Miscellaneous Discourses, Chapter 5 · Section 1
SECT. I.
…he Waters again naturally overflowing and covering the Earth.
THE Firſt Queſtion is, Whether there be any thing in Nature, which may …ove and demonſtrate, or probably argue …nd infer a future Diſſolution? To which I …ſwer, That I think, there is nothing in …ature which doth neceſſarily demonſtrate future Diſſolution: but that Poſition of the …eripatetick Schools may, for ought I know, …e true Philoſophy, Poſito ordinario Dei con…rſu mundus poſſet durare in aeternum. Sup…ſing the ordinary concourſe of God [with …econd Cauſes] the World might endure for …ver. But though a future Diſſolution by Natural Cauſes, be not demonſtrable; y… ſome poſſible, if not probable, Accidents the… are, which, if they ſhould happen, might i… fer ſuch a Diſſolution. Thoſe are Four, T… Poſſibility of
1. The Waters again overflowing and … vering the Earth.
2. The Extinction of the Sun.
3. The Eruption of the Central Fire … cloſed in the Earth.
4. The Dryneſs and Inflammability of t… Earth under the Torrid Zone, and the Er… tion of all the Vulcano's at once.
But before I treat of theſe, it will not amiſs, a little to conſider the old Argum… for the Worlds Diſſolution, and that is, daily Conſeneſcence and Decay: which, if can be proved, will in proceſs of time, … ceſſarily infer a Diſſolution. For as the … poſtle ſaith in another caſe, That which … cayeth and waxeth old is ready to va… away, Heb. 8.13. That which continua… waſtes, will at laſt be quite conſume… that which daily grows weaker and weak… will in time loſe all its force. So the A… and Stature and Strength of Man, and … other Animals, every Generation decreaſi… they will in the end come to nothing. A… that all theſe, and all other things do ſ… ceſſively diminiſh and decay in all Nature Perfections and Qualities, as well as Moral, …th been the received Opinion, not only of …e Vulgar, but even of Philoſophers …emſelves from Antiquity down to our …es Plin. Nat. Hiſt. lib. 7. c. 16. In ple…m autem cuncto mortalium generi minorem …dies menſuram ſtaturae propemodum obſerva…r: raroſque patribus proceriores conſumente …ertatem ſeminum exuſtione; in cujus vices …nc vergat aevum.
Terra malos homines nunc educat atque pu ſillos. Juvenal. Sat.
…nd Gellius Noct. Att. lib. 3. c. 10. Et …nc quaſi jam mundo ſeneſcente rerum atque …ominum decrementa ſunt. I might accumu…te places out of the Ancients and Moderns … this purpoſe, but that hath been already …one by others.
But this Opinion, how general ſoever it …as formerly, was inconſiderately and with…ut ſufficient ground, taken up at firſt; and …fterwards without due examination embra…ed and followed; as appears by Dr. Hake…il's Apology, wherein it is ſo fundamen…ally confuted; that it hath ſince been re…ected by all conſiderate Perſons. For that Author hath at large demonſtrated, that nei…her the pretended decay of the Heavenly Bodies in regard of Motion, Light, Heat … Influence: or of any of the Elements: n… ther the pretended decay of Animals, a… particularly and eſpecially of Mankind, i… regard of Age and Duration, of Streng… and Stature, of Arts and Wits, of Manne… and Converſation, do neceſſarily infer a… decay in the World, or any tendency to Diſſolution. The only Objection agai… this Opinion, is the Longaevity of the An… diluvian Patriarchs, and of ſome alſo (I me… the firſt) of the Poſtdiluvian. For immed… ately after the Flood the Age of Man d… gradually decreaſe every Generation in gre… proportions; ſo that had it continued ſo to … at that rate, the Life of Man had ſoon ca… to nothing. Why it ſhould at laſt ſettle … Threeſcore and Ten Years, as a mean Ter… and there continue ſo many Ages, witho… any further Change and Diminution, is, confeſs, a Myſtery too hard for me to revea… However, there muſt be a great and extr… ordinary Change at the time of the Floo… either in the Temperature of the Air, … Quality of the Food, or in the Temper an… Conſtitution of the Body of Man, which i… duced this decrement of Age. That th… Temper and Conſtitution of the Bodies … the Antediluvians was more firm and d… rable than that of their Poſterity after th… Flood; and that this Change of the Term of Life was not wholly to be attributed to Miracle, may both be demonſtrated from the gradual decreaſe of the Age of the Poſtdiluvians. For had it been miraculous, why ſhould not the Age of the very firſt Generation after the Flood have been reduced to that Term? And what account can we give of their holding out for ſome Generations againſt the inconveniencies of the Air, or deteriority of Diet, but the ſtrength and firmneſs of their Conſtitutions? which yet was originally owing to the Temperature of the Air, or Quality of their Diet, or both; ſeeing a Change in theſe (for there was no other viſible Cauſe) did by degrees prevail againſt, and impair it. What influence the lying ſo long of the Water upon the Earth might have upon the Air and Earth, in changing them for the worſe, and rendring them more unfit for the maintenance and continuation of Humane Life, I will not now diſpute. But whatever might be the Cauſe of the Longaevity of the Antediluvians, and the contracting of the Age of the Poſtdiluvians, it is manifeſt, that the Age of theſe did at the laſt ſettle, as I ſaid, at or about the Term of Threeſcore and Ten, and hath there continued for Three Thouſand Years without any diminution.
I proceed now to the Accidents which might poſſibly, in proceſs of Time, infer a Diſſolution of the World.
1. The poſſibility of the Water, in proceſs of Time again overflowing and covering o… the Earth.
For, Firſt of all, The Rains continually waſhing down and carrying away Earth from the Mountains, it is neceſſary, that as wel… the height as the bulk of them ſhould anſwerably decreaſe; and that they do ſo, i… evident in Experience. For, as I have elſe where noted, I have been informed by a Gentleman of good Credit, that whereas th… Steeple of Craich in the Peak of Derbyſhire in the memory of ſome Old Men then living [1672.] could not have been ſee… from a certain Hill lying between Hopton an… Wirkſworth, now not only the Steeple, bu… a great part of the Body of the Church may… from thence be ſeen; which comes to paſ… by the ſinking of a Hill between the Church and place of view: a parallel example where to the Learned Dr. Plot gives us, in a Hill between Sibbertoft and Haſleby in Northamptonſhire, Hiſt. Nat. Stafford. p. 113. And thu… will they continue to do ſo long as there fall… any Rains, and as they retain any declivity, that is, till they be levelled with the Plains.
2. By reaſon of the abundance of Earth thus waſhed off the Mountains by Shots of Rain, and carried down with the Floods to the Sea; about the out-lets of the Rivers, where the violent Motion of the Water ceaſes, ſettling to the bottom, and raiſing it up by degrees above the Surface of the Water, the Land continually gains upon, and drives back the Sea: The Egyptian Pharos or Lighthouſe of Old Time ſtood in an Iſland a good diſtance from Land, which is now joyned to the Continent, the interjacent Fretum having been filled up by the Sill brought down by the River Nilus in the time of the Flood ſubſiding there. Indeed the Ancient Hiſtorians do truly make the whole Land of Egypt to have been foreign, the Gift of the River, and by this means gained from the Sea. Seneca in the Sixth Book of his Nat. Queſt. chap. 26. gives this account, Egyptus ex …imo tota concrevit. Tantum enim (ſi Homero fides) aberat à continenti Pharos, quantum navis diurno curſu metiri plenis lata velis poteſt. Sed continenti admota eſt. Turbidus enim defluens Nilus, multúmque ſecum limum trahens, & eum ſubinde apponens prioribus terris, Aegyptum annuo incremento ſemper ultra tulit. Inde pinguis & limoſi ſoli eſt, nec ulla intervalla in ſe habet; ſed crevit in ſolidum areſcente limo, quo preſſa erat & cedens ſtructura, &c. That is, All Egypt is but a Concretion of Mud. For (if Homer may be believed) the Pharos was as far diſtan… from the Continent, as a Ship with full ſai… could run in a days time; but now it is joyne… to it. For Nilus flowing with troubled Waters brings down a great deal of mud and Silt and adding to it the old land, carries o… Egypt further and further ſtill by an annua… increaſe. Hence it is of a fat and mudd… ſoil, and hath no pores or cavities in it. A… this reaſon he gives why it is not troubled wit… Earthquakes. Thus by reaſon of the gre… Rivers, Po, Atheſis, Brenta, and others, whic… empty themſelves into the Lagune, or Sha… lows about Venice in Italy, and in times o… floods bring down thither great ſtore … earth, thoſe Lagune are in danger to, be i… time atterrated, and with the City ſituate i… the midſt of them, added to the firm Lan… Thus in the Carnarg, or Iſle that the Rive… Rhoſne makes near Arles in Provence, the… hath been ſo much lately gained from th… Sea, that the Watch tower had, in the memory of ſome Men, been removed forwar… three times, as we were there informed And it ſeems to me probable, that the who… Low Countreys were thus gained from th… Se…. For Varenius in his Geography tel us, That ſinking a Well at Amſterdam, a… near an hundred foot depth, they met with a bed or floor of Sand and Cockle-ſhells; whence it is evident, one would think, that of old time the bottom of the Sea lay ſo deep, and that that hundred foot thickneſs of Earth above the Sand, aroſe from the Sediments of the Waters of thoſe great Rivers, the Rhine, Scheld, Maes, &c. which thereabouts emptied themſelves into the Sea, and in times of Floods brought down with them abundance of Earth from the upper grounds. The ſame Original doubtleſs had that great Level of the Fens, running through the Iſle of Ely, Holland in Lincolnſhire and Marſhland in Norfolk. That there hath been no ſmall quantity of Earth thus brought down, appears alſo in that along the Channels of moſt great Rivers, as for example, the Thames and Trent in England, eſpecially near their Mouths or Out-lets, between the Mountains and higher grounds on each ſide, there are large Levels and Plains; which ſeem to have been originally part of the Sea, raiſed up, and atterrated by Earth and Silt brought down by thoſe Rivers in great Floods.
Now the Rain thus continually waſhing away, and carrying down Earth from the Mountains and higher Grounds, and raiſing up the Vallies near the Sea, as long as there is any deſcent for the Rivers, ſo long will they continue to run, carry forward the low ground, and ſtreighten the Sea, which alſo by its working, by reaſon of the declivity, eaſily carries down the Earth towards the lower and middle part of its Channel [alveus] and by degrees may fill it up. Moreover, the Clouds ſtill pouring down Rain upon the Earth, it will deſcend as far as there is any declivity; and where that fails, it will ſtagnate, and joyning with Sea, cover firſt the skirts of the Earth, and ſo by degrees higher and higher, till the Whole be covered.
To this we may add, that ſome aſſiſtance toward the levelling of the Mountains, may be contributed by the Courſes and Catarracts of ſubterraneous Rivers waſhing away the Earth continually, and weakning their foundations, ſo by degrees cauſing them to founder, ſubſide, and fall in. That the Mountains do daily diminiſh, and many of them ſink; that the Vallies are raiſed; that the Skirts of the Sea are atterrated, no man can deny. That theſe things muſt needs in proceſs of time have a very conſiderable and great effect, is as evident; which what elſe can it be, then that we have mentioned?
Varenius in his Geography putting the Queſtion, Whether the Ocean may again come to cover all the Earth, and make an Univerſal Deluge; anſwers, That we may conceive a way how this may naturally come to paſs. The manner thus, Suppoſing that the Sea by its continual working doth undermine and waſh away the Shores and Cliffs that are not rocky, and carry the Earth thereof down towards the middle, or deepeſt parts of its Channel, and ſo by degrees fill it up. By doing this perpetually, it may, in a long ſucceſſion of Time, carry all away, and it ſelf cover the whole Earth. That it doth thus ſubvert and waſh away the Shores in many places is in experience true. About Dort in Holland and Dullart in Frieſland, and in Zealand many Villages, ſome ſay Three Hundred, have been drown'd by the encroachments of the Sea, as ſome of their Towers and Steeples ſtill extant above the Waters do teſtifie. On the Tuſcan Shore, Kircher tell us, that not far from Ligorn he himſelf had obſerved a whole City under Water, that had been in former times drown'd by the Inundation of the Sea. And over againſt Puteoli in the Sinus of Baia, he tells us, that in the bottom of the Sea, there are not only Houſes, but the traces and footſteps of the Streets of ſome City manifeſtly diſcernable. And in the County of Suffolk, almoſt the whole Town of Donewick, with the adjacent Lands, hath been undermined and devoured by the Sea.
This waſhing away of the Shores is, I conceive, in great meaſure to be attributed to the fore-mentioned ſtreightning and cutting ſhort of the Sea, by the Earth and Silt that in the times of Floods are brought down into it by the Rivers. For the Vulgar have a Proverbial Tradition, That what the Sea loſes in one place, it gains in another. And both together do very handſomly make out and explain, how the Earth in a Natural way, may be reduced to its primitive ſtate in the Creation, when the Waters covered the Land. But this according to the leiſurely proceedings of Nature, would not come to paſs in many Ages, I might ſay, in Ages of Ages: Nay, ſome think, that thoſe vaſt Ridges and Chains of Mountains, which run through the middle of the Continents are by reaſon of their great height, weight and ſolidity, too great a Morſel ever to be devoured by the Jaws of the Sea. But whether they be or not, I need not diſpute though I incline to the Negative, becauſe this is not the diſſolution the Apoſtle here ſpeaks of, which muſt be by Fire.
But I muſt not here diſſemble an Objection I ſee may be made, and that is, That the Superficies of the Earth is ſo far from being depreſſed, that it is continually elevated. For in ancient Buildings, we ſee the Earth raiſed high above the foot of them. So the Pantheon at Rome, which was at firſt aſcended up to by many [eight] Steps, is now deſcended down to by as many. The Baſis and whole Pedeſtal of Trajan's Pillar there was buryed in the Earth.
Dr. Tancred Robinſon in the year 1683. obſerv'd in ſome places, the Walls of old Rome, to lye Thirty and Forty Foot under ground; ſo that he thinks the greateſt part of the Remains of that Famous Ancient City is ſtill buried, and undiſcovered; the prodigious heaps of Ruines and Rubbiſh incloſed within the Vineyards and Gardens being not half dig'd up or ſearch't, as they might be, the tops of Pillars peeping up and down. And in our own Country we find many Ancient Roman Pavements at ſome depth under ground. My Learned and Ingenious Friend Mr. Edward Lloyd, not long ſince inform'd of one, that himſelf had ſeen buried deep in the Church-yard at Wycheſter in Gloceſterſhire. Nay, the Earth in time will grow over and bury the Bodies of great Timber Trees, that have been fallen, and lye long upon it.
To which I anſwer, As to Buildings, 1. The Ruines and Rubbiſh of the Cities wherein in they ſtood, might be conceived to bury them as deep as they now lye under ground. And by this means it's likely the Roman Pavements we find, might come to be covered to that height we mentioned▪ For that the places where they occur, were anciently Roman Towns ſubverted and ruined, may eaſily be proved; as particularly in this we mention'd, from the Termination Cheſter; whatever Town or Village hath that addition to its Name having been anciently a Roman Town or Camp: Cheſter ſeeming to be nothing but Caſtra.
2. It is to be conſider'd, That weighty Buildings do in time overcome the reſiſtance of the foundation, unleſs it be a ſolid Rock; and ſink into the ground.
Nay, the very ſoft Water, lying long upon the bottoms of the Sea or Pools, doth ſo compreſs and ſadden them by its weight, that the very Roads that are continually beaten with Horſes and Carriages, are not ſo firm and ſad: And in the Sea, the nearer you dig to the Low Water Mark, ſtill the ſadder and firmer it is: and it's probable ſtill, the further the ſadder; which ſeems to be confirmed by the ſtrong fixing of Anchors. [This firmneſs of the Sand, by the weight of the incumbent Water, the people inhabiting near the Sea are ſo ſenſible of, that I have ſeen them boldly ride through the Water croſs a Channel three Miles broad, before the Tide was out, when in ſome places it reacht to the Horſes Belly.] A ſemblance whereof, we have in Ponds, which being newly dig'd, the Water that runs into them, ſinks ſoon into the Earth, and they become dry again, till after ſome time, by often filling, the Earth becomes ſo ſolid, through the weight of the Water, that they leak no more, but hold Water up to the brink. Wittie Scarborough Spaw, p. 86.
What force a gentle, if continual preſſure hath, we may underſtand alſo by the Roots of Trees, which we ſee will ſometimes pierce through the Chinks of Stone Walls, and in time make great Cracks and Rifts in them; nay, will get under their very foundations. The tender Roots of Herbs overcome the reſiſtance of the ground, and make their way through Clay or Gravel. By the by, we may here take notice, that one reaſon why plowing, harrowing, ſifting, or any comminution of the Earth renders it more fruitful, is, becauſe the Roots of Graſs, Corn, and other Herbs can, with more facility, creep abroad, and multiply their Fibres in the light and looſe Earth.
That the rotting of Graſs and other Herbs upon the ground, may in ſome places raiſe the Superficies of it, I will not deny; th… is, in Gardens and Encloſures, where th… ground is rank, and no Cattel are admitte… to eat off the Fogg or long Graſs: but elſewhe… the raiſing of the Superficies of the Eart… is very little and inconſiderable; and not at all, unleſs in level grounds, which ha… but little declivity: For otherwiſe the So… would by this time have come to be of a ver… great depth, which we find to be but ſhallo… Nor do I think, that ſo much as the Trunk of fall'n Trees, are by this means covered but rather, that they ſink by their ow… weight, in time overcoming the reſiſtance o… the Earth, which without much difficult… yields, being ſoaked and ſoftned by th… Rains inſinuating into it, and keeping i… continually moiſt in Winter time. But … theſe Buildings be ſituate in Valleys, it i… clear, that the Earth brought down from th… Mountains by Rain, may ſerve to land the… up. Again, the Superficies of the Earth may be raiſed near the Sea Coaſt, by they continual blowing up of Sand by the Winds▪ This happens often in Norfolk, and in Cornwall, where I obſerved a fair Church, viz. that of the Pariſh called Lalant, which is the Mother Church to St. Ives, and above two Miles diſtant from the Sea, almoſt covered with the Sand; little being extant above it, but the Steeple and ridge of the Roof. Nay, a great part of St. Ives it ſelf lyes buried in …he Sand: and I was told there, that in …ne night there had been a whole Street of Houſes ſo covered with Sand, that in the morning they were fain to dig their way out of their houſes through it. All along the Weſtern Shoar of Wales, there are great Hills of Sand, thus blown up by the Wind. We obſerved alſo upon the Coaſt of Flanders and Holland the like Sandy Hills or Downs. But there are not many places liable to this Accident, viz. where the bottom of the Sea is Sandy, and where the Wind moſt frequently blows from off the Sea; where the Wind ſets from the Land toward the Sea this happens not; where it is indifferent, it muſt in reaſon carry off as much as it brings on, unleſs other Cauſes hinder.