the other Places before-mention'd where there are long and cold Winters there is reason to believe that they are most sutable to the Constitutions and Tempers of the Persons who inhabit them The great Disposer of all things placed such Inhabitants there as were fit for that Region and no other For they could not dwell in these Countries where we inhabit as we could not dwell there So that the placing of those People in that dark cold and frozen part of the World is so far from being a Detraction to Divine Providence that it is a singular Proof of it and shews the Wisdom of the World's Maker in a sutable choosing of Places for Persons according to their particular Temperament and Exigencies And both with relation to these and the Polar Regions we may truly say that the excessive Coldness of these Parts is useful and serviceable for the good of others that are near to the Sun and have need sometimes of cooling From these remote Treasuries the Winds are fetch'd for the rebuking of the scorching Heats of Summer of which we can give no Natural and Philosophical Account unless we derive them from these great Store-Houses This acquaints us with the true cause of that excessive Sharpness and Rigour of the Air which we feel sometimes and that of a sudden This solves the unexpected change of Weather yea sometimes the sudden and unlook'd for checking of Pestilential Diseases and Infections which is known to happen Inconsiderate Minds are apt to think that the Regions that are seated under the Poles are altogether useless and thence perhaps may be tempted to question the Divine Conduct But if we will consider those Places we shall find that they are as Necessary as any parts of the World It is true they are for the most part Unhabitable but their being so makes others Habitable for these are the common Receptacles of Cold whence it is dispersed by Divine Providence to those Parts where it is wanting at any time that is when the Sun's Fierceness calls for a Check And several other ways those Polar Receptacles and Nurseries of Cold are serviceable yea necessary for the welfare of the World Lastly The wise framing and ordering of the Sun's Motion and Progress of which I have spoken before necessarily infer this Difference of Places on the Earth as to Heat and Cold. Unless we will remove this Luminary from its Ecliptick and thereby disorder the whole Course of the World and destroy the various Succession of Times and Seasons which upholds Mankind as well as all other Creatures whatsoever we must be forced to confess that the several Zones and Climates tho differing so much in Heat and Cold are useful in the Creation and that the Position of the Globe of the Earth is most wisely and discreetly ordered The late Theorist boldly contradicts this and tells us that the Situation of the Earth is not the same now that it was before the Deluge It did not stand Oblique to the Sun as it doth at present whereby we have a great Difference of Seasons as Spring Summer c. but it had a right or parallel Situation insomuch that there was a Continual Equinox And yet this Person who is so curious about the Idea of his First Earth hath given it us with a very great Blemish yea much worse Fault than any that he pretends to find in this present Earth for they are his express Words The Paradisiacal Earth had a Torrid Zone which was Vninhabitable All this great Portion of Earth was burnt up and wither'd and had no Grass Tree or Plant upon it and so no Creature could find any Sustenance there This is his fine Paradisiacal Earth as he calls it And yet it is worth our observing that he saith in another Place in express Terms All the Earth is green and a Perpetual Spring is over it all meaning his Paradisiacal Earth When he hath thus confuted himself there is no need of any Body else to do it But we may grant him his Theory that there was a Primitive Earth of a different Form from the present It is partly true that the Earth is not what it was for there are the Marks of Sin and of the Fall even on the Earth and we read of a Curse denounced against it Gen. 3.17 though he is pleas'd to turn that Chapter into mere Allegory and thereby to null the main Points of our Religion and afterwards by the violent Irruptions of the Flood it is most probable that the Earth underwent some Alteration But what is this to the changing the very Situation and Posture of the Earth How is it proved hence that the First Earth had another Situation to the Sun and had a perpetual Equinox and Spring These things are asserted by him but no where proved Wherefore I look upon it as a precarious and groundless Opinion The Variety of Seasons before the Flood may be gather'd from Gen. 8.22 I will not again curse the Ground nor smite any more every living thing as I have done While the Earth remaineth Seed-time and Harvest and Cold and Heat and Summer and Winter and Day and Night shall not cease As much as to say Though during the time of the Deluge these Alterations of the Seasons were interrupted and the Sun's Heat and Light were as if they were not because they could have no Effect upon the Earth as long as it lay under Water yet now having restored things to their pristine Course and Order I assure you they shall continue so to the end of the World Thus it is included in these Words that there were the same Vicissitudes of the Year before the Flood that there are now And this appears to be a Truth from what I have already shew'd viz. that the present Position and Situation of the Earth are very convenient useful and in some Respects necessary for there is a necessity of a Vicissitude of Seasons and a Variety or Exchange of Heat and Cold because the Fruitfulness of the Earth depends upon these and Heat and Cold generated in the Air are the two Hands of Nature as my Lord Bacon rightly saith by which she doth all her Work It is unreasonable to conceive an Equality of these and consequently an Equal and Unvariable Temperature of the Year before the Deluge Which is thus lately represented by an Admirable Pen A Man can hardly at first imagine what a Train of ill Consequences would follow from such a Condition and Posture of things of which it would not be the least that such a Mediocrity of Heat would deprive the World of the most beautiful and the most useful Parts of all the whole Creation and would be so far from exalting the Earth to a more happy and Paradisiacal State that it would turn it to a general Desolation and a mere barren Wilderness to say no worse Such an Heat would be too little for some sorts of Vegetables and too great for others The
the Idols of the Gentiles that can cause Rain or can the Heavens of themselves give Showers Art not thou he O Lord God The Old Jews express'd their Sentiment concerning it thus One of the Keys proper to God and kept in his own Hand is that of Rain thereby reckoning it a singular and immediate Gift of the Almighty And they used to join it with two other Keys viz. of giving Life and of Raising from the Dead which shews that they thought it peculiar to God alone And then the known Vsefulness of this Blessing is an Argument of its Author This is with great Elegancy set forth by the Inspired Poet Psal. 65.9 Thou visitest the Earth and waterest it thou greatly enrichest it with the River of God i. e. the Clouds or Rain which is full of Water thou preparest them Corn when thou hast so provided for it by vouchsafing seasonable Showers thou waterest the Ridges thereof abundantly thou settlest the Furrows thereof thou makest it soft with Showers thou blessest the Springing thereof thou crownest the Year with thy Goodness and thy Paths the Clouds wherein God is Poetically said to walk Psal. 18.9 drop Fatness They drop upon the Pastures of the Wilderness and the little Hills rejoice on every side The Pastures are clothed with Flocks the Valleys also are cover'd over with Corn they shout for Ioy they also sing This they do thus they behave themselves being as it were drunk with the Bottles of Heaven as the Clouds are call'd Iob 38.37 being abundantly satisfied with Ioresh and Malkosh the former and the latter Rain the first of which is necessary after the Seed is sown the second before Harvest to set it forward to fill the Ears Wherefore St. Paul proves a God from the Clouds Acts 14.17 He left not himself without Witness i. e. of his Divine Power and Providence in that he gave us Rain from Heaven and as the Consequent of that fruitful Seasons For it is this Celestial Water that makes the Ground fruitful it hath a peculiar Faculty to do it and no other Water doth the like Thence that Talmudick Saying Rain is the Husband of the Earth because it impregnates it and makes it fructify Therefore Showers are rightly call'd by Pliny the Food of Plants the Meat as well as the Drink of all Vegetables But this is effected by the Divine Blessing and is a singular Testimony of God's Care of the World Thus from the Earth we prove there is a God in Heaven even from the Grounds and Fields refresh'd with Rain and thereby made fertile we argue a Divine Benefactor And now when I am speaking of the Clouds I must not forget the Rain-bow which is a Party-colour'd Cloud whose fine and gay Paintings are the various Reflection and Refraction of the Sun's Beams in that watry Substance This gaudy Mixture of Light and Shade arises naturally from the Difference of the Superficies of those Parts that constitute the Cloud and therefore without doubt it appear'd before the Deluge though we find it not mention'd till afterwards when it was appointed to be set in the Skies as a Sign of a Covenant between God and Man and ever since it hath continued and shall so to the last Period of all things a visible Token and Assurance of God's good Will to Mankind Wherefore as often as we view this Cloud made so remarkable by the Diversity of its Colours the Variety of its Tinctures let us thence be confirm'd in our Belief of a God and look upon this Beautiful Spectacle as an illustrious Symbol of the Divine Mercy and Beneficence Or to speak in the Words of the Wise Son of Sirach Look upon the Rainbow and praise Him that made it Very beautiful it is in the Brightness thereof It compasseth the Heaven with a glorious Circle and the hands of the most High have bended it Ecclus. 43.12 To the Clouds belong Thunder and Lightning and therefore may pertinently be spoken of here for when a Cloud breaks asunder by reason of hot and dry sulphureous and nitrous Vapours enclos'd and compass'd about with cold ones and so set on Fire and consequently extending themselves and violently making their way the Noise caus'd by this Rupture is that which we call Thunder and the flashing out of the Fire is Lightning Both which are comprehended in those Words Psal. 29.7 The Voice of the Lord divides the Flames of Fire And the former of them is call'd the Voice of the Lord upon the Waters ver 3. This is no other than his Thundring in the Clouds which usually turn into Rain when they are broken and scattered And perhaps to this may refer ver 10. The Lord sitteth upon the Floods i. e. upon the Clouds which are justly stiled Floods because of the abundance of Water contain'd in them And as Thunder is bred by Fire and Water in the Clouds so the Effects of it are of the like Nature for Lightning and Rain generally accompany the Thunder Wherefore we find this particularly taken notice of by the Pious Observers of Providence He maketh Lightnings for the Rain Psal. 135.7 He maketh Lightnings with Rain Jer. 10.13 And this is mentioned in Iob 37.2 5. 38.25 26. and not without great Reason for herein the Goodness and Mercy of God are seen because Rain is serviceable to connect and qualify the Thunder and by its Moisture to prevent the Hurt which otherwise might be done by the scorching Flashes which attend it Who is not sensible that Thunder is the more signal Operation of a Divine Cause and therefore is so frequently call'd God's Voice as in Exod. 20.18 Psal. 18.13 77.18 Ier. 10.13 Yea no less than seven times in the 29 th Psalm it is call'd the Voice of the Lord Which may not only signify a Great and Loud Voice for the Voice or Noise of Thunder is such especially in some Regions of the World as in some Parts of Africa and in the Southern Countries of Asia and America where it is much more Terrible than it is among us yea as a Learned Gentleman observes it as much exceeds the Thunder of these Northern Climes as the Heat there exceeds that of these but it more particularly denotes the Wonderful Author of it viz. the Almighty Being Which was the very Apprehension of some Men of the deepest Philosophy among the Gentiles Even they acknowledg'd this Fierce Meteor to be the Effect of no less than an Extraordinary and Divine Power Plutarch informs us that some of the Best Philosophers made it the Matter of their Wonder and Astonishment that Flames should proceed from watry Clouds and that such a Harsh Noise should be the Product of that Soft Matter I find a Great Natural Philosopher taking notice of the falling down of the Lightning from Heaven as a Wonderful thing because Fire naturally ascends It seems he did not think that the Motion of it downwards is sufficiently solved by the Violence of the
the Chapter wherein this Passage occurs is a plain Narrative of what was done at the Creation and therefore we are to understand it in a Literal and Historical Sense And we are told by One who was as great a Judg in this Case as any that can be named That although Moses in this Chapter treating of the Creation of the World doth not unlock the Secrets of Astronomy because he writes to a People that understood not those things yet he delivers nothing here but what may be granted by Astronomers themselves This was the Determination of that Noble Dane that Wise Philosopher and Mathematician and it is a smart Rebuke to our New Antiquary in Philosophy We may then notwithstanding what he hath vainly suggested admire the Divine Providence in placing those Waters above the Firmament and we may reckon them as a singular Contrivance of the Omnipotent and Merciful Creator To supply which constantly he causeth the Vapours to ascend from the ends of the Earth Psal. 135.7 to be drawn up from all the farthest parts of the World for this purpose And when they are mounted up into the Skies he admirably poizeth them so that they fall when and where he pleaseth A late Ingenious Philosopher tells us of an Instrument whereby we may know the Weight i. e. the degrees of Gravity and Levity of the Air Clouds and Winds But we are certainly informed from the Infallible Writings that this is effectually done by an Almighty Hand He not only makes the Weight for the Winds but he weigheth the Waters i. e. the Clouds by measure Job 28.25 Accordingly you read of the Ballancing of the Clouds Job 37.16 which is reckoned as the wondrous Work of Him that is perfect in Knowledg Whence some of the Hebrew Doctors have thought the Word Shamajim the Heavens was derived from Shaab obstupuit and majim aquae to express that particular Region Above where these Waters hang in that stupendous manner Though I do not take this to be the genuine Etymology of the Hebrew Word for it is most probable it had its Name only from the Waters i. e. the Clouds being there yet this Derivation rightly suggests to us that if we duly consider this Wonderful Ballancing of these moving Bodies we cannot but stand astonished at these Divine Staticks and admire the Hand which gives them that exact Libration A great Naturalist takes special Notice of this and cries out What is more Wonderful than the Waters standing in the Air He might have said so many Seas hanging in the Air These he thought to be an Extraordinary Work and this we know to be a Divine one The Clouds therefore are in a Poetick way stiled God's Paths Psal. 65.11 his Chariots Psal. 104.3 his Chambers ver 13. because he acts and converses and shews himself here because his Presence and Providence are signally discover'd in them and by them These are emphatically call'd the Water-spouts of Heaven Psal. 42.7 because they pour out Water like Pipes or Spouts for when those condensed Vapours being now turn'd into Clouds become too ponderous for the Air to bear them they fall down in Rain These Clouds therefore are fitly and elegantly call'd dark Waters Psal. 18.11 because being thick and full of Water they become black and besides from the gathering together and condensing of these Clouds the Earth is shadowed and darkned But this proves generally a Comfortable Darkness being in order to Rain which soon restores Light again But this also is produced by the singular and extraordinary Direction of God for tho we grant that these vast Heaps of Water fall by their own Weight or by the Violence of Winds which thrust them downwards yet it is from the particular Care and Guidance of the Almighty that this is done Which we find taken notice of by Iob a Great and Skilful Observer of God's Works Iob 26.8 He bindeth up the Waters in his thick Clouds and the Cloud is not rent under them That the thick and heavy Clouds so loaded with Waters do not break presently but hang and hover between Heaven and Earth a considerable time as frequently we see them do is very wonderful and is to be ascribed to the Divine Power and Wisdom To which it is to be attributed also that they fall so lightly and not all together It is from this most wonderful Disposal that these vast heavy Bodies do not fall down upon us at once and all in a Heap and so crush us with their Load This very thing Iob's Friend who by his Discourse we may perceive was a Man of some Philosophy as well as great Piety particularly insists upon with the highest Admiration Iob 36.27 He maketh small the Drops of Water which the LXX not minding so much the very Words as the Sense as is common with them render very finely the Drops of Rain are numbred by him he is so careful in distributing them that he divides them out by Tale so exact is he in measuring out the Rain that he uses as it were an Arithmetical Proportion These Waters are with great Accuracy dispens'd to Mankind they as it immediately follows pour down Rain according to the Vapour thereof according to God's disposing and parcelling out of the Vapours which are the Matter of the Clouds for here he doth as it were use an Arithmetick Whence it is that they dissolve into Showers by degrees and gently distil upon the Ground in Drops as a Gardiner waters his Garden Not but that in some Places as in the Southern Regions of the World as Guinea Brasil Egypt the Country of the Abyssines the Rains fall in greater Quantity which is a great Argument of the Divine Providence for those Parts of the World want more Rain and therefore the Drops are bigger and more ponderous and the Showers fall faster and thicker and with much more Force but still they descend orderly and by degrees And that we may be the more apprehensive of this Benefit God sometimes permits Examples of the contrary as those Fallings of Waters in the Indies which they call Spouts The Clouds fall down altogether and like a violent Torrent They are not Showers but Floods of Rain that come down from the Skies But this is rare and extraordinary and serves only to commend the constant Goodness of God in the ordinary dispensing of Rain Therefore it is said He made a Decree for the Rain Job 28.26 It was a peculiar Appointment and Ordinance of Heaven that there should be this Admirable Filtration of the Clouds which is a thing very amazing and stupendous It is no wonder then that it is reckon'd among the Great Vnsearchable and Marvelous things which God doth Job 5.9 10. and that He himself calls upon us to admire him as the sole Author and Father of Rain Job 38.25 26 27 28. and that this is owned to be the peculiar Work of the Almighty Iehovah Jer. 14.22 Are there any among the Vanities i. e.
and Happiness of the whole Race of Mankind that were to come after And which is yet more he proves that this Change this Dissolution of the Primitive Earth and the framing of another out of it is a great and singular Work and Argument of Providence of Counsel and Sagacity and he demonstrates in several Particulars that it is the Product of a Reasoning and Designing Agent We are come then at length to the Grand Matter which I was all along aiming at viz. the Proof of a Deity from the Make and Disposal of the Earth Thus that of the Psalmist is evinced to be true The Earth is full of thy Riches which he saith to convince us of the Wisdom of God in the Works of the Creation And now to close this part of my Discourse viz. concerning the Earth I will add a few Words concerning Earthquakes which are occasioned by those Spatious Cavities and Vaults which I have asserted before to be within the Bowels of the Earth Some of the old Philosophers imputed this Motion to Winds and Vapours bred in these hollow Places Others ascribe it to excessive Waters got into the Channels of the Earth by reason of excessive Rains and agitated there in those vast Caverns It was the Opinion of some of the Antients that this Motion was the Effect of the Sea 's beating on the Earth and powerfully moving and shaking it whence Neptune had the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earth-shaker and he was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Words are of the same import Others think it is caused wholly by the Subterraneous Fires and Sulphureous Matter in those Cavities Thus that Admirable Observer of the Works of Nature whom I have frequently cited attributes this Phaenomenon to the Elevation of the Water out of the Great Abyss which he supposes to be in the central Part of the Earth by the Virtue of this under-ground Fire He hath a Particular Notion of this Heat causing this Commotion and Disorder in the Earth But I conceive that All these are the Causes at one time or other nay it may be at the same time of Earthquakes strictly so call'd and Tremblings of the Earth which are Tendencies to them The Winds generated in the Entrails of the Earth may by extending the Parts in some Places cause a Tremour or by a sudden violent Eruption occasion a Greater Motion So by the immoderate Rains or by Inundations of the Sea the Meatus of the Earth may be washed and worn away and other adjacent Parts may give way and sink downwards and thereby cause a Motion above if with a subsiding in some of the extream Parts Also the Subterraneous Sulphury Matter of which there is great Quantity being inflamed may produce these Concussions by extraordinary Rarefaction which making more room must needs produce an unwonted Motion and sometimes a horrid Noise So that an Earthquake may be said to be a kind of a Subterranean Thunder This was Pliny's Notion of old Non aliud est in terrâ tremor quà m in nube tonitru Thus he speaks because of the Resemblance between the breaking of the Earth and of the Clouds and the Dreadful Shock that accompanies both But though Earthquakes are thus resolved into Physical Causes yet they are to be look'd upon as remarkable Testimonies of the Divine Power and Greatness We cannot but own and reverence these when we consider the Dreadful Effects of these Concussions Nay it is hardly to be solved by any of the forementioned Causes how there can be a trembling of the Earth at the same moment in Places that are so vastly distant from one another There was an Universal Shock almost all the World over in the Emperor Valentinian's time about the Year of our Lord 369. In the Year 1601 there was a shaking of the Earth in Asia Hungary Germany Italy France at the same time In Peru as Acosta relates this Tremor oftentimes reaches near six hundred Miles from North to South This must have an Extraordinary Cause and that Man must strain his Philosophy who undertakes to give a Satisfactory Account of it from Common Principles and the Natural Efficacy of Things This unusual Exertment of Divine Providence we of this Nation as well as others have lately felt with Surprise and Astonishment And I hope it will be thought no Digression if I here remind the Reader to reflect upon it with great Thoughtfulness and Seriousness and to consider and weigh the true Nature and Design of this amazing Event I know there are some Persons that slight all such Occurrences and tell us that they are from Natural Causes and therefore it is Weakness and Vanity to trouble our selves about them Men of Philosophy say they are acquainted with the Spring and Source of these Accidents and therefore are not possess'd with Fear and Dread and cannot be perswaded that Nature acting in its own way and according to its due Laws intends us any Mischief But the Reply to these Men is easy for though I most willingly grant that Earthquakes and the lesser Tendencies to them as Tremblings of the Earth are the Product of Natural Causes yet it is as true that the God of Nature when he is provoked by the Sinful Enormities of a People may and oftentimes doth turn these Natural Effects into Punishments and Iudgments So that both Philosophy and Divinity are concern'd here and they are very well consistent We may as Naturalists search into the physical Reasons of these Events but then as we are Students in Religion we are bound to make a farther Enquiry and to take notice of the Design of Heaven in these great and wonderful Effects that happen in the World With Philosophers and Physitians we are ready to grant that Scarcity and Famine Plague and Pestilence are naturally produced and yet we are ascertain'd from the Sacred and Infallible Records of Scripture that these were oftentimes inflicted by God on purpose as the Recompence of Mens heinous Sins So it is in the present Case which makes it very plain the Motion and Shaking of the Earth are to be attributed to Causes in Nature and I have before assigned what they are yet we must likewise acknowledg that there is a more than Ordinary Hand to be taken notice of in this Matter and as Understanding and Devout Christians we are to observe what the Purpose of Divine Providence is at such a Time Pursuant to this I offer these brief Remarks on that Signal and Stupendous Dispensation 1. The Antients have thought that this was ever attended with something that was Boding and Ominous Thus Socrates the Ecclesiastical Historian pronounces concerning the Earthquake which happen'd in the Days of the Emperors Valentinian and Valens that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain Sign of the Shakings and Convulsions which afterwards were in the Christian Churches And I could produce other very Grave Writers who speak to
Allegorical Sense So that according to this Gentleman it was an Allegorical Sea and Allegorical Fishes too are spoken of by Moses or rather by God himself and then there is as much reason to believe that the Earth and the Air with the Cattel and Fowl in them which are mentioned in the same Place are Allegorical and he may as well say the whole World is so too But it was Unphilosophically done of him as well as against Scripture to make the Earth destitute of Sea for if we rightly scan the Nature of things we must acknowledg that these two cannot be separated because the great Mass of Earth cannot subsist without a proportionable Measure of Moisture nor can the Water be contain'd in a Place unless the Earth holds it The Water pervades all the Parts to be a kind of Bond to them that the Earth may not crack fall asunder and crumble into pieces Again the Water was made to give Drink to every Beast of the Field Psal. 104.11 and even to Man himself whose primitive Refreshment it was This must be derived mostly from the Sea by the Channels in the Earth â—or the Rains and Mists which this Author supposes before the Flood were not sufficient for this and all other Purposes of this Element Besides it is an unintelligible Mystery that there should be no Clouds and yet Rain Likewise the Sea-water percolated by its passing through the Earth and at the same time mixing with it was appointed by the Great Operator of the World to be serviceable to the Fruitfulness of the Earth for without this as well as Rain no Plants and consequently no Fruits and as the Consequence of that scarcely any Animals could be nourish'd The World then must have been in a very miserable Condition according to this Learned Author's Theory which locks up all the Water of the World in the Abyss so that no Body was the better for it According to him it was well that the Frame of the Earth broke and fell down into the Great Deep and how could it do otherwise when it was made so slight for from that Dissolution the Earth hath been eveâ— since universally water'd So it seems the Deluge was not so much a Curse as a Blessing for though the Inhabitants that then were perished by it yet ever after we have found the Benefit of it Indeed this Author hath well husbanded the Matter by his Hypothesis for it would have requir'd he saith Eight Oceans though several good Mathematicians have not been of his mind to bring that Universal Flood on the World but he hath done it with a far less Quantity of this Element So that it is plain he is a good Provident Philosopher and hath saved a great deal of Water by his Theory But where God and Nature are not sparing why should we be And why doth the Theorist imprison the whole Element within the Earth So that according to him there was no Sea for above sixteen hundred Years or if there was any it was a Sea shut up and of no use I have endeavoured to set it free and that by Good Authority even the Divine Law of the Creation mention'd once and again in Genesis 1. I have shew'd the Necessity and Usefulness of this Great Blessing to the World and I will proceed to do so yet further It cannot be denied that though the Sea seems to be very bleak and chill yet the Influence of it is Refreshing yea Warming Which Minutius Felix was sensible of when speaking of the Providence of God which is so careful of the Good of the Universe he tells us that our Britain is deficient as to the Sun but in way of Recompence is recreated and comforted by the warmth of the Sea which surrounds it This tempers the Cold and Austerity of the Winter and gently warms those Countries whose Shores it washes This Secret was not unknown to Tully as is clear from that Passage in his Writings The Seas being stirr'd with the Winds are so warm that a Man may thence easily perceive that there is a certain Heat contain'd in so great Moisture for that Warmth is not to be reckon'd as external and adventitious but as rais'd from the inmost Parts of the Ocean by Agitation It was also designed by God that it should be useful for Navigation and consequently for Travelling for though the vast Seas which are between Countries seem to stop the Traveller yet by the help of Ships a speedier Passage is made than if he went on dry Land Especially since the Invention of the Sea-map and Compass we can visit the remotest Parts of the World in a far shorter time than we could have done if there had been no Seas This the famous Americus Vespatius Columbus Magellan and our own Drake and Cavendish could witness In the next place I might adjoin this that the Sea is of great use for setting Limits and Boundaries to several Kingdoms and Nations in the World For by reason of the Interposition of this they have an intire and separated Dominion because those Parts of the Sea which is next to them do as it were terminate and confine their Jurisdiction and those neighbouring Waves are themselves part of it For though the Sea be in perpetual Flux and is not strictly and physically the same yet it is so in respect of its Channel and the Shores it washes A Man may have a Propriety in those things which are Variable and Transient he hath a right to the Air and Light and accordingly an Action lieth in case of Nusance i. e. annoying the one and obstructing the other So it is with the Waters of Rivers or of the Sea tho they are Variable yet they are subject to Propriety For as the Learned in the Law rightly tell us things may be Common as to their Use unto All and yet they may be Proper by Right to one Nation or Person Thus such and such Seas are appropriated to one certain Kingdom or Country and so become the peculiar and distinct Bounds of those Places And withal they are a very good Guard and Fence they are a strong and secure Wall especially if they surround the Region Thus the Sea is of singular Use. Moreover let us call to mind what the Pious Psalmist saith They that go down to the Sea in Ships that do Business in great Waters these see the Works of the Lord and his Wonders in the Deep They are entertain'd with variety of Wonderful Occurrences which those at Land are Strangers to on these prodigious Mountains of Waters they have a Prospect of those Admirable Things which others cannot reach the Sight of And after all they are filled with Admiration and Astonishment and must confess they cannot sufficiently enter into the Springs of the Sea and walk in the search of the Depths as God himself speaketh Lastly notwithstanding what some fantastick Men have conceited these Waters are a Great Ornament to the World The