cause our Imagination can strip it of its Muscles and Skin, and shew us the fcragged and knotty Backbone, the gaping and ghaftly Jaws, and all the Sceleton underneath? We have fhewed before, that the Sea could not be much narrower than it is, without a great lofs to the World: and muft we now have an Ocean of mere Flats and Shallows, to the utter ruin of Navigation; for fear our heads should turn giddy at the imagination of gaping Abyffes and unfathomable Gulfs? But however, they may fay, the Sea-fhores at least might have been even and uniform, not crooked and broken as they are into innumerable Angles and Creeks and Inlets and Bays, without Beauty or Order, which carry the Marks more of Chance and Confufion, than of the production of a wife Creator. would not this be a fine bargain indeed? to part with all our Commodious Ports and Harbours, which the greater the In-let is, are fo much the better, for the imaginary pleasure of an open and ftreight Shore without any retreat or fhelter from the Winds; which would make the Sea of no use at all as to Navigation and Commerce.

And

But what apology can we make for the horrid deformity of Rocks and Crags, of naked and broken Cliffs, of long Ridges of barren Mountains, in the convenienteft Latitudes for Habitation and Fertility, could

but

but those rude heaps of Rubbish and Ruins be removed out of the way? We have one general and sufficient answer for all feeming defects or disorders in the conftitution of Land or Sea; that we do not contend to have the Earth pass for a Paradise, or to make a very Heaven of our Globe, we reckon it only as the Land of our peregrination, and aspire after a better, and a cœleftial Country. 'Tis enough, Heb. 1. if it be fo framed and conftituted, that by a carefull Contemplation of it we have great reason to acknowledge and adore the Divine Wisdom and Benignity of its Author. But to wave this general Reply; let the Objectors confider, that these fupposed irregularities muft neceffarily come to pass from the establish'd Laws of Mechanism and the ordinary course of Nature. For fuppofing the Exiftence of Sea and Mountains; if the Banks of that Sea must never be jagged and torn by the impetuous affaults or the filent underminings of Waves; if violent Rains and Tempests must not wash down the Earth and Gravel from the tops of some of those Mountains, and expose their naked Ribbs to the face of the Sun; if the Seeds of fubterraneous Minerals must not ferment, and sometimes caufe Earthquakes and furious eruptions of Volcano's, and tumble down broken Rocks, and lay them in confusion: then either all things must have been over

ruled

ruled miraculously by the immediate interpofition of God without any mechanical Affections or fettled Laws of Nature, or else the body of the Earth must have been as fixed as Gold, or as hard as Adamant, and wholly unfit for Humane Habitation. Gen. 1. So that if it was good in the fight of God, that the prefent Plants and Animals, and Humane Souls united to Flesh and Blood should be upon this Earth under a fettled conftitution of Nature: these fupposed Inconveniences, as they were foreseen and permitted by the Author of that Nature, as necessary confequences of fuch a conftitution; so they cannot inferr the leaft imperfection in his Wisdom and Goodness. And to murmure at them is as unreafonable, as to complain that he hath made us Men and not Angels, that he hath placed us upon this Planet, and not upon fome other, in this or another Syftem, which may be thought better than Ours. Let them alfo confider, that this objected Deformity is in our Imaginations only, and not really in Things themselves. There is no Univer. fal Reason (I mean fuch as is not confined to Humane Fancy, but will reach through the whole Intellectual Universe) that a Figure by us called Regular, which hath equal Sides and Angles, is abfolutely more beautifull than any irregular one. All Pulchritude is relative; and all Bodies are truly

and

and phyfically beautifull under all poffible Shapes and Proportions; that are good in their Kind, that are fit for their proper ufes and ends of their Natures. We ought not then to believe, that the Banks of the Ocean are really deformed, becaufe they have not the form of a regular Bulwark; nor that the Mountains are out of shape, because they are not exact Pyramids or Cones; nor that the Stars are unskilfully placed, because they are not all fituated at uniform diftances. These are not Natural Irregularities, but with refpect to our Fancies only; nor are they incommodious to the true Ufes of Life and the Designs of Man's Being on the Earth. And let them further confider, that these Ranges of barren Mountains, by condensing the Vapors, and producing Rains and Fountains and Rivers, give the very Plains and Valleys themselves that Fertility they boaft of: that thofe Hills and Mountains fupply Us and the Stock of Nature with a great variety of excellent Plants. If there were no inequalities in the Surface of the Earth, nor in the Seasons of the Year; we should lose a confiderable share of the Vegetable Kingdom: for all Plants will not grow in an uniform Level and the fame temper of Soil, nor with the fame degree of Heat. Nay let them laftly confider, that to thofe Hills and Mountains we are obliged for all our Metals, and N. n.

with

with them for all the conveniencies and comforts of Life. To deprive us of Metals is to make us mere Savages; to change our Corn or Rice for the old Arcadian Diet, our Houses and Cities for Dens and Caves, and our Cloathing for Skins of Beasts: 'tis to bereave us of all Arts and Sciences, of Hiftory and Letters, nay of Revealed Religion too that ineftimable favour of Heaven: for without the benefit of Letters, the whole Gospel would be a mere Tradition and old Cabbala, without certainty, without authority. Who would part with these Solid and Subftantial Bleffings for the little fantastical pleafantnefs of a smooth uniform Convexity and Rotundity of a Globe? And yet the misfortune of it is, that the pleasant View of their imaginary Globe, as well as the deformed Spectacle of our true one, is founded upon impoffible Suppofitions. For that equal Convexity could never be seen and enjoyed by any man living. The Inhabitants of fuch an Earth could have only the short prospect of a little Circular Plane about three Miles around them; tho' neither Woods nor Hedges nor artificial Banks fhould intercept it: which little too would appear to have an Acclivity on all fides from the Spectators; so that every man would have the displeasure of fancying himself the lowest, and that he always dwelt and moved in a Bottom. Nay, confidering

that