udy the rocks
and solid strata of the earth, those bulwarks of the field and shore,
without acknowledging the provident design of nature in giving as much
permanency to our continent, as is consistent with sufficient fertility;
and we cannot contemplate the necessary waste of a present continent,
without perceiving the means for laying the foundation of another. But
the evidence of those truths is not open to a vulgar view; _media_ are
required, or much reasoning; and between the first link and the last, in
this chain, what a distance, from the wasting of hard bodies upon the
surface of the earth, to the formation of a solid rock at the bottom of
the sea.

CHAP. XIV.

_Summary of the Doctrine which has been now
Illustrated._

The system of this earth appears to comprehend many different
operations; and it exhibits various powers co-operating for the
production of those effects which we perceive. Of this we are informed
by studying natural appearances; and in this manner we are led to
understand the nature of things, in knowing causes.

That our land, which is now above the level of the sea, had been
formerly under water, is a fact for which there is every where the
testimony of a multitude of observations. This indeed is a fact which
is admitted upon all hands; it is a fact upon which the speculations of
philosophers have been already much employed; but it is a fact still
more important, in my opinion, than it has been ever yet considered.
It is not, however, as a solitary fact that any rational system may be
founded upon this truth, That the earth had been formerly at the bottom
of the sea; we must also see the nature and constitution of this earth
as necessarily subsisting in continual change; and we must see the means
employed by nature for constructing a continent of solid land in the
fluid bosom of the deep. It is then that we may judge of that design,
by finding ends and means contrived in wisdom, that is to say, properly
adapted to each other.

We have now given a theory founded upon the actual state of this earth,
and the appearances of things, so far as they are changing; and we have,
in support of that theory, adduced the observations of scientific men,
who have carefully examined nature and described things in a manner that
is clear and intelligible. We are now to take a review of the principle
points on which this theory hangs; and to endeavour to point out the
importance of the subject, and the p