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tainous Columns are erected not on the Surface of the water, but ftand immediately on that denfe and heavy fluid which covers the central folid; I cannot eafily conceive how water fhould ever come to the bottom of the Fiffures to be raised into Vapours. Nor can I well conceive that prodigious heat, that muft be fufficient to raife as much Vapour through fome fmall Fiffures in Mountains as the heat of the Sun is able to do from the whole Surface of the Sea.

I know the maintainers of this Opinion ufe to alledge, that there are Springs and Fountains on the tops of Mountains, which cannot eafily be maintained by a Superior circulation of Vapours: but I beg thofe Gentlemens pardon, for I can give no credit to any fuch Obfervations; for I am well affured, that there are none of thofe Springs in fome places where it is said they are. And particularly that Learned and diligent Obferver of Nature Mr. Edward Lloyd the Keeper of the Mufaum Ashmoleanum affured me, that throughout all his Travels over Wales, he could obferve no fuch thing as a running Spring on the top of a Mountain. On thefe confiderations, I think it is not in the leaft probable, that Rivers and Springs proceed from Vapour, that is, raised by a fubterraneous heat through the Fiffures of the Mountains.

I come now to confider the way Mr. Whiston makes ufe of, to explain the forL3 mation

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mation of the Sun, Moon and Stars, by which he says in the Mofaical account of the Creation, no other thing is understood than the rendering of them vilible and confpicuous. to a Spectator on the face of the Earth: for before the fourth day according to him, the Air was much crowded with thick and opake Clouds, which would very much darken the face of the Earth, and keep a Spectator on it from being able to perceive either Sun, Moon or Stars, which were created long before that time. In this place I think Mr. Whifton has not exactly obferved his firft Poftulatum, viz, that the obvious and literal fenfe of Scripture is the true and real one, where no evident reafon can be given to the contrary, For fince the formation of the Sun and Stars at that time was poffible, and the Scriptures pofitively tell us, that they were made by God Almighty at that time; I think there can be no evident reafon given which will be fuf ficient to justify fuch a forced and ftrained fenfe as he has here put on the words of Scripture.

But tho' I should fuppofe that the literal fenfe of Scripture did not in the leaft con tradict fuch an expofition, yet it appears to be impoffible on his Hypothefis for these reafons. First, I have already proved that the Atmosphere of a Comet is a very clear and pellucid Body that doth freely admit both the light and heat of the Sun through it; and confequently there is no doubt to be made,

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but that an Eye placed within would have the Sun very vifible and confpicuous to it. It is evident therefore, granting this Hypothefis of the Earths being formed from the Atmosphere of a Comet, that the Mofaick account of the formation of the Sun and Stars can never be understood of rendering them visible; fince according to fuch an Hypothefis they must have been always fo.

2dly, Whatever Mr. Whifton may imagin of the Sun, yet it is certain that the Moon at the time of the Mofaick Creation was formed or at leaft placed in its orbit, and made to turn round the Earth; for no Comets have any fecondary Planets which move round them: fince then the Moon did not before that time appertain to the Earth but was really at the time of the Mofaick Creation, if not Created and formed, at leaft brought into a new orbit, and made to move about us to give us Light in the night time; we must neceffarily acknowledge, that when God is faid to have made the Moon, there must be fomething more understood than a mere rendering of it vifible; and because the word Made, is equally applyed in Scriptures both to the Sun and Moon; there is no doubt but that it is to be understood in the fame sense of both, that is in a literal one, viz. That they were really Created, when in Scripture they are faid to be made on the fourth day of the Mofaick Creation. L 4 3dly, Mr.

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3dly, Mr. Whifton fuppofes that the Sun acted fo very ftrongly the fecond day of the Creation on the Earth, that it was able to draw a prodigious quantity of Vapours into the Air, fuch as were fufficient enough when they fell in Rain, to produce all the Seas, Lakes and Rivers that were in the Primitive Earth: but how the Sun could have fuch an extraordinary influence on the Earth without being visible, is a vifible, is a question which I believe cannot be eafily answered; for there is a great difference between the heat of the Sun when it fhines bright and clear, and its influence when it is obfcured with Clouds and Vapours; Indeed one would think that it would require a prodigious heat, to elevate fuch a quantity of Vapours in one half year, as would fill all the Channels of the Seas and Lakes with water. I am fure that the Sun now when it is brighteft is not able to perform any fuch effect; for if we should collect all the Rain that falls in the space of a year on the surface of the Earth, it would not rife, on the whole furface of the Earth, above a foot and a half high; which is not enough to make the thousandth part of an Ocean. Since then according to Mr. Whifton, the Sun was capable on the fecond day, to perform an effect fome hundreds of times greater than its heat when it shines cleareft and brightest is able to do on our Earth, I think we may undoubtedly conclude that it must have been

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vifible even at that time; that is, it must have been vifible before it was faid to have been made, which cannot be imagined in whatever fenfe we take the word made.

Indeed I cannot but think it ftrange, that Mr. Whiston fhould fuppofe, that there was fome hundreds of times more water drawn by the heat of the Sun in one half year, than there is now exhaled from our Earth in double that time; fince he himself acknowledges, that we do every day enjoy more of its Heat and Light than the Primitive Earth could be fuppofed to have done for a confiderable space of time: this I confefs feems to me, to be a very wonderful and unaccountable effect, and not at all proportional to its caufe; but if he will fuppofe that it was really fo, I need not argue much against it, fince I am fure, fuch a fuppofition muft neceffarily allow the Sun to have been at that time visible.

Mr. Whifton's third Hypothefis is, that the diurnal rotation of the Earth, did not commence till after the fall; fo that till that time, Days and Years were exactly equal and the fame; the Earth having no other motion but its annual one round the Sun, all the World would have for one half of the year a continual Day, and for the other a continual Night. Here I must freely own my felf to be one of those Readers to whom Mr. Whifton fays this affertion will appear one of the greatest of Paradoxes; for when I confider the vast and pro

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