THE SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH

by Thomas Burnet

Book 3

Concerning the Conflagration.

CHAPTER IX

How the Sea will be diminished and consumed. How the Rocks and Mountains will be thrown down and melted, and the whole exteriour frame of the Earth dissolved into a Deluge of Fire.

WE have now taken a view of the Causes of the Conflagration, both ordinary and extraordinary: It remains to consider the manner of it; How these Causes will operate, and bring to pass an effect so great and so prodigious. We took notice before that the grand obstruction would be from the Sea, and from the Mountains; we must therefore take these to task in the first place; and if we can remove them out of our way, or overcome what resistance and opposition they are capable to make, the rest of the work will not be uneasie to us.

The Ocean indeed is a vast Body of Waters; and we must use all our art and skill to dry it up, or consume it in a good measure, before we can compass our design. I remember the advice a Philosopher gave AmasisKing of Egypt, when he had a command sent him from the King of Æthiopia, That he should drink up the Sea. Amasisbeing very anxious and solicitous what answer he should make to this strange command, the Philosopher Bias advised him to make this round answer to the King; That he was ready to perform his command and to drink up the Sea, provided he would stop the rivers from flowing into his cup while he was drinking. This answer baffled the King, for he could not stop the rivers; but this we must do, or we shall never be able to drink up the Sea, or burn up the Earth.

Neither will this be so impossible as it seems at first sight, if we reflect upon those preparations we have made towards it, by a general drought all over the Earth. This we suppose will precede the Conflagration, and by drying up the Fountains and Rivers, which daily feed the Sea, will by degrees starve that Monster, or reduce it to such a degree of weakness, that it shall not be able to make any great resistance. More than half an Ocean of Water flows into the Sea every day, from the Rivers of the Earth, if you take them all together. This I speak upon a moderate computation. Aristotlesays the Rivers carry more water into the Sea, in the space of a year, than would equal in bulk the whole Globe of the Earth. Nay some have ventured to affirm this of one single River, The Volga, that runs into the CaspianSea. ’Tis a great River indeed, and hath seventy mouths; and so it had need have, to disgorge a mass of Water equal to the Body of the Earth, in a years time. But we need not take such high measures; There are at least an hundred great Rivers that flow into the Sea, from several parts of the Earth, Islands and Continents, besides several thousands of lesser ones; Let us suppose these, all together, to pour as much water into the Sea-chanel, every day, as is equal to half the Ocean. And we shall be easily convinced of the reasonableness of this supposition, if we do but examine the daily expence of one River, and by that make an estimate of the rest. This we find calculated to our hands in the River Poin Italy; a River of much what the same bigness with our Thames, and disburthens it self into the Gulph of Venice. Baptista Riccioli, hath computed how much water this River discharges in an hour, viz. 18000000 cubical paces of Water, and consequently 432000000 in a day; which is scarce credible to those that do not distinctly compute it. Suppose then an hundred Rivers as great as this or greater, to fall into the Sea from the land; besides thousands of lesser, that pay their tribute at the same time into the great Receit of the Ocean; These all taken together, are capable to renew the Sea every twice four and twenty hours. Which suppositions being admitted, if by a great and lasting drought these Rivers were dryed up, or the Fountains from whence they flow, what would then become of that vast Ocean, that before was so formidable to us?

’Tis likely you will say, These great Rivers cannot be dryed up, tho’ the little ones may; and therefore we must not suppose such an Universal stop of waters, or that they will all fail, by any drought whatsoever. But great Rivers being made up of little ones, if these fail, those must be diminished, if not quite drained and exhausted. It may be all Fountains and Springs do not proceed from the same causes, or the same original; and some are much more copious than others; for such differences we will allow what is due; but still the driness of the Air and of the Earth continuing, and all the sources and supplies of moisture, both from above and from below, being lessened or wholly discontinued, a general decay of all Fountains and Rivers must necessarily follow, and consequently of the Sea, and of its fulness that depends upon them. And that's enough for our present purpose.

The first step therefore towards the Consumption of the Ocean will be the diminution or suspension of the Rivers that run into it. The next will be an Evacuation by Subterraneous passages; And the last, by Eruptions of fires in the very Chanel of it, and in the midst of the waters. As for Subterraneous evacuations, we cannot doubt but that the Sea hath out-lets (sic.)at the bottom of it; whereby it discharges that vast quantity of water that flows into it every day, and that could not be discharged so fast as it comes from the wide mouths of the Rivers, by percolation or straining thorough the Sands. Seas also communicate with one another by these internal passages; as is manifest from those particular Seas that have no external outlet or issue, tho’ they receive into them many great Rivers, and sometimes the influx of other Seas. So the CaspianSea receives not onely Volga, which we mentioned before, but several other Rivers, and yet hath no visible issue for its waters. The MediterraneanSea, besides all the Rivers it receives, hath a current flowing into it, at either end, from other Seas; from the AtlantickOcean at the streights of Gibraltar, and from the Black Sea, above Constantinople:and yet there is no passage above-ground, or visible derivation of the Mediterraneanwaters out of their Chanel; which seeing they do not over-fill, nor overflow the Banks, ’tis certain they must have some secret conveyances into the bowels of the Earth, or subterraneous communication with other Seas. Lastly, from the Whirl-pools of the Sea, that suck in Bodies that come within their reach, it seems plainly to appear, by that attraction and absorption, that there is a descent of waters in those places.

Wherefore when the current of the Rivers into the Sea is stopt, or in a great measure diminished; The Sea continuing to empty it self by these subterraneous passages, and having little or none of those supplies that it used to have from the Land, it must needs be sensibly lessened; and both contract its Chanel into a narrower compass, and also have less depth in the waters that remain. And in this last place, we must expect fiery eruptions in several parts of the Sea-chanel, which will help to suck up or evaporate the remaining waters. In the present state of Nature there have been several instances of such eruptions of fire from the bottom of the Sea; and in that last state of Nature, when Earthquakes and Eruptions will be more frequent every where, we must expect them also more frequently by Sea, as well as by Land. ’Tis true, neither Earthquakes nor Eruptions can happen in the middle of the Great Ocean, or in the deepest Abyss, because there are no cavities, or mines below it, for the vapours and exhalations to lodge in; But ’tis not much of the Sea-chanel that is so deep, and in other parts, especially in streights and near Islands, such Eruptions, like Sea-Volcano's, have frequently happened, and new Islands have been made by such fiery matter thrown up from the bottom of the Sea. Thus, they say, those Islands in the Mediterranean called the VulcanianIslands, had their original; being matter cast up from the bottom of the Sea, by the force of fire; as new Mountains sometimes are raised upon the Earth. Another Island in the Archipelagohad the same original, whereof Strabogives an account. The flames, he says, sprung up thorough the waters, four days together, so as the whole Sea was hot and burning; and they raised by degrees, as with Engines, a mass of Earth, which made a new Island, twelve furlongs in compass. And in the same Archipelago, flames and smoak have several times (particularly in the year 1650) rise out of the Sea, and filled the Air with sulphureous scents and vapours. In like manner, in the Island of St. Michel, one of the Tercera's, there have been, of later years, such eructations of fire and flames; so strong and violent, that, at the depth of an hundred and sixty fathoms, they forced their way through the midst of the waters, from the bottom of the Sea into the open Air. As has been related by those that were eye-witnesses.

In these three ways, I conceive, the great force of the Sea will be broken, and the mighty Ocean reduced to a standing Pool of putrid waters, without vent and without recruits. But there will still remain in the midst of the Chanel a great mass of troubled liquors, like dregs in the bottom of the vessel; which will not be drunk up till the Earth be all on fire, and torrents of melted and sulphureous matter flow from the Land, and mingle with this Dead Sea. But let us now leave the Sea in this humble posture, and go on to attack the Rocks and Mountains which stand next in our way.

See how scornfully they look down upon us, and bid defiance to all the Elements. They have born the thunder and lightning of Heaven, and all the artillery of the Skies, for innumerable Ages; and do not fear the crackling of thorns and of shrubs that burn at their feet. Let the Towns and Cities of the Earth, say they, be laid in ashes; Let the Woods and Forests blaze away; and the fat Soyl of the Earth fry in its own grease; These things will not affect us; We can stand naked in the midst of a Sea of fire, with our roots as deep as the foundations of the Earth, and our heads above the Clouds of the Air. Thus they proudly defie Nature; and it must be confect, that these, being, as it were, the Bones of the Earth, when the Body is burning, will be the last consumed; And I am apt to think, if they could keep in the same posture they stand in now, and preserve themselves from falling, the fire could never get an entire power over them. But Mountains are generally hollow, and that makes them subject to a double casualty; first, of Earth-quakes, secondly, of having their roots eaten away by water or by fire; but by fire especially in this case: for we suppose there will be innumerable subterraneous fires smothering under ground, before the general fire breaks out; and these by corroding the bowels of the Earth, will make it more hollow and more ruinous; And when the Earth is so far dissolved, that the cavities within the Mountains are filled with Lakes of fire, then the Mountains will sink, and fall into those boyling Caldrons; which, in time, will dissolve them, tho’ they were as hard as Adamant.

To conclude this point, the Mountains will all be brought low, in that state of nature, either by Earthquakes or subterraneous fires;Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. Which will be literally true at the second coming of our Saviour, as it was figuratively applyed to his first coming. Now, being once leveled with the rest of the Earth, the question will onely be, how they shall be dissolved. But there is no Terrestrial Body indissolvable to Fire, if it have a due strength and continuance; and this last fire will have both, in the highest degrees; So that it cannot but be capable of dissolving all Elementary compositions, how hard or solid soever they be.

’Tis true, these Mountains and Rocks, as I said before, will have the priviledge to be the last destroyed. These, with the deep parts of the Sea, and the Polar regions of the Earth, will undergo a slower fate, and be consumed more leisurely. The action of the last Fire may be distinguished into two Times, or two assaults; The first assault will carry off all Mankind, and all the works of the Earth that are easily combustible, and this will be done with a quick and sudden motion. But the second assault, being employed about the consumption of such Bodies or such Materials as are not so easily subjected to fire, will be of long continuance, and the work of some years. And ’tis fit it should be so; that this Flaming World may be viewed and considered by the neighbouring Worlds about it, as a dreadful spectacle, and monument of God's wrath against disloyal and disobedient Creatures. That by this example, now before their eyes, they may think of their own fate, and what may befal them, as well as another Planet of the same Elements and composition.

Thus much for the Rocks and Mountains; which, you see, according to our Hypothesis, will be leveled, and the whole face of the Earth reduced to plainness and equality; nay, which is more, melted and dissolved into a Sea of liquid Fire. And because this may seem a Paradox, being more than is usually supposed, or taken notice of, in the doctrine of the Conflagration, it will not be improper in this place to give an account, wherein our Idea of the Conflagration and its effects, differs from the common opinion and the usual representation of it. ’Tis commonly supposed, that the Conflagration of the World is like the burning of a City, where the Walls and materials of the Houses are not melted down, but scorched, inflamed, demolished, and made unhabitable. So they think in the Burning of the World; such Bodies, or such parts of Nature, as are fit Fewel for the Fire, will be inflamed, and, it may be, consumed, or reduced to smoak and ashes; But other Bodies that are not capable of Inflammation, will only be scorched and defaced, the beauty and furniture of the Earth spoiled, and by that means, say they, it will be laid wast and become unhabitable. This seems to me a very short and imperfect Idea of the Conflagration; neither agreeable to Scripture, nor to the deductions that may be made from Scripture. We therefore suppose that this is but half the work, this destroying of the outward garniture of the Earth is but the first onset, and that the Conflagration will end in a Dissolution and liquefaction of the Elements and all the exteriour region of the Earth; so as to become a true Deluge of Fire, or a Sea of Fire overspreading the whole Globe of the Earth. This state of the Conflagration I think may be plainly Evidenced, partly by the expressions of Scripture concerning it, and partly from the Renovationof the Earth that is to follow upon it. St. Peter, who is our chief Guide in the doctrine of the Conflagration, says, The Elements will be melted with fervent heat; besides burning up the works of the Earth. Then adds, Seeing all these things shall be dissolved, &c. These terms of Liquefactionand Dissolutioncannot, without violence, be restrained to simple devastation and superficial scorching. Such expressions carry the work a great deal further, even to that full sence which we propose. Besides, the Prophets often speak of the melting of the Earth, or of the hills and mountains, at the presence of the Lord, in the day of his wrath. And St. John(Apoc. is. 2.) tells us of a Sea of Glass, mingled with Fire; where the Saints stood, singing the song of Moses, and triumphing over their enemies, the Spiritual Pharaohand his host, that were swallowed up in it. That Sea of Glassmust be a Sea of moltenglass; it must be fluid, not solid, if a Sea; neither can a solid substance be said to be mingled with Fire, as this was. And to this answers the Lake of fire and brimstone, which the Beast and false Prophet were thrown into alive, Apoc. 19. 20. These all refer to the end of the World and the last Fire, and also plainly imply, or express rather, that state of Liquefaction which we suppose and assert.

Furthermore, The Renovationof the World, or The New Heavensand New Earth, which St. Peter, out of the Prophets, tells us shall spring out of these that are burnt and dissolved, do suppose this Earth reduced into a fluid Chaos, that it may lay a foundation for a second World. If you take such a Skeleton of an Earth, as your scorching Fire would leave behind it; where the flesh is torn from the bones, and the Rocks and Mountains stand naked and staring upon you; the Sea, half empty, gaping at the Sun, and the Cities all in ruines and in rubbish; How would you raise a New World from this? and a World fit to be an habitation for the Righteous; for so St. Petermakes that to be, which is to succeed after the Conflagration. And a World also without a Sea, so St. John describes the New Earth he saw. As these characters do not agree to the present Earth, so neither would they agree to your Future one; for if that dead lump could revive and become habitable again, it would however retain all the imperfections of the former Earth, besides some scars and deformities of its own. Wherefore if you would cast the Earth into a new and better mould, you must first melt it down; and the last Fire, being as a Refiner's fire, will make an imEvidencement in it, both as to matter and form. To conclude, it must be reduced into a fluid Mass, in the nature of a Chaos, as it was at first; but this last will be a Fiery Chaos, as that was Watery; and from this state it will emerge again into a Paradisiacal World. But this being the Subject of the following Book, we will discourse no more of it in this place.

THE SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH

by Thomas Burnet

Book 3

Concerning the Conflagration.

CHAPTER VIII

Some new dispositions towards the Conflagration, as to the matter, form, and situation of the Earth. Concerning miraculous Causes, and how far the ministery of Angels may be engaged in this Work.

WE have given an account, in the preceding Chapter, of the ordinary preparations of Nature for a general fire; We now are to give an account of the extraordinary, or of any new dispositions, which towards the end of the World, may be superadded to the ordinary state of Nature. I do not, by these, mean things openly miraculous and supernatural, but such a change wrought in Nature as shall still have the face of Natural Causes, and yet have a greater tendency to the Conflagration. As for example, suppose a great Drought, as we noted before, to precede this fate, or a general heat and dryness of the air and of the Earth; because this happens sometimes in a course of Nature, it will not be lookt upon as prodigious. ’Tis true, some of the Ancients speak of a Drought of Forty Years, that will be a forerunner of the Conflagration, so that there will not be a watery Cloud, nor a Rainbow seen in the Heavens, for so long time. And this they impute to Elias, who, at his coming, will stop the Rain and shut up the Heavens, to make way for the last Fire. But these are excessive and ill-grounded suppositions, for half forty years drought will bring an universal sterility upon the Earth, and thereupon an universal Famine, with innumerable diseases; so that all mankind would be destroyed before the Conflagration could overtake them.

But we will readily admit an extraordinary drought and desiccation of all bodies to usher in this great fatality. And therefore whatsoever we read in Natural History concerning former droughts, of their drying up fountains and rivers, parching the Earth and making the outward Turf take fire in several places; filling the air with fiery impressions, making the Woods and Forests ready fewel, and sometimes to kindle by the heat of the Sun or a flash of Lightning: These and what other effects have come to pass in former droughts, may come to pass again; and that in an higher measure, and so as to be of more general extent. And we must also allow, that by this means, a great degree of inflammability, or easiness to be set on Fire, will be superinduced, both into the body of the Earth, and of all things that grow upon it. The heat of the Sun will pierce deeper into its bowels, when it gapes to receive his beams, and by chinks and widened pores makes way for their passage to its very heart. And, on the other hand, it is not improbable, but that upon this general relaxation and incalescency of the Body of the Earth, the Central Firemay have a freer efflux, and diffuse it self in greater abundance every way; so as to affect even these exteriour regions of the Earth, so far, as to make them still more catching and more combustible.

From this external and internal heat acting upon the Body of the Earth, all Minerals that have the feeds of fire in them, will be opened, and exhale their effluvium's more copiously: As Spices, when warmed, are more odoriferous, and fill the Air with their perfumes; so the particles of fire, that are shut up in several bodies, will easily flie abroad, when by a further degree of relaxation you shake off their chains, and open the Prison-doors. We cannot doubt, but there are many sorts of Minerals, and many sorts of Fire-stones, and of Trees and Vegetables of this nature, which will sweat out their oily and sulphureous atomes, when by a general heat and driness their parts are loosened and agitated.

We have no experience that will reach so far, as to give us a full account what the state of Nature will be at that time; I mean, after this drought, towards the end of the world; But we may help our imagination, by comparing it with other seasons and temperaments of the Air. As therefore in the Spring the Earth is fragrant, and the Fields and Gardens are filled with the sweet breathings of Herbs and Flowers; especially after a gentle rain, when their Bodies are softened, and the warmth of the Sun makes them evaporate more freely; So a greater degree of heat acting upon all the bodies of the Earth, like a stronger fire in the Alembick, will extract another sort of parts or particles, more deeply incorporated and more difficult to be disintangled; I mean oily parts, and such undiscovered parcels of fire, as lie fixed and imprisoned in hard bodies. These, I imagine, will be in a great measure set a-float, or drawn out into the Air, which will abound with hot and dry Exhalations, more than with vapours and moisture in a wet season; and by this means, all Elements and elementary Bodies will stand ready, and in a proximate disposition to be inflamed.

Thus much concerning the last drought, and the general effects of it. In the next place, we must consider the Earthquakes that will precede the Conflagration, and the consequences of them. I noted before, that the cavernous and broken construction of the present Earth, was that which made it obnoxious to be destroyed by fire; as its former construction over the Abyss, made it obnoxious to be destroyed with Water. This hollowness of the Earth is most sensible in mountainous and hilly Countreys, which therefore I look upon as most subject to burning; but the plain Countreys may also be made hollow and hilly by Earthquakes; when the vapours not finding an easie vent, raise the ground and make a forcible eruption, as at the springing of a Mine. And tho’ plain Countreys are not so subject to Earthquakes as mountainous, because they have not so many cavities and subterraneous vaults to lodge the vapours in; yet every Region hath more or less of them: And after this drought, the vacuities of the Earth being every where enlarged, the quantity of exhalations much increased, and the motion of them more strong and violent, they will have their effects in many places where they never had any before. Yet I do not suppose that this will raise new ridges of Mountains, like the Alpesor Pyreneans, in those Countreys that are now plain, but that they will break and loosen the ground, make greater inequalities in the surface, and greater cavities within, than what are at present in those places; And by this means, the fire will creep under them, and find a passage thorough them, with more ease, than if they were compact, and every where continued and unbroken.

But you will say, it may be, how does it appear, that there will be more frequent Earth-quakes towards the end of the World? If this precedent drought be admitted, ’tis plain that fiery exhalations will abound every where within the Earth, and will have a greater agitation than ordinary; and these being the causes of Earthquakes, when they are rarified or inflamed, ’tis reasonable to suppose that in such a state of nature, they will more frequently happen, than at other times. Besides, Earthquakes are taken notice of in Scripture, as signs and forerunners of the last day, as they usually are of all great changes and calamities. The destruction of Jerusalemwas a type of the destruction of the World, and the Evangelists aways mention Earthquakes amongst the ominous Prodigies that were to attend it. But these Earthquakes we are speaking of at present, are but the beginnings of sorrow, and not to be compared with those that will follow afterwards, when Nature is convulst in her last agony, just as the flames are seizing on her. Of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

These changes will happen as to the matterand formof the Earth, before it is attack’t by the last fire; There will be also another change as to the situationof it; for that will be rectified, and the Earth restored to the posture it had at first, namely, of a right aspect and conversion to the Sun. But because I cannot determine at what time this restitution will be, whether at the beginning, middle, or end of the Conflagration, I will not presume to lay any stress upon it. Platoseems to have imputed the Conflagration to this only; which is so far true, that the Revolution called The Great Year, is this very Revolution, or the Return of the Earth and the Heavens to their first posture. But tho’ this may be contemporary with the last fire, or some way concomitant; yet it does not follow that it is the cause of it, much less the onely cause. It may be an occasion of making the fire reach more easily towards the Poles, when by this change of situation, their long Nights and long Winters shall be taken away.

These new dispositions in our Earth which we expect before that great day, may be looked upon as extraordinary, but not as miraculous, because they may proceed from natural causes. But now in the last place, we are to consider miraculous causes: What influence they may have, or what part they may bear, in this great revolution of nature. By miraculouscauses we understand either God's immediate omnipotency, or the Ministery of Angels; And what may be performed by the latter, is very improperly and undecently thrown upon the former. ’Tis a great step to Omnipotency: and ’tis hard to define what miracles, on this side Creation, require an infinite power. We are sure that the Angels are ministring Spirits, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand about the Throne of the Almighty, to receive his commands and execute his judgments. That perfect knowledge they have of the powers of nature, and of conducting those powers to the best advantage, by adjusting causes in a fit subordination one to another, makes them capable of performing, not onely things far above our force, but even above our imagination. Besides, they have a radical inherent power, belonging to the excellency of their nature, of determining the motions of matter, within a far greater sphere than humane Souls can pretend to. We can onely command our spirits, and determine their motions within the compass of our own Bodies; but their activity and empire is of far greater extent, and the out-ward World is much more subject to their dominion than to ours. From these considerations it is reasonable to conclude, that the generality of miracles may be and are performed by Angels; It being less decorous to employ a Sovereign power, where a subaltern is sufficient, and when we hastily cast things upon God, for quick dispatch, we consult our own ease more than the honour of our Maker.

I take it for granted here, that what is done by an Angelical hand, is truly providential, and of divine administration; and also justly bears the character of a miracle. Whatsoever may be done by pure material causes, or humane strength, we account Natural; and whatsoever is above these we call supernatural and miraculous. Now what is supernatural and miraculous is either the effect of an Angelical power, or of a Sovereign and Infinite power. And we ought not to confound these two, no more than Natural and Supernatural; for there is a greater difference betwixt the highest Angelical power and Omnipotency, than betwixt an Humane power and Angelical. Therefore as the first Rule concerning miracles is this, That we must not flie to miracles, where Man and Nature are sufficient; so the second Rule is this, that we must not flie to a sovereign infinite power, where an Angelical is sufficient. And the reason in both Rules is the same, namely, because it argues a defect of Wisdom in all Oeconomies to employ more and greater means than are sufficient.

Now to make application of this to our present purpose, I think it reasonable, and also sufficient, to admit the ministery of Angels in the future Conflagration of the World. If Nature will not lay violent hands upon her self, or is not sufficient to work her own destruction, Let us allow Destroying Angelsto interest themselves in the work, as the Executioners of the Divine Justice and Vengeance upon a degenerate World. We have examples of this so frequently in Sacred History, how the Angels have executed God's judgments upon a Nation or a People, that it cannot seem new or strange, that in this last judgment, which by all the Prophets is represented as the Great Day of the Lord, the day of his Wrath and of his Fury, the same Angels should bear their parts, and conclude the last scene of that Tragedy which they had acted in all along. We read of the Destroying Angelin Ægypt; of Angels that presided at the destruction of Sodom, which was a Type of the future destruction of the World, (Jude7.) and of Angels that will accompany our Saviour when he comes in flames of Fire: Not, we suppose, to be Spectators only, but Actors and Superintendents in this great Catastrophe.

This ministery of Angels may be either in ordering and conducting such Natural Causes as we have already given an account of, or in adding new ones, if occasion be; I mean, encreasing the quantity of Fire, or of fiery materials, in and about the Earth. So as that Element shall be more abundant and more pre-dominant, and overbear all opposition that either Water, or any other Body, can make against it. It is not material whether of these two Suppositions we follow, provided we allow that the Conflagration is a work of Providence, and not a pure Natural Fatality. If it be necessary that there should be an augmentation made of Fiery Matter, ’tis not hard to conceive how that may be done, either from the Heavens or from the Earth. The Prophets sometimes speak of multiplying or strengthning the Light of the Sun, and it may as easily be conceived of his heat as of his light; as if the Vial that was to be poured upon it, and gave it a power to scorch men with fire, had something of a Natural sence as well as Moral. But there is another stream of Ethereal matter that flows from the Heavens, and recruits the Central Fire with continual supplies; This may be encreased and strengthned, and its effects conveyed throughout the whole Body of the Earth.

But if an augmentation is to be made of Terrestrial Fire, or of such terrestrial principles as contain it most, as Sulphur, Oyl, and such like, I am apt to believe, these will encrease of their own accord, upon a general drought and desiccation of the Earth. For I am far from the opinion of some Chymists, that think these principles immutable, and incapable of diminution or augmentation. I willingly admit that all such particles may be broken and disfigured, and thereby lose their proper and specifick virtue, and new ones may be generated to supply the places of the former. Which supplies, or new productions being made in a less or greater measure, according to the general dispositions of Nature; when Nature is heightned into a kind of Feaver and Ebullition of all her juices and humours, as she will be at that time, we must expect that more parts than ordinary, should be made inflammable, and those that are inflamed should become more violent. Under these circumstances, when all Causes lean that way, a little help from a superiour power will have a great effect, and make a great change in the state of the World. And as to the power of Angels, I am of opinion that it is very great as to the Changes and Modifications of Natural Bodies; that they can dissolve a Marble as easily as we can crumble Earth and Moulds, or fix any liquor, in a moment, into a substance as hard as Crystal. That they can either make flames more vehement and irresistible to all sorts of Bodies; or as harmless as Lambent Fires, and as soft as Oyl. We see an instance of this last, in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery Furnace, where the three Children walked unconcerned in the midst of the Flames, under the charge and protection of an Angel. And the same Angel, if he had pleased, could have made the same Furnace seven times hotter than the wrath of the Tyrant had made it.

We will therefore leave it to their ministery to manage this great Furnace, when the Heavens and the Earth are on Fire. To conserve, encrease, direct, or temper the flames, according to instructions given them, as they are to be Tutelary or Destroying. Neither let any body think it a diminution of Providence to put things into the hands of Angels; ’Tis the true rule and method of it; For to employ an Almighty power where it is not necessary, is to debase it, and give it a task fit for lower Beings. Some think it devotion and piety to have recourse immediately to the arm of God to salve all things; This may be done sometimes with a good intention, but commonly with little judgment. God is as jealous of the glory of his Wisdom, as of his Power; and Wisdom consists in the conduct and subordination of several causes to bring our purposes to effect; but what is dispatched by an immediate Supreme Power, leaves no room for the exercise of Wisdom. To conclude this point, which I have touched upon more than once, We must not be partial to any of God's Attributes, and Providence being a complexion of many, Power, Wisdom, Justice, and Goodness, when we give due place and honour to all these, then we most honour DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

THE SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH

by Thomas Burnet

Book 3

Concerning the Conflagration.

CHAPTER VII

The true bounds of the Last Fire, and how far it is fatal. The natural Causes and Materials of it, cast into three ranks: First, such as are exteriour and visible upon the Earth; where the Volcano's of the Earth, and their effects, are considered. Secondly, such materials as are within the Earth. Thirdly, such as are in the Air.

ik S we have, in the preceding Chapter, laid aside those Causes of the Conflagration, which we thought too great and cumbersome; so now we must, in like manner, examine the Effect, and reduce that to its just measures and proportions; that there may be nothing left superfluous on either side: Then, by comparing the real powers with the work they are to do, both being stated within their due bounds, we may the better judge how they are proportioned to one another.

We noted before, that the Conflagration had nothing to do with the Stars and superiour Heavens, but was wholly confined to this Sublunary World. And this Deluge of Fire will have much what the same bounds, that the Deluge of Water had formerly. This is according to St. Peter's doctrine, for he makes the same parts of the Universe to be the subject of both: namely, the inferiour Heavens and the Earth. The Heavens and the Earth which were then, perished in a Deluge of Water: But the Heavens and the Earth that are now, are reserved to fire. The present Heavens and Earth are substituted in the place of those that perished at the Deluge, and these are to be over-run and destroyed by fire, as those were by water. So that the Apostle takes the same Regions, and the same space and compass for the one as for the other, and makes their fate different according to their different constitution, and the different order of Providence. This is the sence St. Austingives us of the Apostle's words, and these are the bounds he sets to the last Fire; whereof a modern Commentator is so well assured, that he says, They neither understand Divinity, nor Philosophy, that would make the Conflagration reach above the Elementary Heavens.

Let these be then its limits upwards, the Clouds, Air, and Atmosphere of the Earth. But the question seems more doubtful, Howfar it will extend downwards, into the bowels of the Earth. I answer still, to the same depth that the Waters of the Deluge reach'd: To the lowest Abysses and the deepest Caverns within the ground. And seeing no Caverns are deeper or lower, at least according to our Theory, than the bottom of the great Ocean, to that depth, I suppose, the rage of this fire will penetrate, and devour all before it. And therefore we must not imagine, that onely the outward turf and habitable surface of the Earth will be put into a flame and laid wart; the whole exteriour region of the Earth, to the depth of the deepest part of the Sea, will suffer in this fire; and suffer to that degree, as to be melted down, and the frame of it dissolved. For we are not to conceive that the Earth will be onely scorcht or charkt in the last fire, there will be a sort of liquefaction and dissolution; It will become a molten Sea mingled with fire, according to the expression of Scripture. And this dissolution may reasonably be supposed to reach as low as the Earth hath any hollownesses, or can give vent to smoak and flame.

Wherefore taking these for the bounds and limits of the last great fire, the next thing to be enquired into, are the Natural Causesof it. How this strange fate will seize upon the Sublunary World, and with an irresistible fury subdue all things to it self. But when I say Natural Causes, I would not be so understood, as if I thought the Conflagration was a pure Natural Fatality, as the Stoicksseem to do. No, ’tis a mixt Fatality; The Causes indeed are natural, but the administration of them is from an higher hand. Fire is the Instrument, or the executive power, and hath no more force given it, than what it hath naturally; but the concurrence of these causes, or of these fiery powers, at such a time, and in such a manner, and the conduct of them to carry on and compleat the whole work without cessation or interruption, that I look upon as more than what material Nature could effect of it self, or than could be brought to pass by such a government of matter, as is the bare result of its own laws and determinations. When a Ship sails gently before the wind, the Mariners may stand idle; but to guide her in a storm, all hands must be at work. There are rules and measures to be observed, even in these tumults and desolations of Nature, in destroying a World, as well as in making one, and therefore in both it is reasonable to suppose a more than ordinary Providence to superintend the work. Let us not therefore be too positive or presumptuous in our conjectures about these things, for if there be an invisible hand, Divine or Angelical, that touches the Springs and Wheels; it will not be easie for us to determine, with certainty, the order of their motions. However, ’tis our duty to search into the ways and works of God, as far as we can: And we may without offence look into the Magazines of Nature, see what provisions are made, and what preparations for this great Day; and in what method ’tis most likely the design will be executed.

But before we proceed to mark out Materials for this fire, give me leave to observe one condition or property in the Form of this present Earth, that makes it capable of inflammation. ’Tis the manner of its construction, in an hollow cavernous form; By reason whereof, containing much Air in its cavities, and having many inlets and outlets, ’tis in most places capable of ventilation, pervious and passable to the winds, and consequently to the fire. Those that have read the former part of this Theory, know how the Earth came into this hallow and broken form, from what causes and at what time; namely, at the Universal Deluge; when there was a disruption of the exteriour Earth that fell into the Abyss, and so, for a time, was overflowed with water. These Ruines recovered from the water, we inhabit, and these Ruines onely will be burnt up; For being not onely unequal in their Surface, but also hollow, loose, and incompact within, as ruines use to be, they are made thereby capable of a second fate, by inflammation. Thereby, I say they are made combustible; for if the exteriour Regions of this Earth were as close and compact in all their parts, as we have reason to believe the interiour Regions of it to be, the Fire could have little power over it, nor ever reduce it to such a state as is required in a compleat Conflagration, such as ours is to be.

This being admitted, that the Exteriour region of the Earth stands hollow, as a well set fire, to receive Air freely into its parts, and hath issues for smoke and flame: It remains to enquire what fewel or materials Nature hath fitted to kindle this Pile, and to continue it on fire till it be consumed; or, in plain words, What are the natural causes and preparatives for a Conflagration. The first and most obvious preparations that we see in nature for this effect, are the Burning Mountainsor Volcano's of the Earth. These are lesser Essays or preludes to the general fire; set on purpose by Providence to keep us awake, and to mind us continually, and forewarn us of what we are to expect at last. The Earth you see is already kindled, blow but the Coal, and propagate the fire, and the work will go on.Tophet is prepared of old, and when the Day of Doom is come, and the Date of the World expired, the breath of the Lordshall make it burn.

But besides these Burning Mountains, there are Lakes of pitch and brimstone and oily Liquors disperst in several parts of the Earth. These are to enrage the fire as it goes, and to fortifie it against any resistance or opposition. Then all the vegetable productions upon the Surface of the Earth, as Trees, shrubs, grass, corn, and such like; Every thing that grows out of the ground, is fewel for the fire; And tho’ they are now accommodated to our use and service, they will then turn all against us; and with a mighty blaze, and rapid course, make a devastation of the outward furniture of the Earth, whether natural or artificial. But these things deserve some further consideration, especially that strange Phænomenon of the Volcano'sor Burning Mountains, which we will now consider more particularly.

There is nothing certainly more terrible in all Nature than Fiery Mountains, to those that live within the view or noise of them; but it is not easie for us, who never see them nor heard them, to represent them to our selves with such just and lively imaginations as shall excite in us the same passions, and the same horrour as they would excite, if present to our senses. The time of their eruption and of their raging, is, of all others, the most dreadful; but, many times, before their eruption, the symptomes of an approaching fit are very frightful to the People. The Mountain begins to roar and bellow in its hollow caverns; cries out, as it were, in pain to be delivered of some burthen, too heavy to be born, and too big to be easily discharged. The Earth shakes and trembles, in apprehension of the pangs and convulsions that are coming upon her; And the Sun often hides his head, or appears with a discoloured face, pale, or dusky, or bloudy, as if all Nature was to suffer in this Agony. After these forerunners or symptomes of an eruption, the wide jaws of the Mountain open: And first, clouds of smoke issue out, then flames of fire, and after that a mixture of all sorts of burning matter; red hot stones, lumps of metal, half-dissolved minerals, with coals and fiery ashes. These fall in thick showres round about the Mountain, and in all adjacent parts; and not onely so, but are carried, partly by the force of the expulsion, and partly by the winds, when they are aloft in the Air, into far distant Countries. As from Italyto Constantinople, and cross the Mediterranean Sea into Africk; as the best Historians, Procopius, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Dion Cassius, have attested.

These Volcano's are planted in several regions of the Earth, and in both Continents, This of ours, and the other of America. For by report of those that have viewed that new-found World, there are many Mountains in it that belch out Smoke and Fire; some constantly, and others by fits and intervals. In our Continent Providence hath variously disperst them, without any rule known to us; but they are generally in Islands, or near the Sea. In the Asiatick Oriental Islands they are in great abundance, and Historians tell us of a Mountain in the Island Java, that in the year, 1586 at one eruption killed ten thousand people in the neighbouring Cities and Countrey. But we do not know so well the History of those remote Volcano's, as of such as are in Europe and nearer home. In Iseland, tho’ it lye within the Polar circle, and is scarce habitable by reason of the extremity of cold, and abundance of Ice and Snow, yet there are three burning Mountains in that Island; whereof the chief and most remarkable is Hecla. This hath its head always covered with Snow, and its belly always filled with Fire; and these are both so strong in their kind, and equally powerful, that they cannot destroy one another. It is said to cast out, when it rages, besides earth, stones and ashes, a sort of flaming water. As if all contrarieties were to meet in this Mountain to make it the more perfect resemblance of Hell, as the credulous inhabitants fancy it to be.

But there are no Volcano's in my opinion, that deserve our observation so much, as those that are in and about the Mediterranean Sea; There is a knot of them called the Vulcanian Islands, from their fiery eruptions, as if they were the Forges of Vulcan; as Stombolo, Lipara, and others, which are not so remarkable now as they have been formerly. However, without dispute, there are none in the Christian World to be compared with Ætnaand Vesuvius; one in the Island of Sicily, and the other in Campania, overlooking the Port and City of Naples. These two, from all memory of man and the most ancient records of History, have been famed for their Treasures of subterraneous Fires: which are not yet exhausted, nor diminished, so far as is perceivable; for they rage still, upon occasions, with as much fierceness and violence, as they ever did in former Ages; as if they had a continual supply to answer their expences, and were to stand till the last fire, as a type and prefiguration of it, throughout all generations.

Let us therefore take these two Volcano's as a pattern for the rest; seeing they are well known, and stand in the heart of the Christian World, where, ’tis likely the last fire will make its first assault. Ætna, of the two, is more spoken of by the ancients, both Poets and Historians; and we should scarce give credit to their relations concerning it, if some later eruptions did not equal or exceed the fame of all that hath been reported from former ages. That it heated the waters of the Sea, and covered them over with ashes; cracked or dissolved the neighbouring Rocks; darkened the Sun and the Air; and cast out, not only mighty streams of flame, but a floud of melted Ore and other materials; These things we can now believe, having had experience of greater, or an account of them from such as have been eyewitnesses of these fires, or of the fresh ruines and sad effects of them.

There are two things especially, in these Eruptions of Ætna, that are most prodigious in themselves and most remarkable for our purpose. The Rivers of fiery matter that break out of its bowels, or are spewed out of its mouth; and the vast burning stones which it flings into the Air, at a strange height and distance. As to these fiery rivers or torrents, and the matter whereof they are compounded, we have a full account of them by Alphonsus Borellus, a learned Mathematician at Pisa; who, after the last great Eruption in the year 1669 went into Sicily, while the fact was fresh, to view and survey what Ætnahad done or suffered. And he says the quantity of matter thrown out of the Mountain at that time, upon survey amounted to Ninety three millions, eight hundred thirty eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty cubical paces. So that if it had been extended in length upon the surface of the Earth, at the bredth and depth of 3 foot, it would have reacht further than ninety three millions of paces; which is more than four times the Circuit of the whole Earth, taking a thousand paces to a mile. This is strange to our imagination and almost incredible, that one Mountain should throw out so much fiery matter, besides all the ashes that were disperst through the Air, far and near, and could be brought to no account.

’Tis true, all this matter was not actually inflamed or liquid fire. But the rest that was sand, stone and gravel, might have run into glass or some melted liquor like to it, if it had not been thrown out before the heat fully reacht it. However, sixty million paces of this matter, as the same Author computes, were liquid fire, or came out of the mouth of the pit in that form. This made a River of fire, sometimes two miles broad, according to his computation; but according to the observation of others who also viewed it, the Torrent of fire was six or seven miles broad, and sometimes ten or fifteen fathoms deep; and forced its way into the Sea near a mile, preƒerving it self alive in the midst of the waters.

This is beyond all the infernal Lakes and Rivers, Acheron, Phlegeton, Cocytus, all that the Poets have talkt of. Their greatest fictions about Hell have not come up to the reality of one of our burning Mountains upon Earth. Imagin then all our Volcano's rageing at once in this manner.--But I will not pursue that supposition yet; Give me leave only to add here what I mentioned in the second place, The vast Burning Stoneswhich this Mountain, in the time of its rage and estuation, threw into the Air with an incredible force. This same Author tells us of a stone fifteen foot long, that was flung out of the mouth of the pit, to a miles distance. And when it fell, it came from such an height and with such a violence, that it buried it self in the ground eight foot deep. What trifles are our Mortar-pieces and Bombes, when compared with these Engines of Nature? When she flings out of the wide throat of a Volcano, a broken Rock, and twirles it in the air like a little bullet; then lets it fall to do execution here below, as Providence shall point and direct it. It would be hard to give an account how so great an impulse can be given to a Body so ponderous, But there's no disputing against matter of fact; and as the thoughts of God are not like our thoughts, so neither are his works like our works.

Thus much for Ætna. Let us now give an instance in Vesuvius, another Burning Mountainupon the coast of the Mediterranean, which hath as frequent Eruptions, and some as terrible as those of Ætna. Dion Cassius(one of the best writers of the RomanHistory) hath given us an account of one that happened in the time of Titus Vespatian; and tho’ he hath not set down particulars, as the former Author did, of the quantity of fiery matter thrown out at that time: yet supposing that proportionable to its fierceness in other respects, this seems to me as dreadful an Eruption as any we read of; and was accompanied with such prodigies and commotions in the Heavens and the Earth, as made it look like the beginning of the last Conflagration. As a prelude to this Tragedy, He says there were strange sights in the air, and after that followed an extraordinary drought, Then the Earth began to tremble and quake, and the Concussions were so great that the ground seemed to rise and boyl up in some places, and in others the tops of the mountains sunk in or tumbled down. At the same time were great noises and sounds heard, some were subterraneous, like thunder within the Earth; others above ground, like groans or bellowings. The Sea roared, The heavens ratled with a fearful noise, and then came a sudden and mighty crack, as if the frame of Nature had broke, or all the mountains of the Earth had faln down at once. At length Vesuviusburst, and threw out of its womb, first, huge stones, then a vast quantity of fire and smoke, so as the air was all darkned, and the Sun was hid, as if he had been under a great Eclipse. The day was turned into night, and light into darkness; and the frighted people thought the Gyants were making war against heaven, and fansied they see the shapes and images of Gyants in the smoak, and heard the sound of their trumpets. Others thought the World was returning to its first Chaos, or going to be all consumed with fire. In this general confusion and consternation they knew not where to be safe, some run out of the fields into the houses, others out of the houses into the fields; Those that were at Sea hastened to Land, and those that were at Land endeavoured to get to Sea; still thinking every place safer than that where they were. Besides grosser lumps of matter, there was thrown out of the Mountain such a prodigious quantity of ashes, as covered the Land and Sea, and filled the Air, so as, besides other damages, the Birds, Beasts, and Fishes, with Men, Women and Children, were destroyed, within such a compass; and two entire Cities, Herculaniumand Pompeios, were overwhelmed with a showre of ashes, as the People were sitting in the Theater. Nay, these ashes were carried by the winds over the Mediterranean into Africk, and into Ægypt and Syria. And at Romethey choaked the Air on a sudden, so as to hide the face of the Sun. Whereupon the People, not knowing the cause, as not having yet got the News from Campania of the Eruption of Vesuvius, could not imagine what the reason should be; but thought the Heavens and the Earth were coming together, The Sun coming down, and the Earth going to take its place above. Thus far the Historian.

You see what disorders in nature, and what an alarum, the Eruption of one fiery Mountain is capable to make; These things, no doubt, would have made strong impressions upon us, if we had been eye-witnesses of them; But I know, representations made from dead history, and at a distance, though the testimony be never so credible, have a much less effect upon us than what we see our selves, and what our senses immediately inform us of. I have onely given you an account of two Volcano's, and of a single Eruption in either of them; These Mountains are not very far distant from one another: Let us suppose two such Eruptions, as I have mentioned, to happen at the same time, and both these Mountains to be raging at once, in this manner; By that violence you have seen in each of them singly, you will easily imagine what a terrour and desolation they would carry round about, by a conjunction of their fury and all their effects, in the Air and on the Earth. Then, if to these two, you should joyn two more, the Sphere of their activity would still be enlarged, and the Scenes become more dreadful. But, to compleat the supposition, Let us imagine all the Volcano's of the whole Earth, to be prepared and set to a certain time; which time being come, and a signal given by Providence, all these Mines begin to play at once; I mean, All these Fiery Mountains burst out, and discharge themselves in flames of fire, tear up the roots of the Earth, throw hot burning stones, send out streams of flowing Metals and Minerals, and all other sorts of ardent matter, which Nature hath lodged in those Treasuries. If all these Engines, I say, were to play at once, the Heavens and the Earth would seem to be in a flame, and the World in an universal combustion. But we may reasonably presume, that against that great Day of vengeance and execution, not onely all these will be employed, but also new Volcano's will be opened, and new Mountains in every Region will break out into smoke and flame; just as at the Deluge, the Abyss broke out from the Womb of the Earth, and from those hidden stores sent an immense quantity of water, which, it may be, the Inhabitants of that World never thought of before. So we must expect new Eruptions, and also new sulphureous Lakes and Fountains of Oyl, to boyl out of the ground; And these all united with that Fewel that naturally grows upon the Surface of the Earth, will be sufficient to give the first onset, and to lay vast all the habitable World, and the Furniture of it.

But we suppose the Conflagration will go lower, pierce under-ground, and dissolve the substance of the Earth to some considerable depth; therefore besides these outward and visible preparations, we must consider all the hidden invisible Materials within the Veins of the Earth; Such are all Minerals or Mineral juices and concretions that are igniferous, or capable of inflammation; And these cannot easily be reckoned up or estimated. Some of the most common are, Sulphur, and all sulphureous bodies, and Earths impregnated with Sulphur, Bitumen and bituminous concretions; inflammable Salts, Coal and other fossiles that are ardent, with innumerable mixtures and compositions of these kinds, which being opened by heat, are unctuous and inflammable; or by attrition discover the latent seeds of fire. But besides consistent Bodies, there is also much volatile fire within the Earth, in fumes, steams, and exudations, which will all contribute to this effect. From these stores under-ground all Plants and Vegetables are fed and supplyed, as to their oily and sulphureous parts; And all hot Waters in Baths or Fountains, must have their original from some of these, some mixture or participation of them. And as to the BrittishSoyl, there is so much Coal incorporated with it, that when the Earth shall burn, we have reason to apprehend no small danger from that subterraneous Enemy.

These dispositions, and this Fewel we find, in and upon the Earth, towards the last Fire. The third sort of Provision is in the Air; All fiery Meteors and Exhalations engendered and formed in those Regions above, and discharged upon the Earth in several ways. I believe there were no fiery Meteors in the antediluvian Heavens; which therefore St. Petersays, were constituted of water; had nothing in them but what was watery. But he says, the Heavens that are nowhave treasures of fire, or are reserved for fire, as things laid up in a store-house for that purpose. We have thunder and lightning, and fiery tempests, and there is nothing more vehement, impetuous, and irresistible, where their force is directed. It seems to me very remarkable, that the Holy Writers describe the coming of the Lord, and the destruction of the wicked, in the nature of a tempest, or a storm of fire. Upon the wicked the Lord shall rain coals, fire and brimstone, and a burning tempest, this shall be the portion of their cup. And in the lofty Song of David(Psal. 18.) which, in my judgment, respects both the past Deluge and the future Conflagration, ’tis said, The Lord also thundred in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice, hail-stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent forth his arrows and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them. Then the Chanels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the World were discovered; at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. And a like fiery coming is described in the ninety seventh Psalm, as also by Isaiah, Daniel, and St. Paul. And lastly, in the Apocalypse, when the World draws to a conclusion, as in the seventh Trumpet (ch. II. 19.) and the seventh Vial (ch. 16. 18.) we have still mention made of this Fiery Tempest of Lightnings and Thunderings.

We may therefore reasonably suppose, that, before the Conflagration, the air will be surcharged every where, (by a precedent drought) with hot and fiery exhalations; And as against the Deluge, those regions were burthened with water and moist vapours, which were poured upon the Earth, not in gentle showres, but like rivers and cataracts from Heaven; so they will now be filled with hot fumes and sulphureous clouds, which will sometimes flow in streams and fiery impressions through the Air, sometimes make Thunder and Lightnings, and sometimes fall down upon the Earth in flouds of Fire. In general, there is a great analogy to be observed betwixt the two Deluges, of Water and of Fire; not only as to the bounds of them, which were noted before; but as to the general causes and sources upon which they depend, from above and from below. At the Floud, the windows of Heaven were opened above, and the Abyss was opened below; and the Waters of these two joyned together to overflow the World. In like manner, at the Conflagration, God will rain down Fire from Heaven, as he did once upon Sodom; and at the same time the subterraneous store-houses of Fire will be broken open, which answers to the disruption of the Abyss: And these two meeting and mingling together, will involve all the Heaven and Earth in flames.

This is a short account of the ordinary stores of Nature, and the ordinary preparations for a general Fire; And in contemplation of these, Pliny the Naturalist, said boldly. It was one of the greatest wonders of the World, that the World was not every day set on fire. We will conclude this Chapter with his words, in the second Book of his Natural History; having given an account of some fiery Mountains, and other parts of the Earth that are the seats and sources of Fire, He makes this reflection; Seeing this Element is so fruitful that it brings forth it self, and multiplies and encreases from the least sparks, what are we to expect from so many fires already kindled on the Earth? How does nature feed and satisfie so devouring an Element, and such a great voracity throughout all the World, without loss or diminution of her self? Add to these fires we have mentioned, the Stars and the Great Sun, then all the fires made for humane uses; fire in stones, in wood, in the clouds and in thunder; IT EXCEEDS ALL MIRACLES, IN MY OPINION, THAT ONE DAY SHOULD PASS WITHOUT SETTING THE WORLD ALL ON FIRE.

THE SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH

by Thomas Burnet

Book 3

Concerning the Conflagration.

CHAPTER VI

Concerning the Causes of the Conflagration.

The difficulty of conceiving how this Earth can be set on fire. With a general answer to that difficulty. Two supposed causes of the Conflagration, by the Sun's drawing nearer to the Earth, or the Earth's throwing out the central fire, examined and rejected.

WE have now made our way clear to the principal point, The Causes of the Conflagration: How the Heavens and the Earth will be set on fire, what materials are prepared, or what train of causes, for that purpose. The Ancients, who have kept us company pretty well thus far, here quite' desert us. They deal more in Conclusions than Causes, as is usual in all Traditional Learning. And the Stoicksthemselves, who inculcate so much the doctrine of the Conflagration, and make the strength of it such as to dissolve the Earth into a fiery Chaos, are yet very short and superficial in their explications, how this shall come to pass. The latent seeds of fire, they say, shall every where be let loose, and that Element will prevail over all the rest, and transform every thing into its own nature. But these are general things that give little satisfaction to inquisitive Persons. Neither do the modern Authors that treat of the same subject, relieve us in this particular: They are willing to suppose the Conflagration a supernatural effect, that so they may excuse themselves the trouble of enquiring after causes. ’Tis, no doubt, in a sort, supernatural: and so the Deluge was: yet Mosessets down the causes of the Deluge, the rains from above, and the disruption of the Abyss. So there must be treasures of fire provided against that day, by whose eruption this second Deluge will be brought upon the Earth.

To state the case fairly, we must first represent the difficulty of setting the Earth on fire: Tie the knot, before we loose it; that so we may the better judge whether the causes that shall be brought into view, may be sufficient to overcome so great opposition. The difficulty, no doubt, will be chiefly from the great quantity of water that is about our Globe; whereby Nature seems to have made provision against any invasion by fire, and secured us from that enemy more than any other. We see half of the Surface of the Earth covered with the Seas: whose Chanel is of a vast depth and capacity. Besides innumerable Rivers, great and small, that water the face of the dry Land, and drench it with perpetual moisture. Then within the bowels of the Earth, there are Store-houses of subterraneous waters: which are as a reserve, in case the Ocean and the Rivers should be over-come. Neither is water our onely security, for the hard Rocks and stony Mountains, which no fire can bite upon, are set in long ranges upon the Continents and Islands: and must needs give a stop to the progress of that furious Enemy, in case he should attack us. Lastly, the Earth it self is not combustible in all its parts. ’Tis not every Soyl that is fit fewel for the fire. Clay, and Mire, and such like Soyles will rather choak and stifle it, than help it on its way. By these means one would think the Body of the Earth secured; And tho’ there may be partial fires, or inundations of fire, here and there, in particular regions, yet there cannot be an universal fire throughout the Earth. At least one would hope for a safe retreat towards the Poles, where there is nothing but Snow, and Ice, and bitter cold. These regions sure are in no danger to be burnt, whatsoever becomes of the other climates of the Earth.

This being the state and condition of the present Earth, one would not imagine by these preparations, ’twas ever intended that it should perish by an universal fire. But such is often the method of Providence, that the exteriour face of things looks one way, and the design lies another; till at length, touching a Spring, as it were, at a certain time, all those affairs change posture and aspect, and shew us which way Providence inclines. We must therefore suppose, before the Conflagration begins, there will be dispositions and preparatives suitable to so great a work: and all antiquity, sacred and prophane, does so far concur with us, as to admit and suppose that a great drought will precede, and an extraordinary heat and driness of the Air, to usher in this fiery doom. And these being things which often happen in a course of nature, we cannot disallow such easie preparations, when Providence intends so great a consequence. The Heavens will be shut up, and the Clouds yield no rain; and by this, with an immoderate heat in the Air, the Springs of water will become dry, the Earth chaped and parched, and the Woods and Trees made ready fewel for the fire. We have instances in history that there have been droughts and heats of this nature, to that degree, that the Woods and Forests have taken fire, and the outward Turf and Surface of the Earth, without any other cause than the driness of the Season, and the vehemency of the Sun. And which is more considerable, the Springs and Fountains being dryed up, the greater Rivers have been sensibly lessened, and the lesser quite emptied and exhaled. These things which happen frequently in particular Countreys and Climates, may at an appointed time, by the disposition of Providence, be more universal throughout the Earth; and have the same effects every where, that we see by experience they have had in certain places. And by this means we may conceive it as feisible to set the whole Earth on fire in some little space of time, as to burn up this or that Country after a great drought. But I mean this, with exception still to the main Body of the Sea; which will indeed receive a greater diminution from these causes than we easily imagine, but the final consumption of it will depend upon other reasons, whereof we must give an account in the following Chapters.

As to the Mountains and Rocks, their lofty heads will sink when the Earthquakes begin to roar, at the beginning of the Conflagration: as we shall see hereafter. And as to the Earth it self, ’tis true there are several sorts of earth that are not proper fewel for fire; but those Soils that are not so immediately, as clayey Soils, and such like, may by the strength of fire be converted into brick, or stone, or earthen metal, and so melted down and vitrified. For, in conclusion, there is no terrestrial Body that does not finally yield to the force of fire, and may either be converted into flame, incorporated fire, or into a liquor more ardent than either of them. Lastly, as to the polar regions, which you think will be a safe retreat and inaccessible to the fire; ’Tis true, unless Providence hath laid subterraneous treasures of fire there unknown to us, those parts of the Earth will be the last consumed. But it is to be observed, that the cold of those regions proceeds from the length of their Winter, and their distance from the Sun when he is beyond the Æquator; and both these causes will be removed at the Conflagration. For we suppose the Earth will then return to its primitive situation, which we have explained in the 2d. Book of this Theory; and will have the Sun always in its Equator; whereby the several Climates of the Earth will have a perpetual Equinox, and those under the Poles a perpetual day. And therefore all the excess of cold, and all the consequences of it, will soon be abated. However, the Earth will not be burnt in one day, and those parts of the Earth being uninhabited, there is no inconvenience that they should be more slowly consumed than the rest.

This is a general answer to the difficulty proposed about the possibility of the Conflagration; and being general onely, the parts of it must be more fully explained and confirmed in the sequel of this discourse. We should now proceed directly to the causes of the Conflagration, and show in what manner they do this great execution upon nature. But to be just and impartial in this enquiry, we ought first to separate the spurious and pretended causes from those that are real and genuine; to make no false musters, nor any show of being stronger than we are; and if we can do our work with less force, it will be more to our credit; as a Victory is more honourable that is gained with fewer men.

There are two grand capital causes which some Authors make use of, as the chief Agents in this work, the Sun, and the Central Fire. These two great Incendiaries, they say, will be let loose upon us at the Conflagration. The one drawing nearer to the Earth, and the other breaking out of its bowels into these upper regions. These are potent causes indeed, more than enough to destroy this Earth, if it was a thousand times bigger than it is. But for that very reason, I suspect they are not the true causes; for God and Nature do not use to employ unnecessary means to bring about their designs. Disproportion and over-sufficiency is one sort of false measures, and ’tis a sign we do not thoroughly understand our work, when we put more strength to it than the thing requires. Men are forward to call in extraordinary powers to rid their hands of a troublesome argument, and so make a short dispatch to save themselves the pains of further enquiries: but such methods, as they commonly have no evicence, so they give little satisfaction to an inquisitive mind, This supposition of burning the Earth, by the Sun drawing nearer and nearer to it, seems to be made in imitation of the story of Phaeton, who driving the Chariot of the Sun with an unsteddy hand, came so near the Earth, that he set it on fire. But however we will not reject any pretensions without a fair trial; Let us examine therefore what grounds they can have for either of these suppositions, of the Approximation of the Sun to the Earth, or the Eruption of the Central Fire.

As to the Sun, I desire first to be satisfied in present matter of Fact: whether by any instrument or observation it hath or can be discovered, that the Sun is nearer to the Earth now, than he was in former ages? or if by any reasoning or comparing calculations such a conclusion can be made? If not, this is but an imaginary cause, and as easily denyed as proposed. Astronomers do very little agree in their opinions about the distance of the Sun, Ptolomy, Albategnius, Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, and others more modern, differ all in their calculations; but not in such a manner or proportion, as should make us believe that the Sun comes nearer to the Earth, but rather goes further from it. For the more modern of them make the distance greater than the more ancient do. Keplersays, the distance of the Sun from the Earth lies betwixt 700 and 2000 semi-diameters of the Earth: but Ricciolusmakes it betwixt 700 and 7000. And Gottefrid Wendelinehath taken 14656 semidiameters, for a middle proportion of the Sun's distance; to which Keplerhimself came very near in his later years. So that you see how groundless our fears are from the approaches of an enemy, that rather flies from us, if he change posture at all. And we have more reason to believe the report of the modern Astronomers than of the ancient, in this matter; both because the nature of the Heavens and of the celestial Bodies is now better known, and also because they have found out better instruments and better methods to make their observations.

If the Sun and Earth were come nearer to one another, either the circle of the Suns diurnal arch would be less, and so the day shorter: or the Orbit of the Earths annual course would be less, and so the Year shorter: Neither of which we have any experience of. And those that suppose us in the centre of the World, need not be afraid till they see Mercuryand Venusin a combustion, for they lie betwixt us and danger; and the Sun cannot come so readily at us with his fiery darts, as at them, who stand in his way. Lastly, this languishing death by the gradual approaches of the Sun, and that irreparable ruine of the Earth which at last must follow from it, do neither of them agree with that Idea of the Conflagration, which the Scripture hath given us; for it is to come suddenly and unexpectedly, and take us off like a violent Feaver, not as a lingring Consumption. And the Earth is also so to be destroyed by Fire, as not to take away all hopes of a Resurrection or Renovation. For we are assured by Scripture that there will be new Heavens and a new Earth after these are burnt up. But if the Sun should come so near us as to make the heavens pass away with a noise, and melt the Elements with fervent heat, and destroy the form and all the works of the Earth, what hopes or possibility would there be of a Renovation while the Sun continued in this posture? He would more and more consume and prey upon the Carcass of the Earth, and convert it at length either into an heap of ashes, or a lump of vitrified metal.

So much for the Sun. As to the Central Fire, I am very well satisfied it is no imaginary thing. All Antiquity hath preserved some sacred Monument of it. The Vestalfire of the Romans, which was so religiously attended: The Prytoneiaof the Greekswere to the same purpose, and dedicated to Vesta: and the Pyretheiaof the Persians, where fire was kept continually by the Magi. These all, in my opinion, had the same origine and the same signification. And tho’ I do not know any particular observation, that does directly Evidence or demonstrate that there is such a mass of fire in the middle of the Earth; yet the best accounts we have of the generation of a Planet, do suppose it; and ’tis agreeable to the whole Oeconomy of Nature; as a fire in the heart, which gives life to her motions and productions. But however the question is not at present, about the existence of this fire, but the eruption of it, and the effect of that Eruption: which cannot be, in my judgment, such a Conflagrationas is described in Scripture.

This Central Fire must be enclosed in a shell of great strength and firmness; for being of it self the lightest and most active of all Bodies, it would not be detained in that lowest prison without a strong guard upon it. ’Tis true, we can make no certain judgment of what thickness this shell is, but if we suppose this fire to have a twentieth part of the semidiameter of the Earth, on either side the centre, for its sphere, which seems to be a fair allowance; there would still remain nineteen parts, for our safeguard and security. And these nineteen parts of the semidiameter of the Earth will make 3268 miles, for a partition-wall betwixt us and this Central Fire. Who woued by afraid of an Enemy locked up in so strong a prison? But you’l say, it may be, tho’ the Central Fire, at the beginning of the World, might have no more room or space than what is mentioned: yet being of that activity that it is, and corrosive nature, it may, in the space of some thousands of years, have eaten deep into the sides of its prison; and so come nearer to the surface of the Earth, by some hundreds or thousands of miles than it was at first. This would be a material exception if it could be made out. But what Phænomenon is there in Nature that Evidences this? How does it appear by any observation that the Central Fire gains ground upon us? Or is increased in quantity, or come nearer to the surface of the Earth? I know nothing that can be offered in evicence of this: and if there be no appearance of a change, nor any sensible effect of it, ’tis an argument there is none, or none considerable. If the quantity of that fire was considerably increased, it must needs, besides other effects, have made the Body of the Earth considerably lighter. The Earth having, by this conversion of its own substance into fire, lost so much of its heaviest matter, and got so much of the lightest and most active Element in stead of it: and in both these respects its gravity would be manifestly lessened. Which if it really was, in any considerable degree, it would discover it self by some change, either as to the motion of the Earth, or as to its place or station in the Heavens. But there being no external change observable, in this or any other respect, ’tis reasonable to presume that there is no considerable inward change, or no great consumption of its inward parts and substance: and consequently no great increase of the Central Fire.

But if we should admit both an encrease and eruption of this fire, it would not have that effect which is pretended. It might cause some confusion and disorder in those parts of the Earth where it broke out, but it would not make an universal Conflagration, such as is represented to us in Scripture. Let us suppose the Earth to be open or burst in any place, under the Pole, for instance, or under the 'Equator: and let it gape as low as the Central Fire. At this chasm or rupture we suppose the fire woued gush out; and what then would be the consequence of this when it came to the surface of the Earth? It would either be dissipated and lost in the air, or fly still higher towards the Heavens in a mass of flame. But what execution in the mean time would it do upon the Body of the Earth? ’Tis but like a flash of lightning, or a flame issuing out of a pit, that dies presently. Besides, this Central Fire is of that subtilty and tenuity that it is not able to inflame gross Bodies: no more than those Meteors we call Lambent Fires, inflame the bodies to which they stick. Lastly, in explaining the manner of the Conflagration, we must have regard principally to Scripture; for the explications given there are more to the purpose, than all that the Philosophers have said upon that subject. Now, as we noted before, ’tis manifest in Scripture that after the Conflagration there will be a Restauration, New Heavensand a New Earth. ’Tis the express doctrine of St. Peter, besides other Prophets: We must therefore suppose the Earth reduced to such a Chaos by this last fire, as will lay the foundation of a new World. Which can never be, if the inward frame of it be broke, the Central Fire exhausted, and the exterior region sucked into those central vacuities. This must needs make it lose its former poise and libration, and it will thereupon be thrown into some other part of the Universe, as the useless shell of a broken Granado, or as a dead carkass and unprofitable matter.

These reasons may be sufficient why we should not depend upon those pretended causes of the Conflagration, The Suns advance towards the Earth, or such a rupture of the Earth as will let out the Central Fire. These Causes, I hope, will appear superfluous, when we shall have given an account of the Conflagration without them. But young Philosophers, like young Soldiers, think they are never sufficiently armed; and often take more weapons, than they can make use of, when they come to fight. Not that we altogether reject the influence of the Sun, or of the Central Fire; especially the latter. For in that great estuation of Nature, the Body of the Earth will be much opened and relaxated; and when the pores are enlarged, the steams of that fire will sweat out more plentifully into all its parts; but still without any rupture in the vessels or in the skin. And whereas these Authors suppose the very Veins burst, and the vital blood to gush out, as at open flood-gates, we onely allow a more copious perspiration, and think that sufficient for all purposes in this case.