THE SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH

by Thomas Burnet

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH

Book I

Concerning the Deluge, and the Dissolution of the Earth.

CHAPTER VI

The dissolution of the First Earth: The Deluge ensuing thereupon. And the form of the present Earth rising from the Ruines of the First.

WE have now brought to light the Ante-diluvian Earth out of the dark mass of the Chaos; and not only described the surface of it, 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 proportions, more like an habitable World; as in this Figure, where you see the smooth convex of the Earth, and may imagine the great Abysse spread under it 2 ; which two are to be the only subject of our further contemplation.

In this smooth Earth were the first Scenes of the World, and the first Generations of Mankind; it had the beauty of Youth and blooming Nature, fresh and fruitful, and not a wrinkle, scar or fracture in all its body; no Rocks nor Mountains, no hollow Caves, nor gaping Chanels, 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 them. We must remember that St. Petertold us, that the Ante-diluvian Earth perished, or was demolished; and Mosessaith, the great Abysse was broken open at the Deluge.

Click to enlargeLet 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 Abyssewas opened, or that the frame of the Earth broke and fell down into the Great Abysse. At this one stroke all Nature would be changed, 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 Abysse, 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 destroyed. Then when the agitation of the Abysse was asswaged, and the Waters by degrees were retied into their Chanels, and the dry land appear'd, you would see the true image of the present Earth in the ruines 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 ruine were placed and dispos'd: Upon the banks of the Sea would stand the Rocks, and near the shoar would be Islands, or lesser fragments of Earth compassed round by Water. Then as to Subterraneous Waters, and all Subterraneous Caverns and hollownesses, upon this supposition those things could not be otherwise; for the parts would fall hollow in many places in this, as in all other ruines: And seeing the Earth fell into this Abysse, the Waters at a certain height would flow into all those hollow places and cavities; and would 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 interiour construction, whereof this hypothesisdoth not 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 allowed, that such a dissolution of the Earth as we have proposed, and fall of it into the Abysse, would certainly make an universal Deluge; and effectually destroy the old World, which perished in it. But we have not yet particularly Evidenced this dissolution, and in what manner the Deluge followed upon it: And to assert things in gross never makes that firm impression upon our understandings, and upon our belief, as to see them deduced 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 Mosesimputed the Deluge to the disruption of the Abysse; and St. Peter, to the particular constitution of that Earth, which made it obnoxious to be absorpt in Water, so as 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, that 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 Chanel, in which these great revolutions of Nature, which we treat on, flow and succeed one another.

Let us therefore resume that System of the Ante-diluvian Earth, which we have deduced from the Chaos, and which we find to answer St. Peter's description, and Moseshis 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 Abysse was enclosed within its bowels. And Moses doth in effect tell us, there was such a dissolution, when he saith, The fountains of the great Abysse 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 exteriour Earth was dissolved, and then we shall soon see how, upon that dissolution, the Deluge immediately prevailed and overflowed all the parts of it.

I do not think it in the power of humane 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 rarifying 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 filled up again, and the Earth reduced 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 Ante-diluvian Earth, as shall be Evidenced in the following Book, concerning Paradise. In the mean time this being supposed, let us consider what effect it would have upon this Arch of the exteriour 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 reduced this Earth to a considerable degree of driness in certain parts; and also have much rarified and exhaled the Waters under it: And considering the structure of that Globe, the exteriour crust, and the Waters lying round under it, both exposed to the Sun, we may fitly compare it to an lipile, or an hollow Sphere with Water in it, which the heat of the Fire rarifies and turns into Vapours and Wind. The Sun here is as the Fire, and the exteriour Earth is as the Shell of the lipile, and the Abysse as the Water within it; now when the heat of the Sun had pierced through the Shell and reacht the Waters, it began to rarifie them, and raise them into Vapours; which rare-faction made them require more space and room than they needed before, while they lay close and quiet. And finding themselves pened in by the exteriour Earth, they pressed with violence against that Arch, to make it yield and give way to their dilatation and eruption. So we see all Vapours and Exhalations enclosed 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 used of anlipile, if the mouth of it be stopt that gives the vent, the Water rarified will burst the Vessel with its force. And the resemblance of the Earth to an Egg, which we used before, holds also in this respect; for when it heats before the Fire, the moisture and Air within being rarified, 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 weakened 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, it grew more and more disposed to a dissolution. And at length, these preparations in Nature being made on either side, the force of the Vapours increased, and the walls weakened, which should have kept them in, when the appointed time was come, that All-wise Providence had designed 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 Abysse, 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 drowned. 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 overflowed, by an Earthquake, and an Inundation arising upon it. And according to the manner of their fall or ruine, they either remained wholly under water, and perpetually drowned, as Sodomand Gomorrha, Plato's Atlantis, Buraand Helice, and other Cities and Regions in Greece and Asia; or they partly emerged, and became dry Land again; when (their situation being pretty high) the Waters, after their violent agitation was abated, retied into the lower places, and into their Chanels.

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 Dissolution. 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 maritim 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 exteriour Earth could not be made any where, but it would fall into Waters, and be more or less overflowed. And when they had once reacht this thought, they might conclude both what the form of the Ante-diluvian 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 proposed, 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 Chanels, 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, could no way be removed 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 easie to be found, and easily removed when the work is done. When the exteriour Earth was broke, and fell into the Abysse, a good part of it was covered with water by the meer depth of the Abysse it fell into, and those parts of it that were higher than the Abysse was deep, and consequently would stand above it in a calm water, were notwithstanding reacht and overtoped by the waves, during the agitation and violent commotion of the Abysse. For it is not imaginable what the commotion of the Abysse 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 Abysse, 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, or high fragment whatsoever: And then rowling back again, it would sweep down with it whatsoever it rusht upon, Woods, Buildings, living Creatures, and carry them all headlong into the great gulf. Sometimes a mass of water would be quite struck off and separate from the rest, and tost through the Air like a flying River; but the common motion of the waves was to climb up the hills, or inclined fragments, and then 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 setled 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.

Neither is it to be wondered, 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 Abysse was extremely violent, from the general fall of the Earth, there were ever and anon some secondary ruines; or some parts of the great ruine, that were not well setled, 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 leaned one upon another, or upon the bottom of the Abysse, often failed, 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 Abysse. Besides, we are to observe, that these great fragments falling hollow, they inclosed and bore down with them under their concave surface a great deal of Air; and while the water compassed these fragments, and overflowed 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 Abysse, and the retiring of the Water into those Subterraneous Chanels, for some time. But at length, when this Air had found a vent, and left its place to the Water, and the ruines, both primary and secondary, were setled and fixt, then the Waters of the Abysse 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 Abysse (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 appeared, or the Earth put on its new form, and became divided into Sea and Land; and the Abysse, 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 discovered; the greatest part of it constituting our present Ocean, and the rest filling the lower cavities of the Earth: Upon the Land appeared the Mountains and the Hills, and the Islands in the Sea, and the Rocks upon the shore. And so the Divine Providence, having prepared Nature for so great a change, at one stroke dissolved the frame of the old World, and made us a new one out of its ruines, which we now inhabit since the Deluge. All which things being thus explained, deduced, and stated, we now add and pronounce our Third and last Proposition; That the disruption of the Abysse, or dissolution of the primal Earth and its fall into the Abysse, was the cause of the Universal Deluge, and of the destruction of the old World.

Footnotes

64:2 As at the aperturea. a.

THE SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH

by Thomas Burnet

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH

Book I

Concerning the Deluge, and the Dissolution of the Earth.

CHAPTER IV

That the Earth and Mankind had an Original, and were not from Eternity: Evidenced againstAristotle. The first proposition of our Theory laid down, viz. That the Ante-diluvian Earth was of a different form and construction from the present. This is Evidenced 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 consent 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 maintained the Eternity of the Earth, and the Eternity of mankind; that the Earth and the World were from Everlasting, and in that very form they are in now, with Men and 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 Evidence that the Earth had an Original, and that from a Chaos, before we show how it arose from a Chaos, and what was the first habitable form that it setled into.

We are assured by Divine Authority, that the Earth and Mankind had a beginning; Mosessaith, 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 Mosestells us, that Adamwas the first Man, and Evethe first Woman, from whom sprung the race of Mankind; and this within the compass of six thousand years. We are also assured 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 Evidences 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; for what exists by the strength of its own Nature at first, the same Nature will enable it 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 joyned, 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 a-sunder, 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 a far greater composition; and the living part of the World, Plants and Animals, have far 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 Aristotledid 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 pre-dispose 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, produced 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 Aristotlehath disposed them, and as seems to be their first disposition, the Earth altogether in a mass in the middle, or towards the Center; then the Water in a Spherical mass about that; the Air above the Water, and then a Sphere of Fire, as he fansied, 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 placed them. But the form and posture we find them in at present is very different, and according to his Doctrine must be lookt 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 destroyed it self, and changed it self: 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 continued 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 weakened 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 though 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 reached them all sooner or later, if through 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 washt 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 repaired, nor any proportionable recruits made from any other parts of Nature. So as the higher parts of the Earth being continually spending, and the lower continually gaining, they must of necessity at length come to an equality; and the Waters that lie in the lower parts and in the Chanels, those Chanels and Valleys being filled up with Earth, would be thrust out and rise every where upon the surface of the Earth; Which new post when they had once seized on, they would never quit it, 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 reduced to this uninhabitable form in ten thousand years time, though I believe it would: but take twenty, if you please, take an hundred thousand, take a million, 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 Mustardseed 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 defaced the strongest and the proudest monuments of the Greeksand 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 forementioned causes that work with more violence, and the weight of the Mountains themselves, which upon any occasion offered, 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 AristotelianDoctrine, 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 factochanged its form; both in that we have Evidenced that it was not capable of an universal Deluge in this form, and consequently was once under another; and also in that we shall Evidence at large hereafter, throughout the Third and Fourth Sections, that it hath been broken and dissolved. 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. Petersaith, the Heavens and the Earth that are now, as opposed to the Ante-diluvian, and considered 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 designed for change and for destruction.

Thus much for the body of the Earth, that it could not have been from Eternity, as Aristotlepretended, 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 destroyed the form of the Earth, would also destroy Mankind; and besides, there are many particular marks and arguments, that the Generations of Men have not been from Everlasting. All History, and all monuments of Antiquity of what kind 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 lived then in innocency and simplicity. The invention of Arts, even those that are necessary or useful to humane 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 fansies 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 Genio's, 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 tother 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 imEvidenced, 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 Worldtoo 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 imploying of Wind or Water to turn the Mills and grind their Corn was scarce known before the Romans; 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 Clothing, 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 deified. The World hath not stood so long but we can still run it up to those Artless Ages, when mortals lived by plain Nature; when there was but one Trade in the World, one Calling, to look to their Flocks; and 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 inclined 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 lived infinite Ages unprovided of them. If you say Necessityis 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 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 observed, 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 over-stockt 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 flie 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, Aristotledoth 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 humane life; then for Theoretical Learning and Sciences, there is nothing yet finished or compleat in these; and what is known hath been chiefly the production of latter Ages. How little hath been discovered till of late, either of our own Bodies, or of the body of the Earth, and of the functions or motions of Nature in either? What more obvious, one would think, than the Circulation of the Bloud? 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 Forefathers 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 lived 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 advanced 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 rise from a mean Original, by what degrees it increased, and how it changed its form and government till it came to its greatness, doth satisfie us very well, that the RomanEmpire 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 rise 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 assured 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, confused mass, without distinction of Elements; 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 Evidence, that the Origin of the Earth was from a Chaos, seeing that is agreed on by all that give it any Origin. But we will proceed immediately to examine into what form it first rise when it came out of that Chaos; or what was the primal 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 easie 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 Ante-diluvian Earth, or of the Earth that rise 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.

The first Proposition we have in effect Evidenced 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 afterwards any way removed from it. But we will not content our selves with that proof only, but will Evidence 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 Evidence 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 Ante-diluvian Earth and 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 consumed with Fire, as your prophecies pretend? So from the permanency and immutability of Nature hitherto, they argued its permanency and immutability for the future. To this the Apostleanswers, 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, perisht 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 exposed to another sort of destruction or dissolution, namely by Fire, or by an universal Conflagration. The words of the Apostle 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; whereby the World that then was, being overflowed with Water, perisht. But the Heavens and the Earth that are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment. 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 Ante-diluvian 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 Apostles, which every one at first sight would discover; so we may in several particular ways Evidence from it our first Proposition, which now we must return to; (viz.) That the form and constitution of the Ante-diluvian Earth was different from that of the present Earth. This may be infered 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 verseis superfluous, and his Inference in the sixthungrounded; you see he premiseth in the fifth verseas the ground of his discourse, what the constitution of the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth was, and then infers from it in the sixthverse, that they therefore perisht 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 Ante-diluvian 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 (verse6.) that the first World perished in a Deluge, or was destroyed by it; this is not to be understood of the Animate world only, Men and living Creatures, but of the Natural world, and the frame of it; for he had described it before by the Heavens and the Earth, which make the Natural world. And the objection of the Atheists, or 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 compared with the perishing of the world in the Conflagration, when the frame of Nature will be dissolved. We must therefore, according to the tenor of the Apostle's arguing, suppose, that the Natural world was destroyed or perisht 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 perisht; and consequently, the present Earth is of another form and frame from what it had before the Deluge; which was the thing to be Evidenced.

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 changed at the Deluge. If they had known or attended to this, they had made no such objection, nor used 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 happened to them in the Deluge; and how the present Heavens and Earth have another constitution, whereby in like manner they are exposed, in God's due time, to be consumed or dissolved by Fire. This is the plain, easie and natural import of the Apostles discourse; thus all the parts of it are coherent, and the sence genuine and apposite, and this is a full confirmation of our first and general assertion, That the Ante-diluvian Earth was of another form from the present Earth. This hath been observed formerly by some of the Ancients from this Text, but that it hath not been generally observed, 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 raised the scruple; tis an answer upon a ground taken, he premiseth and then infers; in the fifthand sixthVerses, concerning the Deluge; and in the seventh, concerning the Conflagration. And when I had discovered 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 designed 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 Evidence 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, mixt 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 easie 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 exteriour parts are broken into all sorts of inequalities, Hills and Dales, Mountains and Valleys; and the plainer tracts of it lie generally inclined or bending one way or other, sometimes upon an easie descent, and other times with a more sensible and uneasie steepiness; 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 covered and enclosed 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 the 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 primigenial Earth which rise 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 Evidenced. And this being Evidenced by the authority both of our Reason and our Religion, we will now proceed to the Second which is more particular.

THE SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH

by Thomas Burnet

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH

Book I

Concerning the Deluge, and the Dissolution of the Earth.

CHAPTER V

The Second Proposition is laid down, viz. Thatthe 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 rise is fully examined, and all its motions observed, 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 observed and celebrated.

WE have seen it Evidenced, in the foregoing Chapter, That the form of the first or Ante-diluvian 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 expressly what it was; that must be our next enquiry, and advancing one step further 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 Elysianfields; if you travel it all over, you will not meet with a Mountain or a Rock, yet well provided of all things requisite 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 Evidence 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 setled 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, covered 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 shaped it, and fed it, in its infancy and growth; added new parts, and still advanced 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 compleat, distinguisht 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 out selves and others this satisfaction, we will first make a short representation of the Chaos, and then shew, how, according to Laws establisht in Nature by the Divine Power and Wisdom, it was wrought by degrees from one form into another, till it setled 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; reduced 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 discerned 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 confused mass as is here represented in this first Scheme.

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 compressed 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.

Fig 1

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 and down separate from one another, as these did, but setled 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.

The liquid mass which encircled the Earth, was not, as I noted before, the meer Element of Water, but a collection of all Liquors that belong to the Earth.

Fig. 2

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 mixt 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 this third Figure.

Fig. 3

Hitherto the changes of the Chaos are easie and unquestionable, and would be dispatcht in a short time; we must now look over again these two great masses of the Airand Water, and consider how their impurities or grosser parts would be disposed 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 concerned 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 remained, 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 unctious substance, they composed a certain slime, or fat, soft, and light Earth, spread upon the face of the Waters; as tis represented in this fourth Figure.

Fig. 4

This thin and tender Orb of Earth increased still more and more, as the little Earthy parts that were detained 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 where 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 rise upon the face of the Chaos. And the whole Globe stood in this posture, as in Fig. the fifth .

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 cleared 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 formed upon the face of the Waters, as we here suppose there was. Tis true, there could be no such Orb of Earth formed there, if the Air was wholly purged of all its Earthy parts before the Mass of liquids began to purifie it self, and to separate the Oily parts from the more heavy: But this is an unreasonable and incredible supposition, if we consider, that the mass of the Air was many thousand times greater than the Water, and would in proportion require a greater time to be purified;

Fig. 5

The particles that were in the Regions of the Air having a long way to come before they reacht 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 finisht before the purgation of the Air began, though we represent them so for distinction sake; Let them begin to purifie at the same time, if you please, these parts rising up-wards, and those falling downwards, they will meet in the middle, and unite and grow into one body, as we have described. And this body or new concretion would be increased daily, being fed and supplied 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 appeared to me at first a real difficulty, till I considered better the great disproportion there is betwixt the Regions of the Air and the Circumference of the Earth, or of that exteriour 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, though these Earthy particles, we speak of, were very thinly dispersed through those vast tracts of the Air, when they came to be collected and amassed 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 covered 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 stopt and heapt 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 increased 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 formed, 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 mixt with a benign Juice, easie and obedient to the action of the Sun, or of what other causes were imployed 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 that 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, 1 both Greeks, Egyptians, Phnicians, and others, have described the primigenial soil, 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 expressed, and I think with advantage, by this draught of the primigenial 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; whereof both 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 Evidence, smooth, regular and uniform, without Mountains, and without a Sea. And the proof we have given of it is very easie; 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 formed 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 enclosed within this exteriour 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, that we cannot, without injury to truth, pass them by in silence. Passages that have such a manifest resemblance and agreement to this form and situation of the Earth, that it is not possible to believe, but that they allude to it, or rather literally express 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 and positive to denote that form of the Earth that we have described, 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 rendered, and is rendered by all, except the English) and laid up the Abysse as in store-houses. We cannot easily imagine any thing more express, or more conformable to that System of the Earth and Sea, which we have proposed here. Yet there is something more express than all this in that remarkable place in the Evidencerbsof Solomon, where Wisdomdeclaring her Antiquity and Existence before the foundation of the Earth, amongst other things, saith; When he prepared the Heavens, I was there: When he drew an Orb over the surface of the Abysse; or when he set an Orb upon the face of the Abysse. We render it in the Englisha Compass, or Circle, but tis more truly rendred an Orb or Sphere; and what Orb or Spherical body was this, which at the formation of the Earth was built and placed round about the Abysse; but that wonderful Arch, whose form and production we have described, encompassing the mass of Waters, which in Scripture is often called the Abysse or Deep? Lastly, this Scheme of the first Earth gives light to that place we mentioned 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 premised, have been taken or interpreted in this sence, yet this Theory being premised, I dare appeal to any unprejudiced person, if they have not a fairer and easier, a more full and more emphatical sence, when applied 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 primal Earth, to have been markt 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, ranged 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 expressed 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 primigenial Earth; the Ancients accordingly made Contentionthe principle that reigned 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 compared with this Theory of the Chaos; which representing every thing plainly, and in its natural colours, is a Key to their thoughts, and in allustration of their obscurer Philosophy, concerning the Original of the World; as we have shewn at large in the LatinTreatise.

Fig. 6

There is another thing in Antiquity, relating to the form and construction of the Earth, which is very remarkable, and hath obtained 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, though 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 Yolka Central fire (which, though 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; those two bodies do very naturally represent one another; as in this Scheme, which represents the Interiour 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 about it; so the Exteriour Region of the Earth (D) is as the Shell of the Egg, and the Abysse (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 sence and Language of all Antiquity, Latins, Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, and others, as we have shewed elsewhere; I thought it worthy our notice in this place; seeing it receives such a clear and easie 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 conserved 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 Evidenced 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 confirmed by Sacred Writers, we may take it now for a well established truth, and proceed upon this supposition, That the Ante-diluvian 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 proposed 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 considered as a particular effect of the Divine Art, than as the work of Nature. The whole Globe of the Water vaulted over, and the Exteriour Earth hanging above the Deep, sustained 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 refered that magnificent challenge which God Almighty made toJob; Where vast 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 described the Chaos, saith, The spirit of God moved upon, or sat brooding upon, the face of the waters; without all doubt to produce some effects there. And S. Peter, when he speaks of the form of the Ante-diluvian Earth, how it stood in reference to the Waters, 1 adds, By the Word of God, or by the Wisdomof God it was made so. And this same Wisdom of God, in the Evidencerbs, 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 1 Mensor Amor, 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. Whereforeto the great Architect, who made the boundless Universe out of nothing, and formed the Earth out of a Chaos, let the praise of the whole Work, and particularly of this Master-piece, for ever with all honour be given.

Footnotes

60:1 λς ωροτος γενς.
63:1 Τ λόγ το Θεο.
64:1 Λόγος & ρως

THE SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH

by Thomas Burnet

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH

Book I

Concerning the Deluge, and the Dissolution of the Earth.

CHAPTER 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 preceeding Chapter we may seem to have given a fair trial 1 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 used 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 further till that be considered; being very willing to examine whatsoever may be offered, 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 show us the naked arm of Omni-potency; 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. Austinhath said upon a like occasion, speaking concerning those that disEvidenced the opinion of waters above the Heavens (which we mentioned 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 Moseshath assigned causes of the Deluge; Forty days Rain, and the disruption of the Abysse; and speaks nothing of a new creation of water upon that occasion. Those were causes in Nature which Providence had then disposed for this extraordinary effect, and those the Divine Historian refers us to, and not to any productions out of nothing. Besides, Mosesmakes 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, retied leisurely from the face of the Earth, and setled at length in their Chanels. 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 St. Peterhath also assigned Causes of the Deluge; namely the particular constitution of the Earth and Heavens before the Flood; "by reason whereof, he saith, the World that was then, perisht 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 anothers dimensions, nor be two or more within one and the same space. Then on the other hand, when the Deluge ceased, 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 acknowledged, that we have so far cleared the way in this controversie, 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 ’tis 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 satisfie 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 show 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 tye this knot with an Intention to puzzle and perplex the Argument finally with it, but the harder it is tyed, 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 changed into water, and that was the great storehouse 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 Abyssewas needless, and the form and constitution of the Ante-diluvian Heavensand Earth, which St. Peterrefers 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 changed into water. And lastly, if the whole Atmosphere was turned 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 changed 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 counterbalance 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 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’t to get rid of this water, when the Deluge was to cease, as they were at first to procure it.

Having now examined 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 ventured 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, confined to Judæa, and those Countries thereabouts; and consequently, there would not be so much water necessary for the cause of it, as we have Evidenced 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 satisfied 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; Mosesrepresents the Flood of Noahas 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 further than Judæa, or some neighbouring Countries thereabouts. After the Flood, when the World was renewed again by eight persons, they had made a far greater progress in Asia, Europeand 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 lived 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 designed 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;

This product is too excessive high, if compared 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 triple proportion, it would have been sufficient (all things considered) for our 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 will 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 forced conceit to imagine, that Judæaonly, and some parts about it in Asia, were stored with people when the Deluge was brought upon the old World. Besides, if the Deluge was confined to those Countries, I do not see but the Borderers might have escaped, shifting a little into the adjoining places where the Deluge did not reach. But especially what needed so much a-do to build an Ark to save Noahand his family, if he might have saved himself, and them, only by retiring into some neighbouring Countrey; as Lotand his family saved 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 pearched 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 would 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 should be no more a Flood to destroy the Earth. And ’tis said, verse13. 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 Judæa, or some other AsiatickProvinces, but to all the Regions of the Earth, who had an equal concern in it. Mosessaith also the Fountains of the great Abysse were burst asunder to make the Deluge, and what means this Abysse and the bursting of it, if restrained to Judæa, or some adjacent Countries? What appearance is there of this disruption there more than in other places? Furthermore, St. Peterplainly implies, that the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth perisht 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 perisht 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 mundanechange, that extended to the whole Earth, and both to the Heavens and the 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 Mosesdescribes, 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 pronounced 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 Mosesaffords us another argument as demonstrative as any, when in the History of the Deluge, he saith, Gen. 7. 19. The waters exceedingly prevailed upon the Earth, and all the high Hills that were under the whole Heavens were covered. All the high Hills, he 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 Asiatickand ArmenianMountains 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 joyn with our Seas that environ the Continent. We cannot imagine Hills and Mountains of water to have hung about Judæa, as if they were congealed, or a mass of water to have stood upon the middle of the Earth like one great drop, or a trembling jelly, and all the places about it dry and untouched. All liquid bodies are diffusive; for their parts being in motion have no tye 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 could swell to the heighth 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 could rise to the tops of the Mountains in any part of it: And the Sea would be all raised to a considerable heighth before the Mountains could be covered. For let's 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 supplied 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 Rhoneruns, should swell to the tops of the Alpeson the one hand, and the Mountains of Switzerlandand Burgundyon 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 heighth 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 through the Earth, and there are Records or Traditions concerning it, in all parts of this and the new-found World. The Americansdo acknowledge and speak of it in their Continent, as Acostawitnesseth, and Laetin their Histories of them. The Chineseshave the Tradition of it, which is the farthest part of our Continent; and the nearer and Western parts of Asiais acknowledged the proper seat of it. Not to mention Deucalion's Deluge in the European parts, which no question is 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 destroyed by that Deluge. In the old dispute between the Scythiansand the Ægyptiansfor Antiquity, which Justinmentions, they refer to a former destruction of the World by Water or Fire, and argue whether Nation first rise again, and was original to the other. So the Babylonians, Assyrians, Phœniciansand others, mention the Deluge in their stories. And we cannot without offering violence to all Records and Authority, Divine and Humane, 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 described, 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 lookt 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 tryed all ways offered by others, and found them ineffectual, let us now apply our selves by degrees to unty 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 discharged. The first thought that came into my mind upon that occasion, was concerning the form of the Earth, which I thought might possibly at that time be different from what it is at present, and might come nearer to plainness and equality in the surface of it, and so might the more easily be overflowed, and the Deluge performed with less water. This opinion concerning the plainness of the first Earth, I also found in Antiquity, mentioned and refered 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 this 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 would 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 disposed of when the Deluge ceased? or how could it ever cease? Besides, what means the disruption of the great Deep, or the great Abysse, 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 Abysse. Therefore I saw it necessary, to my first thought, concerning the smoothness and plainness of the Ante-diluvian Earth, to add a second, concerning the disruption and dissolution of it; for as it often happens in Earthquakes, when the exteriour 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 Abysse 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 observed by several, from the contemplation of Mountains and Rocks and Precipices, of the Chanel of the Sea, and of Islands, and of Subterraneous Caverns, that the surface of the Earth, or the exteriour 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 ruine; and by their present form and posture show, 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 argued and concluded some general rupture or ruine in the superficial parts of the Earth. But this ruine, it is true, they have imagined and explained several ways, some thinking that it was made the third dayafter the foundation of the Earth; when they suppose the Chanel of the Sea to have been formed, 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 show at large hereafter, when we have proposed 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 exteriour Earth; for in all Ages the face of Nature hath provoked men to think of and observe such a thing. And who can do otherwise, to see the Elements displaced and disordered, 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 reared into the Air, and the water creeping at its feet; whereas this is the more light and active body, and by the law of Nature 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 produced 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 ruines more or less, especially when the parts of the ruines are great and inflexible. Then what can have more the figure and mien of a ruine, 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 scattered near the feet of the other, whether in the Sea, or upon the Land, are they not manifest fragments, and pieces of those greater masses? Besides, the posture of these Rocks, which is often leaning or recumbent, or prostrate, shows 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 Tracts 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 inclined 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. 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 ruine and dissolution; which we shall shew you, in its due place, happened in such a way, that at the same time a general Flood of waters would 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 produced 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 returned into their Chanels again, and left the Earth habitable; and likewise to shew it how the Mountains were brought forth, and the Chanel of the Sea discover'd: Flow 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 prepared, and all things ready to represent and explain what we have proposed. Yet I hope in the mean time to entertain the mind with scenes no less pleasing, though of quite another face and order: for we must now return to the beginning of the World, and look upon the first rudiments of 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 now 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 steddy 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 Abysse, 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 Evidence 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 Chanel 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 preceeding Theory, and some reflections are made upon the state of the other Planets compared with the Earth. And lastly, what accounts soever have been given by others of the present form and irregularities of the Earth, are examined and shewed insufficient. And this seemeth to be all that is requisite upon this subject.