We come now to the Deluge, where the great Exception is this, _p._ 121.
That according to the Theory, the Deluge would have come to pass,
whether Mankind had been degenerate, or no.
We know Mankind did degenerate, and ’tis a dangerous Thing to argue upon
false Suppositions; and to tell what would have come to pass, in case
such a Thing had not come to pass: Suppose _Adam_ had not sinn’d, what
would have become of the _Messiah_? _Eph._ i. 4. 1 _Pet._ i. 20. _Apoc._
xiii. 8. and the Dispensation of the Gospel, which yet is said to have
been determin’d more early than the Deluge? Let the Anti-Theorist answer
himself this Question, and he may answer his own.
But to take a gentler Instance, suppose _Adam_ had not eaten the
forbidden Fruit, how could he and all his Posterity have liv’d in
Paradise? A few Generations would have fill’d that Place; and should the
rest have been turn’d out into the wide World, without any sin or Fault
of theirs? You suppose the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth to have been
the same with the present, and, consequently, subject to the same
Accidents and Inconveniences. The Action of the Sun would have been the
same then as now, according to your Hypothesis: The same Excesses of
Heat and Cold, in the several Regions and Climates; the same Vapours and
Exhalations extracted out of the Earth; the same Impurities and
Corruptions in the Air: And in Consequence of these, the same external
Disposition to epidemical Distempers. Besides, there would be the same
Storms and Tempests at Sea, the same Earthquakes, and other Desolations
at Land. So that _had all the Sons and Daughters of Men_, to use the
Exceptor’s elegant Style, _p._ 122. _been as pure and bright as they
could possibly have dropt out of the Mint of Creation, they should
still_ have been subject to all these Inconveniences and Calamities. If
Mankind had continued spotless and undegenerate ’till the Deluge, or for
sixteen hundred Years, they might as well have continued so for sixteen
hundred more. And in a far less Time, according to their Fruitfulness
and Multiplication, the whole Face of the Earth would have been thick
covered with Inhabitants: Every Continent and every Island, every
Mountain and every Desert, and all the Climates from Pole to Pole. But
could naked Innocency have liv’d happy in the frozen Zones, where Bears
and Foxes can scarce subsist? in the midst of Snows and Ice, thick Fogs,
and more than _Ægyptian_ Darkness, for some Months together? Would all
this have been a _Paradise_, or a paradisaical State, to these virtuous
Creatures? I think it would be more advisable for the Exceptor, not to
enter into such Disputes, grounded only upon Suppositions. God’s
Prescience is infallible, as his Counsels are immutable.
But the Exceptor further suggests, _p._ 121. that the Theory does not
allow a judicial and extraordinary Providence in bringing on the Deluge,
as a Punishment upon Mankind. Which, I must needs say, is an untrue and
uncharitable Suggestion, as any one may see, both in the _Latin_ Theory
[16] _Chap._ 6. and in the _English_, in several Places. So at the
Entrance upon the Explication of the Deluge (_Theor._ _p._ 92.) are
these Words, _Let us then suppose, that at a Time appointed by Divine
Providence, and from Causes made ready to do that great Execution upon a
sinful World, that this Abyss was open’d, and the Frame of the Earth
broke,_ &c. And accordingly in the Conclusion of that Discourse about
the Deluge, are these Words, (Theor. p. 144.) _In the mean time I do not
know any more to be added in this Part, unless it be to conclude with an
Advertisement to prevent any Mistake or Misconstruction, as if this
Theory, by explaining the Deluge in a natural Way, or by natural Causes,
did detract from the Power of God, by which that GREAT JUDGMENT WAS
BROUGHT UPON THE WORLD, IN A PROVIDENTIAL AND MIRACULOUS MANNER._ And in
the three following Paragraphs (_Theor._ _p._ 144, 145, 146.) which
conclude that Chapter, there is a full Account given both of an ordinary
and extraordinary Providence, in reference to the Deluge, and other
great Revolutions of the natural World.
But it is a Weakness however to think, that, when a Train is laid in
Nature, and Methods concerted, for the execution of a Divine Judgment,
therefore it is not _providential_. God is the Author and Governor of
the natural World, as well as of the Moral: And he sees thorough the
Futuritions of both, and hath so dispos’d the one, as to serve him in
his just Judgments upon the other. Which Method, as it is more to the
Honour of his Wisdom, so it is in no way to the Prejudice of his Power
or Justice. And what the Exceptor suggests concerning Atheists, and
their presum’d Cavils at such an Explication of the Deluge, is a Thing
only said at random and without Grounds. On the contrary, so to
represent the Sense of Scripture, in natural Things, as to make it
unintelligible, and inconsistent with Science and Philosophick Truth, is
one great Cause, in my Opinion, that breeds and nourishes Atheism.
Footnote 16:
_Notandum verò, quamvis mundi veteris dissolutionem & rationes Diluvii
secundum ordinem causarum naturalium, explicemus, quòd eo modo magis
clarè & distinctè intelligantur; non ideò in pœnam humani generis
ordinatum suisse diluvium, singulisque ipsius motibus præfuisse
providentiam, inficiamur: imò in eo elucet maximè Sapientia divina,
quòd mundum naturalem morali ita coaptet & attemperet, ut hujus
ingenio, illius ordo & dispositio semper respondeat: & amberum
libratis momentis, simul concurrant & unà compleantur utriusque
tempora & vicissitudines; ipse etiam Apostolus Petrus diluvii &
excidii mundani causas naturales assignat, cùm ait_, δὶ ὧν, &c.