Aristotle’s by
natural Reason. And we will first consider the Form of the Earth, and then
Mankind; and shew, from plain Evidence and Observation, neither of them
to have been Eternal. ’Tis natural to the Mind of Man to consider that which
is compound, as having been once more simple; whether that Composition
be a Mixture of many Ingredients, as most Terrestrial Bodies are, or
whether it be Organical; but especially if it be Organical: For a Thing that
consists of a multitude of Pieces aptly join’d, we cannot but conceive to
have had those Pieces, at one time or another, put together. ’Twere hard to
conceive an eternal Watch, whose Pieces were never separate one from
another, nor ever in any other Form than that of a Watch. Or an eternal
House, whose Materials were never asunder, but always in the Form of an
House. And ’tis as hard to conceive an Eternal Earth, or an Eternal World:
These are made up of more various Substances, more Ingredients, and into
a far greater Composition; and the living Part of the World, Plants and
Animals, have much more Variety of Parts and multifarious Construction,
than any House, or any other artificial Thing: So that we are led as much by
Nature and Necessity, to conceive this great Machine of the World, or of the
Earth, to have been once in 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 speak without Reference to immediate
Creation, for Aristotle did not own any such thing, and therefore the
Argument stands good against him, upon those Grounds and Notions that he
goes; yet I guess what Answer would be made by him or his Followers to
this Argumentation: They would say, there is not the same Reason for

Natural things, as for Artificial, though equally compounded. Artificial
Things could not be from Eternity, because they suppose Man, by whose
Art they were made, pre-existent to them; the Workman must be before the
Work, and whatsoever hath any thing before it, is not Eternal. But may not
the same thing be said of Natural things? Do not most of them require the
Action of the Sun, and the Influence of the Heavens for their Production,
and longer Preparations than any Artificial things do? Some Years or Ages
would be necessary for the Concoction and Maturation of Metals and
Minerals; Stones themselves, at least some sorts of them, were once
Liquors, or fluid Masses; and all Vegetable Productions require the Heat of
the Sun, to predispose and excite the Earth and the Seeds. Nay, according to
Aristotle, ’tis not Man by himself that begets a Man, but the Sun is his
Coadjutor. You see then ’twas as necessary that the Sun, that great
Workman of Nature, should pre-exist to Natural things, produc’d in, or
upon the Earth, as that Man should pre-exist to Artificial. So that the Earth,
under that Form and Constitution it now hath, could no more be Eternal,
than a Statue or Temple, or any Work of Art.
Besides, that Form, which the Earth is under at present, is in some sort
preternatural, like a Statue made and broken again; and so hath still the less
Appearance or Pretence of being Eternal. If the Elements had lain in that
Order to one another, as Aristotle hath dispos’d them, and as seems to be
their first Disposition; the Earth altogether in a Mass in the middle, or
towards the Centre; then the Water in a Spherical Mass about that; the Air
above the Water, and then a Sphere of Fire, as he fancied, in the highest
Circle of the Air: If they had lain, I say, in this Posture, there might have
been some Pretence that they had been Eternally so; because that might
seem to be their Original Posture, in which Nature had first plac’d them.
But the Form and Posture we find them in at present is very different, and
according to his Doctrine must be look’d upon as unnatural and violent; and
no violent State, by his own Maxim, can be perpetual, or can have been so.
But there is still a more pressing Consideration against this Opinion. If this
present State and Form of the Earth had been from Eternity, it would have
long ere this destroy’d itself, and chang’d itself: The Mountains sinking by
degrees into the Valleys, and into the Sea, and the Waters rising above the
Earth; which Form it would certainly have come into, sooner or later, and in
it continu’d drowned and uninhabitable, for all succeeding Generations. For

’tis certain, that the Mountains and higher Parts of the Earth grow lesser and
lesser from Age to Age; and that from many Causes, sometimes the Roots
of them are weaken’d, and eaten by subterraneous Fires, and sometimes
they are torn and tumbled down by Earthquakes, and fall into those Caverns
that are under them; and tho’ those violent Causes are not constant, or
universal, yet if the Earth had stood from Eternity, there is not a Mountain
would have escaped this Fate in one Age or other. The Course of these
Exhalations or Fires would have reach’d them all sooner or later, if thro’
infinite Ages they had stood exposed to them. But there are also other
causes that consume them insensibly, and make them sink by degrees; and
those are chiefly the Winds, Rains, and Storms, and Heat of the Sun
without; and within, the soaking of Water and Springs, with Streams and
Currents in their Veins and Crannies. These two sorts of Causes would
certainly reduce all the Mountains of the Earth, in tract of Time, to Equality;
or rather lay them all under Water: For whatsoever moulders, or is wash’d
away from them, is carried down into the lower Grounds, and into the Sea,
and nothing is ever brought back again by any Circulation: Their Losses are
not repair’d, nor any proportionable Recruits made from any other parts of
Nature. So as the higher parts of the Earth being continually spending, and
the lower continually gaining, they must of necessity at length come to an
Equality; and the Waters that lie in the lower parts and in the Channels,
those Channels and Valleys being fill’d up with Earth, would be thrust out
and rise every where upon the Surface of the Earth; which new Post, when
they had once seiz’d on it, they would never quit nor would any thing be
able to dispossess them; for ’tis their natural Place and Situation which they
always tend to, and from which there is no Progress nor Regress in a Course
of Nature. So that the Earth would have been, both now, and from
innumerable Generations before this, all under Water and uninhabitable; if it
had stood from Everlasting, and this Form of it had been its first Original
Form.
Nor can he doubt of this Argumentation, that considers the Coherence of it,
and will allow time enough for the Effect. I do not say the Earth would be
reduc’d to this uninhabitable Form in ten thousand Years time, tho’ I believe
it would: But take twenty, if you please, take an hundred thousand, take a
million, ’tis all one, for you may take the one as easily as the other out of
Eternity; and they make both equally against their Supposition. Nor is it any
matter how little you suppose the mountains to decrease ’tis but taking more

time, and the same Effect still follows. Let them but waste as much as a
Grain of Mustard-Seed every Day, or a Foot in an Age, this would be more
than enough in ten thousand Ages to consume the tallest Mountain upon
Earth. The Air alone, and the little drops of Rain have defac’d the strongest
and the proudest Monuments of the Greeks and Romans; and allow them
but time enough, and they will of themselves beat down the Rocks into the
Sea, and the Hills into the Valleys. But if we add to these all those other
foremention’d Causes that work with more Violence, and the Weight of the
Mountains themselves, which, upon any occasion offer’d, is ready to sink
them lower, we shall shorten the Time and make the Effect more sure.
We need add no more here in particular against this Aristotelian Doctrine,
that makes the present Form of the Earth to have been from Eternity; for the
Truth is, this whole Book is one continued Argument against that opinion;
shewing that it hath de facto chang’d its Form; both in that we have prov’d
that it was not capable of an universal Deluge in this Form, and
consequently was once under another; and also in that we shall prove at
large hereafter throughout the Third and Fourth Sections, that it hath been
broken and dissolv’d. We might also add one Consideration more, that if it
had stood always under this Form, it would have been under Fire, if it had
not been under Water; and the Conflagration, which it is to undergo, would
have overtaken it long ere this. For St. Peter saith, The Heavens and the
Earth that are now, as oppos’d to the Antediluvian, and consider’d in their
present Form and Constitution, are fitted to be consumed by Fire. And
whosoever understands the Progress and Revolutions of Nature, will see
that neither the present Form of the Earth, nor its first Form, were
permanent and immutable Forms, but transient and temporary by their own
Frame and Constitution; which the Author of Nature, after certain Periods
of Time, had design’d for Change and for Destruction.
Thus much for the Body of the Earth, that it could not have been from
Eternity, as Aristotle pretended, in the Form it hath. Now let’s consider the
Origination of Mankind; and that we shall find could much less be Eternal
than the other; for whatsoever destroy’d the Form of the Earth, would also
destroy Mankind; and besides, there are many particular Marks and
Arguments, that the Generations of Men have not been from Everlasting.
All History, and all Monuments of Antiquity, of what kind soever, are but of
a few Thousand of Years date; we have still the Memory of the Golden Age,

of the first State of Nature, and how Mortals liv’d then in Innocency and
Simplicity. The Invention of Arts, even those that are necessary or useful to
Human Life, hath been within the Knowledge of Men: How imperfect was
the Geography of the Ancients, how imperfect their Knowledge of the
Earth, how imperfect their Navigation? Can we imagine, if there had been
Men from Everlasting, a Sea as now, and all materials for shipping as much
as we have, that Men could have been so ignorant, both of the Land and of
the Sea, as ’tis manifest they have been till of late Ages? They had very
different Fancies concerning the Figure of the Earth. They knew no Land
beyond our Continent, and that very imperfectly too; and the Torrid Zone
they thought utterly uninhabitable. We think it strange, taking that short
Date of the World, which we give it, that Men should not have made more
Progress in the Knowledge of these Things; but how impossible is it then, if
you suppose them to have been from Everlasting? They had the same Wit
and Passions that we have, the same Motives that we have, can we then
imagine, that neither the Ambition of Princes, nor Interest or Gain in private
Persons, nor Curiosity and the Desire of Knowledge, nor the Glory of
Discoveries, nor any other Passion or Consideration could ever move them
in that endless time, to try their Fortunes upon the Sea, and know something
more of the World they inhabited? Though you should suppose them
generally stupid, which there is no Reason to do, yet in a Course of infinite
Generations, there would be some great Genii, some extraordinary Persons
that would attempt things above the rest. We have done more within the
compass of our little World, which we can but count (as to this) from the
general Deluge, than those Eternal Men had done in their innumerable Ages
foregoing.
You will say it may be, they had not the Advantages and Opportunities for
Navigation as we have, and for Discoveries; because the use of the
Loadstone, and the Mariners needle was not then known. But that’s the
Wonder, that either that Invention, or any other should not be brought to
light till t’other Day, if the World had stood from Eternity. I say this or any
other practical Invention; for such Things, when they are once found out
and known, are not easily lost again, because they are of daily use. And ’tis
in most other practical arts, as in Navigation, we generally know their
original and History; who the Inventors, and by what degrees improv’d, and
how few of them brought to any Perfection till of late Ages. All the
Artificial and Mechanical World is in a manner new; and what you may call

the Civil World too is in a great measure so. What relates to Government,
and Laws; to Wars and Discipline; we can trace these things to their Origin,
or very near it. The use of Money and of Coins, nay the Use of the very
Elements; for they tell us of the first Invention of fire by Prometheus, and
the employing of Wind or Water to turn the Mills, and grind their Corn was
scarce known before the Romans, Plin. l. 7. c. 56. And that we may think
nothing eternal here, they tell us the Ages and Genealogies of their very
Gods. The measures of Time for the common uses of Life, the dividing it
into Hours, with the Instruments for those Purposes, are not of an unknown
Date: Even the Arts for preparing Food and Cloathing, Medicines and
Medicaments, Building, Civil and Military, Letters and Writing, which are
the Foundations of the World Civil: These, with all their Retinue of lesser
Arts and Trades that belong to them, History and Tradition tell us when they
had their Beginning, or were very imperfect; and how many of their
Inventors and Inventresses were deify’d. The World hath not stood so long
but we can still run it up to those artless Ages, when Mortals liv’d by plain
Nature; when there was but one Trade in the World, one Calling, to look to
their Flocks; and afterwards to till the Ground, when Nature grew less
liberal: And may we not reasonably think this the Beginning of Mankind, or
very near it? If Man be a Creature, both naturally sagacious to find out its
own Conveniencies, and naturally sociable and inclin’d to live in a
Community, a little Time would make them find out and furnish themselves
with what was necessary in these two kinds, for the Conveniencies of single
Life, and the Conveniencies of Societies; they would not have liv’d infinite
Ages, unprovided of them. If you say Necessity is the Mother of Arts and
Inventions, and there was no Necessity before, and therefore these things
were so slowly invented; this is a good Answer upon our Supposition, that
the World began but some Ages before these were found out, and was
abundant with all Things at first; and Men not very numerous, and therefore
were not put so much to the use of their Wits, to find out Ways for living
commodiously. But this is no Answer upon their Supposition; for if the
World was eternal and Men too, there were no first Ages, no new and fresh
Earth; Men were never less numerous, nor the Earth more fruitful; and
consequently there was never less Necessity at any time than is now. This
also brings to Mind another Argument against this Opinion, (viz.) from the
gradual Increase of Mankind. ’Tis certain the World was not so populous
one or two thousand Years since, as it is now, seeing ’tis observ’d in

particular Nations, that within the Space of two or three hundred Years,
notwithstanding all Casualties, the Number of Men doubles. If then the
Earth had stood from Everlasting, it had been overstock’d long ere this, and
would not have been capable to contain its Inhabitants many Ages and
Millions of Ages ago. Whereas we find the Earth is not yet sufficiently
inhabited, and there is still Room for some Millions. And we must not fly to
universal Deluges and Conflagrations to destroy Mankind; for besides that
the Earth was not capable of a Deluge in this present Form, nor would have
been in this Form after a Conflagration, Aristotle doth not admit of these
universal Changes, nor any that hold the Form of the Earth to be eternal.
But to return to our Arts and Inventions.
We have spoken of practical Arts and Inventions useful in human Life; then
for Theoretical Learning and Sciences, there is nothing yet finish’d or
compleat in these; and what is known hath been chiefly the Production of
latter Ages. How little hath been discover’d till of late, either of our own
Bodies, or of the Body of the Earth, and of the Functions or Motions of
Nature in either? What more obvious, one would think, than the Circulation
of the Blood? What can more excite our Curiosity than the flowing and
ebbing of the Sea? Than the Nature of Metals and Minerals? These are
either yet unknown, or were so at least till this last Age; which seems to me,
to have made a greater Progress than all Ages before put together, since the
beginning of the World. How unlikely is it then that these Ages were
Eternal? That the Eternal Studies of our Fore-fathers could not effect so
much as a few Years have done of late? And the whole Mass of Knowledge
in this Earth doth not seem to be so great, but that a few Ages more, with
two or three happy Genius’s in them, may bring to light all that we are
capable to understand in this State of Mortality.
To these Arguments concerning the Novelty of the Earth, and the Origin of
Mankind, I know there are some shuffling Excuses made, but they can have
little Effect upon those Instances we have chosen. And I would ask those
Eternalists one fair Question, What Mark is there that they could expect or
desire of the Novelty of a World, that is not found in this? Or what Mark is
there of Eternity that is found in this? If then their Opinion be without any
positive Argument, and against all Appearances in Nature, it may be justly
rejected as unreasonable upon all Accounts. ’Tis not the bold asserting of a
Thing that makes it true, or that makes it credible against Evidence. If one

should assert that such an one had liv’d from all Eternity, and I could bring
Witnesses that knew him a Sucking-child, and others that remembred him a
School-boy, I think it would be a fair Proof, that the Man was not Eternal.
So if there be Evidence, either in Reason or History, that it is not very many
Ages since Nature was in her Minority, as appears by all those Instances we
have given above; some whereof trace her 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 Philosophically, giving an
Account of the several States of Mankind in several Ages, and by what
Steps or Degrees they came from their first Rudeness or Simplicity to that
Order of Things, both Intellectual and Civil, which the World is advanc’d to
at present, That alone would be a full Conviction, that the Earth and
Mankind had a Beginning. As the Story of Rome, how it rose from a mean
Original, by what degrees it increas’d, and how it chang’d its Form and
Government till it came to its Greatness, doth satisfy us very well, that the
Roman Empire was not Eternal.
Thus much concerning the Temporal Original of the Earth. We are now to
consider the manner of it, and to shew how it rose from a Chaos. I do not
remember that any of the Ancients that acknowledge the Earth to have had
an Original, did deny that Original to have been from a Chaos. We are
assur’d of both from the Authority of Moses, who saith, that in the
Beginning the Earth was Tohu Bohu, without Form and Void; a fluid, dark,
confus’d Mass, without Distinction of Elements; and made up of all Variety
of Parts, but without Order, or any determinate Form; which is the true
Description of a Chaos: And so it is understood by the general Consent of
Interpreters both Hebrew and Christian. We need not therefore spend any
time here to prove, that the Origin of the Earth was from a Chaos, seeing
that it is agreed on by all that give it any Origin. But we will proceed
immediately to examine into what Form it first rose when it came out of
that Chaos; or what was the primæval Form of the Earth, that continued till
the Deluge, and how the Deluge depended upon it, and upon its Dissolution.
And, that we may proceed in this Enquiry by such easy steps as any one
may readily follow, we will divide it into Three Propositions, whereof the
first is this in general; that the Form of the Antediluvian Earth, or of the
Earth that rose first from the Chaos, was different from the Form of the

present Earth. I say, different in general, without specifying yet what its
particular Form was, which shall be exprest in the following Proposition.
This first Proposition we have in effect prov’d in the second Chapter; where
we have shewn, that if the Earth had been always in this Form, it would not
have been capable of a Deluge; seeing that could not have been effected
without such an infinite Mass of Water as could neither be brought upon the
Earth, nor afterward any way removed from it. But we will not content our
selves with that Proof only, but will prove it also from the Nature of the
Chaos, and the manifest Consequences of it. And because this is a leading
Proposition, we think it not improper to prove it also from Divine Authority,
there being a pregnant Passage to this Purpose in the Writings of St. Peter.
Where treating of this very Subject, the Deluge, he manifestly puts a
difference between the Antediluvian Earth and the present Earth, as to their
Form and Constitution. The Discourse is in the second Epistle of St. Peter,
the third Chapter, where certain Deists, as they seem to have been, laught at
the Prophecy of the Day of Judgment, and of the Conflagration of the
World, using this Argument against it, That since the Fathers fell asleep, all
things have continued as they were from the beginning. All External Nature
hath continued the same without any remarkable Change or Alteration, and
why should we believe, say they, there will be any? What Appearance, or
what Foundation is there of such a Revolution, that all Nature will be
dissolved, and the Heavens and the Earth consum’d with Fire, as your
Prophecies pretend? So from the Permanency and Immutability of Nature
hitherto, they argu’d its Permanency and Immutability for the future. To this
the Apostle answers, that they are willing to forget, that the Heavens and the
Earth of old had a particular Form and Constitution as to Water, by reason
whereof the World, that then was, perish’d by a Deluge. And the Heavens
and the Earth that are now, or since the Deluge, have a particular
Constitution in reference to Fire, by reason whereof they are expos’d to
another sort of Destruction or Dissolution, namely by Fire, or by an
universal Conflagration. The Words of the Apostle, Chap. iii. v. 5, 6, 7. are
these; For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the Word of God the
Heavens were of old, and the Earth, consisting of Water, and by Water; or
(as we render it) standing out of the Water, and in the Water; wherein the
World that then was, being overflow’d with Water, perish’d. But the
Heavens and the Earth that are now, by the same Word are kept in store,
reserv’d unto Fire against the Day of Judgment. We shall have occasion, it

may be, hereafter to give a full Illustration of these Words; but at present we
shall only take notice of this in general, that the Apostle here doth plainly
intimate some difference that was between the old World and the present
World, in their Form and Constitution; or betwixt the Antediluvian and the
present Earth, by reason of which difference, that was subject to perish by a
Deluge, as this is subject to perish by Conflagration. And as this is the
general Air and Importance of this Discourse of the Apostle’s, which every
one at first sight would discover; so we may in several particular ways
prove from it our first Proposition, which now we must return to; (viz.) That
the Form and Constitution of the Antediluvian Earth was different from that
of the present Earth. This may be inferr’d from the Apostle’s Discourse,
first, because he makes an opposition betwixt these two Earths, or these two
natural Worlds; and that not only in respect of their Fate, the one perishing
by Water, as the other will perish by Fire, but also in respect of their
different Disposition and Constitution leading to this different Fate; for
otherwise his fifth Verse is superfluous, and his Inference in the sixth
ungrounded; you see he premiseth in the fifth Verse as the Ground of his
Discourse, what the Constitution of the antediluvian Heavens and Earth
was, and then infers from it in the sixth Verse, that they therefore perish’d in
a Deluge of Water. Now if they had been the same with ours, there had
neither been any Ground for making an Opposition betwixt them, nor any
Ground of making a contrary Inference as to their Fate. Besides, in that he
implies that the Constitution of the antediluvian Earth was such, as made it
subject to a Deluge; he shews that it was different from the Constitution of
the present Earth; for the Form of that is such, as makes it rather incapable
of a Deluge, as we have shewn in the second Chapter. Then we are to
observe further, that when he saith (v. 6.) that the first World perish’d in a
Deluge, or was destroy’d by it; this is not to be understood of the animate
World only, Men and living Creatures, but of the natural world, and the
Frame of it; for he had describ’d it before by the Heavens and the Earth,
which make the natural World. And the Objection of the Atheists, or Deists
rather, which he was to answer, proceeded upon the natural World. And
lastly, this perishing of the world in a Deluge is set against, or compar’d
with the perishing of the World in the Conflagration, when the Frame of
Nature will be dissolv’d. We must therefore, according to the Tenor of the
Apostle’s arguing, suppose, that the natural World was destroy’d or perish’d
in the Deluge; and seeing it did not perish as to Matter and Substance, it

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

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

in the same Form that the Surface of the Chaos was, or that any fluid Mass
can stand or hold it self in?
Then for the Form of the Earth within or under its Surface, ’tis no less
impossible for the Chaos to imitate that; for ’tis full of Cavities and empty
Places, of Dens and broken Holes, whereof some are open to the Air, and
others cover’d and enclos’d wholly within the Ground. These are both of
them unimitable in any liquid Substance, whose Parts will necessarily flow
together into one continued Mass, and cannot be divided into Apartments
and separate Rooms, nor have Vaults or Caverns made within it; the Walls
would sink, and the Roof fall in: For liquid Bodies have nothing to sustain
their Parts, nor any thing to cement them; they are all loose and incoherent,
and in a perpetual Flux: Even an heap of Sand or fine Powder will suffer no
Hollowness within them, though they be dry Substances, and though the
Parts of them being rough will hang together a little and stand a little upon
an Heap; but the Parts of Liquors being glib, and continually in motion,
they fall off from one another, which way soever Gravity inclines them, and
can neither have any Hills or Eminencies on their Surface, nor any
Hollowness within their Substance.
You will acknowledge, it may be, that this is true, and that a liquid Mass or
Chaos, while it was liquid, was incapable of either the outward or inward
Form of the Earth; but when it came to a Concretion, to a State of
Consistency and Firmness, then it might go, you’ll say, into any Form. No,
not in its first Concretion, nor in its first State of Consistence; for that
would be of the same Form that the Surface of it was when it was liquid, as
Water when it congeals, the Surface of the Ice is smooth and level, as the
Surface of the Water was before; so Metals, or any other Substances melted,
or Liquors that of themselves grow stiff and harden, always settle into the
same Form which they had when they were last liquid, and are always solid
within, and smooth without, unless they be cast in a Mould, that hinders the
Motion and Flux of the Parts. So that the first concrete State or consistent
Surface of the Chaos must be of the same Form or Figure with the last
liquid State it was in; for that is the Mould, as it were, upon which it is cast;
as the Shell of an Egg is of a like Form with the Surface of the Liquor it lies
upon. And therefore by Analogy with all other Liquors and Concretions, the
Form of the Chaos, whether liquid or concrete, could not be the same with
that of the present Earth, or like it: And consequently, that Form of the first

or primogenial Earth which rose immediately out of the Chaos, was not the
same, nor like to that of the present Earth; which was the first and
preparatory Proposition we laid down to be prov’d. And this being prov’d
by the Authority both of our Reason and our Religion, we will now proceed
to the second which is more particular.

Chap. V.

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

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

the Motions and Progress of this, which we must now consider, and what
Form it settled into when it first became an habitable World.
Neither is it perhaps such an intricate Thing as we imagine at first Sight, to
trace a Chaos into an habitable World; at least there is a particular Pleasure
to see things in their Origin, and by what Degrees and successive Changes
they rise into that Order and State we see them in afterwards, when
compleated. I am sure, if ever we would view the Paths of Divine Wisdom,
in the Works and in the Conduct of Nature, we must not only consider how
Things are, but how they came to be so. ’Tis pleasant to look upon a Tree in
the Summer, cover’d with its green Leaves, deckt with Blossoms, or laden
with Fruit, and casting a pleasing Shade under its spreading Boughs; but to
consider how this Tree with all its Furniture sprang from a little Seed; how
Nature shap’d it, and fed it, in its Infancy and Growth; added new Parts, and
still advanc’d it by little and little, ’till it came to this Greatness and
Perfection: This, methinks, is another sort of Pleasure, more rational, less
common, and which is properly the Contemplation of Divine Wisdom in the
Works of Nature. So to view this Earth, and this sublunary World, as it is
now complete, distinguish’d into the several Orders of Bodies of which it
consists, every one perfect and admirable in its kind; this is truly delightful,
and a very good Entertainment of the Mind: But to see all these in their first
Seeds, as I may so say; to take in Pieces this Frame of Nature, and melt it
down into its first Principles; and then to observe how the Divine Wisdom
wrought all these Things out of Confusion into Order, and out of Simplicity
into that beautiful Composition we now see them in; this, methinks, is
another kind of Joy, which pierceth the Mind more deep, and is more
satisfactory. And to give our selves and others this Satisfaction, we will first
make a short Representation of the Chaos, and then shew, how, according to
Laws establish’d in Nature by the Divine Power and Wisdom, it was
wrought by degrees from one Form into another, ’till it settled at length into
an habitable Earth; and that of such a Frame and Structure, as we have
described in this second Proposition.
By the Chaos I understand the Matter of the Earth and Heavens, without
Form or Order; reduc’d into a fluid Mass, wherein are the Materials and
Ingredients of all Bodies, but mingled in Confusion one with another. As if
you should suppose all sorts of Metals, Gold, Silver, Lead, &c. melted
down together in a common Mass, and so mingled, that the Parts of no one

Metal could be discern’d as distinct from the rest, this would be a little
Metallick Chaos: Suppose then, the Elements thus mingled, Air, Water and
Earth, which are the Principles of all Terrestrial Bodies; mingled, I say,
without any Order of higher or lower, heavier or lighter, solid or volatile, in
such a kind of confus’d Mass as is here represented in the first Scheme.

Book 1 Figure 1.

Let this then represent to us the Chaos; in which the first Change that we
should imagine to happen would be this, that the heaviest and grossest Parts
would sink down towards the middle of it, (for there we suppose the Center
of its Gravity) and the rest would float above. These grosser Parts thus sunk
down and compress’d more and more, would harden by degrees, and
constitute the interiour Parts of the Earth: The rest of the Mass, which

swims above, would be also divided by the same Principle of Gravity into
two Orders of Bodies, the one liquid like Water, the other volatile like Air.
For the more fine and active Parts disentangling themselves by degrees
from the rest would mount above them; and having Motion enough to keep
them upon the Wing, would play in those open Places where they constitute
that Body we call Air. The other Parts being grosser than these, and having
a more languid Motion, could not fly up separate from one another, as these
did, but settled in a Mass together, under the Air, upon the Body of the
Earth, composing not only Water strictly so called, but the whole Mass of
Liquors, or liquid Bodies, belonging to the Earth. And these first
Separations being thus made, the Body of the Chaos would stand in that
Form which it is here represented in by the second Scheme.

Book 1 Figure 2.

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

Book 1 Figure 3.

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

Book 1 Figure 4.

This thin and tender Orb of Earth increas’d still more and more, as the little
earthy Parts that were detain’d in the Air could make their 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 disengage
themselves and descend. But this was the general Rendezvous, which
sooner or later they all got to, and mingling more and more with that oily
Liquor, they suckt it all up at length, and were wholly incorporate together,
and so began to grow more stiff and firm, making both but one Substance,
which was the first Concretion, or firm and consistent Substance that rose
upon the Face of the Chaos. And the whole Globe stood in this Posture, as
in Figure the fifth.

Book 1 Figure 5.

Book 1 Figure 6.

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

as high as the Moon, tho’ these earthy Particles we speak of were very
thinly dispers’d thro’ those vast Tracks of the Air, when they came to be
collected and amass’d together upon the Surface of a far lesser Sphere, they
would constitute a Body of a very considerable Thickness and Solidity. We
see the Earth sometimes cover’d with Snow two or three Feet deep, made
up only of little Flakes or Pieces of Ice, which falling from the middle
Region of the Air, and meeting with the Earth in their Descent, are there
stop’d and heap’d up one upon another. But if we should suppose little
Particles of Earth to shower down, not only from the middle Region, but
from the whole Capacity and Extent of those vast Spaces that are betwixt us
and the Moon, we could not imagine but these would constitute an Orb of
Earth some thousands of times deeper than the greatest Snow; which being
increas’d and swoln by that oily Liquor it fell into, and incorporated with, it
would be thick, strong, and great enough in all respects to render it an
habitable Earth.
We cannot doubt therefore but such a Body as this would be form’d, and
would be sufficient in Quantity for an habitable Earth. Then for the Quality
of it, it will answer all the Purposes of a Rising World. What can be a more
proper Seminary for Plants and Animals, than a Soil of this Temper and
Composition? A finer and lighter sort of Earth, mix’d with a benign Juice,
easy and obedient to the Action of the Sun, or of what other Causes were
employ’d by the Author of Nature, for the Production of Things in the new
made Earth. What sort or disposition of matter could be more fit and ready
to catch Life from Heaven, and to be drawn into all Forms than the
Rudiments of Life, or the Bodies of living Creatures would require? What
Soil more proper for Vegetation than this warm Moisture, which could have
no Fault, unless it was too fertile and luxuriant? And that is no Fault neither
at the beginning of a World. This I am sure of, that the Learned amongst the
Ancients, both Greeks, Ægyptians, Phœnicians, and others, have described
the primogenial Soil, Ἰλὺς πρωτογενὴς, or the Temper of the Earth, that was
the first Subject for the Generation and Origin of Plants and Animals, after
such a manner, as is truly express’d, and I think with Advantage, by this
Draught of the primogenial Earth.
Thus much concerning the Matter of the first Earth. Let us reflect a little
upon the Form of it also, whether external or internal; both whereof do
manifestly shew themselves from the manner of its Production or

Formation. As to the external Form, you see it is according to the
Proposition we were to prove, smooth, regular and uniform, without
Mountains; and without a Sea. And the Proof we have given of it is very
easy: The Globe of the Earth could not possibly rise immediately from a
Chaos into the irregular Form in which it is at present. The Chaos being a
fluid Mass, which we know doth necessarily fall into a Spherical Surface,
whose Parts are equi-distant from the Center, and consequently in an equal
and even Convexity one with another. And seeing upon the Distinction of a
Chaos and Separation into several Elementary Masses, the Water would
naturally have a superiour Place to the Earth, ’tis manifest, that there could
be no habitable Earth form’d out of the Chaos, unless by some Concretion
upon the Face of the Water. Then lastly, seeing this concrete Orb of Earth
upon the Face of the Water would be of the same Form with the Surface of
the Water it was spread upon, there being no Causes, that we know of, to
make any Inequality in it, we must conclude it equal and uniform, and
without Mountains, as also without a Sea; for the Sea and all the Mass of
Waters was enclos’d within this exterior Earth which had no other Basis or
Foundation to rest upon.
The Contemplation of these things, and of this Posture of the Earth upon the
Waters, doth so strongly bring to Mind certain Passages of Scripture,
(which will recur in another Place) that we cannot, without Injury to Truth,
pass them by here in silence. Passages that have such a manifest
Resemblance and Agreement to this Form and Situation of the Earth, that
they seem visibly to point at it: Such are those Expressions of the Psalmist,
God hath founded the Earth upon the Seas. And in another Psalm, speaking
of the Wisdom and Power of God in the Creation, he saith, To him who
alone doth great wonders; to him that by Wisdom made the Heavens; to him
that extended or stretched out the Earth above the Waters. What can be
more plain or proper to denote that Form of the Earth that we have
describ’d, and to express particularly the Inclosure of the Waters within the
Earth, as we have represented them? He saith in another Place, By the Word
of the Lord were the Heavens made; he shut up the Waters of the Sea as in
Bags, (for so the Word is to be render’d, and is render’d by all, except the
English) and laid up the Abyss as in Store-houses. This, you see, is very
conformable to that System of the Earth and Sea, which we have propos’d
here. Yet there is something more express than all this, in that remarkable
place in the Proverbs of Solomon, where Wisdom declaring her Antiquity

and Existence before the Foundation of the Earth, amongst other things
saith, Prov. viii. 27. When he prepared the Heavens, I was there: When he
drew an Orb over the Surface of the Abyss; or when he set an Orb upon the
Face of the Abyss. We render it in the English, a Compass, or Circle, but
’tis more truly render’d an Orb or Sphere; and what Orb or Spherical Body
was this, which at the Formation of the Earth was built and plac’d round
about the Abyss, but that wonderful Arch, whose Form and Production we
have describ’d, encompassing the Mass of Waters, which in Scripture is
often call’d the Abyss or Deep? [See Fig. 5. p. 78. This Orb is represented
by the Circle 1. and the Abyss by the Region 2.] Lastly, This Scheme of the
first Earth gives Light to that Place we mention’d before of St. Peter’s,
where the first Earth is said to consist of Water, and by Water; and by reason
thereof was obnoxious to a Deluge. The first Part of this Character is plain
from the Description now given; and the second will appear in the
following Chapter. In the mean time, concerning these Passages of
Scripture, which we have cited, we may truly and modestly say, that though
they would not, it may be, without a Theory premis’d, have been taken or
interpreted in this Sense; yet this Theory being premis’d, I dare appeal to
any unprejudic’d Person, if they have not a fairer and easier, a more full and
more emphatical Sense, when apply’d to that Form of the Earth and Sea we
are now speaking of, than to their present Form, or to any other we can
imagine.
Thus much concerning the external Form of the first Earth. Let us now
reflect a little upon the internal Form of it, which consists of several
Regions, involving one another like Orbs about the same Center, or of the
several Elements cast circularly about each other; as it appears in the fourth
and fifth Figure. And as we have noted the external Form of this primæval
Earth, to have been mark’d and celebrated in the Sacred Writings; so
likewise in the Philosophy and Learning of the Ancients, there are several
Remains and Indications of this internal Form and Composition of it. For
’tis observable, that the Ancients in treating of the Chaos, and in raising the
World out of it, rang’d it into several Regions or Masses, as we have done;
and in that Order successively, rising one from another, as if it was a
Pedigree or Genealogy. And those Parts and Regions of Nature, into which
the Chaos was by degrees divided, they signified commonly by dark and
obscure Names; as the Night, Tartarus, Oceanus, and such like, which we
have express’d in their plain and proper Terms. And whereas the Chaos,

when it was first set on Work, ran all into Divisions and Separations of one
Element from another, which afterwards were all in some Measure united
and associated in this primogenial Earth; the Ancients accordingly made
Contention the Principle that reign’d in the Chaos at first, and then Love:
The one to express the Divisions, and the other the Union of all Parties in
this middle and common Bond. These, and such like Notions, which we
find in the Writings of the Ancients figuratively and darkly delivered,
receive a clearer Light, when compar’d with this Theory of the Chaos;
which representing every thing plainly, and in its natural Colours, is a Key
to their Thoughts, and an Illustration of their obscurer Philosophy,
concerning the original of the world; as we have shewn at large in the Latin
Treatise, Lib. 2. chap. 7.
There is another Thing in Antiquity, relating to the Form and Construction
of the Earth, which is very remarkable, and hath obtain’d throughout all
learned Nations and Ages. And that is the Comparison or Resemblance of
the Earth to an Egg. And this is not so much for its external Figure, tho’ that
be true too, as for the inward Composition of it; consisting of several Orbs,
one including another, and in that Order, as to answer the several
Elementary Regions of which the new made Earth was constituted. For if
we admit for the Yolk a Central Fire (which tho’ very reasonable, we had no
occasion to take Notice of in our Theory of the Chaos) and suppose the
Figure of the Earth Oval, and a little extended towards the Poles, (as
probably it was, seeing the Vortex that contains it is so) those two Bodies do
very naturally represent one another, as in this Scheme, which represents
the interior Faces of both, a divided Egg, or Earth. Where, as the two inmost
Regions (A, B,) represent the Yolk and the Membrane that lies next above
it; so the exterior Region of the Earth (D) is as the Shell of the Egg, and the
Abyss (C) under it as the White that lies under the Shell. And considering
that this Notion of the Mundane Egg, or that the World was Oviform, hath
been the Sense and Language of all Antiquity, Latins, Greeks, Persians,
Ægyptians, and others, as we have shew’d elsewhere, [Tell. Theor. Sac. lib.
2. c. 10.] I thought it worthy our Notice in this Place; seeing it receives such
a clear and easy Explication from that Origin and Fabrick we have given to
the first Earth, and also reflects Light upon the Theory it self, and confirms
it to be no Fiction: This Notion, which is a kind of Epitome, or Image of it,
having been conserv’d in the most Ancient Learning.

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

let the Praise of the whole Work, and particularly of this Masterpiece, for
ever with all Honour be given.

Chap. VI.

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

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

Book 1 Figure 7.

In this smooth Earth were the first Scenes of the World, and the first
Generations of Mankind; it had the Beauty of Youth and blooming Nature,
fresh and fruitful, and not a Wrinkle, Scar or Fracture in all its Body; no
Rocks nor Mountains, no hollow Caves, nor gaping Channels, but even and
uniform all over. And the Smoothness of the Earth made the Face of the
Heavens so too; the Air was calm and serene; none of those tumultuary
Motions and Conflicts of Vapours, which the Mountains and the Winds
cause in ours: ’Twas suited to a golden Age, and to the first Innocency of
Nature.
All this you’ll say is well, we are got into a pleasant World indeed, but
what’s this to the Purpose? What Appearance of a Deluge here, where there

is not so much as a Sea, nor half so much Water as we have in this Earth?
Or what Appearance of Mountains or Caverns, or other Irregularities of the
Earth, where all is level and united: So that instead of loosing the Knot, this
ties it the harder. You pretend to shew us how the Deluge was made, and
you lock up all the Waters within the Womb of the Earth, and set Bars and
Doors, and a Wall of impenetrable Strength and Thickness to keep them
there. And you pretend to shew us the Original of Rocks and Mountains,
and Caverns of the Earth, and bring us to a wide and endless Plain, smooth
as the calm Sea.
This is all true, and yet we are not so far from the Sight and Discovery of
those Things as you imagine; draw but the Curtain, and these Scenes will
appear, or something very like ’em. We must remember that St. Peter told
us, that the antediluvian Earth perished, or was demolished; and Moses
saith, the great Abyss was broken open at the Deluge. Let us then suppose,
that at a Time appointed by Divine Providence, and from Causes made
ready to do that great Execution upon a sinful World, that this Abyss was
open’d, or that the Frame of the Earth broke and fell down into the great
Abyss. At this one stroke all Nature would be chang’d, and this single
Action would have two great and visible Effects: The one Transient, and the
other Permanent. First, an Universal Deluge would overflow all the Parts
and Regions of the broken Earth during the great Commotion and Agitation
of the Abyss, by the violent Fall of the Earth into it. This would be the first
and unquestionable Effect of this Dissolution, and all that World would be
destroy’d. Then when the Agitation of the Abyss was asswag’d, and the
Waters by degrees were retir’d into their Channels, and the dry Land
appear’d, you would see the true Image of the present Earth in the Ruins of
the first. The Surface of the Globe would be divided into Land and Sea; the
Land would consist of Plains and Valleys and Mountains, according as the
Pieces of this Ruin were plac’d and dispos’d: Upon the Banks of the Sea
would stand the Rocks, and near the Shore would be Islands, or lesser
Fragments of Earth compass’d round by Water. Then as to subterraneous
Waters, and all subterraneous Caverns and Hollownesses, upon this
Supposition those things cou’d not be otherwise; for the Parts would fall
hollow in many Places in this, as in all other Ruins: And seeing the Earth
fell into this Abyss, the Waters at a certain Height would flow into all those
hollow Places and Cavities; and wou’d also sink and insinuate into many
Parts of the solid Earth. And though these subterraneous Vaults or Holes,

whether dry or full of Water, would be more or less in all Places, where the
Parts fell hollow; yet they would be found especially about the Roots of the
Mountains, and the higher Parts of the Earth; for there the Sides bearing up
one against the other, they could not lie so close at the Bottoms, but many
Vacuities would be intercepted. Nor are there any other Inequalities or
Irregularities observable in the present Form of the Earth; whether in the
Surface of it, or interior Construction, whereof this Hypothesis doth give a
ready, fair, and intelligible Account; and doth at one view represent them all
to us, with their Causes, as in a Glass: And whether that Glass be true, and
the Image answer to the Original, if you doubt of it, we will hereafter
examine them Piece by Piece. But in the first Place, we must consider the
general Deluge, how easily and truly this Supposition represents and
explains it, and answers all the Properties and Conditions of it.
I think it will be easily allow’d, that such a Dissolution of the Earth as we
have propos’d, and Fall of it into the Abyss, would certainly make an
Universal Deluge; and effectually destroy the old World, which perish’d in
it. But we have not yet particularly prov’d this Dissolution, and in what
manner the Deluge follow’d upon it: And to assert things in gross never
makes that firm Impression upon our Understandings, and upon our Belief,
as to see them deduc’d with their Causes and Circumstances; and therefore
we must endeavour to shew what Preparations there were in Nature for this
great Dissolution, and after what manner it came to pass, and the Deluge in
Consequence of it.
We have noted before, that Moses imputed the Deluge to the Disruption of
the Abyss; and St. Peter, to the particular Constitution of that Earth, which
made it obnoxious to be absorpt in Water, so that our Explication so far is
justified. But it was below the Dignity of those Sacred Pen-Men, or the
Spirit of God that directed them, to shew us the Causes of this Disruption,
or of this Absorption; this is left to the Enquiries of Men. For it was never
the Design of Providence, to give such particular Explications of natural
Things, as should make us idle, or the Use of Reason unnecessary; but on
the contrary, by delivering great Conclusions to us to excite our Curiosity
and Inquisitiveness after the Methods, by which such things were brought
to pass: And it may be there is no greater Trial or Instance of natural
Wisdom, than to find out the Channel, in which these great Revolutions of
Nature, which we treat on, flow and succeed one another.

Let us therefore resume that System of the antediluvian Earth, which we
have deduc’d from the Chaos, and which we find to answer St. Peter’s
Description, and Moses’s Account of the Deluge. This Earth could not be
obnoxious to a Deluge, as the Apostle supposeth it to have been, but by a
Dissolution; for the Abyss was enclos’d within its Bowels. And Moses doth
in effect tell us, there was such a Dissolution; when he saith, The Fountains
of the great Abyss were broken open. For Fountains are broken open no
otherwise than by breaking up the Ground that covers them. We must
therefore here enquire in what Order, and from what Causes the Frame of
this exterior Earth was dissolved, and then we shall soon see how, upon that
Dissolution, the Deluge immediately prevail’d and overflow’d all the Parts
of it.
I do not think it in the power of human Wit to determine how long this
Frame would stand, how many Years, or how many Ages; but one would
soon imagine, that this kind of Structure would not be perpetual, nor last
indeed many thousands of Years, if one consider the Effect that the Heat of
the Sun would have upon it, and the Waters under it; drying and parching
the one, and rarefying the other into Vapours. For we must consider, that the
Course of the Sun at that time, or the Posture of the Earth to the Sun, was
such, that there was no Diversity or Alternation of Seasons in the Year, as
there is now; by reason of which Alternation, our Earth is kept in an
Equality of Temper, the contrary Seasons balancing one another; so as what
Moisture the Heat of the Summer sucks out of the Earth, ’tis repaid in the
Rains of the next Winter; and what Chaps were made in it, are fill’d up
again, and the Earth reduc’d to its former Constitution. But if we should
imagine a continual Summer, the Earth would proceed in Driness still more
and more, and the Cracks would be wider, and pierce deeper into the
Substance of it: And such a continual Summer there was, at least an
Equality of Seasons in the antediluvian Earth, as shall be prov’d in the
following Book, concerning Paradise. In the mean time, this being
suppos’d, let us consider what Effect it would have upon this Arch of the
exterior Earth, and the Waters under it.
We cannot believe, but that the Heat of the Sun, within the Space of some
hundreds of Years, would have reduc’d this Earth to a considerable degree
of Driness in certain Parts; and also have much rarefied and exhal’d the
Waters beneath it: And considering the Structure of that Globe, the exterior

Crust, and the Waters lying round under it, both expos’d to the Sun, we may
fitly compare it to an Æolipile, or an hollow Sphere with Water in it, which
the Heat of the Fire rarefies and turns into Vapours and Wind. The Sun here
is as the Fire, and the exterior Earth is as the Shell of the Æolipile, and the
Abyss as the water within it; now when the Heat of the Sun had pierced
thro’ the Shell and reach’d the Waters, it began to rarefy them, and raise
them into Vapours, which Rarefaction made them require more Space and
Room than they needed before, while they lay close and quiet. And finding
themselves pent in by the exterior Earth, they press’d with Violence against
that Arch, to make it yield and give way to their Dilatation and Eruption. So
we see all Vapours and Exhalations inclos’d within the Earth, and agitated
there, strive to break out, and often shake the Ground with their Attempts to
get loose. And in the Comparison we us’d of an Æolipile, if the Mouth of it
be stop’d that gives the Vent, the Water rarefied will burst the Vessel with
its Force: And the Resemblance of the Earth to an Egg, which we us’d
before, holds also in this Respect; for when it heats before the Fire, the
Moisture and Air within being rarefied, makes it often burst the Shell. And I
do the more willingly mention this last Comparison, because I observe that
some of the Ancients, when they speak of the Doctrine of the Mundane
Egg, say, that after a certain Period of Time it was broken.
But there is yet another Thing to be considered in this Case; for as the Heat
of the Sun gave Force to these Vapours more and more, and made them
more strong and violent; so on the other Hand, it also weaken’d more and
more the Arch of the Earth, that was to resist them; sucking out the
Moisture that was the Cement of its parts, drying it immoderately, and
chapping it in sundry Places. And there being no Winter then to close up
and unite its Parts, and restore the Earth to its former Strength and
Compactness, yet grew more and more dispos’d to a Dissolution. And at
length, these Preparations in Nature being made on either side, the Force of
the Vapours increas’d, and the Walls weaken’d which should have kept
them in, when the appointed time was come, that All-wise Providence had
design’d for the Punishment of a sinful World, the whole Fabrick brake, and
the Frame of the Earth was torn in Pieces, as by an Earthquake; and those
great Portions or Fragments, into which it was divided, fell down into the
Abyss, some in one Posture, and some in another.

This is a short and general Account how we may conceive the Dissolution
of the first Earth, and an Universal Deluge arising upon it. And this manner
of Dissolution hath so many Examples in Nature every Age, that we need
not insist farther upon the Explication of it. The generality of Earthquakes
arise from like Causes, and often end in a like Effect, a partial Deluge or
Inundation of the Place or Country where they happen; and of these we
have seen some Instances even in our own Times: But whensoever it so
happens that the Vapours and Exhalations shut up in the Caverns of the
Earth by Rarefaction or Compression come to be straitned, they strive every
way to set themselves at Liberty, and often break their Prison, or the Cover
of the Earth that kept them in; which Earth upon that Disruption falls into
the subterraneous Caverns that lie under it: And if it so happens that those
Caverns are full of Water, as generally they are, if they be great or deep, that
City or Tract of Land is drown’d. And also the Fall of such a Mass of Earth,
with its Weight and Bulk, doth often force out the Water so impetuously, as
to throw it upon all the Country round about. There are innumerable
Examples in History (whereof we shall mention some hereafter) of Cities
and Countries thus swallowed up, or overflow’d, by an Earthquake, and an
Inundation arising upon it. And according to the manner of their Fall or
Ruin, they either remain’d wholly under Water, and perpetually drown’d as
Sodom and Gomorrha, Plato’s Atlantis, Bura and Helice, and other Cities
and Regions in Greece and Asia; or they partly emerg’d, and became dry
Land again; when (their Situation being pretty high) the Waters, after their
violent Agitation was abated, retir’d into the lower Places, and into their
Channels.
Now if we compare these Partial Dissolutions of the Earth with an
Universal Dissolution, we may as easily conceive an Universal Deluge from
an Universal Dissolution, as a Partial Deluge from a Partial. If we can
conceive a City, a Country, an Island, a Continent thus absorpt and
overflown; if we do but enlarge our Thought and Imagination a little, we
may conceive it as well of the whole Earth. And it seems strange to me, that
none of the Ancients should hit upon this way of explaining the Universal
Deluge; there being such frequent Instances in all Ages and Countries of
Inundations made in this manner, and never of any great Inundation made
otherwise, unless in maritime Countries, by the Irruption of the Sea into
Grounds that lie low. ’Tis true, they would not so easily imagine this
Dissolution, because they did not understand the true Form of the

antediluvian Earth; but, methinks, the Examination of the Deluge should
have led them to the Discovery of that: For observing the Difficulty, or
Impossibility of an Universal Deluge, without the Dissolution of the Earth;
as also frequent Instances of these Dissolutions accompanied with Deluges,
where the Ground was hollow, and had subterraneous Waters; this,
methinks, should have prompted them to imagine, that those subterraneous
Waters were universal at that time, or extended quite round the Earth; so as
a Dissolution of the exterior Earth could not be made any where but it
would fall into Waters, and be more or less overflow’d. And when they had
once reach’d this Thought, they might conclude, both what the Form of the
antediluvian Earth was, and that the Deluge came to pass by the Dissolution
of it. But we reason with Ease about the finding out of Things, when they
are once found out; and there is but a thin Paper-wall sometimes between
the great Discoveries, and a perfect Ignorance of them. Let us proceed now
to consider, whether this Supposition will answer all the Conditions of an
Universal Deluge, and supply all the Defects which we found in other
Explications.
The great Difficulty propos’d, was to find Water sufficient to make an
Universal Deluge, reaching to the Tops of the Mountains; and yet that this
Water should be transient, and after some time should so return into its
Channels, that the dry Land would appear, and the Earth become again
habitable. There was that double Impossibility in the common Opinion, that
the Quantity of Water necessary for such a Deluge was no where to be
found, or could no way be brought upon the Earth; and then if it was
brought, cou’d no way be remov’d again. Our Explication quite takes off
the Edge of this Objection; for, performing the same Effect with a far less
Quantity of Water, ’tis both easy to be found, and easily remov’d when the
Work is done. When the exterior Earth was broke, and fell into the Abyss, a
good part of it was cover’d with Water, by the meer Depth of the Abyss it
fell into, and those Parts of it that were higher than the Abyss was deep, and
consequently would stand above it in a calm Water, were notwithstanding
reach’d and overtop’d by the Waves, during the Agitation and violent
Commotion of the Abyss. For it is not imaginable what the Commotion of
the Abyss would be upon this Dissolution of the Earth, nor to what Height
its Waves would be thrown, when those prodigious Fragments were
tumbled down into it. Suppose a Stone of ten thousand Weight taken up into
the Air a Mile or two, and then let fall into the middle of the Ocean, I do not

believe but that the dashing of the Water upon that Impression would rise as
high as a Mountain. But suppose a mighty Rock, or heap of Rocks to fall
from that Height, or a great Island, or a Continent; these would expel the
Waters out of their Places with such a Force and Violence, as to fling them
among the highest Clouds.
’Tis incredible to what Height sometimes great Stones and Cinders will be
thrown, at the Eruptions of fiery Mountains; and the Pressure of a great
Mass of Earth falling into the Abyss, though it be a Force of another kind,
could not but impel the Water with so much Strength, as would carry it up
to a great Height in the Air; and to the top of any thing that lay in its way,
any Eminency, high Fragment, or new Mountain: And then rolling back
again, it would sweep down with it whatsoever it rush’d upon, Woods,
Buildings, living Creatures, and carry them all headlong into the great
Gulph. Sometimes a Mass of Water would be quite struck off and separate
from the rest, and toss’d through the Air like a flying River; but the
common Motion of the Waves was to climb up the Hills or inclin’d
Fragments; and then return into the Valleys and Deeps again, with a
perpetual Fluctuation going and coming, ascending and descending, ’till the
Violence of them being spent by degrees, they settled at last in the Places
allotted for them; where Bounds are set that they cannot pass over, that they
return not again to cover the Earth, Psalm. civ. 6, 7, 8, 9.
Neither is it to be wondred, that the great Tumult of the Waters, and the
Extremity of the Deluge lasted for some Months; for besides, that the first
Shock and Commotion of the Abyss was extreamly violent, from the
general Fall of the Earth, there were ever and anon some secondary Ruins;
or some Parts of the great Ruin, that were not well settled, broke again, and
made new Commotions: And ’twas a considerable Time before the great
Fragments that fell, and their lesser Dependencies could be so adjusted and
fitted, as to rest in a firm and immoveable Posture: For the Props and Stays
whereby they lean’d one upon another, or upon the Bottom of the Abyss,
often fail’d, either by the incumbent Weight, or the violent Impulses of the
Water against them; and so renewed, or continued the Disorder and
Confusion of the Abyss. Besides, we are to observe, that these great
Fragments falling hollow, they inclos’d and bore down with them under
their concave Surface a great deal of Air; and while the Water compass’d
these Fragments, and overflow’d them, the Air could not readily get out of

those Prisons, but by degrees, as the Earth and Water above would give
way; so as this would also hinder the Settlement of the Abyss, and the
retiring of the Water into those subterraneous Channels, for some Time. But
at length, when this Air had found a vent, and left its place to the Water, and
the Ruins both primary and secondary were settled and fix’d then the
Waters of the Abyss began to settle too, and the dry Land to appear; first the
tops of the Mountains, then the high Grounds, then the Plains and the rest of
the Earth. And this gradual Subsidency of the Abyss (which Moses also hath
particularly noted) and Discovery of the several Parts of the Earth would
also take up a considerable Time.
Thus a new World appear’d, or the Earth put on its new Form, and became
divided into Sea and Land; and the Abyss, which from several Ages, even
from the beginning of the World, had lain hid in the Womb of the Earth,
was brought to light and discover’d; the greatest part of it constituting our
present Ocean, and the rest filling the lower Cavities of the Earth: Upon the
Land appear’d the Mountains and the Hills, and the Islands in the Sea, and
the Rocks upon the Shore. And so the Divine Providence, having prepar’d
Nature for so great a Change, at one stroke dissolv’d the Frame of the old
World, and made us a new one out of its Ruins, which we now inhabit since
the Deluge. All which Things being thus explain’d, deduc’d, and stated, we
now add and pronounce our Third and last Proposition; That the Disruption
of the Abyss, or Dissolution of the primæval Earth, and its Fall into the
Abyss, was the Cause of the Universal Deluge, and of the Destruction of the
old World.

Chap. VII.

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

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

they who have not this Doubt, and have a Mind to see the Issue of the
Theory, may skip these two Chapters, if they please, and proceed to the
following, where the Order is continued.
To satisfy then the Doubtful in this Particular, let us lay down in the first
place that Conclusion which they seem to admit, viz. That this is a possible
and consistent Explication of an Universal Deluge; and let’s see how far
this would go, if well consider’d, towards the Proof of what they desire, or
towards the Demonstration of Noah’s Deluge in particular. It is granted on
both Hands, that there hath been an Universal Deluge upon the Earth, which
was Noah’s Deluge; and it is also granted, that we have given a possible and
consistent Idea of an Universal Deluge: Now we have prov’d Chap. II. and
III. that all other ways hitherto assign’d for the Explication of Noah’s Flood
are incongruous or impossible; therefore it came to pass in that possible and
competent way which we have propos’d. And if we have truly prov’d, in the
foremention’d Chapters, the Impossibility or Unintelligibility of it in all
other ways, this Argumentation is undeniable. Besides, we may argue thus,
as it is granted that there hath been an Universal Deluge upon the Earth; so I
suppose it will be granted that there hath been but one: Now the Dissolution
of the Earth, whensoever it happen’d, would make one Universal Deluge,
and therefore the only one, and the same with Noah’s. That such a
Dissolution as we have describ’d would make an Universal Deluge, I think,
cannot be question’d; and that there hath been such a Dissolution, besides
what we have already alledg’d, shall be prov’d at large from natural
Observations upon the Form and Figure of the present Earth, in the Third
Section and last Chapter of this Book; In the mean time we will proceed to
History, both Sacred and Prophane, and by comparing our Explication with
those, give further Assurance of its Truth and Reality.
In the first Place, it agrees, which is most considerable, with Moses’s
Narration of the Deluge; both as to the Matter and Manner of it. The Matter
of the Deluge Moses makes to be the Waters from above, and the Waters
from below; or he distinguishes the Causes of the Deluge, as we do, into
Superior and Inferior, Gen. vii. 11. and the Inferior Causes he makes to be
the Disruption of the Abyss, which is the principal Part, and the great Hinge
of our Explication. Then as to the manner of the Deluge, the Beginning and
the Ending, the Increase and Decrease, he saith, Verse 17, 18, 19, 20. Chap.
viii. 3, 5. it increas’d gradually, and decreas’d gradually, by going and

coming; that is, after many repeated Fluctuations and Reciprocations of the
Waves, the Waters of the Abyss began to be more compos’d, and to retire
into their Channels, whence they shall never return to cover the Earth again.
This agrees wholly with our Theory; we suppose the Abyss to have been
under an extream Commotion and Agitation by the Fall of the Earth into it,
and this at first encreas’d more and more, till the whole Earth was fallen;
then continuing for some time at the height of its Rage, overwhelming the
greatest Mountains, it afterwards decreas’d by the like degrees, 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 uniform Surface;
by reason of which mistaken Notion of the Deluge, they made more Water
necessary to it than was possible to be had, or being had, than it was
possible to get quit of again; for there are no Channels in the Earth that
could hold so much Water, either to give it, or to receive it. And the
Psalmist, [vid. St. Austin in loc.] speaking of the Deluge, as it seems to me,
notes this violent Commotion of the Abyss, Psal. civ. 8, 9. The Waters went
up by the Mountains, came down by the Valleys unto the Place which thou
hast founded for them. I know some interpret that Passage of the State of
the Waters in the Beginning, when they cover’d the Face of the whole
Earth, Gen. i. 2. but that cannot be, because of what follows in the next
Verse; Thou hast set a Bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not
again to cover the Earth. Which is not true, if the preceding Words be
understood of the State of the Waters at the Beginning of the World; for
they did pass those Bounds, and did return since that time to cover the
Earth, namely at the Deluge: But if these Words be referr’d to the Time of
the Deluge, and the State of the Waters then, ’tis both a just Description of
the Motion of the Abyss, and certainly true, that the Waters since that time
are so settled in their Channels, that they shall never overflow the Earth
again. As we are assur’d by the Promise made to Noah, and that illustrious
Pledge and Confirmation of it, the Rainbow, that the Heavens also shall
never pour out so much Waters again; their State being chang’d as well as
that of the Earth, or Sea, from what they were before the Deluge.

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

or cloven asunder, and the Waters gush’d out that made the Deluge. This I
am sure is the most natural Interpretation or Signification of this Word,
according as it is us’d in Moses’s Writings. Furthermore, we must observe
what Moses saith concerning this Abyss, and whether that will agree with
the Sea or no; he saith the Fountains of the great Abyss were broken open;
now if by the great Abyss you understand the Sea, how are its Fountains
broken open? To break open a Fountain, is to break open the Ground that
covers it, and what Ground covers the Sea? So that upon all Considerations,
either of the Word that Moses here useth, Tehom-Rabba, or of the thing
affirmed concerning it, breaking open its Fountains; or of the Effect
following the breaking open its Fountains, drowning of the Earth; from all
these Heads it is manifest, that the Sea cannot be understood by the great
Abyss, whose Disruption was the Cause of the Deluge.
And as the Mosaical Abyss cannot be the Sea, so neither can it be those
subterraneous Waters that are dispers’d in the Cells and Caverns of the
Earth; for as they are now lodg’d within the Earth, they are not one Abyss,
but several Cisterns and Receptacles of Water in several Places, especially
under the roots of Mountains and Hills, separate one from another,
sometimes by whole Regions and Countries interpos’d. Besides, what
Fountains, if they were broken up, could let out this Water, or bring it upon
the Face of the Earth? When we sink a Mine, or dig a Well, the Waters,
when uncover’d, do not leap out of their Places out of those Cavities, or at
least, do not flow upon the Earth; ’Tis not as if you open’d a Vein, where
the Blood spirts out, and riseth higher than its Source; but as when you take
off the Cover of a Vessel, the Water doth not fly out for that: So if we
should imagine all the subterraneous Caverns of the Earth uncover’d, and
the Waters laid bare, there they would lie unmov’d in their Beds, if the
Earth did not fall into them to force them up. Furthermore, if these Waters
were any way extracted and laid upon the Surface of the Ground, nothing
would be gain’d, as to the Deluge, by that, for as much Water would run
into these Holes again when the Deluge begun to rise; so that this would be
but an useless Labour, and turn to no Account. And lastly, These Waters are
no way sufficient for Quantity to answer to the Mosaical Abyss, or to be the
principal Cause of the Deluge, as that was.
Now, seeing neither the Sea, as it is at present, nor the subterraneous
Waters, as they are at present, can answer to the Mosaical Abyss, we are

sure there is nothing in this present Earth that can answer to it. Let us then
on the other Hand compare it with that subterraneous Abyss, which we have
found in the antediluvian Earth, represented; Fig. 2. p. 77. and examine
their Characters and Correspondency: First, Moses’s Abyss was cover’d,
and subterraneous, for the Fountains of it are said to have been cloven or
burst open; then, it was vast and capacious; and thirdly, it was so dispos’d,
as to be capable of a Disruption, that would cause an universal Deluge to
the Earth. Our antediluvian Abyss answers truly to all these Characters; it
was in the Womb of the Earth; the Earth was founded upon those Waters, as
the Psalmist saith; or they were inclos’d within the Earth as in a Bag. Then
for the Capacity of it, it contained both all the Waters now in the Ocean, and
all those that are dispers’d in the Caverns of the Earth: And lastly, it is
manifest its Situation was such, that upon a Disruption or Dissolution of the
Earth which cover’d it, an universal Deluge would arise. Seeing then this
answers the Description, and all the Properties of the Mosaical Abyss, and
nothing else will, how can we in Reason judge it otherwise than the same,
and the very Thing intended and propos’d in the History of Noah’s Deluge
under the Name of Tehom-Rabba, or the great Abyss, at whose Disruption
the World was over-flow’d? And as we do not think it an unhappy
Discovery to have found out, (with a moral Certainty) the Seat of the
Mosaical Abyss, which hath been almost as much sought for, and as much
in vain, as the Seat of Paradise; so this gives us a great Assurance, that the
Theory we have given of a general Deluge is not a mere Idea, but is to be
appropriated to the Deluge of Noah, as a true Explication of it.
And to proceed now from Moses to other divine Writers; That our
Description is a Reality, both as to the antediluvian Earth, and as to the
Deluge, we may further be convinc’d from St. Peter’s Discourse concerning
those two Things, 2 Epist. iii. 6. St. Peter saith, that the Constitution of the
antediluvian Earth was such, in reference to the Waters, that by reason of
that it was obnoxious to a Deluge; we say these Waters were the great
Abyss it stood upon, by reason whereof that World was really expos’d to a
Deluge, and overwhelm’d in it upon the Disruption of this Abyss, as Moses
witnesses. ’Tis true, St. Peter doth not specify what those Waters were, nor
mention either the Sea or the Abyss; but seeing Moses tells us, that it was
by the Waters of the Abyss that the Earth was overwhelmed, St. Peter’s
Waters must be understood of the same Abyss, because he supposeth them
the Cause of the same Deluge. And, I think, the Apostle’s Discourse there

cannot receive a better Illustration, than from Moses’s History of the
Deluge. Moses distinguishes the Causes of the Flood into those that belong
to the Heavens, and those that belong to the Earth; the Rains and the Abyss:
St. Peter also distinguisheth the Causes of the Deluge into the Constitution
of the Heavens, in reference to its Waters; and the Constitution of the Earth,
in reference to its Waters; and no doubt they both aim at the same Causes,
as they refer to the same Effect; only Moses mentions the immediate
Causes, the Rains and the Waters of the Abyss; and St. Peter mentions the
more remote and fundamental Causes, that Constitution of the Heavens, and
that Constitution of the Earth, in reference to their respective Waters, which
made that World obnoxious to a Deluge: And these two, speaking of Noah’s
Deluge, and agreeing thus with one another, and both with us, or with the
Theory which we have given of a general Deluge, we may safely conclude,
that it is no imaginary Idea, but a true Account of that ancient Flood,
whereof Moses hath left us the History.
And seeing the right understanding of the Mosaical Abyss is sufficient
alone to prove all we have deliver’d concerning the Deluge, as also
concerning the Frame of the antediluvian Earth, give me leave to take
Notice here of some other Places of Scripture, which we mention’d before,
that seem manifestly to describe this same Form of the Abyss with the Earth
above it, 2 Esdr. xvi. 58. Psal. xxiv. 2. He founded the Earth upon the Seas,
and establish’d it upon the Floods. And Psal. cxxxvi. 6. He stretch’d out the
Earth above the Waters. Now this Foundation of the Earth upon the Waters,
or Extension of it above the Waters, 2 Esdr. c. vi. doth most aptly agree to
that Structure and Situation of the Abyss and the antediluvian Earth, which
we have assign’d them, and which we have before describ’d; but very
improperly and forcedly to the present Form of the Earth and the Waters. In
that second Place of the Psalmist, the Word may be render’d either, he
stretch’d, as we read it, or he fix’d and consolidated the Earth above the
Waters, as the Vulgate and Septuagint translate it: For ’tis from the same
Word with that which is used for the Firmament, Gen. i. So that as the
Firmament was extended over and around the Earth, so was the Earth
extended over and about the Waters, in that first Constitution of Things; and
I remember some of the Ancients use this very Comparison of the
Firmament and Earth, to express the Situation of the Paradisiacal Earth in
reference to the Sea or Abyss.

There is another remarkable Place in the Psalms, to shew the Disposition of
the Waters in the first Earth; Psal. xxxiii. 7. He gathereth the Waters of the
Sea as in a Bag, he layeth up the Abysses in Store-houses. This answers
very fitly and naturally to the Place and Disposition of the Abyss which it
had before the Deluge, inclos’d within the Vault of the Earth, as in a Bag, or
in a Store-house. I know very well what I render here in a Bag, is render’d
in the English as an Heap; but that Translation of the Word seems to be
grounded on the old Error, that the Sea is higher than the Land, and so doth
not make a true Sense. Neither are the two Parts of the Verse so well suited
and consequent one to another, if the first express an high Situation of the
Waters, and the second a low one. And accordingly the Vulgate, Septuagint,
and Oriental Versions and Paraphrase, as also Symmachus, St. Jerom, and
Basil, render it as we do here, in a Bag, or by Terms equivalent.
To these Passages of the Psalmist, concerning the Form of the Abyss and
the first Earth, give me leave to add this general Remark, that they are
commonly usher’d in, or follow’d, with something of Admiration in the
Prophet. We observ’d before, that the Formation of the first Earth, after
such a wonderful Manner, being a Piece of divine Architecture, when it was
spoken of in Scripture, it was usually ascrib’d to a particular Providence;
and accordingly we see in these Places now mentioned, that it is still made
the Object of Praise and Admiration: In the cxxxvi. Palm ’tis reckon’d
among the Wonders of God, Verses 4, 5, 6. Give Praise to him who alone
doth great Wonders: To him that by Wisdom made the Heavens: To hime
that stretched out the Earth above the Waters. And in like manner, in that
xxxiii. Ps. ’tis join’d with the Forming of the Heavens, and made the
Subject of the Divine Power and Wisdom: Verses 6, 7, 8, 9. By the Word of
the Lord were the Heavens made, and all the Host of them by the Breath of
his Mouth; He gathereth the Waters of the Sea together, as in a Bag, he
layeth up the Abyss in Store-houses. Let all the Earth fear the Lord; Let all
the Inhabitants of the World stand in awe of him; For he spake, and it was;
he commanded, and it stood fast. Namely, all Things stood in that
wonderful Posture in which the Word of his Power and Wisdom had
establish’d them. David often made the Works of Nature, and the external
World, the Matter of his Meditations, and of his Praises and Philosophical
Devotions; reflecting sometimes upon the present Form of the World, and
sometimes upon the primitive Form of it: And tho’ poetical Expressions, as
the Psalms are, seldom are so determinate and distinct, but that they may be

interpreted more than one Way; yet, I think, it cannot but be acknowledg’d,
that those Expressions, and Passages that we have instanc’d in, are more
fairly and aptly understood of the ancient Form of the Sea, or the Abyss, as
it was inclos’d within the Earth, than of the present Form of it in an open
Channel.
There are also in the Book of Job many noble Reflections upon the Works
of Nature, and upon the Formation of the Earth and the Abyss; whereof that
in Chap. xxvi. 7. He stretcheth out the North over the empty Places, and
hangeth the Earth upon nothing, seems to parallel the Expression of David;
He stretched out the Earth upon the Waters; for the Word we render the
empty Place is Tohu, which is apply’d to the Chaos and the first Abyss,
Gen. i. 2. and the hanging the Earth upon nothing is much more wonderful,
if it be understood of the first habitable Earth, that hung over the Waters,
sustain’d by nothing but its own peculiar Form, and the Libration of its
Parts, than if it be understood of the present Earth, and the whole Body of
it; for if it be in its Center or proper Place, whither should it sink further, or
whither should it go? But this Passage, together with the foregoing and
following Verses, requires a more critical Examination than this Discourse
will easily bear.
There is another remarkable Discourse in Job, that contains many Things to
our present Purpose, ’tis Chap. xxxviii. where God reproaches Job with his
Ignorance of what pass’d at the beginning of the World, and the Formation
of the Earth, Verses 4, 5, 6. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of
the Earth? Declare if thou hast Understanding. Who hath laid the Measures
thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the Line upon it?
Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned? or who laid the Corner-
stone? All these Questions have far more Force and Emphasis, more
Propriety and Elegancy, if they be understood of the first and antediluvian
Form of the Earth, than if they be understood of the present; for in the
present Form of the Earth there is no Architecture, no Structure, no more
than in a Ruin; or at least none comparatively to what was in the first Form
of it. And that the exterior and superficial Part of the Earth is here spoken
of, appears by the Rule and Line applied to it; but what Rule or Regularity
is there in the Surface of the present Earth? What Line was us’d to level its
Parts? But in its original Construction, when it lay smooth and regular in its
Surface, as if it had been drawn, by Rule and Line in every Part; and when

it hung pois’d upon the Deep, without Pillar or Foundation-Stone, then just
Proportions were taken, and every thing plac’d by Weight and Measure:
And this, I doubt not, was that artificial Structure here alluded to; and when
this Work was finish’d, then The Morning Stars sang together, and all the
Sons of God shouted for Joy, Verse 7.
Thus far the Questions proceed upon the Form and Construction of the first
Earth; in the following Verses (8, 9, 10, 11.) they proceed upon the
Demolition of that Earth, the opening the Abyss, and the present State of
both. Or who shut up the Sea with Doors when it brake forth, as if it had
issu’d out of a Womb? Who can doubt but this was at the breaking open the
Fountains of the Abyss? Gen. vii. 11. when the Waters gush’d out, as out of
the great Womb of Nature; and by reason of that Confusion and
Perturbation of Air and Water that rose upon it, a thick Mist and Darkness
was round the Earth, and all Things as in a second Chaos, When I made the
Cloud the Garment thereof, and thick Darkness a Swadling-band for it, and
brake up for it my decreed Place, and made Bars and Doors. Namely,
(taking the Words as thus usually render’d) the present Channel of the Sea
was made when the Abyss was broke up, and at the same Time were made
the shory Rocks and Mountains, which are the Bars and Boundaries of the
Sea. And said hitherto shalt thou come, and no further; and here shall thy
proud Waves be stay’d. Which last Sentence shews, that this cannot be
understood of the first Disposition of the Waters, as they were before the
Flood, for their proud Waves broke those Bounds, whatsoever they were,
when they over-flow’d the Earth in the Deluge. And that the Womb which
they broke out of was the great Abyss, the Chaldee Paraphrase in this Place
doth expresly mention; and what can be understood by ‫ ְח הומה מן‬the Womb
of the Earth, but that subterraneous Capacity in which the Abyss lay? Then
that which followeth is a Description or Representation of the great Deluge
that ensued, and of that Disorder in Nature that was then, and how the
Waters were settled and bounded afterwards. Not unlike the Description in
Psalm civ. ver. 6, 7, 8, 9. And thus much for these Places in the Book of Job.
There remains a remarkable Discourse in the Proverbs of Solomon, relating
to the Mosaical Abyss, and not only to that, but to the Origin of the Earth in
general; where Wisdom declares her Antiquity and Pre-existence to all the
Works of this Earth, Chap. viii. Verse 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28. I was set up
from Everlasting, from the Beginning ere the Earth was. When there were

no Deeps or Abysses, I was brought forth; when no Fountains abounding
with Water. Then in the 27th Verse, When he prepared the Heavens, I was
there; when he set a Compass upon the Face of the Deep or Abyss. When he
established the Clouds above, when he strengthned the Fountains of the
Abyss. Here is mention made of the Abyss, and of the Fountains of the
Abyss; and who can question, but that the Fountains of the Abyss here are
the same with the Fountains of the Abyss which Moses mentions, and were
broken open, as he tells us, at the Deluge? Let us observe therefore what
Form Wisdom gives to this Abyss, and consequently to the Mosaical; And
here seem to be two Expressions that determine the Form of it, Verse 28. He
strengthned the Fountains of the Abyss, that is, the cover of those Fountains,
for the Fountains could be strengthned no other Way than by making a
strong Cover or Arch over them. And that Arch is express’d more fully and
distinctly in the foregoing Verse, When he prepar’d the Heavens, I was
there; when he set a Compass on the Face of the Abyss; we render it
Compass, the Word signifies a Circle or Circumference, or an Orb or
Sphere. So there was in the Beginning of the World a Sphere, Orb or Arch
set round the Abyss, according to the Testimony of Wisdom, who was then
present. And this shews us both the Form of the Mosaical Abyss, which was
included within this Vault: And the Form of the habitable Earth, which was
the outward Surface of this Vault, or the Cover of the Abyss that was broke
up at the Deluge.
And thus much, I think, is sufficient to have noted out of Scripture,
concerning the Mosaical Abyss, to discover the Form, Place, and Situation
of it; which I have done the more largely, because that being determin’d, it
will draw in easily all the rest of our Theory concerning the Deluge. I will
now only add one or two general Observations, and so conclude this
Discourse: The first Observation is concerning the Abyss; namely, That the
opening and shutting of the Abyss, 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 Stage: And accordingly it is a thing often mention’d
and alluded to in Scripture, sometimes in a natural, sometimes in a moral or
theological Sense; and in both Senses, our Saviour shuts and opens it as he
pleaseth. Our Saviour, who is both Lord of Nature and of Grace, whose
Dominion is both in Heaven and in Earth, hath a double Key; that of the
Abyss, whereby Death and Hell are in his Power, and all the Revolutions of
Nature are under his Conduct and Providence; and the Key of David,

whereby he admits or excludes from the City of God, and the Kingdom of
Heaven whom he pleaseth. Job xi. 10, 12, 14. Apoc. i. 18. xx. 1, 2, 3. xxi. 1.
Apoc. iii. 7. Isa. xxii. 22. Of those Places that refer to the shutting and
opening the Abyss in a natural Sense, I cannot but particularly take Notice
of that in Job, Chap. xii. ver. 14, 15. and Chap. xi. 10. God breaketh down,
and it cannot be built again: He shutteth up Man, and there can be no
opening: Behold, he withholdeth the Waters, and they dry up; also he
sendeth them out and they overturn the Earth. Tho’ these Things be true of
God in lesser and common Instances, yet to me it is plain, that they
principally refer to the Deluge, the opening and shutting the Abyss, with the
Dissolution or Subversion of the Earth thereupon; and accordingly they are
made the great Effects of the divine Power and Wisdom in the 13th Verse of
Chap. xii. With God is Wisdom and Strength, he hath Counsel and
Understanding; Behold, he breaketh down, &c. And also in the Conclusion
’tis repeated again, Verse 16. With him is Strength and Wisdom; which
Solemnity would scarce have been us’d for common Instances of his Power.
When God is said to build or pull down, and no Body can build again, ’tis
not to be understood of an House or a Town. God builds and unbuilds
Worlds; and who shall build up that Arch that was broke down at the
Deluge? Where shall they lay the Foundation, or how shall the Mountains
be rear’d up again to make Part of the Roof? This is the Fabrick, which
when God breaketh down, none can build up again. He withholdeth the
Waters, and they dry up: As we shew’d the Earth to have been
immoderately chap’d and parch’d before its Dissolution. He sendeth them
forth, and they overturn the Earth. What can more properly express the
breaking out of the Waters at the Disruption of the Abyss, and the
Subversion or Dissolution of the Earth in consequence of it? ’Tis true, this
last Passage may be applied to the breaking out of Waters in an ordinary
Earthquake, and the Subversion of some Part of the Earth, which often
follows upon it; but it must be acknowledg’d, that the Sense is more
weighty, if it be referr’d to the great Deluge, and the great Earthquake
which laid the World in Ruins and in Water. And philosophical Descriptions
in sacred Writings, like Prophecies, have often a lesser and a greater
Accomplishment and Interpretation.
I could not pass by this Place without giving this short Explication of it. We
proceed now to the second Observation, which is concerning the Style of
Scripture, in most of those Places we have cited, and others upon the same

Subject. The Reflections that are made in several Parts of the divine
Writings, upon the Origin of the World, and the Formation of the Earth,
seem to me to be writ in a Style something approaching to the Nature of a
prophetical Style, and to have more of a divine Enthusiasm and Elocution in
them, than the ordinary Text of Scripture; the Expressions are lofty, and
sometimes abrupt, and often figurative and disguis’d, as may be observed in
most of those Places we have made use of, and particularly in that Speech
of Wisdom, Prov. viii. where the 26th Verse is so obscure, that no two
Versions that I have yet met with, whether ancient or modern, agree in the
Translation of that Verse. And therefore, tho’ I fully believe that the
Construction of the first Earth is really intended in those Words; yet seeing
it could not be made out clear without a long and critical Discussion of
them, I did not think that proper to be insisted upon here. We may also
observe, that whereas there is a double Form or Composition of the Earth,
that which it had at first, or till the Deluge, and that which it hath since;
sometimes the one, and sometimes the other may be glanc’d upon in these
Scripture Phrases and Descriptions; and so there may be in the same
Discourse an Intermixture of both. And it commonly happens so in an
enthusiastick or prophetick Style, that by reason of the Eagerness and
Trembling of the Fancy, it doth not always regularly follow the same even
Thread of Discourse, but strikes many times upon some other Thing that
hath Relation to it, or lies under or near the same view. Of this we have
frequent Examples in the Apocalypse, and in that Prophecy of our
Saviour’s, Matth. xxiv. concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem, and of the
World. But notwithstanding any such Unevenness or Indistinctness in the
Style of those Places which we have cited concerning the Origin and Form
of the Earth, we may at least make this Remark, that if there never was any
other Form of the Earth but the present, nor any other State of the Abyss,
than what it is in now, ’tis not imaginable what should give Occasion to all
those Expressions and Passages that we have cited; which being so strange
in themselves and paradoxical, should yet so much favour, and so fairly
comply with our Suppositions. What I have observ’d in another Place, Tell.
Theor. lib. 2. c. 6. in treating of Paradise, that the Expressions of the
ancient Fathers were very extravagant, if Paradise was nothing but a little
Plot of Ground in Mesopotamia, as many of late have fancied, may in like
Manner be observ’d concerning the ancient Earth and Abyss; if they were in
no other Form nor other State than what they are under now, the

Expressions of the sacred Writers concerning them are very strange and
unaccountable, without any sufficient Ground, that we know, or any just
Occasion for such uncouth Representations. If there was nothing intended
or referr’d to in those Descriptions, but the present Form and State of the
Earth, that is so well known, that in describing of it there would be nothing
dark or mysterious, nor any occasion for Obscurity in the Style or
Expression, whereof we find so much in those. So as, all Things consider’d,
what might otherwise be made an Exception to some of these Texts alledg’d
by us, viz. that they are too obscure, becomes an Argument for us: As
implying that there is something more intended by them than the present
and known Form of the Earth. And we having propos’d another Form and
Structure of the Earth, to which those Characters suit and answer more
easily; as this opens and gives Light to those difficult Places, so it may be
reasonably concluded to be the very Sense and Notion intended by the holy
Writers.
And thus much, I think, is sufficient to have observ’d out of Scripture, to
verify our Explication of the Deluge, and our Application of it to Noah’s
Flood, both according to the Mosaical History of the Flood, and according
to many occasional Reflections and Discourses dispers’d in other Places of
Scripture concerning the same Flood, or concerning the Abyss and the first
Form of the Earth. And though there may be some other Passages of a
different Aspect, they will be of no Force to disprove our Conclusions,
because they respect the present Form of the Earth and Sea; and also,
because Expressions that deviate more from the common Opinion, are more
remarkable and more proving; in that there is nothing could give Occasion
to such, but an Intention to express the very Truth. So, for instance, if there
was one Place in Scripture that said the Earth was mov’d, and several that
seem’d to imply, that the Sun was mov’d, we should have more regard to
that one Place for the Motion of the Earth, than to all the other that made
against it; because those others might be spoken and understood according
to common Opinion and common Belief, but that which affirm’d the
Motion of the Earth, could not be spoken upon any other Ground, but only
for Truth and Instruction-sake. I leave this to be apply’d to the present
Subject.
Thus much for the sacred Writings. As to the History of the ancient
Heathens, we cannot expect an Account or Narration of Noah’s Flood,

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

Chap. VIII.

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

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

otherwise, it may be, would have been impenetrable to them: As he that
makes the first way thro’ a thick Forest, tho’ it be not the streightest and
shortest, deserves better, and hath done more than he that makes it streighter
and smoother afterwards.
Providence that ruleth all things and all Ages, after the Earth had stood
above sixteen hundred Years, thought fit to put a Period to that World; and
accordingly it was revealed to Noah, that for the Wickedness and
Degeneracy of Men, God would destroy Mankind with the Earth, (Gen. vi.
13.) in a Deluge of Water; whereupon he was commanded, in order to the
preserving of himself and Family, as a Stock for the new World, to build a
great Vessel or Ark, to float upon the Waters, and had Instructions given
him for the Building of it, both as to the Matter, and as to the Form. Noah
believed the Word of God, tho’ against his Senses, and all external
Appearances, and set himself to work to build an Ark, according to the
Directions given, which after many Years Labour was finish’d; whilst the
incredulous World, secure enough, as they thought, against a Deluge,
continued still in their Excesses and Insolencies, and laught at the
Admonition of Noah, and at the Folly of his Design of building an
extravagant Machine, a floating House, to save himself from an imaginary
Inundation; for they thought it no less, seeing it was to be in an Earth where
there was no Sea, nor any Rain neither in those Parts, according to the
ordinary Course of Nature; as shall be shewn in the second Book of this
Treatise.
But when the appointed Time was come, the Heavens began to melt, and
the Rains to fall, and these were the first surprizing Causes and Preparatives
to the Deluge: They fell, we suppose, (tho’ we do not know how that could
proceed from natural Causes) throughout the Face of the whole Earth;
which could not but have a considerable Effect on that Earth, being even
and smooth, without Hills and Eminencies, and might lay it all under Water
to some Depth; so as the Ark, if it could not float upon those Rain-Waters,
at least taking the Advantage of a River, or of a Dock or Cistern made to
receive them, it might be afloat before the Abyss was 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 mention’d
together, I am apt to think those Flood-gates were distinct from the common
Rain, and were something more violent and impetuous. So that there might

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

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

Face of the Deluge, and of the broken and drown’d Earth, in this Scheme,
with the floating Ark, and the Guardian Angels.

Book 1 Figure 8.

Thus much for the Beginning and Progress of the Deluge. It now remains
only that we consider it in its Decrease, and the State of the Earth after the
Waters were retir’d into their Channels, which makes the present State of it.
Moses saith, God brought a Wind upon the Waters, and the Tops of the Hills
became bare, and then the lower Grounds and Plains by degrees; the Waters
being sunk into the Channels of the Sea, and the Hollowness of the Earth,
and the whole Globe appearing in the Form it is now under. There needs
nothing be added for Explication of this, ’tis the genuine Consequence of

the Theory we have given of the Deluge; and whether this Wind was a
descending Wind to depress and keep down the Swellings and Inequalities
of the Abyss, or whether it was only to dry the Land as fast as it appear’d,
or might have both Effects, I do not know; but as nothing can be perpetual
that is violent, so this Commotion of the Abyss abated after a certain time,
and the great Force that impell’d the Waters decreasing, their natural
Gravity began to take Effect, and to reduce them into the lowest Places, at
an equal Height, and in an even Surface, and level one Part with another:
That is, in short, the Abyss became our Sea, fixt within its Channel, and
bounded by Rocks and Mountains: Then was the decreed Place establish’d
for it, and Bars and Doors were set; then was it said, hitherto shalt thou
come, and no further, and here shall thy proud Waves be stopt, Job xxxviii.
10, 11. And the Deluge being thus ended, and the Waters settled in their
Channels, the Earth took such a broken Figure as is represented in those
larger Schemes, p. 100. And this will be the Form and State of it till its great
Change comes in the Conflagration, when we expect a new Heaven and a
new Earth.
But to pursue this Prospect of Things a little further; we may easily
imagine, that for many Years after the Deluge ceas’d, the Face of the Earth
was very different from what it is now, and the Sea had other Bounds than it
hath at present. I do not doubt but the Sea reach’d much further in-land, and
clim’d higher upon the Sides of the Mountains; and I have observ’d in
many Places a Ridge of Mountains some Distance from the Sea, and a Plain
from their Roots to the Shore; which Plain no doubt was formerly cover’d
by the Sea, bounded against those Hills as its first and natural Ramparts, or
as the Ledges or Lips of its Vessel. And it seems probable, that the Sea doth
still grow narrower from Age to Age, and sinks more within its Channel and
the Bowels of the Earth, according as it can make its Way into all those
subterraneous Cavities, and crowd the Air out of them. We see whole
Countries of Land gain’d from it, and by several Indications, as ancient
Sea-ports left dry and useless, old Sea-marks far within the Land, Pieces of
Ships, Anchors, &c. left at a great Distance from the present Shores; from
these Signs, and such like, we may conclude that the Sea reach’d many
Places formerly that now are dry Land, and at first I believe was generally
bound in on either Side with a Chain of Mountains. So I should easily
imagine the Mediterranean Sea, for instance, to have been bounded by the
Continuation of the Alps through Dauphine and Languedoc to the

Pyreneans, and at the other End by the Darmatick Mountains almost to the
Black Sea. Then Atlas major, which runs along with the Mediterranean
from Ægypt to the Atlantick Ocean, and now parts Barbary and Numidia,
may possibly have been the ancient Barrier on the Africk Side. And in our
own Island I could easily figure to my self, in many Parts of it, other Sea-
bounds than what it hath at present; and the like may be observ’d in other
Countries.
And as the Sea had much larger Bounds for some Time after the Deluge, so
the Land had a different Face in many Respects to what it hath now; for we
suppose the Valleys and lower Grounds, where the Descent and Derivation
of the Water was not so easy, to have been full of Lakes and Pools for a
long Time; and these were often converted into Fens and Bogs, where the
Ground being spungy, suck’d up the Water, and the loosen’d Earth swell’d
into a soft and pappy Substance; which would still continue so, if there was
any Course of Water sensible or insensible, above or within the Ground,
that fed this moist Place: But if the Water stood in a more firm Basin, or on
a Soil, which for its Heaviness or any other Reason would not mix with it, it
made a Lake or clear Pool. And we may easily imagine there were
innumerable such Lakes, and Bogs, and Fastnesses for many Years after the
Deluge, till the World begun to be pretty well stock’d with People, and
human Industry cleansed and drained those unfruitful and unhabitable
Places. And those Countries that have been later cultivated, or by a lazier
People, retain still, in Proportion to their Situation and Soil, a greater
Number of them.
Neither is it at all incongruous or inconvenient to suppose, that the Face of
the Earth stood in this Manner for many Years after the Deluge; for while
Mankind was small and few, they needed but a little Ground for their Seats
or Sustenance; and as they grew more numerous, the Earth proportionally
grew more dry, and more Parts of it fit for Habitation. I easily believe that
Plato’s Observation or Tradition [de Leg. li. 3.] is true, that Men at first,
after the Flood, liv’d in the Up-lands and Sides of the Mountains, and by
Degrees sunk into the Plains and lower Countries, when Nature had
prepar’d them for their Use, and their Numbers requir’d more Room. The
History of Moses Gen. xi. tells us, that some Time after the Deluge, Noah
and his Posterity, his Sons and his Grand-children, chang’d their Quarters,
and fell down into the Plains of Shiner, from the Sides of the Hills where

the Ark had rested; and in this Plain was the last general Rendezvous of
Mankind; so long they seem to have kept in a Body, and from thence they
were divided and broken into Companies, and dispers’d, first, into the
neighbouring Countries, and then by degrees throughout the whole Earth;
the several successive Generations, like the Waves of the Sea when it flows,
over-reaching one another, and striking out farther and farther upon the
Face of the Land. Not that the whole Earth was peopled by an uniform
Propagation of Mankind every Way, from one Place, as a common Center;
like the Swelling of a Lake upon a Plain: For sometimes they shot out in
length, like Rivers, and sometimes they flew into remote Countries in
Colonies, like Swarms from the Hive, and settled there, leaving many
Places uninhabited betwixt them and their first Home. Sea-shores and
Islands were generally the last Places inhabited; for while the Memory or
Story of the Deluge was fresh amongst them, they did not care for coming
so near their late Enemy; or at least, to be inclos’d and surrounded by his
Forces.
And this may be sufficient to have discours’d concerning all the Parts of the
Deluge, and the Restitution of the Earth to an habitable Form, for the
further Union of our Theory with the History of Moses; there rests only one
Thing in that History to be taken notice of, which may be thought possibly
not to agree so well with our Account of the Deluge; namely, that Moses
seems to shut up the Abyss again at the End of the Deluge, which our
Explication supposeth to continue open. But besides that half the Abyss is
still really cover’d, Moses saith the same Thing of the Windows of Heaven,
that they were shut up too; and he seemeth in both to express only the
Cessation of the Effect which proceeded from their opening: For as Moses
had ascrib’d the Deluge to the opening of these two, so when it was to
cease, he saith, these two were shut up; as they were really put into such a
Condition, both of then, that they could not continue the Deluge any longer,
nor ever be the Occasion of a second; and therefore in that Sense, and as to
that Effect were for ever shut up. Some may possibly make that also an
Objection against us, that Moses mentions and supposes the Mountains at
the Deluge, for he saith, the Waters reached fifteen Cubits above the Tops of
them; whereas we suppose the antediluvian Earth to have had a plain and
uniform Surface, without any Inequality of Hills and Valleys. But this is
easily answer’d, it was in the Height of the Deluge that Moses mention’d
the Mountains, and we suppose them to have risen then, or more towards

the Beginning of it, when the Earth was broke; and these Mountains
continuing still upon the Face of the Earth, Moses might very well take
them for a Standard to measure and express to Posterity the Height of the
Waters, though they were not upon the Earth when the Deluge began.
Neither is there any mention made, as is observ’d by some, of Mountains in
Scripture, or of Rain, till the Time of the Deluge.
We have now finish’d our Account of Noah’s Flood, both generally and
particularly; and I have not wittingly omitted or conceal’d any Difficulty
that occurr’d to me, either from the History, or from abstract Reason; our
Theory, so far as I know, hath the Consent and Authority of both: And how
far it agrees and is demonstrable from natural Observation, or from the
Form and Phænomena of this Earth, as it lies at present, shall be the Subject
of the remaining Part of this first Book. In the mean time I do not know any
Thing more to be added in this Part, unless it be to conclude with an
Advertisement to prevent any Mistake or Misconstruction, as if this Theory,
by explaining the Deluge in a natural Way, in a great Measure, or, by
natural Causes, did detract from the Power of God, by which that great
Judgment was brought upon the World in a providential and miraculous
Manner.
To satisfy all reasonable and intelligent Persons in this Particular, I answer
and declare, first, That we are far from excluding divine Providence, either
ordinary or extraordinary, from the Causes and Conduct of the Deluge. I
know a Sparrow doth not fall to the Ground without the Will of our
Heavenly Father, much less doth the great World fall in Pieces without his
good Pleasure and Superintendency. In him all Things live, move, and have
their Being; Things that have Life and Thought have it from him, he is the
Fountain of both. Things that have Motion only, without Thought, have it
also from him: And what hath only naked Being, without Thought or
Motion, owe still that Being to him. And these are not only derived from
God at first, but every Moment continued and conserv’d by him. So
intimate and universal is the Dependance of all Things upon the Divine Will
and Power.
In the second Place, they are guilty, in my Judgment, of a great Error or
Indiscretion, that oppose the Course of Nature to Providence. St. Paul says,
(Acts xiv. 17.) God hath not left us without Witness, in that he gives us Rain
from Heaven; yet Rains proceed from natural Causes, and fall upon the Sea

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

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

Chap. IX.

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

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

Orators and Philosophers treat Nature after a very different Manner; those
represent her with all her Graces and Ornaments, and if there be any Thing
that is not capable of that, they dissemble it, or pass it over slightly. But
Philosophers view Nature with a more impartial Eye, and without Favour or
Prejudice give a just and free Account, how they find all the Parts of the
Universe, some more, some less perfect. And as to this Earth in particular, if
I was to describe it as an Orator, I would suppose it a beautiful and regular
Globe; and not only so, but that the whole Universe was made for its sake;
that it was the Darling and Favourite of Heaven, that the Sun shin’d only to
give it Light, to ripen its Fruit, and make fresh its Flowers; and that the
great Concave of the Firmament, and all the Stars in their several Orbs,
were design’d only for a spangled Cabinet to keep this Jewel in. This Idea I
would give of it as an Orator; but a Philosopher that overheard me would
either think me in Jest, or very injudicious, if I took the Earth for a Body so
regular in it self, or so considerable if compar’d with the rest of the
Universe. This, he would say, is to make the great World like one of the
Heathen Temples, a beautiful and magnificent Structure, and of the richest
Materials, yet built only for a little brute Idol, a Dog, or a Crocodile, or
some deformed Creature placed in a Corner of it.
We must therefore be impartial where the Truth requires it, and describe the
Earth as it is really in it self; and though it be handsome and regular enough
to the Eye in certain Parts of it, single Tracks and single Regions; yet if we
consider the whole Surface of it, or the whole exterior Region, ’tis as a
broken and confus’d Heap of Bodies, plac’d in no Order to one another, nor
with any Correspondency or Regularity of Parts: And such a Body as the
Moon appears to us, when ’tis look’d upon with a good Glass, rude and
ragged; as it is also represented in the modern Maps of the Moon; such a
Thing would the Earth appear if it was seen from the Moon. They are both
in my Judgment the Image or Picture of a great Ruin, and have the true
Aspect of a World lying in its Rubbish. See Fig. in Chap. XI.
Our Earth is first divided into Sea and Land, without any Regularity in the
Portions, either of the one or the other; in the Sea lie the Islands, scatter’d
like Limbs torn from the rest of the Body; great Rocks stand rear’d up in
the Waters; the Promontories and Capes shoot into the Sea, and the Sinus’s
and Creeks on the other hand run as much into the Land; and these without
any Order or Uniformity. Upon the other Part of our Globe stand great

Heaps of Earth or Stone, which we call Mountains; and if these were all
plac’d together, they would take up a very considerable part of the dry
Land: In the rest of it are lesser Hills, Valleys, Plains, Lakes and Marshes,
Sands and Desarts, &c. and these also without any regular Disposition.
Then the Inside of the Earth, or inward Parts of it, are generally broken or
hollow, especially about the Mountains and high Lands, as also towards the
Shores of the Sea, and among the Rocks. How many Holes and Caverns,
and strange subterraneous Passages do we see in many Countries? And how
many more may we easily imagine, that are unknown and unaccessible to
us?
This is the Pourtraicture of our Earth, drawn without Flattery; and as oddly
as it looks, it will not be at all surprizing to one that hath consider’d the
foregoing Theory: For ’tis manifest enough, that upon the Dissolution of the
first Earth, and its Fall into the Abyss, this very Face and Posture of Things,
which we have now describ’d, or something extreamly like it, would
immediately result. The Sea would be open’d, and the Face of the Globe
would be divided into Land and Water: And according as the Fragments
fell, some would make Islands or Rocks in the Sea, others would make
Mountains or Plains upon the Land; and the Earth would generally be full
of Caverns and Hollownesses, especially in the mountainous Parts of it.
And we see the Resemblance and Imitation of this in lesser Ruins, when a
Mountain sinks and falls into subterraneous Water; or, which is more
obvious, when the Arch of a Bridge is broken, and falls into the Water, if the
Water under it be not so deep as to overflow and cover all its Parts, you may
see there the Image of all these things in little Continents, and Islands, and
Rocks under Water: And in the Parts that stand above the Water, you see
Mountains, and Precipices, and Plains, and most of the Varieties that we see
and admire in the Parts of the Earth. What need we then seek any further for
the Explication of these things? Let us suppose this Arch of the Bridge, as
the great Arch of the Earth, which once it had, and the Water under it as the
Abyss, and the Parts of this Ruin to represent the Parts of the Earth: There
will be scarce any Difference but of lesser and greater, the same things
appearing in both. But we have naturally that Weakness or Prejudice, that
we think great things are not to be explained from easy and familiar
Instances; we think there must be something difficult and operose in the
Explication of them, or else we are not satisfied; whether it is that we are
ashamed to see our Ignorance and Admiration to have been so groundless,

or whether we fancy there must be a Proportion between the Difficulty of
the Explication, and the Greatness of the thing explain’d; but that is a very
false Judgment, for let Things be never so great, if they be simple, their
Explication must be simple and easy: And on the contrary, some things that
are mean, common, and ordinary, may depend upon Causes very difficult to
find out; for the Difficulty of explaining an Effect doth not depend upon its
Greatness or Littleness, but upon the Simplicity or Composition of its
Causes. And the Effects and Phænomena we are here to explain, though
great, yet depending upon Causes very simple, you must not wonder if the
Explication, when found out, be familiar and very intelligible.
And this is so intelligible, and so easily deducible from the forementioned
Causes, that a Man born blind, or brought up all his Life in a Cave, that had
never seen the Face of the Earth, nor ever heard any Description of it, more
than that it was a great Globe; having this Theory propos’d to him, or being
instructed what the Form of the first Earth was, how it stood over the
Waters, and then how it was broke and fell into them, he would easily of his
own accord foretel what Changes would arise upon this Dissolution; and
what the new Form of the Earth would be. As in the first place he would tell
you, that this second Earth would be distinguish’d and checker’d into Land
and Water; for the Orb which fell being greater than the Circumference it
fell upon, all the Fragments could not fall flat and lie drown’d under Water;
and those that stood above would make the dry Land or habitable 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 some would be higher and some lower, some in one Posture and
some in another; and consequently would make Mountains, Hills, Valleys
and Plains, and all other Varieties we have in the Situation of the Parts of
the Earth. And lastly, a blind Man would easily divine that such a great
Ruin could not happen but there would be a great many Holes and Cavities
amongst the Parts of it, a great many Intervals and empty Places in the
Rubbish, as I may so say; for this we see happens in all Ruins more or less;
and where the Fragments are great and hard, ’tis not possible they should be
so adjusted in their Fall, but that they would lie hollow in many Places, and
many unfill’d Spaces would be intercepted amongst them; some gaping in
the Surface of the Earth, and others hid within; so as this would give
occasion to all sorts of Fractures and Cavities either in the Skin of the Earth,
or within its Body. And these Cavities, that I may add that in the last Place,

would be often fill’d with subterraneous Waters, at least at such a Depth; for
the Foundations of the Earth standing now within the Waters, so high as
those Waters reach’d they would more or less propagate themselves every
way.
Thus far our blind Man could tell us what the new World would be, or the
Form of the Earth upon the great Dissolution; and we find his Reasonings
and Inferences very true, these are the chief Lineaments and Features of our
Earth; which appear indeed very irregular and very unaccountable when
they are look’d upon naked in themselves; but if we look upon them
through this Theory, we see as in a Glass all the Reasons and Causes of
them. There are different Genius’s of Men, and different Conceptions, and
every one is to be allow’d their Liberty as to things of this Nature; I
confess, for my own part, when I observe how easy and naturally this
Hypothesis doth apply it self to the general Face of this Earth, hits and falls
in so luckily and surprizingly with all the odd Postures of its Parts, I cannot,
without Violence, bear off my Mind from fully assenting to it: And the more
odd and extravagant, as I may so say, and the more diversify’d the Effects
and Appearances are, to which an Hypothesis is to be apply’d, if it answers
them all and with Exactness, it comes the nearer to a moral Certitude and
Infallibility. As a Lock that consists of a great deal of Workmanship, many
Wards, and many odd Pieces and Contrivances, if you find a Key, that
answers to them all, and opens it readily, ’tis a thousand to one that ’tis the
true Key, and was made for that Purpose.
AN eminent Philosopher of this Age, Monsier des Cartes, hath made use of
the like Hypothesis to explain the irregular Form of the present Earth;
though he never dream’d of the Deluge, nor thought that first Orb, built
over the Abyss, to have been any more than a transient Crust, and not a real
habitable World that lasted for more than sixteen hundred Years, as we
suppose it to have been. And though he hath, in my Opinion, in the
Formation of that first Orb, and upon the Dissolution of it, committed some
great Oversights, whereof we have given an Account in the Latin Treatise,
C. 7. & lib. 2. c. 4. however he saw a Necessity of such a Thing, and of the
Disruption of it, to bring the Earth into that Form and Posture wherein we
now find it.
Thus far we have spoken in general, concerning the Agreement and
Congruity of our Supposition with the present Face of the Earth, and the

easy Account it gives of the Causes of it. And though I believe to ingenuous
Persons, that are not prejudic’d by the Forms and Opinions of the Schools
against every thing that looks like a Novelty or Invention, thus much might
be sufficient; yet for the Satisfaction of all, we will, as a farther Proof of our
Theory, or that part of it which concerns the Dissolution of the Earth,
descend to a particular Explication of three or four of the most considerable
and remarkable things that occur in the Fabrick of this present Earth;
namely, The great Channel of the Ocean; subterraneous Cavities and
subterraneous Waters; and lastly, Mountains and Rocks. These are the
Wonders of the Earth as to the visible Frame of it; and who would not be
pleas’d to see a rational Account of these, of their Origin, and of their
Properties? Or who would not approve of an Hypothesis, when they see that
Nature in her greatest and strongest Works may easily be understood by it,
and is in no other way, that we know of, intelligible?
We will speak first of subterraneous Cavities and Waters, because they will
be of easier Dispatch, and an Introduction to the rest.
That the Inside of the Earth is hollow and broken in many Places, and is not
one firm and united Mass, we have both the Testimony of Sense and of easy
Observations to prove: How many Caves and Dens and hollow Passages
into the Ground do we see in many Countries, especially amongst
Mountains and Rocks; and some of them endless and bottomless so far as
can be discover’d? We have many of these in our own Island, in
Derbyshire, Somersetshire, Wales, and other Counties, and in every
Continent or Island they abound more or less. These Hollownesses of the
Earth the Ancients made Prisons, or Store-houses for the Winds, and set a
God over them to confine them, or let them loose at his Pleasure. For some
Ages after the Flood, as all Antiquity tells us, these were the first Houses
Men had, at least in some Parts of the Earth; here rude Mortals shelter’d
themselves, as well as they could, from the Injuries of the Air, till they were
beaten out by wild Beasts that took Possession of them. The ancient Oracles
also us’d to be given out of these Vaults and Recesses under Ground, the
Sibyls had their Caves, and the Delphick Oracle, and their Temples
sometimes were built upon an hollow Rock. Places that are strange and
solemn strike an Awe into us, and incline us to a kind of superstitious
Timidity and Veneration, and therefore they thought them fit for the Seats
and Residences of their Deities. They fancied also that Steams rise

sometimes, or a sort of Vapour in those hollow Places, that gave a kind of a
divine Fury or Inspiration. But all these Uses and Employments are now in
a great measure worn out, we know no Use of them but to make the Places
talk’d on where they are, to be the Wonders of the Country, to please our
Curiosity to gaze upon and admire; but we know not how they came, nor to
what purpose they were made at first.
It would be very pleasant to read good Descriptions of these subterraneous
Places, and of all the strange Works of Nature there; how she furnisheth
these dark neglected Grotto’s; they have often a little Brook runs
murmuring thro’ them, and the Roof is commonly a kind of petrefied Earth,
or icy Fret-work, proper enough for such Rooms. But I should be pleas’d
especially to view the Sea-caves, or those hollow Rocks that lie upon the
Sea, where the Waves roll a great Way under Ground, and wear the hard
Rock into as many odd Shapes and Figures as we see in the Clouds. ’Tis
pleasant also to see a River in the Middle of its Course throw itself into the
Mouth of a Cave, or an Opening of the Earth, and run under Ground
sometimes many Miles; still pursuing its Way thro’ the dark Pipes of the
Earth, till at last it find an Out-let. There are many of these Rivers taken
Notice of in History in the several Parts of the Earth, as the Rhone in
France, Guadiana in Spain, and several in Greece, Alpheus, Lycus, and
Erasinus; then Niger in Africa, Tygris in Asia, &c. And I believe if we could
turn Derwent, or any other River, into one of the Holes of the Peak, it would
groap its Way till it found an Issue, it may be, in some other Country. These
subterraneous Rivers that emerge again, shew us that the Holes of the Earth
are longer and reach further than we imagine, and if we could see into the
Ground, as we ride, or walk, we should be affrighted to see so often Waters
or Caverns under us.
But to return to our dry Caves; these commonly stand high, and are
sometimes of a prodigious Greatness: Strabo [Geo. l. 16.] mentions some in
the Mountains towards Arabia, that are capable to receive four thousand
Men at once. The Cave of Engedi [1 Sam. xxiv. 3, 4.] hid David and six
hundred Men, so as Saul, when he was in the Mouth of it, did not perceive
them. In the Mountains of the Traconites there are many of these vast Dens
and Recesses, and the People of that Country defended themselves a long
time in those strong Holds against Herod and his Army: They are plac’d
among such craggy Rocks and Precipices, that, as Josephus [Ant. Jud. l. 14.

ch. 27.] tells us, Herod was forced to make a sort of open Chests, and in
those by Chains of Iron he let down his Soldiers from the Top of the
Mountains to go fight them in their Dens. I need add no more Instances of
this Kind: In the natural History of all Countries, or the geographical
Descriptions of them, you find such Places taken notice of, more or less; yet
if there was a good Collection made of the chief of them in several Parts, it
might be of use, and would make us more sensible how broken and torn the
Body of the Earth is.
There are subterraneous Cavities of another Nature, and more remarkable,
which they call Volcano’s, or fiery Mountains; that belch out Flames and
Smoke and Ashes, and sometimes great Stones and broken Rocks, and
Lumps of Earth, or some metallick Mixture; and throw them to an
incredible Distance by the Force of the Eruption. These argue great
Vacuities in the Bowels of the Earth, and Magazines of combustible Matter
treasur’d up in them. And as the Exhalations within these Places must be
copious, so they must lie in long Mines or Trains to do so great Execution,
and to last so long. ’Tis scarce credible what is reported concerning some
Eruptions of Vesuvius and Ætna. The Eruptions of Vesuvius seem to be
more frequent and less violent of late; the Flame and Smoke break out at
the Top of the Mountain, where they have eaten away the Ground and made
a great Hollow, so as it looks at the Top, when you stand upon the Brims of
it, like an Amphitheatre, or like a great Caldron, about a Mile in
Circumference, and the burning Furnace lies under it. The Outside of the
Mountain is all spread with Ashes, but the Inside much more; for you wade
up to the Mid-leg in Ashes to go down to the Bottom of the Cavity and ’tis
extremely heavy and troublesome to get up again. The Inside lies sloping,
and one may safely go down, if it be not in a raging Fit; but the middle Part
of it, or Center, which is a little rais’d like the Bottom of a Platter, is not to
be ventur’d upon, the Ground there lies false and hollow, there it always
smoaks, and there the Funnel is suppos’d to be; yet there is no visible Hole
or Gaping any where when it doth not rage. Naples stands below in fear of
this fiery Mountain, which hath often cover’d its Streets and Palaces with
its Ashes; and in Sight of the Sea (which lies by the Side of them both) and
as it were in Defiance to it, threatens at one time or other to burn that fair
City. History tells us, that some Eruptions of Vesuvius have carry’d Cinders
and Ashes as far as Constantinople; this is attested both by Greek and Latin
Authors; particularly, that they were so affrighted with these Ashes and

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

—— Horrificis juxta tonat Ætna ruinis;
Intendumque atram prorumpit ad ætheranubem,
Turbine fumantem piceo & candente favilla;
Attollitque globos flammarum & sydera lambit;
Interdum scopulos, avulsaque viscera montis
Erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras
Cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exæstuat imo.

Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus
Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Ætnam
Impositam, ruptis flammam expirare caminis.
Et fessum quoties mutet latus, intremere omnem
Murmure Trinacriam & cœlum subtexere fumo.

——Ætna, whose Ruins make a thunder;
Sometimes black Clouds of Smoke, that rowl about
Mingled with Flakes of Fire, it belches out:
And sometimes Balls of Flame it darts on high,
Or its torn Bowels flings into the Sky.
Within deep Cells under the Earth, a Store
Of Fire-materials, molten Stones, and Ore,
It gathers, then spews out, and gathers more.

Enceladus, when Thunder-struck by Jove,
Was bury’d here, and Ætna thrown above;
And when, to change his wearied Side, 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 West-Indies and in the East, in the northern and southern Parts of the
Earth, there are some of these Volcano’s, which are sensible Evidences that
the Earth is incompact and full of Caverns; besides, the roarings and
bellowings that use to be heard before an Eruption of these Volcano’s argue
some dreadful Hollowness in the Belly, or under the Roots of the Mountain,
where the Exhalations struggle before they can break their Prison.
The subterraneous Cavities, that we have spoke of hitherto, are such as are
visible in the Surface of the Earth, and break the Skin by some gaping
Orifice; but the Miners and those that work under Ground meet with many
more in the Bowels of the Earth, that never reach to the Top of it; Burrows
and Channels, and Clifts and Caverns, that never had the Comfort of one
Beam of Light since the great Fall of the Earth. And where we think the
Ground is firm and solid, as upon Heaths and Downs, it often betrays its
Hollowness, by sounding under the Horses Feet and the Chariot Wheels that
pass over it. We do not know when and where we stand upon good Ground,
if it was examin’d deep enough; and to make us further sensible of this, we
will instance in two Things that argue the Unsoundness and Hollowness of
the Earth in the inward Recesses of it, tho’ the Surface be intire and
unbroken; these are Earthquakes and the Communication of subterraneous
Waters and Seas: Of which two we will speak a little more particularly.
Earthquakes are too evident Demonstrations of the Hollowness of the
Earth, being the dreadful Effects or Consequences of it; for if the Body of
the Earth was sound and compact, there would be no such thing in Nature
as an Earthquake. They are commonly accompanied with an heavy dead
Sound, like a dull Thunder which ariseth from the Vapours that are striving
in the Womb of Nature, when her Throws are coming upon her. And that
these Caverns where the Vapours lie are very large and capacious, we are
taught sometimes by sad Experience; for whole Cities and Countries have
been swallow’d up into them, as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Region of
Pentapolis, and several Cities in Greece, and in Asia, and other Parts.
Whole Islands also have been thus absorpt in an Earthquake; the Pillars and
Props they stood upon being broken, they have sunk and fallen in as an
House blown up. I am also of Opinion, that those Islands that are made by
Divulsion from a Continent, as Sicily was broken off from Italy, and Great-

Britain, as some think, from France, have been made the same way; that is,
the Isthmus or Necks of Land, that join’d these Islands with their
Continents before, have been hollow, and being either worn by the Water, or
shak’d by an Earthquake, have sunk down, and so made Way for the Sea to
overflow them, and of a Promontory to make an Island. For it is not at all
likely that the Neck of Land continued standing, and the Sea overflow’d it,
and so made an Island; for then, all those Passages between such Islands,
and their respective Continents, would be extremely shallow and
unnavigable, which we do not find them to be. Nor is it any more Wonder if
such a Neck of Land should fall, than that a Mountain should sink, or any
other Tract of Land, and a Lake rise in its Place, which hath often happened.
Plato supposeth his Atlantis to have been greater than Asia and Africa
together, and yet to have sunk all into the Sea; whether that be true or no, I
do not think it impossible that some Arms of the Sea, or Sinus’s, might have
had such an Original as that; and I am very apt to think, that for some Years
after the Deluge, ’till the Fragments were well settled and adjusted, great
Alterations would happen as to the Face of the Sea and the Land; many of
the Fragments would change their Posture, and many would sink into the
Water, that stood out before, the Props failing that bore them up, or the
Joints and Corners whereby they lean’d upon one another: And thereupon a
new Face of Things would arise, and a new Deluge for that part of the
Earth. Such Removes and Interchanges, I believe, would often happen in
the first Ages after the Flood; as we see in all other Ruins, there happen
lesser and secondary Ruins after the first, ’till the Parts be so well pois’d
and settled, that without some Violence they scarce change their Posture
any more.
But to return to our Earthquakes, and to give an Instance or two of their
Extent and Violence: Pliny mentions one in the Reign of Tiberius Cæsar,
that struck down twelve Cities of Asia in one Night. And Fournier gives us
an Account of one in Peru, that reach’d three hundred Leagues along the
Sea-shore, and seventy Leagues In-land; and level’d the Mountains all
along as it went, threw down the Cities, turn’d the Rivers out of their
Channels, and made an universal Havock and Confusion: And all this, he
saith, was done within the Space of seven or eight Minutes. There must be
dreadful Vaults and Mines under that Continent that gave Passage to the
Vapours, and Liberty to play for Nine Hundred Miles in length, and above
two Hundred in breadth. Asia also hath been very subject to these

Desolations by Earthquakes; and many Parts in Europe, as Greece, Italy,
and others. The Truth is, our Cities are built upon Ruins, and our Fields and
Countries stand upon broken Arches and Vaults, and so does the greatest
Part of the outward Frame of the Earth, and therefore it is no Wonder if it be
often shaken; there being Quantities of Exhalations within these Mines, or
cavernous Passages, that are capable of Rarefaction and Inflammation; and,
upon such Occasions, requiring more Room, they shake or break the
Ground that covers them. And thus much concerning Earthquakes.
A second Observation that argues the Hollowness of the Earth, is the
Communication of the Seas and Lakes under Ground. The Caspian and
Mediterranean Seas, and several Lakes, receive into them great Rivers, and
yet have no visible Out-let: These must have subterraneous Out-lets, by
which they empty themselves, otherwise they would redound and overflow
the Brims of their Vessel. The Mediterranean is most remarkable in this
Kind, because ’tis observ’d, that at one End the great Ocean flows into it
through the Straits of Gibraltar, with a sensible Current, and towards the
other End about Constantinople the Pontus flows down into it with a
Stream so strong, that Vessels have much ado to stem it; and yet it neither
hath any visible Evacuation or Out-let, nor overflows its Banks. And
besides that it is thus fed at either End, it is fed by the Navel too, as I may
so say; it sucks in, by their Channels, several Rivers into its Belly, whereof
the Nile is one very great and considerable. These Things have made it a
great Problem, What becomes of the Water of the Mediterranean Sea? And
for my Part, I think the Solution is very easy, namely, that it is discharged
by subterraneous Passages, or convey’d by Channels under the Ground into
the Ocean. And this manner of Discharge or Conveyance is not peculiar to
the Mediterranean, but is common to it with the Caspian Sea, and other
Seas and Lakes, that receive great Rivers into them, and have no visible
Issue.
I know there have been propos’d several other Ways to answer this
Difficulty concerning the Efflux or Consumption of the Waters of the
Mediterranean; some have suppos’d a double Current in the Strait of
Gibraltar, one that carry’d the Water in, and another that brought it out; like
the Arteries and Veins in our Body, the one exporting our Blood from the
Heart, and the other re-importing it: So they suppos’d one Current upon the
Surface, which carry’d 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 consisted of Liquors very different,
these cross Currents would mingle and destroy one another. Others are of
Opinion, that all the Water that flows into the Mediterranean, or a Quantity
equal to it, is consumed in Exhalations every Day: This seems to be a
bolder Supposition than the other; for if so much be consumed in Vapours
and Exhalations every Day as flows into this Sea, what if this Sea had an
Out-let and discharg’d by that, every Day, as much as it receiv’d? In a few
Days the Vapours would have consumed all the rest; and yet we see many
Lakes that have as free an Out-let as an In-let, and are not consum’d, or
sensibly diminish’d by the Vapours. Besides, this Reason is a Summer
Reason, and would pass very ill in Winter, when the Heat of the Sun is
much less powerful: At least there would be a very sensible Difference
betwixt the Height of the Waters in Summer and Winter, if so much was
consum’d every Day, as this Explication supposeth. And the Truth is, this
Want of a visible Out-let is not a Property belonging only to the
Mediterranean Sea, as we noted before, but is also in other Seas and great
Lakes, some lying in one Climate and some in another, where there is no
Reason to suppose such excessive Exhalations; and tho’ ’tis true some
Rivers in Africk, and in other Parts of the Earth, are thus exhal’d and dry’d
up, without ever flowing into the Sea (as were all the Rivers in the first
Earth) yet this is where the Sands and parch’d Ground suck up a great part
of them; the heat of the Climate being excessively strong, and the Channel
of the River growing shallower by degrees, and it may be, divided into
lesser Branches and Rivulets; which are Causes that take no Place here. And
therefore we must return to our first Reason, which is universal, for all
Seasons of the Year and all Climates; and seeing we are assur’d that there
are subterraneous Channels and Passages, for Rivers often fall into the
Ground, and sometimes rise again, and sometimes never return; why should
we doubt to ascribe this Effect to so obvious a Cause? Nay, I believe, the
very Ocean doth evacuate it self by subterraneous Out-lets; for considering
what a prodigious Mass of Water falls into it every Day from the wide
Mouths of all the Rivers of the Earth, it must have Out-lets proportionable;
and those Syrtes or great Whirlpools, that are constant in certain Parts or
Sinus’s of the Sea, as upon the Coast of Norway and of Italy, arise probably
from subterraneous Out-lets in those Places, whereby the Water sinks, and

turns, and draws into it whatsoever comes within such a Compass; and if
there was no Issue at the Bottom, tho’ it might by contrary Currents turn
Things round within its Sphere, yet there is no Reason from that, why it
should suck them down to the Bottom. Neither does it seem improbable,
that the Currents of the Sea are from these In-draughts, and that there is
always a submarine In-let in some part of them, to make a Circulation of the
Waters. But thus much for the subterraneous Communication of Seas and
Lakes.
And thus much in general concerning subterraneous Cavities, and
concerning the hollow and broken Frame of the Earth. If I had now Magick
enough to shew you at one View all the Inside of the Earth, which we have
imperfectly describ’d; if we could go under the Roots of the Mountains, and
into the Sides of the broken Rocks; or could dive into the Earth with one of
those Rivers that sink under Ground, and follow its Course and all its
Windings till it rise again, or led us to the Sea, we should have a much
stronger and more effectual Idea of the broken Form of the Earth, than any
we can excite by these faint Descriptions collected from Reason. The
Ancients I remember us’d to represent these hollow Caves and
subterraneous Regions in the Nature of a World under Ground, and
suppos’d it inhabited by the Nymphs, especially the Nymphs of the Waters
and the Sea-Goddesses; so Orpheus sung of old; and in Imitation of him
Virgil hath made a Description of those Regions; feigning the Nymph
Cyrene to send for her Son to come down to her, and make her a Visit in
those Shades where Mortals were not admitted.

Duc age, duc ad nos, fas illi limina Divum
Tangere, ait: Simul alta jubet discedere late
Flumina, qua juvenis gressus inferret, at illum
Curvata in momis faciem circumstitit unda,
Accepitque sinu vasto, misitque sub amnem.
Jamq; domum mirans genetricis & humida regna,
Speluncisque lacos clausos, lucosque sonantes,
Ibat, & ingenti motu stupefactus aquarum
Omnia sub magna labentia flumina terra
Spectabat diversa locis; Phasimque Licumque,
Et Thalami matris pendentia pumice tecta, &c.

Virgil.

Come lead the Youth below, bring him to me,
The Gods are pleas’d our Mansions he should see;
Straight she commands the Floods to make him Way,
They open their wide Bosom and obey;
Soft is the Path, and easy is his Tread,
A watry Arch bends o’er his dewy Head;
And as he goes he wonders, and looks round,
To see this new found Kingdom under Ground.
The silent Lakes in hollow Caves he sees,
And on their Banks an ecchoing Grove of Trees;
The Fall of Waters ’mongst the Rocks below
He hears, and sees the Rivers how they flow:
All the great Rivers of the Earth are there,
Prepar’d, as in a Womb, by Nature’s Care.
Last, to his Mother’s Bed chamber he’s brought,
Where the high Roof with Pumice-stone is wrought, &c.

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

there could be no Cavities, no Dens, no Fragments in it, no more than in the
other; and for the same general Reason, that is, passing from a liquid Form
into a concrete or solid, leisurely and by degrees, it would slow and settle
together in an entire Mass; there being nothing broken, nor any Thing hard,
to bear the Parts off from one another, or to intercept any empty Spaces
between them.
’Tis manifest then, that the Earth could not be in this cavernous Form
originally, by any Work of Nature, nor by any immediate Action of God,
seeing there is neither Use nor Beauty in this kind of Construction. Do we
not then, as reasonably, as aptly, ascribe it to that Desolation that was
brought upon the Earth in the general Deluge, when its outward Frame was
dissolv’d and fell into the great Abyss? How easily doth this answer all that
we have observ’d concerning the subterraneous Regions? That hollow and
broken Posture of Things under Ground, all those Caves and Holes, and
blind Recesses, that are otherwise so unaccountable, say but that they are a
Ruin, and you have in one Word explain’d them all. For there is no sort of
Cavities, interior or exterior, great or little, open or shut, wet or dry, of what
Form or Fashion soever, but we might reasonably expect them in a Ruin of
that Nature. And as for the subterraneous Waters, seeing the Earth fell into
the Abyss, the Pillars and Foundations of the present (exterior) Earth must
stand immers’d in Water, and therefore at such a Depth from the Surface
every where, there must be Water found, if the Soil be of a Nature to admit
it. ’Tis true, all subterraneous Waters do not proceed from this Original, for
many of them are the Effects of Rains and melted Snows sunk into the
Earth; but that in digging any where you constantly come to Water at
length, even in the most solid Ground, this cannot proceed from these Rains
or Snows, but must come from below, and from a Cause as general as the
Effect is; which can be no other in my Judgment than this, that the Roots of
the exterior Earth stand within the old Abyss, whereof, as a great Part lies
open in the Sea, so the rest lies hid and cover’d among the Fragments of the
Earth; sometimes dispers’d and only moistning the Parts, as our Blood lies
in the Flesh, and in the Habit of the Body; sometimes in greater or lesser
Masses, as the Blood in our Vessels. And this I take to be the true Account
of subterraneous Waters, as distinguish’d from Fountains and Rivers, and
from the Matter and Causes of them.

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

Chap. X.

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

We have hitherto given an Account of the subterraneous Regions, and of
their general Form; We now come above Ground to view the Surface of the
Globe, which we find Terraqueous, or divided into Sea and Land: These we
must survey, and what is remarkable in them as to their Frame and
Structure, we must give an Account of from our Hypothesis, and shew to be
unaccountable from any other yet known.
As for the Ocean, there are two things considerable in it, the Water and the
Channel that contains it. The Water no doubt is as ancient as the Earth, and
cotemporary with it, and we suppose it to be part of the great Abyss wherein
the World was drown’d; the rest lying cover’d under the Hollow Fragments
of Continents and Islands. But that is not so much the Subject of our present
Discourse as the Channel of the Ocean, that vast and prodigious Cavity that
runs quite round the Globe, and reacheth, for ought we know, from Pole to
Pole, and in many Places is unsearchably deep: When I present this great
Gulf to my Imagination, emptied of all its Waters, naked and gaping at the
Sun, stretching its Jaws from one End of the Earth to another, it appears to
me the most ghastly thing in Nature. What Hands or Instruments could
work a Trench in the Body of the Earth of this vastness, and lay Mountains
and Rocks on the side of it, as Ramparts to enclose it?
But as we justly admire its Greatness, so we cannot at all admire its Beauty
or Elegancy, for ’tis as deform’d and irregular as it is great. And there
appearing nothing of Order, or any regular Design in its Parts, it seems
reasonable to believe that it was not the Work of Nature, according to her
first Intention, or according to the first Model that was drawn in Measure
and Proportion by the Line and by the Plummet, but a secondary Work, and

the best that could be made of broken Materials. And upon this Supposition
’tis easy to imagine, how upon the Dissolution of the Primæval Earth, the
Channel of the Sea was made, or that huge Cavity that lies between the
several Continents of the Earth; which shall be more particularly explain’d
after we have view’d a little better the Form of it, and the Islands that lie
scatter’d by its Shores.
There is no Cavity in the Earth, whether open or subterraneous, that is
comparably so great as that of the Ocean, nor would any appear of that
Deformity if we could see it empty. The Inside of a Cave is rough and
unsightly; the Beds of great Rivers and great Lakes, when they are laid dry,
look very raw and rude, the Valleys of the Earth, if they were naked,
without Trees and without Grass, nothing but bare Ground and bare Stones,
from the tops of their Mountains, would have a ghastly Aspect; but the Sea-
Channel is the Complex of all these; here Caves, empty Lakes, naked
Valleys are represented as in their Original, or rather far exceeded and out-
done as to all their Irregularities; for the Cavity of the Ocean is universally
irregular, both as to the Shores and Borders of it; as to the uncertain Breadth
and the uncertain Depth of its several Parts, and as to its Ground and
Bottom and the whole Mould: If the Sea had been drawn round the Earth in
regular Figures and Borders, it might have been 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 contrary all the
Marks of Disorder and Disproportion in it, we may as reasonably conclude,
that it did not belong to the first Order of Things, but was something
succedaneous, when the Degeneracy of Mankind, and the Judgments of
God had destroyed the first World, and subjected the Creation to some kind
of Vanity.
Nor can it easily be imagin’d, if the Sea had been always, and the Earth, in
this Terraqueous Form, broke into Continents and Islands, how Mankind
could have been propagated at first thro’ the Face of the Earth, all from one
Head and from one Place. For Navigation was not then known, at least as to
the Grand Ocean, or to pass from Continent to Continent; and I believe
Noah’s Ark was the first Ship, or Vessel of Bulk, that ever was built in the
World; how could then the Posterity of Adam overflow the Earth, and stock
the several Parts of the World, if they had been distant or separate then, as
they are now, by the Interposal of the great Ocean? But this Consideration

we will insist upon more largely in another Place; let us reflect upon the
Irregularities of the Sea-Channel again, and the possible Causes of it.
If we could imagine the Channel of the Sea to have been made as we may
imagine the Channel of Rivers to have been, by long and insensible
Attrition, the Water wearing by degrees the Ground under it, by the Force it
hath from its Descent and Course, we should not wonder at its irregular
Form; but ’tis not possible this Channel should have had any such Original;
whence should its Water have descended, from what Mountains, or from
what Clouds? Where is the Spring-head of the Sea? What Force could eat
away half the Surface of the Earth; and wear it hollow to an immeasurable
Depth? This must not be from feeble and lingring Causes, such as the
Attrition of Waters, but from some great Violence offer’d to Nature, such as
we suppose to have been in the general Deluge, when the Frame of the
Earth was broken. And after we have a little survey’d the Sea-Coast, and, so
far as we can, the Form of the Sea-Channel, we shall the more easily
believe that they could have no other Original than what we assign.
The Shores and Coasts of the Sea are no way equal or uniform, but go in a
Line uncertainly crooked and broke; indented and jagg’d as a thing torn, as
you may see in the Maps of the Coasts and the Sea-charts; and yet there are
innumerable more Inequalities than are taken Notice of in those Draughts;
for they only mark the greater Promontories and Bays; but there are besides
those a Multitude of Creeks and Out-lets, Necks of Land and Angles, which
break the Evenness of the Shore in all manner of Ways. Then the Height
and Level of the Shore is as uncertain as the Line of it; ’tis sometimes high
and sometimes low, sometimes spread in sandy Plains, as smooth as the Sea
it self, and of such an equal Height with it, that the Waves seem to have no
Bounds, but the meer Figure and Convexity of the Globe; in other Places
’tis rais’d into Banks and Ramparts of Earth, and in others ’tis wall’d in
with Rocks; and all this without any Order that we can observe, or any other
Reason than that this is what might be expected in a Ruin.
As to the Depths and Soundings of the Sea, they are under no Rule nor
Equality, any more than the Figures of the Shores; Shallows in some Places,
and Gulphs in others; Beds of Sands sometimes, and sometimes Rocks
under Water; as Navigators have learn’d by a long and dangerous
Experience: And tho’ we that are upon dry Land, are not much concern’d
how the Rocks and the Shelves lie in the Sea, yet a poor Shipwreckt-

Mariner, when he hath run his Vessel upon a Rock in the middle of the
Channel, expostulates bitterly with Nature, who it was that plac’d that Rock
there, and to what purpose? Was there not Room enough, saith he, upon the
Land, or the Shore, to lay your great Stones, but they must be thrown into
the middle of the Sea, as it were in spite to Navigation? The best Apology
that can be made for Nature in this Case, so far as I know, is to confess, that
the whole Business of the Sea-Channel is but a Ruin, and in a Ruin Things
tumble uncertainly, and commonly lie in Confusion: Tho’ to speak the
Truth, it seldom happens, unless in narrow Seas, that Rocks, or Banks, or
Islands, lie in the middle of them, or very far from the Shores.
Having view’d the more visible Parts of the Channel of the Sea, we must
now descend to the Bottom of it, and see the Form and Contrivance of that;
but who shall guide us in our Journey, while we walk, as Job saith, Chap.
xxxviii. 16. in the search of the Deep? Or who can make a Description of
that which none hath seen? It is reasonable to believe, that the Bottom of
the Sea is much more rugged, broken and irregular than the Face of the
Land. There are Mountains, and Valleys, and Rocks, and Ridges of Rocks,
and all the common Inequalities we see upon Land; beside these, ’tis very
likely there are Caves under Water, and hollow Passages into the Bowels of
the Earth, by which the Seas circulate and communicate one with another,
and with subterraneous Waters; those great Eddies and infamous Syrtes and
Whirpools that are in some Seas, as the Baltick and the Mediterranean, that
suck into them and overwhelm whatever comes within their reach, shew
that there is something below that sucks from them in Proportion, and that
drinks up the Sea, as the Sea drinks up the Rivers. We ought also to imagine
the Shores within the Water to go inclin’d and sloping, but with great
Inequality; there are many Shelves in the way, and Chambers, and sharp
Angles; and many broken Rocks and great Stones lie rolled down to the
Bottom.
’Tis true these things affect us little, because they are not expos’d to our
Senses; and we seldom give our selves the trouble to collect from Reason
what the Form of the invisible and inaccessible Parts of the Earth is; or if
we do sometimes, those Ideas are faint and weak, and make no lasting
Impression upon our Imagination and Passions; but if we should suppose
the Ocean dry, and that we look’d down from the Top of some high Cloud
upon the empty Shell, how horridly and barbarously would it look? And

with what Amazement should we see it under us like an open Hell, or a
wide bottomless Pit? So deep, and hollow, and vast; so broken and
confus’d, so every way deform’d and monstrous. This would effectually
waken our Imagination, and make us enquire and wonder how such a thing
came in Nature; from what Causes, by what Force or Engines could the
Earth be torn in this prodigious manner? Did they dig the Sea with Spades,
and carry out the Molds in Hand-baskets? Where are the Entrails laid? and
how did they cleave the Rocks asunder? If as many Pioneers as the Army of
Xerxes had been at Work ever since the Beginning of the World, they could
not have made a Ditch of this Greatness. Nor is it the Greatness only, but
that wild and multifarious Confusion which we see in the Parts and Fashion
of it, that makes it strange and unaccountable; ’tis another Chaos in its kind;
who can paint the Scenes of it? Gulphs, and Precipices, and Cataracts; Pits
within Pits, and Rocks under Rocks, broken Mountains and ragged Islands,
that look as if they had been Countries pull’d up by the Roots, and planted
in the Sea.
If we could make true and full Representations of these things to our selves,
I think we should not be so bold as to make them the immediate Product of
Divine Omnipotence; being destitute of all Appearance of Art or Counsel.
The first Orders of things are more perfect and regular; and this Decorum
seems to be observ’d, that Nature doth not fall into Disorder till Mankind be
first degenerate and leads the way. Monsters have been often made an
Argument against Providence; if a Calf have two Heads, or five Legs,
straight there must not be a God in Heaven, or at least not upon Earth; and
yet this is but a Chance that happens once in many Years, and is of no
consequence at all to the rest of the World: But if we make the standing
Frame of Nature monstrous, or deform’d and disproportion’d, and to have
been so not by Corruption and Degeneracy, but immediately by divine
Creation or Formation, it would not be so easy to answer that Objection
against Providence. Let us therefore prevent this Imputation; and supposing,
according to our Theory, that these Things were not originally thus, let us
now explain more distinctly how they came to pass at the Deluge, or upon
the Dissolution of the first Earth.
And we will not content our selves with a general Answer to these
Observations concerning the Sea-Channel, as if it was a sufficient Account
of them to say they were the Effects of a Ruin; there are other things to be

consider’d and explain’d beside this Irregularity, as the vast Hollowness of
this Cavity, bigger incomparably than any other belonging to the Earth; and
also the Declivity of the Sides of it, which lie shelving from Top to Bottom:
For notwithstanding all the Inequalities we have taken Notice of in the
Channel of the Sea, it hath one general Form, which may, though under
many Differences, be observed throughout, and that is, that the Shores and
Sides within the Water lie inclin’d, and you descend by degrees to the
deepest Part which is towards the Middle. This, I know, admits of many
Exceptions; for sometimes upon a rocky Shore, or among rocky Islands, the
Sea is very deep close to the Rocks, and the deeper, commonly the higher
and steeper the Rocks are. Also where the Descent is more leisurely, ’tis
often after a different Manner, in some Coasts more equal and uniform, in
others more broken and interrupted; but still there is a Descent to the
Channel or deepest Part, and this in the deep Ocean is fathomless; and such
a deep Ocean, and such a deep Channel there is always between Continents.
This, I think, is a Property as determinate as any we can pitch upon in the
Channel of the Sea, and with those other two mention’d; its vast Cavity, and
universal Irregularity, is all one can desire an Account of, as to the Form of
it; we will therefore from this Ground take our Rise and first Measures for
the Explication of the Sea-Channel.
Let us suppose then in the Dissolution of the Earth, when it began to fall,
that it was divided only into three or four Fragments, according to the
Number of our Continents; but those Fragments being vastly great could not
descend at their full Breadth and Expansion, or at least could not descend so
fast in the Middle, as towards the Extremities; because the Air about the
Edges would yield and give Place easily, not having far to go, to get out of
the Way; but the Air that was under the Middle of the Fragment could not
without a very swift Motion get from under the Concave of it, and
consequently its Descent there would be more resisted and suspended; but
the Sides in the mean time would continually descend, bending the
Fragment with their Weight, and so making it of a lesser Compass and
Expansion than it was before: And by this Means there would be an Interval
and Distance made between the two falling Fragments, and a good Part of
the Abyss, after their Descent, would lie uncover’d in the Middle betwixt
them; as may be seen in the annex’d Figure, where the Fragments A. B.
bending downwards in their Extremities, separate as they go, and after they
are faln, leave a good Space in the Abyss betwixt them altogether

uncover’d: This Space is the main Channel of the great Ocean, lying
betwixt two Continents; and the inclining Sides shew the Declivity of the
Shores.

Book 1 Figure 9 Fig. 1.

Book 1 Figure 9 Fig. 3.

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

Book 1 Figure 9 Fig. 3.

This gives an Account of two Things that we mention’d to be consider’d
and explain’d as to the Sea, how the great Cavity of its Channel was made,
and how it was made in that general Form of Declivity in its Sides from the
Land: The third Thing was the Irregularities of it, both as to its various
Depths, and as to the Form of the Shores and of the Bottom. And this is as
easily and naturally explain’d from the same Supposition as the former two;
for tho’ we have hitherto represented the Fragments A. B. as even and
regular after their Fall, because that was most simple, and there was no
occasion then to represent them otherwise, yet we must suppose, that as
soon as in their Fall they hit upon the Top or Bottom of the Abyss, that great
Force and Weight with which they descended broke off all the Edges and
Extremities, and so made innumerable Ruptures and Inequalities in the
Shores, and as many within the Sea, and at the Bottom; where the broken
Rocks and Lumps of Earth would lie in all imaginable Disorder; as you may

conceive from the third Figure. For when the Motion came on a sudden to
be obstructed, the Load of the Fragment still pressing it forwards, such a
Concussion arose, as made thousands of lesser Fragments, of all Shapes and
Magnitudes, and in all Postures and Forms, and most of them irregular. And
by these Fractions and secondary Ruins the Line of the Shores was broken,
and the Level of them too: In some Places they would stand high, in others
low, sometimes rough, and sometimes even, and generally crooked, with
Angles and In-lets, and uncertain Windings. The Bottom also by the same
Stroke was diversify’d into all Manner of Forms, sometimes rocky with Pits
and Gulphs, and sometimes spread in plain Beds, sometimes shallow, and
sometimes deep; for those Differences would depend only upon the
Situation of the secondary Fragments; and so it might come to pass, that
some Places near the Shore might be excessive deep when a Rock or Rocks
stood in a steep Posture, as (Figure 3.) b. b. b. and, on the contrary,
sometimes Places much more advanc’d into the Ocean might be less deep,
where a Fragment of Earth lay under Water, or one bore up another, as c. c.
c. but these Cases would not be very frequent. To conclude, There are no
Properties of the Sea-channel, that I know of, nor Differences or
Irregularities in the Form of it, which this Hypothesis doth not give a fair
Account of: And having thus far open’d the Way and laid down the general
Grounds for their Explication, other things that are more minute, we leave
to the Curiosity of particular Genius’s; being unwilling to clog the Theory at
first with things that may seem unnecessary. We proceed now to the
Consideration of Islands.
We must in the first Place distinguish between Original Islands and
Fictitious Islands: Those I call fictitious, that are not of the same Date and
Antiquity with the Sea, but have been made some at one time, some at
another, by accidental Causes, as the Aggestion of Sands and Sand-beds, or
the Sea leaving the Tops of some shallow Places that lie high, and yet
flowing about the lower Skirts of them; these make sandy and plain Islands,
that have no high Land in them, and are but Mock-Islands in effect. Others
are made by Divulsion from some Continent, when an Isthmus, or the Neck
of a Promontory running into the Sea, sinks or falls in, by an Earthquake or
otherwise, and the Sea entring in at the Gap passeth through, and makes that
Promontory or Country become an Island. Thus the Island Sicily is suppos’d
to have been made, and all Africa might be an Island, if the Isthmus
between the Mediterranean and the red Sea should sink down. And these

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

than the Continents; these are the Parents, and those are the Children; nor
can we wonder to see along the Sides of the Continents several Islands, or
Sets of Islands, sown, as it were, by Handfuls, or laid in Trains; for the
Manner of their Generation would lead us to think they would be so plac’d.
So the American Islands lie scatter’d upon the Coast of that Continent; the
Maldivian and Philippine upon the East-India Shore, and the Hesperides
upon the Africk; and there seldom happen to be any towards the Middle of
the Ocean, tho’ by an Accident, that also might come to pass. Lastly, It suits
very well with our Explication, that there should be Mountains and Rocks,
sometimes in Clusters, sometimes in long Chains, in all Islands; (as we find
there are in all that are true and original) for ’tis that makes them high
enough to appear above the Water, and strong enough to continue and
preserve themselves in that high Situation.
And thus much may suffice for a summary Explication of the Causes of the
Sea-Channel and Islands, according to our Hypothesis.

Chap. XI.

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

We have been in the Hollows of the Earth, and the Chambers of the Deep,
amongst the Damps and Steams of those lower Regions; let us now go air
our selves on the Tops of the Mountains, where we shall have a more free
and large Horizon, and quite another Face of Things will present it self to
our Observation.
The greatest Objects of Nature are, methinks, the most pleasing to behold;
and next to the great Concave of the Heavens, and those boundless Regions
where the Stars inhabit, there is nothing that I look upon with more Pleasure
than the wide Sea and the Mountains of the Earth. There is something
august and stately in the Air of these things, that inspires the Mind with
great Thoughts and Passions; we do naturally, upon such Occasions, think
of God and his Greatness: And whatsoever hath but the Shadow and
Appearance of Infinite, as all Things have that are too big for our
Comprehension, they fill and over-bear the Mind with their Excess, and cast
it into a pleasing kind of Stupor and Admiration.
And yet these Mountains we are speaking of, to confess the Truth, are
nothing but great Ruins; but such as shew a certain Magnificence in Nature;
as from old Temples and broken Amphitheatres of the Romans we collect
the Greatness of that People. But the Grandeur of a Nation is less sensible
to those that never see the Remains and Monuments they have left; and
those who never see the mountainous Parts of the Earth scarce ever reflect
upon the Causes of them, or what Power in Nature could be sufficient to
produce them. The Truth is, the Generality of People have not Sense and
Curiosity enough to raise a Question concerning these things, or concerning
the Original of them. You may tell them that Mountains grow out of the
Earth like Fuzz-balls, or that there are Monsters under Ground, that throw

up Mountains as Moles do Mole-hills; they will scarce raise one Objection
against your Doctrine. Or if you would appear more Learned, tell them that
the Earth is a great Animal, and these are Wens that grow upon its Body;
this would pass current for Philosophy; so much is the World drown’d in
Stupidity and sensual Pleasures, and so little inquisitive into the Works of
God and Nature.
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 Experience my self, when it was my Fortune to cross the Alps and
Apennine Mountains; for the Sight of those wild, vast, and indigested Heaps
of Stones and Earth did so deeply strike my Fancy, that I was not easy ’till I
could give my self some tolerable Account how that Confusion came in
Nature, ’Tis true, the Height of Mountains compar’d with the Diameter of
the Earth is not considerable, but the Extent of them and the Ground they
stand upon bears a considerable Proportion to the Surface of the Earth; and
if from Europe we may take our Measures for the rest, I easily believe, that
the Mountains do at least take up the Tenth Part of the dry Land. The
Geographers are not very careful to describe or note in their Charts the
Multitude or Situation of Mountains; They mark the Bounds of Countries,
the Site of Cities and Towns, and the Course of Rivers, because these are
Things of chief Use to Civil Affairs and Commerce, and that they design to
serve, and not Philosophy or natural History. But Cluverius, in his
Description of Ancient Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, hath given Maps of
those Countries more approaching to the natural Face of them, and we have
drawn (at the end of this Chapter) such a Map of either Hemisphere,
without marking Countries or Towns, or any such artificial Things;
distinguishing only Land and Sea, Islands and Continents, Mountains and
not Mountains; and ’tis very useful to imagine the Earth in this Manner, and
to look often upon such bare Draughts, as shew us Nature undrest; for then
we are best able to judge what her true Shapes and Proportions are.
’Tis certain that we naturally imagine the Surface of the Earth much more
regular than it is; for unless we be in some mountainous Parts, there seldom
occur any great Inequalities within so much Compass of Ground as we can
at once reach with our Eye; and to conceive the rest, we multiply the same
Idea, and extend it to those Parts of the Earth that we do not see, and so
fancy the whole Globe much more smooth and uniform than it is. But

suppose a Man was carried asleep out of a plain Country amongst the Alps,
and left there upon the Top of one of the highest Mountains, when he wak’d
and look’d about him, he wou’d think himself in an inchanted Country, or
carried into another World; every Thing wou’d appear to him so different to
what he had ever seen or imagin’d before. To see on every Hand of him a
Multitude of vast Bodies thrown together in Confusion, as those Mountains
are; Rocks standing naked round about him; and the hollow Valleys gaping
under him; and at his Feet, it may be, an Heap of frozen Snow in the midst
of Summer. He would hear the Thunder come from below, and see the black
Clouds hanging beneath him; upon such a Prospect it would not be easy to
him to persuade himself that he was still upon the same Earth; but if he did,
he would be convinc’d, at least, that there are some Regions of it strangely
rude, and ruin-like, and very different from what he had ever thought of
before. But the Inhabitants of these wild Places are even with us; for those
that live amongst the Alps, and the great Mountains, think that all the rest of
the Earth is like their Country, all broken into Mountains, and Valleys, and
Precipices; they never see other, and most People think of nothing but what
they have seen at one time or an other.
These Alps we are speaking of are the greatest Range of Mountains in
Europe; and ’tis prodigious to see and to consider of what extent these
Heaps of Stones and Rubbish are; one way they over-spread Savoy and
Dauphine, and reach thro’ France to the Pyrenean Mountains, and so to the
Ocean. The other way they run along the Skirts of Germany, thro’ Styria,
Pannonia, and Dalmatia, as far as Thrace and the Black Sea. Then
backwards they cover Switzerland and the Parts adjacent; and that Branch
of them which we call the Apennines strikes thro’ Italy, and is, as it were,
the Back-bone of that Country. This must needs be a large Space of Ground
which they stand upon; yet ’tis not this Part of Europe only that is laden
with Mountains, the Northern Part is as rough and rude in the Face of the
Country, as in the Manners of the People; Bohemia, Silesia, Denmark,
Norway, Sweedland, Lapland, and Iseland, and all the Coasts of the Baltick
Sea, are full of Clifts, and Rocks, and Crags of Mountains: Besides the
Riphean Mountains in Muscovy, which the Inhabitants there use to call the
Stone-girdle, and believe that it girds the Earth round about.
Nor are the other Parts of our Continent more free from Mountains than
Europe, nor other Parts of the Earth than our Continent; They are in the

New World as well as the Old; and if they could discover two or three New
Worlds or Continents more, they would still find them there. Neither is
there any Original Island upon the Earth, but is either all a Rock, or hath
Rocks of Mountains in it. And all the dry Land, and every Continent, is but
a kind of Mountain; tho’ that Mountain hath a Multitude of lesser ones, and
Valleys, and Plains, and Lakes, and Marshes, and all Variety of Grounds.
In America, the Andes, or a Ridge of Mountains so call’d, are reported to be
higher than any we have, reaching above a Thousand Leagues in Length,
and Twenty in Breadth, where they are the narrowest. In Africk the
Mountain Atlas, that for its height was said to bear the Heavens on its Back,
runs all along from the Western Sea to the Borders of Ægypt, parallel with
the Mediterranean. There also are the Mountains of the Moon, and many
more, whereof we have but an imperfect Account, as neither indeed of that
Country in the remote and inner Parts of it. Asia is better known, and the
Mountains thereof better describ’d: Taurus, which is the principal, was
adjudg’d by the Ancient Geographers the greatest in the World. It divides
Asia into two Parts, which have their Denomination from it: And there is an
Anti-Taurus the greater and the less, which accordingly divide Armenia into
greater and less. Then the Cruciform Mountains of Imaus, the famous
Caucasus, the long Chains of Tartary and China, and the rocky and
mountainous Arabia. If one could at once have a Prospect of all these
together, one would be easily satisfied, that the Globe of the Earth is a more
rude and indigested Body than ’tis commonly imagin’d; if one could see, I
say, all the Kingdoms and Regions of the Earth at one view, how they lie in
broken Heaps; the Sea hath overwhelmed one half of them, and what
remains are but the taller Parts of a Ruin. Look upon those great Ranges of
Mountains in Europe or in Asia, whereof we have given a short Survey; in
what Confusion do they lie? They have neither Form nor Beauty, nor Shape,
nor Order, no more than the Clouds in the Air. Then how barren, how
desolate, how naked are they? How they stand neglected by Nature?
Neither the Rains can soften them, nor the Dews from Heaven make them
fruitful.
I have given this short Account of the Mountains of the Earth, to help to
remove that Prejudice we are apt to have, or that Conceit, that the present
Earth is regularly form’d. And to this Purpose I do not doubt but that it

would be of very good Use to have natural Maps of the Earth, as we noted
before, as well as civil; and done with the same Care and Judgment.
Our common Maps I call Civil, which note the Distinction of Countries and
of Cities, and represent the Artificial Earth as inhabited and cultivated: But
Natural Maps leave out all that, and represent the Earth as it would be if
there was not an Inhabitant upon it, nor ever had been; the Skeleton of the
Earth, as I may so say, with the sight of all its Parts. Methinks also every
Prince should have such a Draught of his own Country and Dominions, to
see how the Ground lies in the several Parts of them, which highest, which
lowest; what respect they have to one another, and to the Sea; how the
Rivers flow, and why; how the Mountains stand; how the Heaths and how
the Marshes are plac’d. Such a Map or Survey would be useful both in time
of War and Peace, and many good Observations might be made by it, not
only as to natural History and Philosophy, but also in order to the perfect
Improvement of a Country. But to return to our Mountains.
And this View of the Multitude and Greatness of them, may help to rectify
our Mistakes about the Form of the Earth; so before we proceed to examine
their Causes it will be good to observe further, that these Mountains are
plac’d in no Order one with another, that can either respect Use or Beauty;
and if you consider them singly, they do not consist of any Proportion of
Parts that is referable to any Design, or that hath the least Footsteps of Art
or Counsel. There is nothing in Nature more shapeless and ill-figur’d than
an old Rock or a Mountain, and all that Variety that is among them, is but
the various Modes of Irregularity; so as you cannot make a better Character
of them, in short, than to say they are of all Forms and Figures except
regular. Then if you would go within these Mountains (for they are
generally hollow) you would find all things there more rude, if possible,
than without: And lastly, if you look upon an Heap of them together, or a
mountainous Country, they are the greatest Examples of Confusion that we
know in Nature; no Tempest or Earthquake puts Things into more Disorder.
’Tis true, they cannot look so ill now as they did at first; a Ruin that is fresh,
looks much worse than afterwards, when the Earth grows discolour’d and
skinn’d over. But I fancy, if we had seen the Mountains when they were
new born and raw, when the Earth was fresh broken, and the Waters of the
Deluge newly retir’d, the Fractions and Confusions of them would have
appear’d very ghastly and frightful.

After this general Survey of the Mountains of the Earth and their
Properties, let us now reflect upon the Causes of them. There is a double
Pleasure in Philosophy; first, that of Admiration, whilst we contemplate
Things that are great and wonderful, and do not yet understand their
Causes; for tho’ Admiration proceeds from Ignorance, yet there is a certain
Charm and Sweetness in that Passion. Then the second Pleasure is greater
and more intellectual, which is that of distinct Knowledge and
Comprehension, when we come to have the Key that unlocks those Secrets,
and see the Methods wherein those Things come to pass that we admir’d
before: The Reasons why the World is so or so, and from what Causes
Nature, or any Part of Nature, came into such a State; and this we are now
to enquire after, as to the Mountains of the Earth, what their Original was,
how and when the Earth came into this strange Frame and Structure? In the
Beginning of our World, when the Earth rose from a Chaos, ’twas
impossible it should come immediately into this mountainous Form;
because a Mass that is fluid, as a Chaos is, cannot lie in any other Figure
than what is regular; for the constant Laws of Nature do certainly bring all
Liquors into that Form: And a Chaos is not call’d so from any Confusion or
Brokenness in the Form of it, but from a Confusion and Mixture of all sorts
of Ingredients in the Composition of it. So we have already produc’d in the
precedent Chapters, a double Argument that the Earth was not originally in
this Form, both because it rose from a Chaos, which could not of it self, or
by any immediate Concretion, settle into a Form of this Nature, as hath
been shewn in the fourth and fifth Chapters; as also because if it had been
originally made thus, it could never have undergone a Deluge, as hath been
prov’d in the second and third Chapters. If this be then a secondary and
succedaneous Form, the great Question is, from what Causes it arises.
Some have thought that Mountains, and all other Irregularities in the Earth,
have Rise from Earthquakes, and such like Causes; others have thought that
they came from the universal Deluge; yet not from any Dissolution of the
Earth that was then, but only from the great Agitation of the Waters, which
broke the Ground into this rude and unequal Form. Both these Causes seem
to me very incompetent and insufficient. Earthquakes seldom make
Mountains, they often take them away, and sink them down into the
Caverns that lie under them; besides, Earthquakes are not in all Countries
and Climates as Mountains are; for as we have observ’d more than once,
there is neither Island that is Original, nor Continent any where in the Earth,

in what Latitude soever, but hath Mountains and Rocks in it. And lastly,
what Probability is there, or how is it credible, that those vast Tracks of
Land which we see fill’d with Mountains both in Europe, Asia and Africa,
were rais’d by Earthquakes, or any Eruptions from below? In what Age of
the World was this done, and why not continu’d? As for the Deluge, which
they alledge as another Cause, I doubt not but Mountains were made in the
Time of the general Deluge, that great Change and Transformation of the
Earth happen’d then, but not from such Causes as are pretended, that is, the
bare rolling and agitation of the Waters; for if the Earth was smooth and
plain before the Flood, as they seem to suppose as well as we do, the Waters
could have little or no Power over a smooth Surface to tear it any way in
Pieces, no more than they do a Meadow or low Ground when they lie upon
it; for that which makes Torrents and Land floods violent, is their Fall from
the Mountains and high Lands, which our Earth is now full of; but if the
Rain fell upon even and level Ground, it would only sodden and compress
it; there is no possibility how it should raise Mountains in it. And if we
could imagine an universal Deluge as the Earth is now constituted, it would
rather throw down the Hills and Mountains, than raise new ones; or by
beating down their Tops and loose Parts, help to fill the Valleys, and bring
the Earth nearer to Evenness and Plainness.
Seeing then there are no Hopes of explaining the Origin of Mountains,
either from particular Earthquakes, or from the general Deluge, according
to the common Notion and Explication of it; these not being Causes
answerable to such vast Effects: Let us try our Hypothesis again; which hath
made us a Channel large enough for the Sea, and Room for all
subterraneous Cavities, and I think will find us Materials enough to raise all
the Mountains of the Earth. We suppose the great Arch or Circumference of
the first Earth to have fallen into the Abyss at the Deluge, and seeing that
was larger than the Surface it fell upon, ’tis absolutely certain, that it could
not all fall flat, or lie under the Water: Now as all those Parts that stood
above the Water made dry Land, or the present habitable Earth, so such
Parts of the dry Land as stood higher than the rest, made Hills and
Mountains; and this is the first and general Account of them, and of all the
Inequalities of the Earth. But to consider these Things a little more
particularly: There is a double Cause and Necessity of Mountains, first this
now mention’d, because the exterior Orb of the Earth was greater than the
interior, which it fell upon, and therefore it could not all fall flat; and

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

Agreement of the Effects with such a Supposition, you would argue and
prove that they were really so. This I confess is true, this is the Method, and
if we would know any Thing in Nature further than our Senses go, we can
know it no otherwise than by an Hypothesis. When Things are either too
little for our Senses, or too remote and inaccessible, we have no Way to
know the inward Nature, and the Causes of their sensible Properties, but by
reasoning upon an Hypothesis. If you would know, for Example, of what
Parts Water, or any other Liquor consists, they are too little to be discern’d
by the Eye; you must therefore take a Supposition concerning their invisible
Figure and Form, and if that agrees and gives the Reason of all their
sensible Qualities, you understand the Nature of Water. In like manner, if
you would know the Nature of a Comet, or of what Matter the Sun consists,
which are Things inaccessible to us, you can do this no otherwise than by
an Hypothesis; and if that Hypothesis be easy and intelligible, and answers
all the Phænomena of those two Bodies, you have done as much as a
Philosopher or as human Reason can do. And this is what we have
attempted concerning the Earth and concerning the Deluge. We have laid
down an Hypothesis that is easy and perspicuous, consisting of a few
things, and those very intelligible, and from this we have given an Account
how the old World was destroy’d by a Deluge of Water, and how the Earth
came into this present Form, so distinguish’d and interrupted with Sea and
Land, Mountains and Valleys, and so broken in the Surface and inward
Parts of it.
But to speak the Truth, this Theory is something more than a bare
Hypothesis; because we are assured that the general Ground that we go
upon is true, namely, That the Earth rose at first from a Chaos; for besides
Reason and Antiquity, Scripture it self doth assure us of that; and that one
Point being granted, we have deduc’d from it all the rest by a direct Chain
of Consequences, which I think cannot be broken easily in any Part or Link
of it. Besides, the great Hinge of this Theory, upon which all the rest turns,
is the Distinction we make of the antediluvian Earth and Heavens from the
Postdiluvian, as to their Form and Constitution. And it will never be beaten
out of my Head, but that St. Peter, 2 Epist. chap. iii. 5, 6. hath made the
same Distinction sixteen hundred Years since, and to the very same
purpose; so that we have sure footing here again, and the Theory riseth
above the Character of a bare Hypothesis. And whereas an Hypothesis that
is clear and proportion’d to Nature in every Respect, is accounted morally

certain, we must in Equity give more than a moral Certitude to this Theory.
But I mean this only as to the general Parts of it; for as to Particularities, I
look upon them only as problematical, and accordingly I affirm nothing
therein but with a Power of Revocation, and a Liberty to change my
Opinion when I shall be better inform’d. Neither do I know any Author that
hath treated a Matter new, remote, and consisting of a Multitude of
Particulars, who would not have had occasion, if he had liv’d to have seen
his Hypothesis fully examin’d, to have chang’d his Mind and Manner of
explaining Things in many material Instances.
To conclude both this Chapter and this Section, we have here added a Map
or Draught of the Earth, according to the natural Face of it, as it would
appear from the Moon, if we were a little nearer to her; or as it was at first
after the Deluge, before Cities were built, Distinctions of Countries made,
or any Alterations by human Industry. ’Tis chiefly to expose more to view
the Mountains of the Earth, and the Proportions of Sea and Land; to shew it
as it lies in itself, and as a Naturalist ought to conceive and consider it. ’Tis
true, there are far more Mountains upon the Earth than what are here
represented, for more could not conveniently be plac’d in this narrow
Scheme; but the best and most effectual Way of representing the Body of
the Earth as it is by Nature, would be, not in plain Tables, but by a rough
Globe, expressing all the considerable Inequalities that are upon the Earth.
The smooth Globes that we use, do but nourish in us the Conceit of the
Earth’s Regularity; and tho’ they may be convenient enough for
geographical Purposes, they are not so proper for natural Science, nothing
would be more useful in this Respect, than a rough Globe of the largest
Dimensions, wherein the Channel of the Sea should be really hollow, as it is
in Nature, with all its unequal Depths according to the best Soundings, and
the Shores express’d both according to Matter and Form, little Rocks
standing where there are Rocks, and Sands and Beaches in the Places where
they are found; and all the Islands planted in the Sea-channel in a due Form,
and in their solid Dimensions. Then upon the Land should stand all the
Ranges of Mountains, in the same Order or Disorder that Nature hath set
them there: And the in-land Seas, and great Lakes, or rather the Beds they
lie in, should be duly represented; as also the vast Desarts of Sand as they
lie upon the Earth. And this being done with Care and due Art, would be a
true Epitome, or true Model of our Earth. Where we should see, besides

other Instructions, what a rude Lump our World is, which we are so apt to
dote upon.

Book 1 No. 1.

Book 1 No. 2.

Chap. XII.

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

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

our Globe became terraqueous, what was the Original of Mountains, of the
Sea-channel, of Islands, of subterraneous Cavities; things which without
this Supposition are as untelligible as the universal Flood itself. And these
things reciprocally confirming one another, our Hypothesis of the Deluge is
arm’d, both Breast and Back, by the Causes and by the Effects.
It remains now, that, as to confirm our Explication of the Deluge, we
shew’d all other Accounts that had been given of it to be ineffectual or
impossible, to confirm our Doctrine concerning the Dissolution of the
Earth, and concerning the Original of Mountains, Seas, and all Inequalities
upon it, or within it, we must examine what Causes have been assign’d by
others, or what Accounts given of these things: That seeing their
Defectiveness, we may have the more Assurance and Satisfaction in our
own Method.
And in order to this, let us observe first the general Forms under which the
Earth may be consider’d, or under which it doth appear accordingly as we
view it more nearly or remotely; and the first of these and the most general
is that of a terraqueous Globe. If a Philosopher should come out of another
World out of Curiosity to see our Earth, the first Discovery or Observation
he would make would be this, that it was a terraqueous Globe: Thus much
he might observe at a great Distance, when he came but near the Borders of
our World. This we discern in the Moon, and most of the Planets, that they
are divided into Sea and Land, and how this Division came would be his
first Remark and Inquiry concerning our Earth; and how also those
Subdivisions of Islands, or little Earths which lie in the Water; how these
were form’d, and that great Channel that contains them both.
The second Form that the Earth appears under, is that of an uneven and
mountainous Globe. When our Traveller had got below the Circle of the
Moon, he would discern the bald Tops of our Mountains, and the long
Ranges of them upon our Continents. We cannot from the Earth discern
Mountains and Valleys in the Moon directly, but from the Motion of the
Light and Shadows which we see there, we easily collect that there are such
Inequalities: And accordingly we suppose that our Mountains would appear
at a great Distance, and the shady Valleys lying under them; and that this
curious Person that came to view our Earth, would make that his second
Enquiry, how those Mountains were formed, and how our Globe came to be
so rude and irregular? For we may justly demand how any Irregularity came

into Nature, seeing all her first Motions and her first Forms are regular, and
whatsoever is not so, is but secondary, and the Consequence of some
Degeneracy, or of some Decay.
The third visible Form of our Earth is that of a broken Globe; and broken
throughout, but in the outward Parts and Regions of it. This, it may be, you
will say, is not a visible Form; it doth not appear to the Eye, without
reasoning, that the Surface of the Earth is so broken. Suppose our new
Visitant had now pass’d the middle Region of the Air, and was alighted
upon the Top of Pic Teneriffe for his first resting Place, and that sitting
there, he took a View of the great Rocks, the wide Sea, and of the Shores of
Africk and Europe; for we’ll suppose his piercing Eye to reach so far; I will
not say that at first Sight he would pronounce that the Surface of this Globe
was broken, unless he knew it to be so by Comparison with some other
Planet like to it; but the broken Form and Figure of many Parts of the
Rocks, and the Posture in which they lay, or great Portions of them, some
inclin’d, some prostrate, some erected, would naturally lead him to that
Thought, that they were a Ruin; he would see also the Islands tore from the
Continents, and both the Shores of the Continents and their Inland Parts in
the same Disorder and irregular Situation. Besides, he had this great
Advantage in viewing the Earth at a Distance, that he could see a whole
Hemisphere together, which, as he made his Approaches thro’ the Air,
would have much what the same aspect and countenance as ’tis represented
within the great Scheme, p. 203. And if any Man should accidentally hit
upon that Scheme, not knowing or thinking that it was the Earth, I believe
his first Thought of it would be, that it was some great broken Body, or
ruin’d Frame of Matter; and the Original, I am sure, is more manifestly so.
But we’ll leave our strange Philosopher to his own Observations, and with
him good Guides and Interpreters in his Survey of the Earth, and that he
would make a favourable Report at his Return home, of our little dirty
Planet.
In the mean time let us pursue, in our own Way, this Third Idea of the Earth
a little further, as it is a broken Globe. Nature I know hath dissembled and
cover’d this Form as much as may be, and Time hath help’d to repair some
of the old Breaches, or fill them up; besides, the Changes that have been
made by Art and human Industry, by Agriculture, Planting, and Building
Towns, hath made the Face of the Earth quite another Thing from what it

was in its naked Rudeness. As Mankind is much alter’d from its pristine
State, from what it was four thousand Years ago, or towards the first Ages
after the Flood, when the Nations liv’d in Simplicity or Barbarousness; so is
the Earth too, and both so disguis’d and transform’d, that if one of those
primitive Fathers should rise from the Dead, he would scarce know this to
be the same World which he liv’d in before. But to discern the true Form of
the Earth, whether intire or broken, regular or disorder’d, we must in the
first Place take away all those Ornaments or Additions made by Art or
Nature, and view the bare Carcass of the Earth, as it hath nothing on it but
Rocks and Mountains, Deserts and Fields, and hollow Valleys, and a wide
Sea. Then secondly, We must in our Imagination empty this Channel of the
Sea, take out all the Waters that hinder the Sight of it, and look upon the dry
Ditch, measure the Depth and Breadth of it in our Mind, and observe the
Manner of its Construction, and in what a wild Posture all the Parts of it lie;
according as it hath been formerly represented, Chap. 10. And lastly, we
must take off the Cover of all subterraneous Places and deep Caverns, to see
the inside of the Earth; and lay bare the Roots of Mountains, to look into
those Holes and Vaults that are under them, fill’d sometimes with Fire,
sometimes with Water, and sometimes with thick Air and Vapours. The
Object being thus prepar’d, we are then to look fixedly upon it, and to
pronounce what we think of this disfigur’d Mass, whether this exterior
Frame doth not seem to be shatter’d; and whether it doth more aptly
resemble a new-made World, or the Ruins of one broken. I confess when
this Idea of the Earth is present to my Thoughts, I can no more believe that
this was the Form wherein it was first produc’d, than if I had seen the
Temple of Jerusalem in its Ruins, when defac’d and sack’d by the
Babylonians; I could have persuaded my self, that it had never been in any
other Posture, and that Solomon had given Orders for Building it so.
So much for the Form of the Earth: It remains now that we examine what
Causes have been assign’d by others, of these Irregularities in the Form of
the Earth, which we explain by the Dissolution of it; what Accounts any of
the Ancients have given, or attempted to give, how the Earth swell’d into
Mountains in certain Places, and in others was depress’d into low Valleys,
how the Body of it was so broken, and how the Channel of the Sea was
made. The Elements naturally lie in regular Forms one above another, and
now we find them mix’d, confounded and transpos’d, how comes this
Disturbance and Disordination in Nature? The Explications of these Things

that have been given by others, may be reduc’d to two general Sorts,
Philosophical or Theological, and we will try them both for our
Satisfaction.
Of Philosophers, none was more concern’d to give an Account of such
Things than Epicurus, both because he acknowledged the Origin of the
Earth to have been from a Chaos, and also admitted no Causes to act in
Nature but Matter and Motion: Yet all the Account we have from the
Epicureans of the Form of the Earth, and the great Inequalities that are in it,
is so slight and trivial, that methinks it doth not deserve the Name of a
Philosophical Explication. They say that the Earth and Water were mix’d at
first, or rather, the Earth was above the Water, and as the Earth was
condens’d by the Heat of the Sun and the Winds, the Water was squeez’d
out in certain Places, which either it found hollow or made so; and so was
the Channel of the Sea made. Then as for Mountains, while some Parts of
the Earth shrunk and sunk in this Manner, others would not sink; and these
standing still while the others fell lower, made the Mountains. How the
subterraneous Cavities were made according to them, I do not find.
This is all the Account that Monsieur Gassendi (who seems to have made it
his Business, as well as his Pleasure, to embellish that Philosophy) can help
us to, out of the Epicurean Authors how the Earth came into this Form; and
he that can content himself with this, is, in my Mind, of an Humour very
easy to be pleas’d. Do the Sun and the Wind use to squeeze Pools of Water
out of the Earth, and that in such a Quantity as to make an Ocean? They dry
the Earth, and the Waters too, and rarify them into Vapours, but I never
knew them to be the Causes of pressing Water out of the Earth by
Condensation. Could they compress the Earth any otherwise, than by drying
it and making it hard? And in Proportion, as it was more dry, would it not
the more imbibe and suck up the Water? And how were the great Mountains
of the Earth made in the North and in the South, where the Influence of the
Sun is not great? What sunk the Earth there, and made the Flesh start from
the Bones? But ’tis no Wonder that Epicurus should give such a mean
Account of the Origin of the Earth, and the Form of its Parts, who did not
so much as understand the general Figure of the Body of it, that it was in
some Manner Spherical, or that the Heavens encompass’d it round. One
must have a blind Love for that Philosophy, and for the Conclusions it

drives at, not to see its Lameness and Defects in those first and fundamental
Parts.
Aristotle, though he was not concern’d to give an Account how the Earth
came into this present Form, as he suppos’d it Eternal; yet upon another
Consideration he seems obliged to give some Reason how the Elements
came into this Disorder; seeing he supposeth, that, according to the Order of
Nature, the Water should lie above the Earth in a Sphere, as the Air doth
above the Water, and his Fire above the Air. This he toucheth upon in his
Meteors, but so gently and fearfully, as if he was handling hot Coals. He
saith the Sea is to be consider’d as the Element, or Body of Waters that
belongs to this Earth, and that these Waters change Places, and the Sea is
some Ages in one Part of the Globe, and some Ages in another; but that this
is at such great Distances of Time, that there can be no Memory or Record
of it. And he seems willing to suppose that the Water was once all over the
Earth, but that it dry’d up in certain Places, and continuing in others, it there
made the Sea.
What a miserable Account is this? As to his Change or Removal of the Sea-
channel in several Ages, as it is without all Proof or Probability, if he mean
it of the Channel of the great Ocean, so ’tis nothing to the Purpose here; for
the Question is not why the Channel of the Sea is in such a Part of the
Earth, rather than in another, but why there is any such prodigious Cavity in
or upon the Earth any where. And if we take his Supposition, that the
Element of Water was once higher than the Earth, and lay in a Sphere about
it, then let him tell us in plain Terms how the Earth got above, or how the
Cavity of the Ocean was made, and how the Mountains rise; for this
Elementary Earth which lay under the Water, was, I suppose, equal and
smooth when it lay there; and what reason was there, that the Waters should
be dry’d in one Part of it, more than another, if they were every where of an
equal Depth, and the Ground equal under them? It was not the Climates
made any Distinction, for there is Sea towards the Poles, as well as under
the Æquator; but suppose they were dry’d up in certain Places, that would
make no Mountains, no more than there are Mountains in our dry’d
Marshes: And the Places where they were not dry’d, would not therefore
become as deep and hollow as the Sea-channel, and tear the Earth and
Rocks in pieces. If you would say that this very Elementary Earth, as it lay
under the Waters, was unequal, and was so originally form’d into

Mountains and Valleys and great Cavities; besides that the Supposition is
altogether irrational in itself, you must suppose a prodigious Mass of Water
to cover such an Earth; as much as we found requisite for the vulgar
Deluge, namely, eight Oceans; and what then is become of the other seven?
Upon the whole, I do not see that either in Epicurus’s way, who seems to
suppose that the Waters were at first within the Earth; nor in Aristotle’s way,
who seems to suppose them upon the Earth, any rational or tolerable
Account can be given of the present Form of the Earth.
Wherefore some Modern Authors, dissatisfied, as very well they might be,
with these Explications given us by the Ancients concerning the Form of
the Earth, have pitch’d upon other Causes, more true indeed in their kind,
and in their degree, but that fall as much short of those Effects to which
they would apply them. They say that all the Irregularities of the Body of
the Earth have risen from Earthquakes in particular Places, and from
Torrents and Inundations, and from Eruptions of Fire, or such like Causes,
whereof we see some Instances more or less every Age; and these have
made that havock upon the Face of the Earth, and turn’d things upside
down, raising the Earth, in some Places, and making great Cavities or
Chasms in others, so as to have brought it at length into that torn, broken,
and disorderly Form in which we now see it.
These Authors do so far agree with us, as to acknowledge, That the present
irregular Form of the Earth must have proceeded from Ruins and
Dissolutions of one sort or other; but these Ruins they make to have been
partial only, in this or in that Country, by piece-meal, and in several Ages,
and from no other Causes, but such as still continue to act in Nature,
namely, accidental Earthquakes and Eruptions of Fires and Waters. These
Causes we acknowledge as readily as they do, but not as capable to produce
so great Effects as they would ascribe to them; the Surface of the Earth may
be a little changed by such Accidents as these, but for the most part, they
rather sink the Mountains, than raise new Ones: As when Houses are blown
up by Mines of Powder, they are not set higher, but generally fall lower and
flatter: Or suppose they do sometimes raise an Hill, or a little Mount, what’s
that to the great Mountains of our World, to those long and vast Piles of
Rocks and Stones, which the Earth can scarce bear? What’s that to strong-
backt Taurus or Atlas, to the American Andes, or to a Mountain that
reacheth from the Pyreneans to the Euxine Sea? There’s as much Difference

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

if the Earth was in this mountainous Form before that Time? This, I think, is
demonstrated impossible in the second and third Chapters. If since the
Flood, where were the Waters of the Earth before these Earthquakes made a
Channel for them? Besides, where is the History or Tradition, that speaks of
these strange Things, and of this great Change of the Earth? Hath any writ
of the Origins of the Alps? In what Year of Rome, or what Olympiad they
were born? Or how they grew from little ones? How the Earth groan’d
when it brought them forth, when its Bowels were torn by the ragged
Rocks? Do the Chronicles of the Nations mention these things, or ancient
Fame, or ancient Fables? were they made all at once, or in successive Ages?
These Causes continue still in Nature, we have still Earthquakes and
subterraneous Fires and Waters, why should they not still operate and have
the same Effects? We often hear of Cities thrown down by Earthquakes, or
Countries swallow’d up; but who ever heard of a new Chain of Mountains
made upon the Earth, or a new Channel made for the Ocean? We do not
read that there hath been so much as a new Sinus of the Sea ever since the
Memory of Man: Which is far more feasible than what they pretend. And
Things of this Nature being both strange and feasible, excite Admiration
and great Attention when they come to pass, and would certainly have been
remembered or propagated in some Way or other, if they had ever happen’d
since the Deluge. They have recorded the Foundation of Cities and
Monarchies, the Appearance of Blazing Stars, the Eruptions of fiery
Mountains, the most remarkable Earthquakes and Inundations, the great
Eclipses or Obscurations of the Sun, and any thing that look’d strange or
Prodigy-like, whether in the Heavens or on Earth: And these, which would
have been the greatest Prodigies, and greatest Changes that ever happen’d
in Nature, would these have escap’d all Observation and Memory of Men?
That’s as incredible as the Things themselves are.
Lastly, To comprehend all these Opinions together, both of the Ancient and
Modern Authors, they seem all to agree with us in this, That the Earth was
once under another Form; otherwise why do they go about to shew the
Causes how it came into this Form? I desire then to know what Form they
suppose the Earth to have been under before the Mountains were made, the
Channel of the Sea, or subterraneous Cavities? Either they must take that
Form which we have assign’d it before the Deluge, or else they must
suppose it cover’d with Water, till the Sea-channels were made, and the
Mountains brought forth; as in Fig. 2. p. 76. And no doubt it was once in

this Form, both Reason and the Authority of Moses assure us of it; and this
is the Test which every Opinion must be brought to, how the Earth emerg’d
out of that watry Form? And in particular, as to that Opinion which we are
now examining, the Question is, how by Earthquakes, and fiery Eruptions,
subterraneous Waters, and such like Causes, the Body of the Earth could be
wrought from that Form to this present Form? And the Thing is impossible
at first Sight; for such Causes as these could not take place in such an Earth.
As for subterraneous Waters, there could be none at that Time, for they were
all above Ground; and as for subterraneous Exhalations, whether fiery or
aery, there was no Place for them neither; for the Earth, when it lay under
the Water, was a solid uniform Mass, compact and close united in its Parts,
as we have shewn before upon several Occasions; no Mines or hollow
Vaults for the Vapours to be lodg’d in, no Store-houses of Fire; nothing that
could make Earthquakes, nor any sort of Ruins or Eruptions: These are
Engines that cannot Play but in an Earth already broken, hollow and
cavernous. Therefore the Authors of this Opinion do in effect beg the
Question; they assign such Causes of the present Form of the Earth, as
could not take Place, nor have any Activity until the Earth was in this Form:
These Causes may contribute something to increase the Rudeness and
Inequalities of the Earth in certain Places, but they could not be the original
Causes of it. And that not only because of their Disproportion to such
Effects, but also because of their Incapacity, or Non-existence at that time,
when these Effects were to be wrought.
Thus much concerning the Philosophical Opinions or the natural Causes
that have been assign’d for the irregular Form of this present Earth. Let us
now consider the Theological Opinions, how Mountains were made at first,
and the wonderful Channel of the Sea: And these Authors say, God
Almighty made them immediately when he made the World; and so
dispatch’d the Business in a few Words. This is a short Account indeed, but
we must take heed that we do not derogate from the Perfection of God, by
ascribing all Things promiscuously to his immediate Action. I have often
suggested that the first Order of Things is regular and simple, according as
the Divine Nature is; and continues so till there is some Degeneracy in the
moral World; I have also noted upon several Occasions, especially in the
Lat. Treat. Chap. 11. the deformity and Incommodiousness of the present
Earth; and from these two Considerations we may reasonably infer, that the
present State of the Earth was not Original, but is a State of Subjection to

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

These Arguments being premis’d, let us now bring their Opinion close to
the Test, and see in what manner these Mountains must have been made
according to them, and how the Channel of the Sea, and all other Cavities
of the Earth. Let us to this Purpose consider the Earth again in that
transient, incompleat Form which it had when the Abyss encompast the
whole Body of it, Fig. 2. p. 77. we both agree that the Earth was once in
this State, and they say, that it came immediately out of this State into its
present Form, there being made by a supernatural Power a great Channel or
Ditch in one Part of it, which drew off the Waters from the rest, and the
Earth which was squeez’d and forc’d out of this Ditch, made the
Mountains. So there is the Channel of the Sea made, and the Mountains of
the Earth; how the subterraneous Cavities were made according to these
Authors, I do not well know. This I confess seems to me a very gross
Thought, and a way of working very un-God like; but however, let’s have
Patience to examine it.
And in the first Place, if the Mountains were taken out of the Channel of the
Sea, then they are equal to it, and would fill it up if they were thrown in
again. But these Proportions upon Examination will not agree; for though
the Mountains of the Earth be very great, yet they do not equal by much the
great Ocean. The Ocean extends to half the Surface of the Earth; and if you
suppose the greatest Depth of the Ocean to answer the Height of the
greatest Mountains and the middle Depth to the middle sort of Mountains,
the Mountains ought to cover all the dry Land to make them answer to all
the Capacity of the Ocean; whereas we suppos’d them upon a reasonable
Computation to cover but the tenth Part of the dry Land; and consequently
neither they nor the Sea-Channel could have been produc’d in this manner,
because of their great Disproportion to one another. And the same thing
appears, if we compare the Mountains with the Abyss which cover’d the
Earth before this Channel was made; for this Channel being made great
enough to contain all the Abyss, the Mountains taken out of it must also be
equal to all the Abyss; but the Aggregate of the Mountains will not answer
this by many Degrees; for suppose the Abyss was but half as deep as the
deep Ocean, to make this Calculus answer, all the dry Land ought to be
cover’d with Mountains, and with Mountains as high as the Ocean is deep,
or double high to the Depth of the Abyss, because they are but upon one
half of the Globe. And this is the first Argument against the Reciprocal
Production of Mountains and the Sea, their Incongruency or Disproportion.

Secondly, we are to consider that a great many Mountains of the Earth are
far distant from any Seas, as the great In-land Mountains of Asia and of
Africk, and the Sarmatick Mountains, and others in Europe; how were these
great Bodies flung thorough the Air from their respective Seas, whence they
were taken, to those Places where they stand? What Appearance is there in
common Reason or Credibility, that these huge Masses of Earth and Stone
that stand in the middle of Continents were dug out of any Seas? We think it
strange, and very deservedly, that a little Chapel should be transported from
Palestine to Italy over Land and Sea, much more the Transportation of
Mount Atlas or Taurus thorough the Air, or of a Range of Mountains two or
three thousand Miles long, would surely upon all Accounts appear
incongruous and incredible: Besides, neither the hollow Form of
Mountains, nor the stony Matter whereof they commonly consist, agrees
with that Supposition, that they were press’d or taken out of the Channel of
the Sea.
Lastly, we are to consider, that the Mountains are not barely laid upon the
Earth, as a Tomb-stone upon a Grave, nor stand as Statues do upon a
Pedestal, as this Opinion seems to suppose; but they are one continued
Substance with the Body of the Earth, and their Roots reach into the Abyss;
as the Rocks by the Sea-side go as deep as the Bottom of the Sea in one
continued Mass: And ’tis a ridiculous Thing to imagine the Earth first a
plain Surface, then all the Mountains set upon it, as Hay-cocks in a Field,
standing upon their flat Bottoms. There is no such common Surface in
Nature, nor consequently any such Super-additions: ’Tis all one Frame or
Mass, only broken and disjointed in the Parts of it. To conclude, ’Tis not
only the Mountains that make the Inequalities of the Earth, or the
Irregularity of its Surface, every Country, every Province, every Field, hath
an unequal and different Situation, higher or lower inclin’d more or less,
and sometimes one way sometimes another, you can scarce take a Mile’s
Compass in any Place where the Surface of the Ground continues uniform;
and can you imagine, that there were Moulds or Stones brought from the
Sea-channel to make all those Inequalities? Or that Earthquakes have been
in every Country and in every Field? The inner Veins and Lares, the Beds or
Strata of the Earth are also broken as well as the Surface. These must
proceed from universal Causes; and all those that have been alledg’d,
whether from Philosophy or Theology, are but particular or topical. I am
fully satisfied, in Contemplation of these Things, and so I think every

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

at its Dissolution, did not all fall in, but the polar Parts sinking into the
Abyss, the middle or equinoctial Parts still subsisted, and bore themselves
up in the Nature of an Arch about the Planet, or of a Bridge, as it were, built
over the Sea of Saturn. And as some have observ’d concerning the Figure
of Jupiter, that it is not wholly Spherical, but a Spheroid, protuberant in the
Equator, and depress’d towards the Poles: So I should suspect Saturn to
have been much more so, before his Disruption: Namely, That the Body of
that Planet, in its first State, was more flat and low towards the Poles, and
also weaker and thinner; and about the Equator higher, fuller and stronger
built: By reason of which Figure and Construction, the Polar Parts did more
easily fall in, or were suckt in (as Cupping Glasses draw in the Flesh) when
the Abyss below grew more empty. Whereas the middle Parts about the
Equator, being a more just Arch and strongly built, would not yield or sink,
but stood firm and unbroken, and continues still in its first Posture. Planets
break in different ways, according to the Quality of their Matter, the manner
of their Construction, and the Nature of the Causes that act upon them.
Their Dissolutions are sometimes total, as in our Earth, sometimes partial;
and both of these may be under great Variety. In partial Dissolutions, the
middle Parts sometimes stand, and the Polar are broke; or the Polar stand
and the Middle are broke. Or one Hemisphere, or part of an Hemisphere
may be sunk, the rest standing. There may be Causes and Occasions for all
these Varieties and many more, in diversifying the Phænomena of an
immense Universe. But to return to Saturn.
That this present uncouth Form of Saturn was not its Original Form, I am
very well satisfied, if that Planet rose from a Chaos, as ours did. And if this
be an adventitious Form, I know no Account can be given of it with more
Probability, than by supposing it the Effect of some Fraction or Disruption
in the Polar Parts. Neither do I know any Phænomenon hitherto observ’d
concerning Saturn, that does disprove this Hypothesis or Conjecture.
As to Jupiter, that Planet without doubt is also turn’d about its Axis,
otherwise how should its four Moons be carried round him? And this is also
collected from the Motion of that permanent Spot (if it be found to be so)
that is upon its Body. Which Spot I take to be either a Lake or a Chasm and
Hiatus into the Abyss of the Planet: That is, part of the Abyss open or
uncover’d, like the Aperture we made in the Seventh Figure, C. 6. p. 184.
And this might either have been left so by Providence, at first, for some

Reasons and Causes fitting that Earth: Or it may have fallen in afterwards,
as Plato’s Atlantis, or as Sodom and Gomorrah, for some Judgment upon
part of that World.
To conclude, seeing all the Planets that are plac’d in this Heaven, and are
the Foster-Children of this Sun, seem to have some Affinity one with
another, and have much what the same Countenance, and the same general
Phænomena; it seems probable, that they rise much what the same way, and
after the like manner as our Earth, each one from its respective Chaos; and
that they had the same Elementary Regions at first, and an exteriour Orb
form’d over their Abyss: and lastly, That every one of them hath suffer’d, or
is to suffer its Deluge, as our Earth hath done. These, I say, are probable
Conjectures according to the Analogy of Reason and Nature, so far as we
can judge concerning Things very remote and inaccessible.
And these things being thus, and our Theory of the Deluge, and the
Dissolution which brought it, having such a general Agreement both with
our Heavens and our Earth, I think there is nothing but the Uncouthness of
the Thing to some Men’s Understandings, the Custom of thinking
otherwise, and the Uneasiness of entring into a new set of Thoughts, that
can be a Bar or Hindrance to its Reception. But it may be improv’d, I doubt
not, in many Respects, and in some Particularities rectified. The first
Attempts in great Things are seldom or never perfect: Such is the Weakness
of our Understandings, and the want of a full Natural History. And in
assigning Causes of such great Effects, fair Conjectures are to be allow’d,
till they be displac’d by others more evident and more certain. Accordingly
I readily submit to these Terms, and leave this, and all other Parts of the
Theory, to further Examination and Enquiries.

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

CHAP. I.

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

We have already seen a World begin and perish; an Earth rais’d from the
Rudiments of a Chaos, and dissolv’d and destroy’d in an Universal Deluge.
We have given also an imperfect Description of that Primæval Earth, so far
as was necessary to shew the Causes and Manner of its Dissolution. But we
must not content our selves with this; seeing that Earth was the first Theatre
upon which Mortals appear’d and acted, and continu’d so for above sixteen
hundred Years; and that with Scenes, as both Reason and History tell us,
very extraordinary and very different from these of our present Earth, ’tis
reasonable we should endeavour to make a more full Discovery and
Description of it; especially seeing Paradise was there; that Seat of Pleasure
which our first Parents lost, and which all their Posterity have much ado to
find again.
In the First Book we so far describ’d this new-found World, as to shew it
very different in Form and Fabrick from the present Earth; there was no Sea
there, no Mountains, nor Rocks, nor broken Caves, ’twas all one continued
and regular Mass, smooth, simple and compleat, as the first Works of
Nature use to be. But to know thus much only, doth rather excite our
Curiosity than satisfy it; what were the other Properties of this World? How
were the Heavens, how the Elements? What Accommodation for Human
Life? Why was it more proper to be the Seat of Paradise than the present
Earth? Unless we know these Things, you will say, it will seem but an easy
Idea to us; and ’tis certain that the more Properties and Particularities that
we know concerning any thing, the more real it appears to be.
As it was our Chief Design therefore in the precedent Book, to give an
Account of the Universal Deluge, by way of a Theory; so we propose to our
selves chiefly in this Book, from the same Theory, to give an Account of
Paradise; and in performing of this, we shall be led into a more full
Examination and Display of that first Earth, and of its Qualities. And if we

be so happy, as, by the Conduct of the same Principles and the same
Method, to give as fair an Account, and as intelligible of the State of
Paradise in that Original Earth, as we have done of the Deluge by the
Dissolution of it, and of the Form of this Earth which succeeded, one must
be very morose or melancholy to imagine, that the Grounds we go upon, all
this while, are wholly false or fictitious. A Foundation which will bear the
Weight of two Worlds without sinking, must surely stand upon a firm Rock.
And I am apt to promise my self that this Theory of the Earth will find
Acceptance and Credit, more or less, with all but those that think it a
sufficient Answer to all Arguments, to say, it is a Novelty.
But to proceed in our Disquisition concerning Paradise, we may note in the
first Place, two Opinions to be avoided, being both extreams; one that
placeth Paradise in the extra-mundane Regions, or in the Air, or in the
Moon; and the other that makes it so inconsiderable, as to be confin’d to a
little Spot of Ground in Mesopotamia or some other Country of Asia, the
Earth being now as it was then. This offends as much in the Defect, as the
other in the Excess. For it is not any single Region of the Earth that can be
Paradisiacal, unless all Nature conspire, and a certain Order of Things
proper and peculiar for that State. Nor is it of less Importance to find out
this peculiar Order of Things, than to find out the particular Seat of
Paradise, but rather pre-requisite to it: We will endeavour therefore to
discover and determine both, so far as a Theory can go, beginning with that
which is more general.
’Tis certain there were some Qualities and Conditions of Paradise that were
not meerly topical, but common to all the rest of the Earth at that Time; and
these we must consider in the first Place, examine what they were, and upon
what they depended. History, both Sacred and Profane, must tell us what
they were, and our Theory must shew us upon what Causes they depended.
I had once, I confess, propos’d to my self another Method, independent
upon History or Effects; I thought to have continued the Description of the
Primitive or antediluvian Earth from the Contemplation of its Causes only,
and then left it to the Judgment of others to determine, whether that was not
the Earth where the Golden Age was past, and where Paradise stood. For I
had observ’d three Conditions or Characters of it, which I thought were
sufficient to answer all that we knew concerning that first State of Things,
viz. The Regularity of its Surface; The Situation or Posture of its Body to

the Sun; and the Figure of it: From these three general Causes I thought
might be deduc’d all the chief Differences of that Earth from the present,
and particularly those that made it more capable of being Paradisiacal.
But upon second Thoughts I judg’d it more useful and expedient to lay
aside the Causes at present, and begin with the Effects, that we night have
some sensible Matter to work upon. Bare Ideas of Things are look’d upon
as romantick till Effects be propos’d, whereof they are to give an Account;
’Tis that makes us value the Causes when Necessity puts us upon Enquiry
after them; and the Reasons of Things are very acceptable, when they ease
the Mind, anxious and at a loss how to understand Nature without their
help. We will therefore, without more ado, premise those Things that have
been taken Notice of as extraordinary and peculiar to the first Ages of the
World, and to Paradise, and which neither do, nor can, obtain in the present
Earth; whereof the first is a perpetual Spring or Equinox; the second, the
Longævity of Animals; and the third, their Production out of the Earth, and
the great Fertility of the Soil in all other Things.
These Difficulties guard the way to Paradise like the flaming Sword, and
must be remov’d before we can enter; these are general Preliminaries which
we must explain before we proceed to enquire after the particular Place of
this Garden of Pleasure. The Ancients have taken Notice of all those in the
first Ages of the World, or in their golden Age, as they call it; and I do not
doubt but what they ascribe to the golden Age, was more remarkably true of
Paradise; yet was not so peculiar to it, but that it did in a good measure
extend to other Parts of the Earth at that Time. And ’tis manifest that their
golden Age was contemporary with our Paradise; for they make it begin
immediately after the Production and Inhabitation of the Earth (which they,
as well as Moses, raise from the Chaos) and to degenerate by degrees till the
Deluge; when the World ended, and begun again.
That this Parallel may the better appear, we may observe, that as we say
that the whole Earth was, in some Sense, Paradisiacal in the first Ages of
the World, and that there was, besides, one Region or Portion of it that was
peculiarly so, and bore the Denomination of Paradise; So the Ancients,
beside their golden Age, which was common to all the Earth, noted some
Parts of it that were more golden, if I may so say, than the rest, and which
did more particularly answer to Paradise; as their Elysian Fields, Fortunate
Islands, Gardens of Hesperides, Alcinous, &c. these had a double Portion of

Pleasantness, and, beside the Advantages which they had common with the
rest of the Earth at that Time, had something proper and singular, which
gave them a distinct Consideration and Character from the rest.
Having made this Observation, let us proceed, and see what Antiquity saith,
concerning that first and Paradisiacal State of Things, upon those three
Heads forementioned; First, that there was a perpetual Spring, and constant
Serenity of the Air. This is often repeated by the ancient Poets, in their
Description of the golden Age.

Non alios prima crescentis origine mundi
Iluxisse dies, aliumve habuisse tenorem,
Crediderim: Ver illud erat, Ver magnus agebat
Orbis, & hybernis parcebant flatibus Euri.

Virgil.

Such Days the new-born Earth enjoy’d of old;
And the calm Heavens in this same Tenor rowl’d:
All the great World had then one constant Spring;
No cold East-winds, such as our Winters bring.

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

Ver erat Æternum: Placidiq; tepentibus auris
Mulcebant Zephyri natos sine semine flores.

The Spring was constant, and soft Winds that blew,
Rais’d without Seed, Flow’rs always sweet and new.

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

Jupiter antiqui contraxit tempora Veris, &c.

When Jove begun to reign, he chang’d the Year,
And for one Spring four Seasons made appear.

The Ancients suppos’d, that in the Reign of Saturn, who was an
antediluvian God, as I may so call him, Time flow’d with a more even

Motion, and there was no Diversity of Seasons in the Year; but Jupiter, they
say, first introduc’d that, when he came to manage Affairs. This is exprest
after their way, who seldom give any severe and philosophical Accounts of
the Changes of Nature. And as they suppos’d this perpetual Spring in the
Golden Age, so they did also in their particular Elysiums; as I could shew
largely from their Authors, if it would not multiply Citations too much. ’Tis
true, their Elysiums respected the new Heavens, and new Earth to come,
rather than the past; but they are both fram’d upon the same Model, and
have common Properties.
The Christian Authors have no less celebrated the perpetual Spring and
Serenity of the Heavens in Paradise; such Expressions or Descriptions you
will find in Justin Martyr, S. Basil, Damascen, Isidore Hispalensis, De
Grat. prim. hom. and others, insomuch that Bellarmine, I remember,
reflecting upon those Characters of Paradise, which many of the Fathers
have given in these Respects, saith, Such Things could not be, unless the
Sun had then another Course from what he hath now; or which is more
easy, the Earth another Situation. Which Conjecture will hereafter appear to
have been well grounded. In the mean Time, let us see the Christian Poetry
upon this Subject, as we have seen the Roman upon the other. Alcimus
Avitus hath thus describ’d Paradise in his Notes upon Genesis:

Non hic alterni succedit temporis unquam
Bruma, nec æstivi redeunt post frigora Soles;
Hic Ver assiduum Cæli clementia servat.
Turbidus Auster abest, semperque sub aere sudo
Nubila diffugiunt, jugi cessura sereno.
Nec poscit Natura loci, quos non habet, imbres,
Sed contenta suo dotantur gerrmina rore.
Perpetuo viret omne solum, terræque benignæ
Blanda nitet facies: Stant semper collibus herbæ,
Arboribusque comæ, &c.

No Change of Seasons or Excess was there,
No Winter chill’d, nor Summer scorch’d the Air,
But with a constant Spring, Nature was fresh and fair.
Rough Winds or Rains that Region never knew,
Water’d with Rivers and the Morning Dew;

The Heav’ns still clear, the Fields still green and gay,
No Clouds above, nor on the Earth decay;
Trees kept their Leaves and Verdure all the Year,
And Fruits were never out of Season there.

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

should continue henceforwards so long as the Earth endur’d. Nor do I at all
wonder that such things should not be expresly and positively declar’d in
Scripture; for Natural Mysteries in the Holy Writings, as well as
Prophetical, are many times, on set Purpose, incompleatly deliver’d, so as
to awaken and excite our Thoughts rather than fully resolve them: This
being often more suitable to the Designs of Providence in the Government
of the World. But thus much for this first common or general Character of
the Golden Age, and of Paradise, a perpetual Serenity and perpetual
Equinox.
The second Character is the Longevity of Men, and, as is probable, of all
other Animals in Proportion. This, methinks, is as strange and surprising as
the other, and I know no Difference betwixt the Antediluvian World and the
present, so apt to affect us, if we reflect upon it, as this wonderful
Disproportion in the Ages of Men; our Forefathers and their Posterity: They
liv’d seven, eight, nine hundred Years and upwards, and ’tis a wonder now
if a Man live to one hundred. Our Oaks do not last so long as their Bodies
did; Stone and Iron would scarce outwear them. And this Property of the
first Ages, or their Inhabitants, how strange soever, is well attested, and
beyond all Exception, having the joint Consent of Sacred and Profane
History. The Scripture sets down the precise Age of a Series of Antediluvian
Patriarchs, and by that measures the Time from the beginning of the World
to the Deluge; so as all Sacred Chronology stands upon that bottom. Yet I
know some have thought this so improbable and incongruous a Thing, that
to save the Credit of Moses and the Sacred History, they interpret these
Years of Lunar Years or Months; and so the Ages of these Patriarchs are
reduc’d to much what the same measure with the common Life of Man at
this Time. It may be observ’d in this, as in many other Instances, that for
want of a Theory to make Things credible and intelligible, Men of Wit and
Parts have often deprest the Sense of Scripture; and that not out of any ill
Will to Scripture or Religion, but because they could not otherwise, upon
the Stock of their Notions, give themselves a rational Account of Things
recorded there. But I hope when we come to explain the Causes of this
Longevity, we shall shew that it is altogether as strange a Thing that Men
should have such short Lives as they have now, as that they had such long
Lives in the first Ages of the World. In the mean time there are a great many
collateral Reasons to assure us that Lunar Years cannot be here understood
by Moses, for all Antiquity gives the same Account of those first Ages of

the World, and of the first Men, that they were extreamly long-liv’d. We
meet with it generally in the Description of the Golden Age; and not only
so, but in their Topical Paradises also they always suppos’d a great Vivacity
or Longevity in those that enjoy’d them. And Josephus, speaking upon this
Subject, Book I. C. iv. Jew. Ant. saith, the Authors of all the learned Nations,
Greeks, or Barbarians, bare witness to Moses’s Doctrine in this Particular.
And in the Mosaical History it self, there are several Circumstances and
Marks that discover plainly, that the Years of the Patriarchs cannot be
understood of Lunar Years; as we shall have Occasion to shew in another
Place. We proceed in the mean time to the third and last Character, The
extraordinary Fertility of the Soil, and the Production of Animals out of the
new made Earth.
The first part of this Character is unquestionable; All Antiquity speaks of
the Plenty of the Golden Age, and of their Paradises, whether Christian or
Heathen. The Fruits of the Earth were at first spontaneous, and the Ground,
without being torn and tormented, satisfied the Wants or Desires of Man.
When Nature was fresh and full, all things flow’d from her more easily and
more pure, like the first running of the Grape, or the Honey-comb; but now
she must be prest and squeez’d, and her Productions taste more of the Earth
and of bitterness. The ancient Poets have often pleas’d themselves in
making Descriptions of this happy State, and in admiring the Riches and
Liberality of Nature at that Time; but we need not transcribe their Poetry
here, seeing this Point is not, I think, contested by any. The second Part of
this Character, concerning the spontaneous Origin of living Creatures out of
that first Earth, is not so unquestionable; and as to Man, Moses plainly
implies, that there was a particular Action or Ministry of Providence in the
Formation of his Body; but as to other Animals, he seems to suppose that
the Earth brought them forth as it did Herbs and Plants. (Gen. i. 24.
compar’d with the 11th Verse.) And the Truth is, there is no such great
Difference betwixt Vegetable and Animal Eggs, or betwixt the Seeds out of
which Plants rise, and the Eggs out of which all Animals rise, but that we
may conceive the one as well as the other in the first Earth; And as some
Warmth and Influence from the Sun is required for the Vegetation of Seeds,
so that Influence or Impregnation, which is necessary to make Animal Eggs
fruitful, was imputed by the Ancients to the Æther, or to an active and pure
Element which had the same Effect upon our great Mother the Earth, as the
Irradiation of the Male hath upon the Female’s Eggs.

Tum Pater Omnipotens fœcundus imbribus Æther
Conjugis in gremium lætæ descendit.

In fruitful Showers of Æther Jove did glide
Into the Bosom of his joyful Bride.

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

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

Chap. II.

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

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

often impure or infectious, and, for a great Part of the Year, Nature her self
seems to be sick or dead. To this Vanity the external Creation is made
subject as well as Mankind, and so must continue till the Restitution of all
Things.
Can we imagine, in those happy Times and Places we are treating of, that
Things stood in this same Posture? Are these the Fruits of the golden Age
and of Paradise, or consistent with their Happiness? And the Remedies of
these Evils must be so universal, you cannot give them to one Place or
Region of the Earth, but all must participate: For these are Things that flow
from the Course of the Heavens, or such general Causes, as extend at once
to all Nature. If there was a perpetual Spring and perpetual Equinox in
Paradise, there was at the same Time a perpetual Equinox all the Earth
over; unless you place Paradise in the middle of the Torrid Zone. So also
the long Lives of the Antediluvians was an universal Effect, and must have
had an universal Cause. ’Tis true, in some single Parts or Regions of the
present Earth, the Inhabitants live generally longer than in others, but do not
approach in any Measure the Age of their antediluvian Fore-fathers; and
that degree of Longevity which they have above the rest, they owe to the
Calmness and Tranquillity of their Heavens and Air; which is but an
imperfect Participation of that Cause which was once universal, and had its
Effect throughout the whole Earth. And as to the Fertility of this Earth,
though in some Spots it be eminently more fruitful than in others, and more
delicious; yet that of the first Earth was a Fertility of another kind, being
spontaneous, and extending to the Production of Animals, which cannot be
without a favourable Concourse from the Heavens also.
Thus much in general; we will now go over those three fore-mention’d
Characters more distinctly, to shew, by their Unsuitableness to the present
State of Nature, that neither the whole Earth, as it is now, nor any Part of it,
could be Paradisiacal. The perpetual Spring, which belong’d to the golden
Age, and to Paradise, is an Happiness this present Earth cannot pretend to,
nor is capable of, unless we could transfer the Sun from the Ecliptick to the
Equator, or, which is as easy, persuade the Earth to change its Posture to the
Sun. If Archimedes had found a Place to plant his Machines in for removing
of the Earth, all that I should have desir’d of him, would have been only to
have given it an Heave at one End, and set it a little to rights again with the
Sun, that we might have enjoy’d the Comfort of a perpetual Spring, which

we have lost by its Dislocation ever since the Deluge. And there being
nothing more indispensably necessary to a Paradisiacal State than this
Unity and equality of Seasons, where that cannot be, ’tis in vain to seek for
the rest of Paradise.
The spontaneous Fruitfulness of the Ground was a thing peculiar to the
Primigenial Soil, which was so temper’d, as made it more Luxuriant at that
time than it could ever be afterwards; and as that rich Temperament was
spent, so by degrees it grew less fertile. The Origin or Production of
Animals out of the Earth depended not only upon this vital Constitution of
the Soil at first, but also upon such a Posture and Aspect of the Heavens, as
favour’d, or at least permitted Nature, to make her best Works out of this
prepar’d Matter, and better than could be made in that manner after the
Flood. Noah, we see, had Orders given him to preserve the Races of living
Creatures in his Ark, when the old World was destroy’d; which is an
Argument to me, that Providence foresaw that the Earth would not be
capable to produce them under its new Form; and that, not only for want of
Fitness in the Soil, but because of the Diversity of Seasons which were then
to take place, whereby Nature would be disturb’d in her Work, and the
Subject to be wrought upon would not continue long enough in the same
due Temper. But this Part of the second Character, concerning the Original
of Animals, deserves to be further examin’d and explain’d.
The first Principles of Life must be tender and ductile, that they may yield
to all the Motions and gentle Touches of Nature; otherwise it is not possible,
that they should be wrought with that Curiosity, and drawn into all those
little fine Threads and Textures, that we see and admire in some parts of the
Bodies of Animals. And as the Matter must be so constituted at first, so it
must be kept in a due Temper till the Work be finish’d, without any Excess
of Heat or Cold; and accordingly we see that Nature hath made Provision in
all sorts of Creatures whether Oviparous or Viviparous, that the first
Rudiments of Life should be preserv’d from all Injuries of the Air, and kept
in a moderate Warmth. Eggs are enclos’d in a Shell, or Film, and must be
cherished with an equal gentle heat, to begin Formation and continue it,
otherwise the Work miscarries: And in Viviparous Creatures, the Materials
of Life are safely lodg’d in the Female’s Womb, and conserv’d in a fit
Temperature ’twixt heat and cold, while the Causes that Providence hath

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

seeing in this Space of Time they must have suffer’d, upon the common
Hypothesis, all Vicissitudes and Variety of Seasons, and great Excesses of
Heat and Cold, which are Things incompatible with the tender Principles of
Life, and the Formation of living Creatures, as we have shewn before; we
may reasonably and safely conclude, that Nature had not, when the World
began, the same Course she hath now, or that the Earth was not then in its
present Posture and Constitution: Seeing, I say, these first spontaneous
Births, which both the Holy Writ, Reason and Antiquity seem to allow,
could not be finish’d and brought to Maturity, nor afterwards preserv’d and
nourish’d, upon any other Supposition.
Longevity is the last Character to be consider’d, and as inconsistent with
the present State of the Earth as any other. There are many Things in the
Story of the first Ages that seem strange, but nothing so prodigy-like as the
long Lives of those Men; that their Houses of Clay should stand eight or
nine hundred Years and upwards, and those we build of the hardest Stone,
or Marble, will not now last so long. This hath excited the Curiosity of
ingenious and learned Men in all Ages, to enquire after the possible Causes
of that Longevity; and if it had been always in Conjunction with Innocency
of Life and Manners, and expir’d when that expir’d, we might have thought
it some peculiar Blessing or Reward attending that; but it was common to
good and bad, and lasted till the Deluge, whereas Mankind was degenerate
long before. Amongst Natural Causes, some have imputed it to the Sobriety
and Simplicity of their Diet and manner of Living in those Days, that they
eat no Flesh, and had not all those Provocations to Gluttony, which Wit and
Vice have since invented. This might have some Effect, but not possibly to
that Degree and Measure that we speak of. There are many Monastical
Persons now, that live Abstemiously all their Lives, and yet they think an
hundred Years a very great Age amongst them. Others have imputed it to
the Excellency of their Fruits, and some unknown Virtue in their Herbs and
Plants in those Days; but they may as well say nothing, as say that which
can neither be prov’d nor understood. It could not be either the Quantity or
Quality of their food that was the Cause of their long Lives, for the Earth
was said to be curst long before the Deluge, and probably by that time was
more barren and juiceless (for the generality) than ours is now; yet we do
not see that their Longevity decreas’d at all, from the Beginning of the
World to the Flood. Methusalah was Noah’s Grandfather but one intire
Remove from the Deluge, and he liv’d longer than any of his Fore-fathers.

That Food that will nourish the Parts, and keep us in Health, is also capable
to keep us in long Life, if there be no Impediments otherwise; for to
continue Health is to continue Life; as that Fewel that is fit to raise and
nourish a Flame, will preserve it as long as you please, if you add fresh
Fewel, and no external Causes hinder: Neither do we observe that in those
Parts of the present Earth, where People live longer than in others, that there
is any thing extraordinary in their Food; but that the Difference is chiefly
from the Air and the Temperateness of the Heavens; And if the
Antediluvians had not enjoy’d that Advantage in a peculiar manner, and
differently from what any Parts of the Earth do now, they would never have
seen seven, eight, or nine hundred Years go over their Heads, though they
had been nourish’d with Nectar and Ambrosia.
Others have thought that the long Lives of those Men of the old World
proceeded from the Strength of their Stamina, or first Principles of their
Bodies; which if they were now as strong in us, they think we should still
live as long as they did. This could not be the sole and adequate Cause of
their Longevity, as will appear both from History and Reason. Shem, who
was born before the Flood, and had in his Body all the Virtue of the
antediluvian Stamina and Constitution, fell three hundred Years short of the
Age of his Fore-fathers, because the greatest part of his Life was past after
the Flood. That their Stamina were stronger than ours are, I am very ready
to believe, and that their Bodies were greater; and any Race of strong Men,
living long in Health, would have Children of a proportionable strong
Constitution with themselves; but then the Question is, how was this
interrupted? We that are their Posterity, why do not we inherit their long
Lives? How was this Constitution broken at the Deluge, and how did the
Stamina fail so fast when that came? Why was there so great a Crisis then
and Turn of Life, or why was that the Period of their Strength?
We see this Longevity sunk half in half immediately after the Flood, and
after that it sunk by gentler degrees, but was still in Motion and Declension
till it was fixt at length before David’s time, Psal. xc. 10. (call’d a Psalm of
Moses,) in that which hath been the common Standard of Man’s Age ever
since: As when some excellent Fruit is transplanted into a worse Climate
and Soil, it degenerates continually till it comes to such a degree of
Meanness as suits that Air and Soil, and then it stands. That the Age of Man
did not fall all on a sudden from the Antediluvian Measure to the present, I

impute it to the remaining Stamina of those first Ages, and the Strength of
that pristine Constitution which could not wear off but by degrees. We see
the Blacks do not quit their Complexion immediately, by removing into
another Climate, but their Posterity changeth by little and little, and after
some Generations they become altogether like the People of the Country
where they are. Thus by the Change of Nature that happen’d at the Flood,
the unhappy Influence of the Air and unequal Seasons, weaken’d by
degrees the innate Strength of their Bodies, and the Vigour of their Parts,
which would have been capable to have lasted several more hundreds of
Years, if the Heavens had continued their Course as formerly, or the Earth
its Position. To conclude this particular, if any think that the Antediluvian
Longevity proceeded only from the Stamina, or the meer Strength of their
Bodies, and would have been so under any Constitution of the Heavens, let
’em resolve themselves these Questions: First, Why these Stamina, or this
Strength of Constitution fail’d? Secondly, Why did it fail so much and so
remarkably at the Deluge? Thirdly, Why in such Proportions as it hath done
since the Deluge? And lastly, Why it hath stood so long immovable, and
without any further Diminution? Within the compass of five hundred Years
they sunk from nine hundred to ninety; and in the compass of more than
three thousand Years since, they have not sunk ten Years, or scarce any
thing at all. Who considers the Reasons of these Things, and the true
Resolution of these Questions, will be satisfied, that to understand the
Causes of that Longevity, something more must be consider’d than the
Make and Strength of their Bodies; which though they had been made as
strong as the Behemoth or Leviathan, could not have lasted so many Ages,
if there had not been a particular Concurrence of external Causes, such as
the present State of Nature doth not admit of.
By this short Review of the three general Characters of Paradise and the
Golden Age, we may conclude how little consistent they are with the
present Form and Order of the Earth. Who can pretend to assign any Place
or Region in this terraqueous Globe, Island or Continent, that is capable of
these Conditions, or that agrees either with the Descriptions given by the
ancient Heathens of their Paradises, or by the Christian Fathers of Scripture
Paradise? But where then, will you say, must we look for it, if not upon this
Earth? This puts us more into Despair of finding it than ever; ’tis not above
nor below, in the Air or in the subterraneous Regions; No, doubtless ’twas
upon the Surface of the Earth, but of the Primitive Earth, whose Form and

Properties, as they were different from this, so they were such as made it
capable of being truly Paradisiacal, both according to the forementioned
Characters, and all other Qualities, and Privileges reasonably ascrib’d to
Paradise.

Chap. III.

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

We have hitherto only perplex’d the Argument and our selves, by shewing
how inexplicable the State of Paradise is, according to the present Order of
Things, and the present Condition of the Earth. We must now therefore
bring into View that Original and Antediluvian Earth, where we pretend its
Seat was, and shew it capable of all those Privileges which we have deny’d
to the present; in virtue of which Privileges, and of the order of Nature
establish’d there, that Primitive Earth might be truly Paradisiacal, as in the
Golden Age; and some Region of it might be peculiarly so, according to the
receiv’d Idea of Paradise. And this, I think, is all the Knowledge and
Satisfaction that we can expect, or that Providence hath allow’d us in this
Argument.
The Primigenial Earth, which in the first Book (Chap. 5.) we rais’d from a
Chaos, and set up in an habitable Form, we must now survey again with
more Care, to observe its principal Differences from the present Earth, and
what Influence they will have upon the Question in Hand. These
Differences, as we have said before, were chiefly three; the Form of it,
which was smooth, even, and regular; the Posture and Situation of it to the
Sun, which was direct, and not as it is at present, inclin’d and oblique; and
the Figure of it, which was more apparently and regularly Oval than it is
now. From these three Differences flow’d a great many more, inferior and
subordinate; and which had a considerable Influence upon the moral World
at that Time, as well as the natural. But we will only observe here, their
more immediate Effects, and that in reference to those general Characters or

Properties of the Golden Age and of Paradise, which we have instanc’d in,
and whereof we are bound to give an Account by our Hypothesis.
And in this respect the most Fundamental of those three Differences we
mentioned, was that of the right Posture and Situation of the Earth to the
Sun; for from this immediately follow’d a perpetual Æquinox all the Earth
over, or, if you will, a perpetual Spring: And that was the great Thing we
found wanting in the present Earth to make it Paradisiacal, or capable of
being so. Wherefore this being now found and establish’d in the Primitive
Earth, the other two Properties of Longevity, and of spontaneous and vital
Fertility, will be of more easy Explication. In the mean Time let us view a
little the Reasons and Causes of that regular Situation in the first Earth.
The Truth is, one cannot so well require a Reason of the regular Situation
the Earth had then, for that was most simple and natural; as of the irregular
Situation it hath now, standing oblique and inclin’d to the Sun or the
Ecliptick: Whereby the Course of the Year is become unequal, and we are
cast into a great Diversity of Seasons. But however, stating the first aright
with its Circumstances, we shall have a better Prospect upon the second,
and see from what Causes, and in what Manner, it came to pass. Let us
therefore suppose the Earth, with the rest of its fellow Planets, to be carried
about the Sun in the Ecliptick, by the Motion of the liquid Heavens; and
being at that time perfectly uniform and regular, having the same Center of
its Magnitude and Gravity, it would by the Equality of its Libration
necessarily have its Axis parallel to the Axis of the same Ecliptick, both its
Poles being equally inclin’d to the Sun. And this Posture I call a right
Situation, as oppos’d to oblique or inclin’d; or a parallel Situation, if you
please. Now this is a Thing that needs no Proof besides its own Evidence;
for ’tis the immediate result and common Effect of Gravity or Libration,
that a Body, freely left to it self in a fluid Medium, should settle in such a
Posture as best answers to its Gravitation; and this first Earth whereof we
speak, being uniform, and every way equally balanced, there was no
Reason why it should incline at one End, more than at the other, towards the
Sun. As if you should suppose a Ship to stand North and South under the
Equator, if it was equally built and equally ballasted, it would not incline to
one Pole or other, but keep its Axis parallel to the Axis of the Earth; but if
the Ballast lay more at one End, it would dip towards that Pole, and rise
proportionably higher towards the other. So those great Ships that sail about

the Sun once a Year, or once in so many Years, whilst they are uniformly
built and equally pois’d, they keep steady and even with the Axis of their
Orbit; but if they lose that Equality, and the Center of their Gravity change,
the heavier End will incline more towards the common Center of their
Motion, and the other End will recede from it. So particularly the Earth,
which makes one in that Aëry Fleet, when it scap’d so narrowly from being
Shipwreckt in the great Deluge, was however so broken and disorder’d, that
it lost its equal Poise, and thereupon the Center of its Gravity changing, one
Pole became more inclin’d towards the Sun, and the other more remov’d
from it, and so its right and parallel Situation which it had before, to the
Axis of the Ecliptick, was chang’d into an Oblique; in which skew Posture
it hath stood ever since, and is likely so to do for some Ages to come. I
instance in this, as the most obvious Cause of the Change of the Situation of
the Earth, though, it may be, upon this followed a Change in its Magnetism,
and that might also contribute to the same Effect.
However, this Change and Obliquity of the Earth’s Posture had a long train
of Consequences depending upon it; whereof that was the most immediate,
that it alter’d the Form of the Year, and brought in that Inequality of
Seasons, which hath since obtain’d: As, on the contrary, while the Earth was
in its first and natural Posture, in a more easy and regular Disposition to the
Sun, that had also another respective train of Consequences, whereof one of
the first, and that which we are most concern’d in at present, was, that it
made a perpetual Equinox or Spring to all the World, all the Parts of the
Year had one and the same Tenor, Face and Temper; there was no Winter or
Summer, Seed-Time or Harvest, but a continual Temperature of the Air and
Verdure of the Earth. And this fully answers the first and fundamental
Character of the Golden Age and of Paradise; and what Antiquity, whether
Heathen or Christian, hath spoken concerning that perpetual Serenity and
constant Spring that reign’d there, which in the one was accounted
Fabulous, and in the other Hyperbolical, we see to have been really and
philosophically true. Nor is there any Wonder in the Thing, the wonder is
rather on our side, that the Earth should stand and continue in that forc’d
Posture wherein it is now, spinning Yearly about an Axis, I mean that of the
Equator, that doth not belong to the Orbit of its Motion; This, I say, is more
strange than that it once stood in a Posture that was streight and regular; as
we more justly admire the Tower at Pisa, that stands crook’d, than twenty
other streight Towers that are much higher.

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

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

Tum pater omnipotens fœcundis imbribus Æther
Conjugis in gremium lætæ descendit; & omnes
Magnus alit magno commixtus corpore fœtus.

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

Parts are loosen’d, and dispos’d for that Formation which is to follow
afterwards. And I see nothing that hinders, but that we may reasonably
suppose that these Animal Productions might proceed thus far in the
Primigenial Earth. And as to their Progress and the Formation of the Body,
by what Agents or Principles soever that great Work is carried on in the
Womb of the Female, it might by the same be carried on there. Neither
would there be any Danger of miscarrying by Excess of Heat or Cold, for
the Air was always of an equal Temper and moderate Warmth; and all other
Impediments were remov’d, and all Principles ready, whether active or
passive; so as we may justly conclude, that as Eve was the Mother of all
living, as to Mankind, so was the Earth the Great Mother of all living
Creatures besides.
The third Character to be explain’d, and the most extraordinary in
Appearance, is that of Longevity. This sprung from the same Root in my
Opinion, with the other; though the Connexion, it may be, is not so visible.
We shew’d in the foregoing Chapter, that no Advantage of Diet, or of strong
Constitutions, could have carried their Lives, before the Flood, to that
wonderful Length, if they had been exposed to the same Changes of Air and
of Seasons that our Bodies are: But taking a perpetual Equinox, and fixing
the Heavens, you fix the Life of Man too; which was not then in such a
rapid Flux as it is now, but seem’d to stand still as the Sun did once without
Declension. There is no Question but every thing upon Earth, and especially
the Animate World, would be much more permanent, if the general Course
of Nature was more steady and uniform; a Stability in the Heavens makes a
Stability in all Things below; and that Change and Contrariety of Qualities
that we have in these Regions, is the Fountain of Corruption, and suffers
nothing to be long in quiet: Either by intestine Motions and Fermentations
excited within, or by outward Impressions, Bodies are no sooner well
constituted, but they are tending again to Dissolution. The Æther in their
little Pores and Chinks is unequally agitated, and differently mov’d at
different Times, and so is the Air in their greater, and the Vapours and
Atmosphere round about them: All these shake and unsettle both the
Texture and Continuity of Bodies. Whereas in a fix’d State of Nature, where
these Principles have always the same constant and uniform Motion, when
they are once suited to the Forms and Compositions of Bodies, they give
them no further Disturbance; they enjoy a long and lasting Peace, without
any Commotions or Violence within or without.

We find our selves sensible Changes in our Bodies upon the Turn of the
Year, and the Change of Seasons; new Fermentations in the Blood and
Resolutions of the Humours; which if they do not amount to Diseases, at
least they disturb Nature, and have a bad Effect, not only upon the fluid
Parts, but also upon the more solid, upon the Springs and Fibres in the
Organs of the Body, to weaken them and unfit them by degrees for their
respective Functions. For though the Change is not sensible immediately in
these Parts, yet after many repeated Impressions every Year, by unequal
Heat and Cold, Driness and Moisture, contracting and relaxing the Fibres,
their Tone at length is in a great Measure destroy’d, and brought to a
manifest Debility; and the great Springs falling, the lesser, that depend upon
them, fall in Proportion, and all the Symptoms of Decay and old Age
follow. We see by daily Experience, that Bodies are kept better in the same
Medium, as we call it, than if they often change their Medium, as sometimes
in Air, sometimes in Water, moistned and dry’d, heated and cool’d; these
different states weaken the Contexture of the Parts: But our Bodies, in the
present State of Nature, are put into an hundred different Mediums in the
Course of a Year; sometimes we are steep’d in Water, or in a misty foggy
Air, for several Days together; sometimes we are almost frozen with Cold,
then fainting with Heat at another time of the Year; and the Winds are of a
different Nature, and the Air of a different Weight and Pressure, according
to the Weather and the Seasons: These Things would wear our Bodies, tho’
they were built of Oak, and that in a very short Time, in Comparison of
what they would last, if they were always encompass’d with one and the
same Medium, under one and the same Temper, as it was in the Primitive
Earth.
The Ancients seem to have been sensible of this, and of the true Causes of
those long Periods of Life; for wheresoever they assign’d a great Longevity,
as they did not only to their golden Age, but also to their particular and
topical Paradises, they also assign’d there a constant Serenity and Equality
of the Heavens, and sometimes expresly a constant Equinox; as might be
made appear from their Authors. And some of our christian Authors have
gone farther, and connected these two together, as Cause and Effect, for
they say that the Longevity of the Antediluvian Patriarchs proceeded from a
favourable Aspect and Influence of the Heavens at that Time; which Aspect
of the Heavens, being rightly interpreted, is the same thing that we call the
position of the Heavens, or the right Situation of the Sun and the Earth,

from whence came a perpetual Equinox. And if we consider the present
Earth, I know no Place where they live longer than in that little Island of the
Bermudas, where, according to the Proportion of Time they hold out there,
after they are arriv’d from other Parts, one may reasonably suppose, that the
Natives would live two hundred Years, and there’s nothing appears in that
Island that should give long Life above other Places, but the extraordinary
Steadiness of the Weather, and of the Temper of the Air throughout the
whole Year, so as there is scarce any considerable Difference of Seasons.
But because it would take up too much Time to shew in this Place the full
and just Reasons why, and how these long Periods of Life depend upon the
Stability of the Heavens: And how on the contrary, from their Inconstancy
and Mutability these Periods are shorten’d, as in the present Order of
Nature; we will set apart the next Chapter to treat upon that Subject; yet by
way of Digression only, so as those that have a mind may pass to the
following, where the Thread of this Discourse is continued. In the mean
Time you see, we have prepar’d an Earth for Paradise, and given a fair and
intelligible Account of those three general Characters, which, according to
the Rules of Method, must be determin’d before any further Progress can be
made in this Argument. For in the Doctrine of Paradise there are two things
to be consider’d, the State of it and the Place of it; And as it is first in Order
of Nature, so it is much more material, to find out the State of it, than the
Region where it stood. We need not follow the Windings of Rivers, and the
Interpretation of hard Names, to discover this, we take more faithful
Guides: The unanimous Reports of Antiquity, sacred and profane, supported
by a regular Theory. Upon these Grounds we go, and have thus far
proceeded on our way; which we hope will grow more easy and pleasant,
the nearer we come to our Journey’s End.

Chap. IV.

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

To confirm our Opinion concerning the Reasons of Longevity in the first
Inhabitants of the World, it will not be amiss to deduce more at large the
natural Causes of long, or short Periods of Life. And when we speak of long
or short Periods of Life, we do not mean those little Differences of ten,
twenty, or forty Years, which we see amongst Men now-a-days, according
as they are of stronger or weaker Constitutions, and govern themselves
better or worse; but those grand and famous Differences of several
hundreds of Years, which we have Examples of in the different Ages of the
World, and particularly in those that liv’d before and since the Flood.
Neither do we think it peculiar to this Earth to have such an Inequality in
the Lives of Men; but the other Planets, if they be inhabited, have the same
Property, and the same Difference in their different Periods: All Planets that
are in their Antediluvian State, and in their first and regular Situation to the
Sun, have long-liv’d Inhabitants; and those, that are in an oblique Situation,
have short-liv’d; unless there be some counter Causes that hinder this
general Rule of Nature from taking Place.
We are now so us’d to a short Life, and to drop away after threescore or
fourscore Years, that when we compare our Lives with those of the
Antediluvians, we think the Wonder lies wholly on their Side, why they
liv’d so long; And so it doth popularly speaking; but if we speak
Philosophically, the Wonder lies rather on our side, why we live so little, or
so short a Time? For seeing our Bodies are such Machines as have a Faculty
of nourishing themselves, that is, of repairing their lost or decay’d Parts, so
long as they have good Nourishment to make Use of, why should they not

continue in good Plight, and always the same, as a Flame does, so long as it
is supplied with Fewel? And that we may the better see on whether side the
Wonder lies, and from what Causes it proceeds, we will propose this
Problem to be examin’d, Why the Frame or Machine of an human Body, or
of another Animal, having that Constriction of Parts, and those Faculties
which it hath, lasts so short a Time? And tho’ it fall into no Disease, nor
have any unnatural Accident, within the Space of eighty Years, more or less,
fatally and inevitably, decays, dies, and perisheth.
That the State and Difficulty of this Question may the better appear, let us
consider a Man in the Prime and Vigour of his Life, at the Age of twenty or
twenty four Years, of an healthful Constitution, and all his Vitals sound; let
him be nourished with good Food, use due Exercise, and govern himself
with Moderation in all other Things; the Question is, Why this Body should
not continue in the same Plight, and in the same Strength, for some Ages?
or at least, why it should decay so soon and so fall as we see it does? We do
not wonder at Things that happen daily, though the Causes of them be never
so hard to find out; we contrast a certain Familiarity with common Events,
and fancy we know as much of them as can be known, though in Reality we
know nothing of them, but Matter of Fact; which the vulgar know as well as
the Wise or the Learned. We see daily Instances of the shortness of Man’s
Life, how soon his Race is run, and we do not wonder at it, because it is
common; yet if we examine the Composition of the Body, it will be very
hard to find any good Reasons why the Frame of it should decay so soon.
I know ’tis easy to give general and superficial Answers and Accounts of
these Things; but they are such, as being strictly examin’d, give no
Satisfaction to an inquisitive Mind; You would say, it may be, that the
Interiour Parts and Organs of the Body wear and decay by Degrees, so as
not performing so well their several Offices and Functions, for the
Digestion and Distribution of the Food and its Juices, all the other Parts
suffer by it, and draws on insensibly a Decay upon the whole Frame of the
Body. This is all true; but why, and how comes this to pass? From what
Causes? Where is the first Failure, and what are the Consequences of it?
The inward parts do not destroy themselves, and we suppose that there is no
want of good Food, nor any Disease, and we take the Body in its full
Strength and Vigour, why doth it not continue thus, as a Lamp does, if you
supply it with Oil? The Causes being the same, why doth not the same

Effect still follow? Why should not the Flame of Life, as well as any other
Flame, if you give it Fewel, continue in its Force without Languishing or
Decay.
You will say, it may be, the Case is not the same in a simple Body, such as a
Lamp or a Fire, and in an organical Body; which being variously
compounded of Multiplicity of Parts, and all those Parts put in Connexion
and Dependance one upon another, if any one fail, it will disorder the whole
Frame; and therefore it must needs be more difficult for such a Body to
continue long in the same State, than for a simple Body, that hath no Variety
of Parts or Operations. I acknowledge such a Body is much more subject to
Diseases and Accidents than a more simple; but barring all Diseases and
Accidents, as we do, it might be of as long a Duration as any other, if it was
supply’d 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 these Oils could be all mix’d together in
some common Cistern, whence they were to be distributed into the several
Branches, either according to their different Degrees of Lightness, one
rising higher than another; or according to the Capacity and Figure of the
little Pipes they were to pass thro’; such a compounded Lamp, made up of
such Artifices, would indeed be more subject to Accidents and to be out of
Order, by the Obstruction of some of the little Pipes, or some unfit Qualities
in the Oils; but all these Casualties and Disorders excepted, as they are in
our Case, if it was supply’d with convenient Liquors, it would burn as long
as any other, tho’ more plain and simple.
To instance yet, for more Plainness, in another sort of Machine; suppose a
Mill, where the Water may represent the Nourishment and Humours in our
Body, and the Frame of Wood and Stone, the solid Parts; if we could
suppose this Mill to have a Power of nourishing itself by the Water it
receiv’d, and of repairing all the Parts that were worn away, whether of the
Wood-work or of the Stone, feed it but with a constant Stream, and it would
subsist and grind for ever. And ’tis the same Thing for all other artificial
Machines of this Nature, if they had a Faculty of nourishing themselves,
and repairing their Parts. And seeing those natural Machines we are
speaking of, the Body of Man, and of other Animals, have and enjoy this
Faculty, why should they not be able to preserve themselves beyond that
short Period of Time, which is now the Measure of their Life?

Thus much we have said, to shew the Difficulty propos’d, and inforce it; we
must now consider the true Answer and Resolution of it; and to that purpose
bring into View again those Causes which we have assign’d, both of the
long Periods of Life before the Flood, and of the short ones since. That
there was a perpetual Equinox and Stability of the Heavens before the
Flood, we have shew’d both from History and Reason; neither was there
then any thing of Clouds, Rains, Winds, Storms, or unequal Weather, as will
appear in the following Chapter; and to this Steadiness of Nature, and
universal Calmness of the external World, we have imputed those long
Periods of Life which Men enjoy’d at that Time: As on the contrary, when
that great Change and Revolution happened to Nature at the Deluge, and the
Heavens and the Earth were cast in another Mould, then was brought in,
besides many other new Scenes, that Shortness and Vanity in the Life of
Man, and a general Instability in all sublunary Things, but especially in the
animate World.
It is not necessary to shew more than we have done already, how that
primitive State of Nature contributed to long Life; neither is it requir’d that
it should actively contribute, but only be permissive, and suffer our Bodies
to act their Parts; for if they be not disturb’d, nor any Harm done them by
external Nature, they are built with Art and Strength enough to last many
hundreds of Years. And, as we observ’d before, concerning the Posture of
the Earth, that that which it had at first, being simple and regular, was not so
much to be accounted for, as its present Posture, which is irregular; so
likewise for the Life of Man, the Difficulty is not why they liv’d so long in
the old World; that was their due and proper Course; but why our Bodies,
being made after the same manner, should endure so short a Time now. This
is it therefore, which we must now make our Business to give an Account
of, namely, how that Vicissitude of Seasons, Inconstancy of the Air, and
unequal Course of Nature, which came in at the Deluge, do shorten Life;
and indeed hasten the Dissolution of all Bodies, animate or inanimate.
In our Bodies we may consider three several Qualities or Dispositions, and
according to each whereof they suffer Decay: First, Their Continuity;
Secondly, That Disposition whereby they are capable of receiving
Nourishment, which we may call Nutribility; and Thirdly, The Tone or
tonick Disposition of the Organs, whereby they perform their several
Functions. In all these three respects they would decay in any State of

Nature, but far sooner and faster in the present State, than in the Primæval.
As for their Continuity, we have noted before that all consistent Bodies
must be less durable now, than under that first Order of the World, because
of the unequal and contrary Motions of the Elements, or of the Air and
Æther that penetrate and pervade them; and ’tis Part of that Vanity which all
Things now are subject to, to be more perishable than in their first
Constitution. If we should consider our Bodies only as breathing Statues,
consisting of those Parts they do, and of that Tenderness, the Air which we
breathe, and wherewith we are continually incompast, changing so often
’twixt moist and dry, hot and cold, a slow and eager Motion, these different
Actions and restless Changes would sooner weaken and destroy the Union
of the Parts, than if they were always in a calm and quiet Medium.
But it is not the gross and visible Continuity of the Parts of our Body that
first decays; there are finer Textures that are spoil’d insensibly, and draw on
the Decay of the rest; such are those other two we mention’d; that
Disposition and Temper of the Parts whereby they are fit to receive their
full Nourishment; and especially that Construction and Texture of the
Organs that are preparatory to this Nutrition. The Nutribility of the Body
depends upon a certain Temperament in the Parts, soft and yielding, which
makes them open to the Blood and Juices in their Circulation and Passage
thro’ them, and mixing intimately and universally, hold fast and retain many
of their Particles; as muddy Earth doth the Parts of the Water that runs into
it and mixeth with it: And when these nutritious Particles retain’d are more
than the Body spends, that Body is in its Growth; as when they are fewer,
’tis in its Decay. And as we compar’d the Flesh and tender Parts, when they
are young, and in a growing Disposition, to a muddy Soil, that opens to the
Water, swells and incorporates with it; so when they become hard and dry,
they are like a sandy Earth, that suffers the Water to glide through it,
without incorporating or retaining many of its Parts; and the sooner they
come to this Temper, the sooner follows their Decay: For the same Causes,
that set Limits to our Growth, set also Limits to our Life; and he that can
resolve that Question, why the Time of our Growth is so short, will also be
able to resolve the other in a good Measure, why the Time of our Life is so
short. In both Cases, that which stops our Progress is external Nature,
whose Course, while it was even and steady, and the ambient Air mild and
balmy, preserv’d the Body much longer in a fresh and fit Temper to receive

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

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

of external Nature. We determin’d before, that the Force and Action of all
Organs in the Body was tonical, and of none more remarkably than of these
two, the Heart and Stomach; for though it be not clearly determined what
the particular Structure of these Organs, or of their Fibres is, that makes
them tonical, yet ’tis manifest by their Actions, that they are so. In the
Stomach, besides a peculiar Ferment that opens and dissolves the Parts of
the Meat, and melts them into a Fluor or Pulp; the Coats of it, or Fibres
whereof they consist, have a Motion proper to them, proceeding from their
Tone, whereby they close the Stomach, and compress the Meat when it is
receiv’d, and when turn’d into Chyle, press it forwards, and squeeze it into
the Intestines; and the Intestines also partaking of the same Motion, push
and work it still forwards into those little Veins that convey it towards the
Heart. The Heart hath the same general Motions with the Stomach, of
opening and shutting, and hath also a peculiar Ferment, which rarifies the
Blood that enters into it; and that Blood, by the Spring of the Heart, and the
particular Texture of its Fibres, is thrown out again to make its Circulation
thro’ the Body. This is, in short, the Action of both these Organs; and indeed
the Mystery of the Body of an Animal, and of its Operations and
Oeconomy, consists chiefly in Springs and Ferments; the one for the solid
Parts, the other in the fluid.
But to apply this Fabrick of the organick Parts to our Purpose, we may
observe and conclude, that whatsoever weakens the Tone or Spring of these
two Organs, which are the Bases of all Vitality, weaken the Principle of
Life, and shorten the natural Duration of it; and if of two Orders or Courses
of Nature, the one be favourable and easy to these tonick Principles in the
Body, and the other uneasy and prejudicial, that Course of Nature will be
attended with long Periods of Life, and this with short. And we have shewn,
that in the Primitive Earth the Course of Nature was even, steady, and
unchangeable, without either different Qualities of the Air, or unequal
Seasons of the Year, which must needs be more easy to these Principles we
speak of, and permit them to continue longer in their Strength and Vigor,
than they can possibly do under all those Changes of the Air, of the
Atmosphere, and of the Heavens, which we now suffer yearly, monthly, and
daily. And tho’ sacred History had not acquainted us with the Longevity of
the Antediluvian Patriarchs, nor profane History with those of the Golden-
Age, I should have concluded from the Theory alone, and the
Contemplation of that State of Nature, that the Forms of all Things were

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

in, for those were springless Machines, that act only by some external
Cause, and not in Virtue of any Tone or interior Temper of the Parts, as our
Bodies do; and when that Tone or Temper is destroy’d, no Nourishment can
repair it. There is something, I say, irreparable in the tonical Disposition of
Matter, which when wholly lost cannot be restor’d by Nutrition. Nutrition
may answer to a bare Consumption of Parts; but where the Parts are to be
preserv’d in such a Temperament, or in such a Degree of Humidity and
Driness, Warmth, Rarity or Density, to make them capable of that
Nourishment, as well as of their other Operations, as Organs, (which is the
Case of our Bodies) there the Heavens, the Air, and external Causes will
change the Qualities of the Matter in spite of all Nutrition; and the Qualities
of the Matter being chang’d, (in a Course of Nature, where the Cause
cannot be taken away) that is a Fault incorrigible, and irreparable by the
Nourishment that follows, being hindred of its Effect by the Indisposition or
Incapacity of the Recipient. And as they say, a Fault in the first Concoction
cannot be corrected in the second; so neither can a Fault in the Prerequisites
to all the Concoctions be corrected by any of them.
I know the Ancients made the Decay and Term of Life to depend rather
upon the Humours of the Body, than the solid Parts, and suppos’d an
Humidum radicale and a Calidum innatum, as they call them, a radical
Moisture and congenit Heat to be in every Body, from its Birth and first
Formation; and as these decay’d, Life decay’d. But who’s wiser for this
Account, what doth this instruct us in? We know there is Heat and Moisture
in the Body, and you may call the one Radical, and the other Innate if you
please; this is but a sort of Cant, for we know no more of the real physical
Causes of that Effect we enquir’d into, than we did before. What makes this
Heat and Moisture fail, if the Nourishment be good, and all the Organs in
their due Strength and Temper? The first and original Failure is not in the
Fluid, but in the solid Parts, which if they continued the same, the Humours
would do so too. Besides, What befel this radical Moisture and Heat at the
Deluge, that it should decay so fast afterwards, and last so long before?
There is a certain Temper, no doubt, of the Juices and Humours of the Body,
which is more fit than any other to conserve the Parts from Driness and
Decay; but the Cause of that Driness and Decay, or other Inability in the
solid Parts, whence is that, if not from external Nature? ’Tis thither we must
come at length in our Search of the Reasons of the natural Decay of our

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

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

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

But as this Opinion is inconsistent with Nature, truly understood, so is it
also with common History; for besides, what I have already mention’d in
the first Chapter of this Book, Josephus tells us, (Lib. i. Jew. Ant. Chap. iv.)
that the Historians of all Nations, both Greeks and Barbarians, give the
same account of the first Inhabitants of the Earth; Manetho, who writ the
Story of the Ægyptians; Berosus, who writ the Chaldæan History, and those
Authors that have given us an Account of the Phœnician Antiquities, besides
Molus and Hestiæus, and Hieronymus the Ægyptian; and amongst the
Greeks, Hesiodus, Hecateus, Hellanicus, Acusialus, Ephorus and Nicolaus:
We have the Suffrages of all these, and their common Consent, that in the
first Ages of the World Men liv’d a thousand Years. Now we cannot well
suppose that all these Historians meant Lunar Years, or that they all
conspir’d together to make and propagate a Fable.
Lastly, As Nature and profane History do disown and confute this Opinion,
so much more doth sacred History; not indeed in profess’d Terms, for
Moses doth not say that he useth Solar Years; but by several Marks and
Observations, or collateral Arguments, it may be clearly collected, that he
doth not use Lunar. As first, because he distinguisheth Months and Years in
the History of the Deluge, and of the Life of Noah; for Gen. vii. 11. he saith
in the six hundredth Year of Noah’s Life, in the second Month, &c. It
cannot be imagin’d that in the same Verse and Sentence these two Terms of
Year and Month should be so confounded as to signify the same Thing; and
therefore Noah’s Years were not the same with Months, nor consequently
those of the other Patriarchs, for we have no Reason to make any
Difference. Besides, what ground was there, or how was it proper or
pertinent to reckon, as Moses does there, first, second, third Month, as so
many going to a Year, if every one of them was a Year? And seeing the
Deluge begun in the six hundredth Year of Noah’s Life, and in the second
Month, and ended in the six hundredth and first Year, (Chap. viii. 13.) the
first or second Month, all that was betwixt these two Terms, or all the
Duration of the Deluge, made but one Year in Noah’s Life, or it may be not
so much; and we know Moses reckons a great many Months in the Duration
of the Deluge; so as this is a Demonstration, that Noah’s Years are not to be
understood of Lunar. And to imagine that his Years are to be understood
one way, and those of his fellow-Patriarchs another, would be an
unaccountable Fiction. This argument therefore extends to all the
Antediluvians, and Noah’s Life will take in the Postdiluvians too; for you

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

You will say, it may be, ’tis true these Inconveniences follow, if our Hebrew
Copies of the Old Testament be Authentick: But if the Greek Translation by
the Septuagint be of better Authority, as some would have it to be, that
gives a little Relief in this Case; for the Septuagint makes the Distance from
the Creation to the Flood six hundred Years more than the Hebrew Text
does, and so give us a little more Room for our ten Generations: And not
only so, but they have so conveniently dispos’d those additional Years, as to
salve the other Inconvenience too, of the Patriarchs having Children so
young; for what Patriarchs are found to have got Children sooner than the
rest, and so soon, that, upon a Computation by Lunar Years, they would be
but meer Children themselves at that time? to these more Years are added,
and plac’d opportunely, before the time of their getting Children; so as one
can scarce forbear to think, that it was done on purpose to cure that
Inconvenience, and to favour and protect the Computation by Lunar Years.
The thing looks so like an Artifice, and as done to serve a Turn, that one
cannot but have a less Opinion of that Chronology for it.
But not to enter upon that Dispute at present, methinks they have not
wrought the Cure effectually enough; for with these six hundred Lunar
Years added, the Sum will be only one hundred seventy three common
Years and odd Months; and from these deducting, as we did before, for
Noah, forty six Years, and for Adam, or the first Generation, about eighteen,
(for he was two hundred and thirty Years old, according to the Septuagint
when he begot Seth) there will remain but one hundred and nine Years for
eight Generations; which will be thirteen Years a piece and odd Months; a
low Age to get Children in, and to hold for eight Generations together.
Neither is the other Inconvenience, we mention’d, well cur’d by the
Septuagint Account, namely, the small Number of People that would be in
the World at the Deluge; for the Septuagint Account, if understood of Lunar
Years, adds but forty six common Years to the Hebrew Account, and to the
Age of the World at the Deluge, in which time there could be but a very
small Accesion to the Number of Mankind. So as both these Incongruities
continue, though not in the same degree, and stand good in either Account,
if it be understood of Lunar Years.
Thirdly, ’Tis manifest from other Texts of Scripture, and from other
Considerations, that our first Fathers liv’d very long, and considerably
longer than Men have done since, whereas if their Years be interpreted

Lunar, there is not one of them that liv’d to the Age that Men do now;
Methusalah himself did not reach threescore and fifteen Years, upon that
Interpretation; which doth express them not only below those that liv’d next
to the Flood, but below all following Generations to this Day; and those
first Ages of the World which were always celebrated for Strength and
Vivacity, are made as weak and feeble as the last Dregs of Nature. We may
observe, that after the Flood for some Time, ’till the pristine Crasis of the
Body was broken by the new Course of Nature, they liv’d five, four, three,
two hundred Years, and the Life of Men shorten’d by Degrees; but before
the Flood, when they liv’d longer, there was no such Decrease or gradual
Declension in their Lives. For Noah, who was the last, liv’d longer than
Adam; and Methusalah, who was last but two, liv’d the longest of all: So
that it was not simply their Distance from the beginning of the World that
made them live a shorter Time, but some Change which happen’d in Nature
after such a Period of Time; namely at the Deluge, when the Declension
begun. Let’s set down the Table of both States.
A TABLE of the Ages of the Antediluvian Fathers.
Adam 930
Seth 912
Enos 905
Cainan 910
Mahaleel 895
Jared 962
Enoch 365
Methusalah 969
Lamech 777
Noah 950
A TABLE of the Ages of the Postdiluvian Fathers, from Shem to Joseph.
Shem 600
Arphaxad 438
Salah 433
Eber 464
Peleg 239

Reu 239
Serug 230
Nahor 148
Terah 205
Abraham 175
Isaac 180
Jacob 147
Joseph 110
From these Tables we see that Mens Lives were much longer before the
Flood, and next after it, than they are now; which also is confirm’d
undeniably by Jacob’s Complaint of the Shortness of his Life, in
Comparison of his Forefathers, when he had liv’d one hundred and thirty
Years, Gen. xlvii. 9. The Days of the Years of my Pilgrimage are an hundred
and thirty Years; few and evil have the Days of the Years of my Life been,
and have not attained unto the Days of the Years of the Life of my Fathers.
There were then, ’tis certain, long-liv’d Men in the World before Jacob’s
Time; when were they, before the Flood or after? We say both, according as
the Tables shew it. But if you count by Lunar Years, there never were any,
either before or after, and Jacob’s Complaint was unjust and false; for he
was the oldest Man in the World himself, or at least there was none of his
Forefathers that liv’d so long as he.
The Patrons of this Opinion must needs find themselves at a loss, how or
where to break off the Account of Lunar Years in sacred History, if they
once admit it. If they say that way of counting must only be extended to the
Flood, then they make the Postdiluvian Fathers longer liv’d than the
Antediluvian; did the Flood bring in Longevity? How could that be the
Cause of such an Effect? Besides, if they allow the Postdiluvians to have
lived six hundred (common) Years, that being clearly beyond the Standard
of our Lives, I should never stick at two or three hundred Years more for the
first Ages of the World. If they extend their Lunar Account to the
Postdiluvians too, they will still be intangled in worse Absurdities; for they
must make their Lives miserably short, and their Age of getting Children
altogether incongruous and impossible. Nahor, for Example, when he was
but two Years and three Months old must have begot Terah, Abraham’s
Father: And all the rest betwixt him and Shem must have had Children

before they were three Years old: A pretty race of Pigmies. Then their Lives
were proportionably short, for this Nahor liv’d but eleven Years and six
Months at this Rate; and his Grandchild Abraham, who is said to have died
in a good old Age, and full of Years, (Gen. xxv. 8.) was not fourteen Years
old. What a ridiculous Account this gives of Scripture Chronology and
Genealogies? But you’ll say, it may be, these Lunar Years are not to be
carried so far as Abraham neither; tell us then where you’ll stop, and why
you stop in such a Place rather than another. If you once take in Lunar
Years, what Ground is there in the Text, or in the History, that you should
change your way of computing at such a Time, or in such a Place? All our
ancient Chronology is founded upon the Books of Moses, where the Terms
and Periods of Times are exprest by Years, and often by Genealogies and
the Lives of Men; Now if these Years are sometimes to be interpreted
Lunar, and sometimes Solar, without any Distinction made in the Text,
what Light or certain Rule have we 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 shew, that their Method is not only
arbitrary, but absurd and incoherent.
To conclude this Discourse, we cannot but repeat what we have partly
observ’d before, How necessary it is to understand Nature, if we would
rightly understand those Things in holy Writ that relate to the natural World.
For without this Knowledge, as we are apt to think some Things consistent
and credible, that are really impossible in Nature; so on the other hand, we
are apt to look upon other Things as incredible and impossible that are
really founded in Nature. And seeing every one is willing so to expound
Scripture, as it may be to them good Sense, and consistent with their
Notions in other Things, they are forc’d many times to go against the easy
and natural Importance of the Words, and to invent other Interpretations
more compliant with their Principles, and, as they think, with the Nature of
Things. We have, I say, a great Instance of this before us in the Scripture-
History, of the long Lives of the Antediluvians, where, without any Ground
or Shadow of Ground, in the Narration, only to comply with a mistaken
Philosophy, and their Ignorance of the primitive World, many Men would
beat down the Scripture Account of Years into Months, and sink the Lives
of those first Fathers below the Rate of the worst of Ages. Whereby that
great Monument, which Providence hath left us of the first World, and of its
Difference from the second, would not only be defac’d, but wholly

demolish’d. And all this sprung only from the seeming Incredibility of the
Thing; for they cannot shew in any Part of Scripture, new or old, that these
Lunar Years are made use of, or that any Computation, literal or
prophetical, proceeds upon them: Nor that there is any Thing in the Text or
Context of that Place, that argues or intimates any such Account. We have
endeavour’d, upon this Occasion, effectully to prevent this Misconstruction
of sacred History for the future; both by shewing the Incongruities that
follow upon it, and also that there is no Necessity from Nature, of any such
Shift or Evasion, as that is: But rather on the contrary, that we have just and
necessary Reasons to conclude, That as the Forms of all Things would be
far more permanent and lasting in that primitive State of the Heavens and
the Earth, so particularly the Lives of Men, and of other Animals.

Chap. V.

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

Having thus far clear’d our Way to Paradise, and given a rational Account
of its general Properties; before we proceed to discourse of the Place of it,
there is one Affair of Moment, concerning this primitive Earth, that must
first be stated and explain’d; and that is, How it was water’d; from what
Causes, and in what Manner? How could Fountains rise, or Rivers flow in
an Earth of that Form and Nature? We have shut up the Sea with thick Walls
on every Side, and taken away all Communication that could be ’twixt it
and the external Earth; and we have remov’d all the Hills and the
Mountains where the Springs use to rise; and whence the Rivers descend to
water the Face of the Ground: And lastly, we have left no Issue for these
Rivers, no Ocean to receive them, nor any other Place to disburden
themselves into. So that our new-found World is like to be a dry and barren
Wilderness, and so far from being Paradisiacal, that it would scarce be
habitable.
I confess there was nothing in this whole Theory that gave such a Stop to
my Thoughts, as this Part of it, concerning the Rivers of the first Earth; how
they rose, how they flow’d, and how they ended. It seem’d at first, that we
had wip’d away at once the Notion and whole Doctrine of Rivers, we had
turn’d the Earth so smooth, that there was not an Hill, or Rising, for the
Head of a Spring, nor any Fall or Descent for the Course of a River:
Besides, I had suck’d in the common Opinion of Philosophers, That all
Rivers rise from the Sea, and return to it again, and both those Passages, I
see, were stopt up in that Earth. This gave me occasion to reflect upon the

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

the Poles, and the colder Regions of the Earth. For East and West they
would meet with as warm an Air, and Vapours as much agitated as
themselves, which therefore would not yield to their Progress that Way; but
towards the North and the South, they would find a more easy Passage, the
Cold of those Parts attracting them, as we call it, that is, making way to
their Motion and Dilatation without much Resistance, as Mountains and
cold Places usually draw Vapours from the warmer. So as the regular and
constant Course of the Vapours of that Earth, which were rais’d chiefly
about the Equinoctial and middle Parts of it, would be towards the extream
Parts of it, or towards the Poles.
And in consequence of this, when these Vapours were arriv’d in those
cooler Climates, and cooler Parts of the Air, they would be condens’d into
Rain; for wanting there the Cause of their Agitation, namely, the Heat of the
Sun, their Motion would soon begin to languish, and they would fall closer
to one another in the Form of Water. For the Difference betwixt Vapours
and Water is only gradual, and consists in this, that Vapours are in a flying
Motion, separate and distant each from another; but the Parts of Water are
in a creeping Motion, close to one another; like a Swarm of Bees when they
are settled; as Vapours resemble the same Bees in the Air, before they settle
together. Now there is nothing puts these Vapours upon the Wing, or keeps
them so, but a strong Agitation by Heat; and when that fails, as it must do in
all colder Places and Regions, they necessarily return to Water again.
Accordingly therefore we must suppose they would soon, after they reach’d
these cold Regions, be condens’d, and fall down in a continual Rain, or
Dew, upon those Parts of the Earth. I say a continual Rain; for seeing the
Action of the Sun, which rais’d the Vapours, was (at that Time) always the
same, and the State of the Air always alike, nor any cross Winds, nor any
thing else that could hinder the Course of the Vapours towards the Poles,
nor their Condensation when arriv’d there; ’tis manifest there would be a
constant Source or Store-house of Waters in those Parts of the Air, and in
those Parts of the Earth.
And this, I think, was the establish’d Order of Nature in that World, this
was the State of the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth; all their Waters came
from above, and that with a constant Supply and Circulation; for when the
Croud of Vapours rais’d about the middle Parts of the Earth, found Vent and
Issue this Way towards the Poles, the Passage being once open’d, and the

Channel made, the Current would be still continued without Intermission;
and as they were dissolv’d and spent there, they would suck in more and
more of those which followed, and came in fresh Streams from the hotter
Climates. Aristotle, I remember, in his Meteors speaking of the Course of
the Vapours, saith, there is a River in the Air, constantly flowing betwixt the
Heavens and the Earth, made by the ascending and descending Vapours:
This was more remarkably true in the primitive Earth, where the State of
Nature was more constant and regular; there was indeed an uninterrupted
Flood of Vapours rising in one Region of the Earth, and flowing to another,
and there continually distilling in Dews and Rain, which made this aerial
River. As may be easily apprehended from this Scheme of the Earth and Air.

Book 2 Fig. 1.

Thus we have found a Source for Waters in the first Earth, which had no
Communication with the Sea; and a Source that would never fail, neither

diminish or overflow, but feed the Earth with an equal Supply throughout
all the Parts of the Year. But there is a second Difficulty that appears at the
End of this, how these Waters would flow upon the even Surface of the
Earth, or form themselves into Rivers; there being no Descent or Declivity
for their Course. There were no Hills, nor Mountains, nor high Lands in the
first Earth, and if these Rains fell in the Frigid Zones, or towards the Poles,
there they would stand in Lakes and Pools, having no Descent one Way
more than another; and so the rest of the Earth would be no better for them.
This, I confess, appear’d as great a Difficulty as the former, and would be
unanswerable for ought I know, if that first Earth was not water’d by Dews
only (as I believe some Worlds are) or had been exactly Spherical; but we
noted before, that it was Oval or Oblong; and in such a Figure ’tis manifest
the polar Parts are higher than the equinoctial, that is, more remote from the
Center, as appears to the Eye in this Scheme. This affords us a present
Remedy, and sets us free of the second Difficulty; for by this Means the
Waters, which fell about the extream Parts of the Earth, would have a
continual Descent towards the middle Parts of it; this Figure gives them
Motion and Distribution; and many Rivers and Rivulets would flow from
those Mother-Lakes, to refresh the Face of the Earth, bending their Course
still towards the middle Parts of it.
’Tis true, These Derivations of the Waters at first would be very irregular
and diffuse, till the Channels were a little worn and hollow’d; and tho’ that
Earth was smooth and uniform, yet ’tis impossible, upon an inclining
Surface, but that Waters should find a Way of creeping downwards, as we
see upon a smooth Table, or a flag’d Pavement; if there be the least
Inclination, Water will flow from the higher to the lower Parts of it, either
directly, or winding to and fro: So the Smoothness of that Earth would be
no Hindrance to the Course of the Rivers, provided there was a general
Declivity in the Site and Libration of it, as ’tis plain there was from the
Poles towards the Æquator. The Current indeed would be easy and gentle
all along, and if it chanc’d in some Places to rest, or be stopt, it would
spread it self into a pleasant Lake, till by fresh Supplies it had rais’d its
Waters so high as to overflow and break loose again; then it would pursue
its Way, with many other Rivers its Companions, thro’ all the temperate
Climates as far as the Torrid Zone.

But you’ll say, When they were got thither, what would become of them
then? How would they end or finish their Course? This is the third
Difficulty concerning the Ending of the Rivers in that Earth; what Issue
could they have when they were come to the middle Parts of it, whither it
seems they all tended? There was no Sea to lose themselves in, as our
Rivers do; nor any subterraneous Passages to throw themselves into; how
would they die, what would be their Fate at last? I answer, The greater
Rivers, when they were come towards those Parts of the Earth, would be
divided into many Branches, or a Multitude of Rivulets; and those would be
partly exhal’d by the Heat of the Sun, and partly drunk up by the dry and
sandy Earth. But how and in what Manner this came to pass, requires a little
further Explication.
We must therefore observe in the first Place, that those Rivers, as they drew
nearer to the æquinoctial Parts, would find a less Declivity or Descent of
Ground than in the beginning, or former Part of their Course; that is evident
from the oval Figure of the Earth, for near the middle Parts of an Oval, the
Semi-diameters, as I may call them, are very little shorter one than another;
and for this Reason the Rivers, when they were advanc’d towards the
middle Parts of the Earth, would begin to flow more slowly, and, by that
Weakness of their Current, suffer themselves easily to be divided and
distracted into several lesser Streams and Rivulets; or else having no Force
to wear a Channel, would lie shallow upon the Ground like a Plash of
Water; and in both Cases their Waters would be much more expos’d to the
Action of the Sun, than if they had kept together in a deeper Channel, as
they were before.
Secondly, We must observe, that seeing these Waters could not reach to the
Middle of the Torrid Zone, for want of Descent; that Part of the Earth
having the Sun always perpendicular over it, and being refresh’d by no
Rivers, would become extreamly dry and parch’d, and be converted at
length into a kind of sandy Desert; so as all the Waters that were carried
thus far, and were not exhaled and consum’d by the Sun, would be suck’d
up, as in a Spunge, by these Sands of the Torrid Zone. This was the
common Grave wherein the Rivers of the first Earth were buried; and this is
nothing but what happens still in several Parts of the present Earth;
especially in Africk, where many Rivers never flow into the Sea, but expire
after the same Manner as these did, drunk up by the Sun and the Sands. And

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

Book 2 Fig. 2.

Because it pleaseth more and makes a greater Impression upon us, to see
Things represented to the Eye, than to read their Description in Words, we
have ventur’d to give a Model of the Primæval Earth, with its Zones or
greater Climates, and the general Order and Tracts of its Rivers: Not that we
believe Things to have been in the very same Form as here exhibited; but
this may serve as a general Idea of that Earth, which may be wrought into
more exactness, according as we are able to enlarge or correct our Thoughts
hereafter. And as the Zones here represented, resemble the Belts or Fasciæ
of Jupiter, so we suppose them to proceed from like Causes, if that Planet
be in an Antediluvian State, as the Earth we here represent. As for the Polar
Parts in that first Earth, I can say very little of them, they would make a
Scene by themselves, and a very particular one; the Sun would be
perpetually in their Horizon, which makes me think the Rains would not fall

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

and we must not wonder to find them different from the present Order of
Nature; what things are said of them, or relating to them in Holy Writ, do
testify or imply as much; and it will be worth our time to make some
Reflection upon those Passages for our further Confirmation. Moses tells
us, that the Rainbow was set in the Clouds after the Deluge; those Heavens
then, that never had a Rainbow before, were certainly of a Constitution very
different from ours. And St. Peter, 2 Epist. chap. iii. v. 5. doth formally and
expresly tell us, that the Old Heavens, or the Antediluvian Heavens had a
different Constitution from ours, and particularly, that they were compos’d
or constituted of Water, which Philosophy of the Apostle’s may be easily
understood, if we attend to two things, first, that the Heavens he speaks of
were not the Starry Heavens, but the aerial Heavens, or the Regions of our
Air, where the Meteors are: Secondly, that there were no Meteors in those
Regions, or in those Heavens, till the Deluge, but watry Meteors, and
therefore, he says, they consisted of Water. And this shews the Foundation
upon which that Description is made, how coherently the Apostle argues,
and answers the Objection there propos’d: How justly also he distinguisheth
the first Heavens from the present Heavens, or rather opposeth them one to
another; because as those were constituted of Water, and watry Meteors
only, so the present Heavens, he saith, have Treasures of Fire, fiery
Exhalations and Meteors, and a Disposition to become the Executioners of
the Divine Wrath and Decrees in the final Conflagration of the Earth.
This minds me also of the Celestial Waters, or the Waters above the
Firmaments, which, Scripture sometimes mentions, and which, methinks,
cannot be explain’d so fitly and emphatically upon any Supposition as this
of ours. Those who place them above the Starry Heavens, seem neither to
understand Astronomy nor Philosophy; and, on the other hand, if nothing be
understood by them, but the Clouds and the middle Region of the Air, as it
is at present, methinks that was no such eminent and remarkable Thing, as
to deserve a particular Commemoration by Moses in his six Days Work; but
if we understand them, not as they are now, but as they were then, the only
Source of Waters, or the only Source of Waters upon that Earth, (for they
had not one Drop of Water but what was Celestial,) this gives it a new Force
and Emphasis: Besides the whole middle Region having no other sort of
Meteors but them, that made it still the greater Singularity, and more worthy
Commemoration. As for the Rivers of Paradise, there is nothing said
concerning their Source, or their Issue, that is either contrary to this, or that

is not agreeable to the general Account we have given of the Waters and
Rivers of the first Earth. They are not said to rise from any Mountain, but
from a great River or a kind of a Lake in Eden, according to the Custom of
the Rivers of that Earth. And as for their End and Issue, Moses doth not say,
that they disburthen themselves into this or that Sea, as they usually do in
the Description of great Rivers, but rather implies that they spent
themselves in compassing and watering certain Countries, which falls in
again very easily with our Hypothesis. But I say this rather to comply with
the Opinions of others, than of my own Judgment: For I think, that
Suggestion about the Supercelestial Waters made by Moses, was not so
much according to the strict Nature and Speciality of Causes, as for the
Ease and Profit of the People, in their Belief and Acknowledgment of
Providence for so great a Benefit, by what Causes soever it was brought to
pass.
But to return to the Rainbow which we mentioned before, and is not to be
past over so slightly. This we say is a Creature of the modern World, and
was not seen nor known before the Flood. Moses (Gen. ix. 12, 13.) plainly
intimates as much, or rather directly affirms it; for he says, the Bow was set
in the Clouds after the Deluge, as a Confirmation of the Promise, or
Covenant, which God made with Noah, that he would drown the World no
more with Water. And how could it be a Sign of this, or given as a Pledge
and Confirmation of such a Promise, if it was in the Clouds before, and
with no Regard to this Promise; and stood there, it may be, when the World
was going to be drown’d? This would have been but cold Comfort to Noah,
to have had such a Pledge of the Divine Veracity. You’ll say, it may be, that
it was not a Sign or Pledge, that signified naturally, but voluntarily only, and
by Divine Institution: I am of Opinion, I confess, that it signify’d naturally,
and by Connexion with the Effect, importing thus much, that the State of
Nature was chang’d from what it was before, and so chang’d, that the Earth
was no more in a Condition to perish by Water. But however, let us grant
that it signifieth only by Institution, to make it significant in this Sense, it
must be something new, otherwise it could not signify any new thing, or be
the Confirmation of a new Promise. If God Almighty had said to Noah, I
make a Promise to you, and to all living Creatures, that the World shall
never be destroy’d by Water again, and for Confirmation of this, Behold, I
set the Sun in the Firmament: Would this have been any strengthening of
Noah’s Faith or any Satisfaction to his Mind? Why says Noah, the Sun was

in the Firmament when the Deluge came, and was a Spectator of that sad
Tragedy; why may it not be so again? What Sign or Assurance is this
against a second Deluge? When God gives a Sign in the Heavens, or on the
Earth, of any Prophecy or Promise to be fulfill’d, it must be by something
new, or by some Change wrought in Nature; whereby God doth testify to
us, that he is able and willing to stand to his Promise. God says to Ahaz,
Isai. vii. Ask a Sign of the Lord; ask it either in the Depth, or in the Height
above: And when Ahaz would ask no Sign, God gives one unask’d, Behold
a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son. So when Zachary, Luke 1. was
promis’d a Son, he asketh for a Sign, Whereby shall I know this? for I am
old, and my Wife well stricken in Years, and the Sign given him was, that he
became dumb, and continued so till the Promise was fulfilled. Accordingly,
when Abraham ask’d a Sign whereby he might be assured of God’s Promise
that his Seed should inherit the Land of Canaan, Gen. xv. 8. ’Tis said (ver.
17.) When the Sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoaking Furnace
and a burning Lamp passed betwixt the Pieces of the Beasts that he had cut
asunder. So in other Instances of Signs given in external Nature, as the Sign
given to King Hezekiah, Isai. xxxviii. for his Recovery, and to Gideon for
his Victory; to confirm the Promise made to Hezekiah, Judge vii. the
Shadow went back ten Degrees in Ahaz Dial. And for Gideon, his Fleece
was wet, and all the Ground about it dry; and then to change the Trial, it
was dry, and all the Ground about it wet. These were all Signs very proper,
significant, and satisfactory, having something surprising and extraordinary,
yet these were Signs by Institution only; and to be such they must have
something new and strange, as a Mark of the Hand of God, otherwise they
can have no Force or Significancy. Accordingly we see, Moses himself in
another Place, speaks this very Sense, when in the Mutiny or Rebellion of
Corah and Dathan, he speaks thus to the People, If these Men die the
common Death of Men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make
a new Thing and the Earth open her Mouth and swallow them up, &c. then
you shall understand that these Men have provoked the Lord, Numb. xxvi.
29, 30. So in the Case of Noah, if God created a new Creature (which are
Moses’s Words in the forecited Place) the Sign was effectual: But where
every thing continues to be as it was before, and the Face of Nature, in all
its Parts, the very same, it cannot signify any thing new, nor any new
Intention in the Author of Nature; and consequently, cannot be a Sign or

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

We have seen how incongruous it would be to admit, that the Rainbow
appear’d before the Deluge, and how dead a Sign that would make it, how
forc’d, fruitless and ineffectual, as to the Promise it was to confirm: Let us
now on the other hand suppose, that it first appear’d to the Inhabitants of
the Earth after the Deluge, how proper, and how apposite a Sign would this
be for Providence to pitch upon, to confirm the Promise made to Noah and
his Posterity, That the World should be no more destroy’d by Water? It hath
a secret Connexion with the Effect it self, and was so far a natural Sign; but
however, appearing first after the Deluge, and in a watery Cloud, there was,
methinks, a great Easiness and Propriety of Application for such a purpose.
And if we suppose, that while God Almighty was declaring his Promise to
Noah, and the Sign of it, there appeared at the same Time in the Clouds a
fair Rainbow, that marvellous and beautiful Meteor, which Noah had never
seen before; it could not but make a most lively Impression upon him,
quickning his Faith, and giving him Comfort and Assurance, that God
would be stedfast to his Promise.
Nor ought we to wonder that Interpreters have commonly gone the other
Way, and suppos’d that the Rainbow was before the Flood: this, I say, was
no wonder in them, for they had no Hypothesis that could answer to any
other Interpretation: And in the Interpretation of the Texts of Scripture that
concern natural Things, they commonly bring them down to their own
Philosophy and Notions: As we have a great Instance in that Discourse of
St. Peter’s (2 Epist. c. iii. 5.) concerning the Deluge and the Antediluvian
Heavens and Earth, which, for want of a Theory, they have been scarce able
to make Sense of; for they have forcedly apply’d to the present Earth, or the
present Form of the Earth, what plainly respected another. A like Instance
we have in the Mosaical Abyss, or Tehom-Rabba, by whose Disruption the
Deluge was made; this they knew not well what to make of, and so have
generally interpreted it of the Sea, or of our subterraneous Waters; without
any Propriety either as to the Word, or as to the Sense. A third Instance is
this of the Rainbow, where their Philosophy hath misguided them again; for
to give them their due, they do not alledge, nor pretend to alledge any Thing
from the Text, that should make them interpret thus, or think the Rainbow
was before the Flood; but they pretend to go by certain Reasons, as that the
Clouds were before the Flood, therefore the Rainbow; and if the Rainbow
was not before the Flood, then all things were not made within the six Days
Creation: To whom these Reasons are convictive, they must be led into the

same Belief with them, but not by any Thing in the Text, nor in the true
Theory, at least if ours be so; for by that you see, that the Vapours were
never condens’d into Drops, nor into Rain, in the temperate and inhabited
Climates of that Earth, and consequently there could never be the
Production or Appearance of this Bow in the Clouds. Thus much
concerning the Rainbow.
To recollect our selves and conclude this Chapter, and the whole
Disquisition concerning the Waters of the primitive Earth; we seem to have
so well satisfied the Difficulties propos’d in the beginning of the Chapter,
that they have rather given us an Advantage; a better Discovery, and such a
new Prospect of that Earth, as makes it not only habitable, but more fit to be
Paradisiacal. The Pleasantness of the Site of Paradise is made to consist
chiefly in two Things, its Waters, and its Trees, (Gen. ii. and Chap. xiii. 10.
Ezek. xxxi. 8.) and considering the Richness of that first Soil in the primitive
Earth, it could not but abound in Trees, as it did in Rivers and Rivulets; and
be wooded like a Grove, as it was water’d like a Garden, in the temperate
Climates of it; so as it would not be, methinks, so difficult to find one
Paradise there, as not to find more than one.

Chap. VI.

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

We have now, in a good Measure, finish’d our Description of the first and
antediluvian Earth: And as Travellers, when they see strange Countries,
make it part of their Pleasure and Improvement to compare them with their
own, to observe the Differences, and wherein they excel, or come short of
one another: So it will not be unpleasant, nor unuseful, it may be, having
made a Discovery, not of a new Country, but of a new World, and travell’d
it over in our Thoughts and Fancy, now to sit down and compare it with our
own: And ’twill be no hard Task, from the general Differences which we
have taken Notice of already, to observe what lesser would arise, and what
the whole Face of Nature would be.
’Tis also one Fruit of travelling, that by seeing Variety of Places, and
People, of Humours, Fashions, and Forms of Living, it frees us by degrees,
from that Pedantry and Littleness of Spirit, whereby we are apt to censure
every thing for absurd and ridiculous, that is not according to our own Way,
and the Mode of our own Country: But if, instead of crossing the Seas, we
could waft our selves over to our neighbouring Planets, we should meet
with such Varieties there, both in Nature and Mankind, as would very much
enlarge our Thoughts and Souls, and help to cure those Diseases of little
Minds, that make them troublesome to others, as well as uneasy to
themselves.
But seeing our heavy Bodies are not made for such Voyages, the best and
greatest thing we can do in this kind, is to make a Survey and Reflection
upon the antediluvian Earth, which in some Sense was another World from
this, and, it may be, as different as some two Planets are from one another.
We have declar’d already the general Grounds upon which we must

proceed, and must now trace the Consequences of them, and drive them
down into Particulars, which will shew us in most things, wherein that
Earth, or that World, differed from the present. The Form of that Earth, and
its Situation to the Sun, were two of its most fundamental Differences from
ours: As to the Form of it, ’twas all one smooth Continent, one continued
Surface of Earth, without any Sea, any Mountains, or Rocks; any Holes,
Dens, or Caverns: And the Situation of it to the Sun was such as made a
perpetual Æquinox. These two join’d together, lay the Foundation of a new
Astronomy, Meteorology, Hydrography and Geography; such as were
proper and peculiar to that World. The Earth by this means having its Axis
parallel to the Axis of the Ecliptick, the Heavens would appear in another
Posture; and their diurnal Motion, which is imputed to the Primum Mobile,
and supposed to be upon the Poles of the Æquator, would then be upon the
same Poles with the second and periodical Motions of the Orbs and Planets,
namely, upon the Poles of the Ecliptick, by which Means the Phænomena
of the Heavens would be more simple and regular, and much of that
Entangledness and Perplexity, which we find now in Astronomy, would be
taken away. Whether the Sun and Moon would suffer any Eclipses then,
cannot well be determin’d, unless one knew what the Course of the Moon
was at that time, or whether she was then come into our Neighbourhood:
Her Presence seems to have been less needful when there were no long
Winter Nights, nor the great Pool of the Sea to move or govern.
As for the Regions of the Air and the Meteors, we have in the preceding
Chapter set 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 displac’d, and the Course of Nature chang’d: Nothing violent,
nothing frightful, nothing troublesome or incommodious to Mankind, came
from above, but the Countenance of the Heavens was always smooth and
serene. I have often thought it a very desirable Piece of Power, if a Man
could but command a fair Day, when he had occasion for it, for himself, or
for his Friends; ’tis more than the greatest Prince or Potentate upon Earth
can do; yet they never wanted one in that World, nor ever saw a foul one.
Besides they had constant Breezes from the Motion of the Earth, and the
Course of the Vapours, which cool’d the open Plains, and made the Weather
temperate, as well as fair. But we have spoken enough in other Places upon
this Subject of the Air and the Heavens, let us now descend to the Earth.

The Earth was divided into two Hemispheres, separated by the Torrid Zone,
which at that time was uninhabitable, and utterly unpassable; so as the two
Hemispheres made two distinct Worlds, which, so far as we can judge, had
no manner of Commerce or Communication one with another. The
Southern Hemisphere the Antients call’d Antichthon, the opposite Earth, or
the Other World. And this Name and Notion remain’d long after the Reason
of it had ceas’d. Just as the Torrid Zone was generally accounted
uninhabitable by the Ancients, even in their Time, because it really had
been so once, and the Tradition remain’d uncorrected, when the Causes
were taken away; namely, when the Earth had chang’d its Posture to the
Sun, after the Deluge.
This may be look’d upon as the first Division of that primæval Earth, into
two Hemispheres, naturally sever’d and disunited: But it was also divided
into five Zones, two Frigid, two Temperate, and the Torrid betwixt them.
And this Distinction of the Globe into five Zones, I think, did properly
belong to that original Earth, and primitive Geography, and improperly, and
by Translation only, to the present. For all the Zones of our Earth are
habitable, and their Distinctions are in a manner but imaginary, not fixed by
Nature; whereas in that Earth where the Rivers fail’d, and the Regions
became uninhabitable, by reason of Driness and Heat, there begun the
Torrid Zone; and where the Regions became uninhabitable by reason of
Cold and Moisture, there begun the Frigid Zone; and these being
determin’d, they became Bounds on either side to the Temperate. But all
this was alter’d when the Posture of the Earth was chang’d, and chang’d for
that very purpose, as some of the Ancients have said, That the
uninhabitable Parts of the Earth might become habitable. Yet though there
was so much of the first Earth uninhabitable, there remain’d as much to be
inhabited, as we have now; for the Sea, since the breaking up of the Abyss,
hath taken away half of the Earth from us, a great part whereof was to them
good Land. Besides, we are not to suppose, that the Torrid Zone was of that
Extent we make it now, twenty three Degrees and more on either side of the
Æquator: These Bounds are set only by the Tropicks, and the Tropicks by
the Obliquity of the Course of the Sun, or of the Posture of the Earth, which
was not in that World. Where the Rivers stop’d, there the Torrid Zone
would begin, but the Sun was directly perpendicular to no part of it but the
middle.