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generally presents itself, depends upon the temperature to which it is exposed. A degree of cold by no means inconceivably greater than is actually experienced, might convert all the seas which cover our globe into a solid mass: and, on the contrary, they might be exposed to such a degree of heat, as, under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, would change the whole into an elastic vapour. Who was it, then, that endued the element of water with those qualities which render it generally fluid; the very condition in which it is most useful for the convenience and comfort and existence of the animate and inanimate creation? Who was it that communicated to the fluid that singular property of expanding, when at a certain temperature, both by the addition and the subtraction of heat; a property which in a great measure secures from destruction the living creatures which inhabit the waters, by preserving their deeper parts fluid, even when "the waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen ?" a

It was he who "casteth forth his ice like morsels," who "sendeth out his word and melteth them," who "causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow."b

3. Again, how admirably is the relative density of water adapted to the purposes which

a Job xxxviii. 30.

b Ps. cxlvii. 18.

it answers in the creation. If that element were specifically lighter than it is, in any considerable degree, every stream would form an insurmountable obstacle to every animal which now traverses it with ease. Accidental immersion would prove almost inevitably fatal. Navigation, which now unites the most distant lands, would have been attended with much greater difficulty; and could never have been carried to its present perfection. Or, if water were relatively much denser than it actually is, who shall assign limits to the devastation which its agitation would occasion? Every one knows how awful are the effects of a storm at sea: how irresistible the impulse of the waves: and, making all allowances for the inertness of a denser fluid, it is easy to see how much more danger would have arisen from the concentrated shock of the billows of such an ocean.

Besides, all the agitations to which the ocean is now exposed, whether arising from the force of winds, or of currents, or from the mighty heaving of its tides, now gradually subside. The friction of the various parts, and the direction of the constant force of gravity, all tend to restore the equilibrium. But it is well known that this might not have been the case. The waters of the seas might have

been so circumstanced that at some time a force should have begun to act upon them, which was counteracted by no steadying counterpoize. Such a force, however small in its beginning, would have given rise to oscillations in the fluid, which would gradually have increased until the surface of the highest mountains had been covered; and man and beast swept from the face of the deluged earth. An event like this, however, cannot happen by the action of such forces as are known now to act upon the waters. The equilibrium of the ocean is an equilibrium of stability. If its ordinary form be changed, there are forces which immediately tend to bring it back to the state in which it was, before the disturbance. But, what is very remarkable, the equilibrium of the ocean would not have been stable, had the density of its waters been much greater than it is. that fluid exceeded the mean density of the solid nucleus over which it is diffused, its surface might have been balanced; but as soon as its position was disturbed, a succession of undulations would have commenced, quite inconsistent with the present condition of our globe.

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Had the density of

Méc. Celeste—Premiere Partie, Liv. IV. ch. 2.

d

Now, can we be contented with ascribing the peculiar density, which the element of water possesses, to a lucky chance? Shall we say that it was only discovered to possess certain properties, of which man and animals have availed themselves? Rather let us acknowledge with Solomon, that it was the Almighty who " strengthened the fountains of the deep," who "gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment. Rather let us join in the sublime thanksgiving of David, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment, the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled: at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set them a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth."

e

4. There is still another remarkable fact, connected with the density of water, compared with the mean density of the earth. Every part of the earth gives sufficient evidence of

d Prov. viii. 28, 29.

• Psalm civ. 1, 9.

having been, at some time, in a state approaching to fluidity. Now, if a globe were composed of a mixture of matter partly in a solid, and partly in a fluid state, and were left to the undisturbed action of its several parts; whether this globe had a rotatory motion or not, the heavier portions would at length be found to occupy the parts nearer to the center. The consequence of such an arrangement would be the formation of a solid nucleus, every part of which was covered with the lighter fluid. No combination of such forces could have produced a globe having its surface diversified with land and water, and therefore fitted for the habitation of beings such as now inhabit the earth. In order to effect this, the force of gravity, generally so indispensable to the formation and continuance of a stable system, must be either suspended, or counteracted by a more powerful agent. What forces were employed to heave up the vast continents from their ocean bed, and rear aloft the summits of the mountains, may be a legitimate subject of speculation. But some such forces there must have been before the earth was "founded," as

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it is, " upon the seas, and established upon the floods." And, whatever secondary means

f

Psalm xxiv. 2. Comp. Psalm xxxiii. 7.

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