_A Recollection and Review of what hath been said concerning the
Primitive Earth: with a more full Survey of the State of the first
World Natural and Civil, and the Comparison of it with the present
World._
WE have now, in a good Measure, finish’d our Description of the first
and antediluvian Earth: And as Travellers, when they see strange
Countries, make it part of their Pleasure and Improvement to compare
them with their own, to observe the Differences, and wherein they excel,
or come short of one another: So it will not be unpleasant, nor
unuseful, it may be, having made a Discovery, not of a new Country, but
of a new World, and travell’d it over in our Thoughts and Fancy, now to
sit down and compare it with our own: And ’twill be no hard Task, from
the general Differences which we have taken Notice of already, to
observe what lesser would arise, and what the whole Face of Nature would
be.
’TIS also one Fruit of travelling, that by seeing Variety of Places, and
People, of Humours, Fashions, and Forms of Living, it frees us by
degrees, from that Pedantry and Littleness of Spirit, whereby we are apt
to censure every thing for absurd and ridiculous, that is not according
to our own Way, and the Mode of our own Country: But if, instead of
crossing the Seas, we could waft our selves over to our neighbouring
Planets, we should meet with such Varieties there, both in Nature and
Mankind, as would very much enlarge our Thoughts and Souls, and help to
cure those Diseases of little Minds, that make them troublesome to
others, as well as uneasy to themselves.
BUT seeing our heavy Bodies are not made for such Voyages, the best and
greatest thing we can do in this kind, is to make a Survey and
Reflection upon the antediluvian Earth, which in some Sense was another
World from this, and, it may be, as different as some two Planets are
from one another. We have declar’d already the general Grounds upon
which we must proceed, and must now trace the Consequences of them, and
drive them down into Particulars, which will shew us in most things,
wherein that Earth, or that World, differed from the present. The Form
of that Earth, and its Situation to the Sun, were two of its most
fundamental Differences from ours: As to the Form of it, ’twas all one
smooth Continent, one continued Surface of Earth, without any Sea, any
Mountains, or Rocks; any Holes, Dens, or Caverns: And the Situation of
it to the Sun was such as made a perpetual Æquinox. These two join’d
together, lay the Foundation of a new Astronomy, Meteorology,
Hydrography and Geography; such as were proper and peculiar to that
World. The Earth by this means having its Axis parallel to the Axis of
the Ecliptick, the Heavens would appear in another Posture; and their
diurnal Motion, which is imputed to the _Primum Mobile_, and supposed to
be upon the Poles of the Æquator, would then be upon the same Poles with
the second and periodical Motions of the Orbs and Planets, namely, upon
the Poles of the Ecliptick, by which Means the _Phænomena_ of the
Heavens would be more simple and regular, and much of that Entangledness
and Perplexity, which we find now in Astronomy, would be taken away.
Whether the Sun and Moon would suffer any Eclipses then, cannot well be
determin’d, unless one knew what the Course of the Moon was at that
time, or whether she was then come into our Neighbourhood: Her Presence
seems to have been less needful when there were no long Winter Nights,
nor the great Pool of the Sea to move or govern.
AS for the Regions of the Air and the Meteors, we have in the preceding
Chapter set down what the State of them would be, and in how much a
better Order, and more peaceable, that Kingdom was, till the Earth was
broken and displac’d, and the Course of Nature chang’d: Nothing violent,
nothing frightful, nothing troublesome or incommodious to Mankind, came
from above, but the Countenance of the Heavens was always smooth and
serene. I have often thought it a very desirable Piece of Power, if a
Man could but command a fair Day, when he had occasion for it, for
himself, or for his Friends; ’tis more than the greatest Prince or
Potentate upon Earth can do; yet they never wanted one in that World,
nor ever saw a foul one. Besides they had constant Breezes from the
Motion of the Earth, and the Course of the Vapours, which cool’d the
open Plains, and made the Weather temperate, as well as fair. But we
have spoken enough in other Places upon this Subject of the Air and the
Heavens, let us now descend to the Earth.
THE Earth was divided into two Hemispheres, separated by the Torrid
Zone, which at that time was uninhabitable, and utterly unpassable; so
as the two Hemispheres made two distinct Worlds, which, so far as we can
judge, had no manner of Commerce or Communication one with another. The
Southern Hemisphere the Antients call’d _Antichthon_, _the opposite
Earth_, or the _Other World_. And this Name and Notion remain’d long
after the Reason of it had ceas’d. Just as the Torrid Zone was generally
accounted uninhabitable by the Ancients, even in their Time, because it
really had been so once, and the Tradition remain’d uncorrected, when
the Causes were taken away; namely, when the Earth had chang’d its
Posture to the Sun, after the Deluge.
THIS may be look’d upon as the first Division of that primæval Earth,
into two Hemispheres, naturally sever’d and disunited: But it was also
divided into five Zones, two Frigid, two Temperate, and the Torrid
betwixt them. And this Distinction of the Globe into five Zones, I
think, did properly belong to that original Earth, and primitive
Geography, and improperly, and by Translation only, to the present. For
all the Zones of our Earth are habitable, and their Distinctions are in
a manner but imaginary, not fixed by Nature; whereas in that Earth where
the Rivers fail’d, and the Regions became uninhabitable, by reason of
Driness and Heat, there begun the Torrid Zone; and where the Regions
became uninhabitable by reason of Cold and Moisture, there begun the
Frigid Zone; and these being determin’d, they became Bounds on either
side to the Temperate. But all this was alter’d when the Posture of the
Earth was chang’d, and chang’d for that very purpose, as some of the
Ancients have said, _That the uninhabitable Parts of the Earth might
become habitable._ Yet though there was so much of the first Earth
uninhabitable, there remain’d as much to be inhabited, as we have now;
for the Sea, since the breaking up of the Abyss, hath taken away half of
the Earth from us, a great part whereof was to them good Land. Besides,
we are not to suppose, that the Torrid Zone was of that Extent we make
it now, twenty three Degrees and more on either side of the Æquator:
These Bounds are set only by the Tropicks, and the Tropicks by the
Obliquity of the Course of the Sun, or of the Posture of the Earth,
which was not in that World. Where the Rivers stop’d, there the Torrid
Zone would begin, but the Sun was directly perpendicular to no part of
it but the middle.
HOW the Rivers flow’d in the first Earth, we have before explain’d
sufficiently, and what Parts the Rivers did not reach, were turn’d into
Sands and Deserts by the Heat of the Sun; for I cannot easily imagine,
that the sandy Desarts of the Earth were made so at first, immediately
and from the beginning of the World; from what Causes should that be,
and to what purpose in that Age? But in those Tracks of the Earth that
were not refreshed with Rivers and Moisture, which cement the Parts, the
Ground would moulder and crumble into little Pieces, and then those
Pieces by the Heat of the Sun were bak’d into Stone. And this would come
to pass chiefly in the hot and scorch’d Regions of the Earth, though it
might happen sometimes where there was not that Extremity of Heat, if by
any Chance a Place wanted Rivers and Water to keep the Earth in due
Temper; but those Sands would not be so early or ancient as the other.
As for greater loose Stones, and rough Pebbles, there were none in that
Earth; _Deucalion_ and _Pyrrah_, when the Deluge was over, found new
made Stones to cast behind their Backs; the Bones of their Mother Earth,
which then were broken in Pieces, in that great Ruine.
AS for Plants and Trees, we cannot imagine but that they must needs
abound in the Primitive Earth, seeing it was so well water’d, and had a
Soil so fruitful; a new unlaboured Soil, replenish’d with the Seeds of
all Vegetables; and a warm Sun that would call upon Nature early for her
First-fruits, to be offer’d up at the beginning of her Course. Nature
had a wild Luxuriancy at first, which humane Industry by degrees gave
Form and Order to: The Waters flow’d with a constant and gentle Current,
and were easily led which way the Inhabitants had a Mind, for their Use,
or for their Pleasure; and shady Trees, which grow best in moist and
warm Countries, grac’d the Banks of their Rivers or Canals. But that
which was the Beauty and Crown of all, was their perpetual Spring, the
Fields always green, the Flowers always fresh, and the Trees always
covered with Leaves and Fruit: But we have occasionally spoken of these
things in several Places, and may do again hereafter, and therefore need
not enlarge upon them here.
AS for Subterraneous Things, Metals and Minerals, I believe they had
none in the first Earth; and the happier they; no Gold, nor Silver, nor
coarser Metals. The Use of these is either imaginary, or in such Works,
as, by the Constitution of their World, they had little Occasion for.
And Minerals are either for Medicine, which they had no need of further
than Herbs; or for Materials to certain Arts, which were not then in
use, or were supplied by other ways. These subterraneous things, Metals
and metallick Minerals, are fictitious, not original Bodies, coæval with
the Earth; but are made in Process of Time, after long Preparations and
Concoctions, by the Action of the Sun within the Bowels of the Earth.
And if the _Stamina_, or Principles of them rise from the lower Regions
that lie under the Abyss, as I am apt to think they do, it doth not seem
probable that they could be drawn thro’ such a Mass of Waters, or that
the Heat of the Sun could on a sudden penetrate so deep, and be able to
loosen them, and raise them into the exterior Earth. And as the first
Age of the World was call’d _Golden_, though it knew not what Gold was;
so the following Ages had their Names from several Metals, which lay
then asleep in the dark and deep Womb of Nature, and saw not the Sun
till many Years and Ages afterwards.
HAVING run through the several Regions of Nature, from Top to Bottom,
from the Heavens to the lower Parts of the Earth, and made some
Observations upon their Order in the antediluvian World; let us now look
upon Man and other living Creatures, that make up the superior and
animate Part of Nature. We have observed, and sufficiently spoken to
that Difference betwixt the Men of the old World, and those of the
present, in Point of Longevity, and given the Reasons of it; but we must
not imagine that this long Life was peculiar to Man, all other Animals
had their Share of it, and were in their Proportion longer-liv’d than
they are now. Nay, not only Animals, but also Vegetables; and the Forms
of all living Things were far more permanent: The Trees of the Field and
of the Forest, in all Probability, out-lasted the Lives of Men; and I do
not know but the first Groves of Pines and Cedars that grew out of the
Earth, or that were planted in the Garden of God, might be standing when
the Deluge came, (_Ezek. xxxi. 8._) and see from first to last, the
entire Course and Period of a World.
We might add here, with St. _Austin_, (_Civ. Dei, lib. 15. c. 9._)
another Observation, both concerning Men and other living Creatures in
the first World, that they were greater as well as longer-liv’d, than
they are at present: This seems to be a very reasonable Conjecture; for
the State of every Thing that hath Life is divided into the Time of its
Growth, its Consistency and its Decay; and when the whole Duration is
longer, every one of these Parts, though not always in like Proportions,
will be longer. We must suppose then, that the Growth both in Men and
other Animals lasted longer in that World than it doth now, and
consequently carried their Bodies both to a greater Height and Bulk. And
in like Manner, their Trees would be both taller, and every Way bigger
than ours; neither were they in any Danger there, to be blown down by
Winds and Storms, or struck with Thunder, tho’ they had been as high as
the _Ægyptian_ Pyramids; and whatsoever their Height was, if they had
Roots and Trunks proportionable, and were streight and well pois’d, they
would stand firm, and with a greater Majesty. _The Fowls of Heaven
making their Nests in their Boughs, and under their Shadow the Beasts of
the Field bringing forth their Young._ When Things are fairly possible
in their Causes, and possible in several Degrees, higher or lower, ’tis
Weakness of Spirit in us, to think there is nothing in Nature, but in
that one Way, or in that one Degree, that we are us’d to. And whosoever
believes those Accounts given us, both by the Ancients (_Plin. l. 7. c.
2._ _Strab. l. 17._) and Moderns, (_Hort. Malabar, vol. 3._) of the
_Indian_ Trees, will not think it strange that those of the first Earth
should much exceed any that we now see in this World. That allegorical
Description of the Glory of _Assyria_ in _Ezekiel_, _Chap._ xxxi. by
Allusion to Trees, and particularly to the Trees of _Paradise_, was
chiefly for the Greatness and Stateliness of them; and there is all
Fairness of Reason to believe, that in that first Earth, both the Birds
of the Air, and the Beasts of the Field, and the Trees and their Fruit,
were all in their several Kinds more large and goodly than Nature
produces any now.
SO much in short, concerning the natural World, inanimate or animate; we
should now take a Prospect of the moral World of that time, or of the
civil and artificial World; what the Order and Oeconomy of these was,
what the Manner of Living, and how the Scenes of humane Life were
different from ours at present. The Ancients, especially the Poets, in
their Description of the golden Age, exhibit to us an Order of Things,
and a Form of Life, very remote from any Thing we see in our Days; but
they are not to be trusted in all Particulars; many times they
exaggerate Matters on purpose, that they may seem more strange, or more
great, and by that Means move and please us more. A _Moral_ or
_Philosophick History_ of the World, well writ, would certainly be a
very useful Work, to observe and relate how the Scenes of humane Life
have chang’d in several Ages, the Modes and Forms of Living, in what
Simplicity Men begun at first, and by what Degrees they came out of that
Way, by Luxury, Ambition, Improvement, or Changes in Nature; then what
new Forms and Modifications were superadded by the Invention of Arts,
what by Religion, what by Superstition. This would be a View of Things
more instructive, and more satisfactory, than to know what Kings reign’d
in such an Age, and what Battles were fought, which common History
teacheth, and teacheth little more. Such Affairs are but the little
Under-plots in the Tragi comedy of the World; the main Design is of
another Nature, and of far greater Extent and Consequence. But to return
to the Subject.
As the animate World depends upon the inanimate, so the civil World
depends upon them both, and takes its Measures from them; Nature is the
Foundation still, and the Affairs of Mankind are a Superstructure that
will be always proportion’d to it. Therefore we must look back upon the
Model, or Picture, of their natural World, which we have drawn before,
to make our Conjectures, or Judgment, of the civil and artificial, that
were to accompany it. We observ’d from their perpetual Æquinox, and the
Smoothness of the Earth, that the Air would be always calm, and the
Heavens fair, no cold or violent Winds, Rains, or Storms, no Extremity
of Weather in any kind, and therefore they would need little Protection
from the Injuries of the Air, in that State; whereas now, one great Part
of the Affairs of Life is to preserve our selves from those
Inconveniencies, by Building and Cloathing. How many Hands, and how many
Trades are employ’d about these two Things? Which then were in a manner
needless, or at least in such Plainness and Simplicity, that every Man
might be his own Workman. Tents and Bowers would keep them from all
Incommodities of the Air and Weather, better than Stone Walls and strong
Roofs defend us now; and Men are apt to take the easiest Ways of Living,
till Necessity or Vice put them upon others that are more laborious, and
more artificial. We also observ’d and prov’d, that they had no Sea in
the primitive and antediluvian World, which makes a vast difference
’twixt us and them. This takes up half of our Globe, and a good part of
Mankind is busied with Sea Affairs and Navigation. They had little need
of merchandizing then, Nature supply’d them at Home with all
Necessaries, which were few, and they were not so greedy of
Superfluities as we are. We may add to these, what concern’d their Food
and Diet; Antiquity doth generally suppose, that Men were not
carnivorous in those Ages of the World, or did not feed upon Flesh, but
only upon Fruit and Herbs. And this seems to be plainly confirm’d by
Scripture; for after the Deluge, God Almighty gives _Noah_ and his
Posterity a Licence to eat Flesh, (_Gen._ ix. 2, 3.) _Every moving Thing
that liveth shall be Meat for you._ Whereas before, in the new-made
Earth, God had prescrib’d them Herbs and Fruit for their Diet, (_Gen._
i. 29.) _Behold I have given you every Herb bearing Seed, which is upon
the Face of all the Earth; and every Tree, in the which is the Fruit of
a Tree yielding Seed, to you it shall be for Meat._ And of this natural
Diet they would be provided to their Hands, without further Preparation,
as the Birds and the Beasts are.
UPON these general Grounds we may infer and conclude, that the civil
World then as well as the natural, had a very different Face and Aspect
from what it hath now; for of these Heads, Food and Cloathing, Building
and Traffick, with that Train of Arts, Trades and Manufactures that
attend them, the civil Order of Things is in a great Measure constituted
and compounded; These make the Business of Life, the several Occupations
of Men, the Noise and Hurry of the World; these fill our Cities, and our
Fairs, and our Havens and Ports; yet all these fine Things are but the
Effects of Indigency and Necessitousness, and were, for the most part,
needless and unknown in that first State of Nature. The Ancients have
told us the same Things in Effect; but telling us them without their
Grounds, which they themselves did not know, they look’d like poetical
Stories, and pleasant Fictions, and with most Men past for no better. We
have shewn them in another Light, with their Reasons and Causes, deduc’d
from the State of the natural World, which is the Basis upon which they
stand; and this doth not only give them a just and full Credibility, but
also lays a Foundation for After-thoughts, and further Deductions, when
they meet with Minds dispos’d to pursue Speculations of this Nature.
AS for Laws, Government, natural Religion, Military and Judicial
Affairs, with all their Equipage, which make an higher Order of Things
in the civil and moral World, to calculate these upon the Grounds given,
would be more difficult, and more uncertain; neither do they at all
belong to the present Theory. But from what we have already observ’d, we
may be able to make a better Judgment of those traditional Accounts
which the Ancients have left us concerning these Things, in the early
Ages of the World, and the primitive State of Nature. No doubt in these,
as in all other Particulars, there was a great Easiness and Simplicity,
in Comparison of what is now; we are in a more pompous, forc’d, and
artificial Method, which partly the Change of Nature, and partly the
Vices and Vanities of Men have introduc’d and establish’d. But these
things, with many more, ought to be the Subject of a _Philosophick
History_ of the World, which we mentioned before.
THIS is a short and general Scheme of the primæval World, compared with
the modern; yet these things did not equally run thro’ all the Parts and
Ages of it; there was a Declension and Degeneracy, both natural and
moral, by Degrees, and especially towards the latter End; but the
principal Form of Nature remaining till the Deluge and the Dissolution
of the Heavens and Earth, till then also this civil Frame of Things
would stand in a great Measure. And tho’ such a State of Nature, and of
Mankind, when ’tis propos’d crudely, and without its Grounds, appear
fabulous or imaginary, yet ’tis really in itself a State, not only
possible, but more easy and natural, than what the World is in at
present. And if one of the old antediluvian Patriarchs should rise from
the Dead, he would be more surpriz’d to see our World in that Posture it
is, than we can be by the Story and Description of his. As an _Indian_
hath more Reason to wonder at the _European_ Modes, than we have to
wonder at their plain Manner of Living. ’Tis we that have left the Track
of Nature, that are wrought and screw’d up into Artifices, that have
disguis’d ourselves; and ’tis in our World that the Scenes are chang’d,
and become more strange and fantastical.
I WILL conclude this Discourse with an easy Remark, and without any
particular Application of it. ’Tis a strange Power that Custom hath upon
weak and little Spirits, whose Thoughts reach no further than their
Senses; and what they have seen and been us’d to, they make the Standard
and Measure of Nature, of Reason, and of all _Decorum_. Neither are
there any Sort of Men more positive and tenacious of their petty
Opinions, than they are; nor more censorious, even to Bitterness and
Malice. And ’tis generally so, that those that have the least Evidence
for the Truth of their beloved Opinions, are most peevish and impatient
in the Defence of them. This sort of Men are the last that will be made
wise Men, if ever they be, for they have the worst of Diseases that
accompany Ignorance, and do not so much as know themselves to be sick.