To conclude, This Theory being writ with a sincere Intention to justify the Doctrines of the _Universal Deluge_, and of a _Paradisiacal_ State, and protect them from the Cavils of those that are no Well-wishers to sacred History, upon that Account it may reasonably expect fair Usage and Acceptance with all that are well-dispos’d; and it will also be, I think, a great Satisfaction to them to see those Pieces of most ancient History, which have been chiefly preserv’d in Scripture, confirm’d anew, and by another Light, that of Nature and Philosophy; and also freed from those Misconceptions or Misrepresentations, which made them sit uneasie upon the Spirits even of the best Men that took Time to think. _Lastly_, In things purely speculative, as these are, and no Ingredients of our Faith, it is free to differ from one another in our Opinions and Sentiments; and so I remember St. _Austin_ hath observ’d upon this very Subject of _Paradise_; wherefore as we desire to give no Offence our selves, so neither shall we take any at the Difference of Judgment in others; provided this Liberty be mutual, and that we all agree to study _Peace_, _Truth_, and a _good Life_. Footnote 1: Gen. ad lit. lib. 1. c. 19. Plerumque accidit ut aliquid de Terrâ de Cœlo, de cæteris hujus mundi elementis, _&c._ Cùm enim quenquam Christianorum in eâ re quam optimè nôrunt, errare deprehenderint, & vanam sententiam suam ex nostris libris asserere, quo pacto illis libris credituri sunt de Resurrectione Mortuorum, & spe vitæ æterne regnoque cœlorum, quando de bis rebus quas jam experiri vel indubitatis numeris percipere potuerunt, fallaciter putaverint esse conscriptos? CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS. The FIRST BOOK. CHAP. I. _The Introduction: An Account of the whole Work, of the Extent and general Order of it._ ... Page 1 CHAP. II. _A general Account of Noah’s Flood. A Computation what Quantity of Water would be necessary for the making of it; That the common Opinion and Explication of that Flood is not intelligible._ ... 10 CHAP. III. _All Evasions concerning the Flood answer’d; That there was no Creation of Waters at the Deluge, and that it was not particular or national, but extended throughout the whole Earth. A Prelude and Preparation to the true Account and Explication of it. The Method of the first Book._ ... 25 CHAP. IV. _That the Earth and Mankind had an Original, and were not from Eternity; prov’d against Aristotle. The first Proposition of our Theory laid down, viz. That the Antediluvian Earth was of a different Form and Construction from the present. This is prov’d from divine Authority, and from the Nature and Form of the Chaos, out of which the Earth was made._ ... 47 CHAP. V.