conomy, it also wanted all the Confequen ces of that Solidity and Form.

and void---

"Bobu: It fignifies Waste and Emptinefs (p)". "The Earth was void, i. e. invifible, as we call the Air empty Space, because we dont fee it; or void, as the Waters were not yet feparated from off the Earth (q)". 'Tis not yet faid in what Figure the Earth, or loofe Mixture of

Earth and Waters, was in, other than it was void; which implies, that it was hollow, not full of that loofe Mixture within, but fill'd with fomething which was call'd negatively, or comparatively void; full only of fuch Matter, as would fhift upon the Approach of any other Matter, and let it take its Place; full of a vaft Quantity of created Matter, the fame as is exprefs'd pofitively in the next Words;

And Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep:

(p) Joh. Hottingerus. Oper. Diei. 1. p. 35. R. Sol. Jarch.

(9) Alphonft Tostati Tom. 1. p. 4.

Dark

Darkness was the firft defcriptive Name of Airs, in the Condition they were then, Not a Privation; fince Light was not yet formed (r). And as Darkness has been the Name of them ever fince Light was form'd, and fo is now a defcriptive Name of them in a State of Privation, when or where that Action which produces Light is not, or is interrupted in a great Degree by fome opake Body, or Fluid: And as Darkness, or Airs, defcribed to be in that Condition, implies the Defect of a fufficient Degree of that Sort of Motion, which produces Light and its Effects, or Confequences; it implies, that they were without the Government and Oeconomy, which it will appear that Motion, Light, Expanfion, &c. produced in the Airs above and below. If we term Darknefs, or the Airs inclofed, the Abyfs, (the Word for Airs and that for Waters being each in the Hebrew, plural) 'tis an Orb of Fluids with in, or included by, a Sphere; to which Orb there can be no Bottom. If we are to fuppofe that Mofes made the Faces of the Earth (tho' then unformed, and the Caufes of earthy Matter tending any way not then formed) his Station, with respect to Up

(r) T. L. Iftelia in Gen. Cap. I. p. 4.

and

and down, then he muft term any great Quantity of Airs within the Sphere of loofe Mixture, or Waters, or when the Earth was formed into a hollow folid Sphere, that vaft Quautity of Airs, or afterwards that Quantity of Waters, the great Deep: and then the Faces (the Word in the Hebrew being plural) will fignify the Whole. "The Deep cover'd over with Darknefs (s)." When he fet a Compass [or Circle upon the Face of the Depth. I fuppofe the Darknefs, or Abyfs, at first to be an Orb at, and extended equidiftantly from, the Center; and environed with a Sphere of that loofe Mixture called Earth; whofe Quantities or Dimenfions were fo proportioned, that after the Parts for Solids were feparated into a Sphere, or Shell, and the Waters were gone down, and Parts of the Shell carried down, and formed into a folid Globe at the Center, That and the Waters were fufficient to fill the Void, change Places with the Darkness, or Airs, as will appear at the Formation, and by the Form of the the Earth; and more plainly, at the reforming it, at the Flood: fo that Part, which was faid to be void, is called the Abyss; and is faid to contain that, which

(5) Interprete Sebaftiano Caftalione.

is called void, viz. Darkness. This Place, tho' no notice has been taken of it, whilft the Earth and Water were in a hollow Chaos, and it fill'd with Airs, that I meet with, (except Origen, Vol. 1. Lib. 2. p. 140. where he cannot find what is become of it, but fancies it must be Hell;) is fufficiently described, when filled with Water. "Hollows made in the Earth, that the Waters which entered them, might lodge there as in a Vessel (†). "God made fome great Hollow Caverns (u). "Fountains of the Abyss.] The Abyss is an hidden Place in the Bowels of the Earth, where the Waters lie hid, and from whence the Fountains Spring, and the Lakes of the great Abyss. The great Abyfs is the whole Concavity of the Earth in which the Waters lie concealed, by way of diftinction from fome fmaller Hollows or Vaults which are called, fmall Abyffes (x)." " Bochart's huge Abyss and Gulph, is in the Bowels of the Earth (y).

"The Houfe of the Collecti

on of Waters (%).

"The Providence

(t) Alphonfi Toftati Tom. I. p. 5.

(u) Ibid. Queft. 19. p. 11.

(*) Ibid. Queft. 10. p. 75. Eufeb. L. 1. 6. 13.

(y) Synopfis Crit. Tom. I. p. 8.

(z) Synopf. Crit. Tom. 1. p. 8. Gen. i. 10. Chald. vocat,

of

of God lodged the Waters in thefe Store Houfes (a). "Which Plato from Homer thus defcribes in his Phædrus; all the Rivers flow into this Hollow, and from thence have their Rife (b). By the Abyfs you are to understand that vaft Quantity of Waters which is within [fubter] the Earth (c).”

tr

And the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters.

This is not intended to defcribe a Refidence or Limits, or local Motion, to the Spirit of God, or himfelf; but Motion to an invifible penetrating, powerful, created Agent, which he ftiles Spirit, and his, becaufe he created it, and gave it thofe Powers. And 'tis plain it was always understood to be an invisible powerful Agent; becaufe, as this was, and is the first thing, to which the Name of Spirit was applied; from this, that Name has been applied to all other Beings, or things, which are, or were fuppofed to be invifible, and act powerfully; as God,

(7) Ibid, p. 37. Ainfworthus.

(b) Deut. viii. 7. Job xxviii. 4, 10. Pf. xxxiii. 7. Synopf. Crit. Tom. 1. p. 98.

(c) Critici Sacri Tom. 1. p. 146. Vatablus.

Angels,