pofition true; yet the Marrow, which is much lighter than the Bones, is concluded within them; the Bones being its fuperficial Cruft, in the fame manner as we fuppofe the Earth to be to the Abyss. Now, why fhould not we fuppofe that God ufed as much Wisdom and Contrivance in the Formation of the Body of the Earth, as in that of an Animal? Or why should fpecifick Gravity tie him up more in one than the other? No doubt there was the fame most admirable Contrivance in the Formation of the course Body of the Earth, as in other finer and fmaller Contextures. Only the Earth is a Body, whofe Parts are fo great, as they cannot be diftinctly view'd at the fame time, and many of them hid from us, and therefore we are apt to conclude, that they are less elegant; fo we proceed to philofophize upon it under this Miftake, and allow it only the rude Contexture which might arife from the bare Subfidency of Parts, and the Laws of fpecifick Gravity. But this is a grievous Errour, and we might, with as much Philofophy, pretend to give an Account of the Organization of Animals by by the fame Laws. For I doubt not, but if we were let into the fubterraneous World, and could have a diftin& View of Stones and Minerals, the excellent Difpofition and Variegation of the feveral Strata, the wonderful Contrivances of fubterraneous Currents, by which one Sea is fed by another, and all receive their Origin from the one great Foundation of the Abyfs, and to which they all pay their Tribute again; to confider the spreading Veins of the leffer Springs, which at firft are diftilled from the Rains and Mifts, by uniting together do form the greatest Rivers; if we confider all this, we cannot but allow, that God formed the Earth with as much Wifdom and Contrivance as other Parts of the Creation, and that he might make it to be a Thick-fhell furrounding the Abyss, though contrary to the Laws of fpecifick Gravity, if that did contribute to the good of the whole, and the usefulness of Mankind, as I think the Communication of the upper and lower Seas fufficiently does,

Phil. But ftill, Credentius, this unaccountable Miracle lies hard upon me, especially when your Divines allow, that God generally works by fecond Causes, even when he acts Miraculously and above the Power of Nature; by giving Nature as it were a Power fuperior to it felf. And indeed in the present Cafe, it looks very odd, that God fhould engage his Omnipotence to make the Water of the Abyfs afcend contrary to its Nature, or that his inferiour Agents, the Angels fhould be employ'd invifibly to Pump up fo much Water from thence as would drown the World. Without doubt it would lie more eafy upon Men's Minds, if this great Catastrophe were accounted for in a more natural Way; in which the Laws of the Universe are not fo forcibly oppofed as in this Suppofition.

Cred. For my Part, it lies as eafy upon my Mind to think, in general, that God miraculously raised up the Water of the Abyfs, and fent fuch continual Spouts and Rains, that in forty Day's Time the whole World was drowned; as if I was able to find out thofe immediate Causes he made Ufe of in this dreadful Judgment. For after all I muft own it to be the Finger of God, either making ufe of intermediate Caufes, or himself immediate ly producing the Effect. If I am fure the Effect was miraculous, what need I care where the divine Power was firft impreffed, whether immediately upon the Effect it felf, or upon any of its pre-exifting and neceffary Caufes? I am fure by the divine Revelation, that God is in it either firft or laft, and this is fufficient for my Conviction; and I think, the Holy Scripture is not fo much obliged to gratify our Curiofity. I doubt not but there are innumerable Ways which God could have made Ufe of to drown the World, even by intermediate and natural Causes, which the wifeft Philofopher never dreamt of; and if any of these Ways are fhewn to be poffible, then all the Arguments which would infer the Impoffibility of the Deluge are at an End. Now to comply with your Curiofity for once, I will endeavour to fhew what fecond

Caufes

Caufes God might poffibly make Ufe of in the deluging the World, and by what Means the Abyss was drawn up over the Face of the Earth. Not that I am fo vain to think that he did make Ufe of thefe means; but that if he did, the Effect would be fo far from being impoffible, that it would, upon that Condition, be neceffary.

Now it is moft generally among the beft Philofophers agreed, that the Moon is the Caufe of the Tides, and that the nigher fhe is to the Sea, as at her time of Southing, fhe raifes the Water the higher by her Attraction of it towards her. So that if by the fupernatural Power of God, the Moon were brought very near to the Earth or the Earth to the Moon, fuch a vaft Tide would be raifed, upon Suppofition there is Communication between the Abyfs and the upper Scas, that the World would be drowned to the Height which Mofes alligns. Now I fancy this might come to pass by the pure Acceleration of Fig. IV. the Earth's annual Motion. For let CDAB reprefent the annual Motion of the Earth in the time of the Antediluvians, which is a perfect Circle, in which it is probable all the Planets, after their Creation at firft, revolved. Let B. reprefent the Earth, and I. the Moon, revolving round the Earth in the Circle Ipil. Now when the Earth was in the Point F, let us fuppofe its annual Motion to be accelerated, fo as to exceed the exact Proportion there was formerly between the Attraction of the Sun H, and the Celerity of the Earth; and then the Earth, instead of coming to the point B in the Circle CDAB, will go off to the Point c, and move in the Ellipfis EFDA. Now by this new elliptical Motion, the Earth in the Point c, will be nigher to the Moon I, by the diftance Bc, than it was in the Point B; which would raife fuch a prodigious Tide, as would produce the Effect we contend for. And then the Moon for a confiderable time would revolve about the Earth at c, in the' Circle Imh, inftead of its ancient Orbit Ipil, which will fo long keep up the Tides over the whole Face of the Earth, as is defcribed Fig. I. and II. But the Tides will decrease gradually as the Moon by her menftrual

Courf:

Courfe fhall have made more Perihelions, for every time The comes nigher to the Sun, the Sun will more and more conduce together, with the Refiftance of her own impreffed Motion, to draw her from her late contracted, to her ancient and more enlarged Orbit. So that a

Month or two after, when the Earth, in its annual Courfe, fhall be in the Point F, and the Moon be in her Perihelion Q, fhe fhall then, have enlarged her Orbit to or greater than her contracted one wyz, of mh, fo that after five Months, the time of the Continuance of the Deluge, when the Earth fhall have come to the Point D, then the Orbit of the Moon fhall be inlarged to ust, equal to her former one Ipil, or as great as her other fhe had before the Acceleration of the Earth's Motion. So that then the Moon being as far diftant from the Earth as formerly fhe was, thofe great Tides will be over, and the Deluge at an End; all the Waters being again funk into the Belly of the Earth, through the fame Cavities by which they afcended.

Phil. But ftay, Sir, this does not much mend the Matter, for this Attributes the caufe of the Flood only to the breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep, which Mofes likewife attributes to another Caufe, viz. the Rain of forty Days and forty Nights.

Cred. Indeed Mofes fays, that at the beginning of the Deluge it rained forty Days and Nights; but he does not fay that thefe Rains added any Thing confiderably to the Deluge of the whole World. They only raised the Wa ters to fuch a height, that the Ark was born up, and fwam upon the Waters. And the Flood, or Rain, was forty Days upon the Earth: And the Waters increafed and bore up the Ark, and it was lift up above the Earth, Gen. vii. 17. But in the two following Verfes is expreffed the Effect of the Waters rifing out of the Abyfs. And the Waters prevailed and increafed greatly upon the Earth, and the Waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth, and all the high Hills, that were under the whole Heaven were covered. So that what was the Effect of the Rains to lift up the Ark, Mofes calls only increafing of the Waters; but when he afterwards

afterwards fpeaks of the Eruption of the Abyfs, he fays a great deal more, that Waters increafed greatly, and prevailed exceedingly. And indeed this previous Flood from the Rains, or Preludium of the Deluge, was wifely defigned by God Almighty, that the Ark might be lift up before the Torrent from the Abyfs came, or otherways fuch a mighty Current running with fo great a Force would have overthrown and drowned it before it could have been lifted up. But a Rain of forty Days having before made a Land Flood, great enough to bear up the Ark, the Fury of the roaring Torrent of the Abyfs would be broken by the yielding Waters under the Ark; and fo would by Degrees be raised to the height which the Was ters rofe to without Danger. I will not contend that there was no more than this forty Day's Rain; for it is probable that it rained the greatest Part of the Time that the Waters covered the Surface of the Earth; for the Sea then being above as large again as it formerly was, muft fupply a far greater Quantity of Vapours than could pof fibly be fufpended in the Air, and therefore must fall down in frequent, or continual Spouts, or Rains. This I take, Philologus, to be a poffible Account of the Deluge, and is a fufficient Confutation of them, who decry it as an Impoffibility.

Phil. Well! fuppofing that the Abfurdities of Mofes's Relation of the Deluge are not fo great as are generallyimagined, yet I cannot allow him to be a true Prophet; because the pretended Miracles by which he endeavoured to establish his Laws and Doctrines, feem to me to be mere Artifice, contrived only to beguile the filly Jews, and to lead them tamely by the Nose without Oppofition. They, poor Creatures! thought that God wrought mighty Miracles by his Hand, whilft he was only working Designs for himself, to purchase himself Admiration among the Rabble, or elfe to gain a Jurifdiction under the fpecious Name of a Theocracy. But alas! thefe Miracles are all Craft and Collufion, which any cunning Man might feem to do, if he had but fuch fimple Infpecters. Witnefs his pretending to receive the Law in

Mount