Chapter VII: Book I (5)

BUT when the appointed Time was come, the Heavens began to melt, and the Rains to fall, and these were the first surprizing Causes and Preparatives to the Deluge: They fell, we suppose, (tho’ we do not know how that could proceed from natural Causes) throughout the Face of the whole Earth; which could not but have a considerable Effect on that Earth, being even and smooth, without Hills and Eminencies, and might lay it all under Water to some Depth; so as the Ark, if it could not float upon those Rain-Waters, at least taking the Advantage of a River, or of a Dock or Cistern made to receive them, it might be afloat before the Abyss was broken open. For I do not suppose the Abyss broken open before any Rain fell; and when the opening of the Abyss and of the Flood-gates of Heaven are mention’d together, I am apt to think those Flood-gates were distinct from the common Rain, and were something more violent and impetuous. So that there might be preparatory Rains before the Disruption of the Abyss: And I do not know but those Rains, so covering up and enclosing the Earth on every side, might providentially contribute to the Disruption of it; not only by softning and weakning the Arch of the Earth in the bottom of those Cracks and Chasms which were made by the Sun, and which the Rain would first run into, but especially by stopping on a sudden all the Pores of the Earth, and all Evaporation, which would make the Vapours within struggle more violently, as we get a Fever by a Cold; and it may be in that struggle, the Doors and the Bars were broke, and the great Abyss gush’d out, as out of a Womb.

HOWEVER, when the Rains were fallen, we may suppose the Face of the Earth cover’d over with Water; and whether it was these Waters that St. _Peter_ refers to, or that of the Abyss afterwards, I cannot tell, when he saith in his first Epistle, _Chap. iii. 20._ _Noah and his Family were sav’d by Water_; so as the Water which destroyed the rest of the World was an Instrument of their Conservation, in as much as it bore up the Ark, and kept it from that impetuous Shock, which it would have had, if either it had stood upon dry Land when the Earth fell, or if the Earth had been dissolv’d without any Water on it or under it. However, Things being thus prepar’d, let us suppose the great Frame of the exterior Earth to have broke at this time, or the Fountains of the great Abyss, as _Moses_ saith, to have been then open’d; from thence would issue upon the Fall of the Earth, with an unspeakable Violence, such a Flood of Waters as would over-run and overwhelm for a Time all those Fragments which the Earth broke into, and bury in one common Grave all Mankind, and all the Inhabitants of the Earth. Besides, if the _Flood-gates_ of Heaven were any thing distinct from the Forty Days Rain, their Effusion, ’tis likely, was at this same time when the Abyss was broken open; for the sinking of the Earth would make an extraordinary Convulsion of the Regions of the Air, and that Crack and Noise that must be in the Falling World, and in the Collision of the Earth and the Abyss, would make a great and universal Concussion above, which things together must needs so shake, or so squeeze the Atmosphere, as to bring down all the remaining Vapours; but the Force of these Motions not being equal throughout the whole Air, but drawing or pressing more in some Places than in other, where the Center of the Convulsion was, there would be the chiefest collection, and there would fall, not Showers of Rain, or single Drops, but great Spouts or Cascades of Water; and this is that which _Moses_ seems to call, not improperly, the _Cataracts_ of Heaven, or the _Windows of Heaven being set open_.

THUS the Flood came to its height; and ’tis not easy to represent to our selves this strange Scene of Things, when the Deluge was in its Fury and Extremity; when the Earth was broken and swallowed up in the Abyss, whose raging Waters rise higher than the Mountains, and fill’d the Air with broken Waves, with an universal Mist, and with thick Darkness, so as Nature seem’d to be in a second Chaos; and upon this Chaos rid the distress’d Ark, that bore the small Remains of Mankind. No Sea was ever so tumultuous as this, nor is there any thing in present Nature to be compar’d with the Disorder of these Waters; all the Poetry, and all the Hyperboles that are used in the Description of Storms and raging Seas, were literally true in this, if not beneath it. The Ark was really carried to the Tops of the highest Mountains, and into the Places of the Clouds, and thrown down again into the deepest Gulphs; and to this very State of the Deluge and of the Ark, which was a Type of the Church in this World, _David_ seems to have alluded in the name of the Church, _Psal. xiii. 7._ _Abyss calls upon Abyss at the Noise of thy Cataracts or Water-spouts; all thy Waves and Billows have gone over me_. It was no doubt an extraordinary and miraculous Providence, that could make a Vessel so ill mann’d, live upon such a Sea; that kept it from being dash’d against the Hills, or overwhelm’d in the Deeps. That Abyss, which had devoured and swallow’d up whole Forests of Woods, Cities and Provinces, nay the whole Earth, when it had conquer’d all, and triumph’d over all, could not destroy this single Ship. I remember in the Story of the _Argonauticks_, _Dion. Argonaut. l. 1. v. 47._ when _Jason_ set out to fetch the Golden Fleece, the Poet saith, all the Gods that Day look’d down from Heaven to view the Ship; and the _Nymphs_ stood upon the Mountain-tops to see the noble Youth of _Thessaly_ pulling at the Oars; we may with more Reason suppose the Good Angels to have look’d down upon this Ship of _Noah_’s; and that not out of Curiosity, as idle Spectators, but with a passionate Concern for its Safety and Deliverance. A Ship, whose Cargo was no less than a whole World; that carry’d the Fortune and Hopes of all Posterity, and if this had perish’d, the Earth for any thing we know had been nothing but a Desart, a great Ruin, a dead heap of Rubbish, from the Deluge to the Conflagration. But Death and Hell, the Grave and Destruction have their Bounds. We may entertain our selves with the Consideration of the Face of the Deluge, and of the broken and drown’d Earth, in this Scheme, with the floating Ark, and the Guardian Angels.

THUS much for the Beginning and Progress of the Deluge. It now remains only that we consider it in its Decrease, and the State of the Earth after the Waters were retir’d into their Channels, which makes the present State of it. _Moses_ saith, God brought a Wind upon the Waters, and the Tops of the Hills became bare, and then the lower Grounds and Plains by degrees; the Waters being sunk into the Channels of the Sea, and the Hollowness of the Earth, and the whole Globe appearing in the Form it is now under. There needs nothing be added for Explication of this, ’tis the genuine Consequence of the Theory we have given of the Deluge; and whether this Wind was a descending Wind to depress and keep down the Swellings and Inequalities of the Abyss, or whether it was only to dry the Land as fast as it appear’d, or might have both Effects, I do not know; but as nothing can be perpetual that is violent, so this Commotion of the Abyss abated after a certain time, and the great Force that impell’d the Waters decreasing, their natural Gravity began to take Effect, and to reduce them into the lowest Places, at an equal Height, and in an even Surface, and level one Part with another: That is, in short, the Abyss became our Sea, fixt within its Channel, and bounded by Rocks and Mountains: _Then was the decreed Place establish’d for it, and Bars and Doors were set; then was it said, hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud Waves be stopt_, _Job xxxviii. 10, 11._ And the Deluge being thus ended, and the Waters settled in their Channels, the Earth took such a broken Figure as is represented in those larger Schemes, _p. 100._ And this will be the Form and State of it till its great Change comes in the Conflagration, when we expect _a new Heaven and a new Earth_.

BUT to pursue this Prospect of Things a little further; we may easily imagine, that for many Years after the Deluge ceas’d, the Face of the Earth was very different from what it is now, and the Sea had other Bounds than it hath at present. I do not doubt but the Sea reach’d much further in-land, and clim’d higher upon the Sides of the Mountains; and I have observ’d in many Places a Ridge of Mountains some Distance from the Sea, and a Plain from their Roots to the Shore; which Plain no doubt was formerly cover’d by the Sea, bounded against those Hills as its first and natural Ramparts, or as the Ledges or Lips of its Vessel. And it seems probable, that the Sea doth still grow narrower from Age to Age, and sinks more within its Channel and the Bowels of the Earth, according as it can make its Way into all those subterraneous Cavities, and crowd the Air out of them. We see whole Countries of Land gain’d from it, and by several Indications, as ancient Sea-ports left dry and useless, old Sea-marks far within the Land, Pieces of Ships, Anchors, _&c._ left at a great Distance from the present Shores; from these Signs, and such like, we may conclude that the Sea reach’d many Places formerly that now are dry Land, and at first I believe was generally bound in on either Side with a Chain of Mountains. So I should easily imagine the Mediterranean Sea, for instance, to have been bounded by the Continuation of the _Alps_ through _Dauphine_ and _Languedoc_ to the _Pyreneans_, and at the other End by the _Darmatick_ Mountains almost to the Black Sea. Then _Atlas major_, which runs along with the Mediterranean from _Ægypt_ to the _Atlantick_ Ocean, and now parts _Barbary_ and _Numidia_, may possibly have been the ancient Barrier on the _Africk_ Side. And in our own Island I could easily figure to my self, in many Parts of it, other Sea-bounds than what it hath at present; and the like may be observ’d in other Countries.

AND as the Sea had much larger Bounds for some Time after the Deluge, so the Land had a different Face in many Respects to what it hath now; for we suppose the Valleys and lower Grounds, where the Descent and Derivation of the Water was not so easy, to have been full of Lakes and Pools for a long Time; and these were often converted into Fens and Bogs, where the Ground being spungy, suck’d up the Water, and the loosen’d Earth swell’d into a soft and pappy Substance; which would still continue so, if there was any Course of Water sensible or insensible, above or within the Ground, that fed this moist Place: But if the Water stood in a more firm Basin, or on a Soil, which for its Heaviness or any other Reason would not mix with it, it made a Lake or clear Pool. And we may easily imagine there were innumerable such Lakes, and Bogs, and Fastnesses for many Years after the Deluge, till the World begun to be pretty well stock’d with People, and human Industry cleansed and drained those unfruitful and unhabitable Places. And those Countries that have been later cultivated, or by a lazier People, retain still, in Proportion to their Situation and Soil, a greater Number of them.

NEITHER is it at all incongruous or inconvenient to suppose, that the Face of the Earth stood in this Manner for many Years after the Deluge; for while Mankind was small and few, they needed but a little Ground for their Seats or Sustenance; and as they grew more numerous, the Earth proportionally grew more dry, and more Parts of it fit for Habitation. I easily believe that _Plato_’s Observation or Tradition [_de Leg. li. 3._] is true, that Men at first, after the Flood, liv’d in the Up-lands and Sides of the Mountains, and by Degrees sunk into the Plains and lower Countries, when Nature had prepar’d them for their Use, and their Numbers requir’d more Room. The History of _Moses_ _Gen. xi._ tells us, that some Time after the Deluge, _Noah_ and his Posterity, his Sons and his Grand-children, chang’d their Quarters, and fell down into the Plains of _Shiner_, from the Sides of the Hills where the Ark had rested; and in this Plain was the last general Rendezvous of Mankind; so long they seem to have kept in a Body, and from thence they were divided and broken into Companies, and dispers’d, first, into the neighbouring Countries, and then by degrees throughout the whole Earth; the several successive Generations, like the Waves of the Sea when it flows, over-reaching one another, and striking out farther and farther upon the Face of the Land. Not that the whole Earth was peopled by an uniform Propagation of Mankind every Way, from one Place, as a common Center; like the Swelling of a Lake upon a Plain: For sometimes they shot out in length, like Rivers, and sometimes they flew into remote Countries in Colonies, like Swarms from the Hive, and settled there, leaving many Places uninhabited betwixt them and their first Home. Sea-shores and Islands were generally the last Places inhabited; for while the Memory or Story of the Deluge was fresh amongst them, they did not care for coming so near their late Enemy; or at least, to be inclos’d and surrounded by his Forces.

AND this may be sufficient to have discours’d concerning all the Parts of the Deluge, and the Restitution of the Earth to an habitable Form, for the further Union of our Theory with the History of _Moses_; there rests only one Thing in that History to be taken notice of, which may be thought possibly not to agree so well with our Account of the Deluge; namely, that _Moses_ seems to shut up the Abyss again at the End of the Deluge, which our Explication supposeth to continue open. But besides that half the Abyss is still really cover’d, _Moses_ saith the same Thing of the Windows of Heaven, that they were shut up too; and he seemeth in both to express only the Cessation of the Effect which proceeded from their opening: For as _Moses_ had ascrib’d the Deluge to the opening of these two, so when it was to cease, he saith, these two were shut up; as they were really put into such a Condition, both of then, that they could not continue the Deluge any longer, nor ever be the Occasion of a second; and therefore in that Sense, and as to that Effect were for ever shut up. Some may possibly make that also an Objection against us, that _Moses_ mentions and supposes the Mountains at the Deluge, for he saith, the Waters reached fifteen Cubits above the Tops of them; whereas we suppose the antediluvian Earth to have had a plain and uniform Surface, without any Inequality of Hills and Valleys. But this is easily answer’d, it was in the Height of the Deluge that _Moses_ mention’d the Mountains, and we suppose them to have risen then, or more towards the Beginning of it, when the Earth was broke; and these Mountains continuing still upon the Face of the Earth, _Moses_ might very well take them for a Standard to measure and express to Posterity the Height of the Waters, though they were not upon the Earth when the Deluge began. Neither is there any mention made, as is observ’d by some, of Mountains in Scripture, or of Rain, till the Time of the Deluge.

WE have now finish’d our Account of _Noah_’s Flood, both generally and particularly; and I have not wittingly omitted or conceal’d any Difficulty that occurr’d to me, either from the History, or from abstract Reason; our Theory, so far as I know, hath the Consent and Authority of both: And how far it agrees and is demonstrable from natural Observation, or from the Form and _Phænomena_ of this Earth, as it lies at present, shall be the Subject of the remaining Part of this first Book. In the mean time I do not know any Thing more to be added in this Part, unless it be to conclude with an Advertisement to prevent any Mistake or Misconstruction, as if this Theory, by explaining the Deluge in a natural Way, in a great Measure, or, by natural Causes, did detract from the Power of God, by which that great Judgment was brought upon the World in a providential and miraculous Manner.

TO satisfy all reasonable and intelligent Persons in this Particular, I answer and declare, first, That we are far from excluding divine Providence, either ordinary or extraordinary, from the Causes and Conduct of the Deluge. I know a Sparrow doth not fall to the Ground without the Will of our Heavenly Father, much less doth the great World fall in Pieces without his good Pleasure and Superintendency. In him all Things live, move, and have their Being; Things that have Life and Thought have it from him, he is the Fountain of both. Things that have Motion only, without Thought, have it also from him: And what hath only naked Being, without Thought or Motion, owe still that Being to him. And these are not only derived from God at first, but every Moment continued and conserv’d by him. So intimate and universal is the Dependance of all Things upon the Divine Will and Power.

IN the second Place, they are guilty, in my Judgment, of a great Error or Indiscretion, that oppose the Course of Nature to Providence. St. _Paul_ says, (_Acts xiv. 17._) God hath not left us without Witness, in that he gives us Rain from Heaven; yet Rains proceed from natural Causes, and fall upon the Sea as well as upon the Land. In like manner, our Saviour, _Mat. vi. 21._ makes those Things Instances of Divine Providence, which yet come to pass in an ordinary Course of Nature; in that Part of his excellent Sermon upon the Mount, _Luke xii. 24._ that concerns Providence, he bids them _consider the Lilies how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet Solomon in all his Glory was not array’d like one of these_: He bids them also _consider the Ravens, they neither sow nor reap, neither have they Store-house nor Barn, and God feedeth them_. The Lilies grow, and the Ravens are fed according to the ordinary Course of Nature, and yet they are justly made Arguments of Providence by our Saviour; nor are these Things less providential, because constant and regular; on the contrary, such a Disposition or Establishment of second Causes, as will in the best Order, and for a long Succession, produce the most regular Effects, assisted only with the ordinary Concourse of the first Cause, is a greater Argument of Wisdom and Contrivance, than such a Disposition of Causes as will not in so good an Order, or for so long a Time produce regular Effects, without an extraordinary Concourse and Interposition of the first Cause. This I think is clear to every Man’s Judgment. We think him a better Artist that makes a Clock that strikes regularly at every Hour from the Springs and Wheels which he puts in the Work, than he that hath so made his Clock that he must put his Finger to it every Hour to make it strike: And if one should contrive a Piece of Clock-work, so that it should beat all the Hours, and make all its Motions regularly for such a Time, and that Time being come, upon a Signal given, or a Spring touch’d, it should of its own accord fall all to Pieces; would not this be look’d upon as a Piece of greater Art than if the Workman came at that Time prefix’d, and with a great Hammer beat it into pieces? I use these Comparisons to convince us, that it is no Detraction from divine Providence, that the Course of Nature is exact and regular, and that even in its greatest Changes and Revolutions it should still conspire and be prepar’d to answer the Ends and Purposes of the divine Will in reference to the moral World. This seems to me to be the great Art of divine Providence, so to adjust the two Worlds, human and natural, material and intellectual, as seeing thro’ the Possibilities and Futuritions of each, according to the first State and Circumstances he puts them under, they should all along correspond and fit one another, and especially in their great Crises and Periods.

THIRDLY, Besides the ordinary Providence of God in the ordinary Course of Nature, there is doubtless an extraordinary Providence that doth attend the greater Scenes and the greater Revolutions of Nature. This, methinks, besides all other Proof from the Effects, is very rational and necessary in itself; for it would be a Limitation of the divine Power and Will so to be bound up to second Causes, as never to use, upon Occasion, an extraordinary Influence or Direction: And ’tis manifest, taking any System of natural Causes, if the best possible, that there may be more and greater Things done, if to this, upon certain Occasions, you join an extraordinary Conduct. And as we have taken Notice before, that there was an extraordinary Providence in the Formation or Composition of the first Earth, so I believe there was also in the Dissolution of it: And I think it had been impossible for the Ark to have liv’d upon the raging Abyss, or for _Noah_ and his Family to have been preserv’d, if there had not been a miraculous Hand of Providence to take care of them. But ’tis hard to separate and distinguish an ordinary and extraordinary Providence in all Cases, and to mark just how far one goes, and where the other begins. And writing a Theory of the Deluge here, as we do, we were to exhibit a Series of Causes whereby it might be made intelligible, or to shew the proximate natural Causes of it; wherein we follow the Example both of _Moses_ and St. _Peter_; and with the same Veneration of the divine Power and Wisdom in the Government of Nature, by a constant ordinary Providence, and an occasional extraordinary.

SO much for the Theory of the Deluge, and the second Section of this Discourse.

CHAP. IX.

_The second Part of this Discourse, proving the same Theory from the
Effects and present Form of the Earth. First, by a general Scheme of
what is most remarkable in this Globe, and then by a more particular
Induction; beginning with an Account of subterraneous Cavities and
subterraneous Waters._

WE have now finished our Explication of the universal Deluge, and given an Account, not only of the Possibility of it, but (so far as our Knowledge can reach) of its Causes; and of that Form and Structure of the Earth, whereby the _Old World_ was subject to that sort of Fate. We have not begged any principles or Suppositions for the Proof of this; but taking that common Ground, which both _Moses_ and all Antiquity present to us, _viz._ _That this Earth rose from a Chaos_: We have from that deduc’d, by an easy Train of Consequences, what the first Form of it would be; and from that Form, as from a nearer Ground, we have by a second Train of Consequences made it appear, that at some Time or other that first Earth would be subject to a Dissolution, and by that Dissolution to a Deluge. And thus far we have proceeded only by the Intuition of Causes, as is most proper to a Theory; but for the Satisfaction of those that require more sensible Arguments, and to compleat our Proofs on either hand, we will now argue from the Effects; and from the present State of Nature, and the present Form of the Earth, prove that it hath been broken, and undergone such a Dissolution as we have already describ’d, and made the immediate Occasion of the Deluge. And that we may do this more perspicuously and distinctly, we will lay down this Proposition to be prov’d, _viz._ _That the present Form and Structure of the Earth, both as to the Surface and as to the interior Parts of it, so far as they are known and accessible to us, doth exactly answer to our Theory concerning the Form and Dissolution of the first Earth, and cannot be explain’d upon any other Hypothesis yet known._

ORATORS and Philosophers treat Nature after a very different Manner; those represent her with all her Graces and Ornaments, and if there be any Thing that is not capable of that, they dissemble it, or pass it over slightly. But Philosophers view Nature with a more impartial Eye, and without Favour or Prejudice give a just and free Account, how they find all the Parts of the Universe, some more, some less perfect. And as to this Earth in particular, if I was to describe it as an Orator, I would suppose it a beautiful and regular Globe; and not only so, but that the whole Universe was made for its sake; that it was the Darling and Favourite of Heaven, that the Sun shin’d only to give it Light, to ripen its Fruit, and make fresh its Flowers; and that the great Concave of the Firmament, and all the Stars in their several Orbs, were design’d only for a spangled Cabinet to keep this Jewel in. This _Idea_ I would give of it as an Orator; but a Philosopher that overheard me would either think me in Jest, or very injudicious, if I took the Earth for a Body so regular in it self, or so considerable if compar’d with the rest of the Universe. This, he would say, is to make the great World like one of the Heathen Temples, a beautiful and magnificent Structure, and of the richest Materials, yet built only for a little brute Idol, a Dog, or a Crocodile, or some deformed Creature placed in a Corner of it.

WE must therefore be impartial where the Truth requires it, and describe the Earth as it is really in it self; and though it be handsome and regular enough to the Eye in certain Parts of it, single Tracks and single Regions; yet if we consider the whole Surface of it, or the whole exterior Region, ’tis as a broken and confus’d Heap of Bodies, plac’d in no Order to one another, nor with any Correspondency or Regularity of Parts: And such a Body as the Moon appears to us, when ’tis look’d upon with a good Glass, rude and ragged; as it is also represented in the modern Maps of the Moon; such a Thing would the Earth appear if it was seen from the Moon. They are both in my Judgment the Image or Picture of a great Ruin, and have the true Aspect of a World lying in its Rubbish. _See Fig._ in _Chap. XI._

OUR Earth is first divided into Sea and Land, without any Regularity in the Portions, either of the one or the other; in the Sea lie the Islands, scatter’d like Limbs torn from the rest of the Body; great Rocks stand rear’d up in the Waters; the Promontories and Capes shoot into the Sea, and the Sinus’s and Creeks on the other hand run as much into the Land; and these without any Order or Uniformity. Upon the other Part of our Globe stand great Heaps of Earth or Stone, which we call Mountains; and if these were all plac’d together, they would take up a very considerable part of the dry Land: In the rest of it are lesser Hills, Valleys, Plains, Lakes and Marshes, Sands and Desarts, _&c._ and these also without any regular Disposition. Then the Inside of the Earth, or inward Parts of it, are generally broken or hollow, especially about the Mountains and high Lands, as also towards the Shores of the Sea, and among the Rocks. How many Holes and Caverns, and strange subterraneous Passages do we see in many Countries? And how many more may we easily imagine, that are unknown and unaccessible to us?

THIS is the Pourtraicture of our Earth, drawn without Flattery; and as oddly as it looks, it will not be at all surprizing to one that hath consider’d the foregoing Theory: For ’tis manifest enough, that upon the Dissolution of the first Earth, and its Fall into the Abyss, this very Face and Posture of Things, which we have now describ’d, or something extreamly like it, would immediately result. The Sea would be open’d, and the Face of the Globe would be divided into Land and Water: And according as the Fragments fell, some would make Islands or Rocks in the Sea, others would make Mountains or Plains upon the Land; and the Earth would generally be full of Caverns and Hollownesses, especially in the mountainous Parts of it. And we see the Resemblance and Imitation of this in lesser Ruins, when a Mountain sinks and falls into subterraneous Water; or, which is more obvious, when the Arch of a Bridge is broken, and falls into the Water, if the Water under it be not so deep as to overflow and cover all its Parts, you may see there the Image of all these things in little Continents, and Islands, and Rocks under Water: And in the Parts that stand above the Water, you see Mountains, and Precipices, and Plains, and most of the Varieties that we see and admire in the Parts of the Earth. What need we then seek any further for the Explication of these things? Let us suppose this Arch of the Bridge, as the great Arch of the Earth, which once it had, and the Water under it as the Abyss, and the Parts of this Ruin to represent the Parts of the Earth: There will be scarce any Difference but of lesser and greater, the same things appearing in both. But we have naturally that Weakness or Prejudice, that we think great things are not to be explained from easy and familiar Instances; we think there must be something difficult and operose in the Explication of them, or else we are not satisfied; whether it is that we are ashamed to see our Ignorance and Admiration to have been so groundless, or whether we fancy there must be a Proportion between the Difficulty of the Explication, and the Greatness of the thing explain’d; but that is a very false Judgment, for let Things be never so great, if they be simple, their Explication must be simple and easy: And on the contrary, some things that are mean, common, and ordinary, may depend upon Causes very difficult to find out; for the Difficulty of explaining an Effect doth not depend upon its Greatness or Littleness, but upon the Simplicity or Composition of its Causes. And the Effects and _Phænomena_ we are here to explain, though great, yet depending upon Causes very simple, you must not wonder if the Explication, when found out, be familiar and very intelligible.

AND this is so intelligible, and so easily deducible from the forementioned Causes, that a Man born blind, or brought up all his Life in a Cave, that had never seen the Face of the Earth, nor ever heard any Description of it, more than that it was a great Globe; having this Theory propos’d to him, or being instructed what the Form of the first Earth was, how it stood over the Waters, and then how it was broke and fell into them, he would easily of his own accord foretel what Changes would arise upon this Dissolution; and what the new Form of the Earth would be. As in the first place he would tell you, that this second Earth would be distinguish’d and checker’d into Land and Water; for the Orb which fell being greater than the Circumference it fell upon, all the Fragments could not fall flat and lie drown’d under Water; and those that stood above would make the dry Land or habitable part of the Earth. Then in the second Place, he would plainly discern that these Fragments that made the dry Land could not lie all plain and smooth and equal, but some would be higher and some lower, some in one Posture and some in another; and consequently would make Mountains, Hills, Valleys and Plains, and all other Varieties we have in the Situation of the Parts of the Earth. And lastly, a blind Man would easily divine that such a great Ruin could not happen but there would be a great many Holes and Cavities amongst the Parts of it, a great many Intervals and empty Places in the Rubbish, as I may so say; for this we see happens in all Ruins more or less; and where the Fragments are great and hard, ’tis not possible they should be so adjusted in their Fall, but that they would lie hollow in many Places, and many unfill’d Spaces would be intercepted amongst them; some gaping in the Surface of the Earth, and others hid within; so as this would give occasion to all sorts of Fractures and Cavities either in the Skin of the Earth, or within its Body. And these Cavities, that I may add that in the last Place, would be often fill’d with subterraneous Waters, at least at such a Depth; for the Foundations of the Earth standing now within the Waters, so high as those Waters reach’d they would more or less propagate themselves every way.

THUS far our blind Man could tell us what the new World would be, or the Form of the Earth upon the great Dissolution; and we find his Reasonings and Inferences very true, these are the chief Lineaments and Features of our Earth; which appear indeed very irregular and very unaccountable when they are look’d upon naked in themselves; but if we look upon them through this Theory, we see as in a Glass all the Reasons and Causes of them. There are different Genius’s of Men, and different Conceptions, and every one is to be allow’d their Liberty as to things of this Nature; I confess, for my own part, when I observe how easy and naturally this _Hypothesis_ doth apply it self to the general Face of this Earth, hits and falls in so luckily and surprizingly with all the odd Postures of its Parts, I cannot, without Violence, bear off my Mind from fully assenting to it: And the more odd and extravagant, as I may so say, and the more diversify’d the Effects and Appearances are, to which an _Hypothesis_ is to be apply’d, if it answers them all and with Exactness, it comes the nearer to a moral Certitude and Infallibility. As a Lock that consists of a great deal of Workmanship, many Wards, and many odd Pieces and Contrivances, if you find a Key, that answers to them all, and opens it readily, ’tis a thousand to one that ’tis the true Key, and was made for that Purpose.

AN eminent Philosopher of this Age, _Monsier des Cartes_, hath made use of the like _Hypothesis_ to explain the irregular Form of the present Earth; though he never dream’d of the Deluge, nor thought that first Orb, built over the Abyss, to have been any more than a transient Crust, and not a real habitable World that lasted for more than sixteen hundred Years, as we suppose it to have been. And though he hath, in my Opinion, in the Formation of that first Orb, and upon the Dissolution of it, committed some great Oversights, whereof we have given an Account in the _Latin_ Treatise, _C. 7. & lib. 2. c. 4._ however he saw a Necessity of such a Thing, and of the Disruption of it, to bring the Earth into that Form and Posture wherein we now find it.

THUS far we have spoken in general, concerning the Agreement and Congruity of our Supposition with the present Face of the Earth, and the easy Account it gives of the Causes of it. And though I believe to ingenuous Persons, that are not prejudic’d by the Forms and Opinions of the Schools against every thing that looks like a Novelty or Invention, thus much might be sufficient; yet for the Satisfaction of all, we will, as a farther Proof of our Theory, or that part of it which concerns the Dissolution of the Earth, descend to a particular Explication of three or four of the most considerable and remarkable things that occur in the Fabrick of this present Earth; namely, _The great Channel of the Ocean; subterraneous Cavities and subterraneous Waters_; and lastly, _Mountains and Rocks_. These are the Wonders of the Earth as to the visible Frame of it; and who would not be pleas’d to see a rational Account of these, of their Origin, and of their Properties? Or who would not approve of an _Hypothesis_, when they see that Nature in her greatest and strongest Works may easily be understood by it, and is in no other way, that we know of, intelligible?

WE will speak first of subterraneous Cavities and Waters, because they will be of easier Dispatch, and an Introduction to the rest.

THAT the Inside of the Earth is hollow and broken in many Places, and is not one firm and united Mass, we have both the Testimony of Sense and of easy Observations to prove: How many Caves and Dens and hollow Passages into the Ground do we see in many Countries, especially amongst Mountains and Rocks; and some of them endless and bottomless so far as can be discover’d? We have many of these in our own Island, in _Derbyshire_, _Somersetshire_, _Wales_, and other Counties, and in every Continent or Island they abound more or less. These Hollownesses of the Earth the Ancients made Prisons, or Store-houses for the Winds, and set a God over them to confine them, or let them loose at his Pleasure. For some Ages after the Flood, as all Antiquity tells us, these were the first Houses Men had, at least in some Parts of the Earth; here rude Mortals shelter’d themselves, as well as they could, from the Injuries of the Air, till they were beaten out by wild Beasts that took Possession of them. The ancient Oracles also us’d to be given out of these Vaults and Recesses under Ground, the _Sibyls_ had their Caves, and the _Delphick_ Oracle, and their Temples sometimes were built upon an hollow Rock. Places that are strange and solemn strike an Awe into us, and incline us to a kind of superstitious Timidity and Veneration, and therefore they thought them fit for the Seats and Residences of their Deities. They fancied also that Steams rise sometimes, or a sort of Vapour in those hollow Places, that gave a kind of a divine Fury or Inspiration. But all these Uses and Employments are now in a great measure worn out, we know no Use of them but to make the Places talk’d on where they are, to be the Wonders of the Country, to please our Curiosity to gaze upon and admire; but we know not how they came, nor to what purpose they were made at first.

IT would be very pleasant to read good Descriptions of these subterraneous Places, and of all the strange Works of Nature there; how she furnisheth these dark neglected Grotto’s; they have often a little Brook runs murmuring thro’ them, and the Roof is commonly a kind of petrefied Earth, or icy Fret-work, proper enough for such Rooms. But I should be pleas’d especially to view the Sea-caves, or those hollow Rocks that lie upon the Sea, where the Waves roll a great Way under Ground, and wear the hard Rock into as many odd Shapes and Figures as we see in the Clouds. ’Tis pleasant also to see a River in the Middle of its Course throw itself into the Mouth of a Cave, or an Opening of the Earth, and run under Ground sometimes many Miles; still pursuing its Way thro’ the dark Pipes of the Earth, till at last it find an Out-let. There are many of these Rivers taken Notice of in History in the several Parts of the Earth, as the _Rhone_ in _France_, _Guadiana_ in _Spain_, and several in _Greece_, _Alpheus_, _Lycus_, and _Erasinus_; then _Niger_ in _Africa_, _Tygris_ in _Asia_, _&c._ And I believe if we could turn _Derwent_, or any other River, into one of the Holes of the Peak, it would groap its Way till it found an Issue, it may be, in some other Country. These subterraneous Rivers that emerge again, shew us that the Holes of the Earth are longer and reach further than we imagine, and if we could see into the Ground, as we ride, or walk, we should be affrighted to see so often Waters or Caverns under us.

BUT to return to our dry Caves; these commonly stand high, and are sometimes of a prodigious Greatness: _Strabo_ [_Geo. l. 16._] mentions some in the Mountains towards _Arabia_, that are capable to receive four thousand Men at once. The Cave of _Engedi_ [_1 Sam. xxiv. 3, 4._] hid _David_ and six hundred Men, so as _Saul_, when he was in the Mouth of it, did not perceive them. In the Mountains of the _Traconites_ there are many of these vast Dens and Recesses, and the People of that Country defended themselves a long time in those strong Holds against _Herod_ and his Army: They are plac’d among such craggy Rocks and Precipices, that, as _Josephus_ [_Ant. Jud. l. 14. ch. 27._] tells us, _Herod_ was forced to make a sort of open Chests, and in those by Chains of Iron he let down his Soldiers from the Top of the Mountains to go fight them in their Dens. I need add no more Instances of this Kind: In the natural History of all Countries, or the geographical Descriptions of them, you find such Places taken notice of, more or less; yet if there was a good Collection made of the chief of them in several Parts, it might be of use, and would make us more sensible how broken and torn the Body of the Earth is.

THERE are subterraneous Cavities of another Nature, and more remarkable, which they call _Volcano_’s, or fiery Mountains; that belch out Flames and Smoke and Ashes, and sometimes great Stones and broken Rocks, and Lumps of Earth, or some metallick Mixture; and throw them to an incredible Distance by the Force of the Eruption. These argue great Vacuities in the Bowels of the Earth, and Magazines of combustible Matter treasur’d up in them. And as the Exhalations within these Places must be copious, so they must lie in long Mines or Trains to do so great Execution, and to last so long. ’Tis scarce credible what is reported concerning some Eruptions of _Vesuvius_ and _Ætna_. The Eruptions of _Vesuvius_ seem to be more frequent and less violent of late; the Flame and Smoke break out at the Top of the Mountain, where they have eaten away the Ground and made a great Hollow, so as it looks at the Top, when you stand upon the Brims of it, like an _Amphitheatre_, or like a great Caldron, about a Mile in Circumference, and the burning Furnace lies under it. The Outside of the Mountain is all spread with Ashes, but the Inside much more; for you wade up to the Mid-leg in Ashes to go down to the Bottom of the Cavity and ’tis extremely heavy and troublesome to get up again. The Inside lies sloping, and one may safely go down, if it be not in a raging Fit; but the middle Part of it, or Center, which is a little rais’d like the Bottom of a Platter, is not to be ventur’d upon, the Ground there lies false and hollow, there it always smoaks, and there the Funnel is suppos’d to be; yet there is no visible Hole or Gaping any where when it doth not rage. _Naples_ stands below in fear of this fiery Mountain, which hath often cover’d its Streets and Palaces with its Ashes; and in Sight of the Sea (which lies by the Side of them both) and as it were in Defiance to it, threatens at one time or other to burn that fair City. History tells us, that some Eruptions of _Vesuvius_ have carry’d Cinders and Ashes as far as _Constantinople_; this is attested both by _Greek_ and _Latin_ Authors; particularly, that they were so affrighted with these Ashes and Darkness, that the Emperor left the City, and there was a Day observ’d yearly for a Memorial of this Calamity or Prodigy.

_ÆTNA_ is of greater Fame than _Vesuvius_, and of greater Fury, all Antiquity speaks of it; not only the _Greeks_ and _Romans_, but as far as History reacheth, either real or fabulous, there is something recorded of the Fires of _Ætna_: The Figure of the Mountain is inconstant, by reason of the great Consumptions and Ruins it is subject to; the Fires and Æstuations of it are excellently describ’d by _Virgil_, upon Occasion of _Æneas_’s passing by those Coasts.

—— _Horrificis juxta tonat Ætna ruinis;
Intendumque atram prorumpit ad ætheranubem,
Turbine fumantem piceo & candente favilla;
Attollitque globos flammarum & sydera lambit;
Interdum scopulos, avulsaque viscera montis
Erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras
Cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exæstuat imo._

_Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus
Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Ætnam
Impositam, ruptis flammam expirare caminis.
Et fessum quoties mutet latus, intremere omnem
Murmure Trinacriam & cœlum subtexere fumo._

——_Ætna, whose Ruins make a thunder;
Sometimes black Clouds of Smoke, that rowl about
Mingled with Flakes of Fire, it belches out:
And sometimes Balls of Flame it darts on high,
Or its torn Bowels flings into the Sky.
Within deep Cells under the Earth, a Store
Of Fire-materials, molten Stones, and Ore,
It gathers, then spews out, and gathers more._

_Enceladus, when Thunder-struck by Jove,
Was bury’d here, and Ætna thrown above;
And when, to change his wearied Side, he turns,
The Island trembles and the Mountain burns._

NOT far from _Ætna_ lies _Strombolo_, and other adjacent Islands, where there are also such Magazines of Fire; and throughout all Regions and Countries in the _West-Indies_ and in the _East_, in the northern and southern Parts of the Earth, there are some of these _Volcano_’s, which are sensible Evidences that the Earth is incompact and full of Caverns; besides, the roarings and bellowings that use to be heard before an Eruption of these _Volcano_’s argue some dreadful Hollowness in the Belly, or under the Roots of the Mountain, where the Exhalations struggle before they can break their Prison.

THE subterraneous Cavities, that we have spoke of hitherto, are such as are visible in the Surface of the Earth, and break the Skin by some gaping Orifice; but the Miners and those that work under Ground meet with many more in the Bowels of the Earth, that never reach to the Top of it; Burrows and Channels, and Clifts and Caverns, that never had the Comfort of one Beam of Light since the great Fall of the Earth. And where we think the Ground is firm and solid, as upon Heaths and Downs, it often betrays its Hollowness, by sounding under the Horses Feet and the Chariot Wheels that pass over it. We do not know when and where we stand upon good Ground, if it was examin’d deep enough; and to make us further sensible of this, we will instance in two Things that argue the Unsoundness and Hollowness of the Earth in the inward Recesses of it, tho’ the Surface be intire and unbroken; these are _Earthquakes_ and the Communication of _subterraneous Waters_ and _Seas_: Of which two we will speak a little more particularly.

EARTHQUAKES are too evident Demonstrations of the Hollowness of the Earth, being the dreadful Effects or Consequences of it; for if the Body of the Earth was sound and compact, there would be no such thing in Nature as an Earthquake. They are commonly accompanied with an heavy dead Sound, like a dull Thunder which ariseth from the Vapours that are striving in the Womb of Nature, when her Throws are coming upon her. And that these Caverns where the Vapours lie are very large and capacious, we are taught sometimes by sad Experience; for whole Cities and Countries have been swallow’d up into them, as _Sodom_ and _Gomorrah_, and the Region of _Pentapolis_, and several Cities in _Greece_, and in _Asia_, and other Parts. Whole Islands also have been thus absorpt in an Earthquake; the Pillars and Props they stood upon being broken, they have sunk and fallen in as an House blown up. I am also of Opinion, that those Islands that are made by Divulsion from a Continent, as _Sicily_ was broken off from _Italy_, and _Great-Britain_, as some think, from _France_, have been made the same way; that is, the Isthmus or Necks of Land, that join’d these Islands with their Continents before, have been hollow, and being either worn by the Water, or shak’d by an Earthquake, have sunk down, and so made Way for the Sea to overflow them, and of a Promontory to make an Island. For it is not at all likely that the Neck of Land continued standing, and the Sea overflow’d it, and so made an Island; for then, all those Passages between such Islands, and their respective Continents, would be extremely shallow and unnavigable, which we do not find them to be. Nor is it any more Wonder if such a Neck of Land should fall, than that a Mountain should sink, or any other Tract of Land, and a Lake rise in its Place, which hath often happened. _Plato_ supposeth his _Atlantis_ to have been greater than _Asia_ and _Africa_ together, and yet to have sunk all into the Sea; whether that be true or no, I do not think it impossible that some Arms of the Sea, or Sinus’s, might have had such an Original as that; and I am very apt to think, that for some Years after the Deluge, ’till the Fragments were well settled and adjusted, great Alterations would happen as to the Face of the Sea and the Land; many of the Fragments would change their Posture, and many would sink into the Water, that stood out before, the Props failing that bore them up, or the Joints and Corners whereby they lean’d upon one another: And thereupon a new Face of Things would arise, and a new Deluge for that part of the Earth. Such Removes and Interchanges, I believe, would often happen in the first Ages after the Flood; as we see in all other Ruins, there happen lesser and secondary Ruins after the first, ’till the Parts be so well pois’d and settled, that without some Violence they scarce change their Posture any more.

BUT to return to our Earthquakes, and to give an Instance or two of their Extent and Violence: _Pliny_ mentions one in the Reign of _Tiberius Cæsar_, that struck down twelve Cities of _Asia_ in one Night. And _Fournier_ gives us an Account of one in _Peru_, that reach’d three hundred Leagues along the Sea-shore, and seventy Leagues In-land; and level’d the Mountains all along as it went, threw down the Cities, turn’d the Rivers out of their Channels, and made an universal Havock and Confusion: And all this, he saith, was done within the Space of seven or eight Minutes. There must be dreadful Vaults and Mines under that Continent that gave Passage to the Vapours, and Liberty to play for Nine Hundred Miles in length, and above two Hundred in breadth. _Asia_ also hath been very subject to these Desolations by Earthquakes; and many Parts in _Europe_, as _Greece_, _Italy_, and others. The Truth is, our Cities are built upon Ruins, and our Fields and Countries stand upon broken Arches and Vaults, and so does the greatest Part of the outward Frame of the Earth, and therefore it is no Wonder if it be often shaken; there being Quantities of Exhalations within these Mines, or cavernous Passages, that are capable of Rarefaction and Inflammation; and, upon such Occasions, requiring more Room, they shake or break the Ground that covers them. And thus much concerning Earthquakes.