1

ters, (going or gone,) and make the Sphere of Airs above, larger by the Quantity of Airs which were in the Abyss; which, when fo join'd, are after call'd the open. Firmament of Heaven; and let them be alternately changed into Light; fo that the Dry Land, which was form'd and hid with Waters, may by Light in the Air appear. "This Day God made the Earth rife into Mountains and fink into Vallies, and vaft Channels, &c. (p)". "Moreover this gathering together of the Waters. was when the Earth, which before was round and cover'd all over with Water, was raised by God, here into Mountains and Hills, and there funk into Vallies: And fo the Water betook itself to the lower Grounds. I fay nothing of the Gulphs with the Bowels of the Earth. See Ecclef Ch. i. Ver. 7. about the Rivers, how, I mean, they flow from and return to the fame Place (g)". From fuch Gueffes as these our Theorists took their Disruption; and fancied Mountains, Valleys, and Seas were made fo.

(p) Synopf. Crit. Tom. 1. p. 8. Gen. i. g. Corn. a Lapide, Bonfrerius :

(9) Bibl. Lat. cum Comment Joh. Gordon. Vol. 1. p. 6.

Ver. 10.

Ver. 10. And God called the DryLand Earth; and the Gathering together of the Waters he call'd Seas:

And God call'd the Parts of the Earth which were first diffused in the Waters, and lately separated from the Waters into folid Parts contiguous to each other; and then at the Surface of the Waters, or Dry Land, in form of a hollow Sphere, fill'd with Waters and what they tore out of the Surfaces, and carried down with them by Part of the Airs and Part of the Waters, fhifting or exchanging Places, fituated between the two elementary Fluids, the Waters below or within, and the Airs or dry Element without or above, EARTH And the Gatherings, Drainings, or Gleanings of the Water which went laft, when the Store-house was full, and were lodged in the Mouths of the Funnels, at the Entrances or Places where the great Store or Treasure of Waters were gather'd in, or at the Barn-Doors, he called SEAS; Job xxviii. 10. He cutteth out Rivers among the Rocks. Jonah ii. 6. I went down to the Bottoms [Heb. Cuttings off] of the Mountains; VOL. I.

E

2 Efd.

2 Efd. xvi. 58. He hath shut the Sea in the Midft of the Waters. In Conceptacula, in the middle Sphere, in the Shell of Earth; which were, when they were made, between the two Spheres of Waters; but, when the upper Sphere of Waters was gone down, were uppermoft. Ecclef. i. 7. All the Rivers run into the Sea, yet the Sea is not full: unto the Place from whence the Rivers came, thither they return again. And things were then as again after the Flood, when Mofes fays, Exod. xx. 4. Which is in the Airs above, or which is in the Earth beneath, or which is in the Water under (and so within) the Earth. Pfal. xxxiii. 7. He has gathered the Waters of the Sea together, as an Heap; be has laid up the Deeps in StoreHoufes, and fays nothing of any other Waters. Indeed, the Heavens of Heavens, and the Waters above the Heavens are mentioned. Pfal. cxlviii. 4, 5. Praife him, ye Heavens of Heavens, and ye Waters that (be) above the Heavens. Let them praise the Name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created. But this refers plainly to them as they were created, or at fartheft when the Waters were divided, and not as they (be); and there is no Verb in the Hebrew, fo muft be under

ftood

ftood (were); and though, when the Law was given, the Airs were together, and the Waters together, each in one Congregation, except fome small Quantities diffused into each other, they ftill write each in the plural Number, as Heavens, Abyes: Which fhews, that fome Interpreters think there are more Abyffes than one, and more Heavens than one.

Mofes fpoke of created things, in whatever Sphere or Place they were at the time he spoke of, with no Refpect to the Space which contained them; only defcribed their Situation in refpect to one another; when Alterations were made in any of their Conditions, whether in the fame Place or Situation, or another, he changes their Names: He fays, that the Earth was created, and that the Parts of the Earth were loose, and in such a Figure, that they encompaffed fomething which was void of Earth; fomething of lefs Density than that which environs it, or them; and that he calls an Abyss, or Store-house of Darknefs, or dark Airs; and called the Mixture of loofe Parts of the Earth, which were to be fome folid, and the greateft Part fluid, and which he had called Earth, and which contained all terreftrial Matter, WATERS; (as he called

:

both Night and Day, the Darkness bearing fmall Proportion, DAY prefently after;) and he called all above, or which encompaffed the Waters, the Spirit of God, or AIRS, which God had put into Motion: Then a great Part of the Sphere, called Waters, was, if the Place had been meafured by Distance from the Center in that Sphere or Place where Fowl flie now, which we call the Atmosphere and if the Place had kept the Name of the thing named in it, we must have called that Sphere, instead of Heaven, Waters; but it had the Name changed fince, when Airs came into it, and changed Names twice at the Flood, as the Matter changed Place, when the Separation and Divifion were made: He, by way of Distinction, called the Sphere of Waters under the Earth, and above the Expanfion in the Orb of Airs in the Abyfs, which were feparated from the Parts of Earth which rofe, The Waters above or next above the Expanfion of the Airs; and the Sphere of Waters above the Earth, which were feparated from the Parts of the Earth which funk and were under the Expansion in the open Airs, The Waters under or next under the Expanfion in the open Airs: and when the Waters under or next under

the