Chapter I: Front Matter

The Sacred Theory of the Earth

The Sacred Theory of the Earth

Containing an Account of the

Original of the Earth,

And of all the
General Changes which it hath already
undergone, or is to undergo, till the Consummation
of all Things.

In Two Volumes.

The Two First Books
Concerning the DELUGE
AND
Concerning PARADISE

The Two Last Books
Concerning the Burning of the WORLD,
AND
Concerning the New Heavens and New Earth

With a REVIEW of the THEORY, and of its
Proofs; especially in reference to Scripture.

The Sixth Edition.

To which is added,

The Author’s Defence of the WORK, from
the Exceptions of Mr. Warren, and the Examination
of Mr. Keil.

AND

An ODE to the Author by Mr. _Addison_.

LONDON: Printed for J. HOOKE, at the _Flower-de-Luce_
against St. _Dunstan’s-Church_ in _Fleet-street_. MDCCXXVI.

Ad Insignissimum Virum

D. THO. BURNETTUM,

_Sacræ Theoriæ Telluris Autorem_.

Non usitatum carminis alitem,
BURNETTE, poscis, non humiles modos:
Vulgare plectrum, languidæque
Respuis officium camœnæ.
Tu mixta rerum semina conscius,
Molémque cernis dissociabilem,
Terrámque concretam, & latentem
Oceanum gremio capaci:
Dum veritatem quærere pertinax
Ignota pandis, sollicitus parùm
Utcunque stet commune vulgi
Arbitrium & popularis error.
Auditur ingens continuò fragor,
Illapsa tellus lubrica deserit
Fundamina, & compage fractà
Suppositas gravis urget undas.
Impulsus erumpit medius liquor,
Terras aquarum effusa licentia
Claudit vicissim: has inter orbis
Reliquiæ fluitant prioris.
Nunc & recluso carcere lucidam
Balæna spectat solis imaginem,
Stellasque miratur natantes,
Et tremulæ simulacra lunæ.
Quæ pompa vocum non imitablis!
Qualis calescit spiritus ingenî!
Ut tollis undas! ut frementem
Diluvii reprimis tumultum!
Quis tam valenti pectore ferreus
Ut non tremiscens & timido pede
Incedat, orbis dum dolosi
Detegis instabiles ruinas?
Quin hæc cadentûm fragmina montium
Natura vultum sumere simplicem
Coget resingens, in priorem
Mox iterum reditura formam.
Nimbis rubentem sulphureis Jovem
Cernas; ut udis sævit atrox Hyems
Incendiis, commune mundo
Et populis meditata Bustum!
Nudus liquentes plorat Athos nives,
Et mox liquescens ipse adamantinum
Fundit cacumen, dum per imas
Saxa fluunt resoluta valles.
Jamque alta cœli mœnia corruunt,
Et vestra tandem pagina (proh nefas!)
BURNETTE, vestra augebit ignes,
Heu socio peritura mundo.
Mox æqua tellus, mox subitus viror
Ubique rident: En teretem Globum!
En læta vernantis Favonî
Flamina, perpetuósque flores!
O pectus ingens! O animum gravem,
Mundi capacem! si bonus auguror,
Te, nostra quo tellus superbit,
Accipiet renovata civem.

_Jo. Addison, è Coll. Magd. Oxon. 1699._

AN ODE

To the LEARNED

Dr. _Thomas Burnet_,

AUTHOR of _The Sacred Theory of
the EARTH_.

I.

_No common Height the Muse must soar,
That wou’d thy Fame in Numbers try;
Nor dare in humble Verse adore,
But rise with Thee above the Sky:
You ask a bold and lofty Strain,
And what we meanly sing, disdain._

II.

_You Nature’s early Birth explore,
Her disunited Frame disclose,
From what mix’d Cause, and jarring Power,
The Infant Earth to Being rose:
How, in her circling Bosom sleep
Th’ imprisoned Seas, and bounded Deep._

III.

_Resolv’d great hidden Truths to trace,
Each learned Fable you despise;
And, pleas’d, enjoy the fam’d Disgrace,
To think, and reason singly wise:
Each Tale reject by Time allow’d,
And nobly leave the erring Crowd._

IV.

_Hark! from her weak Foundations tore,
The bursting Earth asunder flies,
And, prop’d by yielding Seas no more,
The dreadful Crack alarms the Skies:
Whose Arches rent, their Weight forego,
And plunge in opening Gulphs below._

V.

_Now rushing from their watry Bed,
The driving Waves disdain a Shore;
And with resistless Force o’erspread
That Orb, which check’d their Rage before:
While scatter’d o’re the foamy Tide,
All Nature’s floating Ruins ride._

VI.

_New Heavens disclos’d, the silver Train
The SUN beneath their Waves admire;
And gliding thro’ the enlight’ned Main,
Gaze at each Star’s diminish’d Fire,
Well pleas’d, the MOON’s bright Orb survey,
Trembling along their azure Play._

VII.

_How strong each Line, each Thought how great,
With what an Energy you rise!
How shines each Fancy? with what Heat
Does every glowing Page surprize?
While spouting Oceans upward flow,
Or sink again to Caves below._

VIII.

_As Nature’s Doom you thus impart,
The moving Scene we scarce endure;
But, shrinking, ask our anxious Heart,
If on our Earth we tread secure?
Whose Fate, unmov’d, as you persue,
We start and tremble but to view_.

IX.

_Yet these Remains we now behold,
Which tow’ring once in Hills arose;
Shall from a new and fairer Mould
A new and fairer Earth compose:
Which to her Fate shall owe her Bloom,
And rise more lovely from her Tomb._

X.

_Yet see This beauteous Fabrick end,
This second Pride of Fate expire;
While gushing from the Clouds descend
The burning Storm, the liquid Fire;
Where Worlds and Men consuming lie,
And in one bright Confusion die._

XI.

_Their naked Tops the Hills admire,
No longer white with fleecy Dew;
And as they moan the spreading Fire,
Add to the Flames dissolving too;
While Rocks from melting Mountains flow,
And roll in Streams thro’ Vales below._

XII.

_And now the kindling Orbs on high
All Nature’s mournful End proclaim;
When thy great WORK, (Alas!) must die,
And feed the rich victorious Flame:
Give Vigour to the wasting fire,
And with the World TOO SOON expire._

XIII.

_Once more her Bloom the Earth renews,
Smooth’d into Green, eternal Vales;
Her Glebe still moist with fragrant Dews,
Her Air still rich with balmy Gales:
No Change her flow’ry Seasons breed,
But Springs retire, and Springs succeed._

XIV.

_Oh say, Thou Great, Thou sacred Name,
What Scenes Thy thoughtful Breast employ,
Capacious as that mighty Frame
You raise with Ease, with Ease destroy?
Each World shall boast thy Fame; and YOU,
Who charm’d the OLD, should grace the NEW._

TO THE
KING’s
MOST
Excellent Majesty.

_SIR_,

New-found Lands and Countries accrue to the Prince whose Subject makes the first Discovery; and having retriev’d a World that had been lost for some thousands of Years, out of the Memory of Man, and the Records of Time, I thought it my Duty to lay it at your Majesty’s Feet. ’Twill not enlarge your Dominions, ’tis past and gone; nor dare I say it will enlarge your Thoughts; but I hope it may gratify your Princely Curiosity to read the Description of it, and see the Fate that attended it.

We have still the broken Materials of that first World, and walk upon its Ruins; while it stood, there was the Seat of _Paradise_, and the Scenes of the _Golden Age_; when it fell, it made the Deluge; and this unshapen Earth we now inhabit, is the Form it was found in when the Waters had retir’d, and the dry Land appear’d. These things, Sir, I propose and presume to prove in the following Treatise, which I willingly submit to your Majesty’s Judgment and Censure; being very well satisfied, that if I had sought a Patron in all the List of Kings, your Contemporaries, or in the Roll of your Nobles of either Order, I could not have found a more competent Judge in a Speculation of this Nature. Your Majesty’s Sagacity, and happy Genius for natural History, for Observations and Remarks upon the Earth, the Heavens, and the Sea, is a better Preparation for Inquiries of this kind, than all the dead Learning of the Schools.

SIR, This Theory, in the full Extent of it, is to reach to the last Period of the Earth, and the End of all Things; but this first Volume takes in only so much as is already past, from the Origin of the Earth, to this present Time and State of Nature. To describe in like manner the Changes and Revolutions of Nature that are to come, and see thorough all succeeding Ages, will require a steady and attentive Eye, and a Retreat from the Noise of the World; especially so to connect the Parts, and present them all under one View, that we may see, as in a Mirror, the several Faces of Nature, from first to last, throughout all the Circle of Successions.

YOUR Majesty having been pleas’d to give Encouragement to this Translation, I humbly present it to your gracious Acceptance. And ’tis our Interest, as well as Duty, in Disquisitions of this Nature, to address our selves to your Majesty, as the Defender of _Philosophick Liberties_, against those that would usurp upon the fundamental Privilege and Birthright of Mankind, _The free Use of Reason_. Your Majesty hath always appear’d the Royal Patron of Learning and the Sciences; and ’tis suitable to the Greatness of a Princely Spirit to favour and promote whatsoever tends to the Enlargement of human Knowledge, and the Improvement of human Nature. To be Good and Gracious, and a Lover of Knowledge, are, methinks, two of the most amiable Things in this World: And that your Majesty may always bear that Character in present and future Ages; and after a long and prosperous Reign enjoy a blessed Immortality, is the constant Prayer of

_Your MAJESTY’s
Most Humble and
Most Obedient Subject_,

THOMAS BURNET.