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Abyss or Deep mentioned in Scripture, could not be that denfe and heavy fluid Mr. Whifton fpeaks of, on which he fays the upper Cruft of our Earth is founded; it being certain, that the Scriptures are to be understood of an Abyss which was then dark, and afterwards when light was created, was illuminated and made vifible. For when light is said to have been made, without doubt we must suppose, that it was produced in fome place which before was involved in darkness, and then exposed to the light, which can never agree with Mr. Whifton's Abyfs, which he makes to be encompaffed with a denfe and opake Cruft perfectly impenetrable by the light of the Sun. It appears therefore, that this darkness mentioned in the Scriptures must be underftood to be fomewhere elfe than on the Surface of a denfe and heavy fluid that surrounds the central folid.

It is alfo to be obferved, that it is not eafy to conceive how thefe Earthy, Watery, and Airy particles, fhould fall fo thick and faft on one another, as would be fufficient to intercept all the light which fell upon them, and quite darken the Atmosphere, without fuffering the leaft glimmering of light to pafs through them. For as Mr. Whiffon obferves, the heat of a Comet when it paffes its Peribelion is fo exceffively great, as to laft many thousand years; and we cannot doubt but that great commotion and confufion

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which is raised by this heat muft laft proportionally, and as the heat doth gradually decrease, fo muft the commotion in the Atmofphere decrease proportionally by which the most folid and heavy Bodies would fooneft fall down. And one would think that it would not be the work of one or two years, but it would require fome thousands of years after the folid Bodies firft began to fall, be fore the Atmosphere could fettle it felf into a regular and uniform Body. And therefore fince all thefe diaphanous and folid Bodies which compofed the outward Cruft fell fo flowly and by degrees on the Abyss, and fince at the time they were all there, they were not able to darken the Atmosphere; I think that by their flow and gradual defcent, they would not fall fo thick upon one another, but that the Comets Atmosphere would ftill be penetrated and illuminated by the light of the Sun.

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But if I fhould grant to Mr. Whifton, that there were fuch dark and thick Clouds in the Atmosphere of the Comet as were fufficient to intercept all the light that fhould be derived to it from the Sun; yet if we confider that the central folid of a Comet, is a Body which by reason of its near approach to the Sun, is fcorched and burned by very intense heat, and that all folid and hard bodies when they are heated to any confiderable degree are clear and fuminous; we must acknow L

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ledge that the proper and native light of Comets, if I may fo call it, is very confiderable; and therefore upon this fingle account of a Comets proper light, it cannot be fuch a dark and obfcure Body as that Chaos was, from which the world had its Origination.

Since then the Atmospheres of Comets are clear and pellucid luminous Bodies, through which we can diftin&tly view their central folids; and fince the Chaos out of which the world was made from its very Original, was a dark and confused heap of Bodies without the leaft glimmerings of light, which was not created till the first day of the Hexaëmeron; it is plain that this Chaos could never be the Atmosphere of a Comet, and therefore Mr. Whifton's firft Hypothesis is but ill grounded.

It is alfa to be obferved, that the greatest part of these folids, which compose our upper Stratum, confift of Stones, Sand, and Gravel; and that they when they are once heated to any confiderable degree, are neceffarily melted and turned into Glafs. Now if they had ever existed in the Atmosphere of a Comet, when it was near the Sun, they muft have fuftained a degree of heat fome hundreds of times greater than the heat of red hot Iron; and confequently they must have been melted: and during the time of their immense heat they would have compofed a fluid,

fluid, which afterwards when the Comet was cooled, would appear in the form of Glafs; by which it is plain, that thofe Bodies never were in the Atmosphere of a Comet, for otherwife they could never have appeared to us in the form they are in at prefent.

Mr. Whiston afferts, that there are very many, and very confiderable Phænomena of nature, which require a central force, or internal heat, diffufing warm fteams every way from the centre to the circumference; and especially he seems to be pleafed with Dr. Woodwards method of raifing Vapours through the Earth to furnish the Rivers with water by the help of a central fire; which he thinks is eafily accounted for, by fuppofing the interior folid of the Earth to have been the Nucleus of a Comet, that once in its approach to the Sun had acquired an immenfe heat which it doth still in a great measure preferve: but this Opinion, tho' it has been maintained by a great many Learned Men, feems to be very improbable. For if I fhould fuppofe that there was fuch a central fire, yet it is not to be imagined, that it could ever diffuse it felf, and penetrate the exterior parts of the Earth. We know by experience, that if a ftone wall of four or five foot thickness be heated red hot upon one fide, that the other continues as cold as before, without being fenfibly affected with the heat which is inIn 2 tenfe

tenfe on the oppofite fide. Since then we fee that an intenfe. heat is not able to penetrate through a stone wall, how can we fuppofe, that it fhould diffuse it felf through a "denfe and heavy fluid, an hard and diaphanous Cruft of fome hundreds of miles thickness?

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I know none of the Phænomena of nature that do neceffarily require a central fire. For as to burning Mountains and Volcano's, if Mr. Whifton will be pleased to confult Borelli de incendiis Montis Etna, he will eafily be convinced, that its fire doth not proceed from the Centre, but that its kindled very near the furface of the Mountain. And as for Rivers, I believe it is evident, that they are furnished by a fuperior circulation of Vapours drawn from the Sea by the heat of the Sun, which by Calculation are abundantly fufficient for fuch a fupply. For it is certain that nature never provides two diftinct ways to produce the fame effect, when one will ferve. But the increase and decrease of Rivers, according to wet and dry Seafons of the year, do fufficiently fhew their Origi nation from a Superior circulation of Rains and Vapours. For if they were furnished by Vapours exhaled from the Abyss through fubterraneous Pipes and Channels, I fee no reason why this fubterraneous fire, which always acts equally, fhould not always equally produce the fame effect in dry weather that it does in wet. Befides this, fince the Mountainous

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