SrSir

YorYour argument p 118 I acknowledg good against those who suppose only hills & mountains taken out of yethe Sea, & it may be good agtagainst those who suppose all yethe earth higher then yethe sea taken out thence but one who would have mountains & yethe sea made by removing earth from one place to another might suppose (if it were necessary) all the earth a quarter of a mile or half a mile lower then the top of the seas or then the lowest valleys, or even lower then that, was thrown out of the deep. But the opinion being to me absurd, I say no more of it. I could wish I was as well satisfied wthwith your argument about yethe oval figure of yethe earth. ffor it seems hard to me that a constant force applied to stretch tha membrane (as you figuratively term yethe atmosphere) should make it shrink, unless you suppose it at first overstretcht by a tumultuary force & so to return by way of undulation, & that yethe limus of yethe earth hardened while it was in yethe ebb. But what ever may be yethe reason of yethe earths figure you desire my opinion what that figure its. I am most inclined to beleive it spherical or not much oval. And my chief reason for that opinion is yethe analogy of yethe Planets. They all appear round so far as we can discern by Telescopes, & I take yethe earth to be like yethe rest. If it's diurnal motion would make it oval that of Iupiter would much more make Iupiter oval the vis centrifuga at his equator caused by his diurnal motion being 20 or 30 times greater then the vis centrifuga at orour equator caused by the diurnal motion of orour earth, as may be collected from the largeness of his body & swiftness of his revolutions. The sun also has a motion about his axis & yet is round. What may be argued from yethe dimensions of yethe earth's shaddow collected by Lunar Eclipses I cannot tell, nor what from yethe measures on yethe earth answering to a degree in several latitudes, not knowing how exactly those measures were made or the Latitudes of places taken.

You seem to apprehend that I would have the prpresent face of yethe earth formed in yethe first creation. A sea I beleive was then formed as mosesMoses expresses, but not like orour sea, but with an eaven bottom, wthwithout any precipices or steep descents as I think I exprest in my letter. Of orour present sea, rocks, mountains &c I think you have given the most plausible account. And yet if one would go about to explain it otherwise Philosophically, he might say that that as saltpeter dissolved in water, though yethe solution be uniform crystallises not all over yethe vessel alike but here & there in long barrs of salt: so the limus of the Chaos or some substances in it might coagulate at first, not all over the earth alike, but here & there in veins or beds of divers sorts of stones & minerals. That in other places wchwhich remained yet soft, the air wchwhich in some measure subsided out of yethe superior regions of yethe earth chaos together wthwith yethe earth or limus, by degrees extricating it self, gave liberty to the limus to shrink & subside & leave the first coagulated places standing up like hills: which subsiding would be encreased by the draining & drying of that limus. That the veins & tracts of limus in the bowels of those mountains 4 also drying & consequently shrinking, crack't & left many cavities some dry others filled with water. That after the upper crust of the earth by the heat of the sun together wthwith that caused by action of minerals, was hardened & set; the earth in the lower regions still going closer together left large caverns between it & the upper crust filled wthwith the water wchwhich upon subsiding by its weight it spewed out by degrees till it had done shrinking, wchwhich caversns or subterraneal seas might be the great deep of Moses. And if you will, it may be supposed one great orb of water between yethe upper crust or gyrus & the lower earth, though perhaps not a very regular one. That in process of time many exhalations were gathered in those caverns which would have expanded them selves into 40 or 50 times the room they lay in, or more, had they been at liberty. ffor if air in a glass may be crouded into 18 or 20 times less room then it takes at liberty & yet not burst the glass, much more may subterranean exhalations by the vast weight of yethe incumbent earth be keept crouded into a less room before they can in any place lift up & burst that earthen crust of earth. That at length somewhere forcing a breach, they by expanding themselves forced out vast quantities of water before they could all get out themselves, wchwhich commotion caused tempests in the air & thereby by great falls of rain in spouts & all together made yethe flood & after the vapors were out yethe waters retired into their former place. That the air wchwhich in yethe beginning subsided wthwith yethe earth, by degrees extricating it self might be pent up in one or more great caverns in the lower earth under yethe abyss & at yethe time of yethe flood breaking out into yethe abyss & consequently expanding it self might also force out yethe waters of yethe abyss before it. That the upper crust or gyrus of earth might be upon the stretch before yethe breaking out of yethe abyss & then by its weight shrinking to its natural posture might help much to force out the waters. That yethe subterraneal vapors which then first brake out & have ever since continued frequently to do so, being found by experience noxious to mans health infect the air & cause that shortness of life wchwhich has been ever since the flood. And that several pieces of earth either at the flood or since falling, some perhaps into yethe great deep, others into less & shallower cavities, have caused many of those Phænomena we see on yethe earth besides the original hills and cavities.

But you will ask how could an uniform chaos coagulate at first irregularly in heterogenous veins or masses to cause hills. Tell me then how an uniform solution of saltpeter coagulates irregulyirregularly into long barrs; or to give you another instance, if Tinn, (such as the Pewterers buy from the mines in Cornwel to make Pewter of) be melted & then let stand to cool till it begin to congeal & when it begins to congeale at yethe edges, if it be inclined on one side for yethe more fluid part of yethe Tin to run from those parts wchwhich congeale first, you will see a good part of yethe Tin congealed in lumps which after the fluider part of yethe Tin wchwhich congeales not so soon is run from between them appear like so many hills with as much irregularity as any hills on yethe earth do. Tell me yethe cause of this & yethe answer will perhaps serve for yethe Chaos.

All this I write not to oppose you, for I think the main part of your Hypothesis as probable as what I have here written, if not in some respects more probable. And though the pressure of yethe Moon or Vortex &c may promote yethe irregularity of yethe causes of hills, yet I did not in my former letter design to explain the generation of hills thereby, but only to insinuate how a Sea might be made above ground in your own hypothesis before the flood besides the subterranean great deep, & thereby all difficulty of explaining rivers & the main point in wchwhich some may think you & Moses disagree might be avoyded. But this sea I notdo not suppose round the Equator but rather to be two seas in two opposite parts of it where the cause of yethe flux & reflux of orour prpresent Sea deprest the soft mass of yethe earth at that time when yethe upper crust of it hardened.

As to Moses I do not think his description of yethe creation either Philosophical or feigned, but that he described realities in a language artificially adapted to yethe senscee of yethe vulgar. Thus where he speaks of two great lights I suppose he means their apparent, not real greatness. So when he tells us God placed those lights in yethe firmamtfirmament, he speaks I suppose of their apparent not of their real place, his business being not to correct the vulgar notions in matters philosophical but to adapt a description of yethe creation as handsomly as he could to yethe sense & capacity of yethe vulgar. So when he tells us of two great lights & the starrs made yethe 4th day, I do not think their creation from beginning to end was done yethe fourth day nor in any one day of yethe creation nor that Moses mentions their creation as they were physicall bodies in themselves some of them greater then this earth & perhaps habitable worlds, but only as they were lights to this earth, & therefore though their creation could not physically be assigned to any one day, yet being a part of yethe sensible creation wchwhich it was Moses's design to describe & it being his design to describe things in order according to yethe succession of days allotting no more then one day to one thing, they were to be referred to some day or other & rather to yethe 4th day then any other if the air then first became clear enough for them to shine through it & so put on yethe appearance of lights in yethe firmament to enlighten the earth. ffor till then they could not properly be described under yethe notion of such lights, nor was their description under that notion to be deferred after they had that appearance though it may be the creation of some of them was not yet completed. Thus far perhaps one might be allowed to go in yethe explaining yethe creation of yethe 4th day, but in yethe fift third day for Moses to describe yethe creation of seas when there was no such thing done neither in reality nor in appearance me thinks is something hard. & that yethe rather becaus if before yethe flood there was no water but that of rivers that is none but fresh water above ground there could be no fish but such as live in fresh water & so one half of yethe fift days work will be a non entity & God must be put upon a new creation after yethe flood to replenish one half of this terraqueous globe wthwith Whales & all those other kinds of Sea fish we now have.

You ask what was that light created yethe first day? Of what extent was yethe Mosaical chaos? Was yethe firmament if taken for yethe atmosphere so considerable a thing as to take up one day's work? & would not yethe description of yethe creation have been complete wthwithout mentioning it? To answer these things fully would require comment upon Moses whom I dare not pretend to understand: yet to say something by way of conjecture, one may suppose that all yethe Planets about orour Sun were created together, there being in no history any mention of new ones appearing or old ones ceasing. That they all & yethe sun too had at first 4 one common Chaos. That this Chaos by yethe spirit of God moving upon it became separated into several parcels each parcel for a planet. That at yethe same time yethe matter of yethe sun also separated from yethe rest & upon yethe separation began to shine before it was formed into that compact & well defined body we now see it. And the preceding darkness & light now cast upon yethe chaos of every Planet from yethe Solar chaos was the evening & morning wchwhich Moses calls yethe first day even before yethe earth had any diurnall motion or was formed into a globular body. That it being Moses design to describe the origination of this earth only & to touch upon other things only so far as they related to it, he passes over the division of yethe general chaos into particular ones & does not so much as describe yethe fountain of that light God made that is yethe Chaos of yethe Sun, but only wthwith respect to the Chaos of orour Earth tells us that God made light upon yethe face of yethe deep where darkness was before. Further one maight suppose that after orour chaos was separated from yethe rest, by the same principle wchwhich promoted its separation (wchwhich might be gravitation towards a center) it shrunk closer together & at length a great part of it condensing subsided in yethe form of a muddy water or limus to compose this terraqueous globe. & tThe rest wchwhich condensed not separated into two parts the vapors above & the air wchwhich being of a middle degree of gravity, ascended from yethe one descended from the other & gathered into a body stagnating between both. Thus was the Chaos at once separated into three regions the globe of muddy waters below yethe firmament the vapors or waters above the firmament & yethe air or firmament it self. Moses had before called the Chaos the deep & the waters on yethe face of wchwhich yethe spirit of God moved, & here he teaches the division of all those waters into two parts with a firmament between them: wchwhich being the main step in yethe generation of this earth was in no wise to be omitted by Moses. After this general division of yethe chaos Moses teaches a subdivision of one of its its parts, that is of the miry waters under yethe firmament into clear water & dry land ion the surface of the whole globous mass. ffor wchwhich separation nothing more was requisite then that yethe water should be drained from yethe higher parts of yethe limus to leave them dry land & gather together into yethe lower to compose seas. And some parts might be made higher then others not only by yethe cause of yethe flux & reflux but also by yethe figure of yethe Chaos if it was made by division from yethe Chaos's of other Planets. ffor then it could not be spherical. And now while the new planted vegetables grew to be food for Animals, the heavens becoming clear for yethe Sun in yethe day & Moon & starrs in yethe night to shine distinctly through them on the earth & so put on yethe form of lights in yethe firmament so that had men been now living on yethe earth to view yethe process of yethe creation they would have judged those lights created at this time, Moses here sets down their creation as if he had then lived & were now describing what he saw. Omit them he could not wthwithout rendring his description of yethe creation imperfect in yethe judgment of yethe vulgar. To describe them distinctly as they were in them selves would have made yethe narration tedious & confused, amased yethe vulgar & become a Philosopher more then a Prophet. He mentions them therefore only so far as yethe vulgar had a notion of them, that is as they were phænomena in orour firmament & describes their making only so far & at such a time as they were made such phænomena. Consider therefore whether any one who understood the process of yethe creation & designed to accommodate to yethe vulgar not an Ideal or poetical but a true description of it as succinctly & theologically as Moses has done, without omitting any thing material wchwhich yethe vulgar have a notion of or describing any being further then the vulgar have a notion of it, could mend that description wchwhich Moses has given us. If it be said that yethe expression of making & setting two great lights in yethe firmament is more poetical then natural, so also are some other expressions of Moses, as where he he tells us the windows or floodgates of heaven were opened Gen 7 & afterwards stopped again Gen 8 & yet the things signified by such figurative expressions are not Ideall or moral but true. ffor Moses accommodating his words to yethe gross conceptions of yethe vulgar, describes things much after yethe manner as one of yethe vulgar would have been inclined to do had he lived & seen yethe whole series of wtwhat Moses describes.

Now for yethe number & length of yethe six days: yetheby what is said above you may make yethe first day as long as you please, & yethe second day too if there was no diurnal motion till there was a terraqueous globe, that is till towards yethe end of that days work. And then if you will suppose yethe earth put in motion by an eaven force applied to it, & that yethe first revolution was done in one of orour years, in the time of another year there would be three revolutions of a third five of a fourth seaven &c & of the 183d yeare 365 revolutions, that is as many as there are days in orour year & in all this time Adams life would be increased but about 90 of orour years, which is no such great business. But yet I must profess I know no sufficient naturall cause of yethe earth's diurnal motion. Where natural causes are at hand God uses them as instruments in his works, but I doe not thinck them alone sufficient for yethe creation & therefore may be allowed to suppose that amongst other things God gave the earth it's motion by such degrees & at such times as was most suitable to yethe creatures. If you would have a year for each days work you may by supposing day & night was made by the annual motion of yethe earth only & that the earth had no diurnal motion till towards the end of yethe six days. But you'l complain of long & dolefull nights. And why might not birds & fishes endure one long night as well as those & other animals endure many in Greenland, or rather why not better then the tender substances wchwhich were growing into animals might endure successions of short days & nights & consequently of heat and cold? ffor what think you would become of an egge or Embryo wchwhich should frequently grow hot & cold? Yet if you think yethe night too long, it's but supposing the divine operations quicker. But be it as it will, me thinks one of the tenn commandmtscommandment given by God in mount Sina, prest by divers of yethe prophets, observed by orour Saviour, his Apostles & first Christians for 300 years & wthwith a day's alteration by all Christians to this day, should not be grounded on a fiction. At least Divines will hardly be perswaded to leivebeleive so.

As I am writing, another illustration of yethe generation of hills proposed above comes into my mind. Milk is as uniform a liquor as yethe chaos was. If beer be poured into it & yethe mixture let stand till it be dry, the surface of yethe curdled substance will appear as rugged & mountanous as the earth in any place. I forbear to describe other causes of mountains, as yethe breaking out of vapours from below before the earth was well hardned, the settling & shringking of yethe whole globe after yethe uperper regions or surface began to be hard. Nor will I urge their antiquity out of Prov. 8.25. Iob: 15.7 Psal. 90.2 but rather beg yoryour excuse for this tedious letter, wchwhich I have yethe more reason to do because I have not set down any thing I espouse have well considered or will undertake to defend.