9. Wind; and fo, as it afcended, made room for the Waters to defcend; and this Time (perhaps like the first Time) it seems, with a terrible Noife: As in Ainsworth's Annotations, p. 4. Gen. i. Ecclef. i. 17. At the Voice of thy Thunder they bafted away. And at Pfal. civ. 7, 8, 9. At thy Rebuke they fled, at the Voice of thy Thunder they hafted away; They go up by the Mountains, they go down by the Valleys unto the Place thou haft founded for them; Thou haft fet a Bound that they may not pass over, nor turn again to cover the Earth. Tho' no one has fhew'd that Mofes mentioned the Reformation, this is what is revealed of the Earth's coming together again, as it appears in the next Verse. If it had only been broken into large Fragments, or they had been disjointed, they would have been vifible; if into fmall ones, any larger than Sands, and they dif placed, they would have been vifible in the Settlement, or new Compofition; and it could not be as it is, without a Diffolution. The Opinions of abundance of old Pagans have been produc'd, to fhew that Mofes's Writings were not true; and abundance of Attempts, particularly by fome, to fhew that the Exuvia found in Stone came thither by other Means; aud by ; by others, to fhew that they were not Exuvia, have been produc'd. I have hinted that they made it their Business to avoid the Knowledge of, or ridicule the Actions of the true God: Abundance of Reasons have been offer'd to fhew what lately induc'd Chriftian People to doubt whether the Earth was diffolv'd, and fettled again with Sea-Shells, &c. in it; and what put them upon efpoufing those Heathen Conjectures about thofe Exuviæ * but the true one has not been affign'd; and that is, abundance of Demonftration had been pretended to be given, for the Operations of Gravity, &c. upon things at a Distance; the Aim of the Hypotheses of the Allies, so much commended by our Undertaker, [Dr. Woodward] centring there : And none, no not one, for the Agents mention'd in Revelation; and fo Gravity had got the better of Revelation. But ftill every one could fee, that the Settlement, and every Article of it, and in it, is directly contrary to that Law; and no one durst ever attempt to reconcile them, 'till lately an Undertaker who had discover'd an Abyss, a Cruft, and a Diffolution, or fome of : * Dr. Woodward's Nat. Hiftory of the Earth, P 14, &c. which let the Reader perufe, and he will understand what follows. them them; and confequently, had a Right for a Number of Years, fince twice expired, to all Alterations, or Improvements, which he or others should make in them, undertakes the greatest Discovery that ever was undertaken; and as he was the firft, he is likely to be the last that ever will undertake it; by the Law and Power of Gravity to put the Parts of it together again. Let us fee fuch another Champion for Revelation, who would do Mofes Juftice, by fhewing how he answer'd the Teft. How? *what Teft? He makes Gravity the principal established Agent; tho' he has given us no Copy of his Commiffion; and tho' I have feen Letters, which make me believe, if he carries this Point, there are fome Thoughts of making Gravity inde⚫pendent. And then he will fhew you whe ther that Being, whofe Agent he makes Gravity, infpir'd Mofes to give his Account of the Diffolution, and Settlement, or Reformation; who would bring Mofes (whofe Writings he understood perfectly well) to the faid Teft, as a Hiftorian who was fufpected of mifrepresenting the Actions of the premier Agent, under whom he held, and with whofe Actions he was * See Preface to N. H. and Book p. 28, and 58, and 74 very well acquainted, and fo a proper Judge: And impartially, as he would any common Hiftorian; tho' the Cafe is not exactly parallel: for if a common Hiftorian, or a common Undertaker, had done feveral things well, and but made one Trip, that would be pardonable; and he might be a great Man. But if Mofes has made one Trip, all the reft is not worth a Farthing. Who, that had made fo many Obfervations, would have been perfuaded to have undertaken this End of the Tafk but have let thofe who took that at a Distance have taken this too? Who would have promis'd, tho' fine die, to find out fomething that could refift the Force of Gravity, and stop the first spherical Stratum about an empty Abyfs? Nay, who would have afferted, for 'tis no more, that Gravity forted this Chaos generally, or as near as poffibly could be expected, in fo great a Confufion, into Strata of different Kinds, and of different Gravities, and laid them in Order, according to Law; when every dirty impertinent Collier can fhew you hard Stone at eighty or an hundred Fathom deep, above that a Seam of Coal, then above that, perhaps, twenty Fathom of Stone, forted into diftin&t Strata; then another Seam of Coal, then more Strata; then another Seam of Coal, and fo up; the Coals with scarce a Grain of Stone in them, and the Strata of Stone with scarce a Grain of Coal in them, and the diftinct or different Strata of Stone very exactly forted: The Leaves of Vegetables in each Stage found together in one Stratum, and fo each Sort of Shells, &c. And fo of Clay, Chiver, Slate, &c. fome of them in Strata almost as thin in cach Part as this Paper? Nay, who, in fo nice a Determination, would have afferted, that the Parts of Nodules in calm Water happen'd by chance to come together, and form them? What, could not this be attributed to Gravity? What, could not our Premier fupport a Lump of Metal, or Stone, which was to be of a Hundred or a Tun Weight in the Water, while it was forming, and bring the Parts out of the Chaos from above, and from below, and from every Side? Was there fome other Power we did not understand, or that we did not care to mention? Or is Gravity only another Word for Chance? Nay, who would, with thefe Bodies of Metal, or heavy Stone, hanging by Chance in the Water, together with Shells full of Flint, &c. and others empty, have undertaken to fhew that Shells funk, and were forted, according to each of their refpec |