The Natural Hifiory Part II. 



prefent Condition and Neceffities. . 



But the Erefidence of that mightjr 

 Power in this Revolution : its particu- 

 lar Agency and Concern therein : and 

 its Parpofe and Dejtgn in the ieveral 

 Accidents of it^ will more evidently 

 appear, when I fliall have proved, 



That, altho* one Intention of the 

 Deluge was to infliQ: a defbrved Eu- 

 nifhment upon that Race of Men, yet 

 it was not fblely levelled againft Man- 

 kind, but principally againft the Earth 

 that then was ^ with defign to deftroy 

 and alter that Conftitution of it, which 

 was apparently calculated and contri- 

 ved for a ftate of Innocence ; to fafhion 

 it afrefh. and give it a Conftitution 

 iTiore nearly accommodated to the pre- 

 fent Frailties of its Inhabitants. 



That the laid Farth, though not in^ 

 differently and alike fertil in all parts 

 of it, was yet generally much more 

 fertil than (?m is. That the exteriour 

 Stratum or Surface of it, confifted en- 

 tirely of a kind of terreftrial Matter 

 proper for the Nourifboient and For- 

 mation of Plants, and this in great 

 P/e^t^ and Purity ; being little, or not? 

 it all, entangled with an Intermixture 

 of meer Mineral Matter that was unftt 

 - , for 



