that the animals, whose remains were found in the cave at Kirkdale, and in many others of a similar description, were either surprised by the Flood while living near those caves, or else at the time it happened were already deposited near them. At Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, a place situated between Helmsley and Kirby Moorside, he considers some of them to have been dragged in by beasts of prey, who had their dens there before the Deluge. The theory respecting the antediluvian existence of these caves, is founded on the nature of their contents, which it will be sufficient for us to say, without troubling our readers with his several arguments, Mr. Bugg considers as not containing any specific signs of diluvial action, but as having been deposited since the caves themselves were formed by the breaking up of the earth at the Deluge. The whole of this answer is an ingenious and well-sustained argument, supported by a line of clear physical observation and Scriptural illustration, and we cannot but consider it to have shaken the whole system to which it is opposed. But, though beaten from many of the points by which their theory was entrenched, may not the supporters of a series of revolutions think Mr. Bugg's explanation of terrene phenomena as insufficient for the purpose, as the other is extravagant or ill-supported? And as it may be argued, with some appearance of correctness, that the Scriptures are not unfavourable to such an opinion, may it not be considered still a fair subject of debate, whether there are not appearances in the structure of the earth which seem to refer to a period before that order obtained which has existed since the creation of man?

We put these questions in conformity with the reflections with which we set out, and not from any private attachment to either the one or the other of the hypotheses we have been considering. We have, as we before remarked, no doubt that, as the march of science proceeds, many things will be discovered, and many mysteries explained, which will tend to reconcile more than one jarring system and opinion. It is in the physical, as it has been and ever will be in the moral world, that phenomena are observed which prove beyond all doubt the action of untraced agencies, or of combined causes, which it will require long periods of time and extensive improvements in science to develope. Geology is still, with all that has lately been done for it, in its infant state, and there must be a great increase of favourable circumstances before it will make any considerable or permanent advances. It is not the labours of half a dozen men of science, or the examination of a few tracts of country, that will at once carry us to the original foundation of the earth; but we must have a Geological Society formed of

men of all nations; the Indian must come from his pathless prairies, the African from his golden shores, and the Muscovite from his frozen deserts, and sit down with the explorers of the wild green valleys of our land; and we may then look for a theory of the earth which will at once satisfy M. Cuvier and his advocates, and vindicate the truth of the Mosaic narrative.

We had originally purposed to ourselves a much more particular attention to the several heads under which Mr. Bugg has arranged his observations; but, finding that his divisions are the worst part of his book, and that to follow him in this way would extend our article beyond all readable limits, we have preferred laying before our readers, as we have done, the outline of the main subject.

We take our leave of " Scriptural Geology" with feelings of profound respect for the author, both as a naturalist and a divine. We have no personal knowledge of him, nor had we, till the book was put into our hands, even heard his name: we cannot, therefore, be supposed as influenced in our opinion of his book by any thing but our confidence in its merit.

Manly, but yet temperate; Scriptural, yet philosophical; Mr. Bugg has performed a task which ranks him high among the benefactors of his age, and of posterity, He has taken alarm when there was reason for it; but he has not opposed error with useless declamation and lament. He has met reason with reason; used argument for his battering-ram, where logic was the bulwark; and uniformly shewn he could defend himself with the weapons of human philosophy, before he had recourse to the divinely-tempered sword and armour of the Spirit.

We have already recounted the faults of arrangement into which Mr. Bugg has fallen: we might also point out some errors in style and manner; but were they more numerous than they are, they would be of too trivial a nature, when compared with the importance of the work, to merit notice. We only hope both the author and his publication will obtain that respect and popularity they so eminently deserve: but-to wish for him that which we know he would most rejoice in-may his work arouse other members of the Establishment to employ their abilities more directly in the defence of religious truth; may it call forth learning in her ancient simplicity, to pursue her high and awful theme; and may it thence no longer appear as if the musical philosophy of nature were not doubly sweet to those who have learnt more of her God, seen more of his designs, and experienced more of his blessings, in the revelations and dispensations of the Gospel!

469

Sermons, chiefly practical: preached in the Parish Church of Clapham, Surrey. By WILLIAM DEALTRY, B.D., F.R.S., &c. London: Hatchard. 1827.

THE author of these Sermons has long been advantageously known to the public, both as a writer and a preacher. In the former capacity, his coup d'essai, to the best of our recollection, was a Defence of the Bible Society against the virulence and scurrility which were confederated against it. Mr. Dealtry already wielded his weapons with the strength and dexterity of a master, in this his first appearance on the stage of religious controversy; and he evinced powers of reasoning and skill in composition so far surpassing what were arrayed on the opposite side, that nothing more could be desired by the friends of the Bible Society, than always to meet with such foes and such champions. Perhaps it is the sort of composition in which Mr. Dealtry would peculiarly excel, as he appears to be endowed with great quickness of apprehension, and exactness of judgment; and to have the happy art of expressing, in precise and appropriate language, his luminous and powerful conceptions. But while the logical make of his intellect, and his acuteness in discriminating just deductions from sophistical inconsequences, qualify him to stand forth with singular advantage as a controversialist, we find ample proof in the volume before us of no ordinary talent for other departments of religious literature. Mr. Dealtry is not only a fair, adroit, and manly disputant, but he has merited the higher praise of being a Scriptural and eloquent divine. With real pleasure we meet so accomplished a scholar in this sacred province: nor do we scruple to affirm, that it is one which he occupies well and gracefully, and in which he has rendered good service to the interests of religion and morality.

In premising his reasons for giving these discourses to the world, our author makes the following sensible remark :"The addition of any writer to the ranks of those who have enforced from Scripture the same great principles, tends, by increasing the number of unconnected testimonies, to gain to those principles a more general and more cordial attention." Now if this assertion be correct, as it undoubtedly is, when taken in its true meaning and spirit, if not to the full extent of the letter-if the addition of any writer to the sound expositors of Scriptural truth be of value to the church-that addition is likely to be in a high degree beneficial, when the writer is a person of such acknowledged capacity and erudition as to

exercise a powerful influence on the opinions of the community at large. It has not been unusual with men, whose unchristian prejudices have got the better of their candour and courtesy, to represent the religious sentiments, commonly called Evangelical, as the progeny of enthusiasm, and the nurslings of ignorance or imposture. It is therefore a gratification, to those who still follow in the paths traced out by our early Reformers, but from which a large and preponderant party in the Church has grievously deviated, to see a man, at whose distinguished name a scoff cannot be launched without recoiling on the scoffer, boldly avowing doctrines, of which the sincere reception is the authentic way to heaven, but which to deride and mutilate is the far likelier path to worldly preferment.

There is, perhaps, no species of composition of which the press is more fruitful than Sermons. And this is perfectly natural. For, after making ample deduction on the score of that numerous class of clergymen who are merely the droning vehicles of the sense of other men; and of such, again, as deliver their reflections without ever committing them to paper; the sum-total of sermons written yearly must still be very great, and out of all proportion to that fraction of them which ventures into day. Now, for a man who has laboriously produced a dissertation on subjects of vital moment to the great family of mankind, and one which he has reason to hope has been serviceable to his own congregation, it is natural, and not unpardonable, to regard his production with a father's partiality, and to assume that its usefulness would be commensurate with its publicity. And though such anticipations may be exaggerated, still they are far from chimerical. The fallibility of the human mind is in nothing more conspicuous, than in the attempt to presage the operation of moral causes. In such calculations the counsel of the wise often turns out to be extravagance and folly. When, therefore, we hastily pronounce that a book or a sermon is not likely to convey knowledge, reproof, or comfort to another, because we ourselves have been unaffected by reading or hearing it, we betray a forgetfulness of the astonishing diversities of moral and intellectual structure apparent in the world, and of the incessant mutations which a single mind undergoes in its tone and sensibility. Sometimes the reason of these changes, their method and their progress, may be defined by accurate self-observers; but in general the process is so subtle as to elude investigation. And, perhaps, were it ever so exactly traced and ascertained, no extensive practical benefit would ensue. The case would remain the same; that an hour ago we were capable of powerful emotions, from causes to which

we are now callous and obdurate; that a beggar, who was sternly rebuked and dismissed, would have been benevolently relieved, had he accosted us a few minutes later; that a sermon, which melts us into tears to-day, would yesterday have never touched the spring of our affections; and that we sometimes weary with a page of the book, over which we pore at other times with enchained attention and intense delight. If we look in upon ourselves, we shall be surprised to find what strong impressions have been occasionally produced upon us by causes which we should have deemed unequal to any such effects; and which only produced them now, because they happened to come in contact with our minds when in a state of peculiar aptitude and preparation for their agency. Now if we thus differ from ourselves, and are so fluctuating and fitful, may we not expect our fellow-creatures to vary from us as much? And such is our actual experience. Has none of our readers been smitten to the heart with a sermon, by which almost all around him were unmoved? And he, if aware of their insensibility, has been as much astonished at it, as they have been at his deep emotion, if it betrayed itself. Perhaps, too, the very qualities of the sermon which rendered it so impressive to the particular individual, were such as would even prevent its effect on many others. The key that opens one lock cannot touch the wards of a second and that which comes home to a rude untutored mind with extraordinary energy, would be repelled by a fastidious taste, and glance aside, like an arrow from a highly polished shield. There is a style of preaching, well adapted to men of a stern, decisive character, and of strong argumentative powers, that would be lost on persons of milder temper and a more feminine complexion of mind. To expect that the same sermon should, every where and always, be attended with equal and similar results, is about as rational as it would be in an angler to presume that he could at any time catch fish of any fin, by using the same bait that had at one season of the year been successful with some one particular species.

By considerations such as these we are induced to look with favour or indulgence on every volume of Sermons that is ushered into the world, if it do but speak the truth in sincerity. It may want the stamp of genius, and the rich colourings of fancy; it may do little or nothing towards clearing away the difficulties, and illuminating the dark places, of Scripture; it may be jejune, or prolix, or vulgar, or quaint; and still it may be that very book which, meeting with a sympathetic mind, is the aptest instrument, in the hand of Almighty Goodness, for making that mind wise unto salvation.