Destruction would hang over their Heads. Again, can it be pretended, that it is by mere Chance, that there are fuch a number of Fountains found in all Parts of the World, out of which at firft little Rills and Brooks proceed, which joining together, compofe great Rivers; by which means the very drieft Countries are furnished with Water, and that with Running and Living Waters too, which, by its continual Motion, is preferv'd from Corrup tion? Now this could by no means happen, if there were not Mountains in fome low, and even high Countries too, upon which the Vapours being collected, were fufficient to fupply the Matter for all these Rivers.

SECT. LIV. The Difpofition or Fitness of Mountains for the aforefaid Purposes, and Convictions from

thence.

Now, can this be afcribed to any other Being, than to a Wife, Powerful and Gracious GOD? I. That we find fuch great Bodies as the Mountains diftributed throughout the whole Earth.

II. That most of 'em are found in the highest Countries, in order to tranfmit these Rivers from thence to the Distance of hundreds of Leagues fometimes.

III. That the whole Superficies of the Earth is adapted thereto, which grows gradually lower on all Sides where it is washed by the Sea, as is plain from the Course of the Rivers that moftly difcharge themselves therein; fince every Body knows, that Water, by reafon of its Weight, always runs to the lowest Places.

IV. Do we not herein fee a wife Direction? that there are always fo many Mountains made for this Purpose, namely, to produce fuch mighty Rivers as the Rhine, the Danube, the Rhone, the Boryfthenes,

Boryfthenes, &c. (See Varenius's Geography, lib. 1. cap. 16. §. 3.) and they that defire to have a larger Account thereof, and to know how the Mountains run in Ridges thro' the Earth, may meet with the fame in the faid Varenius, cap. 10. lib. 1; as alfo in Burnett's Theory of the Earth, cap. 9. who, tho'· their Heighth bears very little Proportion to the Bignefs of the Globe, is yet of Opinion, that the Space which they take up, may amount to a tenth Part of the folid Land thereof: They that would form a Notion thereof, may confult the Figures which this laft Author has made, tho' he uses them to a contrary Purpose, notwithstanding that he has left out feveral and very large Mountains, on account of the fmallness of his Draught, fuch as the Apennine, and other Mountains of Italy, &c.

V. Now it seems ftill neceifary, that in the Promontories, or Parts of Lands, running into the Sea, fuch as Italy itself, and others likewife, Mountains are particularly placed for this Purpose, that the Vapours arifing from the Sea, fhould not need to be carried far over Land, before they may meet with Mountains, where they may be turned into Water and run down again.

VI. The Inlands alfo feemed, above all the rest, to want Mountains; forafmuch, as being shined upon by the Sun, they were hotter than the SeaWaters wherewith they are furrounded, and therefore were not likely to receive much Rain thence. To be convinced hereof, let any one view in a Map, the aforemention'd Islands of St. Helena, St. Thomas, &c. and confider, whether it be probable, that fuch little Plains and Spots of Land in Comparison of the circumjacent Seas, and which, for the aforefaid Reafons, does fo far exceed them in Heat, could entertain the leaft Hope's of receiving Water enough from Heaven, if GoD had not been pleased to provide for them after

fo

fo particular a manner by the help of Mountains.

Now if any Body that reads the following Paffages, taken from the Defcribers of the World, as firft from Burnet, P. 47. There is no folid Land either of the old or new World, or no old or new Island, but what has its Mountains. Secondly, From Varenius, lib. 1. cap. 10. §. 2. In most of the Iflands, and in Promontories, the Mountains are fituated fo, as tọ run thro' the middle of 'em, and divide them into two Parts, which he confirms by many Examples. I fay, can he that reads this continue to believe that it happen'd fo by Chance? Tho' he is forced to acknowledge, that if a Man were in the highest manner concerned for the Prefervation of those Islands, he could not difpofe the Mountains therein after a more useful Manner, to make them serve for Watering-Pots to the Country round about them, and for collecting thofe Vapours, which would otherwise be scatter'd by the Winds, exactly in thofe Places where they would be most useful. Muft not every Body fee the Power and Goodness of the great Creator and Governor of all Things, fhine out most brightly, who, in order to fweeten the Sea-Waters, which of themfelves are falt and barrén, and to distribute them throughout the Earth where-ever they may be useful, has daily forced Bodies, fo confiderable in Size and Strength, to contribute thereto; who has order'd the Seas, the Mountains, the Air, the Vapours, the Winds and the Sun itself, that they might bestow thefe great Benefits on the Inhabitants of the Earth, not only to concur in general, but that each of them fhould likewife afford the moft proper and moft requifite of all their Faculties; fo, that if the Sea had not been fufficient in its utmost Breadth and Depth, if the Mountains had not been high enough, and placed fo conveniVOL. II. ently;

Ii

ently; if the Air had not been elastical, and therefore denfer below than above; if the Vapours had not been light enough; if the Winds had not been ftrong enough to drive them along; if the Sun had not been fixed at fo juft a Distance, as to yield neither too much nor too little Heat, this great Work of the Circulation of the Waters, and with it almost all Creatures had long fince been at an end, and the whole Terreftrial Globe become a Wilderness?

SECT. LVI. Rivers require a Place wherein to dif charge their Waters.

HAVING thus far traced the Rivers to their Origin, if we now contemplate their Numbers, their Largeness, and their unconceivable Quantity of Waters, which for fo many Thousand Years do inceffantly pass along with them for the Benefit and Happiness of all that dwell upon the Earth, every one must be convinced of the Neceffity of very large and deep Spaces where these mighty Streams may rendezvous and meet with fuch a Receptacle, as to hinder them from overflowing the dry Ground.

Is it then by Chance, that there are prepared in the Earth fuch unfathomable Depths, as may contain the whole Ocean, and into which all the Rivers may discharge their Waters, and without which all the Power, and all the Skill that has been employed in the Frame of the World, and of the Plants and Animals upon it, would be all in vain ?

SECT.

d

SECT. LVII. Salt preferves the Sea from Corruption.

LET now an unhappy Atheist Contemplate with us this great Collection of the Waters, thefe vaftly extended Seas, and fay, whether in cafe the fame did confift of nothing but fresh Waters, brought into them by the Rivers and Rains, he can even fuppofe, that it would have been poffible for them, after having been expofed fo many Ages to the Action of the Air and Sun, to have been preserved from Corruption and Stinking. Now if that had happen'd, let him confequently confider how grievoufly the whole Mafs of Air, furrounding the Globe of the Earth, would have been infected by fuch a ftinking Lake, and thereby produced innumerable and fatal Difeafes. Let him represent to himself in this Cafe, all the Waters of the Sea fo corrupted, that hardly any Fish could live in them. Muft then again mere Chance, or fomething else that does not know whether or how it operates, have the Honour of what we are going to fay, namely, that just at the bottom of this great Receptacle or Pit, there grows, or is placed, fuch a quantity of Salt as is capable of converting all the fresh Waters that run into it, into a Pickle, and fo to preserve it from 'Corruption, as well as to hinder the Waters in many Places from freezing; for if a Froft fhould happen as easily in the Sea, as it does in Rivers and fresh Waters, it would not only render the Sea many times unpaffable, but by stopping Ships in the middle of it, caufe an infinite number of People to perifh with Hunger?

And yet no Man can fhew any Neceffity, why there fhould be such a vast quantity of Salt found in the Sea rather than in other Places, fince there are likewife Mines and Pits thereof to be met Ii 2 with