. heavens, in bringing forth, and maturing its fruits. For it is reafonable to fuppofe, that the curfes inflicted upon his pofterity for their difobedience to God's laws, were likewife felt by Adam in their utmost feverity, for that offence of his, which opened the door, and led the way to all other fins and tranfgreffions: And that the hea vens over his head became brass, and the earth iron-that the land did not yield him her increafe, nor the trees of the land yield their fruit. Nay God exprefly affures Cain, pursuant to the curfe which had been denounced, When thou tilleft the ground, it fhall not henceforth yield unto thee her ftrength† : Than which what could be more difcouraging? And yet till he muft, or perish. That the feafons were quite irregular, during the whole antediluvian period, I think may be fairly inferred from God's promife to Noah, after the flood; that he would remitt that part of the curfe, and grant more fettled weather, and *Lev. xxvi. 19, 20. Gen. iv. 12. more more favourable feafons for the time to come. I will not again curfe the ground for man's fake. But while the earth remaineth, feed-time and harvest, cold and heat, fummer and winter, and day and night shall not ceafe-Shall not cease, or fail to fucceed each other in regular order; whence it fhould feem there had been a failure in this refpect before. The feverity of the weather after the fall is plainly deducible from the care of the divine providence, in furnishing Adam and Eve with proper cloathing to defend them from it. They had fown fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons to cover their nakednefs, as foon as they became fenfible of it: And this was fufficient for that purpose. But they found it to be but a partial and poor expedient to guard them against the inclemency of the air: They wanted fome warmer and more comfortable cloathing for their whole bodies. Therefore to affift their helpless *Gen. viii. 21, 22. ignorance ignorance in this extremity, The Lord God made them coats of fkins and cloathed them*: Which, as, on the one hand, it was a manifeft indication, that he had not quite caft off thefe poor wretches, nor totally withdrawn his protection from them; fo, on the other, we cannot fuppofe he would have facrificed any of his innocent creatures, to warm thefe unhappy perfons. with their fleeces, had they not felt the intenfenefs of the cold to that degree, as to render it neceffary to preferve them from it in fome fuch manner. Thus muft the whole face of nature have worn a moft melancholy afpect to the penfive beholders, and have become fadly changed, in comparifon with what they had fo lately experienced it to have been. Eden was become a defart, and the land which was as the garden of God, was become a defolate wilderness; dreary, cold, and comfortlefs to dwell in. * Gen. iii. 21. Nor Nor was this the whole of this wretched cafe: It may be traced yet farther; and there are much deeper veftiges of the effects, which the evil introduced by the fall of man had on the whole inanimate creation, as will appear prefently. A S the mountains cover fo large a part of the terreftrial globe, and make fo confpicuous a figure in it; they are entitled to a diftinct and particular confideration; wherein our fubject will lead us to enquire into their caufe and origin; and into the time, occafion, and manner of their formation. There have been three different hypothefes concerning the origin of the mountains. 1. That they are coeval with the creation, which is the most general opinion. 2. That they were formed at the time of the deluge. 3. That they were |