BOOK III.

Of the Terraqueous Globe in particular, more especially the Earth.

Having thus taken a general Prospect of our Terraqueous Globe, I shall in this Book come to its Particulars. But here we have such an immense Variety presenting it self to our Senses, and such amazing Strokes of Power and Wisdom, that it is impossible not to be at a Stand, and very difficult to know where to begin, how to proceed, or where to end. But we must however attempt.

And for the more clear and regular proceeding on this copious Subject, I shall distribute the Globe into its own grand constituent Parts.

I. The Earth and its Appurtenances.

II. The Waters and Theirs.

The first of these only, is what at present I shall be able to take into this Survey.

And in Surveying the Earth, I intend,

1. To consider its constituent Parts, or Things peculiar to its self.

2. The Inhabitants thereof, or the several Kinds of Creatures that have their Habitation, Growth, or Subsistence thereon.

1. As to the Earth it self, the most remarkable Things that present themselves to our View, are,

1. Its various Moulds and Soils.

2. Its several Strata, or Beds.

3. Its very Subterraneous Passages, Grotto’s and Caverns.

4. Its Mountains and Vallies.

CHAP. I.

Of the Soils and Moulds in the Earth.

The various Soils and Moulds are an admirable and manifest Contrivance of the All-wise Creator, in making this Provision for the various Vegetables[a], and divers other Uses of the Creatures. For, as some Trees, some Plants, some Grains dwindle and die in a disagreeable Soil, but thrive and flourish in others; so the All-wise Creator hath amply provided for every Kind a proper Bed.

If some delight in a warm, some a cold Soil; some in a lax or sandy, some a heavy or clayie Soil; some in a Mixture of both, some in this, and that and the other Mould, some in moist, some in dry Places[b]; still we find Provision enough for all these Purposes: Every Country abounding with its proper Trees and Plants[c], and every Vegetable flourishing and gay, somewhere or other about the Globe, and abundantly answering the Almighty Command of the Creator, when the Earth and Waters were ordered to their peculiar Place, Gen. i. 11. And God said, Let the Earth bring forth Grass, the Herb yielding Seed, and the Tree yielding Fruit after his kind. All which we actually see is so.

To this Convenience which the various Soils that coat the Earth are of to the Vegetables, we may add their great Use and Benefit to divers Animals, to many Kinds of Quadrupeds, Fowls, Insects, and Reptiles, who make in the Earth their Places of Repose and Rest, their Retreat in Winter, their Security from their Enemies, and their Nests to repose their Young; some delighting in a lax and pervious Mould, admitting them an easy Passage; and others delighting in a firmer and more solid Earth, that will better secure them against Injuries from without.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAP. II.

Of the various Strata or Beds observable in the Earth.

The various Strata or Beds, although but little different from the last, yet will deserve a distinct Consideration.

By the Strata or Beds, I mean those Layers of Minerals[a], Metals[b], Earth, and Stone[c], lying under that upper Stratum, or Tegument of the Earth last spoken of, all of a prodigious Use to Mankind: Some being of great Use for Building; some serving for Ornament; some furnishing us with commodious Machines, and Tools to prepare our Food, and for Vessels and Utensils, and for multitudes of other Uses; some serving for Firing to dress our Food, and to guard us against the Insults of Cold and Weather; some being of great Use in Physick, in Exchange and Commerce, in manuring and fertilizing our Lands, in dying and colouring, and ten thousand other Conveniences, too many to be particularly spoken of: Only there is one grand Use of one of these Strata or Beds, that cannot easily be omitted, and that is, those subterraneous Strata of Sand, Gravel, and laxer Earth that admit of, and facilitate the Passage of the sweet Waters[d], and may probably be the Colanders whereby they are sweetened, and then at the same time also convey’d to all Parts of the habitable World, not only through the temperate and torrid Zones, but even the farthest Regions of the frozen Poles.

That these Strata are the principal Passages of the sweet Fountain-Waters, is, I think not to be doubted, considering that in them the Waters are well known to pass, and in them the Springs are found by those that seek for them. I say, the principal Passages, because there are other subterraneous Guts and Chanels, Fissures and Passages, through which many Times the Waters make their way.

Now that which in a particular manner doth seem to me to manifest a special Providence of God in the repositing these watery Beds is, that they should be dispersed all the World over, into all Countries, and almost all Tracts of Land: That they should so entirely, or for the most part, consist of lax, incohering Earth, and be so seldom blended with other impervious Moulds, or if they are so, it is commonly but accidentally; and that they are interposed between the other impervious Beds, and so are as a Prop and Pillar to guard them off, and to prevent their sinking in and shutting up the Passages of the Waters.

The Time when those Strata were laid, was doubtless at the Creation, when God said (Gen. i. 9.) Let the Waters under the Heaven be gathered together unto one Place, and let the dry Land appear; or else at the Deluge, if, with some sagacious Naturalists, we suppose the Globe of Earth to have been dissolved by the Flood[e]. At that Time (whatever it was) when the terraqueous Globe was in a chaotick State, and the earthy Particles subsided, then those several Beds were in all Probability reposited in the Earth, in that commodious Order in which they now are found; and that, as is asserted, according to the Laws[f] of Gravity.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAP. III.

Of the Subterraneous Caverns, and the Vulcano’s.

I shall take notice of the subterraneous Caverns, Grotto’s and Vulcano’s, because they are made an Objection[a] against the present Contrivance and Structure of the Globe. But, if well considered, they will be found to be wise Contrivances of the Creator, serving to great Uses of the Globe, and Ends of God’s Government. Besides many secret, grand Functions and Operations of Nature in the Bowels of the Earth, that in all Probability these Things may minister unto, they are of great Use to the Countries where they are[b]. To instance in the very worst of the Things named, viz. the Vulcano’s and ignivomous Mountains; although they are some of the most terrible Shocks of the Globe, and dreadful Scourges of the sinful Inhabitants thereof, and may serve them as Emblems, and Presages of Hell it self; yet even these have their great Uses too, being as Spiracles or Tunnels[c] to the Countries where they are, to vent the Fire and Vapours that would make dismal Havock, and oftentimes actually do so, by dreadful Succussions and Convulsions of the Earth. Nay, if the Hypothesis of a central Fire and Waters be true, these Outlets seem to be of greatest Use to the Peace and Quiet of the terraqueous Globe, in venting the subterraneous Heat and Vapours; which, if pent up, would make dreadful and dangerous Commotions of the Earth and Waters.

It may be then accounted as a special Favour of the divine Providence, as is observed by the Author before praised[d], “That there are scarcely any Countries, that are much annoyed with Earthquakes, that have not one of these fiery Vents. And these, (saith he) are constantly all in Flames whenever any Earthquake happens, they disgorging that Fire, which whilst underneath, was the Cause of the Disaster. Indeed, (saith he,) were it not for these Diverticula, whereby it thus gaineth an Exit, ’twould rage in the Bowels of the Earth much more furiously, and make greater Havock than now it doth. So, that though those Countries, where there are such Vulcano’s, are usually more or less troubled with Earthquakes; yet, were these Vulcano’s wanting, they would be much more annoyed with them than now they are; yea, in all Probability to that Degree, as to render the Earth, for a vast Space around them, perfectly uninhabitable. In one word, (saith he) so beneficial are these to the Territories where they are, that there do not want Instances of some which have been rescued, and wholly delivered from Earthquakes by the breaking forth of a new Vulcano there; this continually discharging that Matter, which being till then barricaded up, and imprisoned in the Bowels of the Earth, was the occasion of very great and frequent Calamities”. Thus far that ingenious Author.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAP. IV.

Of the Mountains and Valleys.

The last Thing I shall take notice of relating to the Earth, shall be the Hills and Valleys. These the eloquent Theorist owns to “contain somewhat august and stately in the beholding of them, that inspireth the Mind with great Thoughts and Passions, that we naturally on such Occasions think of God and his Greatness”. But then, at the same Time he saith, “The Hills are the greatest Examples of Ruin and Confusion; that they have neither Form nor Beauty, nor Shape, nor Order, any more than the Clouds in the Air; that they consist not of any proportion of Parts, referable to any Design, nor have the least Footsteps of Art or Counsel”. Consequently one grand Part of this lower Creation, even the whole present Face of our terraqueous Globe, according to this ingenious Author, is a Work of mere Chance, a Structure in which the Creator did not concern himself.

Part of this Charge I have already briefly answered, and my Survey now leads me to shew, that the Mountains are so far from being a Blunder of Chance, a Work without Design, that they are a noble, useful, yea, a necessary part of our Globe[a].

And in the first Place, as to the Business of Ornament, Beauty, and Pleasure, I may appeal to all Men’s Senses, whether the grateful Variety of Hills and Dales, be not more pleasing than the largest continued Planes. Let those who make it their Business to visit the Globe, to divert their Sight with the various Prospects of the Earth; let these, I say, judge whether the far distant Parts of the Earth would be so well worth visiting, if the Earth was every where of an even, level, globous Surface, or one large Plane of many 1000 Miles; and not rather, as now it is, whether it be not far more pleasing to the Eye, to view from the Tops of the Mountains the subjacent Vales and Streams, and the far distant Hills; and again from the Vales to behold the surrounding Mountains. The elegant Strains and lofty Flights, both of the ancient and modern Poets on these Occasions, are Testimonies of the Sense of Mankind on this Configuration of the Earth.

But be the Case as it will as to Beauty, which is the least valuable Consideration, we shall find as to Convenience, this Configuration of the Earth far the most commodious on several Accounts.

1. As it is the most salubrious, of great use to the Preservation or Restoration of the Health of Man. Some Constitutions are indeed of so happy a Strength, and so confirmed in Health, as to be indifferent to almost any Place or Temperature of the Air: But then others are so weakly and feeble, as not to be able to bear one, but can live comfortably in another Place. With some, the finer and more subtile Air of the Hills doth best agree, who are languishing and dying in the feculent and grosser Air of great Towns, or even the warmer, and vaporous Air of the Valleys and Waters: But contrarywise, others languish on the Hills, and grow lusty and strong in the warmer Air of the Valleys.

So that this Opportunity of shifting our Abode from the warmer and more vaporous Air of the Valleys, to the colder and mote subtile Air of the Hills, or from the Hills to the Vales, is an admirable Easement, Refreshment, and great Benefit to the valetudinarian, feeble part of Mankind, affording those an easy and comfortable Life, who would otherwise live miserably, languish and pine away.

2. To this salutary Conformation of the Earth, we may add another great Convenience of the Hills, and that is, in affording commodious Places for Habitation; serving (as an eminent Author[b] wordeth it) “as Skreens to keep off the cold and nipping Blasts of the northern and easterly Winds, and reflecting the benign and cherishing Sun-Beams, and so rendering our Habitations both more comfortable and more chearly in Winter; and promoting the Growth of Herbs and Fruit-Trees, and the Maturation of the Fruits in Summer.”

3. Another Benefit of the Hills is, that they serve for the Production of great Varieties of Herbs and Trees[c]. And as there was not a better Judge of those Matters, so I cannot give a better Account of this Convenience, than in the Words of the last cited famous Author, the late most eminent and learned Mr. Ray[d], (who hath so fully discussed this Subject I am upon, that it is scarce possible to tread out of his Steps therein). His Observation is, “That the Mountains do especially abound with different Species of Vegetables, because of the great Diversity of Soils that are found there, every Vertex or Eminence almost, affording new Kinds. Now these Plants, (saith he,) serve partly for the Food and Sustenance of such Animals as are proper to the Mountains, partly for medicinal Uses; the chief Physick, Herbs and Roots, and the best in their Kinds growing there: It being remarkable, that the greatest and most luxuriant Species in most Genera of Plants are native of the Mountains.”

4. Another Convenience which my last named learned Friend observes[e] is, “That the Mountains serve for the Harbour, Entertainment, and Maintenance of various Animals; Birds, Beasts and Insects, that breed, feed and frequent there. For, (saith he) the highest Tops and Pikes of the Alps themselves are not destitute of their Inhabitants, the Ibex or Stein-buck, the Rupicapra or Chamois, among Quadrupeds; the Lagopus among Birds. And I my self (saith he) have observed beautiful Papilio’s, and Store of other Insects upon the Tops of some of the Alpine Mountains. Nay, the highest Ridges of many of these Mountains, serve for the Maintenance of Cattle, for the Service of the Inhabitants of the Valleys.”

5. Another Thing he observes is, “That those long Ridges and Chains of lofty and topping Mountains, which run through whole Continents East and West[f], serve to stop the Evagation of the Vapours to the North and South in hot Countries, condensing them like Alembick Heads into Water and so (according to his Opinion) by a kind of external Distillation giving original to Springs and Rivers; and likewise by amassing, cooling and constipating of them, turn them into Rain, by those Means rendring the fervid Regions of the torrid Zone habitable.”

To these might be added some other Uses and Conveniences[g]; as that the Hills serve to the Generation of Minerals and Metals[h], and that in them principally are the most useful Fossiles found; or if not found and generated only in them, yet at least all these subterraneous Treasures are most easily come at in them: Also their Use to several Nations of the Earth, in being Boundaries and Bullwarks to them. But there is only one Use more that I shall insist on, and that is,

6. And lastly, That it is to the Hills that the Fountains owe their Rise, and the Rivers their Conveyance. As it is not proper, so neither shall I here enter into any Dispute about the Origine of Springs, commonly assigned by curious and learned Philosophers. But whether their Origine be from condensed Vapours, as some think[i]; or from Rains falling, as others; or whether they are derived from the Sea by way of Attraction, Percolation, or Distillation; or whether all these Causes concur, or only some, still the Hills are the grand Agent in this prodigious Benefit to all the Earth: Those vast Masses and Ridges of Earth serving as so many huge Alembicks or Cola in this noble Work of Nature.

But be the Modus, or the Method Nature takes in this great Work as it will, it is sufficient to my Purpose, that the Hills are a grand Agent in this so noble and necessary a Work: And consequently, that those vast Masses and lofty Piles are not as they are charged, such rude and useless Excrescences of our ill-formed Globe; but the admirable Tools of Nature, contrived and ordered by the infinite Creator, to do one of its most useful Works, and to dispense this great Blessing to all Parts of the Earth; without which neither Animals could live, nor Vegetables scarcely grow, nor perhaps Minerals, Metals, or Fossiles receive any Increase. For was the Surface of the Earth even and level, and the middle Parts of its Islands and Continents, not mountainous and high, (as now it is) it is most certain there could be no Descent for the Rivers, no Conveyance for the Waters; but instead of gliding along those gentle Declivities which the higher Lands now afford them quite down to the Sea, they would stagnate, and perhaps stink, and also drown large Tracts of Land.

But indeed, without Hills, as there could be no Rivers, so neither could there be any Fountains, or Springs about the Earth; because, if we could suppose a Land could be well watered (which I think not possible) without the higher Lands, the Waters could find no Descent, no Passage through any commodious Out-lets, by Virtue of their own Gravity; and therefore could not break out into those commodious Passages and Currents, which we every where almost find in, or near the Hills, and seldom, or never in large and spacious Planes; and when we do find them in them, it is generally at great and inconvenient Depths of the Earth; nay, those very subterraneous Waters, that are any where met with by digging in these Planes, are in all Probability owing to the Hills, either near or far distant: As among other Instances may be made out, from the forcible Eruption of the subterraneous Waters in digging Wells, in the lower Austria, and the Territories of Modena, and Bologna in Italy, mentioned by my fore-named learned Friend Mr. Ray[k]. Or if there be any such Place found throughout the Earth, that is devoid of Mountains, and yet well watered, as perhaps some small Islands may; yet in this very Case, that whole Mass of Land is no other than as one Mountain descending, (though unperceivedly) gently down from the Mid-land Parts to the Sea, as most other Lands do; as is manifest from the Descent of their Rivers, the Principal of which in most Countries have generally their Rise in the more lofty Mid-land Parts.

And now considering what hath been said concerning this last Use of the Hills, there are two or three Acts of the divine Providence observable therein. One is, that all Countries throughout the whole World, should enjoy this great Benefit of Mountains, placed here and there, at due and proper Distances, to afford these several Nations this excellent and most necessary Element the Waters. For according to Nature’s Tendency, when the Earth and Waters were separated, and order’d to their several Places, the Earth must have been of an even Surface, or nearly so. The several component Parts of the Earth, must have subsided according to their several specifick Gravities, and at last have ended in a large, even, spherical Surface, every where equi-distant from the Center of the Globe. But that instead of this Form, so incommodious for the Conveyance of the Waters, it should be jetted out every where into Hills and Dales, so necessary for that purpose, is a manifest Sign of an especial Providence of the wise Creator.

So another plain Sign of the same especial Providence of God, in this Matter, is, that generally throughout the whole World, the Earth is so dispos’d, so order’d, so well laid; I may say, that the Mid-land Parts, or Parts farther from the Sea, are commonly the highest: Which is manifest, I have said, from the Descent of the Rivers. Now this is an admirable Provision the wise Creator hath made for the commodious Passages of the Rivers, and for draining the several Countries, and carrying off the superfluous Waters from the whole Earth, which would be as great an Annoyance, as now they are a Convenience.

Another providential Benefit of the Hills supplying the Earth with Water, is, that they are not only instrumental thereby, to the Fertility of the Valleys, but to their own also[l]; to the Verdure of the Vegetables without, and to the Increment and Vigour of the Treasures within them.

Thus having vindicated the present Form and Fabrick of the Earth, as distributed into Mountains and Valleys, and thereby shewn in some Measure the Use thereof, particularly of the Mountains, which are chiefly found fault with: I have, I hope, made it in some Measure evident, that God was no idle Spectator[m], nor unconcerned in the ordering of the terraqueous Globe, as the former bold Charges against it do infer; that he did not suffer so grand a Work, as the Earth, to go unfinish’d out of his almighty Hand; or leave it to be ordered by Chance, by natural Gravity, by casual Earthquakes, &c. but that the noble Strokes, and plain Remains of Wisdom and Power therein, do manifest it to be his Work. That particularly the Hills and Vales, though to a peevish weary Traveller, they may seem incommodious and troublesome; yet are a noble Work of the great Creator, and wisely appointed by him for the Good of our sublunary World.

And so for all the other Parts of our terraqueous Globe, that are presumed to be found fault with by some, as if carelessly order’d, and made without any Design or End; particularly the Distribution of the dry Land and Waters; the laying the several Strata, or Beds of Earth, Stone, and other Layers before spoken of; the Creation of noxious Animals, and poisonous Substances, the boisterous Winds; the Vulcano’s, and many other Things which some are angry with, and will pretend to amend: I have before shewn, that an infinitely wise Providence, an almighty Hand was concerned even in them; that they all have their admirable Ends and Uses, and are highly instrumental and beneficial to the Being, or Well-being of this our Globe, or to the Creatures residing thereon.

So also for humane Bodies, it hath been an ancient[n], as well as modern Complaint, that our Bodies are not as big as those of other Animals; that we cannot run as swift as Deer, fly like Birds, and that we are out-done by many Creatures in the Accuracy of the Senses, with more to the same Purpose. But these Objections are well answered by Seneca[o], and will receive a fuller Solution from what I shall observe of animal Bodies hereafter.

But indeed, after all, it is only for want of our knowing these Things better, that we do not admire[p] them enough; it is our own Ignorance, Dulness or Prejudice, that makes us charge those noble Works of the Almighty, as Defects or Blunders, as ill-contriv’d, or ill-made.

It is therefore fitter for such finite, weak, ignorant Beings as we, to be humble and meek, and conscious of our Ignorance, and jealous of our own Judgment, when it thus confronteth infinite Wisdom. Let us remember how few Things we know, how many we err about, and how many we are ignorant of: And those, many of them, the most familiar, obvious Things: Things that we see and handle at Pleasure; yea, our own very Bodies, and that very Part of us whereby we understand at all, our Soul. And should we therefore pretend to censure what God doth! Should we pretend to amend his Work! Or to advise infinite Wisdom! Or to know the Ends and Purposes of his infinite Will, as if we were of his Council! No, let us bear in Mind, that there Objections are the Products, not of Reason, but of Peevishness. They have been incommoded by Storms and Tempests; they have been terrify’d with the burning Mountains, and Earthquakes; they have been annoy’d by the noxious Animals, and fatigu’d by the Hills; and therefore are angry, and will pretend to amend these Works of the Almighty. But in the Words of St. Paul[q], we may say, Nay, but O Man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the Thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the Potter power over the Clay, of the same Lump to make one Vessel to honour, and another to dishonour? If the Almighty Lord of the World, had for his own Pleasure, made this our World more inconvenient for Man, it would better become us to sit still, and be quiet; to lament our own great Infirmities and Failings, which deserve a worse Place, a more incommodious Habitation, than we meet with in this elegant, this well contriv’d, well formed World; in which we find every Thing necessary for the Sustentation, Use and Pleasure, both of Man, and every other Creature here below; as well as some Whips, some Rods to scourge us for our Sins[r]. But yet so admirably well temper’d is our State, such an Accord, such an Harmony is there throughout the Creation, that if we will but pursue the Ways of Piety and Virtue, which God hath appointed; if we will form our Lives according to the Creator’s Laws, we may escape the Evils of this our frail State, and find sufficient Means to make us happy while we are in the Body. The natural Force and Tendency of our Virtue, will prevent many of the Harms[s], and the watchful Providence of our Almighty Benefactor, will be a Guard against others; and then nothing is wanting to make us happy, as long as we are in this World, there being abundantly enough to entertain the Minds of the most contemplative; Glories enough to please the Eye of the most curious and inquisitive; Harmonies and Conforts of Nature’s own, as well as Man’s making, sufficient to delight the Ear of the most harmonious and musical; All Sorts of pleasant Gusto’s to gratify the Taste and Appetite, even of the most luxurious; And fragrant Odours to please the nicest and tenderest Smell: And in a Word, enough to make us love and delight in this World, rather too much, than too little, considering how nearly we are ally’d to another World, as well as this.

FOOTNOTES: