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LETTER V.

ORDER OF CREATION SAME BY GEOLOGY AND SCRIPTURE.

SIR,-The author of the history of the Vestiges of Creation, in p. 114, imagines what would have been the feeling of a supernatural being who had come to visit our earth at some far remote period, before the creation of man. In this he seems unconsciously to follow the example of Scripture; for the history of creation in the 1st chapter of Genesis appears to be written for such a visitant. It describes the various changes which would have appeared to him to take place in their regular order. 1. By the formation, or some change of atmosphere, the light penetrated the dark vapour that encircled the earth; and evening and morning naturally succeeded each other from its diurnal motion. 2. By the perfect formation of the atmosphere the vapours are borne aloft to the sky, and the great expanse between the clouds and the sea comes into being. There is nothing yet to break the canopy of clouds which

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overspread the whole heavens; and man's spirit, if it had then existed, would have been imprisoned, being confined to the narrow bounds of this world, and could never have winged its flight into immensity, nor imagined the existence of the bright and countless worlds above. But, by natural constitution, it was to be fitted for the contemplation of infinity and eternity, and required a far wider field to give exercise to its noble powers. On the third day, the dry land rises from the watery abyss, and is soon overspread with plants, trees, and flowers of perfect beauty and infinite variety. The changing temperature of the dry land now disturbs the atmosphere, and, by creating the winds, disperses the clouds, and opens to the wondering gaze of the new visitant a scene fitted at once to call into exercise the high intellectual powers with which man was to be endowed, and fill his soul with those feelings of admiration, reverence, and love, which perhaps afford the highest enjoyment to those whose hearts are yet in perfect unison with the will of their Creator. The sun by day, and the moon and stars by night, present a scene on which the unfallen spirit of man would dwell with untiring delight.

They were also given 'for signs and for seasons,

for days and for years.' By being rendered visible, they afford signs by which alone the earth and sea can be traversed with safety. Without them, human intercourse would be greatly interrupted, the earth would be little known, the products of its various regions could not be interchanged, and the union of the human race, which is its strength and its glory, could never be fully cemented. The heavenly bodies, by being rendered visible, mark distinctly the various seasons of the year, other seasons set apart for peculiar, and often sacred purposes. They also divide the day into an exact period of time, and which, as it is unchanging, fixes the precise date on which any event takes place. The moon's revolution, though of changing velocity in different parts of its orbit, gives also a precise period. The earth also moves more quickly in one part of its orbit than another, yet always terminates it in the same period of time. It is by the exact dates thus furnished that history can be compiled; without which man could scarcely rise above the condition of the lowest and most uneducated tribes. The fourth day's creation, therefore, which brought to light the glorious orbs of the sky, was as important to man, and as much influenced his destiny, as

that of any of the other days. Of the creation of the succeeding two days we shall afterwards speak.

Observe, that according to the Scripture account, the earth was at first covered with the ocean. This fact, which is repeated in a great variety of forms in the sacred page, is in itself very wonderful. By what power, it might have been asked, could continents, which covered millions of square miles of land, be heaved up from the mighty deep? How could the Himalayan mountains, the gigantic Andes, the mountains of the Moon, and all other mountain ranges, many of which extend thousands of miles, be forced up from the deeps and hollows of the profound abyss? Does not this look like fable? Yet the revelation of God is express and unmistakeable. Its testimony is, that the habitable 'world, with all its fulness, is founded upon the seas, and established upon the floods.' 'Its foundations were covered with the deep as with a garment, and the waters stood above the mountains.' What then does geology say to all this?

of the Vestiges speak for himself.

Let the author

The matrix of

organic life is, speaking generally, the sea. The whole of the lowest animal sub-kingdom is aquatic; so are nearly all the mollusca, and a very large

proportion of the articulata. In the vertebrata, the lowest class is wholly aquatic. The arrangement appears to be this-the basis of each line is a series of marine forms.' Here then, after a lapse of many ages, when the book of nature begins to be unrolled, it is found to testify as clearly as does the Word of God, that mountains and valleys formed at one time the bed of the ocean, and were heaved up from its unfathomed depths. The next

truth that strikes the mind is this, that, according to Scripture, the creation was not all effected at once, but in distinct periods or days. Geology again establishes the same truth, that all kinds of plants and animals did not spring into being at once, but rose in gradual succession. Now let us attend to the order of succession. By the Mosaic account, 1. The sea existed, and we may therefore expect a number of marine productions; which, having no connection with man, are independent of the six days' creation. 2. The dry land appears, and trees and plants are brought into existence. 3. The waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth. 4. The earth brings forth its living creatures-cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of