32 



THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



which is requisite *cr these purposes. Were it 

 much harder than it now is ; were it, for exam 

 ple, as dense as a rock, it would be incapable of 

 cultivation, and vegetables could not be produced 

 from its surface. Were it softer, it would be in 

 sufficient to support us, and we should sink at 

 every step, like a person walking in a quagmire. 

 Had this circumstance not been attended to in its 

 formation, the earth would have been rendered 

 useless as a habitable world, for all those animated 

 beings which now traverse its surface. The ex 

 act adjustment of the solid parts of our globe to 

 the nature and necessities of the beings which 

 inhabit it, is, therefore, an instance and an evi 

 dence of Wisdom. 



The diversity of surface which it every where 

 presents, in the mountains and vales with which 

 it is variegated, indicates the same benevolent 

 contrivance and design. If the earth were di 

 vested of its mountains, arid its surface every 

 where uniformly smooth, there would be no rivers, 

 springs, or fountains ; for water can flow only 

 from a higher to a lower place ; the vegetable 

 tribes would droop and languish ; man and other 

 animals would be deprived of what is necessary 

 for their existence and comfort ; we should be 

 destitute of many useful stones, minerals, plants, 

 and trees, which are now produced on the sur 

 face, and in the interior of mountains ; the sea itself 

 would become a stagnant marsh, or overflow the 

 and ; and the whole surface of nature in our ter 

 restrial sphere would present an unvaried scene 

 of dull uniformity. Those picturesque and sub 

 lime scenes which fire the imagination of the 

 poet, and which render mountainous districts so 

 pleasing to the philosophic traveller, would be 

 completely withdrawn ; and all around, when com 

 pared with such diversified landscapes, would ap 

 pear as fatiguing to the eye as the vast solitudes 

 of the Arabian deserts, or the dull monotony of 

 the ocean. But in consequence of the admirable 

 distribution of hills and mountains over the sur 

 face of our globe, a variety of useful and orna 

 mental effects is produced. Their lofty summits 

 are destined by providence to arrest the vapours 

 which float in the regions of the air ; their inter 

 nal cavities form so many spacious basins for the 

 reception of waters distilled from the clouds ; they 

 are the original sources of springs and rivers, 

 which water and fertilize the earth ; they form 

 immense magazines, in which are deposited 

 stones, metals, and minerals, which are of so 

 essential service in the arts that promote the com 

 fort of human life ; they serve for the production 

 of a vast variety of herbs and trees ; they arrest 

 the progress of storms and tempests ; they afford 

 shelter and entertainment to various animals 

 which minister to the wants of mankind : in a 

 word, they adorn and embellish the face of na 

 ture they form thousands of sublime and beau- 

 iful landscapes, and afford from their summits 

 je most delightful prospects of the plains below. 



All these circumstances demonstrate the consum 

 mate wisdom of the Great Architect of nature, 

 and lead us to conclude, that mountains, so far 

 from being rude excrescences of nature, as some 

 have asserted, form an essential part in the con 

 stitution, not only of our globe, but of all habita 

 ble worlds. And this conclusion is confirmed, so 

 far as our observation extends, with regard to the 

 moon, and several of the planetary bodies which 

 belong to our system, whose surfaces are found 

 to be diversified by sublime ramifications of 

 mountain scenery ; which circumstance forms 

 one collateral proof, among many others. that they 

 are the abodes of sentient and intellectual beings. 

 Again, the colouring which is spread over the 

 face of nature indicates the wisdom of the Deity. 

 It is essential to the present mode of our exist 

 ence, and it was evidently intended by the 

 Creator, that we should be enabled easily to 

 recognize the forms and properties of the various 

 objects with which we are surrounded. But 

 were the objects of nature destitute of colour, or 

 were the same unvaried hue spread over the 

 face of creation, we should be destitute of all the 

 entertainments of vision, and be at a loss to dis 

 tinguish one object from another. We should 

 be unable to distinguish rugged precipices from 

 fruitful hills ; naked rocks from human habita 

 tions ; the trees from the hills that bear them, 

 and the tilled from the unfilled lands. &quot; We 

 should hesitate to pronounce whether an adja 

 cent enclosure contained a piece of pasturage, 

 a plot of arable land, or a field of corn ; and it 

 would require a little journey, and a minute in 

 vestigation, to determine such a point. We 

 could not determine whether the first person w 

 met were a solder in his regimentals, or a swain 

 in his Sunday suit ; a bride in her ornaments, 

 or a widow in her weeds.&quot; Such would have 

 been the aspect of nature, and such the incon 

 veniences to which we should have been subject 

 ed, had God allowed us light, without the dis 

 tinction of colours. We could have distinguished 

 objects only by intricate trains of reasoning, and 

 by circumstances of time, place, and relative 

 position. And, to what delays and perplexities 

 should we have been reduced, had we been 

 obliged every moment to distinguish one thing 

 from another by reasoning ! Our whole life 

 must then have been employed rather in study 

 than in action; and, after all, we must have re 

 mained in eternal uncertainty as to many things 

 which are now quite obvious to every one as 

 soon as he opens his eyes. We could neither 

 have communicated our thoughts by writing, 

 nor have derived instruction from others through 

 the medium of books : so that we should now 

 have been almost as ignorant of the transactions 

 of past ages, as we are of the events which are 

 passing in the planetary worlds; and, conse 

 quently, we could never have enjoyed a written 

 revelation from heaven, nor any other infallible 



