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effectively under the bountiful care of Him "who is good to all, and whose tender mercies are over all his works," as the stately elephant, the majestic horse, or man, the earthly lord of all. By far the larger portion of the animal creation is formed, in every part of its anatomy, internal and external, for living upon animal food; and cannot live upon any other. The carnivorous nature, in a thousand instances, is the immediate cause of inestimable benefits to man. Of this fact a familiar example is constantly presented before our eyes, in the speedy removal of the putrescent carcases of animals, by the industry of millions of the minor tribes; creatures which many of us can scarcely look at without disgust; yet they are saving us from being poisoned by a fetid and infectious atmosphere; and after a further change, striking emblem of our future resurrection, they come forth beautiful and admired insects, to enjoy the brilliance of a summer's day, to sip the flowers, to provide a posterity, and then to die.

Geology unfolds to us similar scenes, upon the most magnificent scale, and occupying the recesses of an unfathomable antiquity. Few of the formations above the micaceous slate are destitute of the remains of animals, and in a less degree (which is easily accounted for) of vegetables: but the larger part of those formations is filled with such remains, constituting in some cases nearly the entire substance of rocks which are hundreds and thousands of feet in thickness, and many miles in extent. Some of the Egyptian pyramids are built of Nummulitic Limestone, itself entirely composed of chambered shells, of very small size and of exquisite construction. Other rocks there are, whose very substance consists of microscopic shells of extraordinary beauty, once the habitations of living beings. Among these are our English chalk, the Bergmehl of Sweden, and the polishing stone, first obtained from Tripoli, but since

found in many other places. Of this last, the exquisite shells, almost entirely siliceous in their composition, which appear to constitute the whole rocky masses, are so minute, that a cube of one-tenth of an inch is calculated to contain five hundred millions of individuals.* In the series of the Oolite and Lias rocks, which come under the Chalk, and, in England and many other countries, overlie the New Red Sandstone, are found, in immense numbers, not only the shells of smaller sea-animals, but the skeletons of formidable creatures, some of gigantic size, formed for swimming in the sea and crawling near the shores.† We can see and examine their powerful teeth; the structure of their bones for the insertion, course and action of muscles, nerves, and the tubes for circulation, indicating the function; and their very stomachs beneath their ribs, replenished with chewed bits of bone, fish-scales, and other remains of animal food.

Thus, not only the characters of the recent animal creation, but those of races which have occupied the earth through past periods of immeasurable duration, demonstrate it to have been the will of the All-wise Creator that life and death should minister to each other throughout the whole extent of the animal tribes; both in the actual condition of nature, and in those states of our world which are past, but have left their monuments inscribed with characters that cannot be mistaken.

Whether these positions militate against anything that is asserted or implied in the Holy Scriptures; and whether

* Supplementary Note G; on the Fossil Animalcules.

The attentive inquirer, if he have the opportunity, will contemplate with deep interest the skeletons and detached bones of the ancient lizardlike animals, in the British Museum; or the engravings of many, on a large scale, in the "Memoirs of the Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri," 1834; and the "Book of the Sea Dragons," 1840, by Thomas Hawkins, Esq., F.G.S.

they are at all inconsistent with the impressive declaration, "By man came death;" it will be our duty, in a future lecture, to consider.

LECTURE IV.

GENESIS VI. 17. And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven: and everything that is in the earth shall die.

ANOTHER point remains, with regard to which the discrepancy between the belief that is held by some, at least, of the most eminent geologists, and the testimony of the word of God, as it is commonly understood, appears most serious and alarming: this is the historical fact of the Deluge.

Fifteen hundred years had nearly elapsed since the creation of man, and his fall into sin and sorrow and now human depravity had grown to an awful magnitude So far as we can form a judgment from the concise but emphatic terms of the history, it appears that universal discord prevailed, mutual injustice and exasperation, malignity, oppression, and cruelty. Such a habit of mind from men to their fellow men, could not but break the bonds of society, destroy confidence and hope, and poison the springs of human happiness. Nor was it less certain, that such a state of mind and character would be associated with an impious contempt of the Creator and Supreme Ruler. The condemnatory testimony therefore is, "The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." The expression "before God" denotes a contempt and defiance of the Divine Majesty. It is also evident that "the earth"

is put, by a frequent scriptural metonymy, for the inhabitants of the earth; whence it is reasonable to infer that the universal terms in our text have their proper reference to mankind, the subjects of guilt, whose flagitious character cried for a condign manifestation of Jehovah's displeasure. His holy perfections were insulted, and perhaps derided with atheistic scoff. It was now become eminently proper that there should be some demonstration of the justice and power of God, which should admit of no doubt; for the supplication of a following age could never have been more appropriate, "Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. JEHOVAH! How long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph!" xciv. 2, 3.)

(Ps.

Yet the Most High showed himself merciful and gracious. He sent warnings and threatenings, by " Noah, the preacher of righteousness ;" and thus his "long-suffering waited" one hundred and twenty years. (1 Pet. iii. 20; 2 Ep. ii. 5.) But despised mercy must be vindicated by righteous punishment. God therefore made known his determination to inflict that punishment, in a revelation to his faithful servant. "Behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters ;"-I will demonstrate my holiness and wisdom, in such a manner as shall admit of no doubt with regard to its judicial intention.

Of that awful event, the sacred narrative is clear and circumstantial.

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month," [answering to about the middle of November,] "the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The flood was forty days upon the earth. And the waters increased and bare up the ark; and it was lifted up above the earth. And the

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waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground; both man and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven and they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah only remained [alive], and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days. And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. The fountains also of the deep, and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters returned from off the earth continually; and, after the end of the hundred and fifty days, the waters were abated. And the ark rested, in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. In the six hundred and first year," [that is, of the life of Noah,] "in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked; and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried." (Gen. vii. 11 to viii. 14.)

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