XXIX.] WATER. 191 



very miserable deprived of Water : for without its 

 nourishment, neither grass, nor plants, nor trees, 

 would be able to spring out of the earth ; the con- 

 sequence of which would be, that animals, and 

 consequently mankind would be deprived of food, 

 as well as drink, whence death must speedily fol- 

 low. From these passages I would not wish to 

 have it inferred, that it is not in the power of the 

 ALMIGHTY to furnish us with a substitute for 

 Water: this the reader may easily judge is not my 

 intention : my only design is, to ask, if these 

 things be produced by chance, as Atheists assert, 

 how it comes about that this same chance is always 

 en our side ? For it must appear very strange, 

 that it is owing to mere chance, that creatures in 

 general have the faculty of supporting their lives 

 by Water, and likewise that Water has, by a very 

 lucky hit, acquired the properties which are neces- 

 sary for that purpose ! 



From the Mosaic account of the creation of the 

 world, we learn, that the division and partition of 

 the Water into proper channels and courses, was 

 part of the workmanship of the second and third 

 days: we there also learn, that the business of the 

 creation was completed in six days. GOD could 

 certainly have spoken the whole world into exist- 

 ence in an instant ; but his love for his creatures 

 led him to consult their happiness, to make their 

 felicity flow from their duty : for the regular man- 

 ner in which HE has pleased to create all things, 

 points out to us a lesson which should never be 

 forgotten, namely, that we should so regulate the 



manner 



