From the manner of the Earth’s Formation, the Exceptor, _p._ 106. now
proceeds to the _Form_ of it, if compleated. And his first Exception is,
That it would want _Waters_, or Rivers to water it. He says, there would
either be no Rivers at all, or none, at least, in due time.
The Theorist hath replenish’d that Earth with Rivers, flowing from the
extreme Parts of it, towards the middle, in continual Streams; and
watering, as a Garden, all the intermediate Climates. And this constant
Supply of Water was made from the Heavens, by an uninterrupted Stream of
Vapours, which had their Course through the Air, from the middle Parts
of the Earth towards the extreme; and falling in Rains, return’d again
upon the Surface of the Earth, from the extreme Parts to the middle: For
that Earth being of an oval or something oblong Figure, there would be a
Declivity all along, or Descent, from the Polar Parts towards the
Equinoctial; which gave Course and Motion to these Waters. And the
Vapours above never falling in their Course, the Rivers would never fail
below; but a perpetual Circulation would be establish’d, betwixt the
Waters of the Heavens and of the Earth.
This is a short Account of the State of the Waters in the primeval
Earth. Which you may see represented and explain’d more at large, in the
_second Book of the Theory_, _Chap._ 5. And this, I believe, is an Idea
more easily conceiv’d, than any we could form concerning the Waters and
Rivers of the present Earth, if we had not Experience of them. Suppose a
Stranger, that had never seen this terraqueous Globe, where we live at
present, but was told the general Form of it; how the Sea lies, how the
Land, and what was the Constitution of the Heavens: If this Stranger was
asked his Opinion, whether such an Earth was habitable; and
particularly, whether they could have Waters commodiously in such an
Earth, and how the inland Countries would be supplied? I am apt to
think, he would find it more difficult (upon an Idea only, without
Experience) to provide Waters for such an Earth, as ours is at present,
than for such an one as the primeval Earth was. ’Tis true, he would
easily find Rains, possible and natural, but with no Constancy or
Regularity; and these, he might imagine, would only make transient
Torrents, not any fix’d and permanent Rivers. But as for Fountains
deriv’d from the Sea, and breaking out in higher Grounds, I am apt to
believe, all his Philosophy would not be able to make a clear Discovery
of them: But Things that are familiar to us by Experience, we think easy
in Speculation, or never enquire into the Causes of them. Whereas, other
Things, that never fall under our Experience, though more simple and
intelligible in themselves, we reject often as Paradoxes or Romances.
Let this be applied to the present Case, and we proceed to answer the
Exceptions.
Let us take that Exception first, as most material, _p._ 114. that
pretends there would have been no Rivers at all in the primeval Earth,
if it was of such a Form as the Theorist had describ’d. And for this, he
gives one grand Reason, Because the Regions towards the Poles, where the
Rains are suppos’d to fall, and the Rivers to rise, would have been all
frozen and congeal’d; and consequently, no fit Sources of Water for the
rest of the Earth. Why we should think those Regions would be frozen,
and the Rains that fell in them, he gives two Reasons, the Distance, and
the Obliquity of the Sun. As also the Experience we have now, of the
Coldness and Frozenness of those Parts of the Earth. But as to the
Distance of the Sun, He confesses, _p._ 118. that is not the Thing _that
does only or chiefly_ make a Climate cold. He might have added,
_particularly in that Earth, where the Sun was never at a greater
Distance than the Equator_. Then, as to the Obliquity of the Sun,
neither was that so great, nor so considerable, in the first Earth, as
in the present. Because the Body of that lay in a direct Position to the
Sun; whereas the present Earth lies in an oblique. And though the Polar
Circles or Circumpolar Parts of that Earth, did not lie so perpendicular
to the Sun as the Equinoctial, and consequently were cooler, yet there
was no Danger of their being frozen or congeal’d. It was more the
Moisture and excessive Rains of those Parts that made them
uninhabitable, than the extreme Coldness of the Climate, of it self. And
if the Exceptor had well consider’d the Differences betwixt the present
and primitive Earth, as to Obliquity of Position, and that which follows
from it, the Length of Nights, he would have found no Reason to have
charg’d that Earth with _nipping and freezing Cold_; where there was
not, I believe, one Morsel of Ice, from one Pole to another: But that
will better appear, if we consider the Causes of Cold.
There are three general Causes of Cold: The Distance of the Sun, his
Obliquity, and his total Absence; I mean in the Nights. As to Distance,
that alone must be of little Effect, seeing there are many Planets
(which must not be look’d upon as mere Lumps of Ice) at a far greater
Distance from the Sun, than ours: And as to Obliquity, you see it was
much less considerable in the respective Parts of the Primitive Earth,
than of the present. Wherefore, these are to be consider’d but as
secondary Causes of Cold, in respect of the third, the total Absence of
the Sun in the Night Time: And where this happens to be long and
tedious, there you must expect Excess of Cold. Now, in the primitive
Earth there was no such Thing as long Winter Nights, but every where a
perpetual Equinox, or a perpetual Day. And consequently, there was no
Room or Cause of excessive Cold in any Part of it. But on the contrary,
the Case is very different in the present Earth; for in our Climate, we
have not the Presence of the Sun, in the Depth of Winter, half as long
as he is absent; and towards the Poles they have Nights that last
several Weeks or Months together: And then ’tis that the Cold rages,
binds up the Ground, freezes the Ocean, and makes those Parts more or
less uninhabitable. But where no such Causes are, you need not fear any
such Effects.
Thus much to shew that there might be Rains, Waters, and Rivers, in the
primigenial Earth, and towards the extreme Parts of it, without any
Danger of freezing. But however, says the other Part of the Exception,
_These Rivers would not be made in due Time._ That’s wholly according to
the Process you take; if you take a mere natural Process, the Rivers
could not flow throughout the Earth, all on a sudden; but you may
accelerate that Process, as much as you please, by a Divine Hand. As to
this Particular indeed of the Rivers, one would think there should be no
Occasion for their sudden flowing through the Earth, because Mankind
could not be suddenly propagated throughout the Earth: And if they did
but lead the Way, and prepare the Ground in every Country, before
Mankind arrived there, that seems to be all that would be necessary upon
their Account: Neither can it be imagined, but that the Rivers would
flow faster than Mankind could follow; for it is probable, in the first
hundred Years, Men did not reach an hundred Miles from Home, or from
their first Habitations: And we cannot suppose the Defluxion of Water,
upon any Declivity, to be half so slow. As to the Channels of these
Rivers, the Manner of their Progress, and other Circumstances, those
Things are set down fully enough in the fifth Chapter of the second
_Book_ of the _English Theory_, and it would be needless to repeat them
here.
But the Anti-Theorist says, this slow Production and Propagation of
Rivers is contrary to Scripture; both because of the Rivers of Paradise,
and also, because Fishes were made the sixth Day. As to that of the
Fishes, he must first prove that those were River-Fishes; for the
Scripture, _Gen._ i. 21. and 22. makes them Sea-Fish, and instances in
great Whales. But he says (_p._ 113, 114.) it will _appear in the Sequel
of his Discourse_, that the Abyss could be no Receptacle of Fishes. To
that Sequel of his Discourse therefore we must refer the Examination of
this Particular. Then as to Paradise, that was but one single Spot of
Ground, _ch._ xiii. according to the ordinary Hypothesis; which he seems
to adhere to: And Rivers might be there as soon as he pleases, seeing
its Seat is not yet determin’d. But as for the Lands which they are said
to traverse or encompass, that they might be the Work of Time, when
their Channels and Courses were extended and settled; as they would be,
doubtless, long before the Time that _Moses_ writ that Description: But
as to the _Rivers of Paradise_, it would be a long Story to handle that
Dispute here. And ’tis fit the Authors should first agree amongst
themselves, before we determine the Original of its River, or Rivers.