^ PRINCETON. N. J. ?K Library of Dr. A. A. ffod^e. Presented. BS 651 .M75 1871 Morris, Herbert W. 1818- 1897. Science and the Bible A g H •> P < < P Science and the Bible; OR, THE MOSAIC CREATION AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. BY Rev. HERBERT W. MORRIS, A. M., FURMERLT PROFESSOR OF MATUEMATICS IN NEWIiNGTON COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION. Z I E G L E R & M c C U R D Y, I'llILADELPIIIA, Pa.; CINCINNATI, 0. ; CHICAGO, III. ; ST. LOUIS, Mo. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. .1871. Entered according to Art nf Congress, in the year 1871, bj' Rev. HERBERT W. ^MORRIS, A. M.. In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. S. A. GEORGE & CO., STEREOTTPERS AXP PRINTERS PIIIUDELPHIA. PREFACE. WO great Volumes have been laid before man for his instruction, and from which his ideas and science all have been derived — the material Works, and the inspired Word of God. These being the productions of the same wise and unchangeable Author, the harmony subsisting between them is universal and complete. Both have for their end the manifestation of the invisible Deity. While in the Bible we have a verbal revelation of the wisdom and power and goodness of God, in material Nature w^e have a pictorial revelation of the same, " the invisible things of Him being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." Though both these revelations date from a period far back in the past, yet each retains, after the lapse of all the ages, its original interest and freshness undiminished. The Bible, though the oldest of books, is confessedly ever new and de- lightful to those who have been taught to enter into its spirit. The expanded pages of Creation, likewise, present us with a study that is as marvellous and attractive now as it was six thousand years ago. We of to-day discover as much to admire in the " great deep," in " the precious things of the everlasting 4 PREFACE. hills," in the overspreading vegetation, and in the living tenants of the earth, as did Adam when he walked forth to survey the beauties of Eden while arrayed in the glitter of its earliest dews. Neither the wealth of meaning, nor the depth of interest, treasured up in these divine volumes, will ever be exhausted. In the following pages the study of these two books is com- bined; and the main design of the Writer, while all along indicating their harmony, is to illustrate the inspired Record of Creation by the marvellous developments of modern science in the various departments of Nature — to bring before the Reader, from among the abounding materials of each Day's work, such objects and scenes and agencies as present striking displays of the omnipotence, wisdom and beneficence of the Creator, and convincing evidences of his universal presence and unremitting agency. Such a presentation of the phenomena of nature in elucidation of the sacred Word, it is believed, will be found by every reflecting person, not only deeply interesting as a study, but also in the highest degree calculated to expand the views, enlighten the judgment, and improve the heart. In thus devoutly studying the Word of God in connection with his wonderful works, we discover the conceptions and plans, the reasonings and purposes, of God ; and, to the extent of our capacity. His mind becomes our mind, and His science our science. The more we investigate what He hath done, the more shall we know of Him, and the more we shall admire what we know, and love what we admire. In regard to the scientific illustrations offered, it may be proper to state, that the Author entered nearly every quarry PREFA CE. 5 within his reach that promised materials suitable to his pur- pose, and fashioning them after his own plan, inserted them in the edifice rearing under his hands. Anxious, however, to profit all classes of readers, he has, in general, abstained from the more abstruse refinements of science, and, as far as practicable, from the use of learned technicalities; he feels assured, however, that the work on this account will prove none the less interesting or profitable to those who may chance to be familiar with both. Great pains have been taken to obtain the latest and most accurate results of science in every department of the subject. H. W. M. Rochester, N. Y., January, 1871. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Adam and Eve in their Innocence, 2. Genealogy of Plants and Animals, 3. Ideal Scene in the Carboniferous Period, 4. Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus, 5. Reign of Quadrupeds, 6. Chaos coming on, .... 7. Temple of Jupiter Serapis, 8. The Waters divided from the Waters, 9. Thunder-storm, 10. Snow-flakes, . . . . 11. Theory of the Tides, 12. Crystal Forms, 13. Forest of the Coal Period, 14. Fossil Vegetation found in Coal, . 15. Mount Ararat, 16. Tropical Forest, .... 17. Comparative size of the Sun and Planets, 18. Spots and Facul^e of the Sun, 19. The Moon's Surface (two phases) 20. Eclipses and Annual Path of the Moon, 21. Planets — Mars, Saturn, and Earth, . 22. Diagram of the Solar System, . Frontispiece. Page 38 39 40 42 51 59 99 127 134 151 171 174 176 180 226 241 245 257 266 272 308 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 23. Two Remarkable Comets, .... 24. Samples of Nebula, 25. Star Clusters, or Telescopic Views of NEBULiE, 26. The Whale, 27. The Cuttle-fish, . . ... 28. Let Fowl multiply in the Earth, . 29. Advancing Clouds of Locusts, . 30. Habitations of Termites or White Ants, 31. Domestic Animals, 32. The Tiger, 325 346 347 364 393 413 455 458 477 492 CONTENTS. Preface 3 List of Illustrations 7 The Subject and Design of the Work stated 19 THE BEGINNING. Sublimity of the opening sentence of the Bible — Origination of matter — Ancients thought the Earth eternal — A beginning proved — From the composition of the elements — From the character of molecules— From the derivation of strata — From the succession of fossil species — From the structure of the solar system — When the beginning was, not stated — Earth's original form unknown — Nebular idea — Evidences of a molten condition — AtmosplHre of steam — Temperature reduced — Surface solidified and fractured — Prodigious rains and floods — Alternate upheavals and submergences — Formation of stratified rocks — Life introduced — First plants and animals in the sea — Crinoids and Stone-flowers — Corals and Trilobites — Fish dynasty — Wonders of primeval vegetation — Traces of insects — First tracks of birds — Reptile dynasty — Their frightful character — Reign of quadrupeds — Their huge di- mensions— [Mastodon, Deinotherium, Megatherium — Elephants, Rhinoce- roses and Hippopotamuses roaming the British Isles — Animals advancing to higher types— Soil and climate improving—" The beginning " incalcula- bly remote — Geological periods a parallel to astronomical distances 25 Reflections. The Beginuiiirf an amazing er.a — God the alone existence — Immutable and impassive — Knowing the end from the beginning — All co- operating to advance his plan and accomplish his purpose 45 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. History — Connection and date — The globe a dark and watery waste — This doubted by some — Meaning of Tohu vavohu — Duration of this chaotic state — Fish still in the sea — Portions of land above water — Certain animals possibly survived — How the desolation was brought about — Depression of the land, or a slight upheaval of the ocean beds adequate — O'ljcctions answered — Present elevation of the continents — Earth's crust ever hoavin<» and sinking — Trees cross the watery chaos in their seeds — Animal remains not always a connected chain — Evidences of a chaos at the period in ques- tion— Change of climate — General extinction of plants and animals — Great subsidences of ocean beds — 200 islands disappear — New Jloro and fauna 9 10 CONTENTS. PAGE found — Recapitulation of arguments — Mosaic record confirmed — Harmony of this and former cutastrophies — Design of second verse — Its import — Hovering of the Spirit — What meant 51 Reflections. Physical chaos emblematical of the moral disorder of the world — Final issue improbable — As out of the former, so in the end, out of the latter, order, beauty and glory shall result ; 73 THE FIRST DAY. History — Beginning of the Mosaic creation — The " Six Days" literal — Reasons for this — No adequate necessity for a figurative interpretation — The literal the most consistent sense — The creations of each Day maj' stand representa- tive of similar former creations — Objection to progressive creation — Beauty of the narrative — " God said " — No vocal utterance — Exposition 79 LIGHT. An etherial element — Two theories — The first production — Life-blood of Nature — Vegetation in darkness — Influences of light on plants — On animals — Essential to bodily development — To mental vigour — To recovery from disease — Hospitals 90 Reflections. Primeval night an emblem of the condition of a fallen Race — Parallel between the natural and moral illumination of the world — Sun of Righteousness to illumine the whole earth — Why so long delay ? 93 THE SECOND DAY. History — Its brevity — Exposition of terms — What embraced 99 THE ATMOSPHERE. Aerial ocean — Its dimensions — Density and rarity — Experience of aeronauts — Enormous pressure — A compound — Gases in the same proportion every- where— A change injurious or fatal — A thousand proportions possible, one only suitable — Relative weights of gases — This of vital moment — Twofold character of oxygen — Innocuous and consuming 101 Reflections. On the mass of the atmosphere — On its pressure — On its composition — All marvels of wisdom and demonstrations of benevolence 105 THE WINDS. How produced — Simple experiment — Sea and land breezes — Polar and equa- torial currents — Variable winds — The Trad) u—llov! produced — An inverse process — Monsoon — Sirocco, harmattan, typhoon, cyclone 107 REPLErriONS. Nothing merely capricious — All things governed by infal- lible laws — As the wind, so the Spirit, is known by his effects 113 EVAPORATION. This process concerned in establishing the firmament — To be in perpetual opera- tion— Whnt would have been man's plan of watering the earth? — How water is ni;nle to ascend the skies — Formation of clouds — How conveyed where ncednd — Discharge their cargoes by rule and measure — The method most admirable — Quantity evaporated immense — Illustration from the Dead Sea — Total amount of evaporation — Moisture in the air essential to organ- ised existences — Our protection from intense and fatal cold 115 CONTENTS. 1 1 PAGE Reflections. Unity of plan in Nature — Magnificence of the water- works of Heaven — Scenery of the firmament — Gathering thunder clouds — Splendors of the setting sun — A type of prayer, and its gracious returns 123 LIGHTNING AND THUNDER. Electricity diffused through all nature — Its potency — Generated by winds — Positive and negative — Lightning and thunder in miniature — A storm — Appalling experiment with November mist — Lightning rods, and nature's conductors — Benefits of thunder storms 127 Reflections. Manifold and mysterious operations of electricity — In- spires awe and reverence — Yet speaks of Heaven's benignity as clearly as the sunbeam 132 SNOW AND HAIL. Composed of frozen vapors — Beauty and variety of snow flakes — Composition of hail — Snow a protection to vegetation in winter — Renders high latitudes habitable — Snow-water fertilizing to the soil 134 Reflections. Every flake formed with art and skill Divine — Charms of winter — Lakes and rivers converted into mirrors — Hills and valleys man- tled in pure white 136 THE AIR AS A MEDIUM. To the Air we owe the delicious blue of the skies — The softening shades of the landscape — The morning and evening twilight — It is the means of flight to birds — The medium of speech, smell, and music 138 Reflections. Theology in the firmament — A concourse of designs and contrivances — A magazine of adaptations to the various organs of animal existences 139 THE THIRD DAY. History — A scene of grandeur — Exposition — What embraced 145 THE SEA. Proportion of Land and Water — Reasons— Ilills and valleys beneath the ocean — Its saltness — Tides — Vertical and lateral currents — Streams — Gulf stream and its wonders — Its conflict with a Polar giant — Other streams — Beneficent results 148 Reflections. Symbol of the Infinite — Plan — Relations and ends — New earth, but no sea 159 THE DRY LAND. Elevated after fixed design — Outlines and their importance — Altitudes and their effects — Relative positions — Polar waters — Design in each portion and feature — Vegetative covering — Mineral stores — Metals — Gems' — Crystaliza- tion — God's geometry — Brilliancy and perfection — Diversity out of unity... 163 Reflections. On Salt, its abundance — On Coal, its marvellous history — On Iron, its admirable qualities 174 MOUNTAINS. Parts of one grand scheme — Principal chains — Thrust up — Not deformities — Manifold advantages — Ararat 180 12 CONTENTS. PAOB Reflections. Built by rule, and weighed in a balance — Schools and libraries — Sacred mountains witnesses for God 187 RIVERS. Vital fluid — Circulation — System of drainage — In Europe — In Asia — In Africa — In America — Channels of commerce — Scenic beauty 191 Reflections. Significant representation — Sacred rivers and their asso- ciations— Similitude of human life 195 VEGETATION. A new thing — Absurdity of Atheism — Order — Moses in advance of Linnaeus — Universal spread of vegetation — Endless variety — Properties of grass — General color — Every plant a laboratory. 1. Roots, their twofold ofiSce. 2. Leaves, their forms and functions. 3. Floicers, their delicacy and beauty — complication of parts — organs of reproduction — instinctive movements — luminosity — regulation of the sun's heat — the perfection of workmanship. 4. Seeds — contain the plant in embryo — diversity of seed-vessels — fecundity of plants — dispersion of seeds — germination — longevity of seeds. 5. Edi- bles— variety and profusion — capacity for improvement 197 Reflections. Divine chemistry — Infinitude of contrivances and adapta- tions— " Consider the Lilies " — Admonitions from the zizania and uatilago foetida — Lessons from leaf and flower and blade of grass 226 THE FOURTH DAY. History — Exposition of the Record — Time measurers — Disadvantages of a world at rest 235 THE SUN. Ancient idea of celestial movements — Sun's distance — Magnitude — Constitution — Spots — Faculas — Flames — Gravitation — Action of gravitation and centri- fugal force illustrated — Amount of the Sun's gravitation — Light — Theories of Newton and Laplace — Velocity of light — Production of colors — Helio- graphy — The principle of light still a mystery — Other results of the Sun's agency 240 Reflections. Impressive display of Eternal wisdom and power — Em- blem of the Sun of Righteousness 255 THE MOON. In herself a dark globe — Illumined by the sun — Has three distinct motions — Distance from the earth — Her dimensions — How near brought to us by telescopes — Photographs of her sphere — General aspect of her surface — Her caverns, mountains and precipices — Mount Eratosthenes — Her plains— Has no atmosphere, curious effects — Seasons and climate — Eclipses and their phenomena — Eclipses establishing dates in ancient history 258 Reflections. A new world — A suggestive orb — An instructive emblem of the Church 270 THE PLANETS. Planets and fixed stars, how distinguished— Number of planets— ilfercMry, its CONTENTS. 13 PAG£ distance, periods, density, &c. — Fenii*, its position, dimensions, and other phenomena. The Edilh the third planet — Its orbit, and motion in it — Annual period adapted to plantal and animal constitution — Diurnal revolution — Variation of days and nights, and of seasons, how produced — Civil day — Axial rota- tion undeviating — Diurnal period adapted to the nature of vegetation and living creatures — Evidence of foresight and design — Distance from the sun — This measured to suit the nature and wants of terrestrial existences — Dimensions, density and gravitation — All adapted to the strength of existing organizations — Consequence of increasing or diminishing gravita- tion— Foregoing particulars, a demonstration of our planet being the production of Infinite wisdom and power. Mars — Favorable for observation — Distance, periods, and density — Simi- larity to the earth — lias seas and continents, islands and mountains, clouds and rain and snow. Asteroids — Their number, distance, size, gravitation. Jupiter — Distance, velocity, periods, dimensions, density — Its belts — Indica- tions of water and atmosphere — Interesting peculiarities — Has four Satel- lites— A miniature system — A magnificent spectacle. Saliini — Its distance, periods, velocity, and dimensions — Light and heat — Small density — Its Rings — A marvellous mechanism — Has eight Satellites — Grandeur of its nocturnal firmament — A thrilling exhibition. Uranus — Its remoteness, dimensions and periods — Degree of light and heat — Furnished with six Satellites — The position of their orbits, and the direction of their motion, a singularity and a mystery. Xej)tuiic — The remarkable manner of its dis- covery— Its immense distance — Its size and annual period. Review — Are these great globes inhabited ? — Some return a negative answer — Their diflSculties — Every clime, every corner of the earth has its inhabitants — Planet populations not impossible — The affirmative — Numer- ous and striking analogies — The more rational supposition 272 Reflections. Our place in the Creation — Humility — Littleness of man — Greatness of God 305 THE PLANETARY SYSTEM. A complete and harmonious scheme — Foresight, calculation and plan clearly exhibited — In the general laws governing the planets — In the means and method of their illumination — In the character of their orbits^In their rotation upon their axes — In their orbital velocities — In the adjustments made for the stability of the system — The Presiding agency of the Creator — The view held by Newton, Bacon, Herschel and others — God the efficient cause of all motion 309 Reflections. Grounds and encouragements to repose entire confidence in God 323 COMETS. Members of the Solar System — Their number — Appearance — Bodies of extreme tenuity — Change their forms — Revolve in all kinds of orbits — Traverse every region of the Heavens — Move with every imaginable velocity — Their extreme eccentricity — Periods of revolution — A field of great mystery 325 Reflections. The unknown greater than the known — Groundless appre- hensions— All-embracing Providence — Distant influences combined — Comets dethroning kings, deciding battles, and shaping the destiny of nations 331 14 CONTENTS. THE FIXED STARS. paob Planets as near neighbors — Stars incomparably more remote — Distance of a few calculated — Limits of the Universe undiscoverable — Changes and revolu- tions observed among the most distant stars — Double, triple, and multiple stars — Stars of different colors — Stupendous dimensions of stars — Their number — Milky Way, a nebula — 3,000 other nebulae — Each star, like the sun, the centre of a system — Law and order prevailing throughout visible space 338 Reflections. Evidences of God's universal presence — His boundless em- pire— The redemption of one fallen world — A miracle of loving kindness.... 350 THE FIFTH DAY. History — Creation progressive and ascending — Animal organizations now intro- duced— Life a mystery — Peculiar interest of animated beings — Exposition of the Record — Water pre-eminently the seat of life 359 WHALES. Remarkable creatures — Connecting link — Of enormous size and strength — Fit- ness to inhabit frozen oceans — Faculties — Habits — Affection 364 Reflections. On the perfection of the Divine workmanship even in these monsters 367 FISHES. Number of species — Variety in size and character — Formed for ease and rapidity of motion — Their covering, its suitableness, beauty and perfection — Peculiar mode of respiration — Their eyes adapted for their dense element, and for their several habits — Sense of touch and taste feeble — Smelling and hearing acute — Their sagacity — Long-lived — Excel in strength — Astonishing in- stincts— Abounding fecundity — Migrations distant and unerring — Contrast between fishes and land animals — Means of attack and defence, divers and extraordinary 368 Reflections. On the illimitable invention, and fertility of resources displayed in the creation of the inhabitants of the deep 383 CRUSTACEANS. Remarkable creatures — Variety — Complicated in structure — The Lobster — De- scription— Fecundity — Moulting, a most extraordinary feat — Provision for a new suit 384 Reflections. On instinct accomplishing what would puzzle and bafi9e intellect - 387 MOLLUSCANS. Immense variety — Beauty of shells — Characteristics of the occupants — Univalve class, cowries, carinaria vitrea, violet snails, nautilus, etc. — Bivalves, escallops, oyster, pearl oyster — Singing mussel — Giant clninp-shell — Cuttle- fish, octopus, loligo, etc., a remarkable family 388 Reflections. On the mathematical principles displayed in the structure of shells 394 CONTENTS. 15 ANIMALCULES. paq. • Much within the limits of natural vision — Microscope reveals a new world of living wonders — Strange and fantastic animals — Their numbers and minute- ness— Proteus, Kotifcra and hydra — Infusoria — A drop of water the homo of 500,000,000 — Movements and performances — Rapid multiplication — Ex- traordinary modes of reproduction 396 Reflections. Infinity above and infinity below — As di£Scult to stretch the imagination to the minute as to the vast — Contrast between telescopic and microscopic revelations 401 SPLENDORS OF OCEAN LIFE. Vast chaiQ of animated existences — Display of all-comprehending Intelligence — Proofs of the Creator's universal and unceasing agency — The production of happiness a leading design with God — Interesting scene beneath the waters of the North Sea — Animated charms of the Mediterranean — Brilliant dis- plays at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea — Submarine gardens of the Pacific —"The earth full of Thy riches" 403 BIRDS. An interesting class — A question man could not answer — Design and adaptation conspicuous — Buoyancy — Provision for sinking and diving — Covering, every feather a wonder — Diversity of forms and habits — Striking adapta- tions of the Beak — Of the Foot — Of the internal Orgnas — Great muscular power of birds — The famous problem of Bernouli — Sight, hearing and smelling— Intelligence—Memory — Voice, structure of the wind-pipe, and larynx — Music of the grove — Power of a bird's voice — Pairing, a beneficent appointment — Nest-building, its ingenuity — Number of eggs laid — Incuba- tion, exhibiting marvels of instinct — Fecundity — Migration 413 Reflections. On the Divine invention, guidance and goodness, as seen in Birds — Living Parables — "Behold the fowls of the air" — "As a hen gathereth her chickens" — "As an eagle stirreth up her nest" 436 INSECTS. Productions of the fifth day — Number of species — Endowed with choicest powers — Multiplicity and complication of parts — External members — Manner of breathing — Touch, taste, smell and hearing — Sight, transcendent mechanism of their eyes — A substitute for speech — Passions — Strength — Mode of repro- duction— Fecundity — Clouds of locusts — Instinctive sagacity — Patience, stratagems, and architecture of Spiders — Ants, their industry, dwellings, government, military expeditions, and captured servants — Bees, a wonderful people, live under a sovereign, and dwell in a city — Plan of its avenues, streets and dwellings — A problem of high matheiniitics reduced to practice by insects — The comb a result of superior intelligence, whose intelli- gence? 444 Reflections. Insects a powerful agency, and a pleasing ornament in the world — The Hand Divine seen in the least as well as the greatest — A brilliant and happy population within the bosom of a carnation — A beauti- ful illustration — A solemn warning 465 16 CONTESTS. I. THE SIXTH DAY. p^oe History — The work continued — Spontaneous generation — Bar to confusion 475 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Made for man — Sheep, their twofold value — Cattle, yielding help and sustenance — Horse, a combination of excellent qualities — Camel, formed for the desert —Elephant, its strength, sagacity and affection— Rein-deer, its owner's stock of wealth — Dog, his intelligence, fidelity and attachment — Each ani- mal fitted for its place and use 477 Reflections. Domestic animals evidences of a Father's care — To be treated with kindness — To be regarded with reflection — The lessons they teach 487 WILD ANIMALS. Import of the word "Beast." Qiiadi-Htnana — Orang-outang — Chimpanzee — Monkey — Wide anatomical and mental differences between these and man. Cheirojiterana — Vampires and Bats — An extraordinary faculty. Predaeeana — Lion, his form and character — Tiger, his strength and ferocity — Leopard — Bear, its importance in Kamtschatka, an affecting story — Marten, Sable, Ermine. Rodentea — Rabbit, its prolifieness — Hare — Pika, its provident industry and grievous wrongs — Rat and Mouse — Beaver, its sagacity, dykes and habitations. Edcntes — Ornithorhynchus, a paradox — Ant-eater. Ruminanti — The ruminating process — Gazelle, Antelope and Chamois, their elegance and agility — Giraffe — Buffalo. Pachyderms — Rhinoceros — Hippo- potamus— Tapir. Maraupians — Kangaroo, its peculiar form — Opossum 492 Reflectioxs. Every beast constituted for its appointed place — Ferocity of beasts, how reconciled with Divine benevolence 508 REPTILES. Generally shunned, yet instructive — Some amphibious, all cold-blooded. Saurl- ans — Crocodile, its size, strength and habits — Gavial — Alligator. Cheloni- ana — Tortoise, its encasement, longevity, vitality and peculiar circulation. Ophidians — Boa Constrictor, its length and voraciousness — Liboya — Rattle- snake, viviparous — Agility of serpents — Emblem of cunning — Tenacity of life — Number of the poisonous. Batrachians — Frog, its interesting trans- formations—Toad— Pipa, its peculiar mode of hatching— Cruelty to these harmless animals, rernies— Varieties— Earthworms, may be multiplied by division, benefit the soil. Entozoa, or parasites inhabiting the bodies of living animals; found rioting in every corner of the human frame 512 Reflections. The Leviathan of Job and the Saurians of the Geologist — Instrumentality of the Serpent in the Fall of Mav — Nothing made in vain — No creature beneath its Maker's care 524 II. THE SIXTH DAY. History — The mansion prepared and furnished — The Inhabitant now to be in- troduced— Elohim in solf-consultation — Three Persona — Image and likeness of God — Man's dominion — Divine benediction — Appointed food — "All very good" 531 CONTENTS. 1 7 MAN'S BODILY FRAME. pack The crowning work — Erect posture, its advantages and nobleness — Symmetry of parts — Skin, iis delicacy and influence— The Hand, its unrivalled me- chanism and importance — Man embodies all animal excellences — His gene- ral structure — The exquisite adjustments of his muscular and nervous systems — The vital machinery viewed in full operation — All repaired and renewed without a moment's interruption 536 INTELLECTUAL POWERS. Foregoing structure made for the service of the indwelling Spirit — The brain the temple of the mind — The nerves its telegraphic wires — Acquires impres- sions of the external world through the senses — Elaborates from them innumerable conclusions — Memory treasures up ideas, Recollection calls them forth as needed — Importance of these faculties — Nothing lost from memory — Illustrations of this — Memory holds its stores for the service of the intellect — The use intellect has made of them — The mind capacitated for endless progress 547 EMOTIONAL CONSTITUTION. An important department of the mental furniture — The various emotions and their offices stated — Without these, life would be a blank of passionless intellectuality 55g HIS MORAL NATURE. Conscience the crowning faculty — Its authority sacred and supreme — It may be resisted — Its existence an evidence for the righteousness of God — It elevates man above all earthly creatures — In the first created man, all the faculties and aflFeetions were pure, perfect and harmonious — And as a result, his was unalloyed and unintermittcd happiness 558 HIS HELP-MEET. " Male and female created He them " — Man and woman the complement of each other — To enhance their social happiness, they are endowed with the power of speech, and taught the use of language 561 Reflections. On the illustrious character and happy state of man as he came from the hands of his Maker 5fi2 Closing Remarks 505 2 THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE, EADER, suppose that, by some concurrence of circumstances, you were unexpectedly landed ^i^ upon a foreign shore, and among unknown peo- ple, where you presently discover, among other wonders, a stately temple, magnificent in its elevation and proportions, and venerable for its hoary antiquity. You approach the time-worn steps of its door-way, and are permitted to enter. With deep and solemn interest you advance, step by step, viewing and admiring its several parts — its arches and windows, its altars, statuary, and paintings. Delighted and astonished at the symmetry and beauty everywhere exhibited, you now turn to your attendant, and make many inquiries as to the uses and ends of what you have seen — the meaning of the emblems, the subjects of the paintings, and the grand purpose of the whole edifice. Finding all things most happily adapted for their several ends, and the whole fabric presenting a display of surpassing genius in contrivance, and skill in execution, your admiration is now raised higher than ever, and your reflections are 19 20 THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE. involuntarily and at once carried back to do homage to the master spirit, the noble architect, in whose creative mind the whole majestic pile had been conceived, and by whose plans and directions its erection had been begun, carried on, and completed. Well, this is not a mere imaginary representation, but all a sober statement of fact ; for into such a temple, but one infinitely more wondrous, you have actually been introduced. What structure of man's rearing or contrivance can compare with that of the world into which you have been born ? What length and breadth and solidity of foundations have we here ! How magnificent its overarching heavens and inextinguishable luminaries ! What grandeur in its naked rocks and towering mountains, in its heaving oceans and flowing rivers ! How full of charms its varied sceneries ! What richness in its living and verdant carpeting ! What ceaseless and happy activity among its myriad tenants in every habitable part ! How inimitable the music softly echoing in its groves and dells ! How solemn and sublime the anthems rolling through its heavens! Here, then, are displays of strength and skill and taste, worthy your most ardent study and admiration. And it is to an examination of this temple of Divine con- trivance and workmanship that you are now invited ; and I venture to promise you, that, at every step we shall take together, whether through its vaults and crypts, or over its varied and living mosaics, or among its solar and astral lights^ we shall find matchless THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE. 21 wonders of wisdom and power and goodness everywhere displayed. If, in the puny productions of man, we can see sufficient to awaken our curiosity and admiration, Jiere we shall discover enough to call forth our pro- foundest adoration. And I cannot but believe, dear reader, whatever thus far your creed or your practice may have been, that ere we shall close the survey now proposed, we shall often together " rise from nature to nature's God," and even iJiese magnificent wonders fade from view in our admiration of the Divine perfec- tions from which they have emanated, and by which thc}' are all infinitely transcended. ©he gcflinmnj^ Origination of Matter : Primordial condition of the Earth ; its pre- Adamite revolutions. THE BEGINNING. Genesis 1 : 1. — In the beginning God created tlie heaven and the earth. HUS opens the Book of God with the announce- b_UI iiient of a truth which no process of reasoning could have reached, and with tlie declaration of a fact which no philosophy could ever have un- veiled. Nothing can exceed the grandeur of the thought, nothing surpass the appropriateness of the words, as an introduction to the sacred volume. Looking back across the wide waste of all the ages past, this sentence of divine sublimity, like a majestic ARCHWAY, stands at the closing bounds of eternity past — beyond it are the silence and darkness of ancient night ; and out of it issue the periods, and scenes, and events of time. This first verse of the Inspired Record stands as a distinct and independent sentence ; and by it the Holy Spirit affirms that the heavens and the earth were "created," or primarily originated by God, not from elements previously existing, but from nothing. Here is asserted^ the absolute origination of the materials composing the universe. This creative act was quite distinct from, and long anterior to, the acts included in " the six days," and which begin with the emergence of Ught from darkness, at the tidrd verse. 25 26 THE BEGINNING. The earth and the heavens, then, had a " beginning." Such is the first great truth taught us in the Bible — a truth which the unaided wisdom of man failed to dis- cover or even conceive. The ancient schools of phil- osophy, without an exception, held that matter was eternal. To them it appeared an absurdity to suppose that anything could be created or produced from nothing. " Know first of all," said Epicurus, " that nothing can spring from nonentity." Plato declared matter to be " co-existent with God." And Aristotle asserted the eternity of the world both in matter and form. Nor has this doctrine of the ancients been with- out its advocates in modern times, some of whom have maintained, not only that the globe itself has been eternal, but also that there have existed upon it an eternal series of men, of beasts, of birds, etc. But the history before us affirms that the earth, and all things therein, were created by God, and had a beginning. And to a beginning, indeed, all things around us, above us, beneath us, obviously carry us back. That the earth, its vegetation and living inhabitants have not always been — have not existed from eternity — ^is proved by this general argument : Order, design, and adaptation of means to ends, universally prove the agency of intelligence ; the earth and its "[Droductions everywhere abound with instances of order, design and adaptation ; therefore, the earth and its productions must be the work of an intelligent Being, and, conse- quently, must have had a beginning. THE BEGINNING. 27 Examination, comparison and analysis, in whatever department or province of creation made, on the prin- ciple of the above syllogism, carry us straightway back to a beginning. Neitlicr the earth, nor anything on the earth, is found to be simple or uncompounded. Everything we see, feel or handle, is a composition — a mixture of different elements. The bodies of animals and the substance of plants, the soil and the rocks, and even the water, the air, and the light are compounds. Now, scientific investigation has ascertained that there are in nature fifty-four simple substances, or elementary principles, and that everything embraced in the sub- stance, or existing upon the surface of the globe, is a composition of a greater or less number of these. As all the words in the English language are composed out of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, so out of these fifty-four simple substances the whole volume of creation is composed. And as the letters are combined in a definite order to form each word, so these elemen- tary principles are combined in uniform and established proportions, to form the various materials which go to make up our world. The elements composing its atmosphere and its water, tlie combinations that con- stitute the crystals composing its rocks, and the angles and facets which the minutest of these exhibit, are so far from indicating the fortuitous result of accident, that they are disposed according to laws the most unde- viating, and in proportions mathematically exact. But uniform laws, undeviating order, and exact proportions, 28 THE BEGINNING. must be the products of an intelligent Being. The at- mosphere, the water, and the rocks, therefore, must be the work of such a Being, and, therefore, must have had a beginning. The ancient Atheistic theory of a fortui- tous concourse of atoms is thus completely exploded. Nor do we lack evidence to prove that the above fifty-four elementary substances themselves had a begin- ning. The ultimate and indivisible atoms composing each of them are endowed with properties that have reference and adaptation to those of the others — proper- ties that qualify them to attract or rej)el, to unite or coalesce with those of the others, so as to produce the endlessly diversified combinations and organisms of nature. These properties in the molecules of each primary element are fixed and definite, both in their number and action. " I assert, without fear of contra- diction," says Prout in his famous Treatise on Chem- istry, "that the molecular constitution of matter is decidedly artificial." And Sir John Herschell asserts that " every molecule or atom of matter has all the characters of a manufactured article ;" consequently, no atom can have been eternal. Hence appears the falsity and baselessness of the Pantheistic theory, that would substitute an eternal nature for an eternal God — every particle of matter in the universe, in clear and emphatic voice, pronouncing its condemnation. But to insist no longer on these refinements of sci- ence, interesting and conclusive as they are, and to deal only with what the eyes of all can see, and their hands THE BEGINNING. 29 handle, let us take our stand on the granite rode, the basis of the earth's crust — even this is a compound, being made up of quartz, felspar, and mica. Whatever theory we may adopt to account for its origin, granite must have preceded stratified rocks, for these, as is evi- dent and universally admitted, were originally formed out of its pulverized crystalline particles; and stratified rocks must have preceded the soil, which is composed out of them and rests upon them; and the soil must have preceded vegetation, for this grows out of it; and vegetation must have preceded animals, as these subsist upon it, no living thing being capable of extracting its food directly from the ground. Hence, all animals, all vegetation, all soils, and all stratified rocks must have had a beuinninf;; ; for each of these has derived its ex- istence from what was in being before it. It plainly appears, therefore, that the Infidel's eternal series of men, of animals, of plants, etc., must have been simpl} impossible. Geology also brings from the depths beneath other testimonies, strong as the rocks, that the whole system of visible things on earth had its beginning. " Every step in our descent through the solid crust of the globe," says Dr. John Harris, "is suggestive of a beginning; for everything speaks of derivation. Each rock points downward to its source, and we can trace the lineal extraction of each successive stratum." And Hugh Miller, speaking of the more ancient animal organiza- tions, says : " Each of the extinct groups, we find, had 30 THE BEGINNING. a beginning and an end ; there is not, in the wide do- main of physical science, a more certain fact; and every species of the group which now exists had, like all their predecessors on the scene, their beginning also. The infinite series of the Atheists of former times can have no place in modern science : all organic existences, recent or extinct, vegetable or animal, have had their beginning. There was a time when they were not. The Geologist can indicate that time, if not by years, at least by periods, and show what its relations w^ere to the periods that went before, and that came after." Astronomy, likewise, reads to us from the heavens a geometrical demonstration of this fundamental truth. The solar system is a magnificent clock-work of unfail- ing perfection. All its stupendous parts influence and are influenced by one another, yet all move on in abso- lute harmony. Every orb has its magnitude set off" by a scale, its materials weighed in a balance, its distance measured by a line, and its velocity regulated by an in- fallible law. And in this celestial machinery our planet has its place, fitting therein as a wheel into a wheel in the works of a chronometer. A mere glance at this wonderful system instantly lodges a conviction within the mind, that it is the contrivance of infinite skill, and the work of infinite power, and, consequently, that there was a time when it had its birth. Thus the investigations of modern science, at what- ever point of the horizon commenced, converge and unite in the grand and fundamental truth, that " In THE BEGINNING. 3X THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH." When — how far back in the past — the beginning was is not stated, neither does the record afford any clue by which this can be ascertained. For, as already stated, this verse stands as an independent sentence, and relates a creative act distinct from, and long prior to, the work of the six days. The sacred historian, in passing from the event announced in the first verse to the state of things described in the second, passes over a period of indefinite, and. perhaps, incalculable length. Of the condition of our planet during that period, what changes or revolutions it underwent, nothing is said ; but the second verse describes to us its condition imme- diately before the commencement of the Adamic crea- tion, the history of which begins with the third verse. And it will be proper to state here, that this is no new mode of interpretation, or a suggestion of modem geology with a view to harmonize its marvellous dis- coveries with holy writ. The sacred text was thus understood by the early fathers of the church — by Justin Martyr, Basil, Caesarius, Origen and others. Of the same view in later days were Patrick, Jennings and Calvin, all of whom wrote before geology was known as a science. They arrived at this view of the inspired narrative solely on Biblical grounds; and now the reve- lations of geology go to prove that the interpretation they gave is correct. There is, therefore, nothing to alarm the friend of the 82 THE BEGINNING. Bible in the geological announcement that the earth may have existed through unmeasured periods before the creation of man. Geology militates not against the Scripture, but against the mistaken, though common, interpretation put upon it. The Scripture nowhere un- dertakes to inform us iclien this globe was brought into existence; it simply states the grand and important fact, that "in the beginning," whenever that was, "God created the heaven and the earth." Between that beginning and the creation of man, millions of years, or even millions of ages may have elapsed, during which all the physical changes and operations described by geology were going on. But these, like the rings of Saturn, or the satellites of Jupiter, the sacred historian, without saying a word, or dropping a hint, passes by, as not being embraced in the plan or connected with the object of the inspired word. As the Scripture account of creation does not inform us at what time, so neither does it in what form the earth was at first created. The origin of our globe is involved in great obscurity, which the powers of the most gifted have not been able to penetrate. Some, and among them are men equally distinguished for their piety and science, regard it as by no means an irra- tional thought to suppose that in the beginning the matter now composing our globe existed in a most at- tenuated state, and floated in space as a vast, extended cloud, and this gradually, under the influence of gravi- tation, of cohesive force, and of chemical aggregation. THE BEGINNING. 33 moulded into the form of a sphere. But whether this supposition is to be accepted or not, certain it is, that we have many and strong evidences to believe that the earth, at a later period of its history, existed in a melted state, and has been slowly cooling ever since. Revolving through space, where the temperature is not less than 230° below Zero, (Fahr.) the earth, accord- ing to the laws of radiation, must have been all along giving out and parting with some of its heat ; conse- quently the amount of its heat formerly must have been greater than it is at present ; and if we run backward through the ages, we shall ultimately reach a period when its heat must have been sufficient to melt all known substances. And that such a state of things actually existed seems to be plainly indicated by the igneous character of the primitive rocks, by the tropical climate that formerly prevailed in high latitudes, and by the present internal heat of the globe. The spheroidal figure of the earth, also, being exactly such as would be taken by a fluid mass revolving with the velocity of the earth, confirms this conclusion. When the earth was in its molten condition, all the water now contained in its oceans, lakes and rivers, must have existed in a vastly extended atmosphere of steam around it, owing to its intense heat. The cooling process, therefore, went on slowly, as this thick, vapor- ous canopy prevented rapid radiation. At length, however, a period arrived when a crust was formed over the melted sphere. This, like ice on agitated 34 THE BEGINNING. waters, was, doubtless, heaved and ruptured at a thousand points, and that, perhaps, a thousand times repeated. But gradually the undulating surface ac- quired greater thickness and solidity, and became measurably stable ; and in process of time its tempera- ture was so far reduced as to admit of the existence of water in a fluid form. Long, however, the dark, " un- seen deep must have literally boiled as a pot, wildly tempested from below; while from time to time more deeply seated convulsions upheaved suddenly to the surface, vast tracts of semi-molten rock, soon again to disappear, and from which waves of bulk enormous rolled outward to meet in wild conflict with the giant waves of other convulsions, or return to hiss and sputter against the intensely-heated and fast-foundering mass, whose violent upheaval had first elevated them and sent them abroad."* Thus cooling and consolidating, unmeasured periods passed away ; our planet, however, was still but an awful and tenantless waste ; darkness and silence reigned universal ; " the only sound which occasionally broke the intense stillness being the voice of subterranean thunder ; the only motion (not felt, for there was none to feel it) an earthquake ; the only phe- nomenon a molten sea, shot up from the fiery gulf be- low, to lay the foundation of coming islands, or to form the mighty framework of some future conti- nent." t At this primeval period of high temperature, seeth- * Test, of R., p. 197. \ Pre- Adamite Earth, p. 71. THE BEGINNING. 35 ing oceans and steamy atmosphere, there must have fallen, frequently, torrents of rain, of which aught that we now behold can suggest but a faint idea, and which, doubtless, formed rivers and cataracts far surpassing our Amazon and Niagara. The effect of thes^ rains and flowing tides, and high temperature, was to disintegrate and grind and wear the granite surface, and to wash down the debris from higher to lower localities, or to carry them into the beds of existing seas and lakes, to be there deposited and hardened in successive layers ; and thus were formed the first stratified rocks. Mean- while, the force of internal fires ever and anon changed the relative level of the surface ; the bottom of the ocean was uplieaved into high table lands, or mountain ridges, as the former plains and hills sank to be covered by the displaced ocean ; and in this manner new con- tinents Avere produced, new rivers formed, and new de- posits made. Thus the internal fires fused and frac- tured and lifted the granitic rocks, and thus the never- wearied water washed and Avore those rocks to dust and soil. At length, the temperature being sufhciently re- duced, and an adequate amount of soil formed from the washed and pulverized rocks, at the bidding of the Great First Cause, such vegetable and animal organiza- tions as could, in that condition of the globe, maintain an existence, began to appear — first in the sea, and then on the land. As these respectively ran their appointed periods and perished, and the earth con- 36 THE BEGINNING. tinued to imj^rove in soil and climate, at the same Omnipotent bidding, other and higher orders, both of vegetable and animal, were introduced from period to period. In like manner, these again died out, to be succeeded by others still. In this way the face of the earth was renewed and destroyed, peopled and repeopled, times without num- ber. For ages, and cycles of ages, it passed through alternate periods of upheaval and disruption, and of formation and repose — during the one, the loose mate- rials worn and ground by the elements from hill and dale, together with vegetable and animal remains, were continually carried and deposited at the bottoms of seas and lakes, where, layer after layer, they became hardened into other rocks, amounting to hundreds, and sometimes to thousands, of feet in thickness — during the other, these were again in vast extents heaved, or ruptured, or tilted into various positions. Thus all the present continents and islands of the globe have been, for vast periods, and many of them several times, at the bottom of the ocean, while the regions now forming the floor of the deep, formed as many times the most elevated portions of the earth's surface. While these mighty periods and revolutions were going on, a vast series of different tribes of animals and plants successively occupied the land and the sea, and of which the variety, multiplicity, and strangeness ex- ceed by far everything which could have previously been imagined. But neither the plan nor the object THE BEGINNING. 37 of the writer will permit him to notice these in detail, as brought to light by the indefatigable researches of geologists. We may, however, for the sake of illustra- tion, glance briefly at their most prominent character- istics during different epochs of the earth's pre-historic existence. In the dim obscurity of the earliest Cambrian rocks, no vegetation clothed the scoriated surface of the ground, and no life moved in the deep, dark waters of the sea. But towards the close of this system, whose age is measured by the slow deposit of 5,000 feet forma- tion, we find that the commandment has gone forth, and the sea is swarming with life ; myriads of corals are already at work building their interminable reefs and barriers; countless multitudes of unsightly trllo- bites are swimming with their backs downward, and loolving eagerly for their prey; brilliantly-colored crinoids and stone-flowers gem the ocean floor; while over them and among them roam powerful races of the nautilus and cuttle-fish, terribly armed, and inspiring dread in the most formidable inhabitants of the deep. Descending now over the immeasurable period of the Silurian system, of a mile and a half thickness, during which hundreds of animal species ran through their ai> pointed cycle of generations and became extinct, we reach the Old Red Sandstone, whose formation records the Fish Dynast y ; sharks, rays, etc., being the most marked feature of this period. Advancing downward still with the flow of time Plants Cereals. Dicot. Trees. Dioctyledons. Monocotyledons. Oymnogens. Acrogens. Thallogens. GENEALOGY OF and .J^s t rertiaj^-i Fliocene i I iti- C .'? (' ^Ilo Loce t\ (' t^^-f-ii-b on-i'-fc-i-o-i-i-i i/^auJv^cri^ftr^Mn csboriS: £= :r^E^SMW^'ai3r^^L^^ Annuals. MAN. Mammals. (Placent.) Mammals. Birds. Eeptiles. Fish. Mollusca. Articiilata. Badiata. THE BEGINNING. 39 through unnumbered ages, \\q arrive at the epoch of the Coal Measures, in which we find, for the first time, hirge and important indications of land vegeta- tion. The dry portions of the earth's surface, during this period, abounded in rank and gorgeous vegetable productions, among which stood conspicuously the graceful araucaria, the tall and spreading lepidoden- d)'07i, with its feathery fronds, the huge duh-mosses, the elegant sigiUaria, the strange tree-ferns, with gigantic jnnes and Jirs, " all begirt with creepers and parasitic plants, climbing to the topmost branches of the tallest among them, and enlivening, b}- the bright and vivid colors of their flowers, the dark and gloomy character of the great masses of vegetation."* These primeval forests, however, so far as known, do not appear to have ever echoed to the voice of birds ; nor does there remain an indication that a quadruped or reptile ever roamed through their tangled solitudes. The fossils of a few insects, indeed, remain to testify that animal life was not altogether absent. The sea, however, was now abundantly peopled. Repeating again our flight, and passing by the ex- tended periods of the Magnesian Limestone, we next alidit on the New Red Sandstone. Other races, we now see, have taken possession of earth, air, and water. Birds now track the sands and wade the shallows, of a bulk three times that of a modern ostrich, and dracjoit- fiies and beetles hum through the air. * Anstcd. 40 THE BE a IN XING. Coming to what has been named the Lias formation, we reach the Reptile Dynastij. These formidable crea- tures now become the lords and t^Tants of creation — the combatants and consumers of each other. Croco- diles and lizards and gavials everywhere abound. Huge, hat-lihe reptiles, vaster than the fabled dragons of old, are flitting through the air ; ponderous hatracliians, or frogs, large as a rhinoceros, are dragging their un- wieldy bulk along the sand; fierce and enormous sharlcs roam and reign through the ocean ; the rapacious megcdausaurus, taller and larger than the bulkiest elephant, here and there is crushing his resistless way through the tangled brakes ; and from many a tepid bay is seen the frightful ichtlujosaurus, with eyes well- nigh half a yard in diameter, glaring upon its unsus- pecting victim, which, whatever its size or strength, it is sure to prostrate with a single stroke of its enor- mous tail, and engulf at a single mouthful in its horrid jaws. Quitting our stand-point once more, and sailing over the thousands of years, and of ages, occujDied in deposit- ing the vast Oolitic and Chalk formations, we come down to the Tertiary epoch, and take one more glance at our globe in its pre-Adamite condition. Between this epoch and the last, terrible and oft-repeated dis- turbances have taken place in the relations of sea and land : hence every living species that formerly occupied the earth has disappeared. Fishes and reptiles still ex- ist, but they are far inferior to those of former periods. THE BEGINNING. 41 But now appears a mighty race of quadrupeds. Terrible aud fierce creatures they were. Hyenas, hears, iigei-s, of huge proportions, now roamed the earth. The elephant, the mammoth, and the mastodon also traversed the plains and forests, even in far northern latitudes. Besides these, there were others of much vaster size than any now extant. The Deinotherium was an elephant-like creature, but twelve feet high and twenty feet in length, and robust in proportion, with two enor- mous tusks curving downward from the under jaw. The Megatherium, as its name implies, was a brute of stupendous proportions; the monstrous pillars which supported the body were like forest trees, and were three times the thickness of the largest elephant's ; the width across the loins was about six feet. The print of the forefoot was about a yard long, and twelve inches wide ; that of the hind foot about half as large again. The feet were furnished with claws ten inches in length, and about twelve inches in circumference at the root. Its tail was five or six feet in circumference. Its mode of living was to tear up large trees by the roots, and strip them of leaves and radicles. In motion it was very slow ; but it had little need of speed, when, for de- fence against its enemies, it had a coat of mail an inch thick, and with one tread of its foot, or one lash of its tail, it could kill the largest puma or tiger. In the Post-Tertiary period, even that region of the globe which now embraces the British Islands, was inhabited l)y huge and most formidable races 42 THE BEGINNING. of animals, of which Prof. Owen gives the following picture : " Gigantic elephants, of nearly twice the bulk of the largest individuals that now exist in Ceylon and Africa, roamed here in herds, if we may judge from the abun- dance of their remains. Two-horned Rhinoceroses forced their way through the ancient forests, or wal- lowed in the swamps. The lakes and rivers were tenanted by Hippopotamuses, as bulky and with as formidable tusks as those of Africa. Three kinds of wild oxen, two of which were of colossal strength, and one of these maned and villous, like the Bonassus, found subsistence in the plains." During this period vast and wonderful changes were wrought in the surface of the earth ; the great dynamical agencies of the globe were in intense and incessant activity over the broad expan- sions of sea and land, as if hastening to completion the great terrestrial structure. Geology has revealed to us not only the fact that our planet was occupied by a long succession of animal races, such as we have now glanced at, but also that these were introduced in an ascending order. " There is a manifest progress in the succession of beings on the surface of the earth," says Agassiz, " and this progress consists in an increasing similarity to the living fauna ; and among the vertebrate especially, in tlieir increasing resemblance to man. Man was the end toward which all the animal creation tended, from the first appearance of the first Silurian fishes." Man, the last in time, but THE BEGINNING. 43 the first in the contempLatioii of the Creator, was pre- ordained to be the final and mast perfect product of this vast and magnificent plan of terrestrial creation. Geology further establishes the fact, that through- out these pre- Adamite periods, there was also a pro- gressive preparation of the globe itself — of its atmos- phere and climate, soil and productions. But when it had reached even the close of its geological history, it was not yet fully prepared for the reception of man ; for still it lacked many things essential to his comfort, and even to his existence. Down to the last of the Post-tertiar}'^ deposits there has been discovered no fossil, or certain trace of a fossil, of any of those plants which yield wine, or oil, or bread, or perfume — none of those which so charm us with the beauty of their colors and the richness of their fragrance — none of the cereals, wheat, barley, rye, millet, rice, maize, which constitute our staff of life. These were to be among the produc- tions of the last and human epoch of our planet. We have now given an outline of the history of our globe during its pre-Adamic existence, as human investi- gation has been able to decipher it. Striking and startling as the foregoing statements may appear, and differing from anything which the imagination of man in former ages conceived of the history of our world, still they are solder truths, and are established in our day, by evidences so complete and undeniable, as to leave no doubt whatever of their realitv, on the minds of those, who, Avith the requisite qualifications, have 44 THE BEGINNING. studied the subject. However, neither from the forma- tion of the rocks, nor from the fossil remains which they contain, can we form any definite or certain cal- cuhition as to the actual age of the planet upon which we live. But all facts and indications concur in assigning very great and gigantic periods of time, as having been occupied by the events which formed its strata, and brought them into their present condition. "There is nothing which at all goes beyond the magni- tude which observation and reasoning suggest for geo- logical periods, in supposing that the Tertiary (or latest) strata occupied, in their deposition and elevation, a period as much greater than the period of human history, as the solar system is larger than the earth : — that the Secondary strata were as much longer than these, in their formation, as the nearest fixed star is more distant than the sun : — that the still earlier masses, the Primary, did, in their production, extend through a period of time as vast, compared with the Secondary period, as the most distant nebula is remoter than the nearest stars. If the earth, as the habitation of man, is a speck in the midst of an infinitj^ of space, the earth, as the habitation of man, is also a speck at the end of an infinity of time. If we are as nothing in the sur- rounding universe, we are as nothing in the elapsed organic antiquity, during which the earth has existed and been the abode of life." * * Plurality of Worlds, p. 123. THE BEGINNING. 45 REFLECTIONS. In the beginning — amazing era ! The words carry back the mind, awed and bewildered, to that immeas- urably distant and dateless period, when all that we now behold, and all that now exist, were not — when no sun illumined the voids of space, no moon relieved the darkness of the night, nor a star twinkled in the heavens — when time had not concluded or commenced its first revolution — when no sound, no motion had ever broken the everlasting silence — when neither mind nor matter was to be found in all the dark profound — when God was the alone existence ! Then, even then, He was, and was all that He now is, in wisdom, and power, and love, and happiness ! Alone, He inhabited the solitudes of eternity ! What awe, what reverence should such thoughts awaken in every breast! He who is not inspired with sentiments of devotion by such reflections as these, must be dead to what chiefly ennobles all created intelligences. The scenes, awful and sublime, now surveyed, point us to the Supreme Being, as sitting upon " the throne, high and lifted up," moving all things ; but remaining himself unmoved and immovable, directing every revo- lution of the vast creation ; but himself affected by no progress of events, by no lapse of time ; not younger nor more vigorous ten thousand ages past, nor older or more faint ten thousand ages to come ! Immutable in essence and attributes, He remains the same "yesterday, to- 46 THE BEGINNIJSG day, and forever." When mountains rose or continents sank, or races were swejDt away and perished, He was as impassive and unmoved as when but a sparrow ex- pires, or a feather falls to the ground. He was still of one mind, and still His mighty plans, undisturbed, moved on. Independent of all created existences, He sits at the head of the universe, unchanged and inca- pable of change. In the geological survey now taken, we discover both a proof and an illustration of the declaration, " known unto God are all His works from the beginning." In the Divine mind existed the universe, in all its magni- tude and miimtise, eternal ages before the utterance of the fivstjiat of creation. In His book, all its parts, and periods, and motions were written, when as yet there was none of them. And His plan was perfect ; it neither needed nor received the shadow of a change in the course of its execution. No mistake Avas made, no de- lay occurred. As a train arriving successively at the stations along a line of road, at the precise minute marked for each place in the time table, so the earth, in its formation process, reached its several stages at the epoch, and period of the epoch, marked in the Di- vine plan ; so that the successive tribes of animals and plants, as they were brought forth, found the earth, both as to soil and climate, ready to receive and support them. The Contriver and Builder of the world foresaw all the revolutions which the course of ages would pro- duce, and the mighty work ever advanced infallibly THE BEGINNING. 47 and without interruption. " Look on it when He would, He found it arrived at that stage where a thousand ages before He foresaw it would be. And look forward to what distant age He might, He beheld it in anticipation, already there arrived." No plan, no purpose of God, can fail of its accomplishment. In these scenes of ancient creation, we behold a striking display of the all-comprehending wisdom and universal agency of God. Here we witness " all things working together," through the course of ages, to further and accomplish His purpose. From the beginning, the earth Avas designed to be a habitation for man ; and to fit and furnish it for him, all the revolutions our planet experienced, all the transformations through which it passed, all the forces and influences to which it w^as subjected, unitedly and unfailingly conspired, through all the long epochs of its preparation. Every volcano that burned or belched in the morning of time — every hurricane that swept over the primeval seas — every earthquake that, in after periods, heaved its solid crust — every electric shock that rent the clouds, or vibrated through the rocky strata — were made under the guiding hand of the Divine Builder to work, and to work to- gether, toward perfecting this terrestrial abode. Fires fused, and forests flourished, to enrich with jirecious stores its everlasting hills. The gigantic races that browsed over ancient continents, and the tiny corals that toiled at the bottom of ancient oceans, were alike called forth to be laborers on the noble structure. 48 THE BEGINNING. "Each trilobite, each saurian, and every one of the mammalia, which exist now in the fossil state, were small laboratories in which the great work of eternal change was carried forward ; and under the compulsion of the strong laws of creation, they were made ministers to the great end of forming a world, which might be fitting for the presence of a creature endued with a spark taken from the celestial flame of intellectual life."* * Poetry of Science, p. 264. Mt ^\mtk §mi The earth is submerged and tenantless, and enieioped in thick darkness. THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. Genesis 1 : 2. — And the earth was without form, and void ; and dark- ness was upon the face of the deep : and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. HE inspired historian, having introduced his subject with the subUme announcement, that " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," in this verse describes the state in which our globe existed immediately prior to the commencement of the Adamic creation. Between these verses, therefore, as has been set forth in the pre- ceding pages, there is a chasm of unnumbered ages in the sacred narrative. Respecting the events and doings of this immense interval, the Scripture is entirely silent, as they did not relate to the moral history of our race, or come within the design of Revelation. This missing chapter in the history of our planet we have been left to supply for ourselves, from the physical monuments of the Divine power and wisdom, found in the rocky crust of the earth. The condition of the globe, then, immediately before the creation of man, was that of a watery waste, deso- late and wrapped in darkness. Some geologists, how- ever, of late, have questioned this fact ; these hold tliat 51 52 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. the earth could not have been in such a state at that period — first, because they have not been able to dis- cover in its later or surface deposits any certain evi- dence of such a chaos ; and, secondly, because they can detect no such a break in the chain of fossil vegetable and animal species as will warrant or admit this suppo- sition. These objections are urged, and have force only on the mistaken hypothesis that this verse asserts a state of things in which " the sea, the earth, and the heaven, were a rude and indigested mass, the disagree- ing seeds of jarring elements confusedly jumbled to- gether in the same heap,"* in which no trace of animal life, or of vegetable organism, was anywhere to be found. But the sacred text, when fairly interpreted, conveys no such idea as this. Let us examine it. The original words tohu vavohu, rendered in the authorized English version, " without form and void," in the Septuagint or Greek version are translated "invisible and incomposed;" and in the Chaldee, " desert and empty." Bush, in his Notes, holds that their true import is "dreariness and desolation." It will be noticed that all these translations happily coin- cide, and are essentially identical. All that the passage, then, imports is, that our globe at this period existed as a watery and featureless desolation, enveloped in darkness — a condition similar to what it had repeat- edly passed through before, in the course of its eventful history. * Ovid's Meta. THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. 53 It will be observed that the sacred historian says nothing about the duration of this submerged and desolate condition; neither do his words offer the slightest intimation from which it can be inferred. That it was an iminejise period, is wholly a gi'atuitous assumption — it might or might not have been such. While it may suit the views and help the arguments of those who deny a chaotic state of the globe at this time, to speak of it as being thousands of ages, the language here employed permits us with equal right and consistency to suppose that it might not have exceeded a thousand days. " The periods of disturb- ance on the globe," says Hitchcock, " appear to have been short, compared with the periods of repose that in- tervened." The last cataclysm (the Deluge) through which our world passed, we know, was brought about, and wholly passed away, within the brief period of a single year. Nor, again, does this verse or any of those that fol- low, require us to believe that all life in the waters, at this time, must have been extinct. Multitudes of the inhabitants of the sea passed in safety, and long sur- vived even the earlier and more tremendous revolutions of the earth ; and at no period, after the first dawn of animated existence, were the oceans left wholly tenant- less. For anything that is here said or implied, various tribes of fishes might have continued to live and propagate their kind throughout this chaotic period, though utter darkness everywhere prevailed ; 54 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. for, at the present time, as under the ice of the Polar Seas, and elsewhere, fishes live in darkness. In the great Cave of Kentucky we find that fishes have lived and thrived and multiplied for ages, where not a ray of light ever reaches their gloomy abodes. To those species which survived the tohu vavohu period, many other and nobler species were added, indeed, by the fiat, which, with vivifying omnipotence, passed through all the deep places of the sea on the morning of the fifth day. Nor, once more, is it said or implied in this verse, that even the whole of the solid ground was under water ; the language used does not necessarily bind us to this conclusion. Portions of land, such as lofty mountain ranges, and even parts of elevated plateaus, like those of central Asia, might have been, doubtless were, above the general level of the waters ; so that it might properly and truly be said, " the earth was standing out of the water, and in the water."'-' Nor is there anything in the Kecord before us, or in the condition of things described, to forbid the supposition that vegetation, together with certain animals, (such as those claimed by geologists to have existed long ages before man,) might have survived the catastrophe on these unsuhmerged portions of the earth's surface. The more dank and dense vapors arising from the face of the agitated deep, and shutting out the light of the sun, would naturally float in dark and heavy folds in the * 2 Peter 3 : 5. THE CUAOTIC PERIOD. 55 lowest regions of the atmosphere, but growing thinner and lighter with increasing altitude ; so that while darkness, unmitigated darkness, was upon the face of the waters below, the elevated mountain tops might have been relieved by a degree of light and warmth from the sun, w^hich rendered them, in many latitudes, a far more favorable abode to life than are the present arctic regions with their intense cold and months of winter darkness, which yet are the chosen homes of many species of living creatures. Among all its revolutions, geology records no catastrophe that swept away all living creatures at a stroke, leaving the entire earth tenantless ; while multitudes were often destroyed, more or less always survived. And why may we not suppose the same of this last catastrophe ? Nor, finally, does the Mosaic Record state, neither is there anything in the discoveries of geology to decide. ilie precise way in which the globe was reduced to this chaotic condition — w^hether by the subsidence of the dry land, or mainly by a general elevation of the beds of the ancient oceans. It might have been by the one or the other ; " many of the apparent elevations of the land," says Dana, " may have been due to the deepening of the oceanic basin; and some of the apparent subsi dences of the land may have been caused by an eleva- tion of the oceanic basin." If, therefore, this chao^ was brought about mainly by the elevation of the ocean floor, thus sending abroad its waters over the land ; and if the gathering together of those waters, in order 56 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. to make the land again appear on the third day, was effected mainly by the sinking of the ocean floor — then the surfaces of the old continents have remained undis- turbed, and their relative levels and respective plains, elevations, and declivities continue as they were of old; so that the sublime pinnacles of the Alps and the Ararat stand now as they stood in the midst of the former creation, and the Niagara and the Colorado flow to-day along the same rocky channels that they began to scoop out numerous ages before the earth had been reduced into the chaotic state here described. The foregoing suppositions are in perfect harmony with the teachings of geology ;* and the generality of the Mosaic statements, when fairly considered, will be found entirely compatible with them all. Let us now glance at the actual physical changes that were required to reduce the globe into the submerged state here described. Humboldt has estimated the mean elevation of Europe at 671 feet; of Asia, 1151 feet; of North America, 748 feet; of South America, 1132 feet; and has set the mean elevation of all the continental lands at 1008 feet. If the high mountain ranges were left out of the calculation, this mean, as is obvious, would be greatly reduced. The whole north of Europe and Asia is merely a boundless plain ; and from the f^hores of Holland, through Germany, Russia, the Steppes of the Caspian and Siberia, the traveller may cross the ancient world from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, a * See Hitchcock's Elem. of Geol,, p. 157. THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. 57 distance of more than 6000 miles, without encountering an eminence of more than a few hundred feet high. The extended plains of the Ganges and of the Euphrates have but a small elevation above the ocean level. In Africa also, the plains of Sahara extend 2500 miles in length, by 1000 miles in breadth. The mean elevation of Australia does not exceed 500 feet. In the New World, plains form two-thirds of the entire surface; almost the whole East of it runs into immense plains, covering it, one might say, from pole to pole. From the Frozen Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, over an extent of nearly 2400 miles, we cross only insignificant heights. From the llanos of the Orinoco to the banks of the La Plata, we traverse more than 3000 miles of low plains, slightly interrupted by the somewhat more ele- vated regions of western Brazil; they are prolonged even to the pampas of Patagonia, 600 miles further south.* It has been estimated that if all the land above the present water-level were transferred into the ocean basins, it would occupy only one-fortieth 'part of their capacity. From the foregoing facts, it is obvious that an elevation of a few hundred feet only of the present bed of the ocean, attended, as it would be, by a corres- ponding depression of the land, would reduce all the existing continents of the globe into a few irregular and scattered islands — would, in fact, reduce the earth into precisely the condition described in the verse now under consideration. But a less elevation of the bottom * See Guy of 3 Earth and Man. 58 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. of the seas than even this, by considerable, would have sufficed to submerge the earth at the commencement of the human era : for the oceans, according to the testi- mony of geology, have been constantly growing deeper, and the continents higher, ever since. Having premised the foregoing facts, we are now prejDared to consider the objections urged against a chaotic condition of the globe, at the period in question. Objection 1. It is urged that the earth's surface affords no indication of a pre-Adamite chaos, such as we speak of To this we may reply, that conclusions reached through mere negative evidences are generally of a doubtful character. The heavens to-night may exhibit no traces of the descent of a meteoric shower, but that does not prove that such a thing did not hap- pen on a former night. The same may be true of the case before us. That watery chaos may have left its marks, doubtless has, at a thousand points; but men looking for something greater, or something different, may not yet have learned to distinguish them. The inspired account before us does not require us to suppose that this chaos, like some of the tremendous cataclysms of the earlier epochs, was brought about by sudden or violent paroxysms, or that it was of numerous ages' continuance, such as would of necessity leave lasting and ineffaceable marks or relics behind it ; the internal forces of the earth had all along been quieting down, and the condition of the globe here described might have been the result of a slow subsidence of the land, TEMPLE OF JUPITER AND PERAPIS. 60 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. and an equally slow elevation, at the same time, of the beds of the ancient oceans; so that its surface generally became covered with water, without a stratum being overturned, or tilted out of its place. Geology teaches us, that the process of both elevation and depression often goes on gradually and imperceptibly. "There have been instances," says Prof Hitchcock, " of quiet, gradual elevation without catastrophe; and it may not be possible, in all cases, to find evidence of any great geological disturbance at the close of all the life periods." Such movements in the earth's crust are constantly taking place at the present period. The temple of Jupiter Serapis, at Pozzuoli, was origi- nally built at the level of the sea. Subsequently, the ground gradually subsided to the depth of 21 feet, and its interior became a lake. At length the land gradu- ally rose again, until the pavement once more stood on a level with the sea. Three of its columns are now standing, and bear clear evidence of their submergence; the lower 12 feet of these columns, being immersed in mud, remain smooth, but for 9 feet above they are penetrated by the little boring shells of the Mediter- ranean, and remains of these shells were found in their holes. On several parts of the coasts of Britain and Ireland, the voyager can look down through the clear sea, in dephts to which the tide never falls, on the remains of submerged forests. The whole mass of Scandinavia, an extent uf 1000 miles from north to south, is being THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. (j]^ elevated at the rate of from two to four feet per century. On the other hand, the west coast of Greenland, for a distance of 600 miles, has been sinking for ages ; old buildings and islands have been submerged; and the Moravian settlers have had to put down new poles for their boats, and the old ones stand as silent witnesses of the change * It has also been shown, beyond all question, that the eastern part of South America has been raised, in the most quiet manner, without disturbing the horizontality of the strata, from 100 feet to 1400 feet, over an extent of 1200 miles, since the Drift period. With such facts, then, before us, where is the difficulty in admitting and believing that the earth, at the period in question, was reduced to a watery chaos, and then restored, tJiough no ruptured strata, or hurled fossils, or ruined mountains, remain to prove it? "VVe find a distinguished geologist, while denying a prc- Adamite chaos, in laboring to establish his favorite theory of the Noachian deluge, with great facility- depressing the surface of the earth by millions of square miles, and bringing in the waters of three distant seas to overwhelm it to the depth of 10,000 feet; and then with equal facility drawing off the mighty ocean, and elevating the whole extent to its former level — and all this, as he represents, without leaving behind any recog- nizable evidences of the occurrence. f Countenanced by so high an authority, then, as Hugh Miller, why may we not suppose the same in regard to this primeval * See Lyell'a Prin. of Geol. f Test, of Rocks, page 358. 02 TIIL CHAOTIC PERIOD. chaos? If the absence of evidence does not disprove the one, why should it the other ? Objection 2. It is argued against a chaotic condition of the globe, at the period immediately preceding man, that certain vegetable productions, such as the Scotch- fir, the common hirch, the Norwegian sj^)ruce, etc., flourished in times long anterior to the human race, and that these flourish still, which could not have been the case had such a chaos intervened. Admitting this to be a fact, it does not involve our position in the slightest difficulty. The existence of such trees, and of many other vegetable productions, might have been safely conveyed across the chaotic period hi their seeds, buried deep in soil or mud ; many of these seeds, after the waters had been withdrawn, would, under suitable conditions, in any region of the globe, sprout and grow as successfully, as they would have done on the day they fell upon the ground. The longevity of seeds may be reckoned among the greatest marvels of creation. Grains of wheat, after having lain buried with mummies for twenty-five centuries, when moistened in the soil and warmed by the sun, have germinated and repro- duced as vigorously as if they had been the product of last harvest. Seeds that grew long ages before Adam woke to consciousness, may at this day be found in the ground, possessing their original vitality undiminished and uninjured. A few years since, earth was brought up in England from a depth of 360 feet, and carefully covered with glass to prevent the possibility of any THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. (53 blown or floating seeds being deposited upon it ; yet, in a sliort time, plants vegetated from it. Indeed alluvial and diluvial soils appear to be full of seeds to unknown depths, the produce of ages long gone by, and which need but to be brought to the surface, to sprout and thrive, as if they had but yesterday dropped from the parent plant. In this way, therefore, many of the plants and trees of the old earth might have survived the chaos; and some of them might have sprung up spontaneously even in Eden, among the more perfect, more valuable and beautiful species, that were then for the first time called into existence. And to this dis- tinction in the origin of the present vegetation of the earth, perhaps, refer the words — " Every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." * Objection 3. It is contended against the doctrine of a chaotic state of the globe at the commencement of the human period, that between several species of animals of the present time, and those of the former creation, there occurs no break ; that one continuous chain of organic existences connects the modern world with the pre-Adamite world. But may we not ask, will this chain hold good throughout? Has it been proved that all the links have actual connection? or, are there not points at which they may lie simply in close prox- imity? Is there no room for honest difference of opinion here? We think there is. Hugh Miller tells us, "there * Gen. 3 : 5. 64 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. may be portions of the prophetic pre- Adamite past, of as doubtful interpretation at the present time, from the imperfect development of physical science, as is any portion of the prophetic future, from the imperfect development of historic events." It is a possible thing, then, that the links may be very similar, and may be found very near together, and yet not exactly form a chain. The destruction of the plants and animals before the chaos did not make it necessary or certain that those which were to occupy the earth after it, should be all different from them. The species existing before the deluge were preserved and carried forward to repeople the earth after it -, so certain species of the old earth, as already indicated,* might have been pre- served on the mountain tops, to prolong their existence through the era of man; or, the Creator, in peopling the new earth, might have reproduced such of the species of the bygone world as were most suitable to be contemporaneous with man. In either of these ways, perhaps in both, the fossil remains of animals living before the chaos, and the fossil remains of the same animals living after it, may be found in many localities lying together, and that so closely and so mingled, that at this distance of time, they may appear like " a continuous chain," while in reality between their life-times may have intervened the billows and the darkness of the chaos here de- scribed. * See p. 53. THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. g5 It remains yet to be proved, liowcver, that any of tlie living and fossil species are identical. Several that were once considered the same, have, of Late, upon closer and more careful examination, been pronounced different. " The number of species," says one of the greatest of living naturalists, " still considered identical in several successive periods, is growing smaller and smaller, in proportion as they are more closely com- pared." Future and further investigation, therefore, may do away "with the few that remain ; indeed, even now, " eminent naturalists, among whom Agassiz stands at the head, are of the opinion, that the fossil and living species are not in any case, perhaps, identical ; but only closely related."* The horse, the ox, the deer, the camel, etc., of the former creation, were of a larger size than the living species.f So, also, were the beasts of prey. J The " continuous chain" of animal existence, therefore, has not yet been demonstrated; consequently, the objection based upon it against the chaotic condi- tion of the globe, at the period in question, is without force. But even were the identity of species fully established, the fact might be accounted for in perfect harmony with the existence of a chaos, on either of the suppositions stated in the preceding paragraph. Having examined w'hat has been urged by wa}^ of objection, let us now proceed to inquire what evidence of a positive character may be found respecting a chaos on the eve of man's creation. * Hitchcock's Elem. of Geol., p. 328. f lb., 349. + Dana's Gcol., p. 573. b 66 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. 1. That the earth underwent some great physical revolution immediately before the commencement of the human age, seems to be strongly indicated by the great change that took place in its climate about that time. Formerly, the general temperature was much higher ; the character of both animal and vegetable fos- sils goes to show that a tropical climate prevailed even in high latitudes. " The Terrace epoch," says Dana, '*' be- longs, at least in part, to man, and the last of this epoch — in which the continents were raised nearly to their present level — again cooled down the earth, and ended in introducing approximately the existing climates of the globe ; and the extermination of the cave beast of Europe, and other Post-Tertiary species, may have been coincident with this great climatal change."* 2. That the earth existed in a chaotic condition im- mediately previous to the epoch of man, is further indi- cated by tlte general extinction of the animal species belonging to the old world, which took place at that period. " Very few fishes, reptiles, or birds of the present era," says the author just quoted, "are yet known, from any discovery of fossils, to have existed in the Post-Tertiary."f And Hitchcock bears similar tes- timony : " The fossil birds and mammals of the alluvial period belong almost exclusively to extinct species, and often to extinct genera."^ In the Podrome de Paloion- tologie it is stated, that " between the termination of the Tertiary period and the commencement of the hu- * Manl. ofGeol., pp. 554 and 567. f lb., 576. : El. of Geol., p. 342. 777^ CHAOTIC PERIOD. jjy man period, there is a complete break" in animal exist- ence. Now, how are we to account for this general extinction of animated creatures at this period ? Let a geologist help us to an answer : " The extermination of species," writes Dana, " was, in general, due to catas- trophes." Now, as the extermination at this period was general, the catastrophe occasioning it must have been equally general ; and this is precisely the state of things indicated in this second verse. 3. That the waters of our globe were gathered to- gether, and their bounds much contracted, about the beginning of the human period, is attested by many facts of recent discovery. Since the Post-Tertiary epoch, a vast area of the floor of the Pacific, measuring 6,000 miles in length, and from 1,000 to 2,000 miles in breadth, has been depressed thousands of feet; 200 islands have disappeared beneath the waters, and the whole amount of subsidence is estimated by Dana to be no less than G,000 feet.* The same writer men- tions facts which are strong testimony that just about the opening of the age of man there was a great subsi^ dence also, of the bed of the Mediterranean. f The sea- beds around the British Islands, likewise, were depressed about the same period. Similar subsidences in other parts are also mentioned by geological authorities. Now, as the Sacred Record, according to its plain and natural sense, declares that the waters which covered the earth were, at this time, " gathered together," we * Manl. of Geol., p. 587. f lb., 734. 63 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. may, with reason, believe that in these contemporaneous subsidences we have the result of the Almighty im- pulse that attended the fiat, "'Let the dry land ap- pear." 4. One of the general laws established by geology is, " That at the close of long epochs, there were nearly universal extinctions, followed by abundant creations.'''"^ In perfect harmony with this law, there was at the be- ginning of the human period a magnificent creation, both of plants and animals. Than this there is not a fact in the whole compass of geological investigations better attested. The present species of the horse, rab- bit, bison, peccary, beaver, musk-rat, elk, deer, raccoon, opossum, hog, sheep, dog and ox, are said by leading geological authorities to date from the Terrace epoch, toward the close of which man appeared.^ " The most important feature of the alluvial formation," writes Hitchcock, " was the introduction of man near the close of the period, and of numerous species both of animals and plants, much better adapted to his wants than the analogous races of earlier times."J Again : ^' This last creation is distinguished from all that preceded it on the globe, as it presents by far the fullest and most per- fect fauna and flora." || " The creation of man," con- tinues the same author, " along with a vast number of contemporaneous species of a higher grade than the earth had before seen, and forming the culmination of * Dana's Manl. of Geol., p. 398. f See Holmes and Leidy. X Elem. of Geol., p. 334. || lb., 343. THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. (j9 organic existence on the globe, is the most niiirked fea- ture of geological history, and marks off the alluviui period from all others."* Let us now review and brin"; to2:ether the fo rejoin jr facts, and place them as in one focus, in order to per- ceive their full force. We have seen that the second verse of the Mosaic account of creation teaches and di- rects us to look for nothing more than a cataclysm, or 'general deluge, of longer or shorter duration — that geology proves that such a catacljsm might have taken place without leaving behind it, in the earth's surface, any demonstrative evidence of the event, and that the facts urged in disproof of a chaos may be explained in perfect harmony with that event. AVe have also seen that it is the teaching of geology, that early in the Ter- race or alluvial period, there was a general extermina- tion of the animal races, and a great and sudden change in the climate, such as a cataclysm would naturally effect — that just about the close of that period there occurred numerous subsidences of the ocean-beds, while the continents were raised to about their present eleva- tion— that just about that time was introduced the present magnificent vegetation, vegetation such as never adorned the globe before — that just about that time were created the noblest and most perfect races of ani- mals, which now occupy the face of the earth — and, finally, that just about that time man himself was cre- ated, and walked forth in the image of his Maker. * lb., 355. 70 TUE CHAOTIC PERIOD. Now, centemplatiiig these striking events in and by themselves, and as all taking place just about the same time, and that time coinciding with the commencement of the human period — is not the conviction irresistibly forced upon us, that all this not only stands in perfect harmony with the Inspired Record, but is powerfully corroborative of all its statements. We actually have, in the foregoing facts — facts all admitted and taught by geologists — the substance of all that the literal inter- jDretation of this chapter requires. The evidence on the face of the earthy so far as it has been investigated, and the testimony of the AYord of God, are here at one. Here is entire harmony in facts, and complete coinci- dence both in time and order. Stronger corroborations, considering the source from whence they have been de- rived, together with the length of time which has since elapsed, could hardly have been looked for. Hence we firmly believe, certain geological authorities to the con- trary notwithstanding, that at the beginning of the epoch of man, the earth loas loithout form and void, and dai'hness was upon the face of the deep ; and that this chaotic condition of the globe was immediately followed by the creation of the present order of things, just as re- lated in this chapter. The forcG^oinG" view of the Pre-Adamite chaos is, moreover, in perfect harmony with the course of creation, as revealed by geology, during the preceding epochs. This submerged condition of the globe was but one of a series of similar catastrophes ; and the creation that THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. 7j followed it was but one of a series of similar, but ever ascending, creations. And as the plant and animal creations of former periods, in every instance,* fol- lowed some great geological disturbance, which had destroyed those occupying the earth before ; so the Adaniic creation followed the chaos which had swept away the animals of the ancient earth. And, as through the course of prior revolutions, the organic existences of adjacent periods and formations were ever united by a less or greater number of connecting links; so, in the ways before indicated, representatives of the fishes, and plants, and beasts of the Old world survived this chaos to connect them with the new and higher order of creatures in the era of man. Thus, as had been the case all along through the prior epochs, the old and the new creation joined and dovetailed into one another, in the sea and on the land, among plants and among animals. The design of the account given of the condition of the globe, in the second verse, seems to be to prepare the reader for the description which follows of the six days' work, Avhich begins at the tldrd verse ; for it both indicates the necessity for such a recreating work, by affirming the chaotic state of the earth ; and describes the Spirit of God as already hovering over the chaos ]}reparatory to it. And the earth ivas ivithout form and void. Bush would translate this sentence, "And the earth had * D'Orbigny. 72 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. hecome without form and void." The learned and judi- cious Dathe renders it, " Afterwards the earth became waste and desolate." Whichever of these translations we adopt, the idea is plainly conveyed, that at the period immediately preceding the Adamic creation, the earth existed as the submerged ruin of an anterior world, a condition of things, as already observed, similar to what had before repeatedly taken place. And darkness loas ujpon tJie face of the deep. This darkness Avas the result of the chaotic state into which the earth had been thrown. The commingling of land and water — the agitation of tides and currents, and of violent and frequent tempests attendant upon the change of climate — the smoke and steam of submerged volcanos — the warm ground of the old continents beneath the waters, together with subterranean fires, and perhaps molten lava spreading in many regions in fields along the bottom of the seas — all of which, together with the evaporation of the sun from so vast and agitated a body of waters, in process of time, engendered such prodigious masses of dense vapors, forming layer upon layer of " closely packed and dark- ling clouds," which excluded every ray of light, and thus threw a pall of darkest night over the whole sur- face of the turbid and tumultuous deep below. How long our world remained in this chaotic state, we have no means of determining. The eventful hour now, however, was at hand, that was to introduce a series of re-creative operations which were to advance THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. 73 it to its final state of perfection, and to fit and furnish it as a suitable and happy abode for intelligence, devo- tion and love. And iliG Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The word translated " moved " here, in He- brew lexicons, is rendered " fluttered like a dove," and the verse might have been translated. And the Spirit of God continued fluttering, after the manner of a dove, upon the face of the waters. What effect or operation is here described is not precisely known. When the Spirit, like a dove, descended at the waters of Jordan, it was in attestation of the Father's complacency in his well-beloved Son ; so, here, perhaps, the chief idea in- tended to be conveyed is, that the Almighty surveyed the chaotic earth with complacency, as the theatre upon which he was about to disj^lay his glorious power, and wisdom, and goodness, in the new creation. REFLECTIONS. In the chaotic condition of our globe at this period, we may see a striking and instructive emblem of the present disordered state of the moral world. At this dismal date, how strange, how mysterious was the aspect of our planet — a vast heaving deep, a boundless desolation, all wrapped in dread and impenetrable gloom ! How different from everything that, before- liand, we would have expected from Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Power ! Yet not less strange or dismal has been the aspect of the world of mankind. What 74 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. disorder and conflicts, what depravity and ignorance have marked our race through every period of its existence ! Its history, for the most part, has been a history of sin and its fruits, a history of tyranny, slavery, lust, carnage and devastation, in every region of the globe. A vast preponderance of the whole population of the earth has been lying for hundreds and thousands of 3-ears, in a state of barbarism and misery, sunk in such gross ignorance and superstitions as have degraded them fir below the rank of rational beings. Man, for the most part, appears to have spent his transient existence in diffusing the miseries which himself has been doomed to suffer, in destroying his fellow-creatures for gain, in deceiving and being de- ceived, in robbing and being robbed. *' The bulk of mankind have been nothing more than a crowd of wretches, equally criminal and unfortunate." And if from these we rise to the remaining fraction of the race, who may be deemed more fortunate, because more en- lightened, Ave still encounter scenes scarcely less painful and perplexing. Not to speak of the falsehood and in- justice, lust and pollution, which infest all ranks and conditions ; how unaccountably mysterious are many of the dispensations of heaven itself! Toil, disappoint- ment, disease and sorrow, constitute the lot of man in his most favorable circumstances. The lamentations of the unhappy are heard on every side. The world is truly a vale of tears. And this painfully m3'sterious aspect of the world has ever been a matter of wonder THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. ^r to the good, and the foundation of much complaint and skepticism to the wicked. But the condition of our globe at this primeval period offers a suggestion that may be of profit to both. To judge of the wisdom or goodness of Divine provi- dence from the present aspect of the world, would be as if a spectator of the earth, in its confusion and dark, ness, had attempted to form an estimate of its appear- ance when finished and furnished complete. Who, looking on it then, would have supposed that the beauty of Eden would so soon stand upon its surface, with all its fair and enchanting scenery of hill and vale, groves and meads and murmuring streams, the happy abode of innocence and love ? So of the moral world : this also is now in what may be called its chaotic or tratisi- tion state. To us, the work appears but in its prepara- tory or incipient stage. We see only the beginnings of things. Providence is far from completing its plans. The gospel of the kingdom has not yet fulfilled its mission ; mercy and grace have not accomplished their benignant designs. To understand and appreciate the symmetry and magnificence of the rising moral structure, we must wait till it is completed. The same mighty Hand and unerring Wisdom that at the beginning reduced to harmony, and reared to beauty, the confused and tumultuous elements of nature, will, in the fulness of time, disembroil the plans of Provi- dence, and justify all his ways with man. As from the primeval chaos, when all lay in darkness without 76 THE CHAOTIC PERIOD. form and void, there arose the world in its paradisiacal form and fashion, resplendent with the light of the sun, and decked with all the beauties of nature ; so at last, from the heavings and conflicts of this moving sea of humanity, there shall arise a fair moral system, complete in all its parts, where God shall be seen all in all, and the whole intelligent universe admire the beauty of his moral character, and the grandeur of his sovereign control. As the mysterious drama of our fallen world shall close, " A voice shall be heard from every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, saying, Blessing, and honor, and power, and glory, be to Him that sitteth upon the throne! Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are all tliy ways, thou King of saints." ©k ^jriit Sag. The dense and darkening atmosphere is rarified^ and Light is introduced. THE FIRST DAY. Gen. 1 : 3-5. — And God said, Let there be light ; and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good : and God divided the light from the darlhtninG; is thrown across from the clouds to the earth. Hence we see with what care Providence has guarded us from this destructive agent. It is only under unusual circumstances, when electricity is developed more rapidly than it can be dissipated through these numberless channels, that a violent discharge takes place ; and if, then, it tears, burns or kills, it also re- veals the merciful Hand which constantly spares." — CooISs ReVujion and Chemistry. We have used the term undue accumulation of elec- tricit}^ — this is not strictly correct, for even this excess is a specific arrangement, and is designed to effect im- portant results. It is when the volleys of the bursting cloud cleave the firmament, and the thunders of the discharge are pealing their dreadful notes above our heads, that the chemical combinations of the noxious exhalations arising from decaying animal and vegetable substances, are cftected, and the elements, fitted for the purposes of animal health and vegetable growth, are formed and brought to the ground in the heavy rains which usually attend these storms. It is by these con- vulsions that the atmosphere regains its balance, and renews its salubrity. Thus Science unites with Revela- tion in teaching us, that our Father in heaven is no less 132 THE SECOND DAY. loving and kind in launching forth the " winged bolt," than in sending down the gentle sunbeam. REFLECTIONS. God is not nature, and nature is not God; yet what- ever of wisdom or wonder, of goodness or excellence, nature displays, existed in the Divine mind from eter- nity; and the end of every created thing is to be, so far, a manifestation of the Creator's perfections. And no production of his hand, perhaps, speaks to us more plainly and impressively of these than the electric element. The wonders wrought by its power are truly marvellous, and many of its magic influences have, thus far, baffled every attempt to explain or understand them. The dewdrop that glistens on the flower, or even the tear that trembles on the eyelid, holds locked in its transparent cell a sufficient amount of this elec- tric fire to create a storm that shall be felt and heard over a kingdom. It exercises power and dominion throughout nature. It pervades the bodies and affects the lives of all animated beings, and is concerned in the growth and maturity of every vegetable production. Its currents trace the circumference of the globe, and its vibrations reach to the depths of its centre. The precious metals shut up in the rifted chasm, and the glittering gems hidden in the darkness of the solid rock, are indebted for their value and brilliancy to its potent influence. And while this element moves thus on its appointed errands with the velocity of thought, and has TEE SECOND DAY. I33 power to rend the heavens, and shake the mountains, yet we find it so safely curbed and restrained, that for the most part, it floats around our path innocuous as the gentlest zephyr. Who that intelligently contem- plates all this, but must also admire and adore its Divine Author ! Awe and reverence are not the only lessons taught us by this mysterious element. Let us again trace it in one of its more familiar operations. The day opens bright and warm ; its earlier hours pass full of promise. But presently its sky begins to be invaded by unlooked- for clouds ; these roll up, expand, and soon overspread the whole heaven ; the sun is shut out ; omnious gloom pervades the expanse. And now startling flashes gleam through the massy clouds, or fiercely dart down to the earth. Rain and' hail descend commingled; and fitful winds miite with thunder to add to the terror of the scene. For a time disaster and destruction seem to threaten all. We wait in dread suspense. At length the storm has spent its force, and dies away. Look now abroad, and survey the consequences. Lo ! what a happy transfiguration of all nature ! The sultry and ojDpressive atmosphere is gone. The sun shines forth with softened splendor. The air has recovered its healthful spring and life. The foliage glistens with golden drops, and the landscape, refreshed by the co- pious rain, laughs in every part at those dread storm- clouds now fading on the distant horizon. Nature lifts her drooping head, and, shaking the moisture from her 134 THE SECOND DAY. foliage tresses, smiles as beauty does through its bridal tears, to see her fair world blessed and renovated by the storm. So, reader, it is also with the storms of life. These, in like manner, however they may startle or dis- ma}^, are sent in mercy — sent to clear your moral at- mosphere, and to restore health to your soul. And the tempest which you think you see even now gathering on your horizon, and which so much alarms yon, may be charged hy the Sovereign Ruler of all to bear for you under its dark wings a benefit, a blessing, that you know not of He that sitteth above the heavens often extracts from the blackest clouds the most refreshing drops of mercy, and from' the furious tempest evolves the happiest results. SNOW AND HAIL. He giveth snoiv like wool, and easteth forth his ice like morsels. Snow and hail, like the rain, come down to us from the great laboratory of the firmament. Snow consists of vapors frozen while the particles are small ; in other words, it is crystallized water. When a flake is examined through a magnifying glass, the whole of it appears composed of fine, shining spicula, diverging like rays from the centre. As the flakes descend through the atmosphere, they are continually joined by more of these radiated spicula, and thus increase in bulk, like the drops of rain. They are of various forms, all very beautiful after their kind. They differ in size from SNOW FLAKES. THE SECOND DAY. l;]5 one-third to one-thirtieth of an inch in diameter. Snow occurs in all regions of the globe at a certain height above the level of the sea; but it falls more abun- dantly on plains as we proceed from the equator toward the poles. Hail is a more compact mass of frozen water. These congealed drops assume various figures — round, p^'ra- midal, flat, angular, and sometimes stellated with six radii, like a small crystal of snow. When hailstones are broken open, they are sometimes found within to be of a spungy structure ; sometimes the interior jDre- sents a very beautiful radiated appearance ; and, not unfrequently, exhibit regular and very remarkable concentric plates. They vary in size from that of a grain of mustard to masses an inch, and sometimes two inches, in diameter. These frozen meteors, like everything else, have their use in the economy of nature. Snow is a beneficent provision made for the benefit of the higher latitudes of the earth, where the winters are severe. Extreme cold being destructive to vegetation, God appointed that the vapors which, in summer, unite their jiarticles and fall in rain to refresh and nourish all the vegetable tribes, should, in winter, descend like soft wool to cover and protect them from injury from the extreme cold. Though cold in itself, yet by settling into a compact layer, it prevents the internal heat of the earth from escaping. Careful observations have shown that the lower surface of the snow seldom falls much below 32° 136 TnE SECOND DAY. Fahr., although the temperature of the air outside may be many degrees below the freezing point. It thus forms a safe covering to the more tender herbs, till the rigor of winter gives place to the genial influence of spring. But for this provision many regions of the earth that are now peopled would be uninhabitable, as nearly all vegetation would be utterly destroyed by the intensity of the winter's cold. To all this we may add the fact, that the nitrous particles contained in snow are said to be of a fertilizing quality, and to benefit vegetation. REFLECTIONS. From the least to the greatest, the works of God are worthy of himself The snow-flakes that fall upon our path speak their Maker to be a Being of infinite perfec- tions. See yonder fleecy cloud approaching, extending for many miles in every direction, and showering upon the land its downy flakes in unnumbered millions : every one of those flakes, countless as they are, has been formed after its proper model ; each particle has its precise place and position, and every point its proper acuteness and direction. These beautiful little snow stars present us wdth a variety of forms, while every one is of a figure and symmetry perfectly geometri- cal. Some have three sides and angles, some six, some eight, and some more : some are like sparkling crosses, and some like the leaves of open flowers ; some appear like single stars, others like a cluster of stars arranged in the most beautiful order. Each flake is TUE SECOND DAY. I37 formed with nothing less than art and skill Divine. Although all may be destroyed by half an hour's rain or sunshine, yet not one has been neglected, not one has been slighted or imperfectly formed. Every one of the myriad myriads that cover the earth in winter has been fashioned with as much correctness and beauty as if expressly designed for examination : and every one attests the presence and agency of the Divine Being in its formation. To the enlightened and devout mind, every season has its charms. Even mid-winter has its peculiar in- terests to the Christian student. How beautiful is the face of nature when the morning sun rises clear upon a country embosomed in snow ! How delightful to be- hold the hills and the valleys mantled in pure white, and reflecting the sun-beams, in varied tints, from a thousand points. How beauteous the grove, and each particular tree robed in fleecy whiteness, and sparkling beneath the early sun ; and the icy bosom of the lake and the stream, like mirrors, receiving and reflecting the images of the rocks and the hills, and of the flying clouds and bending trees ! What a delightful combi- nation of objects ! What a splendid and dazzling array does the earth now present ! 0 Lord, truly " the rolling year is full of thee !" 138 THE SECOND DAY. THE AIR AS A MEDIUM. And God saw the firmament that it ivas good. Besides the wonderful properties and functions at which we have looked, the atmosphere is the appointed medium of many other inestimable benefits to the Avorld in which we live, which we can but barely mention. While the sun is the great source of light, yet the co-operation of the atmosphere to diffuse that light is essential to the proper illumination of the earth. To the atmosphere we are to ascribe the sweet glories of the day, the delicious blue of the heavens, and the soft and soothing shades of the landscape. Without it the sky would be black as ebony, and out of it the sun would gleam like a red-hot ball ; and his beams, like a ray passing through an aperture into a dark room, would reveal only the objects on wdiich they fell, or those from which they were directly reflected. Without atmosphere there would be no twilight, morning or evening ; the sun, at the commencement of day, would, at one bound, burst from the bosom of night in all its unbearable brilliancy ; and, at the close of day, would suddenly plunge out of view, and leave us at once in utter darkness. To the atmosj^here we owe all the glories of the setting sun, when heaven puts on her most gorgeous robes, and for all the loveliness of the softening twilight that succeeds. By means of the atmosphere birds wing their way TffE 'SECOND DAY. I39 through space, and insects jflit from flower to flower. Without it the busy bee could never gather and lay up her nectar store, or the morning lark ascend on high to pour forth her early song. Without it even the eagle and the condor would flap their wings in vain ; flight would be impossible. The atmosphere is also the vehicle of smell, by which we are warned of what is unwholesome or offensive, and attracted to wdiat is desirable and pleasing. With- out it we should never be regaled with the perfume of incense, or the sweet odors of flowers from garden or field. The atmosphere is likewise the medium of sound. In its absence eternal silence must have reigned; con- versation could have been carried on by signs only, while music would have remained an impossibility — that is, supposing that, under such circumstances, men could have existed to converse or sing. The vibrations of the air, like speedy messengers, are what convey our thoughts to others, and those of others to us. The air is the channel through which man holds communion with his felloW' s, and receives the indescribable pleasures that spring from the words of friendship, the voice of love, and all the soothing charms of melody. REFLECTIONS. There is a theology in nature as well as in the Bible, and these two, rightly interpreted, agree in one. There is a deep and broad theology in the constitution of the 140 THE SECOND DAY. Firmament, which we have now contemplated, that, in harmony with the Scripture, ascribes to the Creator the perfection of wisdom, power and goodness. The atmos- phere constitutes a machinery which, in all its compli- cated and admirable adjustments, offers the most striking displays and convincing proofs of this. This vast and wonderful appendage of our globe has been made expressly to meet the nature and wants of the living creatures and growing vegetation that occupy its surface ; and all these plants and animals have been created with distinct reference to the properties of the atmosphere. Throughout design and mutual adapta- tion are most manifest. The atmosphere has been composed of tliose elements, and composed of them in just the proportions that are essential to the health and nurture of all living crea- tures. The atmosphere has been made for lunrjs ; and lungs have been made for the atmosphere, being elaborately constructed for its alternate admission and expulsion. And how beautiful that adjustment by which animals breathe of the oxygen of the air, and set carbonic acid free for the use of plants, while plants absorb carbonic acid, and set oxygen free for the benefit of animals I The atmosphere and the ear have also been formed one for the other. This organ is so constructed that its use depends entirely upon the elastic properties of the air. In like manner the atmosphere and the organs of THE SECOND DAY. -[ \\ speech have been formed in mutual adaptation. The whole mouth, the larynx, the tongue, the lips, have been made with inimitable skill to form air into words. Equally evident is the mutual adaptation of the at- mosphere and the organs of smell, as the latter can effect their function only in connection with the former. In one word, all the parts of all animal organizations, even to the very pores of the skin, have been contrived with minute nicety in adaptation to the constituent elements and elastic properties of the atmosphere. Add to all the foregoing, its admirable qualities for disseminating heat, evaporating moisture, equalizing climate, producing winds, forming clouds, and diffusing light^ — and w^e behold in the Firmament of heaven a concourse of vast contrivances, that constitute A sublime ANTHEM to the Creator's praise ! " The contemplation of the atmosphere," says AVhe- well, " as a machine W' liich answers all these purposes, is well suited to impress upon us the strongest convic- tion of the most refined, far-seeing, and far-ruling con- trivance. It seems impossible to suppose that these various properties were so bestowed and so combined any otherwise than by a beneficent and intelligent Being, able and willing to diffuse organization, life, health, and enjoyment through all parts of the visible world ; possessing a fertility of means which no multi- plicity of objects could exhaust, and a discrimination of consequences which no complication of conditions could embarrass." — Bridgewater Treatise, p. 74. 142 THE SECOND DAY. The various elements composing the atmosphere, its gases, and vapors, and electricity, are, indeed, as if in- stinct with life and reason. Animated by the solar beams, they are everywhere in busy and unerring ac- tivity— sometimes acting singly, sometimes in combi- nation, but always playing into each other's hands with a certainty and perfection which might almost be called intelligence, and which nothing short of Infinite "Wisdom could have devised. Thus, by their manifold and beneficial operations, TJie heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sliowetli his handi-worlc. " There's not a breeze Flies o'er the meadow, not a cloud imbibes The setting sun's effulgence ; not a strain From all the tenants of the warbling shade Ascends, but whence the heart may find Fresh motives to devotion." Mt &u §^. The Waters are collected, the Dry Land appears, and Vegetation is produced. THE THIRD DAY. Genesis 1 : 9-13. — And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one phxce, and lot the dry land appear : and it was so. And God called the dry laud Earth ; and the gathering to- gether of the waters called he Seas : and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yieUUng I'ruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth : and it was so. And the earth brought fortli grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third daJ^ J] have traced the earth through two stages of the creative process, and with the above narration we enter upon the third. A great advance was made the two preceding days ; we have now a purer air, a clearer sk}^, and a good degree of light ; but water still covers all, as at the first ; one vast and shore- less ocean envelops the globe. And the first work of this day is to gather the waters together, and make a due proportion of dry land appear. Aiid God said, Let the waters under the heaven he i gathered together unto one ^^Zace, and let the dry land appear. No sooner had this command been uttered than it was obeyed ; for it is immediately added. And it was so. In this short verse we have recorded one of the most stupendous physical events that ever occurred 10 145 14G THE THIRD DAY. on the face of our globe. No picture, no description of the occurrence is offered. We have simply set before us the miditv fact in its naked Gjrandeur. A scene of wonders is here passed over in silence, being, perhaps, designedly left for man's future investigation and study. The command here issued to the waters being om- nific and immediately effective, must have been fol- lowed by vast and fearful convulsions of the earth's crust. The j^ortions designed for the future continents were upheaved, while far more extensive portions were depressed, to form the hollow deeps, into which the water should flow and gather, to constitute the future oceans. In this way, we may suppose, did the dry land appear. The scene which the surface of our planet at this eventful hour presented, must have been one of supreme and terrific grandeur. We know of no lan- guage so appropriate to set forth this disjjlay of Divine power, as the words of the inspired Psalmist, '• 0 Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honor and majesty. Thou coveredst the earth with the deep as with a garment ; the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled ; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away to the place thou hadst founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth," The land, as elevated from the depths of the uni- versal ocean, Avas, of course, barren and l)are. The THE THIRD DAY. J47 hollowed valleys, the oozy plahis, and the tricklhig mountain sides, were alike destitute of all vegetation ; no trees, no bushes, no grass, as yet, adorned the wet and slimy ground. Init this condition of things was to be of short duration ; on the self-same day the w^ord went forth that stocked the earth v ith all sorts of trees, and shrubs, and herbs, and grasses, which were endowed with power to reproduce and spread their kind till the earth Avas covered, and to perpetuate their respective species to the end of time. And the earth brought forth gi'ciss, and herb yielding seed after his Icind ; and the tree yielding fruit, ivhose seed teas in itself, after his hind. And God saio that it was good; saw that the works of this day were all wise in their arrangements, j^erfect in their execution, and Avell-fitted for their respective ends. The history of this day sets before us an extensive field of study. To notice all its wonderful works in detail is not practicable in this work. We must, there- fore, confine ourselves to the grand results accomplished, and illustrate the wisdom, power and goodness of the Creator, as displayed in the sea, the dry land, the mountains and volcanoes, the rivers, and the vegetation of the earth. 148 THE THIRD DAY. THE SEA. The gathering together of the ivaters called He Seas. When the commotions produced by the first fiat of this da}' hud subsided, and tranquillity in the waters had been restored, it appeared that the ancient ocean still retained his dominion over full three-fourths of the earth's surface, having yielded only one-quarter of his former empire to constitute the dry land. Thus of the 197 millions of square miles embraced in the area of the whole globe, 145 millions remained covered with water, while 52 millions comprehended the whole of the dry land. A superficial and hasty view of this arrangement has led some to entertain the idea, that no proper or wise proportion between the extent of land and that of water was observed ; and presumptuously to assert that had the Creator adopted a different division, or even re- versed the present proportions, so that three-fourths should be land and one-fourth water, it would have been a better arrangement, and one more to the advantage of the human race. But these are the conclusions of ignorance. Who can undertake to tell us what all the consequences would be if any such change should take place : if, for example, the Pacific were converted into a continent, or Africa into an ocean ? When man as- sumes to pronounce judgment in such a matter as this, he evidently adventures into depths which the scanty THE THIRD DAY. 149 line of his reason is utterly inadequate to fathom. U" the ocean were reduced to one-half its present extent, the amount of evaporation, and of rain, would be dimin- ished in the same proportion ; similar disastrous changes would take place in all the streams and rivers ; the humidity and temperature of the atmosphere, together with the character of the seasons over the whole earth, would also undergo changes of a most calamitous nor ture. Such strictures, then, on the Divine plan savor equally of ignorance and impiety. He who Aveighed the mountains in scales, and measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, we may be assured, hath fixed the bounds of the sea, and determined the extent of the land, with wisdom as infallible as that which decided the ratio of the gases in the atmosphere, or adjusted the lenses of the eye for the perception of light. Laplace, after profound calculations, reached the conclusion that the quantity of water in the ocean, and its specific gravity, as compared with that of the globe, afford the most marked and beautiful instance of designing wis- dom and goodness in the creation of our world. The bottom of the sea, like the surface of the land, abounds in the inequalities of valleys, plains and hills. In those parts where its waters are tranquil, trans- parent, and not too deep, one may lean over the side of his boat, and see that he is gliding sometimes over meadows carpeted with green ; sometimes across dales adorned with what seem like waving vines and shrubs of every form and shade ; sometimes over mountain- 150 THE THIRD DAY. tops, whose sides are now gentle slopes or precipitous rocks, and now adorned with groves of living coral, branching in fantastic imitations of the shrubs and trees of the land; the whole presenting just such a view as an aeronaut would observ^e beneath him as he swept lowly in his balloon over a district of country. The islands are but the tops of mountains and hills that are tall enough to thrust their heads above water. The depth of the ocean, therefore, is various. Along the celebrated Telegraph Plateau, extending from Ireland to New- foundland, the depth ranges from 10,000 to 12,000 feet. The greatest depth yet discovered is 25,000 feet, or nearly five miles ; this is in the North Atlantic. The Pacific is supposed to be deeper. An important and interesting property of the sea is its saUaess. Although the ocean is one vast briny deep, ever agitated by wind and tide, yet it is not equally salty in all its parts. In general, its waters are im- pregnated with from three to four j)er cent, of salt. In inland seas, like the Mediterranean and the Caspian, where evaporation is very active, it is from eight to twelve per cent. On the other hand tlie proportion is smallest in the polar seas, where evaporation is feeble, and where great quantities of fresh water from the melting ice and snow How in. How and when did the sea receive its saltness, are questions of interest. Some have supposed that it has derived its saline quality from the vast stores of salt laid up among the strata of the earth along its bottom ; but these beds of salt found THE THIRD DAY. 151 ill the earth exhibit uiiinistakaljle evidence that they themselves have been deposited from the waters of the sea. Tlie most reasonable supposition is, that it was made salt by the Creator in the morning of time; indeed, salt seems to be an essential element in the constitution of the ocean from the beginning, as it acts an important part (as we shall soon see,) in regulating its evaporation, in producing its currents, in preserving it from corruption, and in modifying the climates even of the interior of continents. The entire amount of salt held in solution in the ocean is very great ; from a safe and moderate calculation it has been estimated, that it M'ould cover to the thickness of one mile an area of seven millions of square miles ! THEORY OF THE TIDES. Among the most noticeable and important move ments to which the waters of the ocean are subject, an 152 THE THIRD DAY. the Tides. These are regular and periodical oscilla- tions, occasioned principally by the attraction of the moon, though the sun also has an influence in their formation ; the influence of the moon being three times that of the sun. Twice every twenty-four hours the waters of the ocean rise and flow in upon the shores, and twice within the same period they retire. The tides are greatest at the new and full moon, when the attractions of the sun and moon are exerted in the same line; and least at the quadratures, when the influence of the sun goes to depress the waters at the very parts where that of the moon is exerted to raise them. Under these influences of the sun and moon, a broad wave is formed, which rushes round the globe ; or rather seems to rush, for the water has no actual progressive motion, but simply heaves upward in succession, like the waves passing over a field of stand- ing wheat. The height of the tidal billow varies in different places, according to the depth of the sea, and the conformation of surrounding lands. In the open ocean it seldom rises above two or three feet. In channels that open fairly to receive the flood, but whose shores contract as it advances, it mounts higher and higher. At St. Maloes it exceeds fifty feet; and in the Bay of Fundy a wave of one hundred feet high sweeps in upon the shore. The rate at which the tidal wave travels is affected by similar causes ; across the southern ocean it advances at the rate of nearly a thousand miles an hour ; while in the German sea its THE THIRD DAY. ] -3 progress is hardly fifty miles an hour. The tides are to many places of great commercial importance, giving to inland towns the advantages of a harbor. But for the tides, London would never have been what it is, the foremost commercial city in the world. — What a marvellous and beneficial arrangement have we here ! The moon, an orb revolving at the distance of tw^o hundred and forty thousand miles, so constituted as to exert a mighty and unremitting power for our good ; lifting the waters of our planet in magnificent and periodical waves, to fill and empty our harbors, to wash our beaches with majestic rollers, and to maintain a regular pulse in the great ocean heart, by which its life and purity are perpetuated. Besides the tides, there are in the ocean other estab- lished and uniform movements. Here, as in the atmosphere, solar influence is the moving power. In the exhalations that arise under this influence from the surface of the sea, not a particle of the salt it con- tains ascends. Hence in the intertropical regions, the great amount of evaporation which takes place leaves behind it a great amount of salt, which renders the waters saltier, and, consequently, heavier. In the polar region, on the contrary, the slowness of evaporation, together with melting snows and glaciers, contributes to keep the ocean waters fresh and light. Hence results a perpetual circulation in the sea — the salt and heavy waters of the equatorial region sink and flow along the bottom toward the poles to displace their 154 THE THIRD DAY. lighter and fresher waters, while these in consequence are forced into a contrary current along the surface toward the equator, to fill up the vacancy which the dense water leaves behind. In this way there is main- tained in the groat oceans of the globe a perpetual circulation from the equator to the poles, and from the poles to the equator ; and thus every drop of the ocean, down to its dark unfathomed caves, is kept in constant motion and exchange. The sea has its Streams as well as its general cur- rents. Nothing can be more striking than the fact, that the oceans of our globe are traversed by rivers that How as definitely and as regularly as the Danube or the Nile. Their channels are established, and for thousands of miles they pursue their course along beds and between banks of other and different water, as fixed as if built of granite rock. And if the ship- wrecked mariner commits his raft to one of these, it will conduct him along its known and established route, as certainly as that the Mississippi would carry him down past New Orleans. The most remarkable of these ocean rivers is the famous Gulf Stream, so named from the fact that it was long supposed to originate in the Gulf of Mexico ; it receives its first impulse, according to Humboldt, near the southern extremity of Africa. From the Gulf of Mexico this stream flows into the Atlantic between Florida and Cuba, whence it runs northward nearly parallel to the American coast, until it reaches THE THIRD DAV. I55 Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, where it makes a great bend, and throws one branch downwards toward the Azores, while the other spreads and flows north- ward toward the British Islands, and thence to tlie Polar sea. Of this magnificent river, the banks and bottom are of cold water, and its stream is of warm water; it is seventy miles Avide, three thousand feet deep, and is equal in volume to more than a thousand Mississippis. In the Gulf of Florida its speed is about eighty miles a day, but by the time it reaches the Azores it has been reduced to ten miles. Its color, as far as the coasts of the Carolinas, is that of Indigo-blue; and its banks or edges are so well defined that the mariner knows the moment his prow dips into its flood; and often, says Maury, one-half of the vessel may be perceived floating in the Gulf Stream water, wdiile the other half is in the common water of the sea. The middle of this stream is found to be considerably higher than its edges, so that it actually constitutes a kind of serpentine ridge upon the surface of the ocean : and what is more remarkable still, it flows up-hill ; in one part of its course, the gradient of its bed is not less than five or six feet in the mile. But what is most noticeable of all is its temperature and inlluence on climate. This is very marked. In the early histor\- of the United States, vessels in approaching the coast in winter, were beset by snow storms and gales, that not unfrequently baflled the strength and skill of the seaman. A ship often became a mass of ice, and her 156 THE THIRD DAY. crew frosted and helpless ; but if she succeeded in reaching the Gulf Stream, all was well ; on approach- ing its edge she passed from a wintry sea into one of summer heat. The ice disappeared from the ship, and " the sailors bathed their stiffened limbs in the tepid waters of the stream." It leaves the Gulf of Mexico at a temperature of 8G°, and after traversing 10° of latitude, it has lost only 2° of its heat ; and after run- ning nearly three thousand miles northward, it still preserves, in winter, the heat of summer. Continuing on its way, it presently "overflows its liquid banks, and spreads itself for thousands of square leagues over the cold waters around, covering the ocean with a mantle of warmth." And the genial west winds take this up, and in the most benignant manner, disj^erse it over all the west coast of Europe, delightfully soften- ing and ameliorating its climate. It is by this means and in this way that the British Islands are clothed with evergreen robes, and their inhabitants advanced to the highest development of mind and body ; Avhile in the same latitude, Labrador is bound in ice, its vegetation sparse and stinted, and its inhabitants low-tyf)ed, and not likely soon, if ever, to act any high part in the history of the race. How deeply indebted, therefore, is the favored Briton for his proud pre-eminence to this ocean stream. Divert its flow from his shores, and his glory is departed. " If a change were to take place in the configuration of the surface of the globe," says Mr. Iloj^kins in his address THE THIRD DAY. 157 to the British Association, " so as to admit the passage of this current directly into the Pacific, across the existing Isthmus of Panama, or along the base of the Rocky Mountains, into the North sea — a change indefi- nitely small in comparison to those which have hereto- fore taken place — our mountains, Avliich now present to us the ever-varjing beauties of successive seasons, would become the unvarying abodes of the glacier, and regions of the snow storm ; the cultivation of our soil could be no longer maintained, and civilization itself must retreat before the invasion of such jDhysical bar- barism." Could anything then, be more palpable than the advantages of such a glowing stream ? Or, could benevolent design be more conspicuously inscribed upon any work of this lower creation ? Scarcely less remarkable is another stream that flows partly in close proximity to the Gulf Stream, but in the opposite direction, and which is thus graphically described by Dr. Child : " Side by side with this warm northward-moving flood (the Gulf Stream) there is a great polar stream bearing down in an opposite direc- tion, which appears to be more especially its compensa- tory current. It rises in the distant recesses of Baflin's Bay and the Greenland sea, and then, studded with icebergs, sweeps along the coast of Labrador, encircling the island of Newfoundland in its chill embrace. To the south of the Bank it encounters the Gulf Stream running northeastward ; — the paths of the two giants cross each other, and they struggle fur the right of 158 THE THIRD DAY. way. Their hostile waters refuse to mingle, and each continues to retain its color and its temperature. But, though neither is vanquished, each leaves its mark upon the other. From the force of the shock, the Gulf Stream, for a moment, Mters in its course, and is deflected towards the south ; while the Polar current, unable to break through the concentrated mass by which it is opposed, dives under the bed of the mighty stream and hastens on toward the tropics ; — and by soundings, it can be recognized even among the West India Islands, with the cold label of its origin still attached to it." Streams of a like character with those now described are found in other parts of the ocean. In the Pacific there is a stream, like that of the Gulf of Mexico, which breathes the most genial influence upon Oregon and British Columbia, giving those regions a climate in all respects very similar to that of England and Ireland. On the other side, Humbolt's Stream, pro- ceeding from the Antarctic Ocean, conveys its cooling waters to the shores of Chili and Peru, and even as far as the Gallipagos. Such is an outline of the Tides, Currents, and Streams, which the All-wise Creator saw necessary to establish in the ocean. Several results of a most important nature were to be accomplished through this arrangement. By this perpetual circulation of all the waters of the Deep, its purity and its life are preserved. And by means of these currents and streams from and TUE THIRD DAY. 151) toward the equator, the heated waters of the tropics are conveyed to reUeve the rigor of the poles ; and tlie freezing waters of the poles are carried to refresh the regions of the tropics. By this beautiful arrangement the climate of the whole globe is equaliz.ed and improved. To all this we may add the interesting fact, that the streams which flow from the Polar Seas toward the equator carry along with them a vast amount of excellent fish from those colder latitudes ; and in this way the inhabitants of the Avarmer regions are furnished with a supply far superior to those bred in their own heated waters. Thus these cold and warm streams are the great highways along which the inhabitants of the Deep travel from one region of the globe to another. REFLECTIONS. The great and wide sea ! What a sublime memo- rial of the power that gathered together its waters ! What a perpetual display of the omnipotence which confines its unstable mass within its appointed bounds ! Symbol of the Infinite ! it holds us as by a spell in contemplation of its vastness and grandeur, reaching far beyond our utmost horizon, simultaneouslj- lashing so many distant shores, and encompassing all the king- doms of the earth. And when we view it as agitated into the violence and uproar of a tempest, and see its huge and far-reaching waves, like floating mountains, rushing, leaping for the shore, as if to scale and over- 160 THE THIRD DAY. whelm its loftiest ramparts, yet each in its turn, as if suddenly awed, subsiding and retiring at the line decreed — we feel a sacred impulse from the magnificent spectacle to fall down and worship Him who said, " Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further ; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed !" The material globe in its outlines of land and water, and in its manifold and complicated arrangements, is a pictorial 7-evelation of the conceptions, reasonings, and purposes which before lay in the Divine Mind. When the waters gathered themselves, it was not at random, but in strict conformity to his plan ; and when their currents began to circulate, it was not the result of chance, but of his prescience. As He sur- veyed the surface of the earth at the close of the da^^. He beheld only what had been mapped in His own mind carried out and ^perfected. Hence He pro- nounced its arrangements all to be " very good." In the process of the world's creation, every step taken had respect to something beyond itself, whilst the whole had reference to man, its coming occupant. In adjusting the various agencies that combine to pro- duce the currents and streams of the ocean, the Creator was deciding the inheritance, and in no small measure also the character and history of nations 3-ct unborn. How unsearchable are his counsels, and his ways past finding out ! As He was describing the shore curves, which were to bound the Gulf of Mexico on one side of the Atlantic, He was graduating the tempera t'.^vj THE rilIRD DAY. ](;] that was to prevail in Great Britain on the other. Had the course of the stream issuing from that Gulf been directed to breathe its genial warmth on the coasts of Labrador, instead of the British Isles, how different had been the respective histories of the inhabitants of these two countries — how different, indeed, had been the history of the world ! But for each, the times and bounds were before appointed. To understand the physical arrangements of our globe we must elevate ourselves to contemplate its moral ends. "The physical world," sajs Guyot, "has no meaning except by and for the moral world." The two are to be studied in their mutual relations and dependencies; and grand, indeed, are the harmonies subsisting between them. He who poured into their decreed place the waters of the sea, hath power also to dry them up again. But will He ever do this ? The scripture more than sug- gests the idea. " And I saw a new heaven, and a new earth; for the first heaven, and the first earth were passed away ; and there ivas no more sea." This is said of our world when it shall have passed its final trans- formation, and been made the fitting abode of holiness. Great and marvellous are the changes through which our globe has already passed, but if we are to take these words of John, "and there was no more sea," in their literal meaning, and as setting forth one of the marked features of the renovated earth, as it appeared to him in vision, it would seem that a greater and 11 162 THE THIRD DAY. more wonderful change than all these yet awaits it. The earth without sea ! then it must be without streams, or springs, or clouds, or rain, or dew. Then, too, the whole of its present system of vegetation, together with all its animated tenants must pass away, for the sea is the vital fountain which sustains these in being. As organized existences are now constituted, dry up the sea, and our fair, green planet would become a desolate mass of bare, brown soil and rock and sand, without a living tenant, without a flowing brook, with- out a motion or a sound — the stillness and silence of death would reign throughout. If, therefore, the New Earth is to be constituted without a sea, how different it must be from every thing that we now know, or can even conceive. How this globe will then be decked, how furnished, how adorned, or what will constitute the chief terrestrial delights of its happy inhabitants, we cannot tell. But this we do know, that He who is infinite in wisdom and power, can introduce new ele- ments, effect new combinations, breathe a new atmos- phere, and clothe the earth with new and etherial beauties, such as never even bloomed in Eden ; and thus prepare for them that love Him, what neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor ever entered into the heart of man. THE THIRD DAY. 163 THE DRY LAND. And God said, Let the dry land appear; and it was so. The forces employed in sinking the ocean beds ai\d elevating the dry land, vast and uncontrollable as they appear to man, yet in the hand of Omnipotence were so directed and governed as to work out his plan at every point, in the forms, elevations and positions of all the continents and islands. Not one of these circumstances was left to chance, for not one of them was unimportant. The OUTLINES of the various portions of the dry land are extremely various, and at first sight appear to be as much the result of accident as anything well can ; yet the indentations of the coast lines were designed to have a most important bearing upon the interests of mankind, by furnishing special advantages for com- munication and commercial enterprise. The western coast of Europe, and the eastern coast of North America are among the most irregular and deeply indented on the globe ; and it is precisely here we find science, art and refinement carried to their highest degree; — contrasting strongly in these respects with the almost unbroken shores of Africa and Australia, where the human race appears in its most degraded types. '' Nothing characterizes Europe better than the variety of its indentations, of its peninsulas, of its islands. Suppose for a moment, that beautiful Italy, 164 THE THIRD DAY. and Greece with its entire Archipelago, were added to the central mass of the continent, and augmented Germany or Russia by the number of square miles they contain ; this change of form would not give us another Germany, but we should have an Italy and a Greece the less. Unite with the body of Europe all its islands and peninsulas into one compact mass, and in- stead of this continent, so rich in various elements, you will have a New Holland with all its uniformity."* Equally conspicuous is the presiding wisdom of the Great Architect in the elevation or altitude of the dry land. Had the uplifting power been a little less, or ceased to operate a little sooner, how widely diifer- ent had been the aspect of our world. A depression of a few hundred feet below their present general eleva- tion, -would cause a great part of Asia and of Europe to disappear beneath the waters of the ocean, and would reduce America to a few long islands. On the other hand, had the elevating force been greater, or longer in operation, so as to lift these entire continents a few thousand feet higher, both the climate and the vegetation of the Avhole globe would have been very unlike those that now prevail; Europe would have been left without a vineyard or a fruit-tree ; and the warm and fertile plains of India, now adorned with all the rich productions of a tropical climate, would have been as the cold desert Plateaus of Thibet. Or, let us suppose that the elevating power had raised the south- * Guyot'8 Earth and Mau, p. 26. THE THIRD DAY. 1(55 ern region of North America only a little higher, so as to produce a gentle declivity of the general surfice toward the north, and thus caused the waters of the Mississippi and of all its numerous tributaries to flow and discharge into tlie Frozen Ocean ; — what vast and inestimable advantages had been lost to this continent ! Or, once more, suppose the long and lofty range of the Andes had been elevated along the eastern coast of South America ; this also had been followed by disas- trous results, for it would have hindered tlie trade winds from bearing the vapors of the ocean into the interior of the continent, and the plains of the Amazon and Paraguay, in consequence, would have been but deserts. From these and a multitude of similar fiicts, it is evident that the various Table-lands and mountain chains, which cover the surface of our globe, have been arranged after a predetermined plan into a regular and complete system of slopes and counterslopes — a system, the issues of which must have all been plainly foreseen by Him who bade the dry land appear. Look aa:ain at the relative positions of the different parts of the dry land. To this some of the fairest spots of the earth owe their chief advantages. " Do not the three Peninsulas of the south of Europe owe to their position their mild and soft climate, their lovely landscapes, their numerous relations, and their common life ? Is it not to their situation that the two great peninsulas of India are indebted for their rich nature, and the conspicuous part one of them, at least, has J 66 THE THIRD DAY. played in all ages ? Place them on the north of their continents, Italy and Greece become Scandinavia, and India a Kamtschatka. All Europe is indebted for its temperate atmosphere to its position relatively to the great marine and atmospheric currents, and to the vicinity of the burning regions of Africa. Place it at the east of Asia, it will be only a frozen peninsula."* Again : If on the morning of the third day the vast regions of the poles had been elevated into dry land, instead of being left beneath the ocean as we now find them, we have reason to believe that our globe long since would have become uninhabitable. For in that case, by the process of evaporation and the agency of the aerial currents, the whole ocean would have been transferred from the tropics to the poles, leaving the former dry, and piling the latter with mountainous accumulations of ice and snow. But with the existing arrangement such appalling results are effectually and happily avoided. The polar snows fall upon those seas, or upon their frozen surfaces, and form floating masses of ice, which are partly broken up and drifted away in the form of icebergs, and partly melted where they are by currents of water perpetually streaming in against and beneath them from warmer regions, and thus become restored to the general ocean. These, and many other similar facts, demonstrate to us that infinite wisdom, as well as unlimited power, were concerned in the elevation of the dry land. The forms, * Earlli and Man, p. 27. TUE THIRD DAY. jgy the height, and the position of its several masses, irregular and accidental as they may appear, reveal a plan that had distinct and direct reference to the future history of the world. In tracing the coast lines, and in describing the surface elevations of the different portions of the land, the Creator decided in no feeble degree what the occupation and character of their future population would be ; — whether keepers of flocks and herds, or doers of business in great waters, or exhumers of " the chief things of the ancient moun- tains." Each quarter of the globe, each continent, doubtless, was made and meant to develop its appro- priate phase of human character, while the whole was to form the grand theatre whereon the Eternal Logos was to work out his wondrous and far-reaching scheme of mercy and salvation to a race that would become sinners and self-ruined. The surface of the land part of the globe we find coated over, to a greater or less depth, with a covering of soil. This consists of pulverized rocks, mingled with calcareous substances, and the decomposed remains of animal and vegetable organizations. This soil is less or more productive according to its depth, and accord- ing to the proportions in which these substances are mixed in it. This vegetative covering, with compara- tively limited exceptions, is spread over the surface of all the dry land, from the summits of the mountains down their gentle declivities, and over all the plains be- low. By whatever agencies this important envelope was 168 THE THIRD DAY. formed, and thus spread out, we behold in it the arrangement of a wise and benevolent Mind, making a most ample provision for a vegetation suitable for the support of man and every living thing. No candid mind, who duly considers the nature of the substances composing the mass of the earth's crust, can resist the conclusion that the clothing of its surface with produc- tive soil is as much an evidence of wise and benevolent intention, as is the enclosing of an animal body in a skin covered with hair. Descending from the carpeted floor of our terres- trial habitation into the vaults of its lower story, we find them filled with the provisions of God's love for man. Its strata, like so many shelves, to unknown depths, are crowded with stores of all manner of use- ful thing's for his service. Here is a ma2:azine of min- erals and metals proffering him the means of multi- plying his conveniences, extending his civilization, and advancing his own knowledge, refinement, and happi- ness. Plere are beds of granite to supply him with ])uilding materials that will defy the force of time and tide ; marble of every grain and shade of color for his temples, palaces, or statuary ; limestone to improve his soil and cement his walls ; slate to cover his roofs or lay his floors; gypsum, white as snow, to finish and adorn his apartments ; the hardened grit to grind his corn ; sand to make him glass ; and clay to fabricate his wares; chalh, basalt, 2^orpliyry, sandstone, and a multitude of other minerals, all convertible by in- THE THIRD DAY. 169 genuity and industry into various useful and import- ant ends. In the great cellars below we also find laid up ready to liis hand an abundant stock of coal, where- with he may warm himself, and multii)ly the strength of his arms a million fold. In close connection with this are fountains of oil to supply his lamps. And here too are inexhaustible stores of salt, an article of prime importance to him and to the living creatures around him. Among the strata of the rocks, in their joints and fissures, and interlacing their solid masses, are also pro- vided and laid up for man, metals of different quali- ties, and adapted to all the various purposes of life. Here are to be found the precious and beautiful metals of gold and silver to serve him for coins, medals, and ornaments ; mercury, antimony, arsenic, 2>otass{um, phosphorus, aluminium, sulphur, sodium, magnesium, to supply him with chemicals for his arts, and medi- cines for his health ; tin, copper, nickel, zinc, plumbago, platinum, cobalt, lead, etc., to construct him instru- ments, utensils, and other conveniences without num- ber. Above all, here are inexhaustible stores of iron, the most useful, and, therefore, the most valuable of all the metals. The uses of iron to man are not to be numbered or estimated. It ministers to his necessities and comfort, to his ease and safety, from the beginning of his life to its close ; it is equally serviceable to the arts, to agriculture, to navigation, and to war ; out of it are made the sword and the ploughshare, the scissors 170 THE THIRD DAY. and the needle, the cable and the anchor, and ten thou- sand other instrumentalities in daily use on sea and land. Treasured up in her subterranean coffers, the earth also holds in keeping for man a great variety of pre- cious GEMS — the hard and glittering diamond, the bril- liant emerald, the pink and yellow topaz, the azure sapphire, the purple jacinth and amethyst, the beauti- ful hcrijl, the variegated agate, the girdled onyx, the opal of rainbow hues, the transparent crystal, the white and red cornelian, together with many others of rare beauty and great value. These gems of the earth, formed and colored by God's own hand, were made for man exclusively, for of all creatures on this earth he alone is endowed with faculties to appreciate and with taste to enjoy them. And they serve to re- mind us that our Father in heaven stopped not short in his regard for us at the point where our bare wants were supplied, but was pleased to add the charms of beauty, over and above, in order to gratify his children. But let us look more closely at the mass of mate- rials composing the crust of our globe. If we care- fully inspect and study the structure and constitution of its minerals and metals, we shall discover other striking displays of the matchless skill and perfect agency employed in the formation of our earthly habitation. Every one of the minerals composing its substance has its own peculiar formation, physical / CRYSTAL FORMS. THE THIRD DAY. 171 character, and chemical properties ; and Avhen we come to understand these, we shall no longer regard them as mere shapeless masses, or simply as having here a pretty form, and there a beautiful tint ; but as objects modeled by the Divine Hand, and revealing the Divine Mind. We shall discover that even in the profound depths and dark recesses of the earth, where the influences necessary to sustain organization and life cease to act, the creative Spirit has pursued his stupendous task of giving form and beauty to every particle of matter. Nearly all the minerals of the globe are found to be made up of minute crystals, closely packed and firmly held together. These crystals are of great variety, differing not only in size, but in their angles, facets, and general configuration, in different substan- ces. But the crjstal form in any one particular mineral is the same everywhere ; that of quartz, for example, whether taken from the Alps, the Andes, or the Himalayas, is the same, not an angle is found to differ. So of iron, salt, marble, etc. Hence each mineral may be properly said to have as much a dis- tinct shape of its own as each plant or animal, and may be as readily distinguished by the character pre- sented to the eye. Crystals are distinct and perfect individuals in the mineral kingdom. The uninformed may regard beds of rock, or masses of ore, as chance agglomerations of matter ; but these combinations and figures of crystallization are so far 172 THE THIRD DAY. from indicating the fortuitous result of accident, that they are disposed according to laws the most severely rigid, and in proportions mathematically exact. So minutely and elaborately wrought are the geometrical patterns of crystals, that they are found to reajipear after the most minute subdivision. Beneath the fixed variety of external or secondary forms which crys- talline bodies assume, there is an ultimate or primitive form retained by the smallest particles of each crystal. " Every crystal of carbonate of lime," says Buckland, " is made up of millions of particles of the same com- pound substances, having one invariable primary form, viz., that of a rhomboidal solid, which may be ob- tained to an indefinite extent by mechanical division." In the works of crystallization we behold the per- fect figures of geometry, as traced by the finger of God. " To the uninstructed eye," says Dana, " these cubes and prisms of nature, with their numberless brilliant surfaces, often appear as if they had been cut and polished by the lapidary ; yet the skill and finish of the work — most perfect in microscopic crys- tals— have but feeble imitation in art. Not unfre- quently, crystals are found with one or two hundred distinct planes, and occasionally even a much larger number ; and every edge and angle has the utmost perfection, and the surfaces and evenness of polish that betrays no rude workmanship, even under the highest magnifying glass. Cavities are occasionally met with in rocks, studded on every side with crys- THE THIRD DAY. 173 tals — crystal grottos in miniature — sparkling, wlien brought out to the sun, like a casket of jewels. Even amid the apparent confusion, there is wonderful order of arrangement in the crystals ; the corresponding planes generally fiice the same way, so that the sparkling effect appears in successive flashes over the surface, as every new set of facets comes in turn to the light. Add to this view their delicate colors — the rich purple of the amethyst, the soft yellow shades of the tojiaz, the deep green of the emerald — and it will be admitted that the powers of crystallization scarcely yield to vitality in the forms of beauty they produce." The marvellous excellency of the Creator's work- manship in the formation of the earth also appears in the diversity of productions fasliioned out of the same elements. While the appearance and distinguishing- characteristics of marble, slate, porphyry, limestone, and basalt, are as distinct as can well be imagined, the real ultimate difference in their composition is extremely small. Few things are more unlike than common clay and the precious rubies, sapphires, beryls, garnets, and carbuncles, yet all these are but so many modifications of day. Of all gems the dia- mond is the hardest, the most beautiful, and the most valued ; yet, strange to say, it is but a lump of char- coal in a crystallized form, and, like charcoal, can be made to burn, and its whole substance to disappear in carbonic acid gas. And thus it is throughout nature. 174 THE THIRD DAY. From a few simple substances the Divine Artificer has produced a multitude of useful minerals and beautiful gems, all differing so widely that, from their appear- ance, we should never think of comparing them with their original elements, or even suspect that any relation subsisted between them. REFLECTIONS. The earth is the Lord's ; but he hath filled it with his riches for the children of men. And who can review its varied and invaluable treasures, and not see in them the intentions of his wisdom and the be- nevolence of his heart toward his earthly offspring ! Of those enumerated in the foregoing pages, three especially demand our devout and grateful reflections : Salt. — This, is an article of prime and universal necessit}^, being an element essential to healthy nour- ishment. And the beneficence of the Creator is clearly seen in its universal distribution. Not only is it ob- tainable from the briny waters of the ocean along all the coasts, but saline springs, and solid beds of it in the form of rock, are dispersed generally over the con- tinents and large islands ; so that this source of health and daily enjoyment is within the reach of the inhabi- tants of every region of the globe. Coal. — This is the most valuable fuel in existence. The help and enjoyment man derives from it cannot be calculated. It warms the homes and prepares the food of millions. It enlightens the streets and habitar THE THIRD DAY. I75 tions of unnumbered cities. It aids in the manufac- ture of a thousand things of use and of beauty, at the forge and in the furnace. It generates the steam that weaves our cloth, grinds our corn, prints our books, draws our trains, and impels our fleets. In a word, it lends to man a power that never wearies, a power that may be directed to any purpose, and a f)ower that scarcely knows a limit. If the mechanics of the United States annually consume ten millions of tons of coal to run their various machineries, it gives them for their work the aid of a force equal to that of an army of men numbering twice the whole popu- lation of the country. Of this most useful mineral God has laid up a bounteous store for us. The area of the coal fields of the world, so far as discovered, is estimated at two hundred and twenty thousand square miles ; and these fields, by the beneficent design of the Creator, have been widely distributed over the globe. And now let us devote a moment to contemplate the origin and history of this most valuable production. Far back in the pre-Adamite periods of our planet's history, when its climate was much warmer and more humid than at present, nature, at her Lord's bidding, roused to put forth her chief energies in the produc- tion of vegetation. Hence the earth everywhere be- came shaded with dark and tangled forests of strange and stupendous growths. " Wherever dry land, or shallow lake, or running stream appeared, from wliere Melville's Island now spreads out its icy wastes under 176 THE THIRD DAY. the star of the pole, to where the arid plains of Aus- tralia lie solitary beneath the bright cross of the south, a rank and luxuriant herbage covered every foot- breadth of the dank and steaming soil."* Whole regions of these dense forests and abounding growths were from time to time submerged; while in other parts torrents of rain and sweeping floods, such as are now unknown, carried them, root and branch, into the neighboring bays. Thus the stupendous vegetation was accumulated age after age at the bottom of the sea, and there the Hand Unseen carried them through chemical changes, by bituminous springs and other agencies, and compressed them by the weight of after deposits into solid layers, till, in the lapse of time, they were converted into wdiat now constitute our coal-fields. And what is equally interesting and in- structive, the proof that this was actually the origin of coal is still visible and open to our inspection. Speaking of the coal mines of Bohemia, Dr. Buckland tells us, that " the most elaborate imitations of living foliage bear no comparison with the beautiful profusion of extinct vegetable forms with which the galleries of these coal mines are overhung. The roof is covered as with a canopy of gorgeous tapestry, enriched with festoons of most graceful foliage, flung in wild and irregular profusion over every portion of its surface. The spectator feels himself transported, as if by en- chantment, into the forests of another world ; he be- * Testimony of Rocks, p. IGO. o cr. <: > »— ( O O O o o > THE THIRD DA Y. I77 holds trees and forms and characters now unknown upon the surface of the eartli, presented to his senses almost in the vigor of their primeval life — their scaly stems and bending branches, with their delicate apparatus of foliage, are all spread forth before him, little im- paired by the lapse of countless ages, and bearing faithful records of extinct systems of vegetation which began and terminated in times of which these relics are the infallible historians." However remote the period at which this rank and luxuriant vegetation tiourished, and whatever incidental or temporary pur- poses it miglit have served at the time, the Great Builder of the world had a future and prospective end, both in its production and in its marvellous pres- ervation. For, like a house in process of erection, every change wrought in its substance, and every new production introduced upon its surface, were so many steps in the earth's progressive preparation for an occu- pant that Avas yet to be created. That coal was manu- factured and stowed away in the mighty cellars of the earth till he should come. He has come. And now, after the lapse of unrecorded ages — now at the end of time — the earth yields up these her long-held stores, and the extraordinary productions of the most extra- ordinary period of its historj^, are made to minister to the comfort, improvement, and elevation of the hist- born of creation — man. How interesting to think and to be thus assured that, long before we came into being, our Father was already caring for us, and stor- 12 178 THE THIRD DAY. ing the earth with such things as he knew we should need. Iron. — Few objects in creation bear more conspicu- ously the impress of heneficent design toward man than this. The existence of such a metal as iron is proof of this. Had silver and gold not been created, or were they to-day annihilated, the world would go on just as well. But what would be our condition without iron ? What would supply its place? Nothing in all the realm of minerals. Without iron, from the very pin- nacle of our civilization, we should go down quickly into barbarism, unless saved by the special interposi- tion of Heaven. Without iron, the earth would have been unfit for man and man unfit for the earth. The abundance provided of this metal is another evidence of God's prospective care for man ; what He foresaw to be most needful He prepared most plentifully ; iron ore is distributed very widely over the earth. The maUeabiUtt/ of iron bears a similar testimony ; had it been as unyielding as flint, or brittle as antimony, it would have been comparatively worthless. Its hard- ness and its susceptibility of being hardened to any re- quired degree, are also qualities that plainly attest a foresight of the wants of coming man and a care to meet them. The strength of iron and its capacity for icelding evince the same. Its wholesomeness is another unportant quality; to reduce iron from its native state to the purposes of usefulness requires long labor over it, and if it had been poisonous, as many of the metals TUB THIRD DAY. 179 are, man would perish in his attempts to avail himself of its advantages. The native location of iron likewise indicates benevolence of design in reference to man ; the ore being generally found in the immediate neigh- borhood of coal to melt it, and of lime to facilitate the process. Now, who that duly considers the foregoing properties of iron, but must be struck with admiration at the combination of excellent qualities that meet in it, and be fully convinced that it was made and meant for the service of man ! God saw the end from the beginning. Out of the remotest depths of the past, and all along as the world was forming under his plastic hand, He looked forward to man, who was to be the heir and head of this lower creation. The wants, the progress, and the destiny of our race were held steadily in view, as it passed through all its wondrous changes ; so that it may be said, and trul}', that the stupendous miracles of by- gone creations were conducted with a reference to our present comfort and improvement. From the bowels of the earth, then, and from the wreck of former worlds, we may derive materials with which to erect an altar of gratitude to Him who treasured up for us " the blessings of the deep that lieth underneath," and " the precious things of the everlasting hills." 180 7'zrz: TinRD day. 3I0UNTAINS. By his strength He setteth fast the mountains, being girded with power. Of the varied features of the Dry Land, mountains are the most conspicuous ; their height, their masses, their bold outlines and varied scenery, render them the most attractive and the sublimest objects presented on the face of the globe. Like the currents in the atmosphere and the streams in the ocean, they consti- tute important agencies in the economy of the world, by which the Creator bestows many blessings upon its inhabitants. Mountain chains of greater or less altitude and ex- tent traverse every quarter of the earth. In Europe we have the range formed by the Pyrenees, the Alps and the mountains of Dalmatia, whose highest peak, Mount Blanc, is 16,000 feet above the level of the sea. In Asia we find the Uralian, Caucasian, and Altai chains ; but the grandest range on this continent, and the highest on the globe, are the gigantic Himalayas, which culminate in Mount Everest, which is 29,000 feet high, and visible at the distance of 230 miles. In Africa we meet with the Greater and Lesser Atlas, of classic memories, reaching an elevation of some 12,000 feet. In the New World, the Rocky Mountains and the Andes constitute one grand system, running from north to south, along the whole western edge of North THE THIRD DAY. 181 and South America, a distance of over 8000 miles ; of this chain the highest point in South America is Nevado de Sorata, being 25,300 feet; and the highest in North America is St. Ehas peak, whose altitude is 17,800 feet. Such are the grand and principal ranges of the world. These lofty mountain chains were not created in the beginning where and what we now behold them ; but have been subsequently formed by the elevation of the solid and rocky crust of the earth, thrust up by stupen- dous forces from beneath. Three things go to prove this fact : — 1 . Geological observation proves to us as plainly as that a heap of oak chips must have once belonged to an oak tree, that the rocks which compose the loftiest mountains belong to formations w^hose natural and original positions are hundreds, and even thousands of feet below the present general surface of . the earth. 2. The mountains still bear upon their own brows the evidence of their upheaval. If masses of rocks hundreds of miles in extent were raised to the elevation of mountains, they would naturally at differ- ent points break, and crack, and open into chasms by their own enormous weight; and this we find has actually been the case. The whole Alpine region ex- hibits such fractures ; at an elevation of some 4,000 feet we meet a chasm 100 feet wide, and descending to dark and unknown depths, all the prominences on one side exactly corresponding to the indentations on the other. In the Pyrenees are found four enormous 182 THE THIRD DAY. chasms, almost perpendicular, which divide both moun- tains and their valleys, and which appear as if they had but just been rent asunder. The ranges of the Andes throughout present similar disruptions, indica- ting plainly the operation of the tremendous power to M'hich they owe their present elevation. 3. The re- mains of marine animals, found in such variety and profusion far up these mountains, prove incontestably that they once existed beneath the ocean waters. On Mount La Bolca alone, not less than a hundred differ- ent species of fossil fishes have been found. And Humboldt discovered sea shells on the Andes at an elevation of more than 14,000 feet. — From all the fore- going fticts, it is evident, that the mountains are eleva- tions of the earth's crust, effected long after its original creation. The diversity of surface which the Dry Land pre- sents in its mountains, plains and valleys, clearly ex- hibits the arrangements of the same beneficent wisdom, as we have seen in the atmosphere and in the ocean. Yet some there have been, so devoid of both taste and wisdom, as to pronounce the rocks, precipices and mountains of the globe, as so many rude and unsightly excrescences on the face of nature ; and to hold that a smooth and level surface would have been far more to the advantage of man, as in that case travelling, agricultural operations, etc,., would have been much facilitated. Such ideas can proceed only from igno- rance. Very many and most important are the bene- THE THIRD DAY. I33 fits derived to the world from the mountains and hills which so generally and so beautifully vary its surface. Mountains exert a most important influence upon climate, by affecting the currents of the atmosphere, mitigating the cold, intercepting the clouds, and shield- ing extensive districts from the unbroken violence of the storms, and northern blasts. They have been built up by the Great Architect, in selected situations and for specific ends — to direct the course of the winds whither he would have them blow, and to draw from the clouds their enriching moisture where they are needed. Mountain chains are, in fact, to be reckoned with the streams of the ocean, and the currents of the atmosphere of the number of the great agencies which He has arranged and combined to equalize the general temperature of the earth ; nor is it possible to calculate all the evils and disadvantages that would result from reducing them to its general level. To these lofty elevations the globe owes its magnifi- cent system of Rivers. Mountains are the great con- densers of the atmosphere, and the sources of springs, rills, brooks and rivers. They receive, in the form of rain or snow, the vapors with which the atmosphere is charged, even when the plains below may be parched with drought. And hence the irregular and mountain- ous surface of the earth is veined over with the chan- nels of flowing water to supply the wants of all living creatures. If the earth had no mountains, and had been a uniform level, it would have been comparatively 184 THE THIRD DAY. a marsh ; rains would have gathered in stagnant pools, and sent forth noxious exhalations, pregnant with dis- ease and death. Had the earth been formed a smooth and perfect globe, it would have been destitute of many of the plants and animals it now possesses, whose appropriate place and habitation are the mountains. " The high hills are a refuge for the goats, and the rocks for the conies." And on these elevations also grow many plants which cannot be successfully cultivated on the plains. In the forests which adorn the mountains' brow, and on the bare rocks of their summits, un- shielded from the chilling air, grow some of the rarest and most useful plants, botanical curiosities, and roots of medicinal virtue. But for the upheaval of the earth's crust into these mountain elevations, we should be, to the end of time, without most of those minerals so valuable and essential to man. If the surface of the ground had been level, and the several strata which compose it lay evenly and regularly, one below the other, like the coats of an onion, the upper stratum only would have been acces- sible to man. The various intermixture of limestone, granite, sandstone, clay, etc., which are now so advan- tageous to the fertility, and beauty, and habitability of the globe, in that case, would have no place. The inestimable treasures of salt, coal, iron, copper, etc., be- longing, as they do, for the most part, to the older and deeper formations, would have been forever beyond the THE TniRD DAY. Ig5 reach of man. This the Divine Builder foresaw, and m equal wisdom and goodness employed his mighty powers to thrust up these layers into mountain heights, thus breaking them, and exposing their edges, with all their valuable contents, to the hand of man. Through the instrumentality of mountains man is also helped in what he cannot help himself in another way ; their lofty summits, in many regions, serve as inexhaustible reservoirs of water, which they hold in the form of ice and snow, till summer advances, when they gradually melt, and flow down in grateful supplies to the panting plains below. In this way the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas feed the Ganges, the In- dus, and the Burhampootra ; and those of the Andes the streams which water Peru and Chili. The supplies of water thus secured from the mountain tops during the summer months is invaluable to some of the finest countries of the globe. Had our world been formed without mountains or hills, it would have been destitute of the grandest scenes that now adorn it. Deprived of these magnifi- cent and charming elevations, the face of nature M'ould present an unvaried scene of dull uniformity, as fa- tiguing to the eye as the solitudes of Arabia, and as uninteresting to the mind as the monotony of the ocean. To its hills, and valle3's, and mountain ranges, the earth owes its chief scenic grandeur — its sweet variety, its softer loveliness, and its rugged magnificence, which now make it so glorious a mirror of Power, and Wis- dom, and Goodness. 186 THE THIRD DAY. As an example of the scenic grandeur of the moun- tains which adorn our globe, I set before the reader the majestic Ararat, of 17,750 feet height, as described by an eye-witness, Sir Robert K. Porter : — "As the vale opened beneath us, in our descent, my whole attention became absorbed in the view before me — a vast plain, peopled with countless villages ; the towers and spires of Eitchmai-adzen arising from amidst them ; the glit- tering waters of Araxes flowing through the green, fresh vale ; and the subordinate range of mountains skirting the base of the aAvful monument of the antediluvian world, it seemed to stand a stupendous link in the his- tory of man, uniting the two races of men before and after the flood. But it was not until we had arrived on the flat plain, that I beheld Ararat in all its ampli- tude and grandeur. From the spot on which I stood, it appeared as if the hugest mountains of the world had been piled upon each other to form this one sublime immensity of earth, and rock, and snow ! The icy peaks of its double head rose majestically into the clear and cloudless heaven; the sun blazed bright upon them, and the reflection sent forth a dazzling radiance equal to other suns. My eye, not able to rest for any length of time on the blending glories of its summits, wandered down the apparently interminable sides, till I could no longer trace their vast lines in the mists of the horizon ; when an inexpressible impulse, immediately carrying me upwards, again refixed my gaze on the awful glare of Ararat ; and this bewildered sensibility of sight being THE THIRD DAY. ]87 answered by a similar feeling in the mind, for some moments I was lost in a strange suspension of the powers of thought." What an object of surpassing grandeur is here set before us ! What a majestic and glorious monument to the praise of Him whose mighty power thrust upwards its stupendous mass from the depths of the sea, to be a rescuing place to the second father of mankind, and to be the memorial and admira- tion of his multiplied posterity through all succeeding time ! REFLECTIONS. As the builder decides by Rale the proportions of every column and the dimensions of every arch that enters into the noble structure that is rearinu; under his hand — so the Divine Architect in the erection of this earthly temple, " weighed its mountains in scales and its hills in a balance ;" their positions He deter- mined by unerring calculation, and their forms He carved out with his own right hand. Over the stupen- dous agencies employed in lifting them from their depths to their present elevations. He presided with unremitting attention, so that at every point, forces of a right intensity and right direction were made to co- operate, so as to Avork out infallibly every result and arrangement embraced in his eternal plan. Wild and convulsive as those forces appear to have been, all were directed by the most far-reaching foresight to purposes of human improvement and happiness. Gases, steam, earthquakes, volcanos — these were the 188 THE THIRD DAY. tools wielded by the Divine Hand in the construction of man's world. Far from being lawless elements, or- interferences with the terrene architecture, they were the very means by which it was built up into special order, at once most beautiful and most appropriate for him. And the praise of the great Master Builder now ascends from the frowning precipice and the snow- capped heights of the mountain, as well as from the luxuriance of the plains and the smiles of the valleys. When the Creator was forming the earth, and " His hand preparing the dry land," to be a habitation for man, He designed and constituted it to minister to him something more than the mere elements of bodily sustenance. Its arrangements had reference to his mental as well as corporeal wants. Its substance was so moulded, its outlines so drawn, and its scenes so painted as to have an important bearing upon his intellectual and moral character. The mountains and the hills were to be to him as schools; and what magnificent educational institutions are they in these latter days found to be. Their mighty masses and far- reaching agencies — what are they but visible displays of the stupendous power and contriving skill of the Infinite. And their rocks — what are these but libra- ries abounding in treasures of wisdom and knowledge ; their every stratum being a volume written within and without, recording the deeds of Omnipotence in periods that long antedated the birth of our race. And the ever-varying scenery with which the earth is over- TflE THIRD DAY. jgg spread, doubtless, was also designed for man's instruc- tion— designed to delight, or rouse, or refine liis soul, and to aid in forming his character and deciding his history. Tlie extended plain, the naked clifl", the dis- tant forest, the deep and silent glen, the slow-llowing and meandering river, the rugged mountain, the bold headland, the thundering cataract — all were to be means of quickening the human mind into obedience to the Divine Will, or of soothing and inspiring the human heart for communion with the Divine Spirit. It was ordained, as history has revealed, that moun- tains should be associated with the most signal and important moral dispensations of Heaven toward our race. Those of the land of miracles stand before us as if sculptured and painted with sacred legend. Each, by the imperishable memory of the judgment, or the revelation, or the mercy with which it stands connected, reads to us a lesson of deep and solemn import. The majestic Ararat, lifting high its glittering summits, proclaims to the world in terms and tones that cannot be misunderstood, the inevitable vengeance that will finally overtake the impenitent and incorrigible. Moi'iah, with its altar and human victim, holds forth to our view the glorious triumph of implicit faith in God. Granitic Sinai, from amid clouds and thunderings, bids us hear and obey the Law of the Lord our God ; while Horeh, at its side, with its flinty rock and flowing stream, invites and woos us to its Antitype Divine, the Rock Christ Jesus, from whom flows the waters of life. 190 THE THIRD DAY. Hot and Plsgali, in softened sadness, speak and prove to us from the graves of the chosen leaders of the sacra- mental hosts of God, that however useful or eminent, or honored our position may be, we, too, shall soon be called to render an account of our stewardship, and to lie down in the silence of the grave. The " excellency of CarmeV holds forth its signal and miraculous demonstration of the certain destruction of error and idolatry, and the ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness over every enemy. Encompassed with scenery of surpassing beauty, Tahor invites us to ascend its sacred height, and in meditation review the glorious scene of the transfiguration of the Son of Man, as in converse with Moses and Elias, saints returned from glory. And Olivet — mount of sacred and endearing memories — with soft and jDlaintive echoes is repeating in our ears, yea wWiin our liearts, the wondrous words of agonizing love ! and bids us advance and view the spot from whence our triumphant holy Lord ascended far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion to the right hand of the Father Almighty. So has Divine Providence ordered events that these mountains have become enduring monuments, standing up in their might and grandeur, as witnesses for God, and for the Book of his truth, throughout all genera- tions. No authority of persecutors can silence the voice they utter; no efforts of infidels can efface the record graven upon their brows ; no edict of kings or potentates can extinguish the sacred associations with THE rillRD DAY. 191 Avhicli their names will forever come up in the mind of man. So indelibly have the visitations of Heaven been stamped on the face of the earth. RIVERS. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks. Water is the vital fluid of the globe ; and the ocean the clouds, the rain, and the rivers are the four great organs by which its circulation is ceaselessly carried on. From the ocean water ascends in the form of vapors ; these vapors, in the higher regions of the firmament, are collected into clouds, and carried by the winds over plain and mountain tops ; and the mountains, acting as loadstones, draw from the clouds their treasures in showers — their wet and misty summits are untiringly occupied with this important work; and from these summits, on every side, the rains flow down in numer- ous rills, these coalesce into larger streams, and these streams again unite to form the great rivers, which roll their waters back into the ocean ; thence, in due time, to pass through the same round again. Of this great physical fact no words can be a more correct and beautiful expression than those of scripture, " Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." The number of rivers on the globe is very great ; it has been reckoned that there are, both in the Old and 192 THE THIRD DAY. New World, nearly seven hundred principal streams, that discharge directly into the ocean. These, together with their innumerable tributaries, constitute a grand System of Drainage, with which the beneficent wisdom of the Creator has furrowed the face of the earth. In Europe, the Rhone, in its wanderings of four hun- dred and forty miles, drains the waters of an area of 7,000 square miles. The Rhine, which has a length of seven hundred miles, carries to the sea the waters of a region of twice that extent. The Danube pursues a course of 1,800 miles, and draws its waters from an expanse of no less than 55,000 square miles. And the Volga, in its slow and turbid windings of 2,100 miles, gathers the waters of nearly one-half the great empire of Russia. Asia is traversed by a more magnificent system still. In China we have two rivers, each over 3,000 miles long ; and in Siberia, two others that rival them in di- mensions. The Irrawaddi and the Majkaung, in Siam, are both rivers of royal magnitude. In western Asia, are the Euphrates and Tigris, of ancient memory. And British India has principal rivers, whose united length exceeds 10,000 miles ; of which the most celebrated is the Ganges, which, after leaping into sight for the first time from a perpendicular wall of ice in the Himalayas, and pursuing a course of nearly 1,900 miles, draws its sacred waters from a district of unequalled fertility, embracing an area of not less than 400,000 square miles. THE THIRD DAY. I93 Africa lias but comparatively few rivers. The Niger stretches its crooked length over 2,000 miles. The Nile, proceeding from its long- veiled sources, after wan- dering through 2,400 miles, flows through its remaining eight hundred miles, without receiving a single tribu- tary. But it is in America that we find rivers attain their full magnitude and grandeur. The St. Lawrence draws the waters of 300,000 square miles ; the Mississippi, of nearly 4,000 miles length, from a surfoce of 1,000,000 square miles ; and the Amazon the Avaters of a region three times as large as that of all the rivers of Europe that empty themselves into the xVtlantic, and present- ing, near its mouth, a stream of the gigantic dimensions of one hundred miles width and six hundred feet depth. — In the rivers, then, we have a system of drain- age and irrigation, of extent and grandeur commensu- rate with the amplitude of our globe, and worthy of Him, who, in the beginning, scooped out their channels, and taught them all their devious ways to the deep. The benefits derived to the world from its network of rivers are obviously incalculable. Besides draining the earth of its surplus waters, without which some of the fairest portions of its surface would soon be sub- merged, and become forever uninhabitable by man — they are the means by Avhicli all living creatures on the dry land are furnished with their needed drink, and man with a most valuable supply of food in the fishes they breed. They also 02)en noble channels of 13 194 THE THIRD DAY. commerce with distant and interior countries ; while, in their course to the sea, they offer unHmited power and facilities for manufacture. The value and import- ance of this great arrangement of our globe are strik- ingly evidenced by the fact that rivers have built, and have furnished the wealth of, the most renowned cities of the earth. The richest monuments of art and in- dustry which the world possesses are reflected in their waters. Thebes and Memphis owed their splendor to the Nile ; and Babylon its birth and greatness to the Euphrates. The Orontes furnished the site of Antioch ; and the Tiber founded and erected Rome. The Thames has given to England its London ; and our own noble rivers have built us all the richest and busiest cities of the land. The rivers greatly add to the beauty of our world. Many of its most picturesque sceneries — its mountain gorges, its wild glens and ravines, its rushing rapids and roaring cataracts, which entrance the beholder — are due to the action and flow of streams. And what can be more interesting to the mind, or more delightful to the eye, than to behold the river at length emerging from the mountain's confined and contorted channel into the green and open plain, with banks lined with stately trees, widening and winding through its fertile meadows; now mirroring the beauties of town and villas, and now calmly sweeping through the po})ulous city, and bearing on its placid bosom the ships and flajrs of different nations! Nowhere does our world THE THIRD DAY. I95 array itself in sweeter or more pleasing features than along its river banks. Here are the earth's most de- lightful spots. A river, we find, was essential to com- plete the beauties and delights of Eden ; and it is with the flow of the " River of the waters of Life" that the Beloved Disciple gives the finishing touch to his sub- lime description of the Paradise above. REFLECTIONS. In the Rivers, as in the Mountains, we behold good- ness, ever-flowing goodness. The heathen Greeks, in order to represent the universal power and beneficence of Jupiter, used the symbol of a river flowing from his throne. Substituting the Living God for that imagin- ary deity, there w^ill be truth and deep significance in the symbol. Ever since the morning of creation, the rivers have been the appointed ministers of his bounty; fertilizing, beautifying and blessing everywhere this abode of man. And while the mountains lift their towering summits to the glory of his mighty power, the rivers, all their journey through, sweetly murmur praises to the riches of his goodness. Rivers, like mountains, also, have their sacred asso- ciations. Their meanderings are the handwriting of Heaven in the soil of the earth, recording its own great transactions. The Euphrates, while it flows, will speak to man of the garden of innocence. Arnon and Ja]> bok, Kishion and Kedron, will never cease to relate to the passing traveller their ancient memorials. And the 19G THE THIRD DAY. river of Egypt — to a hundred generations already passed has this spoken of Jacob's favorite son, of God's oppressed people, and of their hidden deliverer among the reeds ; and to all the generations yet to come will it tell the same. Its mighty cities have perished, its kings have been forgotten, and even its stupendous pyramids are crumbling away ; but while the periodic waters of the Nile continue to rise and fall, they will continue to ripple in the ears of men the undying story of Joseph, and of the brickmakers, and of the infant Moses rescued from its banks. And as for that sacred stream, the Jordan, its very name is pregnant with a thousand memories of wonders and of love. Its source, its lakes, its shores, its quiet pools, its murmuring fords, its mysterious end — all are eloquent of Divine deeds, and miracles, and instructions ; nor will its voice or elo- quence lose its power till the stream of time is lost in the ocean of eternity. Vain, then, are the efforts of the wicked to efface the record of God, or to extinguish the religion which that record teaches. They, indeed, shall perish, but this shall endure, and " the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." While the mountains stand, or the rivers flow, even inanimate nature will thus preach to the ransomed church of God, of his Law and of his Love to man. The flow of Rivers presents a striking and instruc- tive similitude of human life. '' Life bears us on like the stream of a mighty river. Our boat at first goes down the vast channel through the playful murmur of TUE THIRD DAY. I97 the little brook, .intl the willows on its glassy borders. The trees shed their blossoms over our young heads; the flowers on the brink seem to ofler themselves to our }'oung hands. We are happy in hope, and grasp eagerly at the beauties around us ; but still the stream hurries on, and still our hands are empty. Our course in youth and manhood is along a wider and deeper flood, amid objects more striking and magnificent. We are animated by the moving picture of enjoyments. The stream bears us on, and joys and griefs are left behind us. AVe may be shipwrecked, but we cannot be delayed : or rough or smooth, the river hastens towards its home, till the roar of the ocean is in our ears, and the waves beneath our feet, and the floods are lifted up around us, and w^e take our leave of earth and its inhabitants — till of our future voyage there is no witness save the Infinite and Eternal."* VEGETATION. And the earth brought forth grass and herb, yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit after his kind. In the foregoing chapters we have traced the footsteps of the Creator in " preparing the dry land" — in describ- ing its coasts, elevating its mountains, furrowing out its water-courses, and overspreading its soil ; and now we are called to witness its surface sowed and j^lanted * Heber. 198 THE THIRD DAY. with a vast and marvellous system of vegetation. In following the creative process we have, thus far, seen but matter only — inorganic matter in its various forms ; each and every change of form or location, in the air, the earth, and the water, being compelled or impressed by a force from without, "ceasing when that ceased, and never proceeding beyond its compulsory influence, either in direction or degree." But at this point a new phenomenon is introduced, and one incomparably in advance of all that has gone before. Now a new power is seen stirring in matter ; a power not only of selection or adaptation, but of assimilation, and, moreover of reproduction. It is here for the first time we witness Vitality in any of its forms — a principle so mysterious in its essence, and so wonderful in its influence, as to be forever worthy our most devout study and admira- tion. In no department of Nature are the contriving Mind and creative Hand of God more visible than in the vegetable kingdom. Yet, when the question has been put to some who reject the Bible account of crea- tion, whence these vegetable productions, so diverse and so wonderful ? they have answered, " They are the results of a natural tendency to combination, inherent in the particles of matter." But no such imaginary tendency will serve to explain these marvels of our earth. All plants are formed of similar component particles, varying only in their proportion and arrange- ment. Now these particles could not have an inherent THE THIRD DAY. ]99 tendency to be a thousand different and dissimilar things. If the particles or elements constituting vegeta- tion had a natural tendency to form a Rose, the same particles or elements could have no tendency in them- selves to compose a melon or a cocoanut. All tendency, if such a thing existed, must be specific and uniform ; otherwise it would be a tendency To be and Not to be, which is absurd. A tendency to diversity is an im- possibility. No such theory, therefore, can explain or account for the endless diversities of the vegetable world. It is in fact a mere fallacy of words ; for not a single tendency of this kind has been proved to exist. Plants are in their structure material machines, con- structed of substances taken out of their natural and preceding state, and so conjoined as that each uni- formly produces its precise and determinate effect or fruit. Now, as nothing but human skill and workman- ship can account for the construction of a watch, an organ, or a telescope, so nothing but Divine agency and intelligence will explain the manner in which the inert particles of matter become combined into a beautiful flower, a fruitful vine, or a stately oak ; for a careful examination will soon reveal to us that vegeta- ble arrangements are subject to mathematical laws, not less exact in themselves than those which regulate the movements of the planets in their orbits. The sacred Historian, it will be observed, here places the creation of the veaetable before that of the animal kingdom; and this is the natural and necessary order 200 THE THIRD DAY. of things, for the latter is dependent on the former for its support. Neither niiin, nor beast, nor bird, can draw his sustenance directly from the soil ; its juices and particles must pass through the laboratory of vegetable organization before i\\Qy are fit nourishment for animal life. Vegetation could have existed without animals ; but animals could not have lived without vegetables. Hence we see the correctness of the Mosaic account in placing plants before animals. The vegetation of the earth, in the History before us, is described and comprehended under three general divisions : First, Grasses ; second. Herbs yielding seed ; Third, Trees yielding fruit. And here Ave have pre- cisely the system adopted by botanists after ages of study, as the true arrangement and classification of the vegetable kingdom. These seedless, and these seed- bearing, and these fruit-bearing plants, are identical with the acotijlldons, monocotyUdons, and dicotyJldons of Linneus, Jussieu, De Candolle, and all modern botanists. And it is both curious and interesting to remark, that a system which it has taken centuries to mature, and which successive botanists have labored age after age to advance to perfection, should at last prove i\iQ; very same as that enunciated by Moses thirty-three centuries ago ; and that naturalists after wandering for thousands of j^ears more and more from this true system, should gradually and unconsciously have returned to it, and never discover the identity until after the return was made ! Have we not, then, THE THIRD DAY. 201 in tills fact, a pleasing evidence, and one altogether abo\e suspicion, that the pen which traced the history of creation was guided by Him who designed and crea- ted the whole vegetable world ? Each of the above classes includes numerous orders^ eacli order a number of genera, each germs many species, and ever}' species a number of individuals defying all enumeration. So diversified in character, and so pro- lific in nature, are the vegetable creations, that they have spread and taken possession of every spot and region of the earth's surface. They are found in every variety of situations, and grow under conditions the most opposite and contrary. We see them, in one form or another, spring up and thrive, where before- hand vre should have supposed there was neither food nor foothold for them, and should have said their exist- ence was impossiljle. Some grow and flourish at the bottom of lakes and rivers ; many spring up, and not a few of them of rare beauty, in the midst of the sandy and arid deserts; others plant themselves on the naked rock, and send down their roots to draw up their food from the scanty moisture of its crevices. In a word, vegetable life appears to be adaj^ted to every possible situation that the surface of the globe presents — to the bed of the sea, to the cavern of the mountain, to the bare granite, to the cinders of the volcano, to the stag- nant pool, and the emerging reef, to the heated sands of the Sahara, and to the frozen regions of the pole. In all these situations vegetable organizations of one kind 202 THE THIRD DAY. or anotlier have been found. What matchless skill do we herein behold in overcoming difficulties and extremes ! Nothing can be more astonishing than the unbounded variety of trees, herbs, and grasses, that adorn the earth ; nor can anything more clearly exliibit the abounding goodness of the Creator. Nothing that either the necessity, or the improvement, or the pleasure of his creatures could demand, appears to be Avanting. Grasses and herbs, in endless diversity, abound, to meet the various tastes and habits of all living things. Fruit-plants, and fruit-trees, adapted to every climate and soil, proffer food to man, and beast, and bird, in every form and of every flavor. Flowers to delight us with their beauties, and to regale us with their odors. Shrubs and vines, without number, to shade and adorn our habitations. Add to all these the forest trees, Avhich offer to man timber fitted for all the purposes of art and industry — the soft pine and poplar ; the hard oak, beech and holly ; the light cedar and lime ; the heavy ebony and lignum vita3 ; the flowery mahogany and rosewood ; the tough hickory and elm ; the incor- ruptible teak, and durable yew ; and a hundred other kinds adapted both for use and ornament. What mu- nificence is here displayed ! The Creator might have furnished the earth with vegetation, and yd have limited himself to a few species of each of the three great divisions ; but, instead of this, we scarce find bounds to the variety in each of them. We read that THE THIRD DAY. 203 there are 100,000 different species of plants, and we are bewildered at the thought of the countless varieties of hue, and size, and form, which such a vast host ex- hibit. But not only do the various species of vegetation thus differ, but even the individaals of the same species differ. Of the innumerable myriads of trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses, which cover the earth, no two indi- viduals can be found that are alike in all respects. It is even probable that there is not a single blade of grass in the meadow, nor a single grain of wheat in the field, nor a single leaf in the forest, that will not be found to differ, in some respects, from all its fellows. Such is the diversity with which this terrestrial abode of man has been furnished and adorned. The general vegetative covering given to the earth is grass ; and in this, as in all else, the Divine wisdom and goodness are equally conspicuous. Upwards of three hundred genera, and more than 5,000 different species of grass, grow upon the surface of the earth. This needful sustenance of our herds and flocks, and of the beasts of the forests, is everywhere spread over its dusky soil, and is so constituted as to grow without care or cultivation ; nay, in spite of every kind of abuse and violence. Like a living carpet, it covers and adorns the face of nature. Self-propagating, and self- perpetuating, it supplies the wants of every passing age with undiminished abundance. Though ever trodden upon, and fed upon, it still lives. Lay it low to-day with a roller, and to-morrow it is stronger than before. U, ll,X^,^ VV^X.X»^*.V.„ *V *.. K.V.V.X,QV 204 THE THIRD DAY. Mow it with the scythe, and it renews and multiplies its shoots with fresher vigor. Crush it with the foot, and it sends up richer perfume. Bur}^ it through all the winter months, beneath ice and snow, and in the spring it starts forth with all the glowing verdancy of its first creation. It survives every abuse, and seems to exult under all kind of violence and suffering — a heautifal emhiem of the true Christian spirit. Add to all this its heautij: in every landscape it is the most conspicuous object, the ground color on which nature embroiders her varied patterns, and from the midst of which the gay hues of flowers come forth in greater brilliancy, by the force of contrast, to arrest the admir- ing gaze. A model of symmetry, elegance and strength, is each little spear of grass that pierces the sod and shimmers in the sunshine. "And the flower of the grass " — it is a miracle of design. " The grass of the field " — the very sound carries in it all the charms of nature, all the delights of spring and summer — the silent scented paths — the green banks of the murmur- ing brook — the waving meadows — the pastures of the meditative shepherd — the verdant lawns, glittering with the pearls of early dew. What a concourse of wonders, and beauties, and blessings, have we, then, even in the grass, that we so heedlessly and constantly trample under foot ! The general color given to vegetation is another fact worthy of grateful notice, a soft and pleasant green. " Had the fields been clothed with hues of deep red, or THE THIRD DAY. 205 a brilliant white, the eye would have been dazzled with the splendor of their aspect. Had a dark blue, or a black color generally prevailed, it woidd have cast a universal gloom over the face of nature. But an agree- able green holds the medium between these two ex- tremes, equally removed from a dismal gloom and excessive splendor, and bears such a relation to the structure of the eye, that it refreshes, instead of tiring it, and supports, instead of diminishing its force. At the same time, though one general color prevails over the landscape of the earth, it is diversified l^y an ad- mirable variety of shades, so that every individual object in the vegetable world can be accurately distin- guished from another ; thus producing a beautiful and variegated appearance over the whole scenery of nature. ' Who sees not in all these things that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?'"* If, from these general features, we proceed to make closer and more minute examination of the vegetable creation, we shall discover, at every step, wonders of wisdom and skill surpassing not only all imitation, but, all understanding — we shall find that every green Ijlade that springs from the ground is a magazine of contri- vances ; that every leaf is a theatre of organized won- ders; that every fibre of tree, or straw, or stem, vibrates to the quickening influence of light ; that everj- opening flower holds communion with the distant sun ; and that * Dick's Christ. Phil. 206 THE THIRD DAY. every root that spreads through the humid soil, by a chemistry of its own, selects such elements from the earth as are suitable for the growth and perfection of the plant which it bears — a chemistry so wonderful and infallible in its operation, that, though springing from the same soil, and growing side by side, we never gather grapes of thorns, nor figs from thistles. — We now proceed to notice the general parts and functions of trees and plants, beginning with 1. The Roots. The roots serve two important and special purposes ; the first a mechanical one, namely, to attach the plant or tree to the soil, and support it there in its proper position. How this is done need not be stated. Our admiration, however, cannot but be excited, when we consider that the force exerted by high winds upon a lofty and wide-spreading tree, full of leaves, is immense, and yet see how admirably con- trived the roots are to take hold upon the ground, and chain it there through all the tempests of the year. But roots have another office ; and that is, to select and draw suitable juices from the soil, for the nourish- ment of the tree or plant. This is done by little pro- tuberances called spongloles, situated at the extremities of the rootlets. These spongioles appear to possess the faculty or power of selecting from the mixed constitu- ents of the soil their food, and of rejecting what is un- suitable or hurtful to the plant. The roots of half a dozen plants may be intertwined and matted together in the same mass of soil, yet the spongioles of each will THE THIRD DAY. 207 take up its own peculiar food infallibly. And not only this, but they seem to discern instinctively where spots of earth, rich in food, lie, and will push and stretch to- ward them, and in doing this will often force their way between the layers of rock, and even through solid masonry. 2. Leaving the roots, we ascend to the Leaves. The leaf is the principal organ of every plant ; from it the tree, with all its parts, is developed. All plantai are produced from seeds or buds. Now, the seed in which the plant originates, when carefully examined, is found to be composed of a leaf rolled tightly, and altered in tissue and contents, so as to suit its new re- quirements. The bud also consists of leaves folded in a peculiar manner, and covered with hardened scales to protect them from the winter cold. And the flowers, the glory of the vegetable world, are merely leaves ar- ranged so as to protect the vital organs within them, and colored so as to attract insects to scatter the fertil- izing pollen, and to reflect or iibsorb the light and heat of the sun for ripening the seed. Some naturalists think they see in the stem also clear indications of its foliaceous origin ; and maintain that they are able to show, that even the fruit, in all its astonishing variety of texture, color, and shape, is, in like manner, but a modified leaf Thus, in all the parts and organs of a plant or tree, from the seed to the fruit, the leaf is found to be the basis ^ and from this the whole has been developed. 208 THE THIRD DAY. The leaf presents a distinct and accurate type of the whole plant or tree upon which it grows. As the builder draws upon the parchment a complete plan of his intended edifice, so the Divine Architect has en graven on the leaf the plan of the tree of which it is an appendage. "Each leaf/' says McMiUan, "in shape and formation, may be regarded as a miniature picture, a model of the whole plant on which it grows. The outline of a tree, in full summer foliage, may be seen represented in the outline of any one of its leaves. Tall pyramidal trees have narrow long leaves, as we see in the needles of the pine ; while wide-spreading trees, on the other hand, have broad leaves, as may be observed in those of the elm or sycamore. The correspondence is remarkably exact, and cannot fail to strike with Avonder every one who notices it for the first time. Examining the leaf more carefully, we find that the fibrous veins, which ramify over its surface, bear a close resemblance to the ramification of the trunk and branches of the parent tree; they are both given ofi*at the same angles, and are so precisely alike in their complexity or simplicity, that from a single leaf, or even a part of a leaf, we can predicate, with the utmost certainty, the ajDpearance of the whole tree from which it fell. It has further been remarked, tluit trees which are feathered with branches down to the ground, have leaves with verv short footstalks; while trees that have long, naked trunks, have leaves with lengthened foot- stalks. In tree, and shrub, and grass, the plant-pattern THE THIRD DAY. 209 is repeated in the leaf-pattern ; and, in some instances, the resemblance is very extraordinary." If we pursue our study of leaves still further, and centemplate iXic'ir chemical functions, we shall find each a marvel and a mystery in itself. Every leaf is an in- dividual, gifted with peculiar powers ; its stomata and other organs, constitute a complete laboratory ; it ab- sorbs air, and exhales moisture ; it elects the carbon, and sends forth as useless the excess of oxygen ; it ex- tracts from the sunbeam its clilorophyl, and with it adorns itself in the charms of verdancy. In a word, it embodies in its thin and distended form one of the most wonderful examples of organic chemistry. It is at once full of science and full of poetry. 3. Let us glance next at the Flowers. Flowers are the most beautiful productions of the vegetable king- dom ; and, as to the delicacy of their forms, the beauty of their coloring, and the sweetness of their odor, seem pre-eminently designed for the pleasure of man, for he alone of all the living tenants of the earth is capable of a2)j)reciating them. Indeed, in the flowers, the Divine Hand appears to have combined all the elements of pure and refined enjoyment for his earthly offspring. While they minister to the delight of his senses, they at the same time softly and sweetly read to his mind lessons of innocence and wisdom, well calculated to make him a wiser and better being. "Whether we contemplate the symmetry of the stems and leaves, the splendor and harmony of their colors, the delicacy of 14 210 TUE THIRD DAY. their organs, the variety of their tints, or the delicious fragrance they everywhere breathe around us — they exhibit to us wonders and excellencies surpassing all admiration. The statement that " Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these," may seem to the ignorant a forced expression ; but it is in fact one beautifully true. Take Solomon's most admired pur- ple, or take even the finest fabric produced by the ut- most ingenuity of modern skill, and view it through a microscope, and it becomes hideous ropes and rags, while " the lily of the field," viewed through the same instrument, becomes infinitely more exquisite in its finish, its beauty and its grace. Flowers are the gems of the earth, the productions of a skill and taste which never fall short of the perfection of elegance. While the flowers thus diffuse pleasure all around, they at the same time perform several important func- tions in connection with the reproduction of the species. Among flowers, as in the animal kingdom, is found the distinction of male and female. All flowers are fur- nished with hoih. stamens and pistils, either in the same individual, or in two distinct individuals. The several parts of these two organs are formed with evident and striking adaptation to one another. The pistil contains the germ of the seed, which is so constituted as to require, and so fashioned as to be ready to receive the element of fertilization from without ; and the stamen is so constituted as to produce, and so formed as to shed that element thereon, and thus perfect the seed. THE THIRD DAY. 211 which are the appointed means to ensure the reproduc- tion of tlie species while the individual perishes. In the great majority of cases the stamens and pistils are found on the same plant, the former overtopping the latter, an adjustment which enables the stigma readily to receive the falling pollen as it drops from the anther. In drooping flowers, such as the fuchsia, the relation of these parts is inverted in correspondence with the altered position of the flower — the pistil now overtopping the stamen. In fact, nothing can be more beautiful and impressive than the great variety of adaptations by which, in special cases, communication is secured between the pollen and the pistils. In the common Barberry, the lower part of the filament is so sensitive, that whenever it is touched, the stamen moves forward to the pistil. In the Stylewort, where the stamens and pistils are united in one column which projects from the flower, this column is very irritable at the angle where it leaves the flower, and when touched, it passes with a sudden jerk from one side to the other, and thus scatters the pollen. The process of communi- cation in some cases is effected by the wind ; and in others, after a more complicated and ingenious manner, by insects. It will be interesting to follow this process of fecunda- tion a little further. In order to accomplish it more effectually, the stigma exudes a slightly glutinous fluid, to which the grains of pollen adhere. These grains have each two coats, one of which bursts when the 212 THE THIRD DAY. grain is ripe, and the other, in touching the stigma, elongates itself into the shape of a slender tube, passing downward through the style into the ovary, and so conveying to the germ the vivifying fluid. " The cells of the stigma are beautifully contrived to admit the passage of these tubes, as they are long, and extremely loose in texture, at the same time so moist and elastic as to be easily compressed when necessary. It is so contrived that the mitiute particles contained in the grains enter slowly to the ovary, as it seems necessary that the fecundating matter should be admitted by degrees. It is also necessary that the tube should enter the foramen of the ovule ; and as the ovule is not always in a proper position to receive it, it will be found to erect itself or to turn, as the case may be, while the granules of the pollen are passing down the tubes."* Now one important office of the beautiful flowers is to protect and cherish these delicate parts and processes of rej)roduction ; and amid all the profusion of their elegance, and the variety of their forms, this end is never for once forgotten. Most admira.bly do they ful- fil this function ; as if instinct with parental tenderness, they open their bosoms to the sun, they bend tow^ard him, and not unfrequently follow him in his circuit, that from morning till evening they may receive his full vivifying beams. When night is coming on, or a storm is approaching, if their precious charge is so deli- * Chambers' Vegct. Phys., p. 79. THE THIRD DAY. 213 cate as to be liable to injury by cold or wet, they care- fully draw their leaves together, and enclose their sacred trust within a beauteous canopy, which, when the threatening evil is removed, they unfold as before. So vigilant iu this duty are many flowers, that they have been observed to shut their petals during an eclipse of the sun, and to open them again as soon as the obscuration was past. Flowers exhibit many powers and properties which the science of man has never been able to explain. Some will instantly close upon the slightest touch. Some will flutter,, as if in alarm, upon sudden exposure to intense light. Some seem possessed of limited pow- ers of locomotion ; a certain species of wild oats, when placed upon a table, will spontaneously move; pea- blossoms always turn their backs upon the wind ; the heliotrope always faces the sun ; the tulip opens its petals when the weather is fine, but closes them during rain and darkness. The pond-lily closes its pure white leaves at night, as it lies on its watery bed, but unfolds them again in the morning. On the other hand, some flowers open only at night ; that splendid flower, the night-blooming cereus, is of this kind ; it opens but once, and that in the night, for a few hours only, then wilts and dies without ever admitting the light of day into its bosom. Some open and shut at certain hours, and that so regularly as to indicate the time of day, like the sindrimal of Ilindostan, which opens at four in the evening and closes at four in the morning. Dr. 214 THE THIRD DAY. Good, in his Booh of Nature, describes a water-plant, valisneria spiralis, which, at a certain season, detaches itself from its stem, and, like a gallant suitor, sails complacently over the waters in pursuit of a mate, till he find her. Other flowers there are, as the nepenthes, that will adroitly catch flies and devour them. Others again possess a most extraordinary luminous property ; the nasturtium, if plucked during sunshine, and carried into a dark room, will there show itself by its own light; a jDlant that abounds in the jungles of Madura illumines the ground to a distance all around ; and many species of lichens, creeping along the roofs of caverns, lend to them an air of enchantment, by the soft and clear light they diffuse. Who can explain to us these phenomena of flowers ? Who but must see that the hand and counsel of Infinite Wisdom are con- cerned in the production of these vegetable wonders ! I add but one fact more respecting flowers, and that is, the power which each flower has to regulate for itself the heat of the sun. It is well known that objects re- flect or absorb heat from the sun according to the shade of their color — that a perfectly white surface will reflect or throw back all its rays, and remain comparatively cool beneath them through a whole summer's day — that a dark-colored object will absorb part, and reflect part, and be heated in proportion to the darkness of its shade — and, that a perfectly black surface will absorb all the rays, and become quite hot in the sun. And this property of colors reveals to us a most beautiful THE THIRD DAY. 215 arrangement in the constitution of flowers. ••' To every plant," says the author of llie Poetry of Science, " that spreads out its leaves to the sunshine, and to every flower that lends its beauty to the earth, is given that particular shade and color that will measure for it the precise degree of heat which its own peculiar constitu- tion requires. The chalice-like cup of the pure white lily, floating on the lake, the variegated tulip, the deli- cate rose, and the intensely-colored dahlia — have each powers peculiar to themselves for drinking in the warm life-stream of the sun, and for radiating it back again to the thirsty atmosphere." And thus every plant is endowed with functions which silently, but unerringly, determine the quantity of heat which it needs, and the relative amount of dew which shall wet its leaves and its flowers. The outward form and color of a flower, indeed, delight our eye and excite our admiration ; but when w^e come to contemplate this wonderful arrange- ment, which so happily regulates the power of the sun- beams that are incessantly poured into its delicate bosom, our wonder must be raised to the higher feeling of profound adoration toward the Great Designer and Maker of all. Such are the floral creations. And now, what could exceed them in beauty or perfection? Nothing, in form, function, or constitution, is defective ; nothing is left to chance or accident ; but every organ, every pro- cess, every property, to its most minute and insignifi- cant details, is numifestly contrived and perfected by 216 THE THIRD DAY. omniscient and unerring skill. Who can set his eye upon a flower, delicate, and beauteous, and fragrant, and lay his hand upon the damp and dusky ground from which it springs, but must exclaim, with the pious peasant of Scotland, " What but almighty power could extract this from that !" And when we observe that each of the tiny bristles of the leaves, and even each shadowy down of the petals, too minute for the unaided eye, is measured and planted with undeviating dis- crimination and precision, can we doubt the truth, or refuse the consolation, of the Saviour's assurance, " The very hairs of your head are all numbered ?" 4. Following the order of nature, we are next brought to notice the Seeds. Here opens before us another field of great interest. A seed, a grain of seed, as commonly regarded, is but an insignificant object, and attracts but little attention ; yet that grain of seed, within its small circumference, and beneath its dusky rind, em- bodies an organization possessing properties which the united wisdom and ingenuity of mankind could never produce. In the seed lies the future plant in miniature. The whole of the beauteous lily, which engages the ad- miration of every beholder, once lay folded up within a little dingy bulb ; its leaves and blossoms are only a development of what was hidden within the scales of that unattractive root. And within the narrow com- pass of the acorn are folded up, with infinite nicety, all the rudiments of the towering oak. The origination of the seed in the bosom of the THE THIRD DAY. 217 flower lias already been described. As soon as that step has been fully accomplished, the flower decays, while the seed-vessel forms, and increases in bulk. And now let us devote a moment to look at the admirable contrivance of these vessels, or capsules, in which the various seeds are lodged and protected while they ma- ture. These are so many, so diverse, and often so complicated in their forms and materials, that it would seem as if they had been adopted only for the sake of demonstrating the inexhaustible resources of the Divine invention. Some are invested in close tunicles, some are surrounded M'ith hard shells, some are elaborately folded in leaves, some are deposited in rows within parchment pods, some are in cases lined with softest velvet, some are wrapped in wool, some are held as in blown bladders, some are placed between hard scales, some are defended b}^ pointed thorns, some are housed as beneath a roof, some are within slits made in the edge of the leaves, some are buried in the heart of the fruit, and some in various other manners. So diverse are the ways in which Infinite Wisdom can accomplish its purpose Avith equal ease and equal success. The fecundity of plants, or their capacity for pro- ducing seed, jDresents us with another remarkable fact. The common cereals often yield from sixty to a hundred fold. One castor oil plant will produce 1,500, one sun- flower 4,000, and one thistle 24,000 seeds in a single season. From one grain of maize, or Indian Corn, if it and all its produce were from year to year planted and 218 THE THIRD DAY. duly cultivated, in favorable soil and climate, sufficient seed might be raised in Jive years to plant a hill of corn Avith three grains on every square yard of dry land upon the face of the globe ; and in ten years sufficient to plant the whole solar system in the same manner ! Such were the import and efficacy of the creative fiat, " Let the earth bring forth herb yielding seed after his kind." And this unbounded fecundity is one of the many demonstrations we have in creation of the good- ness of God, who has thus made abundant i3rovision, not only to perpetuate vegetation, but also to meet the wants of all his creatures. Another interesting fact connected with seeds is the arrangement made for their disioersion. If all seeds were to drop, and remain upon the spots where they are produced, they could never germinate, nor be of much avail if they did. Adequate means for their dis- semination, therefore, w^ere all-important ; nor was this point overlooked, multifarious as were the works of this day. Most interesting and beautiful are the contri- vances employed for this end. Sometimes the pericarp, or the vessel containing the seed, opens elastically, as with a mechanical spring, and discharges the seeds con- tained in its cavity to a considerable distance. The Tiura crepitans, of the West Indies and South America, opens its pericarp with a report loud as that of a pistol, and scatters its seed with a great force. Some seeds, as those of the thistle and dandelion, are provided with a beautiful stellate down, which serves as wings, and THE THIRD DAY. 219 by means of which they often travel many miles. The spores of the ferns and mosses have been constituted so minute and light that they rise in the atmosphere, and are conveyed by the winds across seas and oceans. Other seeds, as the burdock, are furnished with little hooks, by means of which they cling to men and beasts as they pass by, and are thus scattered far and wide. Other seed still, like those of the milk-weed and willow- herb, are hairy, and so are easily lifted by every cur- rent of air, and carried to a distance. Birds, also, are important agents in this great work ; birds are natural planters of trees ; crows have been seen planting acorns over wide tracts of land, from which have sprung valu- able groves of oak. Add to all the above the fact, that the seeds of many berries, and of small fruits, will grow after passing through the bodies of birds ; and as many of the feathered tribes in autumn, when the seeds are ripe, migrate from north to south, they often void the seeds they have eaten at the distance of hun- dreds of miles. Some seeds are covered with a viscid substance, by which they adhere to whatever touches them, and in this manner are carried from place to place. Many of the heavier seeds, such as acorns, are gathered and buried by mice, squirrels, etc., of which, while part is consumed, many are left in the ground to germinate. Rains, and rivers, also, often carry seeds hundreds and even thousands of miles from where they were produced ; and the ocean not unfrequently bears them to the shores of other fontinents, or wafts them 220 THE THIRD DAY. upon the coral islands just risen from its bosom, and thus soon covers them with vegetation. In these vari- ous ways was the surface of the earth overspread with the vegetable creations of the third day ; and, as we may well suppose, the work was not very long in being accomplished. The seed having been dispersed and dropped in the soil, the next process to be noticed is its germination. To this certain conditions are necessary. A certain degree of heat must be had ; at a temperature below freezing point, seed will not germinate, and if the tem- perature be up to, or very near, the boiling point of water, it will not germinate, but die. The most suit- able temperature for each particular plant varies between these limits according to the nature of the plant. Again — if seeds have the necessary warmth and moisture, yet if exposed to bright light, they will not germinate; shade is always, absolute darkness some- times, necessary for the success of the germinating pro- cess. If the seed enjoys all the required conditions of shade, water, air and heat, it Avill grow and flourish. When a seed, a grain of wheat, say, is cast into the ground, from one end of it issues a plumule, or tender sprout; from the other a number of fibrous threads; the plumule immediately tends upward, and works for the air and light, and becomes a plant ; the fibres also at once struggle downwards, and become the roots. " Now, what is a little remarkable," says Paley, " the parts issuing from the geed take their respective di- THE THIRD DAY. 221 rections, into whatever j^osition the seed itself liappons to be cast. If the seed be thrown into the wrongest possible position, that is, if the ends in the ground point the reverse of what they ought to do, everything, never- theless, goes on right. The sprout, after being pushed out a little way, makes a bend and turns upwards ; the fibres, on the contrary, after shooting at hrst upward, turn down." This fact is not more wonderful than it is important ; for, how unprofitable would be the labors of the husbandman, if only the grains that happened to be right end up would prove productive, for scarce one seed out of a hundred would be found in this position. Or, how endless would be his toil, if he had, with care, to place each particular seed in the ground with plum- ule end up. But for the present wise and happy con- stitution of the seed, by which each part jDroceeds in its right direction, and to fulfil its appointed office, where would be our daily bread ? How manifest both the wisdom and goodness of God in this thing. The longevity of seeds, or the power which they pos- sess for retaining the vital principle for lengthy periods of time, is another remarkable fact to be noticed here. This is an important provision, as it sujDplies a safe- guard against the extinction of the species under un- favorable circumstances, which may often occur. If the condition of things noio will not i)ermit the little seed to germinate and grow, it still retains its vitality, as if hoping for a better day. A grain of mustard seed has been known to lie in the earth for a hundred years, 222 THE THIRD DAY. and as soon as it had acquired a favorable situation, to shoot as vigorously as if just gathered from the plant. Seeds of wild-flowers, buried beneath mounds that have existed from time immemorial, as soon as exposed to sun and rain, have sprouted forth as vigorously as if they had been the produce of last summer. The lapse of ages will not extinguish life in some of the most valuable seeds. Several examples of this were given on a former page ; '^ I will, therefore, add only one more. " In the time of the Emperor Hadrian, a man died soon after he had eaten plentifully of raspberries. He was buried at Dorchester. About thirty years ago the remains of this man, together with coins of the Roman Emperor, were discovered in a coffin at the bottom of a barrow, thirty feet under the surface. The man had thus lain undisturbed for some 1700 years. But the most curious circumstance connected with the case was, that the raspberry seeds were recovered from the stomach, and sown in the garden of the Horticultural Society, where they germinated and grew into healthy bushes." f "What a wondrous creation, then, have we in a grain of seed ! What a mystery is its life, that can thus well nigh inmiortalize its tiny and delicate organism, preserving it uninjured and unchanged through the lapse of hundreds and thousands of years ! As plainly do the small and dusky seed in the soil, as the most brilliant orbs in the heavens, proclaim, " The Hand that made us is Divine." * See p. 62. f Benedicite, p. 266. THE THIRD DAY, 223 5. The Edible, and other Useful productions of plants, is another subject that demands our grateful consideration. Here opens before us a field of un- bounded munificence — here is everything good for sus- tenance, pleasant to the taste, and delightful to the eye ; here is food to nourish us, materials to clothe us, and medicines to heal us. Nowhere in the visible creation do we behold a more striking display of the induliient beneficence of our Father in heaven than in the fruits of the earth. Here we find not only an abundant provision made to meet our actual wants, but an endless variety to gratify our tastes, and to enhance our pleasures. God might have limited our food to a few comparatively insipid roots, tubers, and bulbs in the ground; but, instead of this. He has appointed j)lants, herbs, shrubs, vines, and trees of every imagin- able description, to produce and bring forth fruit after their kind for the service of man. He might have made all these of the same, or nearly the same, taste ; but so far from this was his Divine generosity, that we have almost an interminable variety of fragrance and flavor, of sweetness and acid, of mellowness and pun- gency; and all so wonderfully suited to gratify our taste, to stimulate our appetite, and to yield us every required and desirable nutriment in health and in sick- ness. He might have so constituted fruit trees and plants as that their production would be confined to one particular kind of soil, or one special climate ; but, instead of this, He has adapted them, in one form or 224 THE THIRD DAY. another, for all soils, and for every habitable climate of the globe, so that all His children may be sharers of His bounties. Moreover, He might have so arranged the vegetable creation as that all the fruits and produc- tions of the earth should mature and ripen at the same season, but His Divine wisdom and goodness have strewn them along in succession through all the months of the summer half of the year, so as constantly to yield us a fresh and varied supply. To the foregoing properties of fruit-bearing plants and trees we must add another important one — their capacity for improvement. The Creator might have so made these as to be unchangeable in their character, unimprovable by any art or effort that could be brought to bear upon them; but in his wisdom and kindness He has so constituted them as at once to stimulate the ingenuity and reward the industry of man, by being susceptible of improvement and varia- tion without limit. And mark the happy results of this constitution of things. Wheat, in its native state, is but an inferior and straggling seed, and may be found now in this condition on the French and Italian shores of the Mediterranean, under the name oicegilops; but by long years of patient and prudent cultivation, this has been brought to our present plump and prolific wheat. The same is true of potato, turnip, cabbage and many other useful vegetables. The crabapple, in its native state small and sour, by pruning, grafting, fertilizing the pistil of one tree with the pollen of THE THIRD DAY. 225 another, and various other means, has been improved and brought to the present magnificent fruit of our orchards. By similar processes, the mountain ash, instead of its acid and unwholesome berries, has been made to yield the sweet and juicy pear; and from no better parentage than the acrid sloe have been derived our most luscious plums. Who can be blind to the wisdom, or insensible to the goodness displayed in this constitution of herbs and trees? Plants not only feed, but clothe us. A variety of cloths are fabricated from grasses, flags, and the inner bark of trees. But among the most useful plants for this j^urpose is the common flax. In the flax plant, the Creator has provided man with a material for thread and cloth of a most suitable and durable quality. And that our whole race might avail themselves of its benefits, He adapted its constitution to nearly every region of the globe. More valuable still, if possible, is the cotton plant. This also is widely disseminated — it flourishes in India, in Egypt, in North America, and in numerous other regions. Of the commercial value, or of the various and beautiful fabrics manufactured out of this article, I need not speak. Sufiice it to say, that through the perfection of modern machinery it has become the great clothing staple of the Avorld. We have now traversed the field of the vegetable creation, hastily it is true, yet what a multitude of beneficent designs, wonderful contrivances, and valua- ble productions have we seen ! And how replete with 15 226 THE THIRD DAY. lessons of wisdom are these all ! Many of these lessons have been pointed out in the course of the foregoing illustrations ; but a number of other and more general reflections, here at the close of our survey, naturally suggest themselves, and to a few of which we now desire the attention of the reader. REFLECTIONS. In vegetation we have the productions of Divine Chemistry ! Out of the same elements we here behold the utmost diversity of results. Ten thousand species of herbs, plants and trees, springing from the same soil, watered by the same showers, surrounded by the same atmosphere, and warmed by the same sun — yet how different in their qualities ! Some are acid and some are tasteless, some offering the richest nourishment and others the rankest poison, some are exhilarating and some stupefying, a few are as sweet as honey and many as bitter as the waters of Marah, some secreting oil while others are exuding gum, some sending forth odors that delight and some those that sicken and offend — yet all these are constituted of the same four or five primary elements, the diversity arising simply from the different proportions in which Infinite Skill has combined them. And herein is chemistrj^ which man, astonishing as his progress has been in this science, can neither imitate nor approach. Man, indeed, can take a plant and separate these its ele- ments, and ascertain their exact proportions, but he 228 THE THIRD DAY. roots, in the form of their leaves, and in the texture of their stems — differing in their flowers, and seeds, and fruits — differing in the rapidity of their growth, and circulation, and decay — differing in their qualities for absorbing and reflecting the heat of the sun — and, differing in a multitude of other particulars ! In the vegetable kingdom we behold a diversity all but end- less. In their creation, then, what countless ends to be secured. What an infinitude of influences, proper- ties and agencies to be determined. And what an infinitude, too, of weights, and measures, and propor- tions to be calculated. Yet in the Divine Mind, as in a vast storehouse of glorious ideas and designs, the plans of all were perfect and complete ere ever the onmipotent word to clothe the earth with verdure had gone forth. In that plan nothing was forgotten, noth- ing overlooked. No unforeseen difficulty arose, no part of the Divine purpose failed, no tree or plant or blade of grass came short of its designed perfection. When on the evening of this da}^, God's all-seeing eye surveyed the whole. He pronounced the work all very good. We have seen that everj^ plant that "springs out of the ground abounds, from root to leaf, with contri- vances of exquisite skill and nicety; and since every contrivance must have a contriver, and no contriver beneath the Deity could produce those of vegetation, it follows, therefore, that every individual plant and vegetable is the immediate work of God. They neither THE THIRD DAY. 229 spin, nor weave, nor paint themselves. Wherever, then, we behold growing a tree, or plant, or bush, there God himself is patiently and unremittingly at work. He is present with every flower that springs up in the garden, or the field, or the wilderness, and gives to it with His own hand every leaf that adds to the grace of its fashion, and every tint that contributes to the beauty of its coloring. He presides over it from the first im- pulse of germination to the last moment of its fiiding existence. How natural, then, and how conclusive, too, is the inference, that if God thus cares for each blade of grass, and each flower of the field, much more will He care for those whom He hath created in His own image, redeemed by His own Son, and renewed and sanctified by His own Spirit. How sweetly does our Saviour deduce for us this comforting lesson — " Con- sider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?" How simple the argument, how convincing the inference. Vegetation has its admonitions as well as comfortable assurances. The zizania, translated "tares" in our Lord's parable, was a species of bastard wheat, that, in the first stages of its growth, bore a very close resem- blance to genuine wheat; hence the servants never 230 THE THIRD DAY. discovered, or even suspected its existence, until the ear was formed and the fruit brought forth. Up to that point both had passed for wheat. So often among men : outwardly there may appear little or no difference be- tween the righteous and the wicked ; side by side they may move in the world and stand in the church, and all things may seem to come to both alike. But be- tween the two, as with the tares and wheat, there is an essential and germinal difference, which the eye of Omniscience, at the harvest time of souls, will not fail to detect. In the wheat-field is to be found, sometimes, another instructive phenomenon. I refer to a species of blasting, which farmers term hunt, but botanists ustilago foetlda, on account of the putrid and intolerable odor it exhales. This evil confines its ravages to the grain. Exter- nally, the infected ear exhibits no sign of disease, no rusty appearance or stunted growth ; on the contrary, it seems full as plump and green as the sound ears. Stealthily and secretly is the process of corruption accomplished ; and not till the harvest is reaped, and the wheat is brought to the threshing-floor, is the dis- covery made, by the odor and color, that the produce is unfit for the master's use. Under this mask of health and soundness there is found nothing but black and foetid powder, nauseous and offensive. And such is the latent infection of sin. Men may appear fair and sound on the field of life — may pass through the world in robes of unspotted reputation, and even be adorned THE THIRD DAY. 231 with the verdant blades of envied fame — but whose hearts, when laid open in the presence of God, will be found, like the fcetid wheat, wholly corrupt, offensive in his sight, and a stench in his nostrils. But we need not seek for rare or out-of-the-way produc- tions to gather lessons — every green thing that springs out of the ground is a preacher to us, if we would but listen to its voice. All the leaves of the forest join in one general murmur to repeat in our ears the prophet's warning, " We all do fade as a leaf" And as we are so prone to thrust this truth out of mind, as comes on every fading Fall of the year, God spreads before us on plain and hillside a great parable, in which our own decay and death are pictorially represented in such a vivid and impressive manner, that he who runs may read, and he who reads must reflect and profit. "Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now green in youth, now withered on the ground ; Another race the following age supplies ; They fall successive, and successive rise ; So generations in their course decay ; So flourish these when those have passed away." With the leaves join the beauteous flowers, like whispering angels, to impress the same needful admo- nition upon the heart and mind of man. "As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth." And each flower along his path seems to look up and address him in language of its own, and say — 232 THE TUIRD DAY. " Child of the dust, like me you spring, A bright but evanescent thing ; Like me may be cut down to-day, And cast a worthless weed away." The grass also has its speech. It spreads itself before us like a living allegory, in which we may see our image and our end. It says, "All flesh is grass; in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withered." And when its beauties and benefits, and teachings all can avail man no more, the green grass reverently spreads itself as a robe over his slumbering form, and forsakes not even that upon which all others have turned their back — His grave — remaining there, in each bright blade, a per- petual TYPE of a coming glorious resurrection ! ®he (fourth gag* The Sun, and the Moon, and the Stars are revealed. THE FOURTH DAY. Genesis 1/ 14-19.— And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide tlie day from the night ; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth : and it was so. And God made two great lights ; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night ; He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day, and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness : and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. HE great works of this day, like those of the ^)^j^ preceding days, are described, not scientifically, but as they would have appeared to an observer had one been present. The narrative of the sacred historian is scenic, or an account of things a they would have appeared to a human spectator. And God made two great lights. In the Hebrew Bible, the word here translated "made," is not the same as that rendered "created." It is a term fre- quently used in Scripture, and signifies constituted, or appointed. Thus we read, " The Lord made the Jordan a border between the tribes ;" that is, appointed the Jordan a boundary line between them. So here, God made tioo great lights to give light upon the earth; that is, appointed these two great lights to give light upon the 235 236 THE FOURTH DAY. earth. It is not said that they were now created, but that now, having been revealed in their brightness for the first time after the chaotic darkness, they were con- stituted and appointed to be henceforth the lights of the world. These great luminaries were created, doubt- less, long ages before. They had given light to the earth through the vast pre- Adamite periods of its his- tory, and from the sun proceeded what degree of light prevailed upon its watery surface on the first, second and third days of this new creation. But up to this time the globe was encompassed by a sea of thick clouds, floating in the upper regions of the firmament ; so that the orbs of the sun and moon were altogether invisible, and only a portion of their rays struggled through, to create the feeble daylight. What was on this day done was the removing of this cloudy pall, the clearing of the firmament into a pure azure sky, so as to disclose the moon in her brightness, and the sun in his unobscured glory. And these luminaries, thus suddenly and for the first time breaking into full view, would appear to a sj)ectator upon the earth as new creatioiis ; and as such they are here described. They are said to be now " made," that is, appointed to give light upon the earth. That the sun was not created, or called into existence on this day, will be obvious on a moment's reflection. If we adopt what is called the Nebular Theory of the origin of the universe, then to suppose that the earth was created before the sun, is as absurd as to hold that THE FOURTH DAY. 237 the offspring was born before its parent; for on that hypothesis the material of the earth was thrown off from the revolving mass of the sun. But setting that theory altogether aside, this fact remains unquestioned — that our earth is a member of the solar system, a globe, dependent, in common with the other planets, on the sun, held in its place and governed in its motion by the powerful attraction of the sun ; and, therefore, could no more have existed before the sun than the eyeballs before the head, or the branches of a tree before its roots. Hence, for this, together with the other reasons already stated, we say, that the work of the fourth day was not the absolute creation of the sun and moon, but the revealinc; of them in their bri