Supposing that God Almighty did at first create the Terrestrial Globe, partly of solid and more ponderous, partly of fluid and lighter parts; the solid and ponderous must needs naturally subside, the fluid and lighter get above. Now that there were such different parts created, is clear, and therefore it is reasonable to think that the Waters at first should stand above and cover the Earth: and that they did so, seems evident to me from the testimony of the Scripture. For in the History of the Creation in the first Chapter of Genesis, verse 2. it is said, That the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, intimating that the Waters were uppermost. And God said, verse 9. let the waters under the Heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. Whence, I think, it is manifest to any unprejudiced Reader, That before that time the Land was covered with water. Especially if we add the testimony of the holy Psalmist, Psalm 104. vers. 6. & 9. which is as it were a comment upon this place of Genesis, where speaking of the Earth at the Creation, he saith, Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the Mountains… and ver. 9. That they turn not again to cover the Earth. And that this gathering together of waters was not into any subterraneous Abyss, seems likewise clear from the Text. For it is said, That God called this Collection of waters Seas, as if it been on purpose to prevent such a mistake.
Whether this separation of the Land and Water, and gathering the waters together into one place, were done by the immediate application and agency of God’s Almighty Power, or by the intervention and instrumentality of second Causes, I cannot determine. It might possibly be effected by the same Causes that Earthquakes are, viz. subterraneous Fires and Flatuses. We see what incredible effects the Accension of Gunpowder hath: it rends Rocks, and blows up the most ponderous and solid Walls, Towers and Edifices, so that its force is almost irresistible. Why then might not such a proportionable quantity of such Materials set on fire together raise up the Mountains themselves, how great and ponderous soever they be, yea the whole Superficies of the dry Land (for it must all be elevated) above the Waters? And truly to me the Psalmist seems to intimate this Cause, Psalm 104. 7. For after he had said, The waters stood above the mountains; he adds, At thy rebuke they fled, at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. Now we know that an Earthquake is but a subterraneous Thunder, and then immediately follows, The mountains ascend, the valleys descend, &c. If there might be a high Hill raised up near the City Troezen, out of a plain Field, by the force of a subterraneous Fire or Flatus, as Ovid tells us.
Est prope Pitthaeam tumulus Troezena sine ullis
Arduus arboribus,1 quondam planissima campi
Area, nunc tumulus: nam (res horrenda relatu)
Vis fera ventorum, caecis inclusa cavernis,
Expirare aliqua cupiens, luctatáque frustra
Liberiore frui coelo, cum carcere rima
Nulla fuit toto, nec pervia flatibus esset,
Extentam tumefecit humum, ceu spiritus oris
Tendere vesicam solet, aut derepta bicornis
Terga capri; tumor ille loci permansit & alti
Collis habet speciem, longóque induruit aevo.
A Hill by Pitthaean Traezen mounts uncrown’d
With Sylvan Shades, which once was level ground,
For furious Winds (a story to admire)
Pent in blind Caverns, strugling to expire;
And vainly seeking to enjoy th’ Extent
Of freer Air, the Prison wanting vent,
Puffs up the hollow Earth extended so,
As when with swelling Breath we Bladders blow.
The tumour of the place remained still.
In time grown solid, like a lofty Hill.
A parallel Instance hereto we have of later date, of a Hill not far from Puzzuolo [Puteoli] beside the Gulph of Baiae, which I my self have view’d and been upon. It is by the Natives called Monte di cenere, and was raised by an Earthquake Sept. 29. 1538. of about one hundred foot perpendicular altitude; though some make it much higher: according to Stephanus Pighius it is a Mile ascent to the top, and four Miles round at the foot: We indeed judged it not near so great. The People say it bears nothing; nothing of any use or profit I suppose they mean: else I am sure there grows Heath, Myrtle, Masticktree, and other Shrubs upon it. It is a spungy kind of Earth, and makes a great sound under a Man’s feet that stamps upon it. The same Earthquake threw up so much Earth. Stones and Ashes as quite filled up the lacus Lucrinus, so that there is nothing left of it now, but a fenny Meadow. If such Hills, I say, as these may be, and have been elevated by subterraneous Wild-fire, Flatus or Earthquakes, Si parvis liceat componere magna, if we may compare great things with small, why might not the greatest and highest Mountains in the World be raised up in like manner by a subterraneous Flatus or Wild-fire, of quantity and force sufficient to work such an effect, that is, that bears as great a proportion to the superincumbent weight and bulk to be elevated, as those under these smaller Hills did to theirs?