Chapter XV: Book IV (6)

But St. _Austin_ owns the Authority of this Epistle, and of this Doctrine, as deriv’d from it, taking notice of this Text of St. _Peter_’s in several Parts of his Works. We have noted three or four Places already to this purpose, and we may further take notice of several Passages in his Treatise, _de Civ. Dei_, which confirm our Exposition. In his xxth Book, _ch._ xxiv. he Disputes against _Porphyry_, who had the same Principles with these Eternalists in the Text; or, if I may so call them Incorruptarians; and thought the World never had, nor ever would undergo any Change, especially, as to the Heavens. St. _Austin_ could not urge _Porphyry_ with the Authority of St. _Peter_, for he had no Veneration for the Christian Oracles, but it seems he had some for the _Jewish_; and arguing against him, upon that Text in the Psalms, _Cœli peribunt_, he shews, upon Occasion, how he understands St. _Peter_’s Destruction of the old World. _Legitur Cœlum & Terra transibunt, Mundus transit, sed puto quod præterit transit, transibunt aliquantò mitius dicta sunt quam peribunt. In Epistolà quoque Petri Apostoli, ubi aquâ inundatus, qui tum erat, periisse dictus est Mundus, satis clarum est quæ pars mundi a toto significata est, & quatenus periisse dicta sit, & qui Cœli repositi igni reservandi._ This he explains more fully afterwards by subjoining a Caution (which we cited before) that we must not understand this Passion of St. _Peter_’s concerning the Destruction of the ante-diluvian World, to take in the whole Universe, and the highest Heavens, but only the aerial Heavens, and the sublunary World. _In Apostolicâ illâ Epistola a toto pars accipitur, quod Diluvio periisse dictus est Mundus quamvis sola ejus, cum suis Cœlis pars ima perierit. In that Apostolical Epistle, a part is signified by the whole, when the World is said to have perished in the Deluge, although the lower part of it only, with the Heavens belonging to it, perished_; that is, the Earth with the Regions of the Air that belong to it. And consonant to this, in his Exposition of that ci. _Psalm_, upon those Words, _The Heavens are the work of thy Hands; they shall perish, but thou shalt endure._ This perishing of the Heavens, he says, St. _Peter_ tells us, hath been once done already, namely, at the Deluge: _Apertè dixit hoc Apostolus Petrus, Cœli erant olim & Terra, de aquâ & per aquam constituti, Dei verbo; per quod qui factus est mundus, aquâ inundatus deperiit; Terra autem & Cœli qui nunc sunt, igni reservantur. Jam ergo dixit periisse Cœlos per Diluvium._

These Places shew us, that St. _Austin_ understood St. _Peter_’s Discourse to aim at the natural World, and his _periit_ or _periisse_ (ver. 6) to be of the same Force as _peribunt_ in the _Psalms_, when ’tis said the Heavens _shall perish_; and consequently that the Heavens and the Earth, in this Father’s Opinion, were as really changed and transformed at the Time of the Flood, as they will be at the Conflagration. But we must not expect from St. _Austin_, or any of the Antients, a distinct Account of this Apostolical Doctrine, as if they knew and acknowledg’d the Theory of the first World; that does not at all appear, but what they said was either from broken Tradition, or extorted from them by the Force of the Apostle’s Words and their own Sincerity.

There are yet other Places in St. _Austin_ worthy our Consideration upon this Subject; especially his Exposition of this iiid Chapter of St. _Peter_, as we find it in the same Treatise, _de Civ. Dei_, _cap._ xviii. There he compares again, the Destruction of that World at the Deluge, with that which shall be at the Conflagration, and supposeth both the Heavens and Earth to have perish’d: _Apostolus commemorans factum ante Diluvium, videtur admonuisse quodammodo quatenùs in fine hujus seculi mundum istum periturum esse credamus. Nam & illo tempore periisse dixit, qui tunc erat, mundum; nec solum orbem terræ, verum etiam cœlos._ Then giving his usual Caution, that the Stars and starry Heavens should not be comprehended in that mundane Destruction, he goes on, _Atque hoc modo_ (penè totus aër) _cum terra perierat; cujus Terræ utique prior facies_ (nempe ante-diluviana) _fuerat deleta Diluvia. Qui autem nunc sunt cœli & terra eodem verba repositi sunt igni reservandi; Proinde qui Cœli & quæ Terra id est, qui mundus, pro eo mundo qui Diluvio periit, ex eádem aquâ repositus est, ipse igni novissimo reservatur._ Here you see St. _Austin_’s Sense upon the whole Matter; which is this, that the natural World, the Earth with the Heavens about it, was destroyed and chang’d at the Deluge into the present Heavens and Earth; which shall again, in like Manner, be destroyed and chang’d by the last Fire. Accordingly, in another place, to add no more, he saith, the Figure of the (sublunary) World shall be changed at the Conflagration, as it was chang’d at the Deluge: _Tunc figura hujus mundi_, &c. _cap._ xvi.

Thus you see, we have St. _Austin_ on our side, in both Parts of our Interpretation; that St. _Peter_’s Discourse is to be referr’d to the natural inanimate World, and that the present natural World is distinct and different from that which was before the Deluge. And St. _Austin_ having applied this expresly to St. _Peter_’s Doctrine by way of Commentary, it will free us from any Crime or Affectation of Singularity in the Exposition we have given of that Place.

Venerable _Bede_ hath followed St. _Austin_’s Footsteps in this Doctrine; for, interpreting St. _Peter_’s _original World_ (Αρχαῖος Κόσμος) 2 _Pet._ ii. 5. he refers both that and this (_chap._ iii. 6.) to the natural inanimate World, which he supposeth to have undergone a Change at the Deluge. His Words are these, _Idem ipse mundus est_ (nempe quoad materiam) _in quo nunc humanum genus habitat, quem inhabitaverunt hi qui ante diluvium fuerunt, sed tamen rectè Originalis Mundus, quasi alius dicitur; quia sicut in consequentibus hujus Epistolæ scriptum continetur, Ille tunc mundus aquâ inundatus periit. Cælis videlicet qui erant prius, id est, cunctis aëris hujus turbulenti spatiis, aquarum accrescentiun altitudine consumptis, ac Terrâ in alteram faciem, excedentibus aquis, immutatâ. Nam etsi montes aliqui atque convalles ab initio facti creduntur, non tamen tanti quanti nunc in orbe cernuntur universo. ’Tis the same World_ (namely, as to the Matter and Substance of it) _which Mankind lives in now, and did live in before the Flood, but yet that is truly called the ORIGINAL WORLD, being as it were another from the present. For it is said in the Sequel of this Epistle, that the World that was then, perished in the Deluge; namely, the Regions of the Air were consumed by the Height and Excess of the Water; and by the same Waters the Earth was changed into another Form or Face. For although some Mountains and Valleys are thought to have been made from the Beginning, yet not such great ones as now we see throughout the whole Earth._

You see this Author does not only own a Change made at the Deluge, but offers at a farther Explication wherein that Change consisted, _viz._ That the Mountains and Inequalities of the Earth were made greater than they were before the Flood; and so he makes the Change, or the Difference betwixt the two Worlds gradual, rather than specifical, if I may so term it. But we cannot wonder at that, if he had no Principles to carry it farther, or to make any other Sort of Change intelligible to him. _Bede_ [_De 6 dier. creat._] also pursues the same Sense and Notion in his Interpretation of that _Fountain_, _Gen._ ii. 5. that watered the Face of the Earth before the Flood. And many other Transcribers of Antiquity have recorded this Tradition concerning a Difference, gradual or specifical, both in the ante-diluvian Heavens (_Gloss. Ordin. Gen._ ix. _de Iride. Lyran. ibid. Hist. Scholast._ _c. 35. Rab. Maurus & Gloss. Inter. Gen._ ii. 5, 6. _Alcuin. Quæst. in Gen. inter._ 135.) and in the ante-diluvian Earth, as the same Authors witness in other Places: As _Hist. Schol. c. 34. Gloss. Ord. in Gen._ vii. _Alcuin. Inter. 118, &c._ Not to Instance those that tell us the Properties of the ante-diluvian World under the Name and Notion of _Paradise_.

Thus much concerning this remarkable Place in St. _Peter_, and the true Exposition of it; which I have the more largely insisted upon, because I look upon this Place as the chief Repository of that great natural Mystery, which in Scripture is communicated to us concerning the triple State or Revolution of the World. And of those Men that are so scrupulous to admit the Theory we have propos’d, I would willingly know, whether they believe the Apostle in what he says concerning the _new Heavens_ and the _new Earth to come_? ver. 13. and if they do, why they should not believe him as much concerning the _old Heavens_ and the _old Earth_ past? _ver._ 5, and 6. which he mentions as formally, and describes more distinctly than the other. But if they believe neither past nor to come, in a natural Sense, but an unchangeable State of Nature from the Creation to its Annihilation, I leave them then to their Fellow-Eternalists in the Text, and to the Character or Censure the Apostle gives them, Κατὰ τὰς ἴδιας αὐτῶν ἐπιθυμίας πορευόμενοι, Men that go by their own private Humour and Passions, and prefer that to all other Evidence.

They deserve this Censure, I am sure, if they do not only disbelieve, but also scoff, at this Prophetick and Apostolick Doctrine concerning the Vicissitudes of Nature and a triple World. The Apostle in this Discourse does formally distinguish three Worlds (for ’tis well known that the _Hebrews_ have no Word to signify the natural World, but use that Periphrasis, _the Heavens_ and _the Earth_) and upon each of them engraves a Name and Title that bears a Note of Distinction in it: He calls them the _old Heavens and Earth_, the _present Heavens and Earth_, and the _new Heavens and Earth_. ’Tis true, these three are one, as to Matter and Substance; but they must differ as to Form and Properties; otherwise what is the Ground of this Distinction and of these three different Appellations? Suppose the _Jews_ had expected _Ezekiel_’s Temple for the third, and last, and most perfect; and that in the Time of the second Temple they had spoke of them with this Distinction, or under these different Names, the _old Temple_, the _present Temple_, and the _new Temple_ we expect; would any have understood those three of one and the same Temple; never demolish’d, never chang’d, never rebuilt; always the same, both as to Materials and Form? No, doubtless, but of three several Temples succeeding one another. And have we not the same Reason to understand this Temple of the World, whereof St. _Peter_ speaks, to be three-fold in Succession; seeing he does as plainly distinguish it into the _old_ Heavens and Earth, the _present_ Heavens and Earth? and the _new_ Heavens and Earth. And I do the more willingly use this Comparison of the Temple, because it hath been thought an Emblem of the outward World.

I know we are naturally averse to entertain any Thing that is inconsistent with the general Frame and Texture of our own Thoughts; that’s to begin the World again; and we often reject such things without Examination. Neither do I wonder that the generality of Interpreters beat down the Apostle’s Words and Sense to their own Notions; they had no other Grounds to go upon, and Men are not willing, especially in natural and comprehensible things, to put such a Meaning upon Scripture, as is unintelligible to themselves; they rather venture to offer a little Violence to the Words, that they may pitch the Sense at such a convenient Height, as their Principles will reach to: And therefore though some of our modern Interpreters, whom I mention’d before, have been sensible of the natural Tendency of this Discourse of St. _Peter_’s, and have much ado to bear off the Force of the Words, so as not to acknowledge that they import a real Diversity betwixt the two Worlds spoken of; yet having no Principles to guide or support them in following that Tract, they are forc’d to stop or divert another way. ’Tis like entring into the Mouth of a Cave, we are not willing to venture farther than the Light goes: Nor are they much to blame for this, the Fault is only in those Persons that continue wilfully in their Darkness; and when they cannot otherwise resist the Light, shut their Eyes against it, or turn their Head another Way.—But I am afraid I have staid too long upon this Argument; not for my own sake, but to satisfy others.

You may please to remember that all that I have said hitherto, belongs only to the first Head: To prove a _Diversity in general_ betwixt the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth, and the present; not expressing what their particular Form was. And this general Diversity may be argued also by Observations taken from _Moses_ his History of the World, before and after the Flood: From the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians; the Rainbow appearing after the Deluge; and the breaking open an Abyss capable to overflow the Earth. The Heavens that had no Rain-bow, and under whose benign and steady Influence, Men liv’d seven, eight, nine hundred Years and upwards, [See _Theor. Book_ ii. _ch._ 5.] must have been of a different Aspect and Constitution from the present Heavens: And that Earth that had such an Abyss, that the Disruption of it made an universal Deluge, must have been of another Form than the present Earth; and those that will not admit a Diversity in the two Worlds, are bound to give us an intelligible Account of these Phænomena: How they could possibly be in Heavens and Earth, like the present? Or if they were there once, why they do not continue so still, if Nature be the same?

We need say no more, as to the ante-diluvian Heavens; but as to the Earth, we must now, according to the second part of the first Head, enquire, if that _particular Form_, which we have assign’d it before the Flood, be agreeable to Scripture. You know how we have described the Form and Situation of that Earth; namely, that it was built over the Abyss, as a regular Orb, covering and incompassing the Waters round about, and founded, as it were, upon them. There are many Passages of Scripture that favour this Description; some more expresly, others upon a due Explication. To this purpose there are two express Texts in the _Psalms_; as _Psal._ xxiv. 1, 2. _The Earth is the Lord’s, and the Fulness thereof; the habitable World, and they that dwell therein. FOR he has founded it upon the[10] Sea, and established it upon the Floods_. An Earth founded upon the Seas, and establish’d upon the Waters, is not this Earth we have describ’d? The first Earth, as it came from the Hands of its Maker? Where can we now find in Nature such an Earth, as the Seas and the Water for its Foundation? Neither is this Text without a second, as a Fellow Witness to confirm the same Truth; for in _Psal._ cxxxvi. _ver._ 4, 5, 6. we read to the same Effect, in these Words, _To him who alone does great Wonders; to him that by Wisdom made the Heavens; to him that stretched out the Earth above the Waters_. We can hardly express that Form of the ante-diluvian Earth, in Words more determinate than these are: Let us then, in the same Simplicity of Heart, follow the Words of Scripture; seeing this literal Sense is not repugnant to Nature, but, on the contrary, agreeable to it upon the strictest Examination. And we cannot, without some Violence, turn the Words to any other Sense. What tolerable Interpretation can these admit of, if we do not allow the Earth once to have encompass’d and over-spread the Face of the Waters? To be _founded_ upon the Waters, to be _establish’d_ upon the Waters, to be _extended_ upon the Waters, what rational or satisfactory Account can be given of these Phrases and Expressions from any thing we find in the present Situation of the Earth? Or how can they be verified concerning it? Consult Interpreters, antient or modern, upon these two Places; see if they answer your Expectation, or answer the natural Importance of the Words, unless they acknowledge another Form of the Earth, than the present. Because a Rock hangs its Nose over the Sea, must the Body of the Earth be said to be _stretched over the Waters_? Or, because there are Waters in some subterraneous Cavities, is the Earth therefore _founded upon the Seas_? Yet such lame Explications as these you will meet with; and while we have no better Light, we must content our selves with them; but when an Explication is offer’d, that answers the Propriety, Force and Extent of the Words, to reject it, only because it is not fitted to our former Opinions, or because we did not first think of it, is to take an ill Method in expounding Scripture. This _Foundation_ or _Establishment_ of the Earth upon the Seas, this _Extention_ of it above the Waters, relates plainly to the Body, or whole Circuit of the Earth, not to Parcels and Particles of it; as appears from the Occasion, and its being join’d with the Heavens, the other Part of the World. Besides, _David_ is speaking of the Origin of the World, and of the divine Power and Wisdom in the Constitution and Situation of our Earth; and these Attributes do not appear from the Holes of the Earth, and broken Rocks, which have rather the Face of a Ruin, than of Wisdom; but in that wonderful Libration and Expansion of the first Earth over the Face of the Waters, sustained by its own Proportions, and the Hand of his Providence.

These two Places in the _Psalms_ being duly consider’d, we shall more easily understand a third Place, to the same effect, in the _Proverbs_; delivered by _WISDOM_, concerning the Origin of the World, and the Form of the first Earth, in these Words, _Chapter_ viii. 27. _When he prepared the Heavens I was there, when HE SET an Orb or Sphere upon the Face of the Abyss._ We render it, when we set a Compass upon the Face of the Abyss; but if we have rightly interpreted the Prophet _David_, ’tis plain enough what Compass is here to be understood; not an imaginary Circle, (for why should that be thought one of the wonderful Works of God?) but that exterior Orb of the Earth that was set upon the Waters: That was the Master-piece of the divine Art in framing of the first Earth, and therefore very fit to be taken Notice of by _Wisdom_. And upon this Occasion, I desire you to reflect upon St. _Peter_’s Expression, concerning the first Earth, and to compare it with _Solomon_’s, to see if they do not answer one another. St. _Peter_ calls it, γῆ καθεστῶσα δὶ ὕδάτων, _an Earth consisting, standing_, or _sustained by the Waters_. And _Solomon_ calls it חונ על בני תהום _An Orb drawn upon the Face of the Abyss._ And St. _Peter_ says, that was done τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, by the _Wisdom of God_; which is the same Λόγος or _Wisdom_, that here declares her self to have been present at this Work. Add now to these two Places, the two foremention’d out of the _Psalmist_; _An Earth founded upon the Sea_, (Psal. xxiv. 2.) and an _Earth stretched out above the Waters_; (_Psal._ cxxxvi. 6.) Can any Body doubt or question; but all these four Texts refer to the same Thing? And seeing St. _Peter_’s Description refers certainly to the ante-diluvian Earth, they must all refer to it; and do all as certainly and evidently agree with our Theory concerning the Form and Situation of it.

The pendulous Form and Posture of that first Earth being prov’d from these four Places, ’tis more easy and emphatical to interpret in this Sense that Passage in _Job ch._ xxvi. 7. _He stretcheth out the North over the Tohu_, (for so it is in the Original) _and hangeth the Earth upon nothing._ And this strange Foundation or no Foundation of the exterior Earth seems to be the Ground of those noble Questions propos’d to _Job_ by God Almighty, _chap._ xxxviii. _Where wast thou, when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? Declare if thou hast understanding, whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned, and who laid the Corner-Stone?_ There was neither Foundation, nor Corner-Stone, in that piece of Architecture; and that was it which made the Art and Wonder of it. But I have spoken more largely to these Places in the Theory it self, _Book_ i. _p._ 119. And if the four Texts before mention’d be consider’d without Prejudice, I think there are few Matters of natural Speculation that can be so well prov’d out of Scripture, as the Form which we have given to the ante-diluvian Earth.

But yet it may be thought a just, if not a necessary Appendix to this Discourse, concerning the Form of the ante-diluvian Earth, to give an Account also of the _ante-diluvian Abyss_, and the Situation of it according to Scripture; for the Relation which these two have to one another, will be a farther Means to discover, if we have rightly determined the Form of that Earth. The _Abyss_ or _Tehom Rabbah_ is a Scripture Notion, and the Word is not us’d, that I know of, in that distinct and peculiar Sense in Heathen Authors. ’Tis plain that in Scripture it is not always taken for the Sea (as _Gen._ i. 2. and vii. 11. and xlix. 25. _Deut._ xxxiii. 13. _Job_ xxviii. 14. and xxxviii. 16. _Psal._ xxxiii. 7. and lxxi. 20. and lxxviii. 15. and cxxxv. 6. _Apoc_. xx. 1, 3.) but for some other Mass of Waters, or subterraneous Store-house. And this being observ’d, we may easily discover the Nature, and set down the History of the Scripture-Abyss.

The Mother-Abyss is no doubt that in the Beginning of _Genesis_, _v._ 2. which had nothing but Darkness upon the Face of it, or a thick caliginous Air. The next News we hear of this Abyss is at the Deluge, (_Gen._ vii. 11.) where ’tis said to be broke open, and the Waters of it to have drowned the World. It seems then, this Abyss was clos’d up some Time betwixt the Creation and the Deluge, and had got another Cover than that of Darkness. And if we will believe _Wisdom_, (_Prov._ viii. 27.) who was there present at the Formation of the Earth, an _Orb was set upon the Face of the Abyss_, at the Beginning of the World.

That these three Places refer to the same Abyss, I think, cannot be questioned by any that will compare them and consider them. That of the Deluge, _Moses_ calls there _Tehom-Rabbah_, the great _Abyss_; and can there be any greater than the forementioned Mother-Abyss? And _WISDOM_, in that Place in the _Proverbs_, useth the same Phrase and Words with _Moses_, _Gen._ i. 2. על פני תהום _upon the Face of the Deep_, or of the _Abyss_; changing _Darkness_ for that _Orb_ of the exterior Earth, which was made afterwards to inclose it. And in this Sort it lay, and under this Cover, when the _Psalmist_ speaks of it in these Words, _Psal._ xxxiii. 7. _He gathereth the Waters of the Sea, as in a[11] Bag; he layeth up the Abyss in Store-houses._ Lastly, we may observe, that ’twas this Mother-Abyss, whose Womb was burst at the Deluge, when the Sea was born, and broke forth as if it had issued out of a Womb; as God expresseth it to _Job_, _ch._ xxxviii. 8. in which Place the _Chaldee_ Paraphrase reads it, when it broke forth, _coming out of the Abyss_. Which Disruption at the Deluge seems also to be alluded to _Job_ xii. 14, 15. and more plainly, _Prov._ iii. 20. _by his Knowledge the Abysses are broken up_.

Thus you have already a three-fold State of the Abyss, which makes a short History of it; first, _open_, at the Beginning; then _covered_ till the Deluge; then _broke open_ again, as it is at present. And we pursue the History of it no farther; but we are told, _Apoc._ xx. 3. That it shall be shut up again, and the great Dragon in it, for a thousand Years. In the mean time we may observe from this Form and Posture of the ante-diluvian Abyss, how suitable it is and coherent with that Form of the ante-diluvian Earth which St. _Peter_ and the _Psalmist_ had described, _sustained by the Waters_; _founded upon the Waters_; _stretched above the Waters_; for if it was the Cover of this Abyss (and it had some Cover that was broke at the Deluge) it was spread as a Crust of Ice upon the Face of those Waters, and so made an _Orbis Terrarum_, an habitable Sphere of Earth about the Abyss.

So much for the Form of the ante-diluvian Earth and Abyss; which as they aptly correspond to one another, so, you see, our Theory answers, and is adjusted to both; and, I think, so fitly, that we have no reason hitherto to be displeased with the Success we have had in the Examination of it, according to Scripture. We have dispatch’d the two main Points in Question, first, to prove a Diversity in general betwixt the two natural Worlds, or betwixt the Heavens and the Earth before and after the Flood. Secondly, to prove wherein this Diversity consisted; or that the particular Form of the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth was such according to Scripture, as we have describ’d it in the Theory. You’ll say, then the Work is done; what needs more, all the rest follows of Course? For if the ante-diluvian Earth had such a Form as we have propos’d and prov’d it to have had, there could be no Deluge in it but by a Dissolution of its Parts and exterior Frame: And a Deluge so made, would not be in the Nature of a Standing-Pool, but of a violent Agitation and Commotion of the Waters. This is true; these Parts of the Theory are so cemented, that you must grant all, if you grant any. However we will try, if even these two Particulars also may be prov’d out of Scripture; that is, if there be any Marks or Memorandums left there by the Spirit of God, of such a Fraction or Dissolution of the Earth at the Deluge; and also such Characters of the Deluge it self, as shew it to have been by a Fluctuation and impetuous Commotion of the Waters.

To proceed then; that there was a Fraction or Dissolution of the Earth at the Deluge, the History of it by _Moses_ gives us the first Account, seeing he tells us, as the principal Cause of the Flood, that the Fountains of the _great Abyss_ were _cloven_ or _burst asunder_; and upon this Disruption the Waters gush’d out from the Bowels of the Earth, as from the widen’d Mouths of so many Fountains. I do not take _Fountains_ there to signify any more than Sources or Stores of Water; noting also this Manner of their Eruption from below, or out of the Ground, as Fountains do. Accordingly in the _Proverbs_, (_chap._ iii. 20.) ’tis only said, the _Abysses were broken open_. I do not doubt, but this refers to the Deluge, as _Bede_, and others understand it; the very Word being us’d here, both in the _Hebrew_ and Septuagint, נבקעו ἐῤῤάγησαν that express the Disruption of the Abyss at the Deluge.

And this breaking up of the Earth at that Time, is elegantly exprest in _Job_, by the bursting of the Womb of Nature, when the Sea was first brought to Light; _ch._ xxxviii. when after many Pangs and Throws and Dilacerations of her Body, Nature was delivered of a Burthen, which she had born in her Womb sixteen hundred Years.

These three Places I take to be Memorials and Proofs of the Disruption of the Earth, or of the Abyss, at the universal Deluge. And to these we may add more out of the Prophets, _Job_, and the _Psalms_, by Way of Allusion commonly to the State of Nature at that Time. The Prophet _Isaiah_, in describing the future Destruction of the World, _chap._ xxiv. 18, 19. seems plainly to allude and have respect to the past Destruction of it at the Deluge; as appears by that leading Expression, _the Windows from on high are open_, ארבות סמיום נפתחו θυρίδες ἐκ τῷ οὐρανῶ ἠνεώχθησαν, taken manifestly from _Gen._ vii. 11. Then see how the Description goes on; _the Windows from on high are open, and the Foundations of the Earth do shake, the Earth is utterly broken down, the Earth is quite dissolved, the Earth is exceedingly moved_. Here are Concussions, and Fractions, and Dissolutions, as there were in the mundane Earthquake and Deluge; which we had exprest before only by _breaking open the Abyss_. By the Foundations of the Earth here and elsewhere, I perceive many understand the Center; so by _moving_ or _shaking_ the Foundations, or putting them out of Course, must be understood a displacing of the Center; which was really done at the deluge, as we have shewn in its proper Place, _Theor._ _Book_ ii. _Chap._ 3. If we therefore remember, that there was both a Dislocation, as I may so say, and a Fraction in the Body of the Earth, by that great Fall; a Dislocation as to the Center, and a Fraction as to the Surface and exterior Region, it will truly answer to all those Expressions in the Prophet, that seem so strange and extraordinary. ’Tis true, this Place of the Prophet respects also and foretels the future Destruction of the World; but that being by Fire, when the _Elements shall melt with fervent Heat, and the Earth with the Works therein shall be burnt up_, these Expressions of _Fractions and Concussions_, seem to be taken originally from the Manner of the World’s first distruction, and to be transferr’d, by way of Application, to represent and signify the second Destruction of it, though, it may be, not with the same Exactness and Propriety.

There are several other Places that refer to the Dissolution and Subversion of the Earth at the Deluge, _Amos_ ix. 5, 6. _The Lord of Hosts is he, that toucheth the Earth, and it shall melt, or be dissolv’d.——and it shall rise up wholly like a Flood, and shall be drowned as by the Flood of Ægypt._ By _this_ and by _the next verse_ the Prophet seems to allude to the Deluge, and to the Dissolution of the Earth that was then. This in _Job_ seems to be called _breaking down the Earth, and overturning the Earth_, chap. xii. 14, 15. _Behold he breaketh down and it cannot be built again, He shutteth upon Man, and there can be no opening. Behold, he with-holdeth the Waters, and they dry up; also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the Earth:_ Which Place you may see paraphras’d, _Theo._ _Book_ i. _p._ 124, 125. We have already cited, and shall hereafter cite, other Places out of _Job_; and as that ancient Author (who is thought to have liv’d before the _Judaical_ Oeconomy, and nearer to _Noah_ than _Moses_) seems to have had the _Præcepta Noachidarum_, so also he seems to have had the _Dogmata Noachidarum_; which were deliver’d by _Noah_ to his Children and Posterity, concerning the Mysteries of natural Providence, the Origin and Fate of the World, the Deluge and ante-diluvian State, _&c._ and accordingly we find many Strictures of these Doctrines in the Book of _Job_. Lastly, In the _Psalms_ there are Texts that mention the _shaking of the Earth_, and the _Foundations_ of the World, in reference to the Flood, if we judge aright; whereof we will speak under the next Head, _concerning_ the raging of the Waters in the Deluge.

These Places of Scripture may be noted, as left us to be Remembrancers of that general Ruin and Disruption of the Earth at the Time of the Deluge. But I know it will be said of them, that they are not strict Proofs, but Allusions only: Be it so; yet what is the Ground of those Allusions? Something must be alluded, and something that hath past in Nature, and that is recorded in Sacred History; and what is that, unless it be the universal Deluge, and that Change and Disturbance that was then in all Nature? If others say, that these and such like Places are to be understood morally and allegorically, I do not envy them their Interpretation; but when Nature and Reason will bear a literal Sense, the Rule is, that we should not recede from the Letter. But I leave these Things to every one’s Thoughts; which the more calm they are, and the more impartial, the more easily they will feel the Impressions of Truth: In the mean Time, I proceed to the last particular mention’d, _The Form of the Deluge it self_.

This we suppose to have been, not in the Way of a standing Pool, the Waters making an equal Surface, and an equal Height every where; but that the extream Height of the Waters was made by the extream Agitation of them; caus’d by the Weight and Force of great Masses or Regions of Earth falling at once into the Abyss; by which Means, as the Waters in some Places were press’d out, and thrown at an excessive Height into the Air, so they would also in certain Places gape, and lay bare even the Bottom of the Abyss; which would look as an open Grave ready to swallow up the Earth, and all it bore. Whilst the Ark, in the mean time, falling and rising by these Gulphs and Precipices, sometimes above Water, and sometimes under, was a true Type of the State of the Church in this World: And to this Time and State _David_ alludes in the Name of the Church, _Psalm._ xlii. 7. _Abyss calls unto Abyss at the Noise of thy Cataracts or Water-Spouts; all thy Water and Billows have gone over me._ And again, _Psal._ xlvi. 2, 3. in the Name of the Church, _Therefore will not we fear tho’ the Earth be removed, and tho’ the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Seas. The Waters thereof roar and are troubled, the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof._

But there is no Description more remarkable or more eloquent, than of that Scene of Things represented, _Psalm._ xviii. 7, 8, 9, _&c._ which still alludes, in my Opinion, to the Deluge-Scene, and in the Name of the Church. We will set down the Words at large.

Ver. 6. _In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cryed unto my
God; He heard my Voice out of his Temple, and my Cry came before him
into his Ears._

7. _Then the Earth shook and trembled, the Foundations also of the
Hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth._

8. _There went up a Smoak from his Nostrils, and Fire out of his
Mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it._

9. _He bowed the Heavens also and came down, and Darkness was under
his Feet._

10. _And he rode upon a Cherub and did fly, he did fly upon the
Wings of the Wind._

11. _He made Darkness his secret Place; his Pavilion round about him
was dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Sky._

12. _At the Brightness before him the thick Clouds passed, Hail and
Coals of Fire._

13. _The Lord also thunder’d in the Heavens, and the Highest gave
his Voice, Hail and Coals of Fire._

14. _Yea, he sent out his Arrows, and scattered them; and he shot
out Lightnings and discomfited them._

15. _Then the Channels of Waters were seen, and the Foundations of
the World were discovered; at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of
the Breath of thy Nostrils._

_He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of great Waters._
מים רבים

This is a rough, I think, Draught of the Face of the Heavens and the Earth at the Deluge, as the last Verses do intimate; and ’tis apply’d to express the Dangers and Deliverances of the Church: The Expressions are so far too high to be apply’d to _David_ in his Person, and to his Deliverance from _Saul_; no such Agonies or Disorders of Nature as are here instanc’d, were made in _David_’s Time, or upon his Account; but ’tis a Scheme of the Church, and of her Fate, particularly, as represented by the Ark, in that dismal Distress, when all Nature was in Confusion. And though there may be some Things here intermixt to make up the Scene, that are not so close to the Subject as the rest, or that they may be refer’d to the future Destruction of the World; yet that is not unusual, nor amiss, in such Descriptions, if the great Strokes be fit and rightly placed. That there was Smoak, and Fire, and Water, and Thunder, and Darkness, and Winds, and Earthquakes, at the Deluge, we cannot doubt, if we consider the Circumstances of it: Waters dash’d and broken made a Smoak and Darkness, and no Hurricane could be so violent as the Motions of the Air at that Time: Then the Earth was torn in pieces, and its Foundations shaken. And as to Thunder and Lightning, the Encounters and Collisions of the mighty Waves, and the Cracks of a falling World, would make Flashes and Noises, far greater and more terrible, than any that can come from Vapours and Clouds. There was an universal[12] Tempest, a Conflict and Clashing of all the Elements; and _David_ seems to have represented it so; with God Almighty in the midst of it, ruling them all.

But I am apt to think, some will say, all this is Poetical in the Prophet, and these are hyperbolical and figurative Expressions, from which we cannot make any Inference, as to the Deluge and the natural World: ’Tis true, those that have no Idea of the Deluge, that will answer to such a Scene of things, as is here represented, must give such a slight Account of this _Psalm_. But on the other hand, if we have already an Idea of the Deluge, that is rational, and also consonant to Scripture upon other Proofs, and the Description here made by the Prophet answer to that Idea, whether then is it not more reasonable to think, that it stands upon that Ground, than to think it a mere Fancy and poetical Scene of Things? This is the true State of the Case, and that which we must judge of. Methinks ’tis very harsh to suppose all this a bare Fiction, grounded upon no matter of Fact, upon no sacred Story, upon no Appearance of God in Nature. If you say it hath a moral Signification, so let it have, we do not destroy that: It hath reference, no doubt, to the Dangers and Deliverances of the Church; but the Question is, whether the Words and natural Sense be a Fancy only, a Bundle of random Hyperboles? or, whether they relate to the History of the Deluge, and the State of the Ark there representing the Church? This makes the Sense doubly rich, Historically and Morally; and grounds it upon Scripture and Reason, as well as upon Fancy.

That violent Eruption of the Sea out of the Womb of the Earth, which _Job_ speaks of, is, in my Judgment, another Description of the Deluge; ’tis _ch._ xxxviii. 8, 9, 10, 11. _Who shut up the Sea with Doors, when it broke forth, as if it had issued out of a womb; when I made the Cloud the Garment thereof, and thick Darkness a swadling Band for it. And broke up for it my decreed Place.——Hitherto shalt thou come_, &c. Here you may see the Birth and Nativity of the Sea, or of _Oceanus_, describ’d[13], how he broke out of the Womb, and what his first Garment and Swadling-Cloaths were; namely, Clouds and thick Darkness. This cannot refer to any thing, that I know of, but to the Face of Nature at the Deluge; when the Sea was born, and wrapt up in Clouds and broken Waves, and a dark impenetrable Mist round the Body of the Earth. And this seems to be the very same, that _David_ had express’d in his Description of the Deluge, _Psal._ xviii. 11. _He made Darkness his secret Place, his Pavilion round about him were dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Skies._ For this was truly the Face of the World in the Time of the Flood, tho’ we little reflect upon it. And this dark Confusion every where, above and below, arose from the violent and confus’d Motion of the Abyss; which was dash’d in pieces by the falling Earth; and flew into the Air in misty Drops, as Dust flies up in a great Ruin. [See _Theor._ _Book_ i. _p._ 136.]

But I am afraid, we have stay’d too long upon this Particular, _The Form of the Deluge_; seeing ’tis but a Corollary from the precedent Article about the Dissolution of the Earth. However, Time is not ill spent about any thing that relates to natural Providence, whereof the two most signal Instances in our sacred Writings, are, the _Deluge_ and the _Conflagration_. And seeing _Job_ and _David_ do often reflect upon the Works of God in the external Creation, and upon the Administrations of Providence, it cannot be imagin’d, that they should never reflect upon the Deluge; the most remarkable Change of Nature that ever hath been, and the most remarkable Judgment upon Mankind. And if they have reflected upon it any where, ’tis, I think, in those Places and those Instances, which I have noted; and if those Places do relate to the Deluge, they are not capable, in my Judgment, of any fairer or more natural Interpretation, than that which we have given them; which you see, how much it favours and confirms our Theory.

I have now finished the Heads I undertook to prove, that I might shew our Theory to agree with Scripture in these three principal Points; first, in that it supposeth a Diversity and Difference betwixt the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth, and the present Heavens and Earth: Secondly, in assigning the particular Form of the ante-diluvian Earth and Abyss; Thirdly, in explaining the Deluge by a Dissolution of that Earth, and an Eruption of the Abyss. How far I have succeeded in this Attempt, as to others, I cannot tell; but I am sure I have convinced my self, and am satisfied that my Thoughts, in that Theory, have run in the same Tract with the Holy Writings, with the true Intent and Spirit of them. There are some Persons that are wilfully ignorant in certain things, and others that are willing to be ignorant, as the Apostle phraseth it; speaking of those Eternalists that denied the Doctrine of the Change and Revolutions of the natural World: And ’tis not to be expected but there are many still of the same Humour, and therefore may be called _willingly ignorant_; that is, they will not use that Pains and Attention that is necessary for the Examination of such a Doctrine, nor Impartiality in judging after Examination; they greedily lay hold on all Evidence on one side, and willingly forget, or slightly pass over, all Evidence for the other. This, I think, is the Character of those that are _willingly ignorant_; for I do not take it to be so deep as a downright wilful Ignorance, where they are plainly conscious to themselves of that Wilfulness: but where an insensible Mixture of human Passions inclines them one Way, and makes them averse to the other; and in that Method draws on all the Consequences of a willing _Ignorance_.

There remains still, as I remember, one Proposition that I am bound to make good; I said, at first, that our Hypothesis concerning the Deluge was more agreeable not only to Scripture in general, but also to the particular History of the Flood left us by _Moses_; I say, more agreeable to it than any other Hypothesis, that hath yet been propos’d. This may be made good in a few Words; for in _Moses_’s History of the Deluge, there are two principal Points, the Extent of the Deluge, and the Causes of it; and in both these we do fully agree with that sacred Author. _As to the Extent of it_, he makes the Deluge universal; _All the high Hills under the whole Heaven were cover’d fifteen Cubits upwards._ We also make it universal, over the Face of the whole Earth; and in such a Manner as must needs raise the Waters above the Top of the highest Hills every where. As _to the Causes of it_, _Moses_ makes them to be the Disruption of the _Abyss_, and the _Rains_, and no more; and in this also we exactly agree with him; we know no other Causes, nor pretend to any other but those two. Distinguishing therefore _Moses_ his Narration as to the Substance and Circumstances of it, it must be allowed that these two Points make the Substance of it, and that an Hypothesis that differs from it in either of these two, differs from it more than ours; which, at the worst, can but differ in Matter of Circumstance. Now seeing the great Difficulty about the Deluge is the Quantity of Water required for it, there have been two Explications proposed, besides ours, to remove or satisfy this Difficulty; one whereof makes the Deluge not to have been universal, or to have reach’d only _Judea_ and some neighbouring Countries, and therefore less Water would suffice; the other owning the Deluge to be universal, supplies it self with Water from the divine Omnipotency, and says _new_ Waters were created then for the nonce, and again annihilated, when the Deluge was to cease. Both these Explications, you see, (and I know no more of Note that are not obnoxious to the same Exceptions) differ from _Moses_ in the Substance, or in one of the two substantial Points, and consequently more than ours doth. The first changeth the Flood into a kind of National Inundation; and the second assigns other Causes of it than _Moses_ had assign’d; And as they both differ apparently from the _Mosaical_ History, so you may see them refuted upon other Grounds also, in the third Chapter of the first Book of the _Theory_.

This may be sufficient as to the History of the Flood by _Moses_: But possibly it may be said, the principal Objection will arise from _Moses_ his six Days Creation in the first Chapter of _Genesis_; where another sort of Earth, than what we have form’d from the Chaos, is represented to us; namely, a terraqueous Globe such as our Earth is at present. ’Tis indeed very apparent, that _Moses_ hath accommodated his six Days Creation to the present Form of the Earth, or to that which was before the Eyes of the People, when he wrote. But it is a great Question whether that was ever intended for a true Physical Account of the Origin of the Earth; or whether _Moses_ did either Philosophize or Astronomize in that Description. The antient fathers, when they answer the Heathens, and the Adversaries of Christianity, do generally deny it; as I am ready to make good upon another Occasion. And the Thing it self bears in it evident Marks of an Accommodation and Condescension to the vulgar Notions concerning the Form of the World: Those that think otherwise, and would make it literally and physically true in all the Parts of it, I desire them, without entring upon the strict Merits of the Cause, to determine these Preliminaries. First, whether the whole Universe rise from a terrestrial Chaos? Secondly, what System of a World this six Days Creation proceeds upon; whether it supposes the Earth, or the Sun, for the Center? Thirdly, whether the Sun and fix’d Stars are of a later Date, and a later Birth, than this Globe of Earth? And lastly, where is the Region of the Super-celestial Waters? When they have determin’d these Fundamentals, we will proceed to other Observations upon the six Days Work, which will farther assure us, that ’tis a Narration suited to the Capacity of the People, and not to the strict and physical Nature of Things. Besides, we are to remember, that _Moses_ must be so interpreted in the first Chapter of _Genesis_, as not to interfere with himself in other Parts of his History; nor to interfere with St. _Peter_, or the Prophet _David_, or any other sacred Authors, when they treat of the same Matter. Nor lastly, so, as to be repugnant to clear and uncontested Science. For, in things that concern the natural World, that must always be consulted.

With these Precautions, let them try if they can reduce that Narrative of the Origin of the World, to physical Truth; so as to be consistent, both with Nature, and with Divine Revelation every where. It is easily reconcileable to both, if we suppose it wrote in a vulgar Style, and to the Conceptions of the People; and we cannot deny that a vulgar Style is often made use of in the holy Writings. How freely and unconcernedly does Scripture speak of God Almighty, according to the Opinions of the Vulgar? Of his _Passions_, _local Motions_, _Parts and Members of his Body_: Which all are things that do not belong, or are not compatible with the Divine Nature, according to Truth and Science. And if this Liberty be taken, as to God himself, much more may it be taken as to his Works. And accordingly we see, what Motion the Scripture gives to the Sun; what Figure to the Earth; what Figure to the Heavens: All according to the Appearance of Sense and popular Credulity without any Remorse for having transgressed the Rules of intellectual Truth.

This vulgar Style of Scripture, in describing the Nature of Things, hath been often mistaken for the real Sense, and so become a Stumbling-Block in the Way of Truth. Thus the _Anthropomorphites_ of old contended for the human Shape of God, from the Letter of Scripture, and brought many express Texts for their purpose; but sound Reason, at length, got the upper hand of literal Authority. Then several of the Christian Fathers contended, that there were no _Antipodes_; and made that Doctrine irreconcilable to Scripture; But this also, after a while, went off, and yeilded to Reason and Experience. Then, the Motion of the Earth must by no means be allow’d, as being contrary to Scripture; for so it is indeed, according to the Letter and vulgar Style. But all intelligent Persons see thorough this Argument, and depend upon it no more in this Case, than in the former. Lastly, the Original of the Earth from a Chaos, drawn according to the Rules of Phisiology, will not be admitted; because it does not agree with the Scheme of the six Days Creation. But why may not this be wrote in a vulgar Style, as well as the rest? Certainly there can be nothing more like a vulgar Style, than to set God to _work by the Day_, and in six Days to finish his Task; as he is there represented. We may therefore probably hope that all these Disguises of Truth will at length fall off, and that we shall see God and his Works in a pure and naked Light.

Thus I have finished what I had to say in Confirmation of this Theory from Scripture; I mean of the former Part of it, which depends chiefly upon the Deluge, and the ante-diluvian Earth. When you have collated the Places of Scripture, on either side, and laid them in the Balance, to be weigh’d one against another; if you do but find them equal, or near to an equal Poise, you know in whether Scale the natural Reasons are to be laid; and of what Weight they ought to be in an Argument of this kind. There is a great Difference betwixt Scripture with Philosophy on its side, and Scripture with Philosophy against it, when the Question is concerning the natural World: And this is our Case; which I now leave to the Consideration of the unprejudic’d Reader, and proceed to the Proof of the second Part of the Theory.

The latter Part consists of the _Conflagration of the World_, and the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_; and seeing there is no Dispute concerning the former of these two, our Task will now lie in a little Compass; being only this, to prove that there will be new Heavens, and a new Earth, after the Conflagration. This, to my Mind, is sufficiently done already, in the first, second and third Chapters of the ivth book, both from Scripture and Antiquity, whether Sacred or Prophane; and therefore, at present, we will only make a short and easy Review of Scripture-Testimonies, with design chiefly to obviate and disappoint the Evasions of such, as would beat down solid Texts into thin Metaphors and Allegories.