_A short Review of what hath been already treated of, and in what
Manner. The several Faces and Schemes under which the Earth would
appear to a Stranger, that should view it first at a Distance, and
then more closely, and the Application of them to our Subject. All
Methods, whether Philosophical or Theological, that have been
offer’d by others for the Explication of the Form of the Earth, are
examin’d and disprov’d. A Conjecture concerning the other Planets,
their natural Form and State compared with ours._
WE have finish’d the three Sections of this Book, and in this last
Chapter we will make a short Review and Reflexion upon what hath been
hitherto treated of, and add some further Confirmations of it. The
Explication of the universal Deluge was the first Proposal and Design of
this Discourse, to make that a Thing credible and intelligible to the
Mind of Man: And the full Explication of this drew in the whole Theory
of the Earth; Whose Original we have deduc’d from its first Source, and
shew’d both what was its primæval Form, and how it came into its present
Form. The Sum of our _Hypothesis_ concerning the universal Deluge was
this; That it came not to pass, as was vulgarly believ’d, by an Excess
of Rains, or any Inundation of the Sea, nor could ever be effected by a
meer Abundance of Waters; unless we suppose some Dissolution of the
Earth at the same time, namely, when the _Great Abyss_ was broken open.
And accordingly we shewed, that without such a Dissolution, or if the
Earth had been always in the same Form it is in now, no Mass of Water,
any where to be found in the World, could have equall’d the Height of
the Mountains, or made such an universal Deluge. Secondly, We shewed
that the Form of the Earth at first, and till the Deluge, was such as
made it capable and subject to a Dissolution: And thirdly, That such a
Dissolution being suppos’d, the Doctrine of the universal Deluge is very
reasonable and intelligible; and not only the Doctrine of the Deluge,
but the same Supposition is a Key to all Nature besides, shewing us how
our Globe became terraqueous, what was the Original of Mountains, of the
Sea-channel, of Islands, of subterraneous Cavities; things which without
this Supposition are as untelligible as the universal Flood itself. And
these things reciprocally confirming one another, our _Hypothesis_ of
the Deluge is arm’d, both Breast and Back, by the Causes and by the
Effects.
IT remains now, that, as to confirm our Explication of the Deluge, we
shew’d all other Accounts that had been given of it to be ineffectual or
impossible, to confirm our Doctrine concerning the Dissolution of the
Earth, and concerning the Original of Mountains, Seas, and all
Inequalities upon it, or within it, we must examine what Causes have
been assign’d by others, or what Accounts given of these things: That
seeing their Defectiveness, we may have the more Assurance and
Satisfaction in our own Method.
AND in order to this, let us observe first the general Forms under which
the Earth may be consider’d, or under which it doth appear accordingly
as we view it more nearly or remotely; and the first of these and the
most general is that of a _terraqueous Globe_. If a Philosopher should
come out of another World out of Curiosity to see our Earth, the first
Discovery or Observation he would make would be this, that it was a
terraqueous Globe: Thus much he might observe at a great Distance, when
he came but near the Borders of our World. This we discern in the Moon,
and most of the Planets, that they are divided into Sea and Land, and
how this Division came would be his first Remark and Inquiry concerning
our Earth; and how also those Subdivisions of Islands, or little Earths
which lie in the Water; how these were form’d, and that great Channel
that contains them both.
THE second Form that the Earth appears under, is that of an uneven and
_mountainous Globe_. When our Traveller had got below the Circle of the
Moon, he would discern the bald Tops of our Mountains, and the long
Ranges of them upon our Continents. We cannot from the Earth discern
Mountains and Valleys in the Moon directly, but from the Motion of the
Light and Shadows which we see there, we easily collect that there are
such Inequalities: And accordingly we suppose that our Mountains would
appear at a great Distance, and the shady Valleys lying under them; and
that this curious Person that came to view our Earth, would make that
his second Enquiry, how those Mountains were formed, and how our Globe
came to be so rude and irregular? For we may justly demand how any
Irregularity came into Nature, seeing all her first Motions and her
first Forms are regular, and whatsoever is not so, is but secondary, and
the Consequence of some Degeneracy, or of some Decay.
THE third visible Form of our Earth is that of a _broken Globe_; and
broken throughout, but in the outward Parts and Regions of it. This, it
may be, you will say, is not a visible Form; it doth not appear to the
Eye, without reasoning, that the Surface of the Earth is so broken.
Suppose our new Visitant had now pass’d the middle Region of the Air,
and was alighted upon the Top of _Pic Teneriffe_ for his first resting
Place, and that sitting there, he took a View of the great Rocks, the
wide Sea, and of the Shores of _Africk_ and _Europe_; for we’ll suppose
his piercing Eye to reach so far; I will not say that at first Sight he
would pronounce that the Surface of this Globe was broken, unless he
knew it to be so by Comparison with some other Planet like to it; but
the broken Form and Figure of many Parts of the Rocks, and the Posture
in which they lay, or great Portions of them, some inclin’d, some
prostrate, some erected, would naturally lead him to that Thought, that
they were a Ruin; he would see also the Islands tore from the
Continents, and both the Shores of the Continents and their Inland Parts
in the same Disorder and irregular Situation. Besides, he had this great
Advantage in viewing the Earth at a Distance, that he could see a whole
Hemisphere together, which, as he made his Approaches thro’ the Air,
would have much what the same aspect and countenance as ’tis represented
within the great Scheme, _p. 203._ And if any Man should accidentally
hit upon that Scheme, not knowing or thinking that it was the Earth, I
believe his first Thought of it would be, that it was some great broken
Body, or ruin’d Frame of Matter; and the Original, I am sure, is more
manifestly so. But we’ll leave our strange Philosopher to his own
Observations, and with him good Guides and Interpreters in his Survey of
the Earth, and that he would make a favourable Report at his Return
home, of our little dirty Planet.
IN the mean time let us pursue, in our own Way, this Third _Idea_ of the
Earth a little further, as it is _a broken Globe_. Nature I know hath
dissembled and cover’d this Form as much as may be, and Time hath help’d
to repair some of the old Breaches, or fill them up; besides, the
Changes that have been made by Art and human Industry, by Agriculture,
Planting, and Building Towns, hath made the Face of the Earth quite
another Thing from what it was in its naked Rudeness. As Mankind is much
alter’d from its pristine State, from what it was four thousand Years
ago, or towards the first Ages after the Flood, when the Nations liv’d
in Simplicity or Barbarousness; so is the Earth too, and both so
disguis’d and transform’d, that if one of those primitive Fathers should
rise from the Dead, he would scarce know this to be the same World which
he liv’d in before. But to discern the true Form of the Earth, whether
intire or broken, regular or disorder’d, we must in the first Place take
away all those Ornaments or Additions made by Art or Nature, and view
the bare Carcass of the Earth, as it hath nothing on it but Rocks and
Mountains, Deserts and Fields, and hollow Valleys, and a wide Sea. Then
secondly, We must in our Imagination empty this Channel of the Sea, take
out all the Waters that hinder the Sight of it, and look upon the dry
Ditch, measure the Depth and Breadth of it in our Mind, and observe the
Manner of its Construction, and in what a wild Posture all the Parts of
it lie; according as it hath been formerly represented, _Chap. 10._ And
lastly, we must take off the Cover of all subterraneous Places and deep
Caverns, to see the inside of the Earth; and lay bare the Roots of
Mountains, to look into those Holes and Vaults that are under them,
fill’d sometimes with Fire, sometimes with Water, and sometimes with
thick Air and Vapours. The Object being thus prepar’d, we are then to
look fixedly upon it, and to pronounce what we think of this disfigur’d
Mass, whether this exterior Frame doth not seem to be shatter’d; and
whether it doth more aptly resemble a new-made World, or the Ruins of
one broken. I confess when this _Idea_ of the Earth is present to my
Thoughts, I can no more believe that this was the Form wherein it was
first produc’d, than if I had seen the Temple of _Jerusalem_ in its
Ruins, when defac’d and sack’d by the _Babylonians_; I could have
persuaded my self, that it had never been in any other Posture, and that
_Solomon_ had given Orders for Building it so.
SO much for the Form of the Earth: It remains now that we examine what
Causes have been assign’d by others, of these Irregularities in the Form
of the Earth, which we explain by the Dissolution of it; what Accounts
any of the Ancients have given, or attempted to give, how the Earth
swell’d into Mountains in certain Places, and in others was depress’d
into low Valleys, how the Body of it was so broken, and how the Channel
of the Sea was made. The Elements naturally lie in regular Forms one
above another, and now we find them mix’d, confounded and transpos’d,
how comes this Disturbance and Disordination in Nature? The Explications
of these Things that have been given by others, may be reduc’d to two
general Sorts, _Philosophical_ or _Theological_, and we will try them
both for our Satisfaction.
OF Philosophers, none was more concern’d to give an Account of such
Things than _Epicurus_, both because he acknowledged the Origin of the
Earth to have been from a _Chaos_, and also admitted no Causes to act in
Nature but Matter and Motion: Yet all the Account we have from the
_Epicureans_ of the Form of the Earth, and the great Inequalities that
are in it, is so slight and trivial, that methinks it doth not deserve
the Name of a Philosophical Explication. They say that the Earth and
Water were mix’d at first, or rather, the Earth was above the Water, and
as the Earth was condens’d by the Heat of the Sun and the Winds, the
Water was squeez’d out in certain Places, which either it found hollow
or made so; and so was the Channel of the Sea made. Then as for
Mountains, while some Parts of the Earth shrunk and sunk in this Manner,
others would not sink; and these standing still while the others fell
lower, made the Mountains. How the subterraneous Cavities were made
according to them, I do not find.
THIS is all the Account that Monsieur _Gassendi_ (who seems to have made
it his Business, as well as his Pleasure, to embellish that Philosophy)
can help us to, out of the _Epicurean_ Authors how the Earth came into
this Form; and he that can content himself with this, is, in my Mind, of
an Humour very easy to be pleas’d. Do the Sun and the Wind use to
squeeze Pools of Water out of the Earth, and that in such a Quantity as
to make an Ocean? They dry the Earth, and the Waters too, and rarify
them into Vapours, but I never knew them to be the Causes of pressing
Water out of the Earth by Condensation. Could they compress the Earth
any otherwise, than by drying it and making it hard? And in Proportion,
as it was more dry, would it not the more imbibe and suck up the Water?
And how were the great Mountains of the Earth made in the North and in
the South, where the Influence of the Sun is not great? What sunk the
Earth there, and made the Flesh start from the Bones? But ’tis no Wonder
that _Epicurus_ should give such a mean Account of the Origin of the
Earth, and the Form of its Parts, who did not so much as understand the
general Figure of the Body of it, that it was in some Manner Spherical,
or that the Heavens encompass’d it round. One must have a blind Love for
that Philosophy, and for the Conclusions it drives at, not to see its
Lameness and Defects in those first and fundamental Parts.
_Aristotle_, though he was not concern’d to give an Account how the
Earth came into this present Form, as he suppos’d it Eternal; yet upon
another Consideration he seems obliged to give some Reason how the
Elements came into this Disorder; seeing he supposeth, that, according
to the Order of Nature, the Water should lie above the Earth in a
Sphere, as the Air doth above the Water, and his Fire above the Air.
This he toucheth upon in his Meteors, but so gently and fearfully, as if
he was handling hot Coals. He saith the Sea is to be consider’d as the
Element, or Body of Waters that belongs to this Earth, and that these
Waters change Places, and the Sea is some Ages in one Part of the Globe,
and some Ages in another; but that this is at such great Distances of
Time, that there can be no Memory or Record of it. And he seems willing
to suppose that the Water was once all over the Earth, but that it dry’d
up in certain Places, and continuing in others, it there made the Sea.
WHAT a miserable Account is this? As to his Change or Removal of the
Sea-channel in several Ages, as it is without all Proof or Probability,
if he mean it of the Channel of the great Ocean, so ’tis nothing to the
Purpose here; for the Question is not why the Channel of the Sea is in
such a Part of the Earth, rather than in another, but why there is any
such prodigious Cavity in or upon the Earth any where. And if we take
his Supposition, that the Element of Water was once higher than the
Earth, and lay in a Sphere about it, then let him tell us in plain Terms
how the Earth got above, or how the Cavity of the Ocean was made, and
how the Mountains rise; for this Elementary Earth which lay under the
Water, was, I suppose, equal and smooth when it lay there; and what
reason was there, that the Waters should be dry’d in one Part of it,
more than another, if they were every where of an equal Depth, and the
Ground equal under them? It was not the Climates made any Distinction,
for there is Sea towards the Poles, as well as under the Æquator; but
suppose they were dry’d up in certain Places, that would make no
Mountains, no more than there are Mountains in our dry’d Marshes: And
the Places where they were not dry’d, would not therefore become as deep
and hollow as the Sea-channel, and tear the Earth and Rocks in pieces.
If you would say that this very Elementary Earth, as it lay under the
Waters, was unequal, and was so originally form’d into Mountains and
Valleys and great Cavities; besides that the Supposition is altogether
irrational in itself, you must suppose a prodigious Mass of Water to
cover such an Earth; as much as we found requisite for the vulgar
Deluge, namely, eight Oceans; and what then is become of the other
seven? Upon the whole, I do not see that either in _Epicurus_’s way, who
seems to suppose that the Waters were at first within the Earth; nor in
_Aristotle_’s way, who seems to suppose them upon the Earth, any
rational or tolerable Account can be given of the present Form of the
Earth.
WHEREFORE some Modern Authors, dissatisfied, as very well they might be,
with these Explications given us by the Ancients concerning the Form of
the Earth, have pitch’d upon other Causes, more true indeed in their
kind, and in their degree, but that fall as much short of those Effects
to which they would apply them. They say that all the Irregularities of
the Body of the Earth have risen from Earthquakes in particular Places,
and from Torrents and Inundations, and from Eruptions of Fire, or such
like Causes, whereof we see some Instances more or less every Age; and
these have made that havock upon the Face of the Earth, and turn’d
things upside down, raising the Earth, in some Places, and making great
Cavities or Chasms in others, so as to have brought it at length into
that torn, broken, and disorderly Form in which we now see it.
THESE Authors do so far agree with us, as to acknowledge, That the
present irregular Form of the Earth must have proceeded from Ruins and
Dissolutions of one sort or other; but these Ruins they make to have
been partial only, in this or in that Country, by piece-meal, and in
several Ages, and from no other Causes, but such as still continue to
act in Nature, namely, accidental Earthquakes and Eruptions of Fires and
Waters. These Causes we acknowledge as readily as they do, but not as
capable to produce so great Effects as they would ascribe to them; the
Surface of the Earth may be a little changed by such Accidents as these,
but for the most part, they rather sink the Mountains, than raise new
Ones: As when Houses are blown up by Mines of Powder, they are not set
higher, but generally fall lower and flatter: Or suppose they do
sometimes raise an Hill, or a little Mount, what’s that to the great
Mountains of our World, to those long and vast Piles of Rocks and
Stones, which the Earth can scarce bear? What’s that to strong-backt
_Taurus_ or _Atlas_, to the _American Andes_, or to a Mountain that
reacheth from the _Pyreneans_ to the _Euxine_ Sea? There’s as much
Difference between these, and those factious Mountains they speak of, as
betwixt them and Mole-hills.
AND to answer more distinctly to this Opinion, as before in speaking of
Islands we distinguish’d betwixt factitious and original Islands, so, if
you please, we may distinguish here betwixt factitious and original
Mountains; and allowing some few, and those of the fifth or sixth
Magnitude, to have risen from such accidental Causes, we enquire
concerning the rest and the greatest, what was their Original? If we
should suppose that the seven Hills upon which _Rome_ stands, came from
Ruins or Eruptions, or any such Causes, it doth not follow that the
_Alps_ were made so too. And as for Mountains, so for the Cavities of
the Earth, I suppose there may be Disruptions sometimes made by
Earthquakes, and Holes worn by subterraneous Fires and Waters; but
what’s that to the Channel of the _Atlantick Ocean_, or of the _Pacifick
Ocean_, which is extended an hundred and fifty Degrees under the
Æquator, and towards the Poles still further? He that should derive such
mighty Things from no greater Causes, I should think him a very
credulous Philosopher. And we are too subject indeed to that Fault of
Credulity in Matter of Philosophizing: Many when they have found out
Causes that are proper for certain Effects within such a Compass, they
cannot keep them there, but they will make them do every Thing for them;
and extend them often to other Effects of a superior Nature or Degree,
which their Activity can by no Means reach to. _Ætna_ hath been a
burning Mountain ever since, and above the Memory of Man, yet it hath
not destroy’d that Island, nor made any new Channel to the Sea, tho’ it
stands so near it. Neither is _Vesuvius_ above two or three Miles
distant from the Sea-side, to the best of my Remembrance, and yet in so
many Ages it hath made no Passage to it, neither open nor subterraneous.
’Tis true, some _Isthmus’s_ have been thrown down by Earthquakes, and
some Lakes have been made in that Manner, but what’s this to a Ditch
nine thousand Miles broad? Such an one we have upon the Earth, and of a
Depth that is not measurable; what Proportion have these Causes to such
an Instance? And how many thousand Ages must be allow’d to them to do
their Work, more than the Chronology of our Earth will bear?
BESIDES, When were these great Earthquakes and Disruptions, that did
such great Execution upon the Body of the Earth? Was this before the
Flood or since? If before, then the old Difficulty returns, how could
there be a Flood, if the Earth was in this mountainous Form before that
Time? This, I think, is demonstrated impossible in the second and third
Chapters. If since the Flood, where were the Waters of the Earth before
these Earthquakes made a Channel for them? Besides, where is the History
or Tradition, that speaks of these strange Things, and of this great
Change of the Earth? Hath any writ of the Origins of the _Alps_? In what
Year of _Rome_, or what _Olympiad_ they were born? Or how they grew from
little ones? How the Earth groan’d when it brought them forth, when its
Bowels were torn by the ragged Rocks? Do the Chronicles of the Nations
mention these things, or ancient Fame, or ancient Fables? were they made
all at once, or in successive Ages? These Causes continue still in
Nature, we have still Earthquakes and subterraneous Fires and Waters,
why should they not still operate and have the same Effects? We often
hear of Cities thrown down by Earthquakes, or Countries swallow’d up;
but who ever heard of a new Chain of Mountains made upon the Earth, or a
new Channel made for the Ocean? We do not read that there hath been so
much as a new _Sinus_ of the Sea ever since the Memory of Man: Which is
far more feasible than what they pretend. And Things of this Nature
being both strange and feasible, excite Admiration and great Attention
when they come to pass, and would certainly have been remembered or
propagated in some Way or other, if they had ever happen’d since the
Deluge. They have recorded the Foundation of Cities and Monarchies, the
Appearance of Blazing Stars, the Eruptions of fiery Mountains, the most
remarkable Earthquakes and Inundations, the great Eclipses or
Obscurations of the Sun, and any thing that look’d strange or
Prodigy-like, whether in the Heavens or on Earth: And these, which would
have been the greatest Prodigies, and greatest Changes that ever
happen’d in Nature, would these have escap’d all Observation and Memory
of Men? That’s as incredible as the Things themselves are.
LASTLY, To comprehend all these Opinions together, both of the Ancient
and Modern Authors, they seem all to agree with us in this, _That_ the
Earth was once under another Form; otherwise why do they go about to
shew the Causes how it came into this Form? I desire then to know what
Form they suppose the Earth to have been under before the Mountains were
made, the Channel of the Sea, or subterraneous Cavities? Either they
must take that Form which we have assign’d it before the Deluge, or else
they must suppose it cover’d with Water, till the Sea-channels were
made, and the Mountains brought forth; as in _Fig. 2. p. 76._ And no
doubt it was once in this Form, both Reason and the Authority of _Moses_
assure us of it; and this is the Test which every Opinion must be
brought to, _how_ the Earth emerg’d out of that watry Form? And in
particular, as to that Opinion which we are now examining, the Question
is, _how_ by Earthquakes, and fiery Eruptions, subterraneous Waters, and
such like Causes, the Body of the Earth could be wrought from that Form
to this present Form? And the Thing is impossible at first Sight; for
such Causes as these could not take place in such an Earth. As for
subterraneous Waters, there could be none at that Time, for they were
all above Ground; and as for subterraneous Exhalations, whether fiery or
aery, there was no Place for them neither; for the Earth, when it lay
under the Water, was a solid uniform Mass, compact and close united in
its Parts, as we have shewn before upon several Occasions; no Mines or
hollow Vaults for the Vapours to be lodg’d in, no Store-houses of Fire;
nothing that could make Earthquakes, nor any sort of Ruins or Eruptions:
These are Engines that cannot Play but in an Earth already broken,
hollow and cavernous. Therefore the Authors of this Opinion do in effect
beg the Question; they assign such Causes of the present Form of the
Earth, as could not take Place, nor have any Activity until the Earth
was in this Form: These Causes may contribute something to increase the
Rudeness and Inequalities of the Earth in certain Places, but they could
not be the original Causes of it. And that not only because of their
Disproportion to such Effects, but also because of their Incapacity, or
Non-existence at that time, when these Effects were to be wrought.
THUS much concerning the Philosophical Opinions or the natural Causes
that have been assign’d for the irregular Form of this present Earth.
Let us now consider the Theological Opinions, how Mountains were made at
first, and the wonderful Channel of the Sea: And these Authors say, God
Almighty made them immediately when he made the World; and so dispatch’d
the Business in a few Words. This is a short Account indeed, but we must
take heed that we do not derogate from the Perfection of God, by
ascribing all Things promiscuously to his immediate Action. I have often
suggested that the first Order of Things is regular and simple,
according as the Divine Nature is; and continues so till there is some
Degeneracy in the moral World; I have also noted upon several Occasions,
especially in the _Lat. Treat. Chap. 11._ the deformity and
Incommodiousness of the present Earth; and from these two Considerations
we may reasonably infer, that the present State of the Earth was not
Original, but is a State of Subjection to Vanity, wherein it must
continue till the Redemption and Restitution of all Things.
BUT besides this general Consideration, there are many others, both
Natural and Theological, against this Opinion, which the Authors of it,
I believe, will find unanswerable. As first, St. _Peter_’s Distinction
betwixt the present Earth and the Antediluvian; _2 Ep. Chap. iii. 5, 6._
and that in Opposition to certain profane Persons, who seem to have been
of the same Opinion with these Authors, namely, That the Heavens and the
Earth were the same now that they had been from the beginning, and that
there had been no Change in Nature, either of late, or in former Ages;
These St. _Peter_ confutes and upbraids them with Ignorance or
Forgetfulness of the Change that was brought upon Nature at the Deluge,
or that the Antediluvian Heavens and Earth were of a different Form and
Constitution from the present, whereby that World was obnoxious to a
Deluge of Water, as the present is to a Deluge of Fire. Let these
Authors put themselves in the Place of those Objectors, and see what
Answer they can make to the Apostle, whom I leave to dispute the Case
with them. I hope they will not treat this Epistle of St. _Peter_’s so
rudely as _Didymus Alexandrinus_ did, an ancient Christian, and one of
St. _Jerome_’s Masters; he was of the same Opinion with these
Theological Authors, and so fierce in it, that seeing St. _Peter_’s
Doctrine here to be contrary, he said, this Epistle of St. _Peter_’s was
corrupted, and was not to be receiv’d into the Canon. And all this,
because it taught, that the Heavens and the Earth had chang’d their
Form, and would do so again at the Conflagration; so as the same World
would be triform in Success of Time. We acknowledge his Exposition of
St. _Peter_’s Words to be very true; but what he makes an Argument of
the Corruption of this Epistle, is rather, in my Mind, a peculiar
Argument of its Divine Inspiration. In the second Place, these Writers
dash upon the old Rock, the Impossibility of explaining the Deluge; if
there were Mountains from the Beginning, and the Earth then in the same
Form as it is in now. _Thirdly_, They make the State of _Paradise_ as
unintelligible as that of the Deluge; For those Properties that are
assign’d to _Paradise_ by the Ancients, are inconsistent with the
present Form of the Earth: As will appear in the Second Book. _Lastly_,
They must answer, and give an Account of all those Marks which we have
observ’d in Nature (both in this Chapter, and the Ninth, Tenth, and
Eleventh), of Fractions, Ruins, and Dissolutions that have been on the
Earth, and which we have shewn to be inexplicable, unless we admit that
the Earth was once in another Form.
THESE Arguments being premis’d, let us now bring their Opinion close to
the Test, and see in what manner these Mountains must have been made
according to them, and how the Channel of the Sea, and all other
Cavities of the Earth. Let us to this Purpose consider the Earth again
in that transient, incompleat Form which it had when the Abyss encompast
the whole Body of it, _Fig. 2. p. 77._ we both agree that the Earth was
once in this State, and they say, that it came immediately out of this
State into its present Form, there being made by a supernatural Power a
great Channel or Ditch in one Part of it, which drew off the Waters from
the rest, and the Earth which was squeez’d and forc’d out of this Ditch,
made the Mountains. So there is the Channel of the Sea made, and the
Mountains of the Earth; how the subterraneous Cavities were made
according to these Authors, I do not well know. This I confess seems to
me a very gross Thought, and a way of working very un-God like; but
however, let’s have Patience to examine it.
AND in the first Place, if the Mountains were taken out of the Channel
of the Sea, then they are equal to it, and would fill it up if they were
thrown in again. But these Proportions upon Examination will not agree;
for though the Mountains of the Earth be very great, yet they do not
equal by much the great Ocean. The Ocean extends to half the Surface of
the Earth; and if you suppose the greatest Depth of the Ocean to answer
the Height of the greatest Mountains and the middle Depth to the middle
sort of Mountains, the Mountains ought to cover all the dry Land to make
them answer to all the Capacity of the Ocean; whereas we suppos’d them
upon a reasonable Computation to cover but the tenth Part of the dry
Land; and consequently neither they nor the Sea-Channel could have been
produc’d in this manner, because of their great Disproportion to one
another. And the same thing appears, if we compare the Mountains with
the Abyss which cover’d the Earth before this Channel was made; for this
Channel being made great enough to contain all the Abyss, the Mountains
taken out of it must also be equal to all the Abyss; but the Aggregate
of the Mountains will not answer this by many Degrees; for suppose the
Abyss was but half as deep as the deep Ocean, to make this Calculus
answer, all the dry Land ought to be cover’d with Mountains, and with
Mountains as high as the Ocean is deep, or double high to the Depth of
the Abyss, because they are but upon one half of the Globe. And this is
the first Argument against the Reciprocal Production of Mountains and
the Sea, their Incongruency or Disproportion.
SECONDLY, we are to consider that a great many Mountains of the Earth
are far distant from any Seas, as the great In-land Mountains of
_Asia_ and of _Africk_, and the _Sarmatick_ Mountains, and others in
_Europe_; how were these great Bodies flung thorough the Air from
their respective Seas, whence they were taken, to those Places where
they stand? What Appearance is there in common Reason or Credibility,
that these huge Masses of Earth and Stone that stand in the middle of
Continents were dug out of any Seas? We think it strange, and very
deservedly, that a little Chapel should be transported from _Palestine_
to _Italy_ over Land and Sea, much more the Transportation of Mount
_Atlas_ or _Taurus_ thorough the Air, or of a Range of Mountains two
or three thousand Miles long, would surely upon all Accounts appear
incongruous and incredible: Besides, neither the hollow Form of
Mountains, nor the stony Matter whereof they commonly consist, agrees
with that Supposition, that they were press’d or taken out of the
Channel of the Sea.
LASTLY, we are to consider, that the Mountains are not barely laid upon
the Earth, as a Tomb-stone upon a Grave, nor stand as Statues do upon a
Pedestal, as this Opinion seems to suppose; but they are one continued
Substance with the Body of the Earth, and their Roots reach into the
Abyss; as the Rocks by the Sea-side go as deep as the Bottom of the Sea
in one continued Mass: And ’tis a ridiculous Thing to imagine the Earth
first a plain Surface, then all the Mountains set upon it, as Hay-cocks
in a Field, standing upon their flat Bottoms. There is no such common
Surface in Nature, nor consequently any such Super-additions: ’Tis all
one Frame or Mass, only broken and disjointed in the Parts of it. To
conclude, ’Tis not only the Mountains that make the Inequalities of the
Earth, or the Irregularity of its Surface, every Country, every
Province, every Field, hath an unequal and different Situation, higher
or lower inclin’d more or less, and sometimes one way sometimes another,
you can scarce take a Mile’s Compass in any Place where the Surface of
the Ground continues uniform; and can you imagine, that there were
Moulds or Stones brought from the Sea-channel to make all those
Inequalities? Or that Earthquakes have been in every Country and in
every Field? The inner Veins and Lares, the Beds or Strata of the Earth
are also broken as well as the Surface. These must proceed from
universal Causes; and all those that have been alledg’d, whether from
Philosophy or Theology, are but particular or topical. I am fully
satisfied, in Contemplation of these Things, and so I think every
unprejudic’d Person may be, that to such an irregular Variety of
Situation and Construction, as we see every where in the Parts of the
Earth, nothing could answer but some universal Concussion or
Dislocation, in the Nature of a general Ruin.
WE have now finish’d this first Part of our Theory, and all that
concerns the Deluge or Dissolution of the Earth; and we have not only
establish’d our own Hypothesis by positive Arguments, but also produc’d
and examin’d all Suppositions that have been offer’d by others, whether
Philosophical or Theological, for the Explication of the same things; so
as nothing seems now to remain further upon this Subject. For a
Conclusion of all, we will consider, if you please, the rest of the
Earths, or of the Planets within our Heavens, that appertain to the same
common Sun; to see, so far as we can go by rational Conjectures, if they
be not of the same Fabrick, and have undergone the like Fate, and Forms
with our Earth. It is now acknowledged by the generality of learned Men,
that the Planets are opake Bodies, and particularly our next Neighbour,
the Moon, is known to be a terraqueous Globe, consisting of Mountains
and Valleys as our Earth does; and we have no Reason to believe, but
that she came into that Form by a Dissolution, or from like Causes, as
our Earth did. _Mercury_ is so near the Sun, that we cannot well discern
his Face, whether spotted or no, nor make a Judgment of it. But as for
_Venus_ and _Mars_, if the Spots that be observ’d in them be their
Waters or their Sea, as they are in the Moon, ’tis likely they are also
terraqueous Globes, and in much what a like Form with the Moon, and the
Earth, and, for ought we know, from like Causes. Particularly as to
_Venus_, ’tis a remarkable Passage that St. _Austin_ (_De Civ. Dei, lib.
21. c. viii._) hath preserv’d out of _Varro_: He saith, That _about the
Time of the great Deluge there was a wonderful Alteration or Catastrophe
happen’d to the Planet Venus, and that she chang’d her Colour, Form,
Figure, and Magnitude_. This is a great Presumption that she suffer’d
her Dissolution about the same time that our Earth did. I do not know
that any such Thing is recorded concerning any of the other Planets, but
the Body of _Mars_ looks very rugged, broken, and much disorder’d.
_Saturn_ and _Jupiter_ deserve a distinct Consideration, as having
something particular and different from the rest of the Planets;
_Saturn_ is remarkable for his Hoop or Ring, which seems to stand off,
or higher than his Body, and would strongly induce one to believe, that
the exterior Earth of that Planet, at its Dissolution, did not all fall
in, but the polar Parts sinking into the Abyss, the middle or
equinoctial Parts still subsisted, and bore themselves up in the Nature
of an Arch about the Planet, or of a Bridge, as it were, built over the
Sea of _Saturn_. And as some have observ’d concerning the Figure of
_Jupiter_, that it is not wholly Spherical, but a Spheroid, protuberant
in the Equator, and depress’d towards the Poles: So I should suspect
_Saturn_ to have been much more so, before his Disruption: Namely, That
the Body of that Planet, in its first State, was more flat and low
towards the Poles, and also weaker and thinner; and about the Equator
higher, fuller and stronger built: By reason of which Figure and
Construction, the Polar Parts did more easily fall in, or were suckt in
(as Cupping Glasses draw in the Flesh) when the Abyss below grew more
empty. Whereas the middle Parts about the Equator, being a more just
Arch and strongly built, would not yield or sink, but stood firm and
unbroken, and continues still in its first Posture. Planets break in
different ways, according to the Quality of their Matter, the manner of
their Construction, and the Nature of the Causes that act upon them.
Their Dissolutions are sometimes total, as in our Earth, sometimes
partial; and both of these may be under great Variety. In partial
Dissolutions, the middle Parts sometimes stand, and the Polar are broke;
or the Polar stand and the Middle are broke. Or one Hemisphere, or part
of an Hemisphere may be sunk, the rest standing. There may be Causes and
Occasions for all these Varieties and many more, in diversifying the
Phænomena of an immense Universe. But to return to _Saturn_.
THAT this present uncouth Form of _Saturn_ was not its Original Form, I
am very well satisfied, if that Planet rose from a Chaos, as ours did.
And if this be an adventitious Form, I know no Account can be given of
it with more Probability, than by supposing it the Effect of some
Fraction or Disruption in the Polar Parts. Neither do I know any
Phænomenon hitherto observ’d concerning _Saturn_, that does disprove
this _Hypothesis_ or Conjecture.
AS to _Jupiter_, that Planet without doubt is also turn’d about its
Axis, otherwise how should its four Moons be carried round him? And this
is also collected from the Motion of that permanent Spot (if it be found
to be so) that is upon its Body. Which Spot I take to be either a Lake
or a Chasm and _Hiatus_ into the Abyss of the Planet: That is, part of
the Abyss open or uncover’d, like the Aperture we made in the Seventh
Figure, _C. 6. p. 184._ And this might either have been left so by
Providence, at first, for some Reasons and Causes fitting that Earth: Or
it may have fallen in afterwards, as _Plato_’s _Atlantis_, or as _Sodom_
and _Gomorrah_, for some Judgment upon part of that World.
TO conclude, seeing all the Planets that are plac’d in this Heaven, and
are the Foster-Children of this Sun, seem to have some Affinity one with
another, and have much what the same Countenance, and the same general
_Phænomena_; it seems probable, that they rise much what the same way,
and after the like manner as our Earth, each one from its respective
Chaos; and that they had the same Elementary Regions at first, and an
exteriour Orb form’d over their Abyss: and lastly, That every one of
them hath suffer’d, or is to suffer its Deluge, as our Earth hath done.
These, I say, are probable Conjectures according to the Analogy of
Reason and Nature, so far as we can judge concerning Things very remote
and inaccessible.
AND these things being thus, and our Theory of the Deluge, and the
Dissolution which brought it, having such a general Agreement both with
our Heavens and our Earth, I think there is nothing but the Uncouthness
of the Thing to some Men’s Understandings, the Custom of thinking
otherwise, and the Uneasiness of entring into a new set of Thoughts,
that can be a Bar or Hindrance to its Reception. But it may be improv’d,
I doubt not, in many Respects, and in some Particularities rectified.
The first Attempts in great Things are seldom or never perfect: Such is
the Weakness of our Understandings, and the want of a full Natural
History. And in assigning Causes of such great Effects, fair Conjectures
are to be allow’d, till they be displac’d by others more evident and
more certain. Accordingly I readily submit to these Terms, and leave
this, and all other Parts of the Theory, to further Examination and
Enquiries.
THE THEORY OF THE EARTH.
BOOK II.
Concerning the Primæval Earth, and concerning _Paradise_.