vided the Earth from the Waters, is fome thing which God did not create, or which has Powers without him, 'tis an Action of that which he created, and is in my Defcription of the Creation already nam'd, which he taught Adam to call, and you from him call the Airs, the very fame, but by him put into Motion, &c. as in the former Verfes is related.

There are fome Texts, which defcribe the immenfe Quantity or Extent of the Airs, and the Commodiousness of their Situation, or Figure, in a Sphere about the Earth. The Airs, when they were writ, and now, are in the fame Quantity, and in the fame Sort of Figure or Sphère they were created in, and in the fame Place with refpect to the Earth, except thofe which were in the Abyfs, and afterwards changed Place with part of the Waters, and were join'd or united into the fame Figure or Sphere; and the Creation of them, and placing them about the Earth in a Sphere, is one and the fame Act; and the Addition of thofe out of the Abyss did not alter their Figure, nor extend them, otherwise than by an Addition of Quantity. But there are many other Texts which defcribe this Acti on, [p] or Power in the Airs, and attribute it to God as another Act; and fome mention

mention both diftinctly, but the Tranflators make moft of them bend to the first. Could the Author, or other divine Penmen, whose Business was to make Men fenfible that God created Matter, and gave it all the Orders and Powers it had or has, omit or forget to tell them of that which fets and keeps all the Wheels a going, and leave it to the People, whom he was just then recovering from the Worship of thofe Agents, and other Idolatry, to fearch it out, or to the Heathens to explain it? Can any one be fo ftupid to expect that the Heathens, who had either thefe Agents, or other Gods of their own, fhould attribute the Oeconomy in the World to the true God, and fhew us how to explain his Revelation concerning it? And fince they had not a God of their own that they had the Impudence to afcribe it to, was it not their Bufinefs to make the Chacs eternal, and to afcribe the Oeconomy in the World to Nature, innate Qualities, nay, rather than to God, to Chance? Nay, fuppofe any of them believed in the true God, and underftood it, though fome hinted at his being the Author, durft they publish it plainly? No that had been the Way to be ton'd, and the Writing to be burned by he Hands of the Executioners. Their Ignorance,

Ꭰ 4.

Ignorance, or pretended Ignorance of this, fet all their Philofophers to work; and he that could form the moft incredible System was the greatest Man. Yet we are not to reject every Article they advance, but only firip off what they added, or add what they ftripp'd off. For as Clemen's Alexandrianus fays, "We have fhewn and in the firft Book that the Greek Philofophers are Thieves, who have taken their principal Notions from Mofes and the Prophets, and have not had the Gratitude to acknowledge it (m)." It may be faid of this Spirit and Motion, as the Man said, St. John xi. 30. Why, berein is a marvelJous thing, that ye know not from whence be is, and yet he bath open'd my Eyes. Can we be at a lofs from whence this Motion came, that hath produc'd Light out of Darkness, and after an Expanfion which hath feparaed the Chaos, the Earth from the Waters made it folid, and kept the Parts together; divided the Waters, carried thofe above to below, made the Earth habitable, &c.

There is another Miftake arifing from the Texts which mention this Act of uniting, fixing, establishing, or rendering the impalpably fimall Parts of the Earth folid

(m) Strom. Lib. 5. p. 550.

or

or immoveable, fo as the Form or Foundations fhould not be broken or diffolved bere, or more laftingly after the Flood as Pfal. xcvi. 10. The Globe is established, it shall not move. which have been applied to fixing the Earth upon Foundations, fo as to hinder the whole Earth from fhifting, or moving locally; and had like to have coft the first Discoverers, or Revivers of the Earth's Motion very dear: but the Tranflators fince have rendered them fo as to fignify neither.

The Philofophers, falfly fo called, and moftly Heathen, have puzzled the Tranflators, though cautioned by St. Paul, and they have puzzled the World with empty void Space, or Place without Matter. "Befides fome Philofophers have introduced a Vacuum, and that entirely void of all Body; they point out a Sort of an infinite Chaos, and contend that it was before the World but the Elements being created, they concluded all Bodies within the Compass and Circumference of Heaven, leaving noVacuum within (2). And fo have brought in a Name which they imagine to be the Refidence of God, of Angels, and Spirits, by the Word Heaven; and confequently Angels

(2) Max. Bibl. Patrum, Vol. 25. p. 60. Niceta Thefaur. Orth. Lib. de Græcis & Judæis.

and

and Spirits into this Creation, and into the Formation and Operation. Mofes neither mentioned, nor meant to give any fuch Defcription. Our Tranflation fays, thatThe Angel of the Lord appeared unto Mofes in a Flame of Fire, out of the midst of a Bufh Indeed, the Power or Prefence of God, appeared where Fire burned, and confumed not the fmall Wood of a Bush; and, I think, he fays, he faw no other Appearance; and that drew him afide to the Place where he received his firft Commiffion; and when he defired a defcriptive Name of God, he had no other but I am; and when he required fome Abilities to convince the Ifraelites, and the Egyptians of his Commiffion, God fhewed and gave him his farther Power over Matter; that was a Teft to the Ifraelites, and at laft to the Egyptian Magicians, when they could not make Duft Lice; and tho' fome have lately, inftead of a Prophet, reprefented him a Conjurer, and that he had learned that Skill amongst the Egyptians, 'tis plain he was not acquainted with the Abilities of the Magicians, which indeed was Folly for if he had, he would not have taken the turning of a Rod into a Serpent for one of his Credentials, because he would have known they could have done