I. I Told you in the Preface that I had not meddled with this mans Theory, unless he had given me great offence to see the Sacred Scriptures so abused, as to be made props to sup­port such a rotten tottering building, as his Theory. And therefore I think it fit, before I enter upon the discourse of that, to shew you wherein he hath abused the Scriptures, by giving you a right interpretation of them; lest you [Page 2] seeing with what confidence he cites them, may from thence suppose they bear such a sense as he puts upon them, and so inconsiderately pass over his Theory as a well grounded Truth.

II. He makes use of Moses some­times, but chiefly St. Peter, and tells us often what they say in their Philo­sophy, as if he did them a great ho­nour in giving them that Title: but truly they may well scorn the Title, as too mean for them; for they came not by their knowledg in Divine mat­ters by any such Philosophical way as from Human Principles, making In­ferences and Consequences after the manner of men (in which way this man much admires himself, tho he as often failes therein as others, guided by their own shallow and deceitful Rea­son) but by Divine Revelation from [Page 3] God, and Infusion of his Holy Spirit; and spake as that Spirit gave them utterance. And tho Moses was learn­ed in all the Wisdom of the Aegyptians, yet he made little or no use of that Wisdom; nor could ever from thence have found out how the World was at first Created: which many great Phi­losophers were wholly at a loss in; and tho they laboured much in it, yet could never attain to a right understanding therein, but left to the World their vain and idle opinions as a perpetual testi­mony of their foolery, tho much ad­mired by men for their Wisdom.

III. I should begin with Moses first: but I shall be necessitated to interpret him as we go on in the Discourse of his Theory,; and therefore pass him by here, and come to St. Peter, whom he so often cites as his main support: And after we have done with St. Peter, [Page 4] we shall clear some other Scriptures which are cited in his Theory. 'Tis the second Epistle of St. Peter our Theorist would make use of; and therefore I think it not amiss to acquaint the Reader, that this second Epistle of St. Peter was not received in the Church for many years, and that there are some Reformed Churches that do not yet allow it as Canonical and Authentick. But this second Epistle of St. Peter hav­ing no material point of Belief, but what is contained in other Scriptures expresly or circumstantially, and our Church receiving the same, I readily submit unto it; and let our Theorist make what advantage he can from thence.

IV. This man tells us that the pre­sent World is quite of another form and nature than it was before the Flood: then the earth was of a smooth perfect [Page 5] Spherical form, a fat and delicious Surface, the Air serene and temperate, without storms, tempests, or any boi­strous winds coming from the Regi­ons above, or arising from the Sea; for there was no Sea at all in it: all that vast Water was included within the Earth, and the Earth in a perfect Sphere round about it: but this Earth was at the great Deluge broken all to pieces, and the Sea rising up overflowed it, and put it all in that confusion as now it is, with broken Rocks and Moun­tains, with deep Valleys and Caverns in many places under it; and pieces of this Earth scattered in several parts of the present Sea, causing innumerable Islands small and great all the World over. The Air also now boistrous and turbulent with various Heats and Colds; so that for one calm and serene day, we have ten, if not twenty quite otherwise. And for this his Assertion [Page 6] he hath no Scripture at all: but some­thing to colour the business he would fain scrue out of St. Peter's 2 Ep. 3. 5. &c. where he tells us that S. Peter sets forth an evident opposition or diversi­ty betwixt the old World before the Flood and our present World. Now, good Reader, I desire you to view this Chapter from v. 1. to v. 9. or 10. and see what you can find there to this pur­pose without either his or my Comment upon it: and when you have done, hear what he saith of it pag. 48; espe­cially of v. 5, 6, 7. viz. ‘That this is so pregnant a place to his purpose, as he should do an Injury to Providence, had he neglected to take notice of this passage; and that the Apostles discourse is so plain and easie, as eve­ry one at first sight must needs disco­ver the meaning of it.’ These ex­pressions of his would make a man ex­pect to find in St. Peter his whole The­ory [Page 7] and description of his Antediluvian Earth set forth on the one hand, and the different state of our present Earth as plainly set forth on the other.

V. The best way to have a good understanding of any mans Writings, is to consider the business that he is up­on, and what he designs: and then if we meet with any difficulty or obscu­rity in his discourse, we may be sure from his design to discover the right meaning of them. Let us then con­sider what the business of St. Peter is in this second Epistle: 'Tis not a Philoso­phical Discourse to teach us the nature and constitution of the Heavens or the Earth; but to teach wicked men the nature of Sin, and to shew them the Judgment and Danger that constantly follows it: this is the business of this Epistle, and therefore he brings several examples of fearful Judgments that be­fel [Page 8] wicked men for their obstinacy in Sin. And his design is to bring them to Repentance, and so to avoid the grievous Punishment that will certain­ly fall upon them, if they persist. Now let us come to the words of St. Peter cited by our Theorist, which are these, c. 3. v. 5, &c. For this they are willingly ignorant of, That by the word of God the Heavens were of old, and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water; whereby the World that then was, being overflowed with Water, perished. 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. This passage I have Read full oft, but could never yet see at the first sight, nor at the twentieth, any thing relating to his new fancy. And if it were so easy to discover at first sight, what need he so enlarge upon it for four whole pages together, turning and wresting [Page 9] the words with many ambages to bring them about to his bent? I shall now in few words lay down the meaning of St. Peter. It is an Answer, as he truly saith, to certain Scoffers, who made a mock at the Apostles threaten­ing the coming of our Saviour to Judg­ment with fiery indignation at the end of the World, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the Fa­thers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation. To this St. Peter answers That they were willingly ignorant of this, That by the Word of God the Heavens were of old, and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water; whereby the World that then was, being overflowed with Water, pe­rished. They are willingly ignorant, or wilfully ignorant, how that God by his Word made the Heavens of old, and the Earth standing out of the Wa­ter and in the Water; whereby the Ani­mate [...] [Page 8] [...] [Page 9] [Page 10] World, that is, all Men and o­ther living Creatures of the Earth, be­ing overflowed, perished. They wil­lingly forget this Judgment of God executed upon the old World, and therefore will not believe That the Hea­vens and the Earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly Men. But this they may be sure of, that as by the Word of God they were warned then of the Deluge, which came upon ungodly Men: So now we give you warning that by the same Word of God this World at our Saviours coming shall be destroyed by Fire; not only the Earth, but the Heavens also shall melt with fervent Heat. This is the plain and full mean­ing of St. Peter's words, and this in­deed is obvious to any understanding Person at first sight. And this is St. Peter's business here, to set forth Gods [Page 11] Judgments upon Sin, and not the di­versity of the old Heavens or Earth from the present: for here is nothing mentioning any such diversity or op­position in the former Earth to the pre­sent Earth, no more than in the for­mer Heavens to the present Heavens: where he would have a perfect Anti­thesis forsooth, and a direct oppositi­on between the former Heavens and Earth, and the present Heavens and Earth. Now let us hear St. Peter's words in the Original Greek. [...] They are willingly, or wilfully, ig­norant that the Heavens were, that is, Created, of old, and the Earth situated out of the Water and by the Water: but the present Heavens and Earth by [Page 12] the same Word are kept in store against the day of Judgment. He doth not say here, [...], and [...]; This might be an An­tithesis:but [...] follows [...] and so it is [...]. The Hea­vens were Created of old by the word of God. and so sure were the present Heavens. And for the Earth, he saith it was situated out of the Water and by the Water. He doth not say the Heavens and the Earth were both so situated, but [...] a participle of the Feminine Gender and Singular num­ber agreeing with [...] the Earth: where­as had he meant the Heavens also were so situated, he should have used ano­ther Gender and the Plural number: so that this situation belongs only to the Earth. Then follows, But the present Heavens and Earth are by the same Word kept in store, reserved unto Fire. What opposition is here? The Heavens and [Page 13] the Earth were Created of old by God; But the present Heavens and Earth are by God reserved unto Fire. Here is no diversity or opposition experst betwixt the old Heavens and Earth, and the new Heavens and Earth; but only the diversity or opposition between the two Judgments: the one was only of the Earth by Water, and the other is to be of both Heavens and Earth by Fire. Not one word here of a dispo­sition in the old Heavens to Water, and the present Heavens to Fire; nor any disposition in the Earth to the one of old, or to the other now: but that the former Earth was situated out of and by Water, and is now reserved unto Fire. Let our Theorist, if he can, shew me how the Heavens, or how the Earth is now disposed for Fire: I see not a word in St. Peter sig­nifying any such thing, tho he with his wonted confidence doth affirm it, [Page 14] pag. 233, and say ‘that St. Peter doth formally and expresly tells us that the old Heavens or the Antediluvian Hea­vens had a different constitution from ours; and particularly that they were composed or constituted of Water; and in the margin sets down 2 Epist. Pet. 3. 5.’ Now to say that a thing is formally and expresly told us, sure you will expect to find that thing in the same formal or very words. I pray you now look back upon the ve­ry words and see if you can find any such thing there. Are there any such particular words there as he affirms, that the Heavens of old were compo­sed or constituted of Water? Nor of the Earth is it said that it was com­posed of Water, but that it was [...], which signifies as well, and as usually situated or settled, and [...] is of­ten taken for [...] out of: And so the sense runs thus, The Earth placed out [Page 15] of the Water and by or in the Water, which cannot relate to the Heavens; for then the participle [...] should, as I said, have been in the Plural number. Nor can it be truly said that the Heavens are situated out of the Wa­ter and by the Water, whatever may be said of the Firmament. But he doth not use the word Firmament here, but [...]. The Heavens which were of old Created by God, in the Plural number, all the Heavens, the highest as well as the lowest.

VI. S. Peter having thus express'd the diversity of the Judgments, he goes on and infers from the former Judgment, that as they found by experience That the word of God threatening them with a Deluge came really to pass and all perished: So the word of God now threatening them with a Conflagration, [Page 16] will assuredly consume them. This seventh Verse is a consequence inferred from the first and sixth Verses, which were the Antecedent: and the fifth Verse is so far from being Superfluous or Redundant, as our Theorist would have it, that from thence the Apostle takes the Rise of his Argument, and begins, That by the word of God the Hea­vens were of old, and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water. Where­by (that is, by which Waters) the World (of the ungodly) that then was, being overflowed with Water, perished. The Earth standing out of the Water and by the Water, those Waters com­manded by the word of God overflow­ed the Earth with the ungodly. The Waters which were before miracu­lously restrained by the Word of God, beingnow let loose by the same Word overflowed the world, and would do so again, were they not restrain'd: for there [Page 17] the same disposition, or rather situati­on of the Earth now, as was of old; but the Word, Will, or Promise of God is now otherwise than it was of old. Whereof I shall speak more by and by. The word of God goes a­long in all this Discourse, and is set forth as the only cause of the Deluge of old, and the Conflagration to come. Which follows in the seventh verse, But the Heavens and the Earth which are now, by the same Word are kept in store (by no disposition, nor any natural cause preparing them for it) reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly Men. For their sakes this Judgment is to be then brought upon the Heavens as well as the Earth; And so there will be a total end of this World: and then will follow, as it is v. 13. (according to Gods promise) new Heavens and a new Earth; whether literally or [...] [Page 16] [...] [Page 17] [Page 18] figuratively this Epistle doth not de­clare. Let this Theorist with his strange Confidence declare what he pleases, I am ready to declare my Ig­norance herein. But these Scoffers, as they were willingly ignorant and forgetful how the Deluge came upon the Old World: So now they are willingly heedless and will not believe that this Conflagration will assuredly destroy them. No man can discover more from these words of St. Peter, unless his head be so filled with this mans Theory, that neither sleeping nor waking he thinks of any thing else.

VII. I said a little before that in the Flood, The Animate World was de­stroyed: But our Theorist will needs have it that the Natural World, as he calls it (that is, the Body and Frame of the Earth) was also destroyed by [Page 19] this Flood: And for the ground of this his assertion, he desires us to take notice that St. Peter in the former Chap­ter, speaking of the Flood, saith, that it was brought upon the World of the ungodly; but does not men­tion the ungodly here. I pray you what need was there to mention it here, having in the former Chapter declared particularly what he meant by the World, the World of the ungodly destroyed by the Flood. And so here he saith [...], in the Singular number, the World perished; not the Heavens and the Earth perished in the Plural num­ber: But after he had mentioned the Heavens and the Earth, had he meant their perishing, there had been no need at all to add [...], but should have said, they perished. It had been very superfluous or redundant to repeat the same again which he exprest immedi­ately [Page 20] before by [...]: and there­fore the Apostle must needs mean somewhat more by [...], the World of the ungodly; and moreover adds O` [...], the World of the ungod­ly that then was in being, or then liv­ed, that World perished. And far­ther, to shew you that he here meant the World of the ungodly, he ends the following verse [...]. The World which perished in the former verse, in the next verse is reserved unto judg­ment and perdition of ungodly men. [...] and [...].

VIII. But if there were any doubt, the business would be cleared by look­ing into Gen. 6. 5. where Moses tells us, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and that every imagi­nation of the thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually. v. 7. And the Lord [Page 21] said I will destroy man, whom I have cre­ated, from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air. Here God plainly declares what he will destroy, viz. Man and Beast: not a word men­tioning the Earth, or Frame of it, to be destroyed. And therefore we may well conclude, that the addition of the Earth it self, is this mans inventi­on only, no intention of Gods. And again v. 17. And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. Here likewise is no mention of destroying the Earth, or Frame of it; but all Flesh shall Die: nor is any thing else men­tioned in the Chapter following, where he plainly describes the Flood, and what was destroyed by it. Where­fore we may well conclude that St. [Page 22] Peter intended no more than the World of the ungodly, which he himself mentioned in the second Chapter upon the same Subject, and repeats the same in the third Chapter.

IX. But he objects, That the ground that these Scoffers went upon was taken from the Natural World, its constancy and permanency in the same state from the beginning: there­fore if the Apostle answers ad idem, and takes away their Argument, he must understand and shew that the Natural World hath perished and been changed. The first part of his Argument I grant is true, That the ground these Scoffers went upon was taken from the Na­tural World, its constancy and per­manency in the same state from the beginning: yet I deny the second part, That if the Apostle answers ad idem, and takes away their Argument, he must [Page 23] understand and shew that the Natural World hath perished and been changed. For I shall take away their Argument without any change in the former World, and Answer more ad idem than he doth. For notwithstanding all things continued as they did; yet by the Word of God a Flood came upon the old World: And so, tho all things continue now as they did from the beginning, a Fiery destructi­on shall come upon them. For, as I said, in all this Argument of the A­postle, The Word of God is declared to be the Cause of all. By the Word of God the Heavens and the Earth were of old. By the Word of God a Deluge came upon the World of the ungodly. And so, by the Word of God a Fiery destruction shall come upon them, notwithstanding the Heavens and the Earth and all things continue as they [Page 24] did. This was the Scoffers Argument, and S. Peter thus confutes it.

X. Secondly, our Theorist argues that these Scoffers could not be igno­rant of the Deluge; and therefore it was the change in the old World that they were ignorant of. This man will not attend to what St. Peter saith, when it does not serve his turn, no more than those Scoffers did attend unto the old Testament: for St. Peter tells them, that tho they had the old Testament read frequently unto them, yet they were willingly ignorant, that is, wilfully, and would not attend unto it. But such a change, as this man would have in the old World, they were wholly (not wilfully) ig­norant of, and could not understand from Moses any such change; for Moses hath not a word of it. And therefore this is a plain Argument that [Page 25] there was no change at all in the old World. But they were willingly ig­norant of that which they might have plainly learnt from Moses, both the Creation and the Deluge.

XI. Thirdly, he saith St. Peter takes his Argument from the Conflagration, which was a real destruction of the World; and from thence must infer the destruction of the old World. I say St. Peter doth not take his Argu­ment from the destruction of the Hea­vens and Earth by the Conflagration; for then the Heavens must have been destroyed in the old World, as well as the Earth: I say the Heavens; not the Firmament or the Air altered, but the whole Heavens all quite consumed by Fire. But St. Peter takes his Ar­gument all along from the Word of God, as I said before, That as by the Word of God the Deluge came un­expected; [Page 26] so by the same Word the Conflagration shall come unexpect­ed.

XII. His fourth Argument is the redundancy of the Apostles discourse making the fifth verse wholly super­sluous. But there is no redundancy in it, if you take the Argument, as I lay it, from Gods Word. And that he saith, I make the Apostle Tautolo­gical, if he mean in this Chapter the World of the ungodly, for he menti­oned it in the former Chapter. To this I say, that it were more Tauto­logical, if he did use the same words here: but he doth not express it here at-large, having exprest it in the for­mer Chapter. And if he did use the same expression here, as he did in the former Chapter; Have we not very many repetitions of things in Scrip­ture [Page 27] mentioned in a former Chapter, and in the same Chapter also?

XIII. His fifth Argument is much the same with the third, comparing the whole destruction of the Heavens and the Earth with the destruction of the Heavens and the Earth in the former World. To this I answer, as I did there, that if he will needs compare both, then the Heavens as well as the Earth must be destroyed in the former: for you see he speaks in the Plural number (as I said before) the Heavens: not the Firmament or Region of the Air, as our Theorist would have it, but the Superior Hea­vens, that of old at the Creation were made by the Word of God; which certainly are the same now, as they were at the beginning, and did not perish: Neither did S. Peter mean this perishing of the Earth or Air; [Page 28] but after he hath named the Heavens and the Earth; he doth not say, they perish'd, but the World, that is, the World of the ungodly mentioned in the former Chapter. Nor can it be properly said that the Earth perish'd, if it were broken, and the fashion of it changed, as our Theorist would have it. We do not say, if a man hath broken his Legs or Arms by a fall, that he perish'd; but when he dies and all his Body perishes. Perishing implies a total destruction. But of the World of the ungodly it was pro­perly said, they perished, being wholly destroyed. And the main business of St. Peter was, to Preach perishing and destruction to these Scoffers; and for their sakes, and such-like Sinners, the Heavens and the Earth shall be consumed together with them.

[Page 29] XIV. I know St. Austin and some others have applied these words of St. Peter to the perishing of the Firma­ment, or Region of the Air (yet very few in comparison of those that have thought otherwise) but I wish him to observe a Rule that St. Austin gives of distinction between the Scrip­ture and other mens Writings (as well as a Rule he shews us) ut quantalibet sanctitate, doctrina (que) praepolleant, non ideo verum putem, quia ipsi ita senserint, sed quia, &c. That how holy or learned soever Men are, I do not therefore believe it to be true, because they say so; but as far as they bring Scripture for it, or some very probable reason. And I am sure the words themselves in Scripture are the Heavens in the Plural, and not the Firmament in the Singular: and there­fore we may more surely adhere to them, than to the words of some few Men: And yet they allow no such [Page 30] perishing of the Earth or Air, as our Theorist would have, but some small alteration. It was the World of the ungodly, the Animate World, that wholly perish'd.

XV. I think it sit to answer here an Argument that our Theorist seems mightily to boast of, the Rainbow, which he affirms never appeared in the World till after the Flood; and from thence would prove an alteration in the Airy Region. What tho it do prove an alteration, yet it proves no perishing, which St. Peter affirms of the old World, that it perish'd. And how doth he prove this alteration? He assirms it, 'tis true, but proves it not by any other Argument, but that God set his Bow in the Clouds to assure Noah of his promise that the World should never be destroyed by Water again. No doubt a most clear proof. [Page 31] I would fain ask this Theorist whe­ther a Man of years being Baptized doth not take the sign of washing in that Sacrament for an assurance of his regeneration and forgiveness of his Sins, tho perchance he hath been often wash­ed before. And thus, tho Rainbows had often appeared before the Flood; yet God might afterwards appoint it for a sign unto Noah, to assure him that he would never destroy the World again by Water. And so you see what becomes of this Mans con­vincing Argument he much boasts of. But to return to St. Peter.

XVI. Having thus expounded his words, and shewed (as I humbly conceive) that our Theorist hath little, or no ground for his vain siction, I shall be bold to tell him further, that it is very impertinent to talk to the Apostles of an Antithesis and Apodosis, [Page 32] Tautologies or Redundancies, and such-like terms of Rhetorick, or Gram­mar-Rules, fitter for School-boys to learn, than for them, whom our Sa­viour chose, as unlearned and poor Fisher-men, to Preach his Gospel to the Learned and Wise men of this World; and by the Foolishness of Preaching (as St. Paul calls it) that is, by plain and simple Preaching, which the World calls Foolishness, to con­found all their Learning and Wisdom: for the Apostles observed no such curious method, and exactness of dis­course; but in their Preaching or Pro­phesying, out of Zeal, spake some­times very abruptly and incoherently; sometimes relating to one matter, some­times to another, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

XVII. And now I shall prove from these very words of St. Peter [Page 33] the clean contrary to what he affirms, viz. His Antediluvian Earth without any Sea. For St. Peter here in plain words affirms, that the Earth, before the Deluge, stood part out of the water, and part in the water. These are his plain words, without any such long Comment, as he hath brought upon them. But he objects, that this our English Translation doth not accord with the original Greek, which doth express it otherwise, saying, The earth standing Out of the water and By the water, not In the water. However these words of St. Peter express two distinct situations of the Earth, Out of the water, and By the water. Let our Theorist tell me what those two di­stinct situations are, out and by, and I will presently shew him how that they cannot agree with his new-found Earth, where the Waters were all in one manner situated within the Earth, [Page 34] and none at all without. But I shall now shew him from Gen. 1. (which these words have a relation to) that the words of St. Peter agree very well with the exposition of our English Translators, Out of the water, and in the water: for, Gen. 1. 9, 10. it is said, God gathered the waters together unto one place and made the dry land appear. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas. Here you see the Earth out of the Waters in one place. And I pray you let our Theo­rist tell us where the other part of the Earth was; Was it not in the Waters? for the Waters covered it. It may be said also it was by or near the Waters, as St. Peter hath it: but yet more properly in the Waters. And the Author of this Epistle (who­ever he was) must needs intend the same (if he intend aright) whether [Page 35] he call it in or by, both must signisie the same thing. And therefore his cavilling at our English Translation is very frivolous and captious without ground. And thus St. Peter and his Philosophy, as he terms it, plainly contradicts him, and is a pregnant place uttered by Providence (if I may say so) to confute his new invention. And Moses in his Philosophy plainly contradicts him also. Whereby it is evident that the Antediluvian Earth and the present Earth are one and the same: for that had a Sea covering the Earth as this hath. Neither Moses, nor St. Peter make any such Philosophical distinction, as he would prove from them, but clean contrary.

XVIII. And that this present Earth is as subject to a Deluge, as the former, is evident by that passage in Gen. 9. 8. where God promised to Noah, that [Page 36] he would never destroy this World a­gain by Water; and confirmed the same also by a Sign: All which had been very superfluous and vain, if the present Earth were so shaped and fashioned, as it could not by destroy­ed by Water. Noah might well have smiled at Gods assurance that it should not be, when, saith this man, it could not be: there is not Water enough in the whole Universe (as he affirms) to cover it again. Wherefore, as by Gods promise a clear possibility is implied, that it may be; so by Gods promise also we are assured, that it shall not be. Unto this Scrip­ture you may add that formerly men­tioned, Psal. 104. 9. Thou hast set a bound that they (the Waters) may not pass over, and turn again to cover the Earth. And that most remarkable passage, Jer. 5. 22. Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: Will ye not tremble at [Page 37] my Presence, which have placed the Sand for the Bound of the Sea by a perpetual Decree that it cannot pass it; and tho the Waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; tho they roar, yet can they not pass over it? Where God so plain­ly expresseth a possibility of the Seas overflowing the Earth again; or else we must make Gods threatening very vain. And that this Command of God for the restraining of the Sea was not given after the Flood (tho it continued then also) but before the Flood, even at the very first Creation, appears, Prov. 8. 29. where it is said, God gave to the Sea his Decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth. I shall speak more of this passage by and by, when I come to enlarge more on this Chapter.

[Page 38] XIX. I have shewed you before how that St. Peter declares that both the Deluge was, and the Conflagrati­on will be by the Word of God, not from any Natural Cause. But our Theorist will needs ascribe all unto Natural Causes, and the disposition which was in the Earth and Heavens for the Flood. So likewise he will have a disposition and frame in them for the Conflagration. We shall be very glad to learn from our Theorist what that frame or disposition is, wherein it consists. At the Deluge he hath a rare knack of invention, the Suns so heating the Waters in the Bowels of the Earth, that just at such a nick of time the Waters and Va­pours from them boiled up and burst the whole Frame of the Earth to pieces. But I would fain be satisfied concern­ing this Fiery destruction to come, and know how the Heavens and the Earth, [Page 39] they both being of so very different constitutions should both take Fire at once. I know Gods Word hath said they shall, and therefore I believe it. But how this shall come to pass, our curiosity desires to know from his Philosophy, which tells us so ex­actly how the Deluge came, and may, I hope, as exactly set forth the future Conflagration, and tell us the Natu­ral Causes and Preparatory means to dispose the Heavens and the Earth unto it: for I suppose he will stick to his own method of having Natural Causes for all things, and will not allow God the liberty to use any extraor­dinary means, tho upon such an ex­traordinary occasion as the Deluge or Conflagration. Nature must act in all these, and his Philosophy must find out the means whereby she acts, and will discover it unto us; and will also shew us how it comes to pass [Page 40] that in three thousand years time and upwards since the Flood, we find no visible change or disposition in the Heavens or Earth to a Conflagration more now than formerly. If this be too hard a task for him to tell us of the future destruction of the whole World: yet, methinks, he should be able to declare unto us that which is past, and shew us the Natural Cause of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction; how those Cities came to fall on Fire, and the rest of the World escape; what disposition there was in that patch of ground, or in the Heavens over it, to send down Fire upon them.

XX. I will trouble him no more with Questions of this Nature at pre­sent. But yet I shall desire leave to give him a short Admonition. This way of Philosophising all from Na­tural [Page 41] Causes, I fear, will make the whole World turn Scoffers, such as St. Peter met with: for men supposing and expecting the World to be con­sumed by Natural Causes, as this man would have it, and seeing no visible Cause or Alteration in the Heavens or Earth in three thousand years space, may conclude, that in three thousand years to come there may be as little or no Change; and so may ask, as those Scoffers did, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the Fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the be­ginning. To conclude this matter; Let me advise him to trust to Gods Word only, that assuredly there will be a Conflagration of the whole World, and lay aside his curious vain and endless Philosophising labour to find out the Natural Causes thereof. And thus I have taken a great deal [Page 42] of pains more than I intended, to shew the little or no ground this man hath so much to boast this se­cond Epistle of St. Peter; which first is doubtful, and secondly doth so little prove that which he would have, tho so frequently made use of in his Theory, as if he had proved his whole design from thence. Having thus dispatch'd his principal Text, on which he so much depends, I shall now briefly examin some other Scrip­tures made use of in his Theory.

XXI. In the ninetieth page of his first Book, he hath these words. ‘There remains a remarkable dis­course in the Proverbs of Solomon, relating to the Mosaical Abyss; and not only to that, but to the Origin of the Earth in general: where Wisdom declares her Antiquity and Preexistence to all the Works of [Page 43] this Earth, chap. 8. 23. &c. I was set up from everlasting, from the be­ginning, 'ere the earth was. When there were no deeps, or Abysses, I was brought forth; when no fountains abound­ing with water. Then v. 27. When he prepared the heavens I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the Deep, or Abyss. When he estab­lished the Clouds above; when he strength­ned the fountains of the Abyss. Here is mention made of the Abyss, and of the Fountains of the Abyss: And who can question but that the Fountains of the Abyss here are the same with the Fountains of the Abyss which Moses mentions, and were broke open, as he tells us, at the Deluge. Let us observe there­fore what form Wisdom gives to this Abyss, and consequently to the Mosaical: and here seem to be two expressions that determine the form of [Page 44] it. v. 28. He strengthened the Foun­tains of the Abyss, that is, the cover of those Fountains: for the Foun­tains could be strengthened no other way, than by making a strong co­ver or Arch over them. And that Arch is express'd more fully and distinctly in the foregoing verse. When he prepared the Heavens I was there, when he set a compass on the Face of the Abyss; we render it Com­pass, the world signifies a Circle or Circumference, or an Orb or Sphere. So there was in the beginning of the World a Sphere, Orb, or Arch set round about the Abyss, according to the Testimony of Wisdom, who was then present.’ Thus far our Theorist. And in this last part he faith very true, that in the beginning the form of the Abyss was in a Circle or Circumference; for it encompassed the Earth round about. But our [Page 45] Theorist would have the Earth to en­compass the Abyss round about, and the Abyss included within the Earth: which is clean contrary to Moses, Gen. 1. 9. where God said, Let the Waters under the Heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry Land ap­pear. In which words you may observe two things: First, that next unto the Firmament, or the Heaven, were pla­ced the Waters: for v. 7. it is said, God made the Firmament and divided the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament: So that the Firmament was in the middle of the Waters; Water above and Water below it. But our Theorist in his new World makes the Earth to divide the Waters; for all the Abyss was encompassed by the Earth, clean contrary to Moses. The second thing I desire you to take notice of, is, that when the Waters [Page 46] thus encompassed the Earth, God said, Let them be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry Land appear. So that until this Command of Gods of gathering the Waters together unto one place, no dry Land appeared, but all was covered with Water. But our Theorist, clean contrary, orders his matters so, that dry Land only appear­ed in a perfect Arch round about the Waters, and no Water at all appear­ed. And thus you see how rarely he hath interpreted this compass of the Abyss mentioned here in the Proverbs. His following interpretation of v. 28. is as rare; He strengthened the Fountains of the Abyss. That is, according to Wisdom, he made them run with a strong Current; or to abound with Water, as Wisdom expresseth it, v. 24. I was brought forth when there were no Fountains abounding with Water. But our Theorist in his new Earth will [Page 47] have no Fountains at all abounding or flowing with Water, no Fountains at all; but saith that the Fountains could be strengthened no other way, than by making a strong cover or Arch over them; and that Arch was the whole Earth, which had not one Fountain in it abounding with Water. So that he makes the Fountains of the Abyss to be only the Abyss, without any Fountains appearing; and the strengthening of the Fountains of the Deep must be, to make no Fountains at all of the Deep. You see now how little this place of the Proverbs is to his purpose, but rather quite contrary to his new Spherical Earth; where he would have neither Moun­tains, Hills, nor Sea: whereas in this Chapter v. 25. there are both Moun­tains and Hills plainly declared, Wis­dom saying, Before the Mountains were settled, before the Hills was I brought [Page 48] forth. And again v. 29. when I gave to the Sea his Decree, that the Waters should not pass his Commandment: when he appointed the Foundation of the Earth. Here you see Mountains, Hills and a Sea confined to its bounds at the very beginning of the World, when the Foundations of the Earth were first settled. All which is, as he saies, a remarkable passage indeed, to confute his new-found World; far from con­firming it.

XXII. There is another Scripture also which our Theorist makes use of to prove that the Earth was above, and the Waters all contained in it, and brings for this, Psal. 24. 1. The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. v. 2. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. So our Translation hath it, upon the Seas. [Page 49] But the Word in the Original is Al, which signifies as well near or by, as upon; as you will find it, Psal. 1. 3. where it is said of the Righteous, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Here the same word, Al; is put for by or near the Rivers of Water, which Psal. 24. is translated upon. And thus it is interpreted by several Au­thors, He hath founded it, juxta, by the seas, and established it by the floods. But perchance our Translators might have regard to another thing in this expression, upon the Seas: because the Earth hath very great hollows and Caverns in it full of Water from the Sea; over which the Earth doth stand, and so may be said to be founded upon the Seas, the Waters of the Sea passing under the Earth, and runing through it to the tops of the Moun­tains; and there springing forth with great Fountains run down the Valleys, [Page 50] as it is exprest, Psal. 104. 8. where it is said of the-Waters, they go up by the mountains: they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. And so, Psal. 33. 7. 'tis said, He layeth up the depth in store-houses: in those great hollows under the Earth, from whence Fountains arise to wa­ter it all over. And in these Store­houses also he reserved Waters to over­flow the whole Earth at the Deluge, when the Fountains of this great Deep were broke open, and made to run in that excessive manner, as together with the forty daies Rain, caused an universal Deluge.

XXIII. Another place he makes use of is Psal. 136. 4. where David speak­ing of the Wonders of God, saith, To him who alone doth great Wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever. And then v. 6. To him that stretcheth out the earth [Page 51] above the waters. This David recounts as a great wonder: for the Waters by their natural situation should be above the Earth, and were so at the first Creation, the Abyss or great deep encompassing the Earth round: But God gathered all the Waters together and made the dry Land appear: and in many parts of the Land there are by the Sea-Shore great Rocks and Mountains placed, which seem to us to stand much above the Sea: and therefore 'tis said, To him that stretch­eth out the Earth above the Waters. But for this and other Poetical expressions in the Psalms or Job, or such like Po­etical Sacred Authors, I may say in general as he doth pag. 87. at the lower end, ‘That they seldom are so determinate and distinct, but that they may be interpreted more than one way.’ Wherefore I desire the Rea­der when he meets with some such [Page 52] expressions to remember what our Theorist himself confesseth, and to take the pains to consult some other Interpreters, and then he will find the truth of what is here acknowledged. These are the most material Scrip­tures he depends upon, which I have mentioned; and therefore I will now pass to discourse of his Theory more particularly.

I. GOds providential Care of, and Favour to Man is very won­derful, that he should make poor man, who is not able to create or produce and give life to the meanest creatures, abso­lute Lord over them all: and not only for his necessity, but for his entertainment also and pleasure to dispose of the life of the noblest and best of Creatures at his will and command: And besides all this great power and authority given him in this World, hath prepared for him a life of eternal happiness in the World to come in the presence and full injoyment of this his great benefactor. Yet ungrate­ful man so degenerated, as soon to for­get his maker and manifold benefits; and [Page 54] at length all flesh had so corrupted his way, that the Justice of God re­solved to destroy them all by an universal Deluge, saving only Noah and his Posterity, who had found favour with God by his more righte­ous Life; And from him began a new and righteous Generation: but in pro­cess of time they also degenerated as far in all sorts of wickedness. Yet God having promised unto Noah ne­ver to destroy mankind again by ano­ther Flood, made good his Word and chose unto himself righteous Abra­ham and his Wife, and from their Son and succeeding Generation to sever from the rest of the wicked World a peculiar People that might serve him aright four hundred years together in the Land of Aegypt: and when he brought them out from thence into the Land of Canaan with other adja­cent Countries, which they were to [Page 55] possess and multiply in, he gave them several Laws, and Ordinances very different from the rest of the World; and Moses their chief Captain and Lea­der, inspired by God, wrote them all down in five Books; beginning at the very Creation of the World, and punctually declaring the manner, the time, and all other circumstances, how and when every thing was Created, and how Man was made Lord of all. He sets down likewise the several Generations of men until the Deluge; and as punctually declares how the Flood came upon the whole World, and how God preserved Noah and his Sons in an Ark, the manner and form of which he exactly sets forth; and how God commanded Noah to take into the same Ark some of all the sorts of Creatures upon Earth to pre­serve them from perishing: And so goes on to describe how the Flood [Page 56] came upon all the rest of the World, and the Waters encreased by degrees, till at length they lifted up the Ark from the Earth; and by the Waters still encreasing, it was born up fifteen Cubits above the tops of the highest Mountains; and how it decreased likewise and the Earth became habi­table again: and so continues his re­lation of all the Posterity of Noah till he comes to Abraham and his Gene­ration; unto whom at their coming out of Aegypt God gave by this Moses Laws and Ordinances, as I said before: which was his peculiar favour to the People of Israel. As for the rest of the World, God suffered all Nations to walk in their own waies. Never­theless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good and gave them Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons, fill­ing their hearts with food and gladness, as it is, Acts 14. 16, 17. And he also [Page 57] wrote a Law in their Hearts, a Law of gratitude unto his infinite goodness for all these benefits, That they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find him, as it is, Acts 17. 27. And he wrote a Law likewise in their hearts for their demeanour and conversation one with another: What­soever you would that men should do unto you, even so do unto them. And as their knowledge was but little, so God re­quired little at their hands; only to observe these Laws written in their hearts. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, as it is v. 30. And thus both Jews and Gentiles continued un­til the fulness of time was come that God sent forth his Son into the World, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his People Israel. Then this his Eternal Son manifested the glory of the Father both to Jews and Gentiles, and sent Apostles abroad into all the [Page 58] World to Preach the same: who kept nothing back that was profitable unto them, but declared all the counsel of God, as it is, Acts 20. 20, and 27. Who can now doubt, but that the Son of Righteousness hath so enlight­ned all the World by himself and his blessed Apostles, and taught us all things, not only things necessary to our Salvation, but all knowledge required to perfection? Certainly then no man can think that the infinite goodness of God, who hath thus enlightened us with all knowledge to perfection, should leave his People unto this day ignorant in the first Principles of Re­ligion, even the very Creation of the World, and of man with all other Creatures; of the Universal Deluge, and Noah's preservation in that Deluge, and suchlike rudiments, which our Children learn in their Minority.

[Page 59] II. What then shall we say to the man that after several thousand years, now in the end of the World, steps forth, as a new light come into it, to shew us how that the whole World has been mistaken unto this day in the true knowledg of the Creation, Deluge &c. and pretends to deliver to us a new and strange interpretation of Scriptures, which neither we, nor our Fathers before us, ever heard of; and by his Philosophy would not only confute all other Philosophers before him, but also Christians in their Di­vinity; and would make it as plain unto them as the Sun at Noonday, that they have not yet had a right un­derstanding of these things: And tho David saith, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy-work; he would be so bold as to tell David, that neither these Hea­vens, nor this Earth are the same [Page 60] which they were at the Creation and so continued till the Deluge, but quite another thing: and therefore neither these Heavens nor this Earth can declare unto us the glory of God or his Handy-work; for this present Earth is a strange mishapen thing, full of broken Rocks and Mountains, Hills and Valleys, Lakes and Seas; the ruines only of a former Earth which carried a smooth spherical form, a beautiful and rich Soil delicately adorned with Fruitful Trees and plea­sant Flowers, without Seas or Lakes; and, in a word, all over a very Pa­radise: The Heavens also were then of a temperate Serene Air, no Storms or Tempests, no Scorching or Freez­ing Weather, but pleasant Seasons throughout the year, fit to breed and nourish all things; which now, clean contrary, is filled with boistrous Winds, Storms and Hurricanes, Heats and [Page 61] Colds, distempered and infectious Airs: so that men are now cut off in the beginning or midst of their daies: or if they fulfil the whole num­ber of them, it doth not amount to half a quarter of their former longevi­ty. This he undertakes to set forth to us in a Book entituled, the Theo­ry of the Earth. Which I shall now examine, and pass some brief Ani­madversions upon it.

III. The whole Discourse of this mans Theory ariseth from the great dissatisfaction he had in two things: the first was concerning the common belief we have of the Deluge, that the Earth was wholly overflowed and quite encompassed with so much Water all at once, as to extend to the tops of the highest Mountains, and fifteen Cubits over; fo so we understand Moses's description of it: [Page 62] This seems to him a thing not intel­ligible, and consequently not credible, as we shall see hereafter. The second thing that troubles him is the mishap­en form of our present Earth, as he thinks, not becoming the Omnipotent Power of God, who Created all things, and after every Work affirm­ed, that it was good; which no man can say of this imperfect World: for it hath scarce any thing in it of form or order, but lies like a confu­sed Mass of Ruins. But tho the Cre­ation was the first thing in order, yet in his Book he puts it in the second place, and begins with the Deluge, as most to his purpose; shewing the impossibility of it, according to his Scheme of Philosophy: for by that we are to rule our thoughts and words in all things appertaining to the Natural World, as he calls it. But the plain truth is, both these [Page 63] difficulties are but pretended to bring in his new devised fancy of making another World, very different from that which Moses describes in the Cre­ation: This is his beloved Darling, which he would gladly compel us to receive, by shewing us first the im­possibility of such a Deluge in this World, as now it appears: And from thence he introduces a World of his own framing, and shews thereby his admirable Wit and Parts, as he conceives, in its composure: which we shall see when we come to it. At present we will follow his method, and begin with the Deluge; the com­mon opinion whereof he rejects, be­cause it is not Intelligible.

IV. He lays down this Rule, ‘That in all things appertaining to this Natural World, which consist of matter and form, we must not al­low [Page 64] of any thing that is not agree­able to the ordinary course of nature; which he supposes may be conceived in a rational way. As for example, That two material bodies cannot penetrate the one into the other: this is against the Principles of his Philosophy. And therefore we ought not to allow that the Blessed Virgin continued a Virgin in bring­ing forth our Saviour into the World. And that Accidents cannot subsist without a Subject to support them: this also is unintelligible; and there­fore we allow not the Popish Tran­substantiation. So likewise we re­ject their Purgatory, because it is unintelligible how the Soul separat­ed from the Body, being a pure Spiri­tual Substance, can suffer by materi­al Fire; and suchlike their Tenets.’ Yet we believe the first, that the Bles­sed Virgin continued a Virgin in partu, [Page 65] that is, in bringing forth our Saviour, as well as in conceiving him, because we have a sufficient ground for this in Scripture, both in the Prophet Isaiah, and in the Gospel. A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son. Her Virgi­nity is jointly affirmed both of her conceiving and bearing: And there­fore all the Christian Church have ever affirmed it, and say (according to the Creed called the Apostle's) born of the Virgin Mary. But we find no compelling Scripture to make us be­lieve the Popish Tenets we mention­ed. If the Papists could shew us as plainly in Scripture their Transub­stantiation, as we can that the Virgin both conceived and bare a Son, we should as readily believe the one as the other. Wherefore our Rule of Belief is the Scripture; and whatsoever is plain­ly declared there, we presently submit unto, whether the manner of it be [Page 66] intelligible or not intelligible; whe­ther it relate to the material World or the Spiritual World: for I know no reason why we should make that distinction of Material and Spiritual, if Gods Word plainly declares it: for by reason we are more assured that Gods Word must be Truth, than that any material thing can be, or can not be so. Who doth understand the union of Mans Material Body with his Spiritual part the Soul? Where the faculties of the Soul are lodged, his understanding, Will, and Memory? and how they are distin­guished? How material accidents of the Body work upon the Soul and disorder sometimes the understanding, sometimes the memory? Nay in things wholly material: How little doth man understand, or can give a reason why a dry yellow Seed of Wheat should spring up in a green [Page 67] moist Blade, and that grow into an Ear, and become Wheat again? Or who doth understand the various flow­ings and ebbings of the Sea? These are things our very Senses tell us are so: yet our Reason doth not at all un­derstand how they came to be so. Shall man then, who understands not himself, nor the mean works of God, by his shallow weak Reason examine and determine the great and wonder­ful Works of God? God forbid.

V. But this man perchance will say that he hath found out an expli­cation of Scripture in this business of the Deluge, which never was found before; and such as may accord as well with Moses's relation, as that we com­monly receive. To this I answer, If his way of interpreting the Scrip­ture be extravagant, Romantick and ridiculous in it self, not any thing be­coming [Page 68] the gravity of Scripture; and also put a sense extreamly forced, and even contrary to the words, as they have been understood by the whole World hitherto, we have reason to re­ject it. And now let any knowing serious Person (not light and giddy Persons, who are pleased with any novelty) consider and weigh the Argu­ments he brings, and the Answers herein contained, and then let him judg of the whole matter: wherein we will now proceed.

VI. His first Chapter is only by way of Introduction to bring in the rest. And in his second Chapter he endea­vours to shew us the vast quantity of Water which is requisite to make such a Deluge: and, according to his computation, makes up a sum of eight Oceans, that is, eight times as much Water as all the Seas in the World [Page 69] contain. You must suppose this man a rare Hydrographer, and can tell us exactly to a fathom the depth of all the Seas in the World, not only near the shore, but in the main fathomless Ocean; nay, his skill reaches above the Heavens, and can tell you the quan­tity of Waters there. By what Art or Instrument this is computed is best known to himself, but not intelligible to any body else. But let us hear the rest. He then affirms, that all the Waters upon or under the Earth, to­gether with the Waters above the Fir­mament would not amount to much above one Ocean; so that there would be above six wanting to fill up the Val­leys to the Mountain tops and fifteen Cubits upwards. You must know this man is a rare Geographer also, and hath taken the heighth of every Mountain, and the depth of every Valley in the whole World, and can tell you what [Page 70] quantity of Water is requisite to fill them up, and make an even Sphere with the whole Earth. And then concludes, ‘That 'tis not intelligible from whence so great a quantity of Water should be produced, and whither it should be conveyed after the Deluge.’ Well, let it be unintelligible; Is it a good consequence therefore to say it is In­credible? This man professes to be­lieve that God created all this whole World from nothing; not onely the Earth, but the vast incomprehensible Heavens, with Sun and Moon and all the innumerable Stars; and believing this, could not doubt, but God ha­ving a mind to overflow this whole Earth, could far more easily find Wa­ter enough to make such a Flood. And should I say he did create Water on this occasion, what can he say to con­fute it? Where hath God in Scripture confined himself from any new Crea­tion [Page 71] for ever? No where, as I know of: for to say that God rested the seventh day from all his Work, cer­tainly cannot imply that God must never work more, John 5. 17. Christ faith, My Father worketh hitherto and I work. We find in the Gospel our Sa­viour fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes. I may as well say this is unintelligible, and conse­quently Incredible: yet no good Chri­stian doubts of the truth. And why then might not God multiply the Waters in that Deluge, as well as mul­tiply the Loaves in the Gospel? Wherefore if we say that the Waters in this great Deluge were multiplied, methinks a true Believer should rest satisfied with such an answer: for this way of multiplication better satisfies an Objection of his, made Pag. 19. That Moses saith, the Waters increased by degrees: for when our Saviour mul­tiplied [Page 72] the Loaves, he did not at once create as many as would satisfie the five thousand, but multiplied them by degrees, as the Disciples distributed them, and when they returned they still found more to distribute. And so the Waters by degrees increased, and decreased likewise by degrees. But, saith he, What became of all these Waters after the Deluge? Where were they disposed? A strange Question for a Believer to ask! as if the same Power that multiplied could not also lessen. And thus he may have eight, or eighteen Oceans, if it were requi­site, to make up his Deluge; which, says he, is unintelligible: yet is very intelligible to any true Believer, tho the means whereby so much Water was produced be unintelligible. And I would gladly know of any man what absurdity, or what inconveni­ence there would be to Religion in [Page 73] this way of multiplication: I profess I cannot see why any one should scru­ple at the unintelligibleness of this, if he believes the other of multiplying Loaves in the Gospel. And therefore I require our Theorist to shew us some inconvenience or unintelligibleness in the one more than in the other.

VII. But he brings a Rule out of S. Austin, ‘That in the difficulties of Scripture we should not easily make use of Gods Omnipotency for their interpretation.’ Let it be so, we are not easily to make use of Gods Om­nipotency. Must we therefore never use it? Are there not a hundred Mi­racles in Scripture, which neither St. Austin nor this man, with all his Phi­losophy, can shew how they could be done in a Natural way? And there­fore when our Reason cannot find out how such a thing can be effected by [Page 74] any other means than by Gods Omni­potency, we aseribe it unto that. ‘This, saith he, is to make God march forwards and backwards, create and annihilate, multiply and lessen according to our will and pleasure:’ Not so, but according to his own Word. When he tells us such a thing was done by him, and we cannot in reason find out how it was done by any other means, than by Creation or Multiplication, we do not then vainly make use of his Om­nipotency, but only to make good his own Word. And I conceive we can never fully satisfie our Reason, and answer every Objection that may be made in this matter of the Deluge, and in many other things contained in Scripture, without some such way. And give me leave to say further, We do in this deal much more mannerly with the Deity than he does; for we [Page 75] leave God to his own liberty to Create or multiply, when he sees occasion: but this Man would bind up Gods hands and manacle them so, as he must not by any means Create anew or Multiply, be the occasion ever so great, even the Deluge of the whole World. And truly this Man seems to me, and, I believe, to all Men else, a very Miracle, who allows no Miracle in the Deluge, but will needs have all done by Intelligible and Rational ways, as he calls it; but we may ra­ther call it a fictitious and Romantick way, as we shall see by and by when we come to it.

VIII. But I think it fit at present to give an Answer to an Objection made by him, I shall make bold to say, very frivolous. ‘ Moses, saith he, in the description of the Deluge, a­scribes it unto two express Causes, [Page 76] the breaking open the Fountains of the great Deep, and opening the Windows of Heaven; and by these two means the Deluge arose and o­verflowed the World. Here you may see Moses tells you the means whereby the Deluge was effected: Moses makes no mention of Creating or Multiplying power.’ And what of all this? Was there therefore no ex­traordinary power made use of in the Deluge? Job. 9. 6. It is said, our Sa­viour spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go wash in the Pool of Siloam; he went his way therefore and washed and came seeing. Here you see the means expressed whereby this mans eyes were opened, viz. by anointing his eyes with clay and washing in the Pool of Siloam. Were this mans eyes opened by a Rational way, or by a Miracle? [Page 77] So likewise at the Pool of Bethesda, John 5. an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the wa­ter: whosoever then first after the trou­bling of the water stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. Here we see the means express'd how they were cured; yet without all doubt a miraculous means, and far above the Reason of this Man, and beyond his Philosophy to find out, be it ever so great. And so it is related by Moses himself, when God caused the people to pass through the Red Sea, Exod. 14. 21. Moses stretched out his hand over the Sea, and the Lord caused the Sea to go back by a strong East-wind all that night and made the Sea dry Land, and the waters were divided; and the Children of Israel went into the middest of the Sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. Here we see a means u­sed, [Page 78] Moses stretching out his hand over the Sea, and the Sea went back by a strong East-wind all night: So that the Sea was not dried up of a sudden, but by degrees. Now will this Man with his Philosophy shew us a Ratio­nal way how this was done without any Miracle? most absurd. And just so, though Moses ascribes the Deluge to a means, the breaking open the Fountains of the great Deep, and the Windows of Heaven to be opened, and the Rain to descend and the Foun­tains to run forty days and forty nights, and so the Flood prevailed till it over­flowed the whole World; to say there was no Miracle at all in this is as ab­surd; and especially in his way of his new-found World, where were neither Seas, Rains nor Tempests whatsoever till the Flood, but a constant, calm, serene Air perpetually: which must needs cause them to think such a De­luge [Page 79] miraculous indeed, never having any such thing as Rain before, and of a sudden to see Water poured down in such wonderful abundance for forty days together. If we should see Fire descend from Heaven in like manner forty days together, no Man would doubt to affirm it to be a Miracle not Intelligible. And thus you see what wonderful unintelligible difficulties this Man hath raised out of his Philoso­phy in this matter of the Deluge which he so much stumbles at.

IX. But because he is a Man so de­sirous that all should be done in a Ra­tional way, we will endeavour a little to make this Deluge Intelligible in his own way, and shew him how we may find Water enough for it in the vast great Deep below, which he says is fathomless, and from the vaster Heaven above (which I may call [Page 80] Boundless in comparison of the lesser body of Earth) to overflow that little circumference, though it be taken fif­teen Cubits above the highest Moun­tain, and so make up his eight Oceans, which he says is requisite. Gen. 1. We find that when God created the Heavens and the Earth the Waters co­vered the Earth, and then God divi­ded the Waters and placed some above the Firmament, and left some remain­ing under it: Where or how the Wa­ters above the Firmament were placed the Scripture doth not mention, and therefore I acknowledg my ignorance; and I find very knowing persons have much disputed, whether in his Atmo­sphere, or in some higher place: but I rest contented in believing it, because the Word of God hath said it. Yet, if I may propose my thoughts, I con­ceive they might be placed in some upper part of the Aerial Firmament, [Page 81] (and not carried up above the Hea­vens, as some have fansied) and there extended to a far wider circumference, than they were in here below, whilst they compassed the Earth: for a great depth of Water here, when carried up and enlarged to that mighty extent, would make a far thinner Orb, and as clear as Crystal, all earthly parts being extracted; and no way hinder, but rather encrease the light of Sun, Moon and Stars, as we see glasses of like nature do. If this Philosopher tell me that immediately above the Air lies the fiery Region (an ill neigh­bour for the Water,) I shall make bold to ask him how he knows that: Hath he ever been there to see it? As for Philosophers talk, I think it much like Physicians, many guesses, but no cer­tainty of any thing. But if he like not this place for the Waters, let him find out another: for I hope he [Page 82] will not deny Moses's plain words, That the Waters were divided and part placed above the Firmament. If this Philosopher ask me farther, how the Water, being a heavier body than the Air, doth there subsist and not fall down again; I shall ask him how the thickest and heaviest Clouds some­times pass away without any falling Rain, and sometimes thin and far lighter Clouds fall down in showers? How at the Prayer of Eliah, it rained not on the Earth by the space of three years and six months; and he pray'd again and the Heaven gave rain, James 5. 17. Will this Philosopher say this was done by the course of Nature, and ordinary means? I am sure S. James ascribes it to Eliah's Prayer, which withheld the natural course of the Rains descend­ing: for presently when he prayed a­gain, the Heaven gave rain. All Ele­ments have no other station, than [Page 83] what God hath appointed them. We know the fire came down from above when God commanded, and burnt Sodom and Gomorrha. And we are like­wise assured that, God commanding, the Waters ascended up on high, and that the Firmament is betwixt those above and those below: this the Scri­pture declares. Wherefore the first Principle of my Philosophy is, To be­lieve the Scriptures, and that God go­verns all things; and that every Ele­ment keeps that station which God hath appointed, until he determine o­therwise. But if this Theorist be un­satisfied with this kind of discourse, as not agreeing with his Principles of Na­ture, let him place the Waters above the Firmament where he will, it mat­ters not to me. Yet if he allow the Scripture, he must join with me and grant, that God had a great reserve of Waters in some Storehouse above to [Page 84] make use of whensoever he pleased. As for the Waters under the Firma­ment, first they covered all the Earth after they were divided; then God ga­thered them together unto one place and made the dry land appear: and God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the Waters called he Seas. For the reception of which Wa­ters he had prepared a Channel (how deep, or how great a part of the Earth is filled with them, I suppose is be­yond this Mans skill in Philosophy or Hydrography to determine) yet so that they were not all contained in the depth of that Channel below the Earth: but part within the Channel, and part remaining yet higher than the Earth in a wonderful manner, as David expresseth it, Psalm 33. 7. He gathereth the waters of the Sea together as an heap: He layeth up the depth in store-houses. Which seems to express [Page 85] that which I said before, That the Waters were partly above the Earth, and partly below the Earth, as in a Store-house. But though the Waters stood, as he saith, on an heap above, yet God set them a bound that they may not pass over, and that they turn not a­gain to cover the Earth. Which Jere­miah expresseth also Chap. 5. v. 22. Fear ye not me? saith the Lord, Will ye not tremble at my Presence? which have placed the sand for a bound of the Sea by a perpetual Decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss them­selves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it. This passage also of Jeremiah is very remarkable; Will ye not tremble at my Presence, who have placed the Sea in that wonderful manner, as it hourly threatens you with an over­whelming destruction, and would cer­tainly confound you, did not I re­strain [Page 86] it and keep it back by a perpe­tual Decree? And whereas our Phi­losopher saith that God hath set Rocks, Hills and Mountains, and decreed those for bounds to the Sea, I desire him to take notice that here Jeremiah speaks not of any such bounds, but the Sand only, where the Waves roar and toss themselves, yet cannot pass over it because of God's Decree; He gives that as a reason for their re­straint from overflowing the lower ground, and not the highest of the Land; above which the Sea can as easily pass over, as the lower Sands, were it not kept in by Gods Decree. For, as I said before, this great Abyss did once cover the whole Earth before God gathered it together, and there set­led it by a Decree; and might as well again cover it, were there no Decree to hinder it. Now Davids expression and Jeremiahs also were very vain, if [Page 87] the Sea, as this Man would have it, were so much below the Earth, that it did not need any restraint from God to keep it from overflowing; and therefore let the Waves roar and toss themselves never so much, yet with­out any Decree of God it is impossible they should overflow the Earth, and men need not at all tremble at Gods Presence in that regard, but may sleep secure from any danger of a Deluge. Which Blasphemy I hope he will not presume to speak or think. And if to avoid this Blasphemy, he should say that Gods threatning was not in vain, because by his Omnipotent Power he could take away all those bounds of the Sea, Rocks, Hills and Moun­tains. And what then? he hath brought the ground level to such a place as Jeremiah spoke of before: yet there Jeremiah saith the Waters were not able to overflow it. But he will [Page 88] farther extend God's Omnipotent Power to raise the Waters, tho they are below the Earth and make them come like flying Rivers (such as he mentions in his Deluge) and overflow the Land. Mark you now: This Man would not allow God to do the least Miracle to make good the com­mon interpretation of Moses's words; no, by no means, he must not alter the course of Nature; and therefore he hath taken so great pains to invent his Fraction to save God from doing a Miracle. But now God must do Miracle upon Miracle, pull down Mountains, and raise up the Waters and make them come flying, as I said, over the Earth, if he will destroy these obstinate Jews. So that the whole fabrick of his Design and Fraction is wholly spoiled: And the Jews being assured by this Philosopher that God would not do such Miracles to de­stroy [Page 89] them, were safe enough; and Jeremiah's, or rather Gods threats would still be in vain. And thus by avoid­ing one Rock, he falls upon another, and a greater. Incidit in Scyllam.

X. And so let us return to Moses, who saith, the Waters first covered all the Earth, and then that God gathered them together in one place, where they might lie together as a swelling Moun­tain: for, as David expresseth it, Psal. 33.7. He gathereth the waters together as an heap: He layeth up the depth in store-houses. This Opinion then of the Seas being higher than the Earth, is no such old and foolish O­pinion, as he expresseth it: for we shall not take his Ipse dixit for any Confutation, though ever so magiste­rially spoken. And if he argues a­gainst this, That the Land and Sea make up one entire Globe, and there­fore [Page 90] the Sea must not swell out so far as to spoil the fashion of it. Sure the swelling of high Mountains so far a­bove the Valleys quite spoils the sphe­rical form of his whole Globe, let the Seas swell or no. But by what doth he find us necessarily obliged to confess the Earth and Sea to be in such a per­fect Globe, as we may not allow the Sea to swell above the Earth? Per­chance he will say all must run in an equal line round about the Centre. How then doth the Earth it self run in so unequal a line, as from the highest Mountain to the lowest Val­ley? And the Mountains, for ought I know, might have been as high again, and yet the whole Globe subsist in the same place that it doth. Again, If every thing must lie in an even line, how comes the Sea in its deep­est Channel to lie so much below the Mountains, or any thing at all be­low [Page 91] them, the Earth being so much a heavier body than it; and the Earth according to its gravity should lie so much below the Sea, and that en­compass it round about, as it did at the first Creation. Wherefore his Phi­losophical Suppositions and Reasons signifie little: Gods Creation and ap­pointment are according to his own Will and pleasure, and every Element sinks and rises and keeps that station he hath appointed for it. And if he comes now to confute me with his Mathematical Instruments, and pre­tends to shew me that the Sea is not higher than the Earth by standing on the shore and taking a level, I shall not at all hearken unto him: for tho by his Instrument no considerable rise of the Sea may be discerned in one short view; yet in many thousand miles a very great rising may be dis­covered, when he comes into the [Page 92] main Ocean: and therefore I shall de­sire him to assure me that he hath walked with his Instrument upon the grand Sea and taken an exact level from England to America, and that in a most perfect absolute calm (for the least commotion of the Sea will spoil his measuring) and so go on into the other Ocean beyond America, and take the level likewise of that Sea. A hard task I lay upon him, but yet very necessary, seeing he goes about to confute me and Scripture too with his Mathematical Instrument: and therefore it is no wonder if I require him to walk upon the Sea being in a perfect Mathematical level. Nor is this rise of the Sea a vain and use­less thing, but kept up by God in this form by his perpetual Decree for the use and benefit of Mankind, and done by the same Power by which he created the whole World for the bene­fit [Page 93] of Men: that is, that Fountains might run from thence unto the high­est Hills, and there spring forth to water the whole Earth, as David saith, Psalm 104. 8. They go up by the Mountains and down by the Valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. And v. 13. He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. And for this purpose, though the Sea lies ever so high in the main Ocean, yet descend­ing by degrees towards the shores, it lies there very low, that the Rivers may exonerate themselves into it. And from hence we may gather the mean­ing of Moses, when for the Deluge he mentioned the breaking up the Foun­tains of the Great Deep, that is, the Fountains and Springs which flow from the great Deep by several pas­sages contrived by God under the Earth to convey the Waters of the [Page 94] great Deep, and make the springs run among the highest Hills, as David saith, and there break out in the tops of the Mountains in such flowing streams, as I have been amazed to see it, and have seriously considered whe­ther the top of the Mountain, some­times very small above the Spring, could possibly contain vapours enough to engender so much Water as flow­ed from them: for a great quantity of vapours being condensed will make but a few drops of solid Water. And our Theorist being a Man of obser­vation, I doubt not but he hath con­cluded (as I have done) That tho the top of the Mountain had been fil­led with solid Water, it could not cause the Spring to run at that rate very many hours. And whereas in Autumn Springs that are raised by Vapours condensed into Water, at the foot of Hills or in lower [Page 95] grounds, do generally cease after a dry Summer, or, at best, run low: these from the Mountains continue to flow plentifully. And from all this I conclude, that when Moses saith the Fountains of the great Deep were broke open, he means by the great Deep the same he mentioned in Ge­nesis at the Creation, which in the se­cond Verse he calls the Great Deep: And the same Waters being gathered together in one place, he calls them by the common name of Seas, v. 10. which of it self might afford Water enough to cover the whole Earth; for it is evident by Moses that the Wa­ters did cover the whole Earth before God gathered them together in one place, after they were divided from the Waters above the Firmament.

XI. Now if he take into his con­sideration all the Waters that were [Page 96] created at the beginning, which Moses saith did cover the Earth; and how deep they covered it, I suppose no man will presume to affirm, whether fifteen or fifty Cubits. And no man can think that God created abundance of Water to annihilate any part of it again presently without any Cause: and therefore we may be assured that the same quantity of Water still re­mains. This then is clear, that as these waters did once cover the Earth, the same quantity of Waters may do so again. Now let him take all these Waters, both them above the Firmament (which God certainly could as easily bring down as carry them up, let the place of their abode be where it will) and those under the Firmament, he cannot possibly want Water abundantly to serve for a Deluge over the whole Earth. Per­adventure he will say, as he did a­bove; [Page 97] ‘That in this carrying the Wa­ters up and down, we make God to march backwards and forwards ac­cording to our will:’ And I an­swer again, as I did before, That we do not make God do any thing: but onely shew unto this Theorist (who will not allow God either to Create, or Multiply the Waters that were created, upon so great an occasion, as this Deluge) how God might do it without either Multiplying or Crea­ting anew. I do it then to satisfie his curiosity rather than our own: for we rest satisfied with God's affirm­ing that there was such a Deluge, and that it was caused by the breaking open of the Fountains, and opening the Windows of Heaven; whether partly or wholly by those means which Moses sets down, we do not positively affirm. And yet if we did affirm the Waters to come down from [Page 98] above, and the Fountains to run be­low for the increase; and so likewise to be taken up again and the Foun­tains to run back for the decrease, it were no more than we find in Scri­pture to be done upon a far smaller occasion. For God made that migh­ty body of the Sun which wheels about the Earth with such incompre­hensible speed, yet at the command of Joshuah, that he might have the longer day to obtain a full Victory, to stand still, Josh. 10. And 2 Kings 20. we find by the Dial of Ahaz, it went back ten degrees to satisfie He­zekiahs doubt whether he should reco­ver or no, according to the words of Isaiah. If on such occasions God did such mighty Miracles, What wonder is it if we suppose him to do far grea­ter Miracles upon so much a greater occasion as the Deluge? If he will shew me how this was done with­out [Page 99] a Miracle, I will undertake to shew him how the Deluge was made without a Miracle. And if God wrought a Miracle then, Why not be­fore at the Deluge? I hope these Scri­pture-reasons and examples, which I have brought, are far more consider­able than his trivial experiments of a Mathematical Instrument or Cubical Pot, which he mentions also Pag. 13. as to tell us of such a Vessel receiving the Rain when it falls for several hours together, and how little a body of Water is found by it, and conse­quently how little this would con­duce towards the Deluge; I conceive it signifies nothing, unless he had been present at the Deluge and seen in what measure the Rains did then de­scend: for upon that occasion, who can doubt but that the Waters were poured forth in a strange and won­derful manner, the Windows of Hea­ven [Page 100] being opened so as they will never be again to the Worlds end? Where­fore to depend so much upon trivial Experiments and his weak Reason in such extraordinary, wonderful and supernatural things, as no man can doubt but this Deluge was, his Faith may be much damnified, though his Reason, or rather Fansie, may be much delighted with inquisitiveness after them: And when he hath done all, and spent his whole time (to say nothing of things more precious) in searching after the Causes of things, and wearied himself with busie and toiling labour therein, he will find that to be true by experience, which weak and deluded Reason will not easily believe, That he knows onely this one thing, that he knows nothing. And therefore 'tis a strange presumption for vain man, who is born as ig­norant ant as a wild asses colt, as Job [Page 101] saith, c. 11. v. 12. to take upon him to be so wise, as to examine and de­termine the works of God by his bru­tish Reason; nay more than brutish in comparison of the Divine Infinite Wisdom. Wherefore S. Paul with great reason bids us, Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philoso­phy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Not that true Reason, or true Philosophy can spoil any man, but vain and deceitful Rea­son and Philosophy, such as the tra­dition or experiments of the World commonly make use of.

XII. This pains I have taken to satisfie this over-inquisitive Man in the Works of God, which he saith God hath given him Reason to em­ploy in: but yet to be done with Rea­son and Moderation, which he doth [Page 102] not. Having thus, as I humbly con­ceive, sufficiently declared where the quantity of Water may be found to make up such a Deluge as Moses men­tions, either wholly by Waters al­ready created; or, if you please to take in the Divine Power of Multi­plication (which sure we may al­low here, as well as we believe it to be done in the Gospel-loaves) then I am sure it is easie to find out Water for it. And I think no sober man will deny in this Deluge a Miracle was wrought in the extraordinary manner of the Rains descending and the Fountains flowing, let this Man deny what he pleases, for some men cannot be confuted but by Club-rea­sons. I desire him to remember what he saith Pag. 297. concerning Lucre­tius. ‘Though his suppositions be very precarious, and his Reason­ings all along very slight, he will [Page 103] many times strut and triumph, as if he had wrested the Thunder out of Joves right hand; and a Mathemati­cian is not more confident of his De­monstration, than he seems to be of the truth of his shallow Philosophy: Mutato nomine de te.’

XIII. We will now proceed to the manner of this Flood, how Moses de­scribes the beginning, rise and increase of the Waters; and likewise how he describes the decrease: which I desire you to observe very well, that when we come to compare it with this Mans invention and manner of it, you may see how strangely he preva­ricates from the Truth related by Moses, Gen. 7. 11, &c. where he saith, The same day that Noah entred into the Ark were all the fountains of the great Deep broken up, and the windows of Hea­ven were opened; and the rain was up­on [Page 104] the earth forty days and forty nights. And ver. 17. he saith, The Flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased and bare up the Ark, and it was lifted up above the earth; and the waters prevailed and were increased great­ly upon the earth, and the Ark went up­on the face of the waters; and all the high hills that were under the whole Hea­ven were covered, fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail and the Moun­tains were covered. And then con­cludes the Chapter at ver. 24. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hun­dred and fifty days. Here you see how the Waters swelled first to that height as to reach to the place where the Ark stood: and the Waters rose more and more, till at length the Ark was lifted up above the Earth: and as the Waters prevailed and covered all the Hills and Mountains under Heaven, the Ark went upon the face of the [Page 105] Waters, which continued in that manner a hundred and fifty days o­ver the Earth. Now can any sober, rational man understand these words of Moses otherwise than that the Wa­ters increased so far, as at one time they covered the whole Earth; not any particular part of it: for Moses saith they prevailed upon the Earth in general, as he had described it be­fore, Valleys and all Hills also: So that the Ark moved upon the face of these Waters, which thus continued many days. And thus the whole Jewish Church and Christian Church, in a word, all Believers, have understood these words of Moses in this very sense. Had the words of Moses been any thing obscure, and some men had raised doubts upon them, he might have had some ground for his understanding them otherwise: but the words of Moses being esteemed [Page 106] very plain in themselves, and never any doubt raised upon them; what other argument would this Man have to prove the sense of them, unless he can prove all the World were such Dunces before him, as they could not understand plain words? Yet not­withstanding all, this Gentleman hath the strange confidence to affirm, Pag. 80. ‘That without doubt it was a great oversight in the Antients to fansie the Deluge like a great stand­ing Pool of Water, reaching from the bottom of the Valleys to the top of the Mountains, every where alike with a level and uniform Surface.’ If it were so great an o­versight in the Antients, Why doth not he prove that oversight? Doth he think any man takes his over­confident affirmation to be a proof? All the World hitherto understanding them in this sense, he should both have [Page 107] shewed and proved particularly where­in this mistake doth lie; and set down the words of Moses which our Narration varies from, without wrest­ing or labouring to put on another sense, than is evident: for certainly no man would be so rash and heady, as to contradict the whole World without a full and clear Demonstra­tion. Yet he neither offers a Demon­stration, nor any Argument to confute this Opinion, but his over-great con­fidence; so great as not to be paral­lel'd in any Writer that I ever heard of.

XIV. Now let us go on to Moses in the description of the decrease of this Flood in the eighth Chapter, where he saith, God made a Wind to pass over the earth, and the Waters as­swaged; the Fountains also of the Deep and the windows of Heaven were stopped, and the rain from Heaven was restrain­ed, [Page 108] and the waters returned from off the earth continually. After the end of the hun­dred and fifty days the waters were aba­ted, and the Ark rested in the seventh month upon the Mountains of Ararat: and in the first day of the tenth month were the tops of the Mountains seen. Here you find how after the Wa­ters had continued several months, they sunk by degrees till the Moun­tain tops were seen, and the Ark rest­ed upon the Mount of Ararat. Is it not evident also by this place that while the Ark moved upon the face of the Waters, all the Mountains un­der Heaven were covered, until the first day of the tenth month, when the Mountain tops began to appear. No other part of the Mountains was then discovered, the standing Pool mentioned before covered all. And after this, ver. 8. it is said, Noah sent forth a Dove from him to see if the [Page 109] waters were abated from off the face of the ground; but the Dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she return­ed unto him into the Ark, for the waters were upon the face of the whole Earth: So that this Pool continued above forty days after the tenth month began. Yet all this will not suffice to con­vince this Man of his Errour. Not­withstanding all this particular descri­ption of Moses (which is so plain, as I do not know how he could speak plainer) telling us how the Deluge was caused, this Man hath the confidence to make a very different relation of it. Job 28. God asks him a question, Where wast thou when I laid the founda­tion of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding. So I may well say to this Man, Where wast thou when I brought a Deluge upon the Earth. Declare if thou hast understanding. Sure this Man was not then in being, [Page 110] and therefore can discover no more un­to us of that Deluge, but what he re­ceived from others. And I desire to know of him, whether any of the Antients (except the fabulous Hea­thens) have delivered unto him any different narration from Moses con­cerning this Deluge: the Christians sure have no other: nor had the fews any other before them, who are the men most likely to retain such a Tra­dition, written or unwritten: for A­braham had Sem the Son of Noah to instruct him in all things during his whole life of a hundred and seventy years, Sem dying after Abraham as all conclude by a just computation. Is it not then a strange thing that this Fraction of the Earth, being the prin­cipal Cause given by this Man for the Deluge, and without which there could be none, as he affirms? I say again, Is it not very strange that Sem [Page 111] should not relate so wonderful a matter to Abraham, unto whom doubtless he de­livered the narration of the Flood with all its circumstances? The other Sons of Noah, Ham and Japhet, lived also many years after the Flood; and it is as strange that none of them should mention it to their Posterity: and so it might have been conveyed unto Heathens also: Yet no man in the World hitherto hath uttered one syl­lable of it. And therefore I think I may safely affirm, and he will be very well pleased with it, if I say, no Author in the World ever under­stood the Deluge, or related it in such a manner, as he hath found out; and consequently may challenge to him­self the glory of it, if it be true; but must bear the shame also, if it be false. But if you will have patience, I will tell you in short the whole sub­stance of this Deluge, as he sets it forth.

[Page 112] XV. First, he presupposes the World to have been before the Deluge of a smooth uniform surface of Earth (as I shall shew hereafter) without any Sea appearing, but all the Sea was enclosed within a compass of Earth round about it, and this Earth inhabited by all Mankind; whose wickedness grew to be so great that God resolved to destroy them all, ex­cept Noah and his Family, who found favour with him. And God foresee­ing that the people of the World would grow so wicked as to deserve a destru­ction, he so fashioned this World, as at sixteen hundred years after the Crea­tion, it should in an instant fall all to pieces of it self. And in this he ad­mires God's great Wisdom (but 'tis his own invention) setting it forth by the comparison of an Artists ma­king a Clock with so rare an inven­tion, [Page 113] as not onely to strike at every hour, but exactly at the end of a hun­dred hours, it would all of it self fly asunder and break; which would be far more admirable, faith he, than onely to make it so as to strike at each hour. But now I pray you ob­serve the rare Invention whereby this was effected. This Earth at first, you must suppose, was a very Paradise: but in process of time the Sun with its mighty heat so parched and filled it with chops and chauns which de­scended very far into the Earth, and prepared it for a rupture: and so heat­ed the Waters within the Earth, as it made them boil, and send forth such violent furious vapours, that the whole body of the Earty by their strugling to get forth was put into a terrible Earthquake; and at length broke out in that raging manner, as shattered this lower World to pieces: [Page 114] which falling into that gulf of Water underneath, great bodies of Earth tumbling down at once into it, did so force the Waters up, as to mount even to the very Heavens, and so down again: And by this means the Waters being cast up into the Air in several places one after another as the Earth tumbled down, covered the Earth part after part as he supposes, and thus made a Deluge; for so he would fain have it. Is not this a rare Romantick way? and far exceeds all that ever hath been written of Sir A­madis de Gaule, or the Knight of the Burning Pestle.

XVI. Before I proceed farther, I shall make some Remarks upon this his rare Invention. First, this whole body of the Earth, like a vast great Pitcher, was heating by the Sun six­teen hundred years together; a won­derful [Page 115] thing. One would have thought the Sun in six hundred years time, or a thousand at most, would have tried the uttermost of its strength, and have set this Pitcher a boiling. I pray you how thick was this Earth, that it could heat the Waters under it? He supposes a mile, at least: and yet in the hottest part of the World that we can now find, do but make a Vault in the Earth twenty yards deep, we shall find the Earth rather cold than hot, and 'twill yield a refresh­ment to any one that goes into it: And sure our Torrid Zone is as hot, as the Temperate Regions were in his fine World. How then came his fine Earth to break into so many parts? For we find when fumes or vapours are in the Earth and cause an Earthquake by their struggling mightily to get forth; as soon as they have made a breach in one place [Page 116] to get out, the struggling ceaseth, and the Vapours come out in a Whirl­wind, Hurricane, or some such thing. And therefore had his Earth broken in some few places towards the Tor­rid Zone, where it was most likely to break, being thereabouts much more parched and chopt, than in other parts; methinks, those vapours going forth at liberty, his great Pitcher should cease from it boiling fury, and the remaining body of the Earth might still have continued its dainty spherical form: For certainly those parts under the Torrid Zone and near­it, would have been more chopt and made ready for a breach in the first six hundred years, than the Northern parts in the whole sixteen hundred, especially considering the Earth (as he would have it) was set in that posture to the Sun, and was so un­fufferably hot thereabouts, as no man [Page 117] living could endure it: For so he sets it forth when he comes to treat of Paradise, and dividing the World in­to two Hemispheres by the Torrid Zone; and that men could not pass from one to the other by reason of the excessive heat. Wherefore, as I said, it must needs be that this part must break many hundred years before the Northern part: and the vapours got out, the struggling and breaking of the Earth should cease. But he will say, The Water coming out from thence might overflow all the Earth, especially there being also great Rains at the same time. To this I Answer, according to his own Rule in his first Book, Chap. 2. That all the Vapours in the upper Region con­densed and become solid Water, do not make up the hundredth part of what it was before. To this he adds another Reason there, an Experiment [Page 118] made by a Cubical Vessel set forth to receive the Rain; in four and twenty hours the Waters received do not make up an inch and an half; and then com­putes how much Water forty days rain would cause: all which he concludes would amount to very little towards the Deluge, for which he requires eight Oceans. If this were so little, as he would have it, he must have all the rest from his Sea under the Earth. But then he comes upon us with his Romantick flying Rivers (as he expresseth it pag. 75.) which like the great Dragon in the Apocalyps, with their wonderful tails swept a­way a great part of Mankind: Yet the greater part, for ought I know, might still remain and escape the De­luge: For I would ask him how far these flying Rivers could reach. We find when a mighty stone dashes into the Water, the greatest part of the [Page 119] Water which is raised by it flies up­ward, though some may rise oblique­ly on either side. Let us now consi­der when two or three Mountains, or half a dozen, fall into his Gulf at once, they might raise the Water ob­likely a great way on either side: I pray you how far? Shall I yield un­to him a hundred miles, or five hun­dred miles? (sure I yield a great way) yet this would come very far short of the Northern Poles. And thus ma­ny men might have escaped the De­luge and been saved from it, as well as Noah with his Ark. So that this Deluge would have been but a par­tial Deluge over a small part of the Earth (a thing which he mightily argues against in the first Book of his Theory Chap. 3.) for as I shewed before, the Earth must needs break in those parts next the Torrid Zone se­veral hundred years before the Nor­thern. [Page 120] And thus the greater part of his habitable World would have esca­ped the Deluge. Again, I pray you consider what Moses saith of the Flood, and this Man urges also upon other occasions, when it seems to serve his turn, as when he argues against the Creation of new Waters; for that would make a sudden rise of Water; against which he urges the words of Moses, who saith, That the Flood increased by degrees, till at length it lifted up the Ark above the Earth, and carried it upon the face of the Wa­ters; and so decreased by degrees: but now the case is altered, and the Waters must dash up and turnble down on a sudden. Is this increasing by degrees forty days or forty hours? when the Water could not be four minutes in dashing up and so tum­bling down again. And thus he doth in several places of his Theory, now Pro, and then Con.

[Page 121] XVII. And now comes a thing very admirable: He endeavours to screw out the ground of this Roman­tick Rupture from those few words of Moses, The Fountains of the great Deep were broke open. ‘Mark you, saith he; Here Moses first speaks of breaking open.’ From whence he concludes a great breach: And of what? The Fountains of the great Deep. And this great Deep he supposes was all included within the Earth, and, had no Fountain at all issuing out (for he allows no Fountains in his new Earth) and therefore by Foun­tains you must conceive Moses doth not mean such flowing Fountains, as we have, but the breaking or clea­ving the Earth asunder, when the Water with the Vapours forced its way out. But all this fansie of his is quite spoiled by himself, he giving [Page 122] us a Rule, and a true one, Page 82. ‘That Moses relating unto us the Deluge as an Historiographer, ought to use common words, and such as may express his meaning to the people, to whom he delivered this relation.’ Surely then the people, who knew no other Fountains, but such as usually we have flowing with Water, must needs understand the like unto them, and not such Fracti­ons and breaches of the Earth, as they never heard of before, nor any man ever called Fountains. Then he makes another Observation, That Moses u­seth here the word great Abyss, men­tioned Gen. 1. 2. and not the com­mon word for the Sea. But I shall shew him that Moses doth call the same Abyss the Sea. For Gen. 1. 9. those Waters which covered the Earth, ver. 2. were gathered together into one place, and ver. 10. God called those [Page 123] waters Seas. And so we find that the Fountains of the great Deep, and the Fountains of the Sea, are both one and the same in the first Chapter of Genesis: and therefore we in our Earth understand them so. Moses calls them Fountains of the great Deep, or Foun­tains of the Sea: and by Fountains of the Sea we understand those that run from the Sea, which were broken up (whether Literally or Metaphorical­y, as he pleases) that is broken up and enlarged that they might flow in great abundance. All this proves nothing to us, nor to any man that hath not his head already filled with such a vain fansie, as the rupture of the whole Earth. But passing over all this, let us now consider whether this be the Deluge that Moses meant.

XVIII. He saith the Flood was forty days upon the Earth and the waters in­creased [Page 124] and bare up the Ark, and it was lift up above the earth. Here we have an increase of the Waters forty days by the flowing of the Fountains from the great Deep and the Windows of Heaven being opened, both in the same day. But in his description of the Flood he puts the Rain forty days before any breach of the Earth. And when the Earth brake, what became of the Ark? Moses saith, it was born up and lift above the Earth by the Waters prevailing: but in his descri­ption, the Earth must first break un­der the Ark, and so the Ark neces­sarily must fall along with it into the Waters which were under the Earth: And this he would have to be the same with lifting up above the Earth. But poor Noah with his Sons and Daughters found it otherwise, and surely were mightily amazed to find themselves so much deceived in God's [Page 125] Promise, having taken so great pains to make an Ark to save them by swimming upon the Waters; yet were now tumbled headlong down, Ark and all into the Abyss: A rare way of lifting up! Then another great part of the Earth falling into the A­byss flounced the Waters up with a mighty force even unto the Heavens, and made there, as it were, a flying River, as his own words express it in the end of the sixth Chapter. And so one piece of the Earth after ano­ther falling down into the Abyss, there was such a commotion and tempest raised, and the Ark with it tossed up so often into the air with his flying Rivers, and carryed headlong again down into the Abyss, that the preserva­tion of it must be a far greater Miracle, than any we require in Moses's De­luge. And thus is that Chapter fra­med in so wonderful a Romantick [Page 126] way, as exceeds all that ever yet was written of that kind. Is it not a strange thing that Moses should not have one word mentioning such a Fraction of the earth, and so horrible a Tempest as ensued? To this he Answers, Page 70. ‘That, it is be­low the dignity of Sacred Penmen, or the Spirit of God that directs them, to shew the Causes of things, and their manner of proceeding: but Providence leaves that to the exercise of our Wills and Inventi­ons.’ And truly he has exercised his Wit and Invention in a most ample manner. But though it be be­low the dignity of the Sacred Pen­men to shew Causes upon our En­quiry, and to satisfie our Curiosity: Yet when they condescend so far as to express the Causes, and manner of their proceeding, as Moses here doth, shewing us the Cause from whence [Page 127] the Flood came, viz. the excessive flowing of Fountains, and the great abundance of Rains falling; and how these Waters prevailed by degrees up­on the Earth, till at length they reach­ed the place where the Ark was; and swelling yet higher, lifted the Ark a­bove the Earth, and prevailed so far as to carry it upon the face of the Waters fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains: and so on to the decrease. Now Moses describing so punctually the whole business of the Deluge; yet, as I said before, not to have one word of this horrible Fra­ction (which this Man puts for the main Cause of the Deluge) nor of this Tempest; and for him to say 'tis below the dignity of the Sacred Penman to give a Cause, when they particularly relate the Cause, is very absurd, and also quite contrary: for Moses expresly declares the Cause of [Page 128] the Flood to be the running of the Fountains of the great Deep, and not the breaking of the Earth, which he could not call Fountains, Fountains being quite another thing. Where­fore 'tis evident this Man makes use of Scripture onely to give some credit to his Theory with inconsiderate people that mind Scripture very little. Moses goes on in his description of the Flood, and says, that all the Hills and Moun­tains under the whole Heaven continu­ed covered many days, until the begin­ning of the tenth month, when the Waters began to decrease; and then de­creasing forty days by degrees the tops of the Mountains began to appear, all the other parts were covered still with Water: for the tops onely ap­peared. But this Man would have it clean otherwise, The Waters did not prevail and ascend to the tops of the Mountains (in his spherical Earth) [Page 129] but the smooth body of the Earth fell down into the Water with such a mighty force, as dash'd the Water on a sudden up into the Air, even to the Heavens; and the Water must needs fall down again on a sudden; for nothing was there to hold it up, but down it must. How then did the Waters continue to cover and prevail upon the Earth a hundred and fifty days? for part after part falling into it in all places, the Water dash'd up and fell down on a sudden. And sure Moses would not call the dash­ing of the Mountains, the covering of the Mountains. But suppose it to be so: I ask, Did all the whole earth fall down or no? If not all, then the parts remaining were not covered with Water, and so the De­luge was not universal: The men then that lived upon those parts of the Earth might escape the Deluge: [Page 130] But Moses saith, the Flood destroyed all flesh living, except Noah and his. And if the whole Earth did fall into the Water, then the whole Earth was covered all at once, by his own con­fession, and the Deluge was universal in that manner as we affirm, but he denies. Now whether all the Hills in this World were made by the Flood or no, we will not question: But, saith he, They were all made by the breaking of the Earth: there were no Mountains nor Hills in his fine World. Well, let it be so, they were all made by the breaking of the Earth, which he calls the Flood: yet when they were made, all were covered by Water, and many Cu­bits higher. Let this Man ask Moses whence he had all this Water: for that is the Principle on which he de­pends for his whole Theory: which this of Moses plainly confutes.

[Page 131] XIX. Now the sum of all this Discourse lies here. Moses, as plainly as a man can express it, declares that the Waters wholly encompassed the Earth, all at once, to the heighth of fifteen Cubits above the highest Moun­tain. This quantity of Water, saith our Theorist, is unintelligible: I say, it is very Intelligible without making use of God's Omnipotent Power in Creating new Waters for it, or in Mul­tiplying any before Created (though we may upon such an occasion do it) But I hope we may make use of all those Waters which God Created the first day of the World. And I have plainly shewed how that those Wa­ters are fully sufficient to make up that mighty Deluge, which to him is unintelligible: For the first day of the World God Created a deep Abyss to encompass the whole Earth; and [Page 132] this deep Abyss God divided, and placed part above the Firmament, and the o­ther part remained under the Firma­ment; which still did encompass the whole Earth. Now if this Water which remained under the Firmament did once encompass the Earth, Why might it not again in the Deluge en­compass the same Earth, overflowing all, yea and fifteen Cubits more? If he say the Waters were not so deep after they were divided: I desire him first to prove that, if he can; and af­ter he has proved it, I have yet a great reserve of Water to make the Deluge, viz. the Waters which God carried up above the Firmament. I do not mean mists and vapours in the Firmament or in the Air below, which, saith he, being condensed would make up but a small quantity of Water to contri­bute towards a Deluge; let it be so: I speak not of such vapours, but of [Page 133] real solid Water, part of that deep A­byss which encompassed the whole Earth at first, and God divided and placed above the Firmament. If he ask me in what place they were set­led, I freely confess I do not know: yet God's Word hath said it, and I very easily believe it was done, tho where he placed them I will not take upon me to determine. I hope he believes it was done as well as I; and then, if he please, let him with his Philosophy determine the place where they were settled. And when he informs me, I will presently again inform him and shew him how there was Water sufficient to make up this grand De­luge: And thus the business will be very intelligible which I hope may give satisfaction. And so we will end this matter of the Deluge, though there be many other extravagancies contained in his fanciful way.

I. I Have entertained you long e­nough with the wild and vain fansie of this Man concerning the De­luge, that was but a Praeludium to usher in his rare Conceit of a new World, which is the Master-piece and very Quintessence of his Philosophy: And by this he means to set up a new Sect of Philosophers, something like Epi­curus and his Atoms, but far exceed­ing him; and therefore hopes that his Name will be much more famous than his, or any other Philosophers of old, and will be a Monument aere perennius, more lasting than any brass, and a Fabrick far more sumptuous [Page 135] than the men of the old Worlds great Babel, which they thought should have continued to future Ages: But by God the builders were soon dis­persed, confounding their Language and scattering them all the World o­ver. And 'tis much to be feared this Man's Tower may have the like suc­cess from God's Word confounding him: for he begins his building with a very ominous foundation, a Chaos of Confusion; and from thence hopes to raise a Monument everlasting: which doth not hang well together. But he undertakes the work very con­fidently, and, as he faith himself, makes a bold step into his new World; a very bold step indeed, for the World that Moses describes, Gen. 1. was no­thing to it, that had onely one spot of delicious ground in it, which he cal­led Paradise: But the World this Man hath framed is Paradisiacal all over, [Page 136] as he termeth it, a very Garden of De­light. It wants onely one thing; There is not a Mountain in all his World to carry you to (as the De­vil did our Saviour) from whence you might have a large prospect of this delicious Land: for then doubt­less you would fall down and wor­ship him for his admirable contrivance of it.

II. But before we examine the Fa­brick of it self, let us confider what motive put our Philosopher upon this rare contrivance, and admirable De­sign: why, he was much unsatisfied with the misshapen appearance of our present Earth: it was so rude and de­formed a Mass, as it looked like the ruins of some goodly Structure, and a confused heap of rubbish, rather than the compleat workmanship of a Master-builder, consisting of parts so [Page 137] unproportioned; here a Mountain, there a Valley; here vast broken Rocks, there smooth and pleasant Plains; here great Promontories shooting out into the Sea, there the Sea running in­to the Land in sinus's aud creeks, without any order or regularity: but lying in a confused manner, as hap­pening by chance, rather than con­trived with any Method or Order. Such is the outside of it; and the inside also as irregular with dismal Vaults and Caverns, such as fright a man to look into it; far from affording any pleasure to the be­holders: and therefore our Philoso­pher cannot think this to be a piece of workmanship and perfection be­coming such a Master-builder as that great God who made the beautiful Heavens with all those Stars and glo­rious Lights: but rather like the bro­ken ruins of his magnificent Build­ing. [Page 138] Thus he describes the present Earth. But what if it do appear that God was the framer of such a confu­sed heap, as he represents this Earth to be? Will not then a strange con­fusion surprise this hasty and rash Philosopher for thus censuring the work­manship of God?

III. I defire him to give me leave to set forth our Microcosm, Man, in some such deformed way, as he doth the Megacosm, or great World. I might affirm him to be a most mis­shapen creature also; and his Head to be like a Jug or Bottle with the neck turned downwards, much deformed in it self, one side all rough and hairy, the other bald, as it were, all battered and broken; a broad forehead at the top, under that two holes dented in for Eyes, then a great and hollow Trunk of a Nose standing forth, then a [Page 139] gaping mouth filled with bones and a lump of flesh between them, with two flaps for lips hanging over; then a Chin, as it were a great Promon­tory, stands out beyond a small dwindling neck, at the bottom where­of stretch forth two mighty over­grown shoulders, and at each side of them Arms as small hanging down, fastened on, as it were, with strings to move up and down, and at the end of them two Hands ragged and jagged with Fingers; down his Back runs a great ridg of Bones with Ribs encompassing his Breast: next unto that a great Potbelly with hips and buttocks swelling out far larger than his Wast; and all this divided into two Thighs, as if some wedges had been driven in to rend his Body from the twist downward. And his inside as deformed as his outside, his Breast and Belly all hollowed with Caverns, [Page 140] and filled with divers disproportioned parts of heart, liver, lungs, guts and panch, as if they had been tumbled into him in confused heaps; so that a Bears unlick'd whelp is of a far finer, smoother and evener shape. Yet we believe this misshapen Body was fra­med by God himself, and our Philo­sopher acknowledges the same: Yea, we are mightily taken and in love with our own form; and although the parts seem thus uneven and dispro­portioned, we greatly commend the beauty of them altogether; and much admire the wonderful structure and usefulness of every part, as several Physitians and Anatomists have set it forth. And so this great body of the Earth taken all together hath a won­derful beauty and admirable structure, even in those parts which he sets forth as most disagreeing and deformed. The high and rocky Mountains [Page 141] immediately adjoyning to the bound­less Seas, quite of another nature, re­present unto us the infinite Power and Majesty of God, as he himself speaks Page 39. saying, ‘The greatest Ob­jects of Nature are the most pleas­ing to behold; and next to the great Concave of the Heavens, and those boundless Regions where the Stars inhabit, there is nothing that I look upon with more pleasure than the wide Sea and Mountains of the Earth: there is something August and stately in the Air of of these things that inspires the mind with great thoughts and pas­sions. We do naturally on such oc­casions think upon God and his greatness, &c.’ Surely he much for­got his fomer thoughts of the rude Earth, when he uttered these words: for what can be more agreeable with the goodness and greatness of God, [Page 142] than to set forth this lower Earth in such a form, as may lift up our minds to contemplate that Divine Omnipo­tent Power, which wrought these mighty works, such as strike our minds with a pleasing astonishment? And surely all men who behold these things have the same delightful con­templation, as he acknowledges to have felt, when he beheld them; and yet we never looked upon them as broken ruined fractions of a former Structure, which we poor Souls ne­ver dream'd of, till his Theory gave us notice of them. And then, if we turn our Eyes from the Hills down to the pleasant Valleys below, what variety do we there discern of great Plains and Fields chequered with di­vers colours, and adorned with se­veral beautiful Flowers and fruit­ful Trees! All which we are de­prived of in his smooth spherical [Page 143] Earth, where we find all to be of one even uniform shape, without any varie­ty to raise up our minds to the contem­plation of God's Greatness and Good­ness, or to invite us to move a foot from our own Habitation to see the rest of the World, all being but one and the same, a smooth Earth without any Sea; which gives occasion to men of the boldest and noblest Invention that is in the World; when in a small Vessel they lanch out into a bound­less Ocean many thousands of miles together, seeking out new and un­known Countries. Really I should grow an, extream dull Creature to be confined to such a smooth uniform Habitation, and should desire to be transplanted into this misshapen irre­gular World he finds us in, where we have the variety of delightful moti­ons and prospects both by Sea and Land. Now if we further consider, That [...] [Page 142] [...] [Page 143] [Page 144] from Moses and several other Writers of Scripture, it appears that God crea­ted this World in that form and fa­shion, as now it is, which this Man hath so boldly called Rude and De­formed; Will not he, as I said before, be strangely confounded at this? But I shall not at present disorder him in the Fabrick of his new World, as he sets it forth in his Theory.

IV. In the first place he tells us that all originally proceeded from a Chaos, and saith, All the Antients were of Opinion that such a thing there was from whence the World did a­rise. I desire to know whom he means by those Antients, whether Heathens or Christians? If Heathens, Is he then to learn from them how the World was made? Sure all Chri­stians take Moses to be the onely true Historiographer for the Worlds Crea­tion, [Page 145] and are no way concerned with the several vain opinions of Heathen Poets or Philosophers, but thank God we have a better light to guide us than those Ignes fatui. Yet I desire him to tell us whether all the ancient Hea­thens were of this opinion: sure not all, but very different among them­selves; and some said the World was made of Fire, some of Water, some of Atoms, and I know not what; some that it was never made, but eternal: And therefore we shall conclude this Chaos, especially in such a manner as he describes it, to be an Idea framed out of his own brain, and reject it as we do Epicurus's Atoms. We desire him then to declare unto us who was the framer of his Chaos; for he doth not plainly express whether he thinks his Chaos was the workmanship of God or no, or when it had beginning And if he saith that God created it, [Page 146] methinks he should have thought such a rude confused Chaos far more im­proper and unbecoming Gods per­fection, than this rude World we live in, but he finds fault with, as un­becoming the perfection of God; for God doubtless could as easily have made the Heavens and the Earth in a perfect form, as leave them to his Chaos to produce. I see he is strange­ly in love with Nature, and Natural Productions, and God must produce only a rude fluid Mass, and from thence Nature must work it out in her orderly way into delicate Heavens and Earth.

5. But where doth he find that God created this Chaos? He saith Moses mentions it in his description of the Creation. Let us then look into Moses, and fee how he relates the framing of this mighty World. Moses [Page 147] saith, Gen. 1. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, and the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the Deep. Here we find within the time of one day the Heavens, and the Earth, and the Wa­ters above the Earth all framed. But our Philosopher tells us of a strange Chaos to be in the beginning; such a one as came not to the consistency of Earth in many days, or rather in ma­ny years, I know not how many: we find not a word in Scripture of any such thing: Yes, saith he, Moses doth affirm such a thing in saying, The earth was void and without form. If the earth was without form, there was then an Earth the first day, though without form: But this Chaos was a confused mass of several parts intermingled toge­ther, which came not to the confistency of earth in a long time, as I said be­fore: so that this is wholly contrary to [Page 148] Moses's description, which saith both Heaven and Earth were created the first day, firm solid earth; and farther tells us how that the earth, though rude the first day, was clothed with Grass, Herbs, and Trees the third day: which more fully confutes his fluid intermingled mass of all things. But let us proceed.

6. He tells us, Pag. 53. ‘That by the Chaos he understands the matter of the Earth and Heavens without Form or Order intermingled in a fiuid Mass, wherein are the mate­rials and ingredients of all Bodies, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, yea, and Oyl also, all confused and mixt together;’ And of these were com­posed the Earth with all its Creatures, Fishes, Fowls, and Beasts. I have of­ten heard of four Elements whereof all things are framed: but I never heard of this fifth Element of Oyl be­fore, [Page 149] which in framing his Earth is the principal: for it seems it was com­posed mainly of that. But he saith, it was not Oyl, but of an Oyly sub­stance, as Cream may be said to be of an oyly or unctuous substance: and such this fifth Element was, (for so I must call it, it being neither Earth, Water, Fire, nor Air) or else it must arise from somewhat else, as Cream doth from Milk: and so this must arise from one of the four principal Elements. And sure it could not arise from Fire or Air; they are of too thin a substance to produce such a thick, fat, and unctuous matter: And for Water, that is too barren in it self to produce such a creamy sub­stance: The Earth likewise is origi­nally a dry, heavy, and cold sub­stance, very unfit to produce it. So that I cannot find out whence it should arise: And therefore, for ought I see, [Page 150] it must be a distinct Element of it self. But whencesoever it did arise, or whatever it be, it is a main principle in his mass, of which consists the Fa­brick of all his new-found Earth. So that here we have the ingredients of all sublunary things whatsoever, all in­termingled; and, for ought I find in his Theory, all above the Moon also: for he doth not tell us of what the Heavens, with all those glorious Stars, Sun, Moon, and Planets were com­posed, or when Created; or whether Nature had a hand in the framing of them from some other kind of fluid Mass. Surely these things were worth his mentioning: for Moses in his rela­tion of the World mentions all par­ticularly; and how that the Earth with the great Abyss about it was framed first, and some days after that, men­tions the Creation of Sun, Moon, Stars, &c. And therefore it is a strange [Page 151] thing that this being done in the mid­dle of the Creation, he frames his World, and takes no notice of them, when or how they had their being. But this is a mystery we must be ignorant of, and pass it over in silence. However, if he thought not sit to meddle with these things; yet me­thinks he might have told us some­thing more plainly of the Creatures below, how they were produced. And first for Fishes, he passeth them over in silence, as not sit to be mentioned in his black Sea under the Earth. And as for Fowls and Beasts, he seems not fully resolved whether they were pro­duced all at one stroke or no, as he phrases it, that is, all at their full growth; but seems rather to believe that the Earth of it self spawned them forth in their first Seeds, and that in time they grew up to more strength and perfection. Here he mentions not [...] [Page 152] all Gods command impowering the Earth to produce them; that is con­trary to his course, who will needs have. Nature alone act in all things. And truly for my part I have not faith enough to believe that his fine fat oyly Earth, ever so fat, was able to produce Creatures of it self alone. And as far as my old head can remember, I take it to be against Philosophy also, that vegetating power alone can produce Animals: and I should won­der much to see a Horse grow out of a Tree or the Earth. But let it be, his Earth produced Animals. If then the Earth naturally of it self produced these various Creatures, methinks the same Earth, having the same princi­ples of life in it, should still have gone on to produce more and more Creatures, till at length the whole Earth should be covered by them. But I leave him to confider more of this matter.

[Page 153] VII. We will rather hearken to Moses, who plainly tells us that both the Earth and the Water produced these Creatures by God's special Com­mand; and when his Command ceas­ed, their production also ceased. And farther tells us, God commanded the Sea to produce all sorts of Fishes, a­mong others the great Whales: Did all these swim up and down in his Sea under the Earth, and the great Le­viathan take his pastime therein, as the Scripture saith? He had but a dark place to sport himself in, nor any room to spout up the Water into the Air, as he hath in our Seas: Sure he rejoyced much when this Earth broke, and let the Waters go abroad to flow over it: but doubtless many of them were knock'd in the Head by those great Mountains of stone falling in­to his Deep. Yet we will let all [Page 154] this pass, and be it so that the Fish were all imprisoned in his dark Sea under the Earth. But I must needs tell him, though he past this over in silence, this business of Fishes loudly and fully consutes his Sea under the Earth. But we will proceed to Fowls. We find ver. 20. God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the mo­ving creature that hath life, and Fowl that may fly above the earth in the open Firmament of Heaven. Were then all the sorts of Fowl under Heaven pro­duced by his Sea shut up under the Earth? Truly, I can as little believe that Water of it self should produce an Eagle, as the Earth a Horse: yet we must believe Nature can do all things. But if Water naturally pro­duced Fowls at the beginning of his World, why should it not go on to produce to this day? I have heard in­deed that there is in the Sea about [Page 155] the coast of Africk a kind of flying Fishes, that are able to raise them­selves up a spirt from the Sea: but I never met with any Traveller who told us that either Sea, Lakes or Ri­vers produced Eagles, Swans, Kites or Ravens, or any other Fowl. The Earth, perchance he will say, is grown more barren since the Fraction: but the Waters sure must be the fatter, that fat oily Earth having fallen in to enrich it: Besides, it hath now the warmth of the Sun to help forwards its production. But he will have it otherwise, and we must submit. Yet I desire him to tell us how the Fowls being produced by his Waters under the Earth, how they got out. Cer­tainly they could not get out till the Deluge, when the Earth brake and let them also fly abroad at liberty, his Earth being firmly closed up on every side, not one loop-hole to fly out at: for [Page 156] he will not allow so much as a Spring in his Earth to arise from the Sea; and by this means they must needs have been drowned as soon as they were made, having no place to fly abroad under Heaven; no nor any space of Air between the Water and his oily substance. I believe these things will make any serious man stumble much at his Theory: And I desire him to consider that men will expect to be satisfied in these great seeming absurdities.

VIII. In the mean time we will proceed to examine his fluid Mass in it self, without any relation to the Animals before-mentioned; and how the parts divided themselves and by degrees separated one from another, till at length the heavier sinking downwards and the lighter mounting upwards, it settled in all these di­stinct [Page 157] bodies of Earth, Water, Oil, Air, Fire, and the Heavens a­bove (which he never told us yet what they were made of, therefore we go no farther than Fire) And when all these were distinct, then this oily substance to settle, concrete and harden, and make up a new-fa­shioned Earth. I desire him to tell me how many years this was in do­ing. We find a Tun of new Wine having a great deal of foul and hea­vy lees in it mingled with the body of the Wine, requires two or three months time to settle in: How much time then would it require for such a vast Vessel as the wide circumfe­rence from the uttermost Circle under the Moon round about the World to the very Centre, which is many thou­sand miles: I say for such a Vessel full of his fluid Mass to divide it self and settle in? I leave him to consi­der [Page 158] the time, I am not concerned in it. But I think I may securely af­firm it could not settle in one, two, or three, or thirty months time; much less in one, two, or three days time; in which Moses relates the Heavens and Earth with the Sea to be framed, and the Earth to be clothed with Grass, Herbs and Trees. And there­fore were there nothing else different in his Production from Moses's Crea­tion, this alone would make a be­lieving Christian throw his Theory aside, Moses so plainly telling us, God created the Heavens and the Earth, part dry Land, which he called Earth, and the gathering together of the Wa­ters he called Seas.

IX. But we will go on with his Mass, which became an Earth by cer­tain particles falling down into it that helped towards a concretion. I [Page 159] beseech him of what nature were these Particles that sunk down into the Oil? If they were of an airy substance, they must still have remained in the Air, their proper Region; If of a watry substance, they would have sunk clean through the Oil into the Wa­ter, and not have rested till they had come to their own Element; If of an earthy substance, they would have sunk down below the Water; If of an oily substance, Oil added to Oil makes it never the harder, and so it would have remained Oil still, and never congeled or concreted into an Earth. I wish he had told us of what nature these Particles were, and given a Philosophical Reason how they came to stick in the Oil and go no farther. But put the case they sunk no farther at first, yet methinks be­fore they came to be a hardened Earth, they must needs have so much [Page 160] weight as to make them sink down into the Waters: for we find if you scatter dust upon the face of the Waters, though it lie on the top a while, yet as soon as it is throughly moisten­ed, it will sink down to the bottom. And thus his fine Earth had been wholly spoiled in the concreting, and we should have had a Deluge over the Earth before there was any Earth.

X. I have yet another scruple, and desire him to tell me of what nature those heavy bodies of his fluid Mass were that sunk down below the Wa­ters unto the Centre; If of an earthy substance, then certainly they consti­tuted an Earth there, their nature incli­ning unto that; and so we have two Earths in one Mass, one below at the Centre, another made up of Oil, and certain Particles, I know not what. And I would fain know how long [Page 161] this Surface, which he calls Earth, was in congeling and hardening to make it a perfect and habitable Body: sure no small time; and yet we have very far outgone already Moses's time of three days, in which he tells us God made the Earth compleat with form and comeliness, with Grass, Herbs, Trees, &c. Yet we must have time to bring it into an Earth, and a longer time to harden it so far, as to turn it into Stone also: of which the surface of his new-found Earth seems to me rationally to consist: for we generally find, the higher we ascend up to the Mountain tops, the more stony and rocky they are; and conse­quently we may well suppose the Sur­face was the most rocky of all. And yet he tells us that his Antediluvian Earth was of a delicate, fine, and fat substance, fit to produce any thing, even living Animals; which a man [Page 162] can hardly believe that sees the ruins of it, the higher we go, all being, as I said, the more rocky and barren, unfit to produce any thing: And yet this is the same Antediluvian Earth in substance with the former, though broken and ruined, as he would have it. From whence we may conclude his fine fat Earth had no other being, but in his brain and fansie: for the nature of it could not be so altered by his imaginary Flood, which was but the dashing of Water by the fall of the Earth into it, and tossing it up, and in an instant down again, there being nothing to support it. And as this rockiness in the highest parts proves his fine fat Earth to be but a figment: so do the several sorts of Mines confirm the same, as Mines of Gold and Silver, Lead, Brass, Sul­phur, Alum, and such like. Where­fore I desire him to shew by his Phi­losophical [Page 163] Reason how his fluid Mass, wherein all things were confusedly mingled, and settled onely according to their lightness or gravity, the higher keeping above, the heavier sinking down, how it came to pass that these heavier bodies of Gold and Lead rest­ed in the same parts where his oily and lighter Particles subsisted. Me­thinks those Particles which were of so heavy a substance should have sunk quite through the fluid matter of Oil and Water also, and never have stopt till they had gotten to the very Centre. Besides; How came it that Particles of so different a nature, as Gold and Lead, Sulphur and Alum, should be found in distinct places within the same body of the Earth, not far asunder one from another; for he must still remember that his Particles, which constituted his Earth, had no­thing else to distinguish their natures, [Page 164] but lightness and gravity. And there­fore, as I said before, all the heavier must needs hasten quickly and equal­ly towards the Center, and could not make up so various bodies in the same parts of the Earth, as here Gold, there Sulphur, hard by Lead, near that Alum, in another place pure earth; and so Stone, Coal, and such-like: all which are found in our present earth; and were undoubtedly in the Antedilu­vian earth, and could not possibly be so variously altered by the breaking of it, the substance being the same, though the former fashion of the earth might be altered. We will yet consider his new fine spherical Earth a little farther.

XI. He says, and that very truly, ‘That all fluid bodies must run in a smooth and equal Line round about the Center, and it is contra­ry [Page 165] to Philosophical Reason for any fluid body to rise up into a Hill, un­less kept in by force, contrary to its natural propension.’ Let him then tell me by Philosophical Rea­son how this fluid, spherical body came into an Oblong, and settled in the form of an Egg, as he supposes it doth extend at each end towards the Poles; and so he hath made two vast exorbitant Mountains in his Sphere: he might better have allowed a great many little Hills, as we find in our Earth: Nay, I dare say the highest Hill in the world doth not extend above the Valley from whence it ari­seth by many degrees to that height from the Center, as his Oval Poles must needs surmount the rest of his Sphere. And if he once allow me but two Hills to be in his Sphere, I shall by consequence bring in two hundred, or two thousand, there being no more [Page 166] reason against many, than one. To this he answers, ‘That all fluid Bo­dies do settle in a perfect Sphere, un­less there be some other cause to hinder it:’ But for our Earth he give this reason for its setling in an oblong form, viz. That this being one of the Planets, is prest down by another adjoyning Planet, and so for­ced out of its own natural form, and compelled to extend it self towards the Poles. We desire to know whe­ther this our Planet hath two other ad­joyning Planets pressing it together on both sides, and they likewise others pressing them: and if so, yet there is no reason for its stretching out into an oblong; for make two spherical Balls of Wax, or Dough, or the like, and let one press the other, they will both extend into a spherical Circumference, as Cakes do, being made round at first and prest down. So that unless this [Page 167] our Planet be surrounded quite about with other Planets, no force can make it extend into an oblong, but it will, as I said, extend into an equal Circum­ference. And if they be so placed round about, then all the Planets must be equally oblong on their pressing side: yet none of them do appear un­to us in an oblong, but in a round form. And further, he himself ac­knowledges the Planets all to lie one above another; and so they can only press one another into a round Circum­ference, as I said before. We find yet no cause for an oblong form. And how knows our Theorist of what matter the other Planets are compo­sed; whether they all proceeded from such fluid Masses as ours did, and set­led all alike at the same time; and whether their outward Circumference be of Air or Fire? And if they be, then those outward parts would yield [Page 168] one to another, and stretch out very far before they came to operate upon the more solid body of the Earth. Many more are the difficulties which would arise from this his Planets pres­sing one upon another: but I will not trouble my head to object any further, than only to shew him that this his Planets Pressing one upon another can­not possibly cause an oblong form in this our Earth; it can only force it into a flat Circumference.

XII. But I will pass from this to another matter in his New-found World, which he hath made void of Fountains, or any other means to wa­ter and refresh it; and hath brought in a new invention of Rivers towards the Poles, caused by vapours descend­ing from the superiour Region, and running towards the Torrid Zone, by degrees branching themselves out with [Page 169] several, as it were, Veins; and thus to afford moisture to all the parts of his New Earth. I observe that he men­tions several Pools and Lakes made by these Rivers, as they run Southward: for so he describes them, and sets them forth in a Map, pag. 231. I have now a great difficulty which I desire him to resolve me in, How these hollows for Lakes, and Channels for so great Rivers as they must needs be, when one River divides it self as it goes into so many parts towards the Torrid Zone; I say how these Hol­lows and Channels came to be in his perfect spherical World? For I hope he will not desert his own Principle, That all fluid Bodies being congeled or concreted, rest in the same form as they were in before concretion. Who then made these Channels for the Rivers to run in, or Hollows for his Lakes to settle in? Truly this doth [Page 170] not seem to me coherent with his new form of Earth: for the vapours com­ing down from above upon his new Earth, supposing it to be perfect sphe­rical, must needs either disperse abroad, or sink equally in all places where they fall, and can have no descent to carry them any way; and thus can­not make up so great a body as we suppose his Rivers must be towards the North, where they fall. Nor will I allow any declivity from his Poles towards the Torrid Zone, having shewed him already, that it is im­possible by his Principles to shape his Earth into an oblong form, but all must be spherical. Besides, when Ri­vers run in a Channel, they never part, but meeting with some obstruction of higher ground that forces them to di­vide: and then his Rivers dividing into so many several parts, plainly shews his Earth hath many Hilly [Page 171] obstructions, which force them to di­vide into several branches. And this business of Rivers will wholly de­stroy this new Fabrick of the Earth: for there can be no running of water, where the Earth, by reason of its sphe­rical form, can have no Channels to receive the Rivers, nor any declivity or sinking ground to convey them from the place they were in. If he answers to the business of Channels, That though there were none at the first framing of his new Earth; yet the falling of those vapours which arose in the South and came flying into the North, and there descended, might in time work down Channels into it, and so make a Current for Rivers to run in. I grant a strong fall of water con­tinuing in one place, might make the earth sink into a hole, and so flow over the parts adjoyning: but I can­not see any cause that should make [Page 172] those vapours descend any otherwise than in mists and foggs upon the Earth: for there being no fierce winds to drive them in his temperate air, they must needs fall, as they rise, uni­versally and gently, scarce sensible in one place more than another; and thus falling equally upon the spherical ground, would water all the Earth alike, and make no Chan­nels in it to convey them into the Southern parts, there being, as I said before, no declivity to help them forward towards the South. More­over Channels are not made, but by great falls of water, when it de­scends from much the higher ground into the lower, and with such lit­tle banks of earth on each side keeping it in, as forceth the current to carry the earth away before it. And I pray, whither should this earth be conveyed in his Spherical World? [Page 173] So that of necessity the mists, as I said, falling gently upon such a per­fect round, must equally distend them­selves into all parts alike, and sink into the ground, rather than make a current to get away. But suppose a Current might be made by gentle falls in a very long time; yet how should all Mankind, and all Beasts live without Water during the time of making so great Channels for such mighty Rivers, as to convey Water enough to disperse it self into several Veins for many thousand miles, till they reached the Southern parts, and make new Channels still by the way as it runs to water the whole Earth. There is much more untouched than I have handled, which I leave unto others, my old Head being wearied with following him thus far.

XIII. I shall conclude all with that which our Theorist concludes his [Page 174] Preface with, viz. ‘His sincere in­tention of his Theory was, To ju­stifie the Doctrines of the universal Deluge and of Paradise, and pro­tect them from the Cavils of those that are no well-wishers to Sacred History: and how that upon this account he may well expect fair usage and acceptance with all that are well disposed.’ And truly for my part, could I find but the least appearance of sincere intention in him, or that he had any way cleared these Doctrines, I should upon either account have pass'd over in silence any, or all, his extravagancies. But in my poor judgment he hath neither shewed sincerity of intention, nor cleared any Doctrine of Scripture: For he hath not handled the Scripture sincerely in any one place of mo­ment; but in some places flatly con­tradicts them, as I have shewed; O­thers [Page 175] he hath wrested and turned from their own plain and easie un­derstanding; obscuring all, and forcing from them a most remote and dif­ficult sense, far different from the common understanding of all Learn­ed and Sober Men: And talks in so high a strain of the Key that he has brought into the World to open Mens Understandings for many dark and obscure places in Scripture, ma­king them facile and easie to com­mon sense, as if his Key were the very Key of David, applied by all unto our Saviour himself. And as for his explaining the Doctrines of the Universal Deluge and of Paradise, I pray you let us a little consider each one apart.

XIV. And first for the Deluge. I do not know any one Doctrine of moment in the Old Testament that [Page 176] seems to me more easie than that of the Deluge, which Moses hath descri­bed so exactly and plainly, as 'tis fit­ted for any vulgar capacity. But by our Theorists Interpretation it is made most obscure and difficult, and set forth in such Romantick terms, that it is ridiculous to understanding Men, and not intelligible to the Vulgar.

XV. As for the Doctrine of Para­dise, I confess I do not know a more dark and difficult matter in all the Scripture: and I must needs say with S. Austin, it is ab hominum cognitione re­motissimum. But terrestrem esse Para­disum, seems to me certissimum. There is nothing more remote from the knowledg of Men, than the particu­lar place of Paradise: yet that there was such a particular place, is evi­dent by that particular description which Moses gives of it, speaking of [Page 177] several Rivers that branched out from that of Paradise: Whereas our Theo­rist in flat contradiction to Moses, makes Paradise to be the whole Ante­diluvian Earth, which he saith was Paradisiacal all over; and would needs have Adam to be placed at first towards the Southern Pole, and from thence to be driven towards the Nor­thern; dividing his Antediluvian Earth into two habitable parts by the Tor­rid Zone: but doth not tell us how he was conveyed through that scorch­ing Region. Nor can I understand why he should be put to so long a Journey, and so dangerous a Passage, when; according to him, the Earth was as much Paradisiacal on one side of the Torrid Zone, as the other. And therefore concerning these two Doctrines of the Deluge and Paradise: he hath made that of the Deluge much more difficult; and that of Pa­radise [Page 178] he hath left, if not more, yet full as unintelligible, and less cre­dible, because less agreeing with Scri­pture.

XVI. I could enlarge much more upon either of these two Subjects: but my business is not to say any thing of my own, but to shew in a short and compendious way the ab­surdity and audacity of this Man, who so confidently sets himself to op­pose the whole World, being so be­sotted with his own vain and hea­thenish Opinions; and not resting sa­tisfied with Moses's History of the Creation, nor with his plain and easie description of the Deluge; pretend­ing, forsooth, the Sincerity of his In­tention: whereas it is in reality the Pride and Vanity he takes in his own Philosophical Invention.