_The Dissolution of the first Earth: The Deluge ensuing thereupon.
And the Form of the present Earth rising from the Ruins of the
first._
WE have now brought to light the antediluvian Earth out of the dark Mass
of the Chaos; and not only described the Surface of it, [_See Fig. 5, &
6. pag. 78, & 87._] but laid open the inward parts, to shew in what
Order its Regions lay. Let us now close it up, and represent the Earth
entire, and in larger Propositions, more like an habitable World; as in
this Figure, where you see the smooth Convex of the Earth, and may
imagine the great Abyss spread under it; _as at the Aperture_, which two
are to be the only Subject of our further Contemplation.
[Illustration: Book 1 Figure 7. The smooth Sphere of the Earth, with an
Aperture into it.]
IN this smooth Earth were the first Scenes of the World, and the first
Generations of Mankind; it had the Beauty of Youth and blooming Nature,
fresh and fruitful, and not a Wrinkle, Scar or Fracture in all its Body;
no Rocks nor Mountains, no hollow Caves, nor gaping Channels, but even
and uniform all over. And the Smoothness of the Earth made the Face of
the Heavens so too; the Air was calm and serene; none of those
tumultuary Motions and Conflicts of Vapours, which the Mountains and the
Winds cause in ours: ’Twas suited to a golden Age, and to the first
Innocency of Nature.
ALL this you’ll say is well, we are got into a pleasant World indeed,
but what’s this to the Purpose? What Appearance of a Deluge here, where
there is not so much as a Sea, nor half so much Water as we have in this
Earth? Or what Appearance of Mountains or Caverns, or other
Irregularities of the Earth, where all is level and united: So that
instead of loosing the Knot, this ties it the harder. You pretend to
shew us how the Deluge was made, and you lock up all the Waters within
the Womb of the Earth, and set Bars and Doors, and a Wall of
impenetrable Strength and Thickness to keep them there. And you pretend
to shew us the Original of Rocks and Mountains, and Caverns of the
Earth, and bring us to a wide and endless Plain, smooth as the calm Sea.
THIS is all true, and yet we are not so far from the Sight and Discovery
of those Things as you imagine; draw but the Curtain, and these Scenes
will appear, or something very like ’em. We must remember that St.
_Peter_ told us, that the antediluvian Earth perished, or was
demolished; and _Moses_ saith, the _great Abyss_ was broken open at the
Deluge. 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, or that the Frame of the
Earth broke and fell down into the _great Abyss_. At this one stroke all
Nature would be chang’d, and this single Action would have two great and
visible Effects: The one Transient, and the other Permanent. First, an
Universal Deluge would overflow all the Parts and Regions of the broken
Earth during the great Commotion and Agitation of the Abyss, by the
violent Fall of the Earth into it. This would be the first and
unquestionable Effect of this Dissolution, and all that World would be
destroy’d. Then when the Agitation of the Abyss was asswag’d, and the
Waters by degrees were retir’d into their Channels, and the dry Land
appear’d, you would see the true Image of the present Earth in the Ruins
of the first. The Surface of the Globe would be divided into Land and
Sea; the Land would consist of Plains and Valleys and Mountains,
according as the Pieces of this Ruin were plac’d and dispos’d: Upon the
Banks of the Sea would stand the Rocks, and near the Shore would be
Islands, or lesser Fragments of Earth compass’d round by Water. Then as
to subterraneous Waters, and all subterraneous Caverns and Hollownesses,
upon this Supposition those things cou’d not be otherwise; for the Parts
would fall hollow in many Places in this, as in all other Ruins: And
seeing the Earth fell into this Abyss, the Waters at a certain Height
would flow into all those hollow Places and Cavities; and wou’d also
sink and insinuate into many Parts of the solid Earth. And though these
subterraneous Vaults or Holes, whether dry or full of Water, would be
more or less in all Places, where the Parts fell hollow; yet they would
be found especially about the Roots of the Mountains, and the higher
Parts of the Earth; for there the Sides bearing up one against the
other, they could not lie so close at the Bottoms, but many Vacuities
would be intercepted. Nor are there any other Inequalities or
Irregularities observable in the present Form of the Earth; whether in
the Surface of it, or interior Construction, whereof this _Hypothesis_
doth give a ready, fair, and intelligible Account; and doth at one view
represent them all to us, with their Causes, as in a Glass: And whether
that Glass be true, and the Image answer to the Original, if you doubt
of it, we will hereafter examine them Piece by Piece. But in the first
Place, we must consider the general Deluge, how easily and truly this
Supposition represents and explains it, and answers all the Properties
and Conditions of it.
I THINK it will be easily allow’d, that such a Dissolution of the Earth
as we have propos’d, and Fall of it into the Abyss, would certainly make
an Universal Deluge; and effectually destroy the old World, which
perish’d in it. But we have not yet particularly prov’d this
Dissolution, and in what manner the Deluge follow’d upon it: And to
assert things in gross never makes that firm Impression upon our
Understandings, and upon our Belief, as to see them deduc’d with their
Causes and Circumstances; and therefore we must endeavour to shew what
Preparations there were in Nature for this great Dissolution, and after
what manner it came to pass, and the Deluge in Consequence of it.
WE have noted before, that _Moses_ imputed the Deluge to the Disruption
of the Abyss; and St. _Peter_, to the particular Constitution of that
Earth, which made it obnoxious to be absorpt in Water, so that our
Explication so far is justified. But it was below the Dignity of those
Sacred Pen-Men, or the Spirit of God that directed them, to shew us the
Causes of this Disruption, or of this Absorption; this is left to the
Enquiries of Men. For it was never the Design of Providence, to give
such particular Explications of natural Things, as should make us idle,
or the Use of Reason unnecessary; but on the contrary, by delivering
great Conclusions to us to excite our Curiosity and Inquisitiveness
after the Methods, by which such things were brought to pass: And it may
be there is no greater Trial or Instance of natural Wisdom, than to find
out the Channel, in which these great Revolutions of Nature, which we
treat on, flow and succeed one another.
LET us therefore resume that System of the antediluvian Earth, which we
have deduc’d from the Chaos, and which we find to answer St. _Peter_’s
Description, and _Moses_’s Account of the Deluge. This Earth could not
be obnoxious to a Deluge, as the Apostle supposeth it to have been, but
by a Dissolution; for the Abyss was enclos’d within its Bowels. And
_Moses_ doth in effect tell us, there was such a Dissolution; when he
saith, _The Fountains of the great Abyss were broken open_. For
Fountains are broken open no otherwise than by breaking up the Ground
that covers them. We must therefore here enquire in what Order, and from
what Causes the Frame of this exterior Earth was dissolved, and then we
shall soon see how, upon that Dissolution, the Deluge immediately
prevail’d and overflow’d all the Parts of it.
I DO not think it in the power of human Wit to determine how long this
Frame would stand, how many Years, or how many Ages; but one would soon
imagine, that this kind of Structure would not be perpetual, nor last
indeed many thousands of Years, if one consider the Effect that the Heat
of the Sun would have upon it, and the Waters under it; drying and
parching the one, and rarefying the other into Vapours. For we must
consider, that the Course of the Sun at that time, or the Posture of the
Earth to the Sun, was such, that there was no Diversity or Alternation
of Seasons in the Year, as there is now; by reason of which Alternation,
our Earth is kept in an Equality of Temper, the contrary Seasons
balancing one another; so as what Moisture the Heat of the Summer sucks
out of the Earth, ’tis repaid in the Rains of the next Winter; and what
Chaps were made in it, are fill’d up again, and the Earth reduc’d to its
former Constitution. But if we should imagine a continual Summer, the
Earth would proceed in Driness still more and more, and the Cracks would
be wider, and pierce deeper into the Substance of it: And such a
continual Summer there was, at least an Equality of Seasons in the
antediluvian Earth, as shall be prov’d in the following Book, concerning
_Paradise_. In the mean time, this being suppos’d, let us consider what
Effect it would have upon this Arch of the exterior Earth, and the
Waters under it.
WE cannot believe, but that the Heat of the Sun, within the Space of
some hundreds of Years, would have reduc’d this Earth to a considerable
degree of Driness in certain Parts; and also have much rarefied and
exhal’d the Waters beneath it: And considering the Structure of that
Globe, the exterior Crust, and the Waters lying round under it, both
expos’d to the Sun, we may fitly compare it to an _Æolipile_, or an
hollow Sphere with Water in it, which the Heat of the Fire rarefies and
turns into Vapours and Wind. The Sun here is as the Fire, and the
exterior Earth is as the Shell of the _Æolipile_, and the Abyss as the
water within it; now when the Heat of the Sun had pierced thro’ the
Shell and reach’d the Waters, it began to rarefy them, and raise them
into Vapours, which Rarefaction made them require more Space and Room
than they needed before, while they lay close and quiet. And finding
themselves pent in by the exterior Earth, they press’d with Violence
against that Arch, to make it yield and give way to their Dilatation and
Eruption. So we see all Vapours and Exhalations inclos’d within the
Earth, and agitated there, strive to break out, and often shake the
Ground with their Attempts to get loose. And in the Comparison we us’d
of an _Æolipile_, if the Mouth of it be stop’d that gives the Vent, the
Water rarefied will burst the Vessel with its Force: And the Resemblance
of the Earth to an Egg, which we us’d before, holds also in this
Respect; for when it heats before the Fire, the Moisture and Air within
being rarefied, makes it often burst the Shell. And I do the more
willingly mention this last Comparison, because I observe that some of
the Ancients, when they speak of the Doctrine of the _Mundane Egg_, say,
that after a certain Period of Time it was broken.
BUT there is yet another Thing to be considered in this Case; for as the
Heat of the Sun gave Force to these Vapours more and more, and made them
more strong and violent; so on the other Hand, it also weaken’d more and
more the Arch of the Earth, that was to resist them; sucking out the
Moisture that was the Cement of its parts, drying it immoderately, and
chapping it in sundry Places. And there being no Winter then to close up
and unite its Parts, and restore the Earth to its former Strength and
Compactness, yet grew more and more dispos’d to a Dissolution. And at
length, these Preparations in Nature being made on either side, the
Force of the Vapours increas’d, and the Walls weaken’d which should have
kept them in, when the appointed time was come, that All-wise Providence
had design’d for the Punishment of a sinful World, the whole Fabrick
brake, and the Frame of the Earth was torn in Pieces, as by an
Earthquake; and those great Portions or Fragments, into which it was
divided, fell down into the Abyss, some in one Posture, and some in
another.
THIS is a short and general Account how we may conceive the Dissolution
of the first Earth, and an Universal Deluge arising upon it. And this
manner of Dissolution hath so many Examples in Nature every Age, that we
need not insist farther upon the Explication of it. The generality of
Earthquakes arise from like Causes, and often end in a like Effect, a
partial Deluge or Inundation of the Place or Country where they happen;
and of these we have seen some Instances even in our own Times: But
whensoever it so happens that the Vapours and Exhalations shut up in the
Caverns of the Earth by Rarefaction or Compression come to be straitned,
they strive every way to set themselves at Liberty, and often break
their Prison, or the Cover of the Earth that kept them in; which Earth
upon that Disruption falls into the subterraneous Caverns that lie under
it: And if it so happens that those Caverns are full of Water, as
generally they are, if they be great or deep, that City or Tract of Land
is drown’d. And also the Fall of such a Mass of Earth, with its Weight
and Bulk, doth often force out the Water so impetuously, as to throw it
upon all the Country round about. There are innumerable Examples in
History (whereof we shall mention some hereafter) of Cities and
Countries thus swallowed up, or overflow’d, by an Earthquake, and an
Inundation arising upon it. And according to the manner of their Fall or
Ruin, they either remain’d wholly under Water, and perpetually drown’d
as _Sodom_ and _Gomorrha_, _Plato_’s _Atlantis_, _Bura_ and _Helice_,
and other Cities and Regions in _Greece_ and _Asia_; or they partly
emerg’d, and became dry Land again; when (their Situation being pretty
high) the Waters, after their violent Agitation was abated, retir’d into
the lower Places, and into their Channels.
NOW if we compare these Partial Dissolutions of the Earth with an
Universal Dissolution, we may as easily conceive an Universal Deluge
from an Universal Dissolution, as a Partial Deluge from a Partial. If we
can conceive a City, a Country, an Island, a Continent thus absorpt and
overflown; if we do but enlarge our Thought and Imagination a little, we
may conceive it as well of the whole Earth. And it seems strange to me,
that none of the Ancients should hit upon this way of explaining the
Universal Deluge; there being such frequent Instances in all Ages and
Countries of Inundations made in this manner, and never of any great
Inundation made otherwise, unless in maritime Countries, by the
Irruption of the Sea into Grounds that lie low. ’Tis true, they would
not so easily imagine this Dissolution, because they did not understand
the true Form of the antediluvian Earth; but, methinks, the Examination
of the Deluge should have led them to the Discovery of that: For
observing the Difficulty, or Impossibility of an Universal Deluge,
without the Dissolution of the Earth; as also frequent Instances of
these Dissolutions accompanied with Deluges, where the Ground was
hollow, and had subterraneous Waters; this, methinks, should have
prompted them to imagine, that those subterraneous Waters were universal
at that time, or extended quite round the Earth; so as a Dissolution of
the exterior Earth could not be made any where but it would fall into
Waters, and be more or less overflow’d. And when they had once reach’d
this Thought, they might conclude, both what the Form of the
antediluvian Earth was, and that the Deluge came to pass by the
Dissolution of it. But we reason with Ease about the finding out of
Things, when they are once found out; and there is but a thin Paper-wall
sometimes between the great Discoveries, and a perfect Ignorance of
them. Let us proceed now to consider, whether this Supposition will
answer all the Conditions of an Universal Deluge, and supply all the
Defects which we found in other Explications.
THE great Difficulty propos’d, was to find Water sufficient to make an
Universal Deluge, reaching to the Tops of the Mountains; and yet that
this Water should be transient, and after some time should so return
into its Channels, that the dry Land would appear, and the Earth become
again habitable. There was that double Impossibility in the common
Opinion, that the Quantity of Water necessary for such a Deluge was no
where to be found, or could no way be brought upon the Earth; and then
if it was brought, cou’d no way be remov’d again. Our Explication quite
takes off the Edge of this Objection; for, performing the same Effect
with a far less Quantity of Water, ’tis both easy to be found, and
easily remov’d when the Work is done. When the exterior Earth was broke,
and fell into the Abyss, a good part of it was cover’d with Water, by
the meer Depth of the Abyss it fell into, and those Parts of it that
were higher than the Abyss was deep, and consequently would stand above
it in a calm Water, were notwithstanding reach’d and overtop’d by the
Waves, during the Agitation and violent Commotion of the Abyss. For it
is not imaginable what the Commotion of the Abyss would be upon this
Dissolution of the Earth, nor to what Height its Waves would be thrown,
when those prodigious Fragments were tumbled down into it. Suppose a
Stone of ten thousand Weight taken up into the Air a Mile or two, and
then let fall into the middle of the Ocean, I do not believe but that
the dashing of the Water upon that Impression would rise as high as a
Mountain. But suppose a mighty Rock, or heap of Rocks to fall from that
Height, or a great Island, or a Continent; these would expel the Waters
out of their Places with such a Force and Violence, as to fling them
among the highest Clouds.
’TIS incredible to what Height sometimes great Stones and Cinders will
be thrown, at the Eruptions of fiery Mountains; and the Pressure of a
great Mass of Earth falling into the Abyss, though it be a Force of
another kind, could not but impel the Water with so much Strength, as
would carry it up to a great Height in the Air; and to the top of any
thing that lay in its way, any Eminency, high Fragment, or new Mountain:
And then rolling back again, it would sweep down with it whatsoever it
rush’d upon, Woods, Buildings, living Creatures, and carry them all
headlong into the great Gulph. Sometimes a Mass of Water would be quite
struck off and separate from the rest, and toss’d through the Air like a
flying River; but the common Motion of the Waves was to climb up the
Hills or inclin’d Fragments; and then return into the Valleys and Deeps
again, with a perpetual Fluctuation going and coming, ascending and
descending, ’till the Violence of them being spent by degrees, they
settled at last in the Places allotted for them; where _Bounds are set
that they cannot pass over, that they return not again to cover the
Earth, Psalm. civ. 6, 7, 8, 9._
NEITHER is it to be wondred, that the great Tumult of the Waters, and
the Extremity of the Deluge lasted for some Months; for besides, that
the first Shock and Commotion of the Abyss was extreamly violent, from
the general Fall of the Earth, there were ever and anon some secondary
Ruins; or some Parts of the great Ruin, that were not well settled,
broke again, and made new Commotions: And ’twas a considerable Time
before the great Fragments that fell, and their lesser Dependencies
could be so adjusted and fitted, as to rest in a firm and immoveable
Posture: For the Props and Stays whereby they lean’d one upon another,
or upon the Bottom of the Abyss, often fail’d, either by the incumbent
Weight, or the violent Impulses of the Water against them; and so
renewed, or continued the Disorder and Confusion of the Abyss. Besides,
we are to observe, that these great Fragments falling hollow, they
inclos’d and bore down with them under their concave Surface a great
deal of Air; and while the Water compass’d these Fragments, and
overflow’d them, the Air could not readily get out of those Prisons, but
by degrees, as the Earth and Water above would give way; so as this
would also hinder the Settlement of the Abyss, and the retiring of the
Water into those subterraneous Channels, for some Time. But at length,
when this Air had found a vent, and left its place to the Water, and the
Ruins both primary and secondary were settled and fix’d then the Waters
of the Abyss began to settle too, and the dry Land to appear; first the
tops of the Mountains, then the high Grounds, then the Plains and the
rest of the Earth. And this gradual Subsidency of the Abyss (which
_Moses_ also hath particularly noted) and Discovery of the several Parts
of the Earth would also take up a considerable Time.
THUS a new World appear’d, or the Earth put on its new Form, and became
divided into Sea and Land; and the Abyss, which from several Ages, even
from the beginning of the World, had lain hid in the Womb of the Earth,
was brought to light and discover’d; the greatest part of it
constituting our present Ocean, and the rest filling the lower Cavities
of the Earth: Upon the Land appear’d the Mountains and the Hills, and
the Islands in the Sea, and the Rocks upon the Shore. And so the Divine
Providence, having prepar’d Nature for so great a Change, at one stroke
dissolv’d the Frame of the old World, and made us a new one out of its
Ruins, which we now inhabit since the Deluge. All which Things being
thus explain’d, deduc’d, and stated, we now add and pronounce our Third
and last Proposition; _That the Disruption of the Abyss, or Dissolution
of the primæval Earth, and its Fall into the Abyss, was the Cause of the
Universal Deluge, and of the Destruction of the old World_.