Concerning NATURAL PROVIDENCE.
_Several Incroachments upon natural Providence, or Misrepresentations of
it, and false Methods of Contemplation. A true Method propos’d, and a
true Representation of the Universe. The Mundane Idea, and the universal
System of Providence. Several subordinate Systems. That of our Earth and
sublunary World. The Course and Periods of it. How much of this is
already treated of, and what remains. Conclusion._ ... 432
THE THEORY OF THE EARTH.
BOOK I.
Concerning the Deluge, and the Dissolution of the EARTH.
CHAP. I.
The INTRODUCTION.
_An Account of the whole Work; of the Extent and general Order of
it._
Since I was first inclin’d to the Contemplation of Nature, and took
Pleasure to trace out the Causes of Effects, and the Dependance of one
thing upon another in the visible Creation, I had always, methought, a
particular Curiosity to look back into the Sources and ORIGINAL of
Things; and to view in my Mind, so far as I was able, the Beginning and
Progress of a RISING WORLD.
AND after some Essays of this Nature, and as I thought, not
unsuccessful, I carried on my Enquiries further, to try whether this
_Rising World_, when form’d and finish’d, would continue always the
same; in the same Form, Structure, and Consistency; or what Changes it
would successively undergo, by the continued Action of the same Causes
that first produc’d it; and, lastly, what would be its final Period and
Consummation. This whole Series and Compass of Things taken together, I
call’d a COURSE OF NATURE, or, a SYSTEM OF NATURAL PROVIDENCE; and
thought there was nothing belonging to the external World more fit, or
more worthy our Study and Meditation, nor any thing that would conduce
more to discover the Ways of Divine Providence, and to shew us the
Grounds of all true Knowledge concerning Nature. And therefore, to clear
up the several Parts of this Theory, I was willing to lay aside a great
many other Speculations, and all those dry Subtilties with which the
Schools and the Books of Philosophers are usually fill’d.
BUT when we speak of a _Rising World_, and the Contemplation of it, we
do not mean this, of the _Great Universe_; for who can describe the
Original of that vast Frame? But we speak of the _Sublunary World_, this
Earth, and its Dependencies, which rose out of a Chaos about Six
Thousand Years ago. And seeing it hath fallen to our Lot to act upon
this Stage, to have our present Home and Residence here, it seems most
reasonable, and the Place design’d by Providence, where we should first
employ our Thoughts, to understand the Works of God and Nature. We have
accordingly therefore design’d in this Work to give an Account of the
Original of the Earth, and of all the great and general Changes that it
hath already undergone, or is hence forwards to undergo, till the
Consummation of all things. For if from those Principles we have here
taken, and that Theory we have begun in these two first Books, we can
deduce with Success and Clearness the Origin of the Earth, and those
States of it that are already past; following the same Thread, and by
the Conduct of the same Theory, we will pursue its Fate and History
thro’ future Ages, and mark all the great Changes and Conversions that
attend it _while Day and Night shall last_; that is, so long as it
continues an Earth.
By the States of the Earth that are already past, we understand chiefly
_Paradise_ and the _Deluge_; Names well known, and as little known in
their Nature. By the future States we understand the _Conflagration_,
and what new Order of Nature may follow upon that, ’till the whole
Circle of Time and Providence be compleated. As to the first and past
States of the Earth, we shall have little help from the Ancients, or
from any of the Philosophers, for the Discovery or Description of them:
We must often tread unbeaten Paths, and make a Way where we do not find
one; but it shall be always with a Light in our Hand, that we may see
our Steps, and that those that follow us may not follow us blindly.
There is no Sect of Philosophers that I know of, that ever gave an
Account of the Universal Deluge, or discover’d, from the Contemplation
of the Earth, that there had been such a Thing already in Nature. ’Tis
true, they often talk of an Alternation of _Deluges_ and
_Conflagrations_ in this Earth, but they speak of them as Things to
come; at least, they give no Proof or Argument of any that hath already
destroyed the World. As to _Paradise_, it seems to be represented to us
by the _Golden Age_; whereof the Ancients tell many Stories, sometimes
very luxuriant, and sometimes very defective: For they did not so well
understand the Difference betwixt the new-made Earth and the present, as
to see what were the just Grounds of the _Golden Age_, or of _Paradise_;
though they had many broken Notions concerning those Things, as to the
_Conflagration_ in particular. This hath always been reckon’d one
amongst the Opinions, or Dogmata of the Stoicks, _That the World was to
be destroyed by Fire_, and their Books are full of this Notion; but yet
they do not tell us the Causes of the Conflagration, nor what
Preparations there are in Nature, or will be, towards that great Change.
And we may generally observe this of the _Ancients_, that their Learning
or Philosophy consisted more in Conclusions, than in Demonstrations;
they had many Truths among them, whereof they did not know themselves
the Premises or the Proofs: Which is an Argument to me, that the
Knowledge they had, was not a Thing of their own Invention, or which
they came to by fair Reasoning and Observations upon Nature, but was
delivered to them from others by Tradition and ancient Fame, sometimes
more publick, sometimes more secret: These Conclusions they kept in
Mind, and communicated to those of their School, or Sect, or Posterity,
without knowing, for the most part, the just Grounds and Reasons of
them.
’TIS the Sacred Writings of Scripture that are the best Monuments of
Antiquity, and to those we are chiefly beholden for the History of the
first Ages, whether Natural History or Civil. ’Tis true, the Poets, who
were the most ancient Writers among the _Greeks_, and serv’d them both
for Historians, Divines, and Philosophers, have delivered some Things
concerning the first Ages of the World, that have a fair resemblance of
Truth, and some Affinity with those Accounts that are given of the same
Things by Sacred Authors, and these may be of Use in due Time and Place;
but yet, lest any thing fabulous should be mix’d with them, as commonly
there is, we will never depend wholly upon their Credit, nor assert any
Thing upon the Authority of the Ancients which is not first prov’d by
natural Reason, or warranted by Scripture.
IT seems to me very reasonable to believe that besides the Precepts of
Religion, which are the principal Subject and Design of the Books of
Holy Scripture, there may be providentially conserved in them the Memory
of Things and Times so remote, as could not be retrieved, either by
History, or by the Light of Nature; and yet were of great Importance to
be known, both for their own Excellency, and also to rectify the
Knowledge of Men in other Things consequential to them: Such Points may
be, _Our great Epocha_, or the Age of the Earth, The Origination of
Mankind, The First and Paradisiacal State, The Destruction of the old
World by an Universal Deluge, The Longevity of its Inhabitants, The
manner of their Preservation, and of their Peopling the second Earth;
and lastly, The Fate and Changes it is to undergo. These I always look’d
upon as the Seeds of great Knowledge, or Heads of Theories fix’d on
Purpose to give us Aim and Direction how to pursue the rest that depend
upon them. But these Heads, you see, are of a mix’d Order, and we
propose to our selves in this Work only such as belong to the natural
World, upon which I believe the Trains of Providence are generally laid;
and we must first consider, how God hath order’d Nature, and then, how
the Occonomy of the Intellectual World is adapted to it; for of these
two Parts consist the full System of Providence. In the mean Time, what
Subject can be more worthy the Thoughts of any serious Person, than to
view and consider the Rise and Fall, and all the Revolutions, not of a
Monarchy or an Empire, of the _Grecian_ or _Roman_ State, but of an
entire World?
THE Obscurity of these Things, and their Remoteness from common
Knowledge, will be made an Argument by some, why we should not undertake
them; and by others, it may be, the very same Thing will be made an
Argument why we should. For my Part I think _There is nothing so secret
that shall not be brought to Light_, within the Compass of _our World_;
for we are not to understand that of the whole Universe, nor of all
Eternity, our Capacities do not extend so far; but whatsoever concerns
this Sublunary World in the whole Extent of its Duration, from the Chaos
to the last Period, this I believe Providence hath made us capable to
understand, and will in its due Time make it known. All I say, betwixt
the first Chaos and the last Completion of Time and all Things
temporary, this was given to the Disquisitions of Men: On either Hand is
Eternity, before the World and after, which is without our reach: But
that little spot of Ground that lies betwixt those two great Oceans,
this we are to cultivate, this we are Masters of, herein we are to
exercise our Thoughts, to understand and lay open the Treasures of the
Divine Wisdom and Goodness hid in this part of Nature and of Providence.
AS for the Difficulty or Obscurity of an Argument, that does but add to
the Pleasure of contesting with it, when there are Hopes of Victory; and
Success does more than recompense all the Pains. For there is no sort of
Joy more grateful to the Mind of Man, than that which ariseth from the
Invention of Truth; especially when ’tis hard to come by. Every Man hath
a Delight suited to his Genius, and as there is Pleasure in the right
Exercise of any Faculty, so especially in that of Right-Reasoning; which
is still the greater, by how much the Consequences are more clear, and
the Chains of them more long: There is no Chace so pleasant, methinks,
as to drive a Thought, by good Conduct, from one end of the World to the
other; and never to lose Sight of it till it fall into Eternity, where
all things are lost, as to our Knowledge.
THIS Theory being chiefly Philosophical, Reason is to be our first
Guide; and where that falls short, or any other just Occasion offers it
self, we may receive further Light and Confirmation from the Sacred
Writings. Both these are to be look’d upon as of Divine Original, God is
the Author of both; he that made the Scripture made also our Faculties,
and ’twere a Reflection upon the Divine Veracity for the one or the
other to be false when rightly used. We must therefore be careful and
tender of opposing these to one another, because that is, in effect, to
oppose God to himself. As for Antiquity and the Testimonies of the
Ancients, we only make general Reflections upon them, for Illustration
rather than Proof of what we propose; not thinking it proper for an
_English_ Treatise to multiply Citations out of _Greek_ or _Latin_
Authors.
I am very sensible it will be much our Interest, that the Reader of this
Theory should be of an ingenuous and unprejudiced Temper, neither does
it so much require Book-learning and Scholarship, as good natural Sense
to distinguish _True_ and _False_, and to discern what is well prov’d,
and what is not. It often happens that Scholastick Education, like a
Trade, does so fix a Man in a particular Way, that he is not fit to
judge of any thing that lies out of that Way; and so his Learning
becomes a Clog to his natural Parts, and makes him more indocile, and
more incapable of new Thoughts and new Improvements, than those that
have only the Talents of Nature. As Matters of Exercise had rather take
a Scholar that never learn’d before, than one that hath had a bad
Master; so generally one would rather chuse a Reader without Art, than
one ill instructed with Learning, but opinionative, and without
Judgment; yet it is not necessary they should want either, and Learning
well plac’d strengthens all the Powers of the Mind. To conclude, just
Reasoning and a generous Love of Truth, whether with or without
Erudition, is that which makes us most competent Judges what is true.
And further than this, in the Perusal and Examination of this Work, as
to the Author, as much Candor as you please; but as to the Theory, we
require nothing but Attention and Impartiality.