Duration, must be wholly Arbitrary, and absolutely at God's Sovereign Pleasure and Difpofal. For there could be nothing in eternal Duration to fix the Creation of the World more to one time than another, or to determine why it should begin fooner or later. And fince it is impoffible that the World fhould be eternal, it is evident, that the Time of the Creation whenever it was, can be no good Objection, because, tho' the World had been created never fo long before, there must neceffarily have been as much a Pretence for fuch an Objection. For there must have been some Period of Time, when the World had existed no longer than it has done now and no beginning of the World can be fuppofed fo long ago, but still it might with the fame Reafon be ask'd, why it was not created fooner?

2. In confidering the Manner of the World's Creation, I fhall prove, (1.) That there is no Reason to fuppofe the World to have been at the first made by Mechanical Laws, though it were preferv'd according to fuch Laws. (2.) That there are fufficient Reasons to be given for its Creation in that manner, which we find related in the Book of Genefis.

(1.) There is no Reason to fuppofe the World to have been at first made by Mechanical Laws, though it were preferved according to fuch Laws, (whereas I fhall afterwards prove, that it is not preferv'd according to them.) There is no Reason that the World fhould be firft framed according to the Laws of Motion, which are establish'd for its Preservation and Government in its fix'd and fettled State. The Origine of the Universe was by the immediate hand of God, before the Appointment of the feveral Laws which afterwards were to take place; and we may as well endeavour to reduce the working of Miracles to the standing Laws of Nature as the Creation of the World. For certainly of all Miracles the Creation of the World must be the greatest, not only as it figni

fies the Production of Matter and Motion out of Nothing, but as it was the putting things into fuch Order, as to make them capable of the Laws of Motion ordain'd for them. It is not yet agreed, nor is it ever like to be, what thefe Laws of Motion are, which the Philofophers fo much talk of, and there being fuch a mutual Connexion and Combination of Bodies, and fuch a Dependence of every Body upon fo many others in every Motion, it is impoffible to know how any two Bodies would act upon each other, if they were separate from all Bodies befides, or were out of that State which they now are in. It is reasonable therefore to imagine, that the feveral Parts of the World must be ranged and fettled before thefe Laws could take place; and to reduce the Creation of the World to the Laws of Motion which now prevail in it, is to fuppofe a Creation antecedent to that by which the World was made. This is as if an Indian fhould attempt to give an Account of the making of a Watch by the feveral Motions, which he fees perform'd in it after it is made, and should imagine that the Materials moving in fuch a manner, at last arriv'd to the exact frame of a Watch. It is confefs'd, that the first Animals could be produced by no Laws of Motion, or Powers of Nature: and is it not as reafonable to believe, that the rest of the Creation was effected by the fame miraculous Operation, and (according to the Style of Mofes) by fuch a Divine Command, as had its immediate Effect, without any Intervention of Second Caufes ?

(2.) There are fufficient Reasons to be given for the Creation of the World in that manner, which we find related in the Book of Genefis. It is great Prefumption in Men to be too curious and inquifitive about the Reasons of God's Actions: for whatever he delivers of himself, we ought entirely to believe both the Thing it felf, and the Manner and Circumstances of it. Where waft thou, when I laid the foundations of

the

the earth? declare, if thou haft understanding, Job xxxviii. 4. But this must be faid to the Glory of God, and to the Shame of all fuch as cenfure and cavil at his Word, that even by Men fuch Reasons may be given of his Actions, as all his Adverfaries shall not be able to gainsay.

God hath ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight, Wifd. xi. 20. And as to those who enquire, why the World was created in fix days rather than in one day, or in an inftant, or in a long Compafs of Years, as the Laws of Matter and Motion, they fay, require: It might be fufficient to ask, why, if it was God's Will, the World might not be created in fix Days, as well as in any other number of Days, or space of Time? If the Creation had been in an inftant, or in a longer or fhorter space of Time, the Question might with as much Reafon have been put, why it was not created in fix Days? Shall Men prefume to prescribe to God the Time and Manner of his Actions? Is not his own Pleasure a fufficient Rea-. fon of them? The Manner of the Creation and of the Flood, which have of late been the Subject of fo many Difputes, depends folely upon the Will and Pleafure of God, and therefore we can know only by Revelation, how they were effected, and it is in vain to pretend that they must have come to pass in this or that manner, unless it could be prov'd, that God could not bring them to pass any other way than that, which the Inventor of fome Hypothefis thinks fit to propose. Most Actions may be perform'd very diffe rent ways; and if, for instance, we had only a general account of the Paffage of the Ifraelites out of Ægypt into the Land of Canaan; that Pharaoh pursuing them, was drown'd with his whole Army, that they travell❜d in the Wilderness forty Years, and had a fufficient Provision of Food, and Cloathing, and Water for fo great a Multitude, in fo barren a place, and for fo long a time: tho' never fo many Conjectures

fhould

fhould be made, how all this might be, and never fo many Schemes were drawn of their Journeyings and Encampments; if it could be fuppofed poffible, that one of all these might prove true, yet it would be utterly impoffible to know which were it. But when we are only told, that God created the World in fix Days, and that fuch and fuch things were created on each of these Days, that he brought a Deluge of Waters upon the whole Earth, for the Sins of Mankind; which continued for fuch a time upon the face of the Earth fome Men will needs affign the particular Means and Manner, by which both the Creation and the Flood muft neceffarily have been brought to pass, as if the Wisdom and Power of God, and the Nature of things could admit of no other way, but what they can explain. We may efteem the Learning, and admire the Sagacity, and allow the good Intentions of thefe Authors; but when any one advanceth an Hypothefis in contradiction to all others, and propofes it, not as probable, but as the only true Explication of Scripture, and pofitively maintains, not only that things might be fo, if God pleas'd, but that they were fo, and could not be otherwise; this to me feems more unaccountable, than any thing I ever met with besides, in the very worst Hypothefis. We can know nothing of the way and manner how God has been pleas'd to do any thing but by his own Revelation. If each Hypothefis were poffible, yet no Man could be certain which were the right, or that any of them were fo; because God might make use of fome other Means than what Men can imagine. But when the feveral Hypotheses destroy one another, and every one pretends to fet up his own in contradiction to all the reft, and none can maintain its Ground any longer than till another has been brought to confute it, it were strange, if Men fhould fatisfy themselves with fuch Uncertainties, rather than with the plain Word of God.

Accor

According to any Mechanical Hypothesis, (tho' there were no Vacuum) fo many Accidents must continually intervene in a Chaos of Matter confufedly rolling and knocking one part of it against another, that it seems next to an impoffibility, that it fhould ever fettle into any Order: at leaft, if Matter had been left to its own workings and jumblings according to any Mechanical Laws of Motion, the World, for ought any Man can prove, might not have been made to this moment. So far is it from being poffible to understand, how, upon Mechanical Principles, the World should have been made in fix Years, rather than in fix Days, confifting of four and twenty Hours. It is therefore the boldest Attempt that can be conceived, for Men to pretend to affign the feveral steps and degrees in the process of this wonderful Operation, with as much ease and certainty, as if they had all the Materials by them in their Laboratory, and could perform it as readily as an ordinary courfe of Chymistry. Next to attempt the making of a World, what Undertaking can be more daring than to pretend to discover how it was made? To make a World must undoubtedly be the Work of God, and he alone can declare how he made it. But Reafons may be given for the Creation of the World in fix Days; 1. With respect to Angels; 2. With respect to Men.

3

1. With refpect to the Angels. It is St. Auftin's Opinion, that the fix Days of the Creation of the World in the Book of Genefis, are diftinguished according to the Perception which the Angels had of the Creation; from whence was framed that distinЄtion of the Schoolmen, between Cognitio Matutina and Cognitio Vefpertina. And tho' what I am about. to fay, is not exactly agreeable to St. Auftin's Notion,

a

Aug. fuper. Gen. ad Literam. lib. iv. c. 22, &c. De Civit. Dei, lib. xi. c. 7.

Tho. Aquin. Sum. Part I. Qu. 58. Art. 6.

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