Correspondence with Thomas Burnet Isaac Newton c. 7,293 words Newton Project Brighton 2008 Newton Project, Sussex University

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 13 January 1681 and later, in English, c. 7,295 words.

Burnet, fellow of Christ's College, communicated with Newton in relation to his forthcoming Sacred History of the Earth. Newton argued that Moses's account of Creation should be taken as true, despite the fact that Moses had to dumb down ('accommodate') his language to make it comprehensible to ordinary people. He also claimed that various mundane chemical phenomena can shed light on how God created order out of chaos.

Burnet's letter printed in NC, 2: 321-8; Newton's in Brewster (1855), 2, 447-54 and NC, 2: 329-35.

Holograph copy letter, Newton to Burnet, after 13 January 1680/81, in English, c. 2,750 words, 5 pp. States Newton's theory of the creation of the earth and its subsequent development, opposing a literalist interpretation of Genesis and insisting that Moses adapted his account to make it comprehensible to 'the gross conception of the vulgar'.

Original letter from Burnet to Newton (to which the above is a reply), 13 January 1680/81, in English, c. 3,000 words, 7 pp. In this letter Burnet acknowledges receipt of a letter from Newton dated 'Dec. 24th' (no longer extant).

in English

 Keynes Ms. 106, King's College, Cambridge, UK UKCambridgeKing's College Keynes Mss Keynes Ms. 106 SL157

Bought at the Sotheby sale by Keynes for £78.

17

 13 January 1681 and later England English Latin Greek Hebrew Holograph Thomas Burnet ReligionChronology Catalogue information compiled by Rob Iliffe, Peter Spargo & John Young Transcribed and tagged by John Young Proofed by Robert Iliffe Updated to Newton V3.0 (TEI P5 Schema) by Michael Hawkins Catalogue exported to teiHeader by Michael Hawkins

For

Mr Isaac Newton

Mathematick ProfessrProfessor and Fellow of Trinity Coll.

Cambridge

LondLondon Ian. 13. 801

SrSir I recdreceived yoryour lreletter of Dec. 24th. & yethe favorfavour of those excepcontionsexceptions you haue made to some passages of my booke; wchwhich I cannot but take very kindly; seing you haue had, it seems, both yethe Patience to read it over & to make reflection upon seueral parts of it. The argumtargument you note p. 118. seems to me conclusiue for soe far as it goes; I doe there in a manner distinguish yethe Earth into 3 parts terram planam et humilem, montes mediocres, et montes maximos, And show upupon yethe supposicontions there mentioned, ytthat all yethe Earth should bee covered maximis or mediocribꝫus montibꝫus, and consequently, ytthat there should bee noe regiones planæ or humiles, if soe much Earth as is capable to fill yethe chanel of yethe sea was thrown upon a surface of equal height wthwith yethe sea, as yethe opinion there mentioned supposeth. And seing wee find ytthat there are a great many regions & countrys of yethe Earth ytthat are planæ et humiles, some lower then yethe surface of yethe sea, some equal to it, some little higher, & a great many ytthat haue neither montes magnos, nor mediocres, I conclude ytthat yethe mountains wee find upon yethe Earth, greater or less, would not altogether fill yethe cavity of yethe Ocean by many degrees. Neither doe I mention how yethe subterraneous Ocean & yethe subterraneous cavities, wchwhich some thinke may bee a third or 4th part as much as yethe cavity of yethe external Ocean; And their bowels or wtwhat was dug out of them must bee thrown upon yethe Earth too, and yethe mountaines & higher parts of yethe Earth should bee capable of filling them alsoe; wchwhich how far they must come short of I leaue you to imagine.// Tis true if those dimencontions were known more exactly, yethe height depth of yethe sea, yethe height of yethe mountaines, yethe quantity of yethe whole Earth higher then yethe surface of yethe sea, their ꝑproporcontions might bee stated more demonstratively, but soe far as wee know them yethe mountaines or higher parts of yethe Earth doe not answer by many degrees to yethe cavity of yethe sea & all subterraneous cavitys.// And this calculus is confirmed by ytthat wchwhich im̄mmediately follows to yethe same effect (p. 119.) & is in a manner yethe same under another forme & more simple; Tis in this tenour, ytthat yethe mountaines upon supposicontion ytthat they were taken out of yethe chanel of yethe sea, should bee equal to yethe first Abyss, represented there in yethe scheme; wheras if you suppose ytthat Abyss but halfe as deep as orour deepest Ocean, ytthat calculus I thinke doth demonstrate ytthat yethe aggregate of yethe montainesmountaines of yethe Earth, or of all yethe Earth higher then yethe surface of yethe sea, doth not equal by many degrees yethe bulk of yethe Abyss, nor consequently yethe cavity of yethe Ocean wchwhich now containes it.// 2 Then yethe 3d argumtargument wchwhich follows im̄mmediately p. 120. confirmes these reasonings, by disproueing yethe same opinion from other consideracontions. And indeed yoryour supposicontion wchwhich men ytthat hold this opinion must goe upon, or yethe idea they must forme of yethe Exteriour Earth is altogether groundless & Chymerical; for they must suppose ytthat there is some general or comoommon surface of yethe Earth, of an equal height wthwith yethe sea, & wchwhich runs round yethe Earth uninterruptedly in an uniforme convexity, upon wchwhich surface as upon a foundacontion or pauemtpauement yethe mountaines were set & all yethe Earth ytthat was dugg out of yethe sea. wchwhich is a meer idle notion ytthat doth not answer to any thing in nature, nor to any observacontion, as I haue shown there p. 120. 121. & as is confirmd by all ytthat haue to doe or know wtwhat belongs to yethe interiour structure of yethe Earth. These argumentacontions confirme one another, besides those general heads mencontiond p. 117. wchwhich show yethe inconveniences or impossibility of this Theological opinion, or of the vulgar acctaccount how yethe mountaines, yethe cavity of yethe sea, & all other cavitys & inæqualities in yethe forme of yethe Earth came at first.// But you seem rather to incline to yethe philosphical acctaccountofthese inequalities & of yethe irregular forme of yethe Earth; namely, ytthat yethe heat of yethe sun rarefying yethe side of yethe Chaos ytthat lay next it, or by yethe pressure of yethe vortext or of yethe moon upon yethe waters, some inequalities might bee made in yethe Earth, & then yethe waters flowing to those lower parts or cavities would make yethe seas there, & yethe upper parts of yethe Earth towards yethe poles wchwhich they flowd from, would bee dry land. And all this might yethe rather bee, because at first wee may suppose yethe diurnal revolucontions of yethe Earth to haue been very slow, soe ytthat yethe first 6 revolucontions or days might containe time enough for yethe whole Creacontion, & yethe sun in ytthat time might convert & shrinke yethe parts of yethe Earth about yethe Æquator more then towards yethe poles, & make them holower.// But methinkes you forget Moses (whom in another place you will not suffer us to recede from) in this acctaccount of yethe formacontion of yethe Earth; for hee makes yethe seas & dry land to bee diuided & yethe Earth wholly formd before yethe Sun or Moon existed. These were made yethe fourth day according to Moses, & yethe Earth was finisht yethe 3dday, as to yethe inanimate ptpart of it, sea & land, & euen yethe plants alsoe; you must then according to Moses bring yethe Earth into this irregular forme it hath by other causes & independently upon yethe Sun or Moon. Besides yethe Earth at first was cover'd wthwith an Abyss of Water as both Moses & philosophy assure us, wtwhat great influence or effect then could yethe sun haue upon yethe Earth wchwhich ley at yethe bottome of this Abyss, any more then it hath now upon yethe bottome of yethe sea? Thirdly, if yethe chanel of yethe sea had been formd this way, it would haue been regular according to yethe course of yethe sun or yethe pressure of yethe Moon, but there is nothing of regularity in yethe figure of yethe sea,3 Sea; & tis it lies towards yethe poles as much as towards yethe Æquator, & in all degrees of latitude. And soe for yethe mountaines too; & these mountaines are sometimes neerer yethe sea, sometimes further off, as throughout Asia & Africa. And then when al's done, these causes or their effects would by noe meanes answer yethe vast mountaines & precipices of yethe Earth, & yethe prodigious vorago of yethe sea. Nor doth it giue any acctaccount of yethe subterraneous cavities, wchwhich whose bowels neither yethe Sun could suck out nor yethe pressure of yethe Moon squeeze from wthwithin yethe Earth.// Some of yethe Ancient philosophers I remembber, especially yethe Epicur.Epicureans as wee see in Gassendus, attempted such a like explicacontion of yethe sea & formacontion Origein of yethe Earth, and of yethe formacontion of yethe sea & mountaines & all other inequalities. But when one considers on the one hand how inadequate those causes are to yethe effects, how indistinct, how unsatisfactory when presst & examind; and on the other hand how congruously, how easily, how naturally, yethe Dissolucontion of yethe ExterirExterior Earth (wAs wee haue explaind it p. 58. 59. 60.) doth at once answer all those inequalities wee now find in it, both yethe great chanel of yethe Ocean, yethe heapes & huge juga of Mountaines, yethe Origine of Islands & yethe causes of subterraneous cavitys: how easily tis applicable to them all, how distinctly & fittly it answers them & all their uncouth properties, wee cannot rationally imagine ytthat they ꝑproceeded from any other causes. Especially this giuing an acctaccount alsoe of yethe universal Deluge wchwhich upon noe other acctaccount hypothesis is intelligible.// As for Moses his descripcontion of yethe formacontion of yethe Earth in yethe first chap. of Genesis, I thinke I haue given a true acctaccount of it p. 253. ytthat this a descripcontion of yethe ꝑpresent forme of yethe Earth, wchwhich was its forme alsoe then when Moses writ, and not of yethe primæval Earth wchwhich was gone out of being long before. And soe when yethe Sea is mentiond there, or Seasons or any such thing it onely shows wtwhat I say; ytthat ytthat descripcontion respects yethe prpresent Earth & not yethe primæval; wherof if Moses had giuen yethe Theory it would haue ben a thing altogether inaccomodateommo to yethe people & an useless dstracting amusemt.ment and therefore instead of it hee giues a short ideal draught of a Terraqueous Earth rising from a Chaos, not according to yethe order of Nature & natural causes, but in yethe order wchwhich was most conceiuable to yethe people, & wherin they could easily imagine an Omnipotent powrer might forme it, wthwith respect to yethe conveniency of men & animals: Beginning first wthwith wtwhat was most necessary, & proceeding/ by steps in yethe same order to prepare an habitable world, furnisht wthwith euery thing proper first for animals, & then for Man yethe Master of all, & whoseurer considers yethe whole impartially as tis reprpresented li. 2. c. 8. I thinke will haue yethe same thoughts of it.// And if all Diuines were as rational & judicious as yoryour selfe, I should not feare ytthat this would retard yethe recepcontion of yethe Theory, as you suggest it may. For I would aske them in yethe first place whether Moses his Hexameron or 6 days descripcontion of yethe creacontion, doth respect yethe whole universe or onely yethe sublunary world, all yethe heavens & yethe heaven of heavens, & all4 & all yethe host of them stars or Angels; Or our Earth onely & yethe Orb or heaven ytthat belongs to it: And I would not stir one step further till ytthat was determind betwixt us. Now it being demonstrable I thinke ytthat yethe whole univers was not made out of yethe Mosaical Chaos, I would in yethe next place aske them whether yethe Sun Moon & stars mentioned yethe 4th day, were made out of yethe Chaos, & then first brought into being when yethe Earth was formed? If they grant ytthat this Chaos did not extend to yethe whole universe, then they must grant ytthat yethe sun Moon & stars were not made out of it; but are mentiond as things necessary to make this Earth an habitable world. From wchwhich concession I would inferr 2 things, first ytthat yethe distinccontion of 6 days in yethe Mosaical formacontion of yethe world is noe physical reality, seing one of yethe 6 you see is taken up wthwith a non-reality, yethe creacontion of those things ytthat existed before. 2dly I inferr from this, yetthat as yethe distinccontion of 6 dayes is noe physical reality soe neither is this draught of yethe creacontion physical but Ideal, or if you will, morall. Seing it is not physically true ytthat yethe Sun Moon & stars were made at ytthat time, viz. 5 or 6000 yeares since when yethe Earth was form'd. And if it bee Ideal in one part, it may in some proporcontion bee ideal in eurery part. For confirmacontion of this I'le instance in another thing, Moses his Firmamtment, wchwhich was yethe 2d dayes work; by yethe proportion wherof you may easily understand ytthat it was is noe physical reality, as it is there set down; unless it bee lookt upon as a memorandum onely or a memorial of yethe firmamentum interaquæum ytthat was in yethe primæval Earth. You see yethe first property of yethe firmamtment as it is set down is to diuide betwixt yethe celestial waters & yethe terrestriall, and yethe 2d is to bee yethe seat of yethe Sun Moon & stars. Now I appeale to any man whether those 2 local ꝑproportiōons bee not utterly inconsistent? to diuide betwixt yethe Cælest.Cælestial & terrest.terrestrial waters it must bee far below yethe Moon, & yethe cælest.cælestial waters must bee supposd betwixt it & yethe moon; and to bee yethe seat of yethe Sun Moon & stars it must bee not onely as high as yethe Moon but as yethe Sun, nay as yethe fixt stars wchwhich are at an im̄mmense distance aboue yethe Sun. Therfore yethe Firmamtment wthwith these proportiōons can bee noe physical reality. and soe you see how is another day of yethe 6 imployd upon noe physical reality.// If you make yethe firmamtment to bee yethe Atmospheare as you seem to doe, & yethe vapours aboue it to bee yethe celestial waters, wchwhich upon yethe disrupcontion of yethe Abyss were suddenly & excessiuely condenst; wthwith all my heart: but then how are yethe Sun Moon & Stars pact in the firmamtment? and wchwhich is abs bad how are these vapours extracted & settled aboue yethe firmamtment before there is a Sun to extract them? Neither indeed are those vapours or clouds or any space betwixt us & them soe considerable a thing methinkes, as to take up a 6th part of yethe creacontion; these things are rather a necessary conseqtquent of yethe Earth formd & yethe Sun acting upon it, then yethe first & most material thing in yethe formacontion of it; and if this had been wholly omitted by Moses, his cosmopœia would haue appeard as compleat, & wee should haue misst noe parts of orour world. Thus for yethe 4th & 2d day. Then for yethe first day & yethe Light made then, wtwhat was ytthat pray? wtwhat physical reality, where made or how5 or how? was it made out of yethe Chaos as other things, in wtwhat manner pray? if not out of yethe Chaos, it doth not seem to belong to Moses his world, nor to haue any right to take up one of his 6 dayes: neither doe I know wtwhat Light was then first made ytthat was not before, or how upon yethe formacontion of a planet any new Light would bee ꝑproduct. Upon yethe whole I confess I see noe other acctaccount of these things then wtwhat I haue giuen in yethe 8th ch. li. 2. & ytthat yethe Hexameron or hypothesis of 6 dayes is onely Ideal, accomodated to yethe prpresent Terraqueous forme of yethe Earth; but yethe Cosmopœia, if one may soe cal it, in yethe 2d chapter of ytthat Garden wchwhich God planted מהרם a principio, ytthat is real & physical, & yethe ꝑproductions of man & other creatures there: Neither doe I see why ytthat 2d makeing of man animals & plants should haue been instituted if yethe first had been a physical reality.// Yorour supposicontion ytthat yethe first revolucontions of yethe Earth were much slower & yethe dayes much longrer then they are now, & consequently a day might then bee a competent time for some great change or transformacontion of yethe Chaos, lookes pretty well at yethe first; but unless you make yethe first 6 dayes as long as 6 yeares or rather much longer, I cannot imagine ytthat they should bee sufficient for yethe work. for instance yethe 3d day when yethe waters were gathered into one place & yethe dry land made to appeare, & consequently yethe chanel of yethe sea made then & yethe mountaines, could these grand changes bee wrought in yethe body of yethe Earth in less then a yeares time? I thinke not in a much longer time. then yethe Sun Moon & Stars wchwhich were made yethe 4th day, was not ytthat a good yeares days work, though yethe day was as long as a yeare. then if yethe day was thus long wtwhat a dolefull night would there bee? I am affraid ytthat would undoe all ytthat was done on yethe day time, & doe as much hurt in yethe state & progress of nature as yethe day did good. But if yethe revolucontions of yethe Earth were thus slow at first, how came they to bee swifter? from natural causes or Supernatural? & did they come subitaneously or by degrees to ytthat swiftness they haue now? if they came to it by degrees, wtwhat prodigious long life did Adam & his children liue? Adams 900 & 30 yeares would make 9000 of ours at least; & soe proportionably of yethe rest.// These things, SrSir & some others of this nature I would suggest to those Diuines ytthat insist upon yethe hypothesis of 6 dayes as a physical reality, wchwhich euen many of yethe Fathers as I remember haue allowd to bee onely an artificial scheame of narracontion, they supposing yethe creacontion to haue been momentaneous. And I would further desire these persons to explaine to me yethe forme of St Peters κόσμος ἀρχαιος or ante-diluvian Earth & heavens; wherein it was differtrent from orours & differtrent in such a manner ytthat it was thereby peculiarly subject to perish by a Deluge, asI haue noted p. 25. & in many other places. They must alsoe tell me wtwhat is or can bee understood by Moses's disruption of yethe Abyss at yethe Deluge, if yethe Earth was then in yethe same forme it is in now. And wtwhat ytthat Gyrus or Orbis wchwhich both in Iob & Salomons Cosmopœia is plac't6 plac't round yethe Abyss or face of yethe first waters; wchwhich I haue taken notice of p. 426. &c & li. 2. c. 8. When they haue considerd these places & especially ytthat of St Peter and joynd all yethe other reasons both a priori & a posteriori wchwhich I haue brought to show ytthat yethe Earth was at first in a differtrent forme from wtwhat it is in now, I thinke they will judge my supposition very reasonable ytthat Moses his hypothesis of 6 dayes work is but yethe Idea of a creacontion accomoommodate to yethe people & to yethe present forme of yethe Earth.// Concerning Pardise you seem to bee of opinion ytthat it might bee under yethe Æquator: but I doe not see how this alone would answer its phænomena. I distinguish yethe phænomena of paradise (in yethe 2d book) into those ytthat were general & comoommon to it wthwith all ytthat Earth, and into those ytthat respect its particuler region & situacontion. Its general phænom.phænomena were a ꝑperpetual serenity & temperature of air wthwithout any vicissitude of seasons; longævity of animals, & their ꝑproduccontion out of yethe Earth: And wee must first find an Earth capable of these things, before wee enquire wtwhat region of yethe Earth was most paradisiacal. Now these things I say orour primæval Earth was very capable of, considering yethe eaveness & equality of its surface, yethe temper of its soyle, & its right situacontion to yethe Sun, wchwhich gaue it a perpetual equinox. wchwhich situacontion of yethe primæval Earth I thinke I haue shown both from reason p. 182. &c. & from Antiquity p. 291. 292 &c. and I should be willing to know yorour opinion of ytthat hypothesis. Then as for yethe particuler situacontion of paradise, whether hemispheare twas in, I doe not undertake to determine ytthat by yethe Theory onely, but depend cheifely upon yethe testimony of yethe Ancients, who excepting one or two ytthat place it under yethe æquator as yuyou doe, did generally place it in yethe other hemispheare; either explicitly or by necessary consequence.// SrSir, persueing those things ytthat were of greatest extent in yorour lreletter, as wtwhat you had offerd concerning yethe possibility of formeing yethe Earth, as it now is, out of a Chaos; Or wtwhat related to Moses's Hexameron, Or to paradise; I haue omitted to speake to yorour excepcontion about yethe Oval figure of yethe Earth or rather yethe cause of it. I suppose (p. 198. lin. 21. 22) as you doe, ytthat yethe equinoctial parts would first endeavorour to rise & fly off but could not, because of yethe greater strength & resistency of yethe air ouer those parts of yethe Earth, then the other; for you must considder ytthat yethe Earth was then involved in a kind of Chaos or Spiss atmosphear, as tis represented p. 36. and this was soe thick & strong7 strong, ytthat it may bee considerd as a kind of membrane or bag about yethe Abyss, and yethe parts of this Chaotical atmospheare orb being far more agitated & in a far stronger motion about yethe equator then towards yethe poles, & yethe space there being alsoe narrower, it would bee far more difficult to make these parts yeeld then those towards yethe poles; as if you conceiue this bag or membrane more stretcht or to haue a stronger tone in one ꝑpart then another, it would yeeld there sooner where twas less stretcht or its tone was weaker. Soe ytthat yethe waters attempting first to rise & fly off at yethe equator, & finding there a strong resistance wchwhich they could not overcome,they must necessarily by this repercussion & their own continual tendency from yethe center in one way or other, fall off towards yethe poles; and soe conforme themselfes into an Elliptical or oblong figure answerable to ytthat of their Orb or ꝑparticuler vortex.// I should bee glad to know wtwhat you thinke of yethe opinion of yethe oblong figure of yethe Earth wtsoeurwhatsoeuer yethe cause of it was; & whether you know any argumtment or observacontion ytthat either proves yethe contrary or demonstrates ytthat. wtwhat I mention p. 197. of degrees of latitude from yethe poles to yethe equator being unequal or yethe spaces upon yethe Earth ytthat answer to them, is taken out of Dechales a French Iesuite, who hath writ a large cursus Mathematicus, & in a little tract about yethe general principles of Geography, hee hath observed ytthat Ricciolus, yethe Mathematicians of Paris, & Snellius, who haue all measurd yethe circuit of yethe Earth, & to ytthat purpose tooke yethe proportions of ita degree, differ each of them in their measure of a degree, according as they tooke it more or less North-wards; & finds they differ much wtwhat in such a ꝑproporcontion as yethe paralels where they tooke yethe degrees were more or less distant from yethe equator. If this observacontion was pursued it would come yethe nearest to a demonstracontion of any thing I know ytthat yethe Earth is still oblong North & South.// SrSir yorour kindness hath brought upon you yethe trouble of this long lreletter; wchwhich I could not avoyd seing you had insisted upon 2 such material points, yethe possibility (as you suppose) of forming yethe Earth as it now is, imemmediately from yethe Chaos or wthwithout a dissolucontion; & yethe possibility of adhering to Moses his Hexameron as a physical descripcontion to show yethe contrary to these 2 hath swold my lreletter too much, wchwhich will howeuruer giue you noe further trouble then yethe reading, unless yorour humour lead you sometime to reflect againe upon ytthat Theory. SrSir wee are all here busy in gazeing upon yethe Comet, & wtwhat doe you say at Cambr.bridge can bee yethe cause of such a prodigious coma as it had. I am SrSir yorour affect.affectionate freind & servtservant T. Burnet.
SrSir Yorour 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 is. 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 degreee in several latitude's, 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 moses expresses, but not like orour sea, but wthwith 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 yethe Chaos or some substances in it might coagulate at first, not all over yethe 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 & have the first coagulated places standing up like hills: which subsiding would be encreased by the draining & drying of the limus. That the veins & tracts of limus in the bowels of the mountains 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 caverns, 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 themselves 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 earth 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 yethe air & thereby 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 mght ly 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 may of those Phænomena we see on yethe earth besides the original hills & 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 yethe 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 also 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 not 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 firmamtment, 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 & yethe 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 belong 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 theythe 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 first 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 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 had at first 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 repect to the Chaos of orour Earth tells us that God made light upon yethe face of yethe deep where darkness was before. Further one might 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. The 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 yethe 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 the 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 the 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 themselves would have made yethe narration tedious & confused, amused 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: by 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 yethe 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, wchwhich is no such great business. But yet I must profess I know no sufficient naturall cause of yethe earthearths 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 & cold? ffor what think you would become of an egge or Embryo wchwhich should frequently grow hot and 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 yethe tenn commandmtsments 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 upper 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 yorour 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.