or Bulb, and the Structure of it, was endow'd with a wonderful Understanding, and great Infight in the Laws of Nature.

I leave it now to their own felves, whether fuch a Behaviour can be called reasonable; and beg them, in order to be in fome measure affected herewith, that they would contemplate the Earth and its Productions, not flightly and after the ufual manner, but fingle out any Herb, Flower, or Tree; and then taking in their Hands fome of that Earth in which they grew, compare it with the faid Herb, Flower, or Tree; and finally fixing their Thoughts upon one of those particular Objects, ask themselves, how many thousand several kinds of Plants fpring out of the said Earth? and I don't think, at least I don't hope, that they will confider it otherwife than as an unconceivable Wonder of Wisdom. And fince neither they, nor any one whom they know, can produce one fingle Clod of Earth no bigger than a Man's Fift, with all their Skill, and that if this Earth were not beftow'd on them with a bountiful Hand for their use, all things living would perifh with Hunger, ought not this Favour of the great Benefactor to stir them up to Thankfulness? What then is able to do it? Certainly, if it had not been a gracious and powerful God that made this World with a wife Defign, and who ftill preferves it in fo proper a State, why does not this Globe of Earth confift in all its Parts, as well as in fome, of barren Sands and Rocks? And why are Men and Beafts (as has been formerly obferv'd) of just such a Structure, as to be fed and preferv'd by the Produce of the Earth, and hardly by any other thing befides? If a Man be to be convinced, one would think it impoffible for him to contemplate all these things without feeing the Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism.

SECT.

SECT. VII. Earth is never confumed, nor becomes entirely barren.

WHEREAS now this Earth feeds every Creature, fuch as Men in all Places; the Cattle in Meadows and Stalls; the Wild Beafts in Woods and Defarts; Birds, Fishes; all forts of Infects. and creeping Creatures, fuch as Worms, Catterpillars, Flyes, &c.; in a word, every thing that has Life; for altho' fome of them may make use of others for their Food, yet those that serve for Food to others, are themfelves nourished by the Fruits of the Earth. Moreover, whereas this Earth does daily bring forth from its Bowels an infinite number of Herbs, Flowers, Plants, Shrubs, and Trees, for fuch various Purposes, and has done the fame for fo many thoufand. Years; can any one without Aftonishment reflect, that fince fo much Earth has been made ufe of to the faid Purposes for fo many Ages, yet in fo great a Series of Time it has never failed, nor entirely loft its Fœcundity? For that otherwife the Fruitfulness of the Earth is leffen'd by the continual Use of it, is well known to those who have seen the fame come to pass in Land frequently fown, more often than they are willing.

SECT. VIII. An Experiment to fhew, that Air makes the Earth fruitful.

Ask now these Philofophers, fo wife in their own Conceit, how they pretend to avoid these Mifchiefs, which feem impoffible to be obviated; and fo to preserve themfelves and all other Creatures from certain Death? And tho' fome of thefe fhould acknowledge on any other account, yet, ean he think that it happens without Wifdom and a de

a determinate Purpose, that the Earth, which having loft its Fœcundity by too long an use, is rained upon from the Clouds, and by being only turned up feveral times, and expofed to the influence of the Air, recovers the faid Fœcundity again? What is otherwife laying the Land fallow, than turning frequently the Parts of it upfide down, and fo affording an occafion to the Air to fructifie the fame? Now, whether this happens by the means of a Nitrous Salt, which is fo much extolled by all the Gardeners on account of its Fertilizing Powers, and which is produced in the Earth by the Air, we fhall not here difpute: But the matter of Fact has been experienced by me feveral Years ago, namely, that the barren Earth of a Garden, that had been long fowed, lying fallow for a Year, and having been frequently broke into fmall Pieces, caufed the Seed with which it was fown the following Year, to grow very thick and ftrong, without ufing Dung or any thing elfe to it, that we might be moft certain of the Tryal.

SECT. IX. Convictions from thence.

Now if a Man would but only confider thefe Methods of fertilizing the Ground, and afterwards earneftly weigh the following Particulars: First, That Air and Rain have the neceffary Faculties of being fubfervient to this Purpose. Secondly, That this is frequently performed by both of them, without the Concurrence of any human Labour or Pains. Thirdly, That hereby the Earth in Woods and Defarts, remains in a Condition, tho' uncultivated, to fupply the wild Beasts feeding therein with fufficient Fodder: Ifay, after having underftood all this, can he accufe another of Stupidity, for humbly acknowledging the Goodness of the Great Preferver and Provider of all Creatures;

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because

because he will not fuppofe, (without Reason, as he himself does) that all this comes to pass by Chance, and that no Wisdom has been here used, or need to have been, to impart to the Air, to the Rain, to the Earth, to the Beafts, all the requifite and particular Qualities, by a particular renewed Fertility of the one, to afford a conftant Support to the other?

SECT. X. It should feem as if the Earth would berender'd Loathfome, by Filth and Naftiness.

If all this be not fufficient to make a deplorable Atheist obferve the Finger of GOD; let him tell us himself, whether he could have order'd the Structure of the Earth and of the things that are produced from it, with greater Wisdom than that which he now fees, at leaft he cannot deny but that,

I. ALL Plants, Men, and Beafts, proceed from the Earth: The firft is plain in it felf; and to prove it of the last, are not all living Creatures formed of the Fluids or Juices of thofe that procreate them, or at least expanded and rolled out to their refpe&tive Magnitudes? Do not thefe Juices proceed from their Food? the Food from Herbs and Plants? and thefe from the Earth? So that a continual Experience teaches us the fame. Even Creatures that ftand in need of Cloaths and Covering, receive it only from the Earth; the Wooll of Sheep, the Skins of Beafts, Flax, the Leaves and Barks of Trees, do all proceed from the Earth.

II. THAT nothing is everlasting; and that every thing living undergoes a kind of Death, and thereby is abandon'd to Stench and Corruption, is no lefs certain than the foregoing. So that every

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thing,

thing, when it has ferved the Purposes for which it was made, feems to be nothing more afterwards but an useless and loathfome Balaft of the World, and fit to render the most agreeable Places (where Numbers of Men and Beasts do refide) deferted and uninhabitable by the Stench of fo many dead Bodies and Carkaffes.

III. THAT (to fpeak only of living Creatures) all the Meat with which they are fed, is converted in their Bowels to a loathfome Dung and Excrement, can be denied by no Body. Now if all that has ever been thus difcharged by fo many living Creatures as have been upon the Earth in fo many Ages, fhould fo remain in its difagreeable Form and Qualities, without any Change; muft it not be confeffed, that it would have been fufficient to render the whole Earth, and the Air furrounding it, exceeding naufeous and loathfome to the Inhabitants?

IV. ADD hereto, that fo many Millions of Men and Beafts, that do only consist of the Produtions of the Earth, have been fo many Ages in the World, that it would not have been poffible, without the intervening Care of a fuperior Wisdom, but that the fruitful Earth would have been very much. diminished and confumed: So that altho' this Globe had no Deftruction to apprehend otherwife, yet every thing that lived upon it would finally perifh by the failure of the Earth's Fertility, and confequently of Food.

SECT.