Arch of Septimius almoft wholly overwhelmed in the Earth. Again, it is plain by Obfervation, that the Tops of many Towers of Churches have been feen of late from fome Places, which they have formerly been hid from, by the Interpofition of an high Hill, which fince it has been partly washed down by the Rains, has difcovered the Steeple, which for fome Ages before lay hid; nay, we can hardly fee any old Building, but an hundred Years ftanding, that is built in low Ground, but we may obferve the Foundations to lie much deeper than they were at firft laid; which can be nothing, but the Earth washed from the Hills and lodged there. So that we muft needs grant, that the World is fo far from having continued an Eternity of Time, or being like to continue fo, that it is every Day more and more haftening to its Ruin by an Inundation. If it had been eternal, long ago the Hills would have been all funk into the Valleys, the fubfiding Earth would have choaked up the very Chanels of the Seas, fo that the whole World would have been one circumfufed Ocean, or at least a noifome uninhabitable Marth. To fay, this would be Millions of Ages coming to páfs is nothing, for the longest Time bears no Proportion to Eternity: If a Dish of Water only once in a thoufand Years were thrown upon Mount Caucafus, fo as to come down juft dirty, in an Eternity of Time it would have fetched down all that prodigious Mountain, and laid it as plain as a Bowling-Green. Now this one Argument is fo plain and fo demonftrative, that it is enough for ever to filence your Theistical Eternity of the World.

Phil. 'Tis time enough to triumph, when you have gained the Victory; this Thunder-bolt has not ftruck us perfectly dumb, but we have fomething to fay for our felves yet. We will readily grant you, that an Eter nity of Time would wash down all the Hills into a Level, but then that would not hinder the rife of new ones to fupply the Defect of the old. For the Earth has a Quality of lifting up it self, or at least is elevated by Earthquakes, or fubterraneous Flatus's into new Hills, when

D

the

No new

the ancient ones are levelled; fo that there have been ne ver wanting Mountains and Hills to drain off Rain from, to afford Matter for Fountains and Springs. Nor is this only a random Bolt without Ground, but is founded upon very good Authority. For Ovid Met. Lib. 15. gives 'an Account out of the Pythagorick Writers of a Hill by Trezen, in the Peloponnefe, that was raised out of the plain Ground; and in the laft Age, in the Year 1538, a Hill now called Monte de Cinere, not far from Puzzuolo, the old Puteoli, was raised by an Earthquake; and both Strabo and Pliny give an Account of feveral Islands being in the like manner raifed in the Sea, which if they had been upon the Land, would have been efteemed Hills. 'Tis true, thefe Elevations are but feldom, because there is no Need in Nature that they should be more frequent, because a Hill is many Ages a washing down, and therefore if a Supply of a new one happen once in an Age, it is abundantly fufficient.

Cred. It is a great Sign of a thorough Confutation, when Men take Shelter in fuch mere Poffibilities, that there is not the leaft Grain of Probability in. Because a Hills raifed fmall Hill or two have been raised by an Earthquake, which are why fhould we fuppofe all the Hills and Mountains in confidera- the World were fo? Because fome Men die violent

ble.

Deaths, therefore we may as well conclude none die natural; because there are fome monftrous Births, there are none born in the genuine Species. This is really, Sir, a mad random Way of arguing, which none will make use of, that have any Thing elfe to fay. But to fpeak to your Inftances, as to Ovid's Inftance of the Hill by Trezen, that might in all Probability be nothing but a hearfay Story of the neighbouring People; many Hundreds of fuch like we have amongst us here in England, and yet we fhould make mad Work of it, if we should go to philofophife upon them. The Poet does not give any greater Proof of this than he does of his other Fictions, and therefore it does not deferve any great Autho

Strab. Geo. Lib. 1. Plin, Nat. Hift.

rity. Befides he calls this but Cumulus a Hillock, on
which not fo much as a Tree grew,

Eft prope Pittheam Cumulus Trezena fine ullis
Arduus arboribus

the Chaos,

And what is this to the Productions of fuch vaft Moun tains as Caucafus and the Alps? As to the other Inftances out of Strabo and Pliny, every one knows what truft. thofe Authors repofe in Relations of common Fame, to fay nothing of the Sincerity of the Authors themfelves. But granting them true, they will not be able to fupport your Hypothefis as you fhall fee by and by. The Inftance of the Hill by Puzzuolo is unexceptionable, and perhaps feveral others have been raifed by the fame Means. But then this is no very great Hill, it is but 100 Foot rhy, coperpendicular at the moft, and makes a great Sound un- Theol. Dif der a Man's Feet that ftamps upon it, as Mr. Ray who coures on has been upon it does teftify. So that this is but a thin &c. tapering Hill, the Sides of which are fo very flight, that it difcovers the Hollowness within, which is not to be perceived in any other Hills; and therefore ought not to be brought as a Precedent, to prove the like Production of them. But granting this your Hypothefis true of the fucceffive Rifing of new and great Hills, and that fubterraneous Accenfions were of Force fufficient to raise up the Alps and Pyrenees; this will by no means agree to common Experience and Reafon. For if this be the Way, by which the World maintains its Eternity, then all the Mountains in the World muft Millions of Times have been washed down and blown up again into the Form we fee them, fo that they can be none of them ab folutely folid, but the Sides and Tops fupported in manner of an Arch. Upon this it follows, that the more coped and pyramidical any Hill is, the more hollow it is, and the Sides the thinner; for if the Afcenfion be made very deep in the Earth, and an Elevation follows, it will make a large Rife of mighty Circumference and

imper

Arg. III. From the

imperceptible Afcent, of the Nature of an Ifland rather
than a Hill. So that every Hill fo generated must be ve-
ry hollow, and the Rains by long washing, will at laft
wash away the Top and difcover the Hollow. If this
Hypothefis were true, to be fure fome Time or other we
fhould hear of Horfes and Carriages breaking through
the worn Crufts of fome old moldering Mountains, and
being abforbed in their Hollows; if this were true, we
fhould in many Places of the World, fee only the Sides
of the hollow Hills with their Tops dilapidated, which
would appear nothing like a Hill, but like the ragged
Walls of an old Roman Amphitheater, open at Top, and
inclofed round with its Sides. Now because we fee no
fuch Appearances as thefe, in any Part of the World,
which would moft certainly come to pafs, if this Hypo-
thefis was true; we must therefore in all Reafon con-
clude, the Hypothefis is falfe, and that Mountains do
not in this Manner decay, and rife as is here fuppofed.

Phil. Perhaps we may live in fuch Ages, when no
fuch Dilapidations happen; or the Hills might all or
moft rife together fome few thousand Years ago, and fo
may not be out of Repair fince.

Cred. And this is all but a perhaps. But we know
the Productions and Reparations of Nature are not all
together; Men, Beafts, and Trees, are born, flourish,
and die one after another continually, and fo 'tis in all
other Things; and therefore 'tis incredible to think fo
many thousand Hills were produced fo many thousands
Years ago, and never an one fince. Had not a Man bet-
ter acquiefce in the Mofaick Account, than to involve
himfelf in an Hypothefis, which is attended with all thefe
Abfurdities, and muft be defended with fuch mere Poffi-
bilities? Credat fudens Apella.

Phil. I will think more of this. What is your next
Argument?

Cred. My next Argument is drawn from the Increase
of Mankind. If we look back into Hiftory, we fhall
Increase of
Mand. find the World much thinner ftocked with People than

it is now. It appears by the Books of fo late Writers as Homer and Hefiod, that Mankind generally in those Days led a Sort of a paftoral Life, and oftentimes changed their Abode from one Country, or one Part of a Country to another; which could not fo frequently happen, if the World had been as populous as it is now; for then every Parcel of Land would be poffeffed by distinct Proprietors, who would not give Place to any new Comers. But in those Days, Countries had fo thin a Stock of Inhabitants, that there was Land fufficient, not only for fingle Perfons, but alfo for vaft Colonies of Men; which before it was occupied by them lay pro derelicto, for any Body that would take it. There is nothing more famous in ancient History, than thefe Tranfmigrations of Inhabitants from one Country to another. Every one knows of Cadmus's Plantation in Boeotia, of his Brother Cilix's in Cilicia, of Dido's in Africa; of the Colonies fetled by Evander, Aneas, and Diomedes in Italy; to fay nothing of our English Brute, and the fwarming Invafions of the Saxons and Danes, and an hundred other Inftances. For there is hardly any Nation almoft, but owes their Original to fome Colony planted there, within the Reach of Hiftory. We may confider farther, what vaft Woods have been destroyed to make Room for Inhabitants, as the World has increased; the vast Hercynian Wood in Germany, which took up fo great a Part of that mighty Country, and that of Arduenna in Gaul. To confider farther, how mightily this Nation of ours has increased within a Century or two; notwithstanding the many civil and external Wars, and thofe vaft Drains of People that have been made into our Plantations fince the Dif covery of America; how the City of London has doubled it felf within these forty Years, notwithstanding the last great Plague; and how the Country has increafed, tho' not in the like, yet in a confiderable Proportion. Now to lay all this together, it is no less than Demonftration, that there has been a gradual Increase of the World for thefe 3000 Years, that it is far more populous now, than