veral Times apply'd to this great Work of God by the facred Writers, when they mention the Creation. As the true Meaning of thefe Words, with others of the fame Import, is of the utmost Service in clearing Mofes from the Abfurdities and Falfhoods which have been father'd upon his divine and truly ineftimable History, I shall endeavour in my next Letter to explain them all fully, and, I hope, to your Satisfaction.-Mofes next proceeds to the great Work of Formation, by which the Materials already created were separated, prepared, and formed into various Bodies, and placed in the refpective States for which the infinite Wisdom of the Creator originally defign'd them. And the Spirit of God moved upon the Faces of the Waters; that is, an Agent proceeding immediately from God, and endow'd by Him with a Power adequate to the Work, was employ'd to execute fuch Commands as the Will of God directed. This Agent, call'd the Ruahk, Spirit, or Breath, of God (which Signification it has equally in the Greek Language) mov'd; that is, hover'd, brooded upon the Faces; that is, the whole Exterior Surface of this chaotic Mass, call'd the Waters, over which it was equally diffus'd. The word mov'd, here means the fame as the Latin Word incubabat, and is again us'd under the fame Idea in 32d ch. of Deut. ver. 11. By this Motion or Incubation, the Spirit pervaded the whole chaotic Mass, put the Atoms, which were before in a total State of Reft or Inaction,

into a proper Degree of Motion, feparated thofe which were to compofe the Solids from those which were adapted to form Fluids; condensed, and confolidated, as we may fay, the Particles adapted for that Purpose, and form'd that vaft Sphere or Shell of Stone, which furrounds the Deep or Abyfs; and adapted the rest to be acted upon, or to act, as the Will of the Almighty fhould direct.-As I have not Room in this for a particular Detail of the Formation of Things, and the Oeconomy of the Univerfe, I must refer you to my fubfequent Leters, where I propose to treat largely of this Subject, and enter into more critical Difquifitions about the genuine Meaning of the Hebrew Words as they occur.

I SHALL at this Time therefore only give you my Sentiments of that most powerful Agent the Ruahh, Spirit, in a few Words, and just hint, that it not only was an Agent in the Formation of Things, but was also appointed by God to direct and rule both the moral and physical Oeconomy of the Universe. Numerous Paffages might be cited both in the Old and New Teftament, where this Power of the Ruahh, Spirit, is plainly mentioned, and many others from which it may be clearly deduced. Thus Gen. 6th ch. 3d ver. where God says, My Ruahh, Spirit, shall not always ftrive or Struggle with Man. As this was fpoken by God previous to his Declaration of destroying Mankind by the Flood, it must plainly refer to the Power of the Ruabb, Spirit, in

the

the Capacity of moral Ruler of Beings who were created Free Agents, and endow'd with a Power of chufing Good or Evil: And as the Flood was brought upon the Earth as a juft Punishment for the Wickednefs of Mankind, it is plain that they had thrown off all Subjection to the Ruahh, Spirit, by refusing to hearken to, or obey its Dictates, and chufing Evil rather than Good. From the fenfible Operations of this invisible and moft powerful Agent, God Himself is called a Spirit, to give us fome faint Idea (and indeed the only Idea we poor Mortals are capable of receiving) of the Nature of that Effence of all Effences. And as the Type in Scripture frequently bears the Name of the Thing typify'd; hence every Being which is invisible, and seems to act with Power, is call'd Ruahh, Spirit; as, for Inftance, immaterial Beings, fuch as Angels, the Mind, the Soul of Man, or Animals, &c. And material Beings, fuch as Air in Motion, or Wind; (which has no other Name in the Hebrew than Ruahh) or Air rarify'd or expanded into Æther, Light, &c. or fuch as Breath; as in Gen. vii. 22. where Mofes fays, that all died in whofe Noftrils was the Breath of Life; in Hebrew, the Ruabb, Breath; of the Ruabb, Spirit of Life. From hence too, by Analogy, the Term Spirit is apply'd to those fubtile Effluvia, or exquifitely fmall Combinations of Particles or Atoms, which fo powerfully affect our Senfes in Fermentation and other Operations in Chymistry. As all thefe Beings are under the D 2 Influence

Influence and Direction of the Ruabh, Spirit of
God, I fhall for the future conftantly distinguish
this most powerful Agent by the Term Ruabb
only, by way of Eminence, and, in Contradiftinc-
tion to all, especially those material Beings deno-
minated Spirit, which are all inferior Agents ope-
rating by a Power delegated from, and directed
in all their Operations by the Ruabb. I fhall
treat of all thefe Beings in their proper Places;
but at present fhall confine myself to the mate-
rial Agents, which the Ruahh more immediately
makes ufe of, either in rewarding the Obfervance
of, or in punishing the Breach of the Laws of
God in the moral World. In the former Cafe
the Ruabh acts by employing thefe inferior A-
gents in the phyfical Caufes of Health, fruitful
Seafons, &c. and every thing which we term a
physical or natural Good; which are a Part of
the Bleffings bestow'd upon a religious and vir-
tuous People; or, in the phyfical Causes of what
we call physical or natural Evils, such as Famine,
Peftilence, Murrain among Cattle, Tempests,
Lightning, Inundations, &c. and, above all,
in that moft formidable of all the vindictive
Strokes of Divine Anger, Earthquakes. And this,
either by a partial Infliction of one or more of
thefe Evils, to awaken a finful People, and bring
them to a Senfe of their Duty, and induce them
to reform; or, by a total Deftruction and Aboli-
tion of an obdurate and impenitent Land, when
the Measure of their Iniquities is quite full. Such,

for

for Inftance, was the almoft total Extirpation of the Race of Mankind at the general Deluge; and fuch was the total Deftruction of the abominable Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, when their Cities were overthrown; and destroy'd by Fire, and they with the Inhabitants and the whole Plain on which they stood wholly fwallow'd up, without the least Vestige remaining; and, to this Day, mark'd only by a nauseous bituminous Lake, the ufual Confequence of a terrible Earthquake; which was undoubtedly a Part of the Punishment, and compleated the Destruction of that most finful People. And indeed I may appeal to the History of all Mankind in all Ages, whether moral Caufes did not always precede phyfical ones, either with refpect to Bleffings shower'd down upon, or with respect to Punishments inflicted upon every respective Nation.

As repeated Accounts arrive by almost every foreign Poft, of the Progrefs of the Earthquake and its direful Effects, attended with ftill more uncommon and furprizing Circumstances, I am oblig'd to poftpone my Sentiments upon the remaining Part of the Formation, together with the Fall of Man, the universal Deluge, the Reformation of the Earth, &c. points, which, when I refume the Subject, I shall treat of to the best of my Abilities, as abfolutely neceffary to be explain'd, in order to fet the Mofaic Philofophy in its genuine Light. I fhall therefore only just hint at the Formation of fome of the inferior A

gents