244 natueal theology. 



those negative qualities which constitute its purity. Had 

 it been vinous, or oleaginous, or acid — had the sea been filled, 

 or the rivers flowed with wine or milk, fish, constituted as 

 they are, must have died ; plants, constituted as they are, 

 would have withered ; the lives of animals which feed upon 

 plants must have perished. Its very insipidity, which is 

 one of those negative qualities, renders it the best of all men- 

 strua. Having no taste of its own, it becomes the sincere 

 vehicle of every other. Had there been a taste in water, 

 be it what it might, it %vould have infected every thing Ave 

 ate or drank, with an importunate repetition of the same 

 flavor. 



Another thing in tliis element not less to be admired, is 

 the constant round which it travels ; and by which, Avith- 

 -out suffering either adulteration or waste, it is continuall) 

 offering itself to the wants of the habitable globe. From the 

 sea are exhaled those vapors which form the clouds : these 

 clouds descend in showers, which penetrating into the crevi- 

 ces of the liills, supply springs ; which springs flow in little 

 streams into the valleys, and there uniting, become rivers ; 

 which rivers, in return, feed the ocean. So there is an inces- 

 sant circulation of the same fluid ; and not one drop proba- 

 bly more or less now than there was at the creation. A par- 

 ticle of water takes its departure from the surface of the sea, 

 in order to fulfil certain important offices to the earth ; and 

 having executed the service which was assigned to it, returns 

 to the bosom which it left. 



Some have thought that Ave have too much Avater upon 

 the o-lobe, the sea occupying above three-quarters of its whole 

 surface. But the expanse of ocean, immense as it is, may 

 be no more than sufficient to fertilize the earth. Or, inde- 

 j)endently of this reason, I knoAV not why the sea may not 

 have as good a right to its place as the land. It may pro- 

 portionably support as many inhabitants — minister to as large 

 an ao-o-reo-ate of enjoyment. The land only affords a habita 

 ble surface ; the sea is habitable to a great depth. 



