658 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



a feries of miracles, as it were, under the earth and under- 

 the fea : To do what ? to furround the whole land of Culm 

 And does it furround it, or does it furround any land what- 

 ever ? This, and fome fimilar wonders told by St AuguftinCi 

 have been eagerly catched at, and quoted by unbelieving 

 fceptics ; meaning to infinuate, that no better, in other re* 

 fpects, was the authority of thefe fathers when they explain 

 and defend the truths of Chriftianity. For my own parti 

 though perfectly a friend to free and temperate inquiry, 

 thefe injudicious arguments which I need not quote, have 

 little weight with me. St Auguftine, when explaining 

 thofe truths, was undoubtedly under the direction of 

 that fpirit which could not lie, and was promifed to the 

 priefthood while occupied in their mailer's commiffion the 

 pagation of Chriltian knowledge ; but when, from vanity 

 and human frailty, he attempted to eflabliih things he had 

 nothing to do with, fpeaking no longer by commandmene, 

 he reafoned like a mere man, milled by vanity and too great 

 confidence in his own underflanding. 



We come now to inveftigate the reafon of the inundation of ; 

 the Nile, which, being once explained, I cannot help thinking 

 that all further inquiries concerning this fubject are fuper- 

 fl-uous. 



It is an obfervation that holds good through all the works 

 of Providence, That although God, in the beginning, gave an 

 inftance of his almighty power, by creating the world with 

 one (ingle fat, yet, in the laws he has laid down for the 

 maintaining order and regularity in the details of his crea-- 

 tion, he has invariably produced all thefe effects by the leafl 

 degree of power pomble, and by thofe means that feem mofl 

 obvious to human conception,. But it feemed, however, not 



according 



