OFNATURE. 67 



§. 8. 



Prefer vation. 



"The great Author and Parent of all thingSj 

 decreed, that the whole earth Ihould be co- 

 vered with plants, and that no place fhould be 

 F 2 void. 



account of Mofes, fays the author, we are fiire, that this 

 was the cafe in the human fpecies ; and by the fame ac- 

 count we are informed that this firft pair was placed in E- 

 den, and that Adam gave names to all the animals. In 

 order therefore that Adam might be enabled to do this, it 

 was nccelftry that all the fpecies of animals fhould be in 

 paradife ; which could not happen unlefs alfo the fpecies 

 of vegetables had been there likewife. This he proves 

 from the nature of their food, particularly in relation to 

 infeds, moil of which live upon one plant only. Now- 

 had the world been formed in its prefent flate, it could 

 not have happened that all the fpecies of animals fhould 

 have been there. They mufl have been difperfed over all 

 the globe, as we find they are at prefent, which he thinks 

 improbable for other reafons which I fhall pafs over for the 

 fake of brevity. To folve all the phcenomena thgn he 

 lays down a principle, that at the beginning all the earth 

 was covered with fea, unlefs one ifland large enough to 

 contain all animals and vegetables. This principle he en- 

 deavors to ellabliih by feveral phsenomena which make it 

 probable, that the earth has been and is flill gaining upon 

 the fea, and does not forget to mention f^ffil Jhelh, and 

 plants every where found, which he fays cannot be ac- 

 counted for by the deluge. He then undertakes to fhew 



how 



