the vast quantity of Thunder and Lightning, and the frightful Eruptions and dreadful Havock made by fo many Earthquakes and burning Mountains, and he will undeniably be convinc'd, that it is not only in the Magazines or Mills of Powder, that he is to apprehend the Effects of Brimftone and Salt-petre, which are the Ingredients of Gun-powder, but that likewife the Air and the Earth, if they be not full of a natural Gun-powder (as fome Philofophers, and not without Reason, have thought) are at leaft endowed with fo violent and dreadful a Fire, that the Effects of it does not only equal thofe of Powder itself, but in innumerable Cafes, does incomparably exceed it; altho' it fo often appears entirely inactive.

SACT. XXII. After what manner the Fire of the Air doing and Heavens is preferved.

Now if that Fire which is imprifon'd upon the Earth in fo many Places, and in fuch various Bodies, and hinder'd from breaking out for the Deftruction of all things, does difcover a great and mighty Preferver, fo that even an Atheist cannot ardare not promife, himself one Hour's Security, if it were not an all-protecting Providence, but only unknown Laws of Nature, or mere Chance, operating, indifferently this or that way that in-, terven'd: How much more then is a Wonder-. working and an Adorable Power vifible from hence that fuch an unceivable Quantity of Fire, can be kept up in the Air round about us, without putting every thing into a Conflagration! And not to fpeak of Lightning again, is it not demon ftrable by the modern Burning-Glaffes, that Light itself, as it is derived to us from the Sun, being a little more clofely compreffed or collected, would be capable of converting the whole Globe (nothing

excepted) into a glowing Ocean, much more dreadful than that which is feen in the Glafs-Houfes, or in the Metal Smelting-Houfes. v

w vd

Now I first ask those People that cannot difcover in all this a Divine Direction, to what Caufe 'tis owing, that the Globe of the Earth is placed and still continued at juft fuch a Distance from the Sun, fo that the Fire thereof can only warm, enlighten and fertilize the fame? And how it happens, that it is not removed to fo great a Diftance, as to be render'd entirely barren by Cold, or brought fo near to the Sun, as to be burnt up and turned into a glowing Heat thereby fince it is plain enough, that nearer to the Sun the Light is more clofely compreffed in the fame Space, and confequently has much greater Force in burning? And whether it be conceivable, that among fo many Millions of Places that might have been poffefs'd either by the Earth or by the Sun, in the vaft space of the Univerfe, there is juft one fingle Point chofen, where only it is moft advantageous to this our Globe, without any End or Defign?

Secondly, Since, if the Light came down to our Globe so closely compreffed, as it is near the Sun, the Earth would undergo a much stronger and more violent Heat than what we obferve in the Focus of great Burning Glaffes, wherein, in the Space of a Minute, all kind of Metals fall down in glowing Drops, let thefe Philofophers tell us, whether any more proper Means could have been imagined by them or others, to fecure the Earth from fo dreadful a Heat, than to bind the Light to fuch Laws, by which every thing that proceeds from one Point, is diffipated and fcatter'd; infomuch, that the Right Lines, which it defcribes by its Beams, the farther they flow from their Source, the more diftant they become continually from each other. This Diffipation or Scattering of

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Light

Light, the Mathematicians express by the Term of Diverging, and they prove the fame by numerous Experiments, by which, befides that, as we have faid above, the Earth is preferved from the most dreadful Conflagration: This great and unvalu¬ able Conveniency is conveyed to Men, that all things, and one and the fame Point of many, may be feen at the fame time on all Sides. Of all this, thofe who have no Skill at all in Opticks, may for greater Clearnefs confult what has been faid in Contemplation XII.

SECT. XXIII. Convictions from thence.

AND can thefe unhappy Men still fancy that there is neither Wifdom nor Power in all this; to wit, That all the Rays of Light which is deri ved down to us from fo immenfe a great and fiery Ball (as we may fuppofe the Sun to be in all appearance) do fufficiently Diverge, or are fcatter'd abroad, before they reach this Earth; and that it is without any Defign, and only by meer Chance, that fo active and violent Matter as are the Particles of Fire, which if prefs'd together, or united in a Point, would, as in a Furnace, turn all things into a glowing Sea; and notwithstanding its being continually protruded with fo fwift and terrible a Motion, is yet fo ftri&tly bound and confined by thefe Laws of Divergency, and continues fo, that it has never departed from them in fo many thoufand Years following; and that all Men whatever, can enjoy nothing but the greatest benefit therefrom, altho' its dreadful Motion produces otherwife nothing but general Deftruction.

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SECT. XXIV. All the Water in the World not fufficient to extinguish this Fire'; fhewn by several Experiments.

THERE remains ftill to remove one Subterfuge, which feems ftill of use to thofe that deny a Divine Providence, namely, that how plentiful and how terrible foever the Fite may be which is fouud in and about the Earth, there is yet a fufficient Quantity of Water to preserve the fame from being burnt; fo that upon this occafion, it does not feem neceffary_to ascribe fuch a Prefer vation to a particular Favour and Forefight of GOD.

1 fhall not object to this, that there are even fuch Bodies containing fuch Fire-Particles within them, that can only be put into Action by Water, of which a Lime-Kiln and Mill, not many Years fince, has been a fad Example, which by the breaking of a Sea-Dyke, and overflowing of the Water till it reached the Lime, was entirely burnt down: Befides, many other Inftances that may be brought from Chymiftry, to prove, that a Cold Matter infused in Water, will become intolerably hot, and fometimes break out into a clear Flame: Thus Oil of Vitriol, upon putting cold Water to it, will make the Glafs in which they are mingled fo hot, that one fhall not be able to hold it in ones Hand: the fame will likewife happen, by pouring cold Water upon that which remains from the Sublimation of the Lapis Hammatites, and Sal Armoniac, and in many other Cafes.

But it is an Experiment known to the greatest Enquirers into Nature of this Age, that Living Sulphur, mixed with Filings of Iron, and kneaded to a Dough, by the Addition of cold Water, will in a few Hours time become warm, and at last be

fet

fer on Fire; touching which, the Phyficks of Mr. Hartfoeken the Opticks of Siraac Newton, as alfo the Regifters of the Royal Academy of France, may

be confulted.

Now, whether this be one of the Causes of the Subterraneous Fires, Earthquakes, and the Tike Motions, we fhall not here nicely enquire into but at leaft it is unquestionably true, that there are Matters of fuch a Nature in the Earth, which, far from being fecured from burning by Water, are kindled thereby, and compleatly fet on Fire.

And to fhew farther, that there are alfo certain Matters which are capable of burning in Water itfelf with great violence, without being able to be extinguished any wife thereby, we need only caft our Eyes upon that fort of Fire-Works, which first performing their Operation under, and then above the Water, do thereby represent an unextinguishable Fire. To this purpose, I find this little Experiment in my Notes, of the 29th of Oct. 1695. We took a little Cartouch, or Cafe, of that kind which they use in making little. Serpents or Squibs in common Fire-Works, and filling the fame with Duft of Gun-powder, without adding to it the Cracker or Bounce with Grained-Powder, we tied it to a little Stone; then it being kindled, and dropt into a Glafs filled, with Water, we ob ferved it to burn under the Water, and in the dark of the Evening, to give a great Light.

Now, fince there is in the World much Brim ftone and Salt-petre (of which Gun-powder does partly confift) when they have once taken Fire, they cannot easily be extinguished by Water, which does fufficiently appear from what has been juft now faid; as it does likewife from the frightful Eruptions of the Subterraneous Fires, which have oftentime burft out from the bottom of deep Seas; of which we have given an Inftance beforey in the

Cafe