All the phænomena of nature speak some religious truth to those who have ears to hear their voice. When we say this, we do not deny that volcanos may have a natural use in purging the earth, and giving vent to combustible principles, which, if wholly confined, might shake and shatter the earth to pieces before the time. These things are very consistent, because the wisdom of God works for many different ends by the same means.

A review of the earth and its contents, however short and imperfect, must inspire us with an awful sense of the divine power and wisdom. But we are not to stop there: the natural history of the earth bears an unanswerable testimony to the truth of revelation; and we should never fail to apply it to that purpose, when an opportunity offers. The Scripture, which tells us that this earth, on which we live, is now under sentence to be destroyed by fire, doth also teach us, that it hath been once destroyed already by water: of which destruction the earth still bears such evident marks, that the belief of it is as obvious to every observer of nature, as it is necessary to a Christian. From the surface of the earth we understand, that the whole was

once under water; which descended, with an

acce

accelerated velocity, from the land to the seas, toward which all the furrows of the earth are directed, and in which they terminate. Then, if we search under the earth, we find, that as man is not in the state in which God first made him, but fallen into disorder and sinfulness; so the earth has undergone some natural revolution, which, in part, dissolved its substance, and lodged within it such bodies as must have been the remains of a former earth, because they could not possibly be the productions of the present. Bones of animals, shells of fishes, fruits of trees, are found buried at all depths, and even in the midst of the hardest stone and marble. Whence we are to argue: 1. That these bodies were transported and deposited by a flood of waters; because most of them belonged to the sea. 2. That the matter of the earth must have been in a state of solution when this happened; because it could not otherwise have inclosed sea shells, and filled up their cavities through the smallest apertures. 3. That the flood was general, or common to the whole world; because these monuments of it are found in all countries of the earth; on the highest mountain, and in tracts most remote from the sea.

To

To account for a disorderly situation of things, out of their several places, under ground, we must apply to water or to fire; which two are the causes of all the changes in this globe. We cannot apply to subterraneous fire, because here is an effect which is universal, and subterraneous fire is a cause but partial and occasional; the marks of which, when compared with those of water, are but of small extent*. Besides, fire would have destroyed bodies which water preserved; such as the tenderest shells, the skins of scaly fish, the fruits and leaves of vegetables. All these would bear drowning and burying, but could never survive the devastations of fire. How could fire transport the productions of all climates into one place? But if they floated on water, subject to winds, tides, and currents, such a thing might easily be accordingly, we find the fruits of the East and WestIndies; bones, teeth, and shells from fish of different seas; the elephant of Africa, the tortoise of America, all near to one another in

The effects of fire, compared with those of water, may perhaps be nearly in the same proportion, as the forge of the smith, with its flags and cinders, when compared with the lands of the whole parish.

the

the same spot*, as if laid up for a testimony to the truth of the Holy Scripture, which alone gives us a faithful account of this great revolution in nature. When we are informed, that the earth we now inhabit is the buryingplace of a former earth, it is as reasonable that we should dig up the remains and ruins of it, as that we should find the bones and coffins of former generations in the earth of a church-yard.

Our subject will become more edifying, if we examine what use hath been made of some parts of it in the Scripture.

1. Thus, for example, every man is to consider himself as clay in the hands of a potter, and to submit himself, with resignation, to the appointment of God, who gives to all men their proper stations and uses in life, as the potter forms some vessels to mean, and some to honourable, offices; and it is as vain for any man to quarrel with the ordination of heaven, and throw himself out of that sphere of life in which God hath placed him, as for the clay to murmur against the design of the potter. There is an ancient fable of

* What is here said is verified in the island of Sheepy in Kent.

Eastern

Eastern original, (for the son of Sirach hath it *) which relates the folly of the vessel of earth in joining itself to the company of the vessel of brass; in consequence of which it was broken to pieces.

2. The treasures of the earth are buried within it; so that they cannot be discovered and brought forth without the labour of man: yet they are not placed so deep, as to render our labour ineffectual. Thus hath God ordained in every other case: nothing, but what is worthless, is to be found by the indolent upon the surface of life: every thing valuable must be obtained by labour; all wisdom, all science, all art and experience, are hidden at a proper depth, for the exercise of the wise; and they, who do not spare their labour, shall not be disappointed in their search. The treasures of wisdom, in the word of God, do not lie upon the surface of the letter, for every superficial reader to observe them therefore, where it is said, Search the Scriptures, the word implies that laborious kind of searching, by which the treasures of the mine are discovered under ground.

Ecclus. xiii. 3.