system, we see them to have been made and harmoniously fitted to meet the wants of the various tribes that now occupy the earth.

The elements of the atmosphere are very nicely mixed, to suit the life and health of animals, the growth of vegetables, the nature of speech, the organs of hearing, the navigation of seas, the propulsion of wind-mills, and divers other comforts of mankind. Shall we then say, with modern Geology, that the same atmosphere was in existence during the lapse of many hundred millions of ages, when there was no man, or beast, or even plant on the surface of the ground?

Would there be any wisdom in such a waste of chemical power, for the purpose of disintegrating some hard rocks, or supporting a few tribes of shell-fish, dwelling alone at the bottom of the sea? Mr. Lyell may retort, that some parts of the world are still untenanted: but, according to the Bible, this was not the intention of the Creator; it has been caused by the sinfulness of man. One of the first injunctions given to our race was, "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth :" and wheresoever men have lived in a state of peace and virtuous industry, they have speedily filled their native lands, and been obliged to emigrate, in order to find subsistence in unoccupied territories. Mr. Malthus calculates upon an almost fearful rate of increase to a people placed under favourable circumstances. War and vice have kept down the natural increase of the human species; whilst the brute creation have spread abroad, and have occupied the fertile soil abandoned by their unworthy lord.

So with respect to light. It forms the atmosphere of countless suns, to illumine the planets and their attending satellites. Yet when we also consider the important part which it fulfils in our vegetable economy; its wonderful adaptation to our visual organs; the scope which it gives to our intellectual powers; and the enjoyment which it affords to taste in the beauties of the landscape, the adornment of animals and herbage, the coruscations of the heavens, and the pleasures of the pictorial art; -who would for a moment imagine that so glorious a gift had been vouchsafed, through countless ages, when there was no eye to see, no mind to perceive, no country to be lighted up, no plant to be reared,-but only a dull chaos of heartless mud, or a refrigerating mass of heated vapour, or bare rocks of the transition and secondary strata?

Let us look at the earth upon which we tread. It is rich, and

capable of high cultivation; so as easily to afford support to the rude agriculturist; and yet, by a better tillage, to feed the teeming multitudes of a mighty empire;-thus promoting a congregated state of society, and aiding the advancement of art and civilization. Or, if we examine the opportune situation of metalliferous veins and useful clays, the different degrees of hardness in stone, the nature and location of coal-measures, and the slanting direction of the inferior strata, by which we obtain access to all the treasures of the ground, we perceive them to have been arranged with evident design for man's convenience, and to prompt the interchange of commodities or national trading. Surely this wonderful condition of the earth was not designed without reference to its immediate occupation by man, in whose absence the soil luxuriates to waste, and Nature's prodigal gifts seem to languish for want of a master, whom she invites to come and enjoy her ample resources.

We might dilate in a similar way upon other parts of our system; but these examples are sufficient to show the force of our argument. The whole analogy of nature declares that it was formed at once, in its present mode, by a display of the infinite wisdom and power of a Supreme Being. This doctrine does not preclude the existence of a former world; but, if there was one, it was doubtlessly created in a perfect state like that of our own, and was afterwards destroyed through the indignation of Deity against its sinful inhabitants. If we may suppose the latter event to have occurred, we shall perceive an interesting harmony to pervade the moral government of the universe ;happiness and order being the result of virtue, discord and destruction the wages of iniquity. Every cosmological theory which separates the works of creation, and breaks the manifest union of design with which they are enstamped, for the purpose of upholding one part in preference to another, is "found wanting," when "weighed in the balance" of common consistency. The plain scheme detailed in the pages of Revelation alone harmonizes all the works of God; and, without giving any history of former worlds, informs us of all that we require to know respecting the origin of our own.

On the same grounds, we are led to believe that when the antediluvian world was destroyed because of man's sin, (not from any usual operation of Nature's laws,) it was re-organized with regard to the altered character of its inhabitants, in the shortening of human life, the confusion of tongues about to

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take place, and a new character of providential dispensation. The scriptural record of these transactions is godlike, and worthy of God: while geological theories are amazingly puerile. A heathen philosopher judged more correctly than our modern speculators. Cicero asks, "For what purpose was the great fabric of the universe constructed? Was it merely for the purpose of perpetuating the various species of trees and herbs, which are not endued even with sensation? The supposition is absurd. Or was it for the exclusive use of the inferior animals? It is not at all more probable that the Deity would have produced so magnificent a structure for the sake of beings, which, though endued with sensation, possess neither speech nor intelligence. For whom, then, was the world produced? Doubtless, for those beings who are alone endued with reason."

Dr. Ure, in his "New System of Geology," says, "That the earth was constructed with reference to the accommodation of living beings at the volition of Omnipotence, will not be denied by any rational naturalist. It is difficult to imagine, therefore, what benefit even theoretic cosmogony can derive from antedating the creation of a chaotic mass, any period of years, whether thousands or millions. We thereby merely approximate creative might to the standard of human imbecility. Because the chemist must wait many days, perhaps months, before he can draw forth regular crystals of saline solids from his heterogeneous solutions, must the Deity be supposed to require indefinite ages for crystallizing the granitic nucleus of the earth, and depositing over it the shelving layers of gneiss and mica-slate?"

To these witnesses we assent, and inquire,-Whence the use of all those sceptical or fanciful speculations? If parts of our globe be of crystalline structure, could not the Almighty, who made the human eye, make them so by the "word of his power?" If other rocks be stratified, do they not thus resemble the scales of a fish, which are not finished separately and then agglutinated, as would be done by a human mechanic? We can perceive no wisdom in so lengthy a creation, when it could be as easily effected in a short time by a few acts of Omnipotence. But the idea of so tedious a process as that depicted by modern Geology, seems altogether absurd. There is no reason for so great a waste of time and energy.

An architect first considers the sort of house which he intends to build, and forms a plan of its constituent parts, suiting the inaterials and partitions to meet the comfort of its expected

occupants. He then rears the structure from its foundation in conformity with this pre-conceived arrangement. He does not first compose the outer shell of a heterogeneous nature, and then pull down or alter various portions, that he may construct the chambers, closets, doors, windows, and chimneys. An untutored negro or wild Hottentot may proceed on so foolish a system; but, surely, not the civilized builder. The argument, therefore, comes to this point:-Was there a heavenly Architect? Why did he make the world? Shall we divest Him of the common sense which he has given to man, or the instinct which he has allotted to bees and ants, by supposing Him to have commenced his work without a plan, and in ignorance of the wants of the creatures whom he was about to make; or, to have proceeded in his operations in a thoughtless way, pulling down and altering his building many times, before he could bring it to accord with his wishes? Are these our notions of Deity? It is easy to talk of the freaks and chances of Nature; but he who thus speaks of the divine work because he cannot understand it, libels the attributes of Nature's God, and is a practical infidel.

There now lies before us the splendid map which adorns Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise; and nothing more is wanting to assure us of the utter futility of all modern cosmological systems, in all their modifications. To the analytic mind, it is a perfect proof that the present world was modelled at once by the omnipotence of an all-provident Lord. Its varied and intermingling strata and veins banish the very idea of a long aqueous deposition or igneous origin. Its perfect adaptation for man's convenience (and for nothing else that we can conceive) proclaims a gracious Providence; whilst its general regularity, with ever-changing features, shows the boundless skill of Infinite Wisdom. And if there be a few marks in the landscape for which we cannot account, some apparent vegetable or animal remains, whose history has not been recorded, let us not, in order to conceal our ignorance, attempt to rear a fancied fabric, every part of which bespeaks our impotency of understanding, and manifests the utter folly of human pride, when it would endeavour to create planets or garnish worlds.

THE DELUGE.

THE doctrine of a general deluge has been incorporated into the religious creed of most nations; and, until of late years, it has been received as a biblical truth, accurately detailed by the sacred historian. If any regard be paid to universal tradition, simple-minded readers of the Bible are not wrong in their interpretation of that great catastrophe which took place in the days of Noah. A short time ago, philosophy came forward as an ally of religion, in opposing the scepticism of those days, by attesting, that such a flood must have occurred about the period mentioned by Moses. Nothing could be more positive than the language in which these discoveries of science were then couched. It was said to be indisputably proved, that a grand deluge had really taken place, and that the geological phenomena of every country corroborated the truth of inspiration and the traditions of all nations. Cuvier says, "I think with Deluc and Dolomieu, that if there be any thing settled in Geology, it is this, that the surface of our globe has been subjected to a great and sudden revolution, the date of which cannot be carried much further back than five or six thousand years." Again: "The Kirkdale caves, most carefully described by Professor Buckland, under the name of Diluvium, and exceedingly different from those other beds of similarly-rolled materials, which are constantly deposited by torrents and rivers, and contain only bones of the animals existing in the country, and to which Mr. Buckland gives the name of alluvium ;-they now form, in the eyes of all geologists, the fullest proof to the senses of that immense inundation which came the last in the catastrophe of our globe."

But within the last decade, a terrible revulsion has taken place from the opinions of Cuvier; and some of his firm supporters have publicly renounced their supposed heterodoxy; consequently, the book of Genesis has greatly fallen in their esteem as a true history.

We blame Dr. Pye Smith for the active part which he takes in straining the meaning of scripture to meet his ridiculous notions of the nebular hypothesis. A teacher of Christianity ought to handle such a subject with great delicacy; and if he find himself obliged to deviate from the prevailing opinions of