DEL
[ 182]
DEL
ieaft, ail the Birds would never have been deftroy d; as Mofis fays they were ; fo long as they had Wings to bear them to thofe Parts where the Flood d.d not reach If the Waters had only overflowed the Neighbourhood of the Euphrates and Tigris, they could not be fifteen Cu- bits above the higheft Mountains ; 1 here was no R.fing to that Height, but they muft fpread themfelves by the Laws of 'Gravity, over the reft of the Earth: Unlef perhaps they had been retain d there by a Miracle ; Anct L that Cafe, Mofis, no doubt, would have related the Miracle as he did that of the Waters of the Red-Sea, and the River Jordan, which were fuftain'd in a Heap, to eivc Paffage to the Ifraelites. Exod, XIV. 12. and Jof. III \6 Add, that in Regions far remote from the Ett- fhrates, and Tigris, viz. in Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, England, &c. there are frequently found 111 Places, many fcores of Leagues from any Sea, and even in the Tops of high Mountains, whole Trees funk deep un- der Ground, as alfo Teeth, and Bones of Animals, Fifhes entire Sea-Shells, Ears of Corn, SSc. petrified ; Which, the beft Namralifts are agreed, could never have coma there but by the 'Deluge. ■ ._,..', ■'."■
II. The Deluge allowed Univerfal, the Philoiophcrs are follicitous to find Water to effefl it.
Mofis brings it from two Funds : The Fountains of the great Deep ivere broken up ; and the Windows of Heaven were open'di
Dr. Surnet, in his Telhtris Theona Sacra, thews, that all the Waters in the Ocean were not near enough to cover the Earth 15 Cubits above the Tops of the higheft Mountains. According to his Computation, no lefs than 8 Oceans were required. Now, fuppofing the Sea, there- fore drain'd quite dry, and all the Clouds of the Atmo- fphere diffolv'd into Rain, we fliould ftill want much the orcateft Part of the Water of a Deluge.
To net clear of this Embarrafs, many of our beft Natu- ralifts °as Steno, Surnet, Woodward, Scheuchzer, Sic. adopt del Cartel's Syftem of the Formation of the Earth. That Philofopher will have the primitive World to have been perfeftly round and equal, without Mountains, or Vales ; And accounts for its Formation on Mechanical Principles, by fuppofing it at firft in the Condition of a thick turbid Fluid, replete with divers Heterogeneous Matters, which fubfiding by flow Degrees, form'd them- felves into different concentric Strata, or Beds, by the Laws of Gravity : And thus, at length, left a dry, folid Earth.
Dr. Burnet improves on this Theory : He iuppofes the primitive Earth to have been no more than an Orbi- cular Craft, invefting the Face of the Abyfs, or Deep, which grew chinky, clave, burft, and fell down into the Water, and fo drown'd its Inhabitants.
The fame Theorift adds, That by this Cataftrophe, the Globe of rhe Earth was not only fhook, and broke in a thoufand Places, but that the Violence of the Shock it then underwent fhifted its Situation, fo that the Earth, which before was placed directly under the Zodiac, be- came thenceforth oblique to the fame. Whence arofe the Difference of Seafons, which the Antediluvian Earth was not expofed to.
But how all this confifts with the facred Text above cited, which exprefsly mentions Mountains as the Stan- dard' of the Height of the Water ; Or, with that other Paffage, Gen. VIII. 12. where God, promifing not to bring any more Deluges, but that every Thing fliould be reftor'd on its ancient footing, fays, that Seed-Time and Harveft, and Cold and Heat, and Summer and Winter, and Day and Night fball ceafi no more ; we do not fee. Other Authors, fuppofing a fufficient Fund of Water in the Abyfs, or Sea, are only concern'd for an Expedient to bring it forth ; Accordingly, fome have Recourfe to a Shifting of the Earth's Centre, which, drawing after it the Water out of its Channel, ovcrwhelm'd the feveral Parts of the Earth fucceflively.
The very learned Mr. WhiJIon, in his New Theory of the Earth, has a very ingenious Hypothefis, perfectly new. He fhews from feveral remarkable Co-incidences, that a Comet defcending in the Plane of the Ecliptic to- wards its 'Perihelion, pafs'd juft before the Earth on the firft Day of the Deluge ; The Confequences whereof would be, Firft, That this Comet, when it came below the Moon, would raife a prodigious, vaft, and ftrong Tide, both in the fmall Seas, which, according to his Hypothe- fis, were in the Antidiluvian Earth, for he allows no great Ocean there, as in ours ; and alfo in the Abyfs, which was under the upper Craft of the Earth. And this Tide would rife, and increafe all the Time of the Approach of the Comet towards the Earth ; and would be at its great- eft Height when the Comet was at its leaft Diftance from it. By the Force of which Tide, as alfo by the Attrac- tion of the Comet, he judges, that the Abyfs rnuft put
on an Eliptic Figure, whofe Surface being confiderably larger than the former Spherical one ; the outward Cruft of the Earth, incumbent on the Abyfs, mutt accommo- date it felf to the Figure, which it could not do while it held folid, and conjoyned together. He concludes, there- fore, that it muft of Neceffity be extended^ and at laft broke by the Violence of the faid Tides, and Attraftion; out of which, the included Water iffuing, was a great Means of the Deluge : This anfwering to what Mofis fpeaks of the Fountains of the great Deep being broke up. ' " , .
Again, the fame Comet, he fhews, in its Defcent to- wards the Sun, paffed fo clofe by the Body of the Earth, as to involve it in its Atmofphere, and Tail, for a confi- derable Time ; and of Confequence, left a vaft Quantity of its Vapours, both expanded and condenfed on its Sur- face ■ a great Part of which being aftetwards rarified by the folar Heat, would be drawn up again into the Atmo- fphere, and afterwards return again in violent Rains ; And this he takes to be what Mofis intimates by the Windows of Heaven being open d ; and particularly by the fourty DaysRain. For as to the following Rain, which with this made the whole Time of Raining 150 Days ■ Mr. Whifton attributes it to the Earth coming a fecond Time within the Atmofphere of the Comet, as the Comet was on its Return from the Sun. Laffily, to remove this vaft Orb of Waters again, he fuppofes a mighty Wind to have arofe, which dried up fome, and forced the reft into the Abyfs again through the Clefts by which it came up : Only a good Quantity remain'd in the Alveus of the great Ocean, now firft made, and in leffer Seas, Lakes, iSc. - To the Credit of this Theory, it muft be obferved, that it was at firft only propofed Hypothetically : That is, the Author only fuppoled fuch a Comet, merely, as it would account well, and Philofophically for the thdinomena of the Deluge I without any Affurance, that^there really was any Comet fo near the Earth at that Time : And the Hypothefis pleas'd even under fuch Circumftances ; But, upon further Consideration, he has fince proved, that there actually was a Comet near the Earth at that Time; viz,, the fame gteat Comet, which appear'd again in itfSS. The Author no longer, therefore, looks upon ir as an Hy- pothefis, but has republifh'd it in a particular Trail, en- tituled, The Caufi of the Deluge demonflrated.
III. But the great Difficulty is yet behind. The order- ly Strata, or Layers of the Earth, with the Exuvice, or Remains of Fifhes, as their Teeth, Bones, Shells, iSc._ both Marine, and Fiuviatile, found in the Bodies, even of themott folid Strata, as thofe of Flints, Marbles, SV. are not yet difpatch'd. Thofe who adhere to Des Car- tes' 's Svttem, as Steno, &c. take the finding of the Parts of Terrcftrial, and Aquatic Animals, Branches of Trees, Leaves, &c. in the Beds, or Strata of Stone, to be a di- rect Proof of the primitive Fluidity of the Earth. But then they are obhg'd to have Recourfe to a fecond For- mation of Strata, much later than the firft ; by Reafon at the Time of the firft there was neither Plant nor Ani- mal. Steno, therefore, holds for fecond Formations, oc- cafion'd ar different Times by extraordinary Inundations, Earth-quakes, Volcano's, iZc. But Surnet, Woodward, Scheuchzer, ike. chufe rather to attribute a fecond gene- ral Formation to the Deluge 5 without Excluding, how- ever, the parricular ones of Steno. But the great Object ion againft this Syftem of Fluidity, is Mountains ; For the whole Globe being liquid, whence fhould fuch Inequali- ties arife ? Mr. Scheuchzer, rather than part with a Syftem, which looks fo promifing, gives into the Opinion of thofe, who hold, that, after the Deluge, God, to re- mit the Waters into their fubterranean Rcl'ervoirs, broke, and difplaced, with his own Almighty Hand, a great Number- of Strata, that were before horizontal, and rai- fed them above the Sutface of the Eatth 5 whence it is, that the Strata in Mountains, tho' concentrical, are never horizontal. See Mountain, &c.
Dr. Woodward, taking the feveral Strata for the Sedi- ments of a Deluge ; and confidcring the Circumftances of thofe Fifhes, Shells, and other Exuvi£, draws feveral Inferences, which very much illuftrate the Effects of the Deluge. As firft, That thefe Marine Bodies, and other Spoils of frefli Water Fifhes, were born forth of the Sea, by the univerfal Deluge ; and on Return of the Water back again, were left behind at Land. Secondly, That while the Flood cover'd the Globe, all the folid Matters, as Stones, Metals, Minerals, and Foffils, were totally dif- folved, and the Cohefion of their Corpufcles deftroyed ; and that thefe Corpufcles, with thofe of the lefs folid Bo- dies, as Earth, Flcfli of Animals, and Vegetables, were fuftain'd promifcuoufly in the Water, and made one com- mon Mafs. Thirdly, That all the Mafs thus fuftain'd, was at length ptecipitated to the Bottom ; and that, ac- cording to the Laws of" Gravity, the hcavieft Settling
