therefore the whole compofition of the Chaos, when all its parts were mixed and blended together, muft not have been fluid, but rather hard and folid; I hope the Defender will allow the objection to be to the purpose, and of force against the Theory, which is founded on a contrary fuppofition.

Having thus prov'd that the far greatest part of those bodies which compos'd the Chaos, were firm and folid, I think it eafie to fhew, why there is no neceffity that an Earth form'd from fuch a compofition, fhould be smooth and regular; for it is not fo with folids as with fluids, where all range themselves according to their intenfive gravities, and fettle themselves into a regular and even furface; whereas folids take their place according to the order they happen to be in, that body coming fooneft to its reft, which is nearest the Centre, without any refpect had to gravity or levity, and where thefe bodies happen'd to be thickest or higheft, or their parts lefs coherent, there alfo after their fall would their furfaces be highest, and the face of the whole would be very rugged and mountainous; the liquids, if we thould allow them to separate from the folids, would defcend and fill the Holes, Cavities, and Caverns that were made by the falling of these irregular peices on one another, and what was more than fufficient for this, might fpread its felf upon the Valleys, and leave great protu

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berances of the folid Mafs, as great as any of our Mountains ftanding out above the furface of the Water.

But granting, that the greatest part of the Chaos was a fluid Mafs, I brought another argument in the Examination to fhew, how the face of the Earth might be mountainous and uneven, by fuppofing in the Chaos a great many bodies, which, by being in a great measure hollow, or faftned to fome other matter of lefs gravity than that of the fluid Chaos, would fwim on the furface of it, after the fubfiding of all the reft, and fome parts of them ftanding above the furface of the watery Orb, would form Mountains. The Defender anfwers this, as he does most other objections, by a question, Who told me that thefe lumps of matter were hollow? Is not this precarious, or ratber Chimerical and ridiculous? I anfwer, I came to know this after the fame manner, that the Theorist knew there were neither Mountains nor Seas in the Primitive Earth; if it be a precarious Hypothefis I cannot help it, but it is my comfort, that if every thing that's precarious be alfo Chimerical and ridiculous, I know whole Theories that will be fo likewife.

After this he falls into a strain of very learned questions, What made thofe folid lumps hollow, when, or where, or how were their inward parts fcoped out of them? I know none but Theorists that can give a

pofitive

pofitive answer to fuch nice queftions; I am content to fay, they might have been fo order'd by God Almighty at firft, for that very end that they might fwim on the Abyss; tho' another Theorift fays, that the fluid Abyss was much denfer and heavier than the Mountains, and therefore they could not fink: and it is indifferent to me which of these answers he takes, or if he find out fome other of his own, which he can eafily do if he has a mind to it, that he will like better. It is enough for me to fhew, that there is no neceffity that an Earth arifing from a Chaus, fhould have its furface fmooth and uniform, as the Theorist pretends it must.

But this Defender thinks that it is my opinion, that Mountains were really form'd after this manner, and from thence he proceeds to collect, from my Principles and Conceffions, that there could be no Sea in the Primitive Earth, and that an Orb of Earth must have been built over the Abyss, and after all he concludes, that I have no good hand in making Mountains.

This way of writing would almost tempt me to believe, that he had never read over that Chapter which he pretends to answer; for by the reading of it, one may plainly fee that it was not my defign to fettle this, or any other new Theory of my own, about the formation of Mountains; nay, I pofitively declar'd, that I thought there were other prin

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ciples

ciples concurring to the formation of Mountains, befides gravitation and the known laws of motion: my business was only to fhew the weakness of the Theorist's arguments, and that an Earth arifing from a Chaos, might have been uneven, rugged, and mountainous, notwithftanding he afferted, that it must neceffarily form its felf into a smooth, regular, and uniform Figure. For my part, I think it abfolutely indifferent to the queftion, what way Mountains were made at the beginning of the World, whether by Mechanical caufes, or by the immediate hand of God Almighty, or if by hollowing and making a channel for the Sea, the Earth was rais'd and laid upon the dry land to form Mountains; (which by the by, is not fo ridiculous or fo repugnant to Calculation, as the Theorift imagines) it was fufficient to my purpose to fhew, that there was no neceffity that the face of the Primitive Earth should be without Mountains,

Having thus laid open the weakness of the Theorifts arguments, I endeavoured in the next place to fhew, the great ufe and advantage that Mountains afforded to mankind: The Theorift afferted, that they did not confift of any proportion of parts, that is referable to any defign, or which had the leaft footsteps of Art or Counsel. This I thought was a bold and ill grounded affertion, fince it is certain, that they are fo far from being placed upon the Earth without any defign or contrivance,

contrivance, that they are justly reckon'd by the Philofophers, amongst the most useful, as well as the moft ftupendous parts of nature; without them we could have had no Rivers or Springs, which are things neceffary to us, not only for our Commodious living, but for our very fubfiftence, One would think that this confideration was a fufficient argument to make us believe that Mountains were not great Ruins, or the rubbish of a broken World; but that they had been placed upon the Earth at the Creation, with a design that they might serve the Antediluvian World, with the fame advantages and uses they afford us in the present One. For it is certain, that they had Rivers and Springs as well as we,. which they could not have in a smooth Earth, where there were no Mountains; in which, Rivers were to have their origin, no upper and higher grounds from which the water was to defcend on the face of the Earth.

Inftead of anfwering the argument, He makes a long declamation againft me for afferting that it is impoffible to live without Rocks and Mountains. He accufes me for confining the Divine Omnipotence and Omnifcience, to one fingle mode or fabrick of a World, and of thinking all the Planets caft in the fame mould: Who (fays he) ever obferv'd Mountains and Rocks in Jupiter, or in the remains of Saturn? I anfwer, who but those that have obferv'd Men or other Ani