_The Second Proposition is laid down, viz. That the Face of the
Earth before the Deluge was smooth, regular, and uniform; without
Mountains, and without a Sea. The Chaos out of which the World rose
is fully examin’d, and all its Motions observ’d, and by what Steps
it wrought it self into an habitable World. Some Things in Antiquity
relating to the first State of the Earth are interpreted, and some
Things in the Sacred Writings. The Divine Art and Geometry in the
Construction of the first Earth is observ’d and celebrated._
WE have seen it prov’d, in the foregoing Chapter, That the Form of the
first or antediluvian Earth was not the same, nor like the Form of the
present Earth. This is our first Discovery at a distance, but ’tis only
general and negative, tells us what the Form of that Earth was not, but
tells us not expresly what it was; that must be our next Enquiry, and
advancing one step farther in our Theory, we lay down this second
Proposition: _That the Face of the Earth before the Deluge was smooth,
regular, and uniform; without Mountains, and without a Sea_. This is a
bold Step, and carries us into another World, which we have never seen,
nor ever yet heard any relation of; and a World, it seems, of very
different Scenes and Prospects from ours, or from any thing we have yet
known. An Earth without a Sea, and plain as the _Elysian_ Fields; if you
travel it all over, you will not meet with a Mountain or a Rock, yet
well provided of all requisite things for an habitable World; and the
same indeed with the Earth we still inhabit, only under another Form.
And this is the great Thing that now comes into debate, the great
Paradox which we offer to be examined, and which we affirm, That the
Earth, in its first Rise and Formation from a Chaos, was of the Form
here described, and so continued for many hundreds of Years.
TO examine and prove this, we must return to the beginning of the World,
and to that Chaos out of which the Earth and all sublunary things arose:
’Tis the Motions and Progress of this, which we must now consider, and
what Form it settled into when it first became an habitable World.
NEITHER is it perhaps such an intricate Thing as we imagine at first
Sight, to trace a Chaos into an habitable World; at least there is a
particular Pleasure to see things in their Origin, and by what Degrees
and successive Changes they rise into that Order and State we see them
in afterwards, when compleated. I am sure, if ever we would view the
Paths of Divine Wisdom, in the Works and in the Conduct of Nature, we
must not only consider how Things are, but how they came to be so. ’Tis
pleasant to look upon a Tree in the Summer, cover’d with its green
Leaves, deckt with Blossoms, or laden with Fruit, and casting a pleasing
Shade under its spreading Boughs; but to consider how this Tree with all
its Furniture sprang from a little Seed; how Nature shap’d it, and fed
it, in its Infancy and Growth; added new Parts, and still advanc’d it by
little and little, ’till it came to this Greatness and Perfection: This,
methinks, is another sort of Pleasure, more rational, less common, and
which is properly the Contemplation of Divine Wisdom in the Works of
Nature. So to view this Earth, and this sublunary World, as it is now
complete, distinguish’d into the several Orders of Bodies of which it
consists, every one perfect and admirable in its kind; this is truly
delightful, and a very good Entertainment of the Mind: But to see all
these in their first Seeds, as I may so say; to take in Pieces this
Frame of Nature, and melt it down into its first Principles; and then to
observe how the Divine Wisdom wrought all these Things out of Confusion
into Order, and out of Simplicity into that beautiful Composition we now
see them in; this, methinks, is another kind of Joy, which pierceth the
Mind more deep, and is more satisfactory. And to give our selves and
others this Satisfaction, we will first make a short Representation of
the Chaos, and then shew, how, according to Laws establish’d in Nature
by the Divine Power and Wisdom, it was wrought by degrees from one Form
into another, ’till it settled at length into an habitable Earth; and
that of such a Frame and Structure, as we have described in this second
Proposition.
BY the Chaos I understand the Matter of the Earth and Heavens, without
Form or Order; reduc’d into a fluid Mass, wherein are the Materials and
Ingredients of all Bodies, but mingled in Confusion one with another. As
if you should suppose all sorts of Metals, Gold, Silver, Lead, _&c._
melted down together in a common Mass, and so mingled, that the Parts of
no one Metal could be discern’d as distinct from the rest, this would be
a little Metallick Chaos: Suppose then, the Elements thus mingled, Air,
Water and Earth, which are the Principles of all Terrestrial Bodies;
mingled, I say, without any Order of higher or lower, heavier or
lighter, solid or volatile, in such a kind of confus’d Mass as is here
represented in the first Scheme.
[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 1. A confused spherical Mass of matter.]
LET this then represent to us the Chaos; in which the first Change that
we should imagine to happen would be this, that the heaviest and
grossest Parts would sink down towards the middle of it, (for there we
suppose the Center of its Gravity) and the rest would float above. These
grosser Parts thus sunk down and compress’d more and more, would harden
by degrees, and constitute the interiour Parts of the Earth: The rest of
the Mass, which swims above, would be also divided by the same Principle
of Gravity into two Orders of Bodies, the one liquid like Water, the
other volatile like Air. For the more fine and active Parts
disentangling themselves by degrees from the rest would mount above
them; and having Motion enough to keep them upon the Wing, would play in
those open Places where they constitute that Body we call AIR. The other
Parts being grosser than these, and having a more languid Motion, could
not fly up separate from one another, as these did, but settled in a
Mass together, under the Air, upon the Body of the Earth, composing not
only Water strictly so called, but the whole Mass of Liquors, or liquid
Bodies, belonging to the Earth. And these first Separations being thus
made, the Body of the Chaos would stand in that Form which it is here
represented in by the second Scheme.
[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 2. Concentric spheres of Matter, the
heaviest nearest the center.]
THE liquid Mass which encircled the Earth was not, as I noted before,
the mere Element of Water, but a Collection of all Liquors that belong
to the Earth: I mean of all that do originally belong to it. Now seeing
there are two chief kinds of Terrestrial Liquors, those that are fat,
oily and light; and those that are lean and more earthy, like common
Water; which two are generally found in compound Liquors; we cannot
doubt but there were of both sorts in this common Mass of Liquids. And
it being well known, that these two kinds mix’d together, if left to
themselves and the general Action of Nature, separate one from another
when they come to settle, as in Cream and thin Milk, Oil and Water, and
such like; we cannot but conclude, that the same Effect would follow
here, and the more oily and light Part of this Mass would get above the
other, and swim upon it. The whole Mass being divided into two lesser
Masses, and so the Globe would stand as we see it in the third Figure.
[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 3. The concentric spheres with heavy matter
inner-most, with heavier and the lighter liquids in spheres above.]
HITHERTO the Changes of the Chaos are easy and unquestionable, and would
be dispatcht in a short time; we must now look over again these two
great Masses of the _Air_ and _Water_, and consider how their Impurities
or grosser Parts would be dispos’d of; for we cannot imagine but they
were both at first very muddy and impure: And as the Water would have
its Sediment, which we are not here concern’d to look after, so the
great Regions of the Air would certainly have their Sediment too; for
the Air was as yet thick, gross and dark, there being an abundance of
little Terrestrial Particles swimming in it still, after the grossest
were sunk down; which, by their Heaviness and lumpish Figure, made their
way more easily and speedily. The lesser and lighter which remain’d
would sink too, but more slowly, and in a longer time; so as in their
Descent they would meet with that oily Liquor upon the Face of the Deep,
or upon the watery Mass, which would entangle and stop them from passing
any further; whereupon mixing there with that unctuous Substance, they
compos’d a certain Slime, or fat, soft, and light Earth, spread upon the
Face of the Waters; as ’tis represented in the fourth Figure.
[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 4. The liquid layers have rearranged by
heaviness and oilyness.]
THIS thin and tender Orb of Earth increas’d still more and more, as the
little earthy Parts that were detain’d in the Air could make their way
to it. Some having a long Journey from the upper Regions, and others
being very light would float up and down a good while, before they could
wholly disengage themselves and descend. But this was the general
Rendezvous, which sooner or later they all got to, and mingling more and
more with that oily Liquor, they suckt it all up at length, and were
wholly incorporate together, and so began to grow more stiff and firm,
making both but one Substance, which was the first Concretion, or firm
and consistent Substance that rose upon the Face of the Chaos. And the
whole Globe stood in this Posture, as in Figure the fifth.
[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 5. The tiny Earthy parts from above have
settled down out of the Air, the rings marked 1, 2, and 3 from outside
to in.]
[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 6. Another view of the Rings.]
IT may be, you will say, we take our Liberty, and our own time for the
Separation of these two Liquors, the oily and the earthy, the lighter
and the heavier; and suppose that done before the Air was clear’d of
earthy Particles, that so they might be catcht and stopt there in their
Descent. Whereas if all these Particles were fallen out of the Air
before that Separation was made in the liquid Mass, they would fall down
through the Water, as the first did, and so no Concretion would be made,
nor any earthy Crust form’d upon the Face of the Waters, as we here
suppose there was. ’Tis true, there could be no such Orb of Earth form’d
there, if the Air was wholly purg’d of all its earthy Parts before the
Mass of Liquids began to purify it self, and to separate the oily Parts
from the more heavy: But this is an unreasonable and incredible
Supposition, if we consider, the Mass of the Air was many thousand Times
greater than the Water, and would in Proportion require a greater Time
to be purify’d; the Particles that were in the Regions of the Air having
a long way to come before they reach’d the watery Mass, and far longer
than the oily Particles had to rise from any Part of that Mass to the
Surface of it. Besides, we may suppose a great many degrees of
Littleness and Lightness in these earthy Particles, so as many of them
might float in the Air a good while, like Exhalations before they fell
down. And lastly, We do not suppose the Separation of these two Liquors
wholly made and finish’d before the Purgation of the Air began, tho’ we
represent them so for Distinction sake: Let them begin to purify at the
same time, if you please, these Parts rising upwards, and those falling
downwards, they will meet in the middle, and unite and grow into one
Body, as we have describ’d. And this Body or new Concretion would be
increas’d daily, being fed and supply’d both from above and below; and
having done growing, it would become more dry by degrees, and of a
Temper of greater Consistency and Firmness, so as truly to resemble and
be fit to make an habitable Earth, such as Nature intended it for.
BUT you will further object, it may be, that such an Effect as this
would indeed be necessary in some Degree and Proportion, but not in such
a Proportion, and in such Quantity, as would be sufficient to make this
Crust or concrete Orb an habitable Earth. This I confess appear’d to me
at first a real Difficulty, till I consider’d better the great
disproportion there is betwixt the Regions of the Air and the
Circumference of the Earth, or of that exterior Orb of the Earth, we are
now a making; which being many thousand times less in Depth and Extent
than the Regions of the Air, taken as high as the Moon, tho’ these
earthy Particles we speak of were very thinly dispers’d thro’ those vast
Tracks of the Air, when they came to be collected and amass’d together
upon the Surface of a far lesser Sphere, they would constitute a Body of
a very considerable Thickness and Solidity. We see the Earth sometimes
cover’d with Snow two or three Feet deep, made up only of little Flakes
or Pieces of Ice, which falling from the middle Region of the Air, and
meeting with the Earth in their Descent, are there stop’d and heap’d up
one upon another. But if we should suppose little Particles of Earth to
shower down, not only from the middle Region, but from the whole
Capacity and Extent of those vast Spaces that are betwixt us and the
Moon, we could not imagine but these would constitute an Orb of Earth
some thousands of times deeper than the greatest Snow; which being
increas’d and swoln by that oily Liquor it fell into, and incorporated
with, it would be thick, strong, and great enough in all respects to
render it an habitable Earth.
WE cannot doubt therefore but such a Body as this would be form’d, and
would be sufficient in Quantity for an habitable Earth. Then for the
Quality of it, it will answer all the Purposes of a _Rising World_. What
can be a more proper Seminary for Plants and Animals, than a Soil of
this Temper and Composition? A finer and lighter sort of Earth, mix’d
with a benign Juice, easy and obedient to the Action of the Sun, or of
what other Causes were employ’d by the Author of Nature, for the
Production of Things in the new made Earth. What sort or disposition of
matter could be more fit and ready to catch Life from Heaven, and to be
drawn into all Forms than the Rudiments of Life, or the Bodies of living
Creatures would require? What Soil more proper for Vegetation than this
warm Moisture, which could have no Fault, unless it was too fertile and
luxuriant? And that is no Fault neither at the beginning of a World.
This I am sure of, that the Learned amongst the Ancients, both _Greeks_,
_Ægyptians_, _Phœnicians_, and others, have described the primogenial
Soil, Ἰλὺς πρωτογενὴς, or the Temper of the Earth, that was the first
Subject for the Generation and Origin of Plants and Animals, after such
a manner, as is truly express’d, and I think with Advantage, by this
Draught of the primogenial Earth.
THUS much concerning the Matter of the first Earth. Let us reflect a
little upon the Form of it also, whether external or internal; both
whereof do manifestly shew themselves from the manner of its Production
or Formation. As to the external Form, you see it is according to the
Proposition we were to prove, _smooth, regular and uniform, without
Mountains; and without a Sea_. And the Proof we have given of it is very
easy: The Globe of the Earth could not possibly rise immediately from a
Chaos into the irregular Form in which it is at present. The Chaos being
a fluid Mass, which we know doth necessarily fall into a Spherical
Surface, whose Parts are equi-distant from the Center, and consequently
in an equal and even Convexity one with another. And seeing upon the
Distinction of a Chaos and Separation into several Elementary Masses,
the Water would naturally have a superiour Place to the Earth, ’tis
manifest, that there could be no habitable Earth form’d out of the
Chaos, unless by some Concretion upon the Face of the Water. Then
lastly, seeing this concrete Orb of Earth upon the Face of the Water
would be of the same Form with the Surface of the Water it was spread
upon, there being no Causes, that we know of, to make any Inequality in
it, we must conclude it equal and uniform, and without Mountains, as
also without a Sea; for the Sea and all the Mass of Waters was enclos’d
within this exterior Earth which had no other Basis or Foundation to
rest upon.
THE Contemplation of these things, and of this Posture of the Earth upon
the Waters, doth so strongly bring to Mind certain Passages of
Scripture, (which will recur in another Place) that we cannot, without
Injury to Truth, pass them by here in silence. Passages that have such a
manifest Resemblance and Agreement to this Form and Situation of the
Earth, that they seem visibly to point at it: Such are those Expressions
of the Psalmist, _God hath founded the Earth upon the Seas_. And in
another Psalm, speaking of the Wisdom and Power of God in the Creation,
he saith, _To him who alone doth great wonders; to him that by Wisdom
made the Heavens; to him that extended or stretched out the Earth above
the Waters_. What can be more plain or proper to denote that Form of the
Earth that we have describ’d, and to express particularly the Inclosure
of the Waters within the Earth, as we have represented them? He saith in
another Place, _By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made; he shut
up the Waters of the Sea as in Bags_, (for so the Word is to be
render’d, and is render’d by all, except the _English_) _and laid up the
Abyss as in Store-houses._ This, you see, is very conformable to that
System of the Earth and Sea, which we have propos’d here. Yet there is
something more express than all this, in that remarkable place in the
_Proverbs_ of _Solomon_, where _Wisdom_ declaring her Antiquity and
Existence before the Foundation of the Earth, amongst other things
saith, _Prov. viii. 27._ _When he prepared the Heavens, I was there:
When he drew an Orb over the Surface of the Abyss_; or when he set an
Orb upon the Face of the Abyss. We render it in the _English_, a
_Compass_, or _Circle_, but ’tis more truly render’d an Orb or Sphere;
and what Orb or Spherical Body was this, which at the Formation of the
Earth was built and plac’d round about the Abyss, but that wonderful
Arch, whose Form and Production we have describ’d, encompassing the Mass
of Waters, which in Scripture is often call’d the Abyss or Deep? [_See
Fig. 5. p. 78._ This Orb is represented by the Circle 1. and the Abyss
by the Region 2.] Lastly, This Scheme of the first Earth gives Light to
that Place we mention’d before of St. _Peter_’s, where the first Earth
is said to _consist of Water, and by Water_; and by reason thereof was
obnoxious to a Deluge. The first Part of this Character is plain from
the Description now given; and the second will appear in the following
Chapter. In the mean time, concerning these Passages of Scripture, which
we have cited, we may truly and modestly say, that though they would
not, it may be, without a Theory premis’d, have been taken or
interpreted in this Sense; yet this Theory being premis’d, I dare appeal
to any unprejudic’d Person, if they have not a fairer and easier, a more
full and more emphatical Sense, when apply’d to that Form of the Earth
and Sea we are now speaking of, than to their present Form, or to any
other we can imagine.
THUS much concerning the external Form of the first Earth. Let us now
reflect a little upon the internal Form of it, which consists of several
Regions, involving one another like Orbs about the same Center, or of
the several Elements cast circularly about each other; as it appears in
the fourth and fifth Figure. And as we have noted the external Form of
this primæval Earth, to have been mark’d and celebrated in the Sacred
Writings; so likewise in the Philosophy and Learning of the Ancients,
there are several Remains and Indications of this internal Form and
Composition of it. For ’tis observable, that the Ancients in treating of
the Chaos, and in raising the World out of it, rang’d it into several
Regions or Masses, as we have done; and in that Order successively,
rising one from another, as if it was a Pedigree or Genealogy. And those
Parts and Regions of Nature, into which the Chaos was by degrees
divided, they signified commonly by dark and obscure Names; as the
_Night_, _Tartarus_, _Oceanus_, and such like, which we have express’d
in their plain and proper Terms. And whereas the Chaos, when it was
first set on Work, ran all into Divisions and Separations of one Element
from another, which afterwards were all in some Measure united and
associated in this primogenial Earth; the Ancients accordingly made
_Contention_ the Principle that reign’d in the Chaos at first, and then
_Love:_ The one to express the Divisions, and the other the Union of all
Parties in this middle and common Bond. These, and such like Notions,
which we find in the Writings of the Ancients figuratively and darkly
delivered, receive a clearer Light, when compar’d with this Theory of
the Chaos; which representing every thing plainly, and in its natural
Colours, is a Key to their Thoughts, and an Illustration of their
obscurer Philosophy, concerning the original of the world; as we have
shewn at large in the _Latin_ Treatise, _Lib. 2. chap. 7._
THERE is another Thing in Antiquity, relating to the Form and
Construction of the Earth, which is very remarkable, and hath obtain’d
throughout all learned Nations and Ages. And that is the Comparison or
Resemblance of the Earth to an _Egg_. And this is not so much for its
external Figure, tho’ that be true too, as for the inward Composition of
it; consisting of several Orbs, one including another, and in that
Order, as to answer the several Elementary Regions of which the new made
Earth was constituted. For if we admit for the _Yolk_ a Central Fire
(which tho’ very reasonable, we had no occasion to take Notice of in our
Theory of the Chaos) and suppose the Figure of the Earth _Oval_, and a
little extended towards the Poles, (as probably it was, seeing the
Vortex that contains it is so) those two Bodies do very naturally
represent one another, as in this Scheme, which represents the interior
Faces of both, a divided _Egg_, or Earth. Where, as the two inmost
Regions (A, B,) represent the Yolk and the Membrane that lies next above
it; so the exterior Region of the Earth (D) is as the Shell of the Egg,
and the Abyss (C) under it as the White that lies under the Shell. And
considering that this Notion of the _Mundane Egg_, or that the World was
_Oviform_, hath been the Sense and Language of all Antiquity, _Latins_,
_Greeks_, _Persians_, _Ægyptians_, and others, as we have shew’d
elsewhere, [_Tell. Theor. Sac. lib. 2. c. 10._] I thought it worthy our
Notice in this Place; seeing it receives such a clear and easy
Explication from that Origin and Fabrick we have given to the first
Earth, and also reflects Light upon the Theory it self, and confirms it
to be no Fiction: This Notion, which is a kind of Epitome, or Image of
it, having been conserv’d in the most Ancient Learning.
THUS much concerning the first Earth, its Production and Form; and
concerning our second Proposition relating to it; which being prov’d by
Reason, the Laws of Nature, and the Motions of the Chaos; then attested
by Antiquity, both as to the Matter and Form of it; and confirm’d by
Sacred Writers, we may take it now for a well establish’d Truth, and
proceed upon this Supposition, _That the antediluvian Earth was smooth
and uniform, without Mountains or Sea_, to the Explication of the
Universal Deluge.
GIVE me leave only, before we proceed any further, to annex here a short
Advertisement, concerning the Causes of this wonderful Structure of the
first Earth. ’Tis true, we have propos’d the natural Causes of it, and I
do not know wherein our Explication is false or defective; but in Things
of this kind we may easily be too credulous. And this Structure is so
marvellous, that it ought rather to be consider’d as a particular Effect
of the Divine Art, than as the Work of Nature. The whole Globe of the
Water vaulted over, and the exterior Earth hanging above the Deep,
sustain’d by nothing but its own Measures and Manner of Construction: A
Building without Foundation or Corner-stone. This seems to be a Piece of
Divine Geometry or Architecture; and to this, I think, is to be referr’d
that magnificent Challenge which God Almighty made to _Job_, _Job
xxxviii. 4, 5, 6, 7,_ &c. _Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations
of the Earth? Declare if thou hast Understanding. Who hath laid the
Measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the Line upon
it? Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned? Or who laid the
Corner-stone thereof? When the Morning Stars sang together, and all the
Sons of God shouted for Joy._ _Moses_ also, when he had describ’d the
Chaos, saith, _The Spirit of God mov’d upon_, or sat brooding upon, _the
Face of the Waters_; without all doubt to produce some Effects there.
And St. _Peter_, when he speaks of the Form of the antediluvian Earth,
how it stood in reference to the Waters, adds, _By the Word of God_, Τῷ
λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, or by the Wisdom of God it was made so. And this same
_Wisdom_ of God, in the _Proverbs_, as we observed before, takes Notice
of this very piece of Work in the Formation of the Earth. _When he set
an Orb over the Face of the Deep, I was there_. And lastly, the ancient
Philosophers, or at least the best of them, to give them their due,
always brought in _Mens_ or _Amor_, Λόγος & Ἔρως, as a Supernatural
Principle to unite and consociate the parts of the Chaos; which was
first done in the Composition of this wonderful Arch of the Earth.
_Wherefore_ to the great Architect, who made the boundless Universe out
of nothing, and form’d the Earth out of a Chaos, let the Praise of the
whole Work, and particularly of this Masterpiece, for ever with all
Honour be given.