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graphically presented to us in the second sentence of the Mosaic history: "And the earth was without form and void," a fused undistinguished waste, (as the words strictly signify,)" and darkness [was] upon the surface of the waste, and the Spirit of God brooded upon the surface of the waters." This description well agrees with that of our text: and both the passages appear clearly to represent the condition of the earth as broken up, reduced, and dissolved from a previous state of existence. What length of time had then elapsed from the first act of almighty goodness in producing dependent existence, that real and proper "BEGINNING" of time, when "God created the heavens and the earth," it is beyond our power to know. We have every reason to think, that it was an immense period, ages upon ages; during which the planet, which we now inhabit, had undergone several mighty changes, the evidences of which are clearly written in the successive strata of the globe. From this destroyed and chaotic state, it pleased almighty wisdom and goodness to bring our earth, by a series of operations, continued through six natural and proper days, into a condition suitable for the reception of new tribes of vegetation, and of animated nature, and particularly of man, the race in relation to which the Most High had purposed to make this earth the theatre of his most stupendous wonders in providence and grace. The operations of those six days were, 1. The illumination of the dark chaos; 2. The separation of the atmosphere from the heavier materials; 3. The heaving up of the continents and islands, so that the waters were now confined to the lowest parts on the earth's irregular surface, and on the same day, the creation of vegetables; 4. The further clearing of the atmosphere, so as to present in the bright dayNEW SERIES, No. 5.

sky the glorious sun, and the other parts of the planetary and astral system on the opposite side of the earth; 5. The creation of birds and fishes; 6. The creation of land animals, and of man whom his gracious Maker formed in his own image of intellect, holiness, and happiness, and set him over all the other works of his power in this lower world.

I may be pardoned for saying, that this has been to me a subject of frequent investigation, during many years; and that the explication of this capital part of the Mosaic narrative, which I have now given in the most concise sketch, does appear to me to be the genuine sense of the inspired historian. Thus the great geological difficulty is swept away, the objection which was so gladly caught at by infidels, is completely destroyed, and unlimited freedom is afforded for the philosophy of geology without any infringement on the infallible testimony of this divine record.

II. We now pass on to the consideration of those impressive, awakening, and awful declarations by which the Apostle Peter refutes the impiety of infidel scoffers, denounces against them the judgments of God, and presents to believers the most glorious motives for holiness, and reasons for joyful triumph.

1. As the earth, when God proceeded to execute his purpose of making it a new theatre of his most wonderful works in creation and providence, in redemption and grace, was reduced to a condition of temporary ruin, and then brought out again with new beauty and grandeur; so its present condition is destined to undergo another great change. That change will be effected, not by a watery dissolution, but by a universal conflagration. "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto

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fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." Ver. 7-10. "The day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." Ver. 12.

What a tremendous picture! What a terrific and overwhelming idea! The solid globe, the mighty ocean, the heavens or atmosphere encompassing the earth; rocks and mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas; the snows and ices of the frozen poles; the vast deserts, and the fields of human cultivation; the busy scenes and abodes of mankind; the haunts of population, and the monuments of pride; the cottages, the palaces, the pyramids, and the temples; the hamlets, towns, and cities;-all, all must melt and mingle, and sink into the vast ball of fire! Surely this anticipation should teach us to with draw our affections from the flattering enjoyment of all earthly possessions. They perish in the using; and soon, very soon shall we be taken from them. But, let them be of the most solid and enduring nature that ever earth contained, let them be lands and provinces, kingdoms and continents; and grant that we could live and enjoy them to the doom and dying day of the world; they will then be only fuel for the great conflagration. O what a comment will then be read

upon the words of the Lord Jesus, "What shall a man be profited, if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

2. Before this great and terrible event shall arrive, God has purposes of wisdom, mercy, and justice to accomplish, which are, in the highest degree, important and interesting to us.

"Because judgment against an evil work is not executed speedily, the hearts of the sons of men are the more fully set in them to do iniquity." The delay seems to them an abandonment of the purpose, and they learn to be scoffers, and practically at least, to insult the merciful Majesty of heaven, by saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?" Alas! that men should harden themselves in wickedness, because God graciously respites the execution of his righteous sentence, holds forth the promise of pardon, and says, "Behold now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation! As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but rather that he turn from his evil way and live. Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die? Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Him that cometh unto me I will, in no wise, cast out. Whosoever will, let him come, and take the water of life freely." Such is the clearly declared will of our blessed Lord; and however incapable are human faculties to fathom the profound and mysterious abyss of Jehovah's eternal counsels, of this we are entirely and delightfully confident, that between his secret purpose and his revealed will, there is no contradiction, no inconsistency, but a full and perfect harmony. And while He suspends the consummation of all things, in rich mercy to a sinful world, and for the equal glory of his grace and his justice; let it be considered that HIS infinite duration is not mea

sured by the periods of creatureexistence! A long revolution of ages dwindles into a mere point, when compared with his own original and absolute eternity; and when it shall please him to cut short his work in righteousness, he can accomplish the most extensive and astonishing designs in a space of time inconceivably small. "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Ver. 8, 9. Vast and manifold are the purposes which He has to bring to pass. His Gospel must be preached among all nations, for the obedience of faith. His word, in its free and unshackled use, shall become the portion of all mankind. Evangelical missionaries shall preach, in every language, the unsearchable riches of Christ. The horrid rites of paganism shall be banished from the earth. The waning crescent of Mahometan domination, that vile and sanguinary imposture, shall be utterly extinguished. The papal antichrist, that man of sin, that atrocious compound of blasphemy, fraud, and cruelty, shall be cast down from his tyrannous throne. God will pour his vials of consuming wrath upon that monster of abominations; and the voice of triumph shall be heard, and echoed from nation to nation, "Babylon is fallen, she is fallen! Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you of her!" The guilty obstinacy and infidelity of God's ancient people, they shall renounce, with the bitterness of godly sorrow; looking unto him whom they have pierced, and mourning as one mourneth for an only son. "The fulness of the

Gentiles shall come in, and so all Israel shall be saved." Tyranny, and slavery, and war, that infernal devourer of nations, shall be driven from the earth by the omnipotence of the Saviour's love. The millennial glory shall illuminate all lands; and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. All these, and many other purposes of his holiness and his grace, the mighty arm of the Most High will perfectly accomplish in these last days; and scoffers shall adore, repenting and converting, or, if they go on still in their impiety, they shall be silent in darkness. What length of time, as men count time, it may be the divine will to have taken up in the progress and the fulfilment of these grand designs, it is not for us even to conjecture. "It is not for you," said Jesus on the very point of leaving our world, -"to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath reserved in his own power." But, O Christian, never lose sight of the great principle, that " one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Ver. 8.

3. Immediately, in connexion with the universal conflagration, will be the final judgment of the human race. "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Ver. 7. Yes, my beloved hearers, you and I, our families, fellow-worshippers, and friends, our countrymen, and all mankind, from Adam to his last descendant, shall stand there and we shall be judged according to our real characters, and the evidence of our works. Of this, unspeakably awful, and universally interesting event, the Lord Jesus and his inspired servants often spoke. O let us, also, often in our hearts revolve their sacred

testimony; often place before our souls the array of judgment; and daily be it our privilege to rejoice, on the evidence of scriptural godliness, that the sentence of salvation will be our's, that "Christ our Life will then appear, and we also appear with him in glory!" "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works." Rev. xx. 11–13. O that day of righteous doom, that day of wrath! What dread will it strike into thy heart, O thou who art now a bold and hardened sinner? It is "the day of judgment, and the perdition of ungodly men." And what perdition? What will be its nature? What its duration? And can any hope be entertained of a reversal of judgment? Hear, O selfflattering, self-deluding mortal; hear the words of heavenly truth. "Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. xxv. 41. "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Mark ix. 44.-" And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from

the glory of his power." 2 Thess. i. 7—9.

"Sinners, awake betimes; ye fools be wise, Awake before the dreadful morning rise."

4. The passage under consideration seems to intimate that the conflagration of our globe will be God's instrument for introducing it into a new state of excellency, glory, and beauty, far exceeding its present condition.

As the earth was advanced in the dignity of its use, and, very probably, also in the variety, richness, and beauty of its furniture, when recovered from its state of chaos, by a watery dissolution; so it seems that an analogy is suggested by the holy apostle, with relation to the future dissolution by fire. "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Ver. 13. A new constitution of our world appears to be here declared, which shall unspeakably transcend that which now exists, in its instrumentality for the most holy and glorious purposes. But this is all that is permitted us to know. Let it only be our concern now to believe and obey, to love and follow the Divine Redeemer, and we shall know it all to the best advantage in the proper time. The true disciple of Jesus has the privilege of saying, "Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.' 1 John iii. 2, 3. This glorious hope associates itself with the

5th and last sentiment urged by the venerable apostle; the powerful, solemn, and endearing obligations which this doctrine lays upon us to the highest degrees of sanctification. "Seeing then that all

these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness." Ver. 11. What man

ner of persons ought we to be? How penitent, resigned, submissive, and obedient! How living by faith on the truth and promise, the blood and righteousness, the grace and power of our Saviour, Sovereign, and Judge! How filled with love! How warmed with gratitude! How lowly minded, circumspect, and self-diffident! How ready to bear the cross, to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, to lay out our faculties, and talents, and opportunities in all the ways of advancing his honour; esteeming even the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of time, and counting all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord!

OBSERVATIONS ON A FEW PASSAGES IN CECIL'S REMAINS.

(To the Editors.)

IN one of your numbers this book was denominated, and I own with great propriety, "A Golden Volume." Its remarks are generally not only just but striking, indicating genuine piety, close and discriminating observation, as well as considerable power and originality of thought. But golden though the volume be, it is not free from alloy. And whilst I do not either forget or disapprove the Horatian maxim, "ubi plura nitent-non ego paucis offendar maculis," yet, without being offended at a few blemishes, amidst much splendid excellence, it may be rendering some little service to the cause of truth to point out these blemishes; and the value and popularity of the volume may only render this the more necessary.

I must confess that when I com

menced the reading of this volume, I stumbled in limine. The first sentences in it are as follow: "The direct cause of a Christian's spiritual life is union with Christ. All attention to the mere circumstantials of religion has a tendency to draw the soul away from this union. Few men, except ministers, are called by the nature of their station to enter much into these circumstantials: such, for instance, as the evidences of the truth of religion. Ministers feel the deadening effect of any continued or considerable attention to externals, much more must private Christians." This sentence caused me to pause, and muse, and wonder. I could not forbear asking, if the evidences of the truth of Christianity are its circumstantials, what are its essentials? Evidence is unquestionably the light in which the reality, the importance, the grandeur, of truth are seen, and at least one means by which it produces all its effects. It can neither enlighten the mind, prove a foundation for faith, sanctify the heart, guide the conscience, nor raise the hopes to heaven, but, partly at least, by means of its evidence; in other words, by being recognized as true. Whatever essential difference there is between truth and error in their very natures, it is evidence which marks the difference to us. Till its light arise, all is involved in darkness; the beauties of truth are all involved in the gloom of midnight, or at the best appear to the mind like the reveries of a dream. We readily allow that, according to Cecil's statement, the direct cause of the Christian's life is union with Christ; but we must maintain that truth is the great means of effecting that union. "Christ dwells in the heart by faith;" and faith is founded on truth: or, in other words, on a testimony recognized as true.

Glorious as the truths of