What says

the earth; and, lastly, man appears. geology to this arrangement? Here again let the author speak for himself. After having described various kinds of obscure shell fish, marine plants, &c., he concludes the first age of organization upon earth (p. 57) with the remark, that there was yet no fish, nor any other kind of vertebrated animal, nor any creature which lived upon dry land.' At the end of the second period, after mentioning a number of voracious fishes which swarmed the sea, and which, having no connection with man, were probably not included in the creation of the fifth day, he says (p. 69), 'We meet with no traces of land plants; remains of terrestrial animals have not even been suspected.' Forests and thickets with gigantic vegetables, found in the third era, proclaim that dry land then existed, and was prolific in vegetation. 'But neither man nor any other animals were then in existence, to look for such uses or such beauties in this vegetation' (p. 82). At this time a species of voracious reptile appears, of the lizard kind. At the end of the next period are other voracious reptiles, with frogs and turtles, and a few traces of sea fowl. In the next period, large fish and crocodilelike animals are found. But a being of superhuman

intelligence coming to examine our globe, would have seen all this existing only for fishes, and still humbler creatures of the sea; and for reptiles, insects, and perhaps a few birds, and still fewer opossums, upon land. He would have beheld the tyrant sauria pursuing their carnivorous instincts upon the wave, upon the shore, and even in the air; huge turtles creeping along the muddy coasts; still more huge megalosaurs traversing the plain; frog-like animals, of the bulk of modern boars, croaking in the marshes; and with all this, the air filled with multitudes of insects. But no flocks would have met his eye upon the mountains, no herds quietly rambling in the valleys. He would encounter no tiger, or elephant in the jungle. None of the smaller mammalian quadrupeds, as the dog, the genet, the hedgehog, the hare, the mole, would have presented themselves. And not only were no human beings to be seen, but our supernatural visitant would know that this scene must lie spread out in perfect capability for their reception during whole millenniums, before such beings were to exist' (p. 114). In the subsequent periods, the remains of cattle and beasts of the field are found in abundance. It will thus be seen, that the order of creation is very nearly the same, if not

identical with that given in the first chapter of Genesis. This having been observed, it was supposed by some, that if each day stood for some long and distinct period, the order of geological deposition would harmonize with the Mosaic account. Now the Scriptures declare that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; it might, therefore, be supposed to be no violation of Scripture principle to interpret each day as some long undefined period. For several reasons, however, I am inclined to think that, in the Mosaic account, each day was literally twentyfour hours. 1. The earth appears to have undergone several almost entire revolutions, at which almost all its plants and animals had been changed; only a fragment, if any, of the organized substances of the ancient world now exist. 2. At the age of man's existence, a new creation of plants and animals appears, from the Vestiges, to have taken place, which are, in some degree, different from all that went before. 3. As there were evening and morning each day, they appear to be identified with our present days, and especially this supposition appears best to harmonize with the institution of the Sabbath of rest. It therefore seems more natural to under

stand the passage to refer to single days. When God was about to renovate the earth, and make it a fit residence for man, and especially for him who is at once the Son of man and the Son of God, may we not suppose that he restored it from the ruin into which it had fallen, by creating all things in the same order in which he had formerly called them into existence? Everything, as it came from his hand, was perfect, both in its kind, and in the order of its being; and although, for some mysterious cause, his fair creation was defaced by the old Serpent, yet as it is to be rescued from his grasp, and yet converted into a glorious residence of pure and holy beings, it was perhaps necessary that it should rise to new existence in the order in which it was originally created.

Striking analogies may be traced in all the works of God. For nearly six thousand years, changes have been taking place on our earth, to fit it for the reign of the glorified Redeemer, and the peaceful abode of his church. The seventh thousand year may probably be the Sabbath of the world; when the perverted instincts of the inferior creation shall be rectified, and when they shall be restored to their allegiance to men. For the wolf shall yet dwell

with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them; and the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den; they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.' Analogous changes shall at that time have taken place on the savage tribes of men, who may well be compared to the wild beasts that roam the forest. It is remarkable that advances to this high condition of the renovated earth, have been taking place at regular periods of about a thousand years each. The birth of Noah terminates the first of these long days. The call of Abraham, and the formation of a church, ends the second. Solomon, or the perfection of the outward dispensation, the third. When the moon and starlight of the temple worship had run its course, the fourth day was terminated by the glorious rising of the Sun of righteousness. The fifth thousand years ended with the year 1000 of the Christian era, when England, the nation destined to evangelize a great part of the earth, rose to be a nation. The sixth