_A Digression concerning the natural Causes of Longevity. That the
Machine of an Animal consists of Springs, and which are the two
principal. The Age of the Antediluvians to be computed by Solar, not
Lunar Years._
TO confirm our Opinion concerning the Reasons of Longevity in the first
Inhabitants of the World, it will not be amiss to deduce more at large
the natural Causes of _long_, or _short Periods of Life_. And when we
speak of _long_ or _short Periods of Life_, we do not mean those little
Differences of ten, twenty, or forty Years, which we see amongst Men
now-a-days, according as they are of stronger or weaker Constitutions,
and govern themselves better or worse; but those grand and famous
Differences of several hundreds of Years, which we have Examples of in
the different Ages of the World, and particularly in those that liv’d
before and since the Flood. Neither do we think it peculiar to this
Earth to have such an Inequality in the Lives of Men; but the other
Planets, if they be inhabited, have the same Property, and the same
Difference in their different Periods: All Planets that are in their
Antediluvian State, and in their first and regular Situation to the Sun,
have long-liv’d Inhabitants; and those, that are in an oblique
Situation, have short-liv’d; unless there be some counter Causes that
hinder this general Rule of Nature from taking Place.
WE are now so us’d to a short Life, and to drop away after threescore or
fourscore Years, that when we compare our Lives with those of the
Antediluvians, we think the Wonder lies wholly on their Side, _why_ they
liv’d so long; And so it doth popularly speaking; but if we speak
Philosophically, the Wonder lies rather on our side, _why_ we live so
little, or so short a Time? For seeing our Bodies are such Machines as
have a Faculty of nourishing themselves, that is, of repairing their
lost or decay’d Parts, so long as they have good Nourishment to make Use
of, why should they not continue in good Plight, and always the same, as
a Flame does, so long as it is supplied with Fewel? And that we may the
better see on whether side the Wonder lies, and from what Causes it
proceeds, we will propose this Problem to be examin’d, _Why the Frame or
Machine of an human Body, or of another Animal, having that Constriction
of Parts, and those Faculties which it hath, lasts so short a Time?_ And
tho’ it fall into no Disease, nor have any unnatural Accident, within
the Space of eighty Years, more or less, fatally and inevitably, decays,
dies, and perisheth.
THAT the State and Difficulty of this Question may the better appear,
let us consider a Man in the Prime and Vigour of his Life, at the Age of
twenty or twenty four Years, of an healthful Constitution, and all his
Vitals sound; let him be nourished with good Food, use due Exercise, and
govern himself with Moderation in all other Things; the Question is, Why
this Body should not continue in the same Plight, and in the same
Strength, for some Ages? or at least, why it should decay so soon and so
fall as we see it does? We do not wonder at Things that happen daily,
though the Causes of them be never so hard to find out; we contrast a
certain Familiarity with common Events, and fancy we know as much of
them as can be known, though in Reality we know nothing of them, but
Matter of Fact; which the vulgar know as well as the Wise or the
Learned. We see daily Instances of the shortness of Man’s Life, how soon
his Race is run, and we do not wonder at it, because it is common; yet
if we examine the Composition of the Body, it will be very hard to find
any good Reasons why the Frame of it should decay so soon.
I know ’tis easy to give general and superficial Answers and Accounts of
these Things; but they are such, as being strictly examin’d, give no
Satisfaction to an inquisitive Mind; You would say, it may be, that the
Interiour Parts and Organs of the Body wear and decay by Degrees, so as
not performing so well their several Offices and Functions, for the
Digestion and Distribution of the Food and its Juices, all the other
Parts suffer by it, and draws on insensibly a Decay upon the whole Frame
of the Body. This is all true; but why, and how comes this to pass? From
what Causes? Where is the first Failure, and what are the Consequences
of it? The inward parts do not destroy themselves, and we suppose that
there is no want of good Food, nor any Disease, and we take the Body in
its full Strength and Vigour, why doth it not continue thus, as a Lamp
does, if you supply it with Oil? The Causes being the same, why doth not
the same Effect still follow? Why should not the Flame of Life, as well
as any other Flame, if you give it Fewel, continue in its Force without
Languishing or Decay.
YOU will say, it may be, the Case is not the same in a simple Body, such
as a Lamp or a Fire, and in an organical Body; which being variously
compounded of Multiplicity of Parts, and all those Parts put in
Connexion and Dependance one upon another, if any one fail, it will
disorder the whole Frame; and therefore it must needs be more difficult
for such a Body to continue long in the same State, than for a simple
Body, that hath no Variety of Parts or Operations. I acknowledge such a
Body is much more subject to Diseases and Accidents than a more simple;
but barring all Diseases and Accidents, as we do, it might be of as long
a Duration as any other, if it was supply’d with Nourishment adequately
to all its Parts: As this Lamp we speak of, if it consisted of twenty
Branches, and each of these Branches was to be fed with a different Oil,
and these Oils could be all mix’d together in some common Cistern,
whence they were to be distributed into the several Branches, either
according to their different Degrees of Lightness, one rising higher
than another; or according to the Capacity and Figure of the little
Pipes they were to pass thro’; such a compounded Lamp, made up of such
Artifices, would indeed be more subject to Accidents and to be out of
Order, by the Obstruction of some of the little Pipes, or some unfit
Qualities in the Oils; but all these Casualties and Disorders excepted,
as they are in our Case, if it was supply’d with convenient Liquors, it
would burn as long as any other, tho’ more plain and simple.
TO instance yet, for more Plainness, in another sort of Machine; suppose
a Mill, where the Water may represent the Nourishment and Humours in our
Body, and the Frame of Wood and Stone, the solid Parts; if we could
suppose this Mill to have a Power of nourishing itself by the Water it
receiv’d, and of repairing all the Parts that were worn away, whether of
the Wood-work or of the Stone, feed it but with a constant Stream, and
it would subsist and grind for ever. And ’tis the same Thing for all
other artificial Machines of this Nature, if they had a Faculty of
nourishing themselves, and repairing their Parts. And seeing those
natural Machines we are speaking of, the Body of Man, and of other
Animals, have and enjoy this Faculty, why should they not be able to
preserve themselves beyond that short Period of Time, which is now the
Measure of their Life?
THUS much we have said, to shew the Difficulty propos’d, and inforce it;
we must now consider the true Answer and Resolution of it; and to that
purpose bring into View again those Causes which we have assign’d, both
of the long Periods of Life before the Flood, and of the short ones
since. That there was a perpetual Equinox and Stability of the Heavens
before the Flood, we have shew’d both from History and Reason; neither
was there then any thing of Clouds, Rains, Winds, Storms, or unequal
Weather, as will appear in the following Chapter; and to this Steadiness
of Nature, and universal Calmness of the external World, we have imputed
those long Periods of Life which Men enjoy’d at that Time: As on the
contrary, when that great Change and Revolution happened to Nature at
the Deluge, and the Heavens and the Earth were cast in another Mould,
then was brought in, besides many other new Scenes, that Shortness and
Vanity in the Life of Man, and a general Instability in all sublunary
Things, but especially in the animate World.
IT is not necessary to shew more than we have done already, how that
primitive State of Nature contributed to long Life; neither is it
requir’d that it should actively contribute, but only be permissive, and
suffer our Bodies to act their Parts; for if they be not disturb’d, nor
any Harm done them by external Nature, they are built with Art and
Strength enough to last many hundreds of Years. And, as we observ’d
before, concerning the Posture of the Earth, that that which it had at
first, being simple and regular, was not so much to be accounted for, as
its present Posture, which is irregular; so likewise for the Life of
Man, the Difficulty is not why they liv’d so long in the old World; that
was their due and proper Course; but why our Bodies, being made after
the same manner, should endure so short a Time now. This is it
therefore, which we must now make our Business to give an Account of,
namely, how that Vicissitude of Seasons, Inconstancy of the Air, and
unequal Course of Nature, which came in at the Deluge, do shorten
_Life_; and indeed hasten the Dissolution of all Bodies, animate or
inanimate.
IN our Bodies we may consider three several Qualities or Dispositions,
and according to each whereof they suffer Decay: _First_, Their
Continuity; _Secondly_, That Disposition whereby they are capable of
receiving Nourishment, which we may call Nutribility; and _Thirdly_, The
Tone or tonick Disposition of the Organs, whereby they perform their
several Functions. In all these three respects they would decay in any
State of Nature, but far sooner and faster in the present State, than in
the Primæval. As for their Continuity, we have noted before that all
consistent Bodies must be less durable now, than under that first Order
of the World, because of the unequal and contrary Motions of the
Elements, or of the Air and Æther that penetrate and pervade them; and
’tis Part of that Vanity which all Things now are subject to, to be more
perishable than in their first Constitution. If we should consider our
Bodies only as breathing Statues, consisting of those Parts they do, and
of that Tenderness, the Air which we breathe, and wherewith we are
continually incompast, changing so often ’twixt moist and dry, hot and
cold, a slow and eager Motion, these different Actions and restless
Changes would sooner weaken and destroy the Union of the Parts, than if
they were always in a calm and quiet _Medium_.
BUT it is not the gross and visible Continuity of the Parts of our Body
that first decays; there are finer Textures that are spoil’d insensibly,
and draw on the Decay of the rest; such are those other two we
mention’d; that Disposition and Temper of the Parts whereby they are fit
to receive their full Nourishment; and especially that Construction and
Texture of the Organs that are preparatory to this Nutrition. The
Nutribility of the Body depends upon a certain Temperament in the Parts,
soft and yielding, which makes them open to the Blood and Juices in
their Circulation and Passage thro’ them, and mixing intimately and
universally, hold fast and retain many of their Particles; as muddy
Earth doth the Parts of the Water that runs into it and mixeth with it:
And when these nutritious Particles retain’d are more than the Body
spends, that Body is in its Growth; as when they are fewer, ’tis in its
Decay. And as we compar’d the Flesh and tender Parts, when they are
young, and in a growing Disposition, to a muddy Soil, that opens to the
Water, swells and incorporates with it; so when they become hard and
dry, they are like a sandy Earth, that suffers the Water to glide
through it, without incorporating or retaining many of its Parts; and
the sooner they come to this Temper, the sooner follows their Decay: For
the same Causes, that set Limits to our Growth, set also Limits to our
Life; and he that can resolve that Question, _why_ the Time of our
Growth is so short, will also be able to resolve the other in a good
Measure, _why_ the Time of our _Life_ is so short. In both Cases, that
which stops our Progress is external Nature, whose Course, while it was
even and steady, and the ambient Air mild and balmy, preserv’d the Body
much longer in a fresh and fit Temper to receive its full Nourishment,
and consequently gave larger Bounds both to our Growth and Life.
BUT the third thing we mention’d is the most considerable, the Decay of
the Organick Parts; and especially of the Organs preparatory to
Nutrition. This is the Point chiefly to be examin’d and explain’d, and
therefore we will endeavour to state it fully and distinctly. There are
several Functions in the Body of an Animal, and several Organs for the
Conduct of them; and I am of Opinion, that all the Organs of the Body
are in the Nature of Springs, and that their Action is tonical. The
Action of the Muscles is apparently so, and so is that of the Heart and
the Stomach; and as for those Parts, that make Secretions only, as the
_Glandules_ and _Parenchymata_, if they be any more than merely passive,
as Strainers, ’tis the Tone of the Parts, when distended, that performs
the Separation: And accordingly in all other active Organs, the Action
proceeds from a Tone in the Parts. And this seems to be easily prov’d,
both as to our Bodies, and all other Bodies; for no Matter that is not
fluid, hath any Motion or Action in it, but in Virtue of some Tone; if
Matter be fluid, its Parts are actually in Motion, and consequently may
impel or give Motion to other Bodies; but if it be solid or consistent,
the Parts are not separate or separately mov’d from one another, and
therefore cannot impel or give Motion to any other, but in virtue of
their Tone; they having no other Motion themselves. Accordingly we see
in Artificial Machines, there are but two general Sorts, those that move
by some fluid or volatile Matter, as Water, Wind, Air, or some active
Spirit; and those which move by Springs, or by the Tonick Disposition of
some Part that gives Motion to the rest: For as for such Machines as act
by Weights, ’tis not the Weight that is the active Principle, but the
Air or Æther that impels it. ’Tis true, the Body of an Animal is a kind
of mix’d Machine, and those Organs that are the primary Parts of it,
partake of both these Principles; for there are Spirits and Liquors that
do assist in the Motions of the Muscles, of the Heart, and of the
Stomach; but we have no occasion to consider them at present, but only
the Tone of the solid Organs.
THIS being observ’d in the first Place, wherein the Force of our Organs
consists, we might here immediately subjoin, how this Force is weaken’d
and destroy’d by the unequal Course of Nature which now obtains, and
consequently our Life shorten’d; for the whole State and Oeconomy of the
Body depends upon the Force and Action of these Organs. But to
understand the Business more distinctly, it will be worth our Time to
examine upon which of the Organs of the Body Life depends more
immediately, and the Prolongation of it; that so reducing our Inquiries
into a narrower Compass, we may manage them with more Ease and more
Certainty.
IN the Body of Man there are several _Compages_, or Sets of Parts, some
whereof need not be consider’d in this Question; there is that System
that serves for Sense and local Motion, which is commonly call’d the
Animal Compages; and that which serves for Generation, which is call’d
the Genital. These have no Influence upon long Life, being Parts
nourished, not nourishing, and that are fed from others, as Rivers from
their Fountain: Wherefore having laid these aside, there remain two
Compages more, the Natural and Vital, which consist of the Heart and
Stomach, with their Appendages. These are the Sources of Life, and these
are all that is absolutely necessary to the Constitution of a living
Creature; what Parts we find more, few or many of one sort or other,
according to the several kinds of Creatures, is accidental to our
Purpose: The Form of an Animal, as we are to consider it here, lies in
this little Compass, and what is superadded is for some new Purposes,
besides that of mere Life, as for Sense, Motion, Generation, and such
like. As in a Watch, beside the Movement which is made to tell you the
Hour of the Day, which constitutes a Watch; you may have a Fancy to have
an Alarm added, or a Minute-Motion, or that it should tell you the Day
of the Month; and this sometimes will require a new Spring, sometimes
only new Wheels; however, if you would examine the Nature of a Watch,
and upon what its Motion, or, if I may so say, its Life depends, you
must lay aside those secondary Movements, and observe the main Spring,
and the Wheels that immediately depend upon that, for all the rest is
accidental. So for the Life of an Animal, which is a piece of Nature’s
Clock-work, if we would examine upon what the Duration of it depends, we
must lay aside those additional Parts or Systems of Parts, which are for
other Purposes, and consider only the first Principles and Fountains of
Life, and the Causes of their natural and necessary Decay.
HAVING thus reduc’d our Inquiries to these two Organs, the Stomach and
the Heart, as the two Master-Springs in the Mechanism of an Animal, upon
which all the rest depend, let us now see what their Action is, and how
it will be more or less durable and constant, according to the different
States of external Nature. We determin’d before, that the Force and
Action of all Organs in the Body was tonical, and of none more
remarkably than of these two, the Heart and Stomach; for though it be
not clearly determined what the particular Structure of these Organs, or
of their Fibres is, that makes them tonical, yet ’tis manifest by their
Actions, that they are so. In the Stomach, besides a peculiar Ferment
that opens and dissolves the Parts of the Meat, and melts them into a
Fluor or Pulp; the Coats of it, or Fibres whereof they consist, have a
Motion proper to them, proceeding from their Tone, whereby they close
the Stomach, and compress the Meat when it is receiv’d, and when turn’d
into Chyle, press it forwards, and squeeze it into the Intestines; and
the Intestines also partaking of the same Motion, push and work it still
forwards into those little Veins that convey it towards the Heart. The
Heart hath the same general Motions with the Stomach, of opening and
shutting, and hath also a peculiar Ferment, which rarifies the Blood
that enters into it; and that Blood, by the Spring of the Heart, and the
particular Texture of its Fibres, is thrown out again to make its
Circulation thro’ the Body. This is, in short, the Action of both these
Organs; and indeed the Mystery of the Body of an Animal, and of its
Operations and Oeconomy, consists chiefly in Springs and Ferments; the
one for the solid Parts, the other in the fluid.
BUT to apply this Fabrick of the organick Parts to our Purpose, we may
observe and conclude, that whatsoever weakens the Tone or Spring of
these two Organs, which are the Bases of all Vitality, weaken the
Principle of Life, and shorten the natural Duration of it; and if of two
Orders or Courses of Nature, the one be favourable and easy to these
tonick Principles in the Body, and the other uneasy and prejudicial,
that Course of Nature will be attended with long Periods of Life, and
this with short. And we have shewn, that in the Primitive Earth the
Course of Nature was even, steady, and unchangeable, without either
different Qualities of the Air, or unequal Seasons of the Year, which
must needs be more easy to these Principles we speak of, and permit them
to continue longer in their Strength and Vigor, than they can possibly
do under all those Changes of the Air, of the Atmosphere, and of the
Heavens, which we now suffer yearly, monthly, and daily. And tho’ sacred
History had not acquainted us with the Longevity of the Antediluvian
Patriarchs, nor profane History with those of the Golden-Age, I should
have concluded from the Theory alone, and the Contemplation of that
State of Nature, that the Forms of all Things were much more permanent
in that World than in ours, and that the Lives of Men and all other
Animals had longer Periods.
I confess, I am of Opinion that ’tis this that makes not only these
living Springs or tonick Organs of the Body, but all artificial Springs
also, tho’ made of the hardest Metal, decay so fast. The different
Pressure of the Atmosphere, sometimes heavier, sometimes lighter, more
rare or more dense, moist or dry, and agitated with different Degrees of
Motion, and in different Manners! this must needs operate upon that
nicer Contexture of Bodies, which make them tonical or elastick;
altering the Figure or Minuteness of the Pores, and the Strength and
Order of the Fibres upon which that Propriety depends; bending and
unbending, closing and opening the Parts. There is a subtle and æthereal
Element that traverseth the Pores of all Bodies, and when ’tis
straiten’d and pent up there, or stopt in its usual Course and Passage,
its Motion is more quick and eager, as a Current of Water, when ’tis
obstructed, or runs thro’ a narrower Channel; and that Strife and those
Attempts which these little active Particles make to get free, and
follow the same Tracts they did before, do still press upon the Parts of
the Body that are chang’d, to redress and reduce them to their first and
natural Posture, and in this consists the Force of a Spring. Accordingly
we may observe, that there is no Body that is or will be tonical or
elastick, if it be left to it self, and to that Posture it would take
naturally; for then all the Parts are at ease, and the subtle Matter
moves freely and uninterruptedly within its Pores; but if by Distention,
or by Compression, or by Flexion or any other way, the situation of the
Parts and Pores be so alter’d, that the Air sometimes, but for the most
Part that subtiler Element, is uneasy and compress’d too much, it
causeth that Renitency or Tendency to Restitution, which we call the
Tone, or Spring of a Body. Now as this Disposition of Bodies doth far
more easily perish than their Continuity, so I think, there is nothing
that contributes more to its perishing (whether in natural or artificial
Springs) than the unequal Action and different Qualities of the Æther,
Air, and Atmosphere.
IT will be objected to us, it may be, that in the beginning of the
Chapter we instanc’d in artificial Things, that would continue for ever,
if they had but the Power of nourishing themselves, as Lamps, Mills, and
such like; why then may not natural Machines that have that Power last
for ever? The Case is not the same as to the Bodies of Animals, and the
Things there instanc’d in, for those were springless Machines, that act
only by some external Cause, and not in Virtue of any Tone or interior
Temper of the Parts, as our Bodies do; and when that Tone or Temper is
destroy’d, no Nourishment can repair it. There is something, I say,
irreparable in the tonical Disposition of Matter, which when wholly lost
cannot be restor’d by Nutrition. Nutrition may answer to a bare
Consumption of Parts; but where the Parts are to be preserv’d in such a
Temperament, or in such a Degree of Humidity and Driness, Warmth, Rarity
or Density, to make them capable of that Nourishment, as well as of
their other Operations, as Organs, (which is the Case of our Bodies)
there the Heavens, the Air, and external Causes will change the
Qualities of the Matter in spite of all Nutrition; and the Qualities of
the Matter being chang’d, (in a Course of Nature, where the Cause cannot
be taken away) that is a Fault incorrigible, and irreparable by the
Nourishment that follows, being hindred of its Effect by the
Indisposition or Incapacity of the Recipient. And as they say, a Fault
in the first Concoction cannot be corrected in the second; so neither
can a Fault in the Prerequisites to all the Concoctions be corrected by
any of them.
I know the Ancients made the Decay and Term of Life to depend rather
upon the Humours of the Body, than the solid Parts, and suppos’d an
_Humidum radicale_ and a _Calidum innatum_, as they call them, a radical
Moisture and congenit Heat to be in every Body, from its Birth and first
Formation; and as these decay’d, Life decay’d. But who’s wiser for this
Account, what doth this instruct us in? We know there is Heat and
Moisture in the Body, and you may call the one _Radical_, and the other
_Innate_ if you please; this is but a sort of Cant, for we know no more
of the real physical Causes of that Effect we enquir’d into, than we did
before. What makes this Heat and Moisture fail, if the Nourishment be
good, and all the Organs in their due Strength and Temper? The first and
original Failure is not in the Fluid, but in the solid Parts, which if
they continued the same, the Humours would do so too. Besides, What
befel this radical Moisture and Heat at the Deluge, that it should decay
so fast afterwards, and last so long before? There is a certain Temper,
no doubt, of the Juices and Humours of the Body, which is more fit than
any other to conserve the Parts from Driness and Decay; but the Cause of
that Driness and Decay, or other Inability in the solid Parts, whence is
that, if not from external Nature? ’Tis thither we must come at length
in our Search of the Reasons of the natural Decay of our Bodies, we
follow the Fate and Laws of that: And I think, by those Causes, and in
that Order, that we have already describ’d and explain’d.
TO conclude this Discourse, we may collect from it what Judgment is to
be made of those Projectors of Immortality, or Undertakers to make Men
live to the Age of _Methusalah_, if they will use their Methods and
Medicines: There is but one Method for this, to put the Sun into his old
Course, or the Earth into its first Posture; there is no other Secret to
prolong Life; our Bodies will sympathize with the general Course of
Nature, nothing can guard us from it, no Elixir, no Specific, no
Philosopher’s Stone. But there are Enthusiasts in Philosophy, as well as
in Religion; Men that go by no Principles, but their own Conceit and
Fancy, and by a Light within, which shines very uncertainly, and for the
most Part leads them out of the Way of Truth. And so much for this
Disquisition, concerning the _Causes_ of _Longevity_, or of the long and
short Periods of Life in the different Periods of the World.
_That the Age of the Antediluvian Patriarchs is to be computed by
Solar or common Years, not by Lunar or Months._
HAVING made this Discourse of the unequal Periods of Life, only in
reference to the Antediluvians and their fam’d Longevity, lest we should
seem to have proceeded upon an ill-grounded and mistaken Supposition, we
are bound to take Notice of, and confute that Opinion which makes the
Years of the Antediluvian Patriarchs to have been _Lunar_, not _Solar_,
and so would bear us in Hand, that they liv’d only so many Months, as
Scripture saith they liv’d Years. Seeing there is nothing could drive
Men to this bold Interpretation but the Incredibility of the Thing, as
they fancied; they having no Motions or _Hypothesis_ whereby it could
appear intelligible or possible to them; and seeing we have taken away
that Stumbling-Stone, and shew’d it not only possible but necessary
according to the Constitution of that World, that the Periods of Life
should be far longer than in this; by removing the Ground or Occasion of
their Misinterpretation, we hope we have undeceiv’d them, and let them
see that there is no need of that Subterfuge, either to prevent an
Incongruity, or save the Credit of the Sacred Historian.
BUT as this Opinion is inconsistent with Nature, truly understood, so is
it also with common History; for besides, what I have already mention’d
in the first Chapter of this Book, _Josephus_ tells us, (_Lib. i. Jew.
Ant. Chap. iv._) that the Historians of all Nations, both _Greeks_ and
_Barbarians_, give the same account of the first Inhabitants of the
Earth; Manetho, _who writ the Story of the_ Ægyptians; Berosus, _who
writ the Chaldæan History, and those Authors that have given us an
Account of the Phœnician Antiquities, besides Molus and Hestiæus, and
Hieronymus the Ægyptian; and amongst the Greeks, Hesiodus, Hecateus,
Hellanicus, Acusialus, Ephorus and Nicolaus: We have the Suffrages of
all these, and their common Consent, that in the first Ages of the World
Men liv’d a thousand Years._ Now we cannot well suppose that all these
Historians meant _Lunar_ Years, or that they all conspir’d together to
make and propagate a Fable.
LASTLY, As Nature and profane History do disown and confute this
Opinion, so much more doth sacred History; not indeed in profess’d
Terms, for _Moses_ doth not say that he useth _Solar_ Years; but by
several Marks and Observations, or collateral Arguments, it may be
clearly collected, that he doth not use _Lunar_. As first, because he
distinguisheth _Months_ and _Years_ in the History of the Deluge, and of
the Life of _Noah_; for _Gen. vii. 11._ he saith in the six hundredth
Year of _Noah_’s Life, in the second Month, _&c._ It cannot be imagin’d
that in the same Verse and Sentence these two Terms of _Year_ and
_Month_ should be so confounded as to signify the same Thing; and
therefore _Noah_’s Years were not the same with Months, nor consequently
those of the other Patriarchs, for we have no Reason to make any
Difference. Besides, what ground was there, or how was it proper or
pertinent to reckon, as _Moses_ does there, first, second, third Month,
as so many going to a Year, if every one of them was a Year? And seeing
the Deluge begun in the six hundredth Year of _Noah_’s Life, and in the
second Month, and ended in the six hundredth and first Year, (_Chap.
viii. 13._) the first or second Month, all that was betwixt these two
Terms, or all the Duration of the Deluge, made but one Year in _Noah_’s
Life, or it may be not so much; and we know _Moses_ reckons a great many
Months in the Duration of the Deluge; so as this is a Demonstration,
that _Noah_’s Years are not to be understood of _Lunar_. And to imagine
that his Years are to be understood one way, and those of his
fellow-Patriarchs another, would be an unaccountable Fiction. This
argument therefore extends to all the Antediluvians, and _Noah_’s Life
will take in the Postdiluvians too; for you see Part of it runs amongst
them, and ties together the two Worlds: So that if we exclude _Lunar_
Years from his Life, we exclude them from all; those of his Fathers, and
those of his Children.
SECONDLY, If _Lunar_ Years were understood in the Ages of the
Antediluvian Patriarchs, the Interval betwixt the Creation and the
Deluge would be too short, and in many Respects incongruous. There would
be but 1656 Months from the Beginning of the World to the Flood; which
converted into common Years, make but 127 Years and five Months for that
Interval. This perverts all Chronology, and besides, makes the Number of
People so small and inconsiderable at the Time of the Deluge, that
destroying of the World then was not so much as destroying of a Country
Town would be now: For from one Couple you cannot well imagine there
could arise above five hundred Persons in so short a Time; but if there
were a thousand, ’tis not so many as we have sometimes in a good Country
Village. And were the Flood-gates of Heaven open’d, and the great Abyss
broken up to destroy such an handful of People, and the Waters rais’d
fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountains throughout the Face of the
Earth, to drown a Parish or two? Is not this more incredible than our
Age of the Patriarchs? Besides, This short Interval doth not leave Room
for ten Generations, which we find from _Adam_ to the Flood, nor allows
the Patriarchs Age enough at the Time when they are said to have got
Children. One hundred twenty-seven Years for ten Generations is very
strait; and of these you must take off forty-six Years for one
Generation only, or for _Noah_, for he liv’d six hundred Years before
the Flood, and if they were _Lunar_, they would come however to
forty-six of our Years; so that for the other nine Generations you would
have but eighty one Years, that is, nine Years a-piece; at which Age
they must all be suppos’d to have begun to get Children; which you
cannot but think a very absurd Supposition. Thus it would be, if you
divide the whole Time equally amongst the nine Generations; but if you
consider some single Instances; as they are set down by _Moses_, ’tis
still worse; for _Mahaleel_ and his Grandchild _Enoch_ are said to have
got Children at sixty five Years of Age, which if you suppose Months,
they were but five Years old at that time; now I appeal to any one,
whether it is more incredible that Men should live to the Age of nine
hundred Years, or that they should beget Children at the Age of five
Years.
YOU will say, it may be, ’tis true these Inconveniences follow, if our
_Hebrew_ Copies of the Old Testament be Authentick: But if the _Greek_
Translation by the _Septuagint_ be of better Authority, as some would
have it to be, that gives a little Relief in this Case; for the
_Septuagint_ makes the Distance from the Creation to the Flood six
hundred Years more than the _Hebrew_ Text does, and so give us a little
more Room for our ten Generations: And not only so, but they have so
conveniently dispos’d those additional Years, as to salve the other
Inconvenience too, of the Patriarchs having Children so young; for what
Patriarchs are found to have got Children sooner than the rest, and so
soon, that, upon a Computation by _Lunar_ Years, they would be but meer
Children themselves at that time? to these more Years are added, and
plac’d opportunely, before the time of their getting Children; so as one
can scarce forbear to think, that it was done on purpose to cure that
Inconvenience, and to favour and protect the Computation by _Lunar_
Years. The thing looks so like an Artifice, and as done to serve a Turn,
that one cannot but have a less Opinion of that Chronology for it.
BUT not to enter upon that Dispute at present, methinks they have not
wrought the Cure effectually enough; for with these six hundred _Lunar_
Years added, the Sum will be only one hundred seventy three common Years
and odd Months; and from these deducting, as we did before, for _Noah_,
forty six Years, and for _Adam_, or the first Generation, about
eighteen, (for he was two hundred and thirty Years old, according to the
_Septuagint_ when he begot _Seth_) there will remain but one hundred and
nine Years for eight Generations; which will be thirteen Years a piece
and odd Months; a low Age to get Children in, and to hold for eight
Generations together. Neither is the other Inconvenience, we mention’d,
well cur’d by the _Septuagint_ Account, namely, the small Number of
People that would be in the World at the Deluge; for the _Septuagint_
Account, if understood of _Lunar_ Years, adds but forty six common Years
to the _Hebrew_ Account, and to the Age of the World at the Deluge, in
which time there could be but a very small Accesion to the Number of
Mankind. So as both these Incongruities continue, though not in the same
degree, and stand good in either Account, if it be understood of _Lunar_
Years.
_Thirdly_, ’TIS manifest from other Texts of Scripture, and from other
Considerations, that our first Fathers liv’d very long, and considerably
longer than Men have done since, whereas if their Years be interpreted
_Lunar_, there is not one of them that liv’d to the Age that Men do now;
_Methusalah_ himself did not reach threescore and fifteen Years, upon
that Interpretation; which doth express them not only below those that
liv’d next to the Flood, but below all following Generations to this
Day; and those first Ages of the World which were always celebrated for
Strength and Vivacity, are made as weak and feeble as the last Dregs of
Nature. We may observe, that after the Flood for some Time, ’till the
pristine _Crasis_ of the Body was broken by the new Course of Nature,
they liv’d five, four, three, two hundred Years, and the Life of Men
shorten’d by Degrees; but before the Flood, when they liv’d longer,
there was no such Decrease or gradual Declension in their Lives. For
_Noah_, who was the last, liv’d longer than _Adam_; and _Methusalah_,
who was last but two, liv’d the longest of all: So that it was not
simply their Distance from the beginning of the World that made them
live a shorter Time, but some Change which happen’d in Nature after such
a Period of Time; namely at the Deluge, when the Declension begun. Let’s
set down the Table of both States.
_A TABLE of the Ages of the Antediluvian Fathers._
_Adam_ 930
_Seth_ 912
_Enos_ 905
_Cainan_ 910
_Mahaleel_ 895
_Jared_ 962
_Enoch_ 365
_Methusalah_ 969
_Lamech_ 777
_Noah_ 950
_A TABLE of the Ages of the Postdiluvian Fathers, from Shem to Joseph._
_Shem_ 600
_Arphaxad_ 438
_Salah_ 433
_Eber_ 464
_Peleg_ 239
_Reu_ 239
_Serug_ 230
_Nahor_ 148
_Terah_ 205
_Abraham_ 175
_Isaac_ 180
_Jacob_ 147
_Joseph_ 110
From these Tables we see that Mens Lives were much longer before the
Flood, and next after it, than they are now; which also is confirm’d
undeniably by _Jacob_’s Complaint of the Shortness of his Life, in
Comparison of his Forefathers, when he had liv’d one hundred and thirty
Years, _Gen. xlvii. 9._ _The Days of the Years of my Pilgrimage are an
hundred and thirty Years; few and evil have the Days of the Years of my
Life been, and have not attained unto the Days of the Years of the Life
of my Fathers._ There were then, ’tis certain, long-liv’d Men in the
World before _Jacob_’s Time; when were they, before the Flood or after?
We say both, according as the Tables shew it. But if you count by
_Lunar_ Years, there never were any, either before or after, and
_Jacob_’s Complaint was unjust and false; for he was the oldest Man in
the World himself, or at least there was none of his Forefathers that
liv’d so long as he.
THE Patrons of this Opinion must needs find themselves at a loss, how or
where to break off the Account of _Lunar_ Years in sacred History, if
they once admit it. If they say that way of counting must only be
extended to the Flood, then they make the Postdiluvian Fathers longer
liv’d than the Antediluvian; did the Flood bring in Longevity? How could
that be the Cause of such an Effect? Besides, if they allow the
Postdiluvians to have lived six hundred (common) Years, that being
clearly beyond the Standard of our Lives, I should never stick at two or
three hundred Years more for the first Ages of the World. If they extend
their _Lunar_ Account to the Postdiluvians too, they will still be
intangled in worse Absurdities; for they must make their Lives miserably
short, and their Age of getting Children altogether incongruous and
impossible. _Nahor_, for Example, when he was but two Years and three
Months old must have begot _Terah_, _Abraham_’s Father: And all the rest
betwixt him and _Shem_ must have had Children before they were three
Years old: A pretty race of Pigmies. Then their Lives were
proportionably short, for this _Nahor_ liv’d but eleven Years and six
Months at this Rate; and his Grandchild _Abraham_, who is said to have
died _in a good old Age, and full of Years_, (_Gen. xxv. 8._) was not
fourteen Years old. What a ridiculous Account this gives of Scripture
Chronology and Genealogies? But you’ll say, it may be, these _Lunar_
Years are not to be carried so far as _Abraham_ neither; tell us then
where you’ll stop, and why you stop in such a Place rather than another.
If you once take in _Lunar_ Years, what Ground is there in the Text, or
in the History, that you should change your way of computing at such a
Time, or in such a Place? All our ancient Chronology is founded upon the
Books of _Moses_, where the Terms and Periods of Times are exprest by
Years, and often by Genealogies and the Lives of Men; Now if these Years
are sometimes to be interpreted _Lunar_, and sometimes _Solar_, without
any Distinction made in the Text, what Light or certain Rule have we to
go by? Let these Authors name to us the Parts and Places where, and only
where the _Lunar_ Years are to be understood, and I dare undertake to
shew, that their Method is not only arbitrary, but absurd and
incoherent.
TO conclude this Discourse, we cannot but repeat what we have partly
observ’d before, How necessary it is to understand Nature, if we would
rightly understand those Things in holy Writ that relate to the natural
World. For without this Knowledge, as we are apt to think some Things
consistent and credible, that are really impossible in Nature; so on the
other hand, we are apt to look upon other Things as incredible and
impossible that are really founded in Nature. And seeing every one is
willing so to expound Scripture, as it may be to them good Sense, and
consistent with their Notions in other Things, they are forc’d many
times to go against the easy and natural Importance of the Words, and to
invent other Interpretations more compliant with their Principles, and,
as they think, with the Nature of Things. We have, I say, a great
Instance of this before us in the Scripture-History, of the long Lives
of the Antediluvians, where, without any Ground or Shadow of Ground, in
the Narration, only to comply with a mistaken Philosophy, and their
Ignorance of the primitive World, many Men would beat down the Scripture
Account of Years into Months, and sink the Lives of those first Fathers
below the Rate of the worst of Ages. Whereby that great Monument, which
Providence hath left us of the first World, and of its Difference from
the second, would not only be defac’d, but wholly demolish’d. And all
this sprung only from the seeming Incredibility of the Thing; for they
cannot shew in any Part of Scripture, new or old, that these _Lunar_
Years are made use of, or that any Computation, literal or prophetical,
proceeds upon them: Nor that there is any Thing in the Text or Context
of that Place, that argues or intimates any such Account. We have
endeavour’d, upon this Occasion, effectully to prevent this
Misconstruction of sacred History for the future; both by shewing the
Incongruities that follow upon it, and also that there is no Necessity
from Nature, of any such Shift or Evasion, as that is: But rather on the
contrary, that we have just and necessary Reasons to conclude, That as
the Forms of all Things would be far more permanent and lasting in that
primitive State of the Heavens and the Earth, so particularly the Lives
of Men, and of other Animals.