it Motion as an effential Property, imputed the Formation of every Thing they faw to Chance, left the Pretervation as well as Government of the Whole to the fame unmeaning Term, and fo commenc'd downright Atheists.

If we are furpriz'd at the ftrange Abfurdities, and monftrous Conclufions drawn from the wretched Philofophy of thofe Times, how muft our Amazement increafe, if we should fee the fame fhocking Doctrines reviv'd, and Atheism inculcated, as far as it was thought safe to do it in this enlighten'd Age; which is not only bless'd with the Advantage of Revelation, but lays Claim to the higheft Improvements in Philofophy?

What might be term'd Ignorance or Want of Light in the former, will in these be call'd downright Impiety: It is the highest Infult upon the common Senfe as well as Religion of their Country: Nay, it is a Crime for which our Language yields no adequate Expreffion. But that there have been fuch *, is a Truth as melancholy as it is notorious.You will excufe, I hope, this fhort Sketch of the State and Progrefs of human Philofophy. St. Paul complain'd that in his Time the heathen World, by Wisdom, i, e. their human Philofophy, had totally loft the Knowledge of the true God, and from thence inferr'd the Neceffity of Revelation,

*See Pantheifticon, or Motion effential to Matter, publif'd by Toland in the Year 1720.

When the fame Philofophy is reviv'd by fome Men, which naturally tends to reduce us once more to the fame deplorable State, I think we ought to have Recourfe to the Mofaic Writings in their original Language for an Antidote against fo fatal a Poison.

As Mankind in general had not only deviated from the true Philofophy, as well as Religion: had not only run into grofs Idolatry, but had attributed the first Formation of all Things to every Cause but the right one, it was certainly worthy of the only true God to affert his own Right, and reclaim thofe Powers which they had fo falfely attributed to his Creatures. To answer this great End, Mofes was commiffion'd to write his History, which is defigned to fet Mankind right in this Particular. The chief Objects of their Worship were the Sun, Moon, and all the Hoft of Heaven, to which they affign'd various Emblems representative of their Powers, and gave various Names expreffive of their respective Attributes. To convince Mankind that these Objects of their Worship were as much, and as really Creatures as the meaneft Reptile, Vegetable or Foffil, Mofes informs us in the first Chapter of his Hiftory,-that at a certain Period of Time, which he terms the Beginning, God created the Heavens (for the Word is plural in the Hebrew) the primary Object of their Adoration; to whofe Powers they attributed the firft Formation of all created Beings, and confequently Rain, Wind, Meteors,

Meteors, Thunder, Lightning, Inundations, Earthquakes, &c. God at the fame Time, as he tells us, created likewise the Earth, as an Habitation or Place of Refidence for all Creatures of every Genus and Species whom he had determin'd to form and beftow the Gift of Light upon; that is, that God created or produced into Being out of Nothing by an immediate Act of his Will, which always includes his Almighty Power, the whole Matter out of which he afterwards form'd the Heavens, Sun, Moon, Stars, whether fix'd or moving, which we term Planets, Land, Water, and all their various Produce tions; and the human and animal Race, as Beafts, Birds, Infects, Reptiles, Fifh, &c. He next defcribes the Condition in which that immenfe Mass of Matter was, which confifted of all those exquifitely fmall Particles, Atoms or first Elements, of which all material Beings of every Denomination whatsoever are compofed. And the Earth (by which Term he expreffes that immense Mafs) was without Form and void, and Darkness was upon the Faces of the Deep, or Abyss. I write the word Faces in the plural, because it has no fingular Number in the Hebrew, which I fhall take Notice of in another Place. Mofes here plainly fhews us; that this Mafs was in that confus'd State, without the leaft Order or Degree of Compofition or Regularity, from which we frame our Idea of what we term a Chaos. The Earth (this Mafs) was, as it is exprefs'd in the Hebrew, a So

a Solitude and Inanity or Emptiness; that is, contain'd all the Materials for Formation, but had not one Thing in or upon it yet reduced to Form or Order, was empty or void of every Thing that had Life or Figure as a compounded Body. These Materials confifted then of Particles or Atoms of different Sizes and Shapes, adapted perfectly to the Formation of the different Bodies of which they were defign'd to be component Parts; each Sort fpecifically different from the other, and incapable of entering into the Compofition of any other Body but that for which each was originally defign'd. This will appear extremely plain when I come to treat of the Formation of Things, and the various Operations of what we call Nature; fuch as Nutrition, &c. Even the largest of these Particles are fo exquifitely small, that they elude the Power of the most piercing Eye, tho' affifted by Glaffes which magnify to a Size 130,000 Times larger than the real Object. To prove this I need only refer you to the microscopical Observations of the very accurate and very ingenious Mr. Baker. This too is moft philofophically as well as finely express'd in Job xiv. 8, 9. where the Writer fays, "That tho' the Root fhould grow old and "the Stock perish, yet the Stem will bud through "the Scent or Odour of the Water, and bring forth

Boughs." If the Particles proper for the Nutrition of a Plant are fo fine as to be convey'd in fo fubtile a fluid as Scent or Odour, those

which

which conftitute those exquifitely fubtile Fluids, Air, Æther, Light, and what we call Spirit, muft be as much beyond our Conception, as they are beyond the Reach of our Senfes. Mofes describes the outward Sphere of this Mass or Earth, as confifting of the Atoms or firft Elements of Solids and Fluids, mix'd confufedly together without the least Degree of Cohesion or Order; and, as they were all in a fluid State and equally mix'd among thofe of Water, he calls the whole upper Sphere the Waters. He defcribes the Tabom, Deep or Abyss, as an immenfe Concavity within the other, and occupied by Hhofbech, Darkness, which fill'd the whole. This Darknefs could not be a mere negative Quality only; for Light was not yet formed, but must be a Substance in a State of abfolute Inaction, but capable of being expanded by Motion, or condens'd by Compression, or by the Suspension of Motion. When Mofes describes the Darkness in the Land of Egypt, he terms it, Hofbech Aphelah, Darkness of Darkness; and the Rabbies, to fhew its Intenfeness, say it was four Times doubled, and inclos'd the Egyptians as within a Wall; or, as it is in another Place elegantly defcrib'd, it was Darkness which might be felt, palpable Darkness. That God at the Creation reduc'd this Earth, or Chaotic Mafs, into a spherical Form, (for Matter cannot exist but under fome Form) is evident from the Words, Hbugg, a Circle defcribed by a Pair of Compaffes, and Tebbel, a Sphere, Terms fe