_
_Proof_: Water could only be higher than the Earth,
1. If it were excentric, or
2. If it were concentric, but had some excrescence.
But since
_x_. Water naturally moves downwards,
and
_y_. Water is naturally a fluid body:
1. Cannot be true, for three impossibilities would follow:
_a_. Water would move upwards as well as downwards;
_b_. Water and Earth would move downwards in different
directions;
_c_. Gravity would be taught ambiguously of the two bodies.
Proof of these impossibilities by a diagram.
2. Cannot be true, for
_a_. The Water of the excrescence would be diffused, and
consequently the excrescence could not exist:
_b_. It is unnecessary, and what is unnecessary is contrary
to the will of God and Nature.
B. _All land is higher than the sea._
_Proof_: It has been shown that Water is of one level, and
concentric with the Earth:
Therefore, since the shores are higher than the edges of the sea,
and since the shores are the lowest portions of the land,
It follows that all the land is higher than the sea.
C. _Objections to the foregoing reasoning, and their refutation._
1. _Possible affirmative argument_: Earth is the heaviest body;
hence it is drawn down to its own center, and lies beneath the
lighter body, Water.
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