_The Uses of this Theory for the Illustration of Antiquity; The
ancient Chaos explain’d; The Inhabitability of the Torrid Zone; The
Change of the Poles of the World; The Doctrine of the Mundane Egg;
How America was first peopled; How Paradise within the Circle of the
Moon._
WE have now dispatch’d the Theory of the primæval Earth, and reviv’d a
forgotten World. ’Tis pity the first and fairest Works of Nature should
be lost out of the Memory of Man, and that we should so much dote upon
the Ruins, as never to think upon the Original Structure. As the Modern
Artists, from some broken Pieces of an ancient Statue, make out all the
other Parts and Proportions; so from the broken and scatter’d Limbs of
the first World, we have shewn you how to raise the whole Fabrick again;
and renew the Prospect of those pleasant Scenes that first saw the
Light, and first entertain’d Man, when he came to act upon this
new-erected Stage.
WE have drawn this Theory chiefly to give an Account of the universal
Deluge, and of _Paradise_; but as when one lights a Candle to look for
one or two Things which they want, the Light will not confine it self to
those two Objects, but shews all the other in the Room; so, methinks, we
have unexpectedly cast a Light upon all Antiquity, in seeking after
these two Things, or in retrieving the Notion and Doctrine of the
primæval Earth, upon which they depended. For in ancient Learning, there
are many Discourses, and many Conclusions deliver’d to us, that are so
obscure and confus’d, and so remote from the present State of Things,
that one cannot well distinguish whether they are Fictions or Realities:
And there is no way to distinguish with Certainty, but by a clear Theory
upon the same Subject; which shewing us the Truth directly and
independently upon them, shews us also by Reflection, how far they are
true or false, and in what Sense they are to be interpreted and
understood. And the present Theory being of great extent, we shall find
it serviceable in many Things, for the Illustration of such dubious and
obscure Doctrines in Antiquity.
TO begin with their ancient CHAOS, what a dark Story have they made of
it, both their Philosophers and Poets; and how fabulous in Appearance?
’Tis deliver’d as confusedly as the Mass it self could be, and hath not
been reduc’d to Order, nor indeed made intelligible by any. They tell us
of _moral_ Principles in the Chaos, instead of _natural_, of _Strife_
and _Discord_, and _Division_ on the one Hand, and _Love_, _Friendship_,
and _Venus_ on the other; and, after a long Contest, Love got the better
of Discord, and united the disagreeing Principles: This is one Part of
their Story. Then they make the Forming of the World out of the Chaos a
kind of _Genealogy_ or Pedigree; _Chaos_ was the common Parent of all,
and from Chaos sprung first _Night_, and _Tartarus_, or _Oceanus_; Night
was a teeming Mother, and of her were born _Æther_ and the _Earth_; The
Earth conceiv’d by the Influences of Æther, and brought forth Man and
all Animals.
THIS seems to be a poetical Fiction rather than Philosophy; yet when
’tis set in a true Light, and compar’d with our Theory of the Chaos,
’twill appear a pretty regular Account, how the World was form’d at
first, or how the Chaos divided it self successively into several
Regions, rising one after another, and propagated one from another, as
Children and Posterity from a common Parent. We shew’d in the first
Book, _Chap. 5._ how the Chaos, from an uniform Mass, wrought it self
into several Regions or Elements; the grossest Part sinking to the
Center; upon this lay the Mass of Water, and over the Water was a Region
of dark, impure, caliginous Air; this impure caliginous Air is that
which the Ancients call _Night_, and the Mass of Water _Oceanus_ or
_Tartarus_; for those two Terms with them are often of the like Force,
_Tartarus_ being _Oceanus_ inclos’d and lock’d up: Thus we have the
first Offspring of the Chaos, or its first born Twins, _Nox_ and
_Oceanus_. Now this turbid Air purifying it self by degrees, as the more
subtle Parts flew upwards, and compos’d the Æther; so the earthy Parts
that were mix’d with it drop’d down upon the Surface of the Water, or
the liquid Mass; and that Mass on the other Hand sending up its lighter
and more oily Parts towards its Surface, these two incorporate there,
and by their Mixture and Union compose a Body of Earth quite round the
Mass of Waters: And this was the first habitable Earth, which, as it
was, you see, the Daughter of _Nox_ and _Oceanus_, so it was the Mother
of all other Things, and all living Creatures, which at the Beginning of
the World sprung out of its fruitful Womb.
THIS Doctrine of the Chaos, for the greater Pomp of the Business, the
Ancients call’d their _Theogonia_, or the Genealogy of the Gods; for
they gave their Gods, at least their terrestrial Gods, an Original and
Beginning; and all the Elements and greater Portions of Nature they made
Gods and Goddesses, or their Deities presided over them in such a
Manner, that the Names were us’d promiscuously for one another. We also
mention’d before some moral Principles which they plac’d in the Chaos,
_Eris_ and _Eros_; Strife, Discord, and Dissatisfaction, which prevail’d
at first; and afterward _Love_, _Kindness_ and _Union_ got the upper
Hand, and in spite of those factious and dividing Principles, gather’d
together the separated Elements, and united them into an habitable
World. This is all easily understood, if we do but look upon the Schemes
of the rising World, as we have set them down in that fifth Chapter; for
in the first Commotion of the Chaos, after an intestine Struggle of all
the Parts, the Elements separated from one another into so many distinct
Bodies or Masses; and in this State and Posture Things continu’d a good
while, which the Ancients, after their poetick or moral Way, call’d the
Reign of _Eris_ or Contention, of Hatred, Slight, and Disaffection; and
if Things had always continued in that System, we should never have had
an habitable World. But Love and good Nature conquer’d at length;
_Venus_ rose out of the Sea, and receiv’d into her Bosom, and intangled
into her Embraces, the falling Æther, _viz._ the Parts of lighter Earth,
which were mix’d with the Air in that first Separation, and gave it the
Name of _Night_: These, I say, fell down upon the oily Parts of the
Sea-mass, which lay floating upon the Surface of it, and by that Union
and Conjunction a new Body, and a new World was produc’d, which was the
first habitable Earth. This is the Interpretation of their mystical
Philosophy of the Chaos, and the Resolution of it into plain natural
History: Which you may see more fully discuss’d in the _Latin_ Treatise,
_Lib. 2. c. 7._
IN consequence of this, we have already explain’d, in several Places,
the _Golden Age_ of the Ancients, and laid down such Grounds as will
enable us to discern what is real, and what poetical, in the Reports and
Characters that Antiquity hath given of those first Ages of the World.
And if there be any Thing amongst the Ancients that refers to another
Earth, as _Plato_’s _Atlantis_, which, he says, was absorpt by an
Earthquake, and an Inundation, as the primæval Earth was; or his
_Æthereal_ Earth, mention’d in his _Phædo_, which he opposeth to this
broken hollow Earth; makes it to have long-liv’d Inhabitants, and to be
without Rains and Storms, as that first Earth was also; or the pendulous
_Gardens_ of _Alcinous_, or such like; to which nothing answers in
present Nature, by reflecting upon the State of the first Earth, we find
an easy Explication of them. We have also explain’d what the
_Antichthon_ and _Antichthones_ of the Ancients were, and what the true
Ground of that Distinction was. But nothing seems more remarkable, than
the _Inhabitability of the Torrid Zone_, if we consider what a general
Fame and Belief it had amongst the Ancients, and yet in the present Form
of the Earth, we find no such Thing, nor any Foundation for it. I cannot
believe that this was so universally receiv’d upon a slight Presumption
only, because it lay under the Course of the Sun, if the Sun had then
the same Latitude from the Æquator, in his Course and Motion, that he
hath now, and made the same Variety of Seasons; whereby even the hottest
Parts of the Earth have a Winter, or something equivalent to it. But if
we apply this to the primæval Earth, whose Posture was direct to the
Sun, standing always fixt in its Equinoctial, we shall easily believe,
that the Torrid Zone was then uninhabitable by Extremity of Heat, there
being no Difference of Seasons, nor any Change of Weather, the Sun
hanging always over Head at the same Distance, and in the same
Direction. Besides this, the Descent of the Rivers in that first Earth
was such, that they could never reach the Equinoctial Parts, as we have
shewn before; by which Means, and the want of Rain, that Region must
necessarily be turn’d into a dry Desart. Now this being really the State
of the first Earth, the Fame and general Belief that the Torrid Zone was
uninhabitable had this true Original, and continued still with Posterity
after the Deluge, though the Causes then were taken away; for they being
ignorant of the Change that was made in Nature at that Time, kept up
still the same Tradition and Opinion current, till Observation and
Experience taught later Ages to correct it. As the true Miracles that
were in the Christian Church at first, occasioned a Fame and Belief of
their Continuance long after they had really ceas’d.
THIS gives an easy Account, and, I think, the true Cause of that
Opinion, amongst the Ancients generally receiv’d, _That the Torrid Zone
was uninhabitable_. I say, generally receiv’d; for not only the Poets,
both _Greek_ and _Latin_, but their Philosophers, Astronomers and
Geographers, had the same Notion, and deliver’d the same Doctrine; as
_Aristotle_, _Cleomedes_, _Achilles_, _Tatius_, _Ptolomy_, _Cicero_,
_Strabo_, _Mela_, _Pliny_, _Macrobius_, _&c._ And to speak Truth, the
whole Doctrine of the Zones is calculated more properly for the first
Earth, than for the present; for the Divisions and Bounds of them now
are but arbitrary, being habitable all over, and having no visible
Distinction; whereas they were then determin’d by Nature, and the Globe
of the Earth was really divided into so many Regions of a very different
Aspect and Quality; which would have appear’d at a Distance, if they had
been look’d upon from the Clouds, or from the Moon, as _Jupiter_’s
Belts, or as so many Girdles or Swathing-bands about the Body of the
Earth: And so the Word imports, and so the Ancients use to call them
_Cinguli_ and _Fasciæ_. But in the present Form of the Earth, if it was
seen at a Distance, no such Distinction would appear in the Parts of it,
nor scarce any other but that of Land and Water, and of Mountains and
Valleys, which are nothing to the purpose of Zones. And to add this Note
further, When the Earth lay in this regular Form, divided into Regions
or Walks, if I may so call them, as this gave Occasion of its
Distinction by Zones; so if we might consider all that Earth as a
_Paradise_, and _Paradise_ as a Garden; (for it is always call’d so in
Scripture, and in _Jewish_ Authors.) And, as this Torrid Zone, bare of
Grass and Trees, made a kind of Gravel-walk in the Middle, so there was
a green Walk on either Hand of it, made by the temperate Zones; and
beyond those lay a Canal, which water’d the Garden from either Side.
(_See Fig. 3. c. 5._)
BUT to return to Antiquity; We may add under this Head another
Observation or Doctrine amongst the Ancients, strange enough in
Appearance, which yet receives an easy Explication from the preceding
Theory; They say, _The Poles_ of the World did once change their
Situation, and were at first in another Posture from what they are in
now, till that Inclination happen’d: This the ancient Philosophers often
make mention of, as _Anaxagoras_, _Empedocles_, _Diogenes_, _Leucippus_,
_Democritus_; (_See the Lat. Treat. 2. lib. 2. c. 10._) as may be seen
in _Laertius_, and in _Plutarch_; and the Stars, they say, at first were
carried about the Earth in a more uniform Manner. This is no more than
what we have observ’d and told you in other Words, namely, That the
Earth chang’d its Posture at the Deluge, and thereby made these seeming
Changes in the Heavens; its Poles before pointed to the Poles of the
Ecliptick, which now point to the Poles of the Equator, and its Axis is
become parallel with that Axis; and this is the Mystery and
Interpretation of what they say in other Terms; this makes the different
Aspect of the Heavens and of its Poles: And I am apt to think, that
those Changes in the Course of the Stars, which the Ancients sometimes
speak of, and especially the _Egyptians_, if they did not proceed from
Defects in their Calendar, had no other physical Account than this.
AND as they say the Poles of the World were in another Situation at
first, so at first they say, there was no Variety of Seasons in the
Year, as in their Golden Age. Which is very coherent with all the rest,
and still runs along with the Theory. And you may observe, that all
these Things we have instanc’d in hitherto, are but Links of the same
Chain, in Connexion and Dependance upon one another. When the primæval
Earth was made out of the Chaos, its Form and Posture was such, as of
Course brought on all those Scenes which Antiquity hath kept the
Remembrance of; tho’ now in another State of Nature they seem very
strange; especially being disguis’d, as some of them are, by their odd
Manner of representing them, _That_ the Poles of the World stood once in
another Posture; That the Year had no Diversity of Seasons: That the
Torrid Zone was uninhabitable; That the two Hemispheres had no
possibility of Intercourse, and such like: These all hang upon the same
String; or lean one upon another as Stones in the same Building; whereof
we have, by this Theory, laid the very Foundation bare, that you may see
what they all stand upon, and in what Order.
THERE is still one remarkable Notion or Doctrine among the Ancients
which we have not spoken to; ’tis partly symbolical, and the Propriety
of the Symbol, or of the Application of it, hath been little understood;
’tis their Doctrine of the _Mundane Egg_, or their comparing the World
to an Egg, and especially in the original Composition of it. This seems
to be a mean Comparison, the World and an Egg; what Proportion, or what
Resemblance betwixt these two Things? And yet I do not know any
symbolical Doctrine, or Conclusion, that hath been so universally
entertain’d by the _Mystæ_, or wise and learned of all Nations; as hath
been noted before in the fifth Chapter of the first Book, and at large
in the _Latin_ Treatise. (_Lib. 2. c. 10._) ’Tis certain, that by the
World in this Similitude, they do not mean the Great Universe, for that
hath neither Figure, nor any determinate Form of Composition, and it
would be a great Vanity and Rashness in any one to compare this to an
Egg: The Works of God are immense, as his Nature is infinite, and we
cannot make any Image or Resemblance of either of them; but this
Comparison is to be understood of the _Sublunary World_, or of the
_Earth_: And for a general Key to Antiquity upon this Argument, we may
lay this down as a Maxim or Canon, _That what the Ancients have said
concerning the Form and Figure of the World, or concerning the Original
of it from a Chaos, or about its Periods and Dissolution, are never to
be understood of the great Universe, but of our Earth, or of this
sublunary and terrestrial World_. And this Observation being made, do
but reflect upon our Theory of the Earth, the Manner of its Composition
at first, and the Figure of it, being compleated, and you will need no
other Interpreter to understand this Mystery. We have shew’d there,
(_Book 1. c. 5._) that the Figure of it, when finish’d, was Oval, and
the inward Form of it was a Frame of four Regions, encompassing one
another, where that of Fire lay in the Middle like the Yolk, and a Shell
of Earth inclos’d them all. This gives a Solution so easy and natural,
and shews such an Aptness and Elegancy in the Representation, that one
cannot doubt upon a View and Compare of Circumstances, but that we have
truly found out the Riddle of the Mundane Egg.
AMONGST other Difficulties arising from the Form of this present Earth,
that is one, How _America_ could be peopled, or any other Continent, or
Island remote from all Continents the Sea interposing. This Difficulty
does not hold in our Theory of the first Earth, where there was no Sea.
And after the Flood, when the Earth was broken and the Sea laid open,
the same Race of Men might continue there, if settled there before. For
I do not see any Necessity of deducing all Mankind from _Noah_ after the
Flood. If _America_ was peopled before, it might continue so; not but
that the Flood was universal. But when the great Frame of the Earth
broke at the Deluge, Providence foresaw into how many Continents it
would be divided after the ceasing of the Flood; and accordingly, as we
may reasonably suppose, made Provision to save a Remnant in every
Continent, that the Race of Mankind might not be quite extinct in any of
them. What Provision he made in our Continent we know from sacred
History; but as that takes Notice of no other Continent but ours, so
neither could it take Notice of any Method that was us’d there for
saving of a Remnant of Men; but ’twere great Presumption, methinks, to
imagine, that Providence had a Care of none but us, or could not find
out Ways of Preservation in other Places, as well as in that where our
Habitations were to be. _Asia_, _Africa_ and _Europe_, were repeopled by
the Sons of _Noah_, _Shem_, _Ham_, and _Japhet_; but we read nothing of
their going over into _America_, or sending any Colonies thither; and
that World, which is near as big as ours, must have stood long without
People, or any thing of humane Race in it, after the Flood, if it stood
so till this was full, or till Men navigated the Ocean, and by chance
discover’d it: It seems more reasonable to suppose, that there was a
Stock providentially reserv’d there, as well as here, out of which they
sprung again; but we do not pretend in an Argument of this Nature to
define or determine any Thing positively. To conclude, As this is but a
secondary Difficulty, and of no great Force, so neither is it any Thing
peculiar to us, or to our _Hypothesis_, but alike common to both; and if
they can propose any reasonable Way whereby the Sons of _Noah_ might be
transplanted into _America_, with all my Heart; but all the Ways that I
have met with hitherto, have seem’d to me mere Fictions, or mere
Presumptions. Besides, finding Birds and Beasts there, which are no
where upon our Continent, nor would live in our Countries if brought
hither; ’tis a fair Conjecture that they were not carried from us, but
originally bred and preserv’d there.
THUS much for the Illustration of Antiquity in some Points of human
Literature, by our Theory of the primæval Earth; there is also in
_Christian Antiquity_ a Tradition or Doctrine, that appears as obscure
and as much a Paradox as any of these, and better deserves an
Illustration, because it relates more closely and expresly to our
present Subject: ’Tis that Notion or Opinion amongst the Ancients
concerning _Paradise_, that it was seated as high as the Sphere of the
Moon, or _within the lunar Circle_. This looks very strange, and indeed
extravagantly at first Sight; but the Wonder will cease, if we
understand this not of _Paradise_ taken apart from the rest of the
Earth, but of the whole primæval Earth, wherein the Seat of _Paradise_
was; That was really seated much higher than the present Earth, and may
be reasonably suppos’d to have been as much elevated as the Tops of our
Mountains are now. And that Phrase of reaching to _the Sphere of the
Moon_, signifies no more than those other Expressions of _reaching to
Heaven_, or _reaching above the Clouds_; which are Phrases commonly us’d
to express the Height of Buildings, or of Mountains, and such like
Things: So the Builders of _Babel_ said, they would make a Tower should
reach to Heaven; _Olympus_ and _Parnassus_ are said by the Poets to
reach to Heaven, or to rise above the Clouds; and _Pliny_ and _Solinus_
use this very Expression of the _Lunar Circle_, when they describe the
Height of Mount _Atlas_, _Eductus in viciniam Lunaris Circuli_, (_Solin.
c. 17._) The Ancients, I believe, aim’d particularly by this Phrase, to
express an Height above the middle Region, or above our Atmosphere, that
_Paradise_ might be serene; and where our Atmosphere ended, they
reckon’d the Sphere of the Moon begun, and therefore said it reach’d to
the Sphere of the Moon. Many of the Christian Fathers exprest their
Opinion concerning the high Situation of _Paradise_ in plain and formal
Terms, as St. _Basil_, _Damascen_, _Moses Bar Cepha_, _&c._ but this
Phrase of reaching to the _Lunar Circle_ is repeated by several of them,
and said to be of great Antiquity. _Aquinas_, _Albertus_, and others,
ascribe it to _Bede_, but many to St. _Austin_; and therefore _Ambrosius
Catharinus_, (_Com. in Gen. c. 2._) is angry with their great Schoolman,
that he should derive it from _Bede_, seeing St. _Austin_ writing to
_Orosius_, deliver’d this Doctrine, which surely, says he, St. _Austin_
_neither feign’d nor dream’d only, but had receiv’d it from Antiquity_:
And from so great Antiquity, that it was no less than Apostolical, if we
credit _Albertus Magnus_, and the ancient Books he appeals to; (_Sum.
Theol. par. 2. tract. 13. q. 79._) for he says this Tradition was
deriv’d as high as from St. _Thomas_ the Apostle. His Words are these,
after he had deliver’d his own Opinion, _Hoc tamen dico, &c._ _But this
I say without Prejudice to the better Opinion, for I have found it in
some most ancient Books, that Thomas the Apostle was the Author of that
Opinion, which is usually attributed to Bede and Strabus, namely, That
Paradise was so high as to reach to the Lunar Circle._ But thus much
concerning this Opinion, and concerning Antiquity.
TO conclude all, we see this Theory, which was drawn only by a Thread of
Reason, and the Laws of Nature, abstractedly from all Antiquity,
notwithstanding casts a Light upon many Passages there, which were
otherwise accounted Fictions, or unintelligible Truths; and tho’ we do
not alledge these as Proofs of the Theory, for it carries its own Light
and Proof with it; yet, whether we will or no, they do mutually confirm,
as well as illustrate one another; and ’tis a Pleasure also, when one
hath wrought out Truth by a meer Dint of thinking, and Examination of
Causes, and propos’d it plainly and openly, to meet with it again among
the Ancients, disguis’d, and in an old fashion’d Dress; scarce to be
known or discover’d, but by those that beforehand knew it very well. And
it would be a further Pleasure and Satisfaction to have render’d those
Doctrines and Notions for the future, intelligible and useful to others,
as well as delightful to our selves.