been fhown already, and more will be hereafter) with the Air and its Operations, and from thence obferve with what mutual or reciprocal refpects they have been created.

And if this do not yet fuffice, fince the abovemention'd benefits of the Air do neceffarily bring along with them this Inconvenience, that the Force which was requisite to make the faid Air ufeful in fome of the cafes before mention'd, is no lefs hurtful in others; and would destroy or crush to pieces wholly, or in part, most of the Buildings and other things; let him fay, whether he still believes that it is by meer Chance, and without any Defign, that there is throughout the whole Exfpanse of the Air fo wonderful an Equilibrium, whereby every Creature that wants Air, can fo fafely enjoy it; and at the fame time, be fecured against its raging Powers by the fame Equilibrium or Balance.

SECT. XXXIX. Convictions from the Meteors in particular.

WE have dwelt long enough already upon the Air and its Meteors; wherefore we fhall adjourn what we had to fay about Thunder, Lightning, Rain, &c. till we fpeak of Fire and Water.

Let me only here ask our deplorable Philofophers the following Queftion: In cafe it is by Chance, and without a wife Direction that every thing happens in and about the Air, how can they without a mortal Dread contemplate the faid Air, and the leaft affemblage of Clouds and other Meteors therein, and not tremble when they think, that it is wholly accidental that the Thun der don't destroy them, the Lightning confume them and the Hail-ftones dafh them to pieces; or that the dreadful Powers of Heaven being put in

Motion do not reduce all things to their native Chaos and Confufion ?

Once again, miferable Atheists! who if they live at eafe muft renounce their own Principles; fince, if all things were fortuitous, this danger would always be at hand; and fince it is as great, nay a greater Wonder, that they live unharmed but one Day amidst these destroying Powers of the Air, than that the whole Globe of the Earth, and every thing upon it is not thereby overturn'd and confounded. How much more happy must not they even own thofe to be, who difcover herein the goodness of the great Governor of the Universe; that this vaft Sea of Air furrounding the whole Earth, in which there would otherwife meet so many caufes of their Death, does yet concurr in keeping them alive; and that all the Meteors thereof produce Profit and Pleafure for them; that the Winds favour their Navigation, ferving to bring them the Treafures and Commodities of the other Quarters of the World, and are of infinite other ufes to them; that the Rains cause their Fruits to grow; that the Dews do often fupply the place of the fame in great Droughts; that even the cold Snow itfelf tends to fertilize their Lands; that other inflamed Meteors purify the Air of unwholfome Vapours, and that in intolerable Heats, the terrible Fires of those otherwise so pernicious Lightnings, help to make it more cool and refreshing; that the Sound of Thunder is as the Voice of God, whereby many, who too little acknowledge a Creator, are, as one may fay, awaken'd from a dead S'eep. Thus Hiftories do teftify how the moft God-forgetting Atheists, that the Caligula's, the Nero's, altho' the mighty Tyrants of the World, and placed above the fear of all things, have been forced only upon hearing the Thunder, to confefs in Fat what Vô L. II.

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they never would have own'd in Words, namely, that they stood in awe of one that is higher than they? Let me in the laft Place ask the Freethinkers (as they call themselves) whether in calmly comparing the Internal Difpofition of their Mind with that of Godly Men, fo contemptible in their Eyes, they be not convinced, that they have reason to preferr to their own Condition, the happy one of a poor fimple old Woman that lived in a Village, who being ask how the could be fo merry, as even to fing in one of the greatest Storms of Thunder and Lightning fhe ever felt, anfwer'd, That he was well pleased, to think that the Lord of all the Earth did ftill vouchsafe to look down from Heaven, Speaking in fuch a Voice to thofe who did not fufficiently acknowledge his Mercies to em, and putting them in mind of their Duty.

This Incident has often caus'd me to wonder, how much these Reflections of a poor ignorant Creature could make her foar above the reach of the most exalted Philofophy, who acquiefcing in the goodness of the Almighty Ruler of all things, found herself in fuch a tranquility of Soul, at a time when the dreadfulleft Cracks of Thunder, and of Lightning, that feem'd to fet the World on Fire, made the ftouteft heart to tremble Let an Atheist think on these things.

CON