SECT. LXIII. Convictions from the foregoing Obfer

vations.

IF now, after having feen and understood all this, any one can pretend ftill to remain unconvinced of the Wisdom of a Being which has form'd it all, let him only examine himself, whether he be really difpofed or not to be convinced; if not, we can do no more than only to pity his moft miferable Condition; but if, contrary to his own Will and fincere Endeavours, he perceives that he is not fatisfied, there feems no other wholfomer Counsel for him, than most humbly to implore that GOD, by whom he defires to be convinced, that he would vouchfafe to blefs thofe Studies which he employs in contemplating his Creatures, and enable him to prove his Existence by his Works, with the fame Acquiefcence and Conviction which he finds in himself, when by seeing a curious Piece of Workmanship, fuch as a well contrived Watch, a convenient House, a Ship with all its Tackling, &c. he concludes, that these things were made by a skilful Artificer, for certain wife Ends. Which Method, to my Knowledge, GoD was pleased to fanctify to a great but unhappy Philofopher, in his laft and Death-bed Sickness.

SECT. LXIV. The Circulation of the Waters does likewife preferve the Land from overflowing.

To add fomething farther, which feems to give fuch as are not entirely hardened, an irrefragable Proof of a GOD that rules the Sea; Can any one fee, without the utmost Amazement, that fo great, fo extended a Space, in which fo dreadful a quantity of Waters is contained, as the Ocean, does

not

not overflow the dry Land, and efpecially where it is fo low, as that of Holland; fince there is fuch a Concurrence of Circumstances that feem to render it unavoidable, unless a greater Power and Wisdom had intervened.

To fhew this, let any Man tell us how it is poffible, that fuch an innumerablè Company of Rivers, and among them, fuch great ones as Varenins mentions in his Account of Rivers, §. 27. do Day and Night continually discharge into the Sea fuch an unconceivable Quantity of Waters, and ftill do the fame fo many Ages without ceafing, and yet not fill the Sea, nor force it to exceed its Bounds, and overflow the Land.

This would be unintelligible to every one, were it not that all thefe Waters did constantly observe the Circulation we have fhewn before; whereby those Waters that are brought into the Sea by the Rivers, and increase the fame, are again attracted by the Heat of the Sun, and do rife up into the Air under the Form of Vapours, and there they, or at least great part of them, are collected_upon the Tops of Mountains, or defcend again in Rains, and become little Brooks, which, by their Union, make up the fame Rivers that carried them into the Sea. Thus performing their continual Circulation from the Land to the Sea, and from the Sea thro' the Air into the Land again.

SECT. LXV. Convictions from the foregoing Obfer

vations.

Now let me ask an Atheist, whether befides all that we have already faid about the Sea, he imagines that these things have come to pafs without any Direction; and that all that contributes to this great Circulation, has acquired fo appofite a Conftitution without a determined

3

Purpose ?

Purpofe? Why then is not the Sea quite exhaled, and dried up? Why is it not increased by the Rivers? Either of which would produce the certain Destruction and Ruin of the whole Earth. And whence comes it that the Sun has continued for fo many Ages in fuch an exact degree of Heat, as to leave in the Sea always about the fame quantity of Water, without our being able to discover any remarkable Diminution, or Augmentation thereof? And after many of the like Queftions, which one might eafily put on this Occafion; can any reafonable Man believe that a blind and ignorant Cause, a meer Chance, (which may every Minute act after a different manner) has had the Direction of it? and which has been able to confine fuch an infinite Hoft of fo many Millions of watery Particles to fuch fixt and fo neceffary Laws, for the good of those that inhabit this Globe, without the leaft Deviation; and to make those Particles always return to the Sea from whence they came ?

SECT. LXVI. The Dykes or Banks of Holland.

IF any one defires to fee a further Proof of the manifeft Government and Direction of the Great Creator, let him pafs along the Dykes of NorthHolland, and there take notice in how many Places the Waters of the Zuider-Sea are higher than the Lands that lie within the faid Dykes. Let him farther contemplate the Smallness of thefe Dykes, in comparison of the great Extent of Sea, which lies and preffes upon them; Let him obferve the amazing Power and Strength of the Sea, by which, tho' cover'd with Ships, it fo eafily bears the unexpreffible Burden, and upon the least stirring of its Waves, can move and lift them up. Would he, if he did not know thofe Laws to which the Great Ruler has fubje&ted these watry Defarts, would

he

he not confider it as a continual and unconceivable Miracle, that thofe Dykes, fo fmall and flender in refpect to the Waters that prefs upon them, have not been overturned and carried away long ago by the Weight thereof, and the adjacent Land turned into Sea: At leaft it appears from hence, that there is need of more than humane Affiftance to preferve fuch a Country from Inundations.

For inftance; Let us fuppofe A B (Tab. XV. Fig. 2.) to be the Breadth or Extent of the aforefaid Zuider-Sea, and if you please too, cover'd with Ships, which, by their prodigious Weight, do prefs the Waters forward on all Sides; Let AC and BD, be the Dykes (which we only reprefent here in their height by a Line) which hinder the Water from overflowing the Lands I K, that lie behind them. Now if one draws the Line C B, 'tis plain, that all the Waters at AC B, would prefs against the Dyke AC; in cafe the Waters obferved the fame Laws in gravitating as folid Bodies do. Now, let any one imagine this whole Body A BC, to be cover'd with Wood, and the whole Superficies thereof, A B, with tall and wellequip'd Ships inftead of Water, as has been here fuppofed. Now, if this great and heavy Body could flide downwards fo fmoothly, and without any Friction or Refiftance, along the Oblique Line B C, as the Water can do, and could prefs after the fame manner upon the Dyke A C, one need not ask, whether the Dyke could fland against it only one Hour. Now, fince Water is unconteftably heavier than Wood, 'tis plain, that the ftill-ftanding Sea would act with greater Violence against the faid Dyke than the Wood ABC, in cafe the Water fhould operate according to its Weight, after the fame manner as the faid great Body: The Confequence of which would be, that VOL. II. Kk

no

no Land in the World, which lay lower than the Sea, could be defended against it by any Dykes.

Now let the moft fubtil Atheist inform us after what manner he can deduce this Difpofition of the Particles of Water, not only upon the Principle of a fortuitous Concourse of the Parts, or from ignorant Laws, but even from his own prefumptious Wifdom and Philofophy; as also after what manner Water, tho' it preferves its Gravity, fhall yet be fo restrain'd as to its Preffure, as to fuffer itfelf to be contain'd within fuch narrow Limits as are our Dykes.

To account for this Difficulty in some measure here (fince we shall speak more fully of it hereafter in its proper Place) is it without Wisdom, that the whole Sea ABCD (Tab. XV. Fig. 2.) cover'd with this vaft Weight of fo many great Ships, and of the Breadth of fo many Leagues, does not press stronger against the Dyke A C, than the fmall but equally deep Ditch AE would do, which is no broader than a Rod, and a good deal lefs?

Wherefore, tho' the Dyke A C, confifted only of thin Glass, the whole Sea A BCD, would not be able to break it with all its Preffure, if there were only behind the faid Dyke at GHCA, a little Water, no broader than the length of a Rod or Perch, but as deep as the Sea.

Now, that this is true, they that understand Hydroftatics know very well: We fhall also fhew it more largely hereafter. And the fame is the only Cause why the whole Sea, cover'd with thoufands of Ships, if it be calm and not too deep (fince it is by the Depth only, and not Breadth, that its Preffure is increased) is often bridled by a flight Dyke, and prevented from overflowing fo many Countries, and drowning Men and Beasts.

SECT.