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day will probably end with the universal spiritual reign of the Messiah, and the ushering in of the millennium of peace.

Nothing can be more certain, than that there is a constant process of development to be observed in all the works of God, and that, too, extended over a long course of ages. If our author had taken the Word of God for his guide, he would have been enabled to bring forward many most striking proofs of the truth of the general idea; while he would have been saved from that most unfounded and whimsical notion, which he has taken so much trouble to establish, that all organization is to be traced to nucleated cells.

It were as wise to trace the origin of his book to the tooth of a wheel. Toothed pinions have been employed in preparing the materials of which its leaves are formed, in transforming them into paper, in making all parts of its cover, in preparing the ink, in constructing the printing press, and, finally, in throwing off the impressions. If it be asked, what connection could the tooth of a wheel have with the long investigations of the author, or with the profound reasoning by which he has been endeavouring to establish its principles? I point to

Babbage's machine, to prove that wheels can reason as deeply as any philosopher. At all events, I will be prepared with a full and satisfactory solution of the difficulty, when he has explained how the nucleated cells enabled him to examine, reason upon, and demonstrate his hypothesis.

W. C.

45

LETTER VI.

GEOLOGICAL PROOFS OF THE FLOOD.

SIR,-In my last letter I showed, from the history of the Vestiges, that the discoveries of geology wonderfully harmonize with the revelations of Scripture. Both commence the history of organic life with a period when the sea covered the earth. Both show that the creation was not effected all at once, but advanced by successive steps. Both prove that, after the overspreading of the sea, the dry land was heaved up from the bed of the ocean, and trees and plants sprung forth in rich luxuriance. Both show that after this, large fish and sea fowl came into being. Both prove that then, and not till then, all land animals, both what are now wild and tame, and such as the Jews ranked among the clean and the unclean, rose into existence, and that all these successive creations had taken place before man appeared. After the creation was thus terminated, and when the sea was confined within its enclosures, and the dry land was fixed and settled

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in its place, the Word of God, confirmed by the traditions of all nations, proclaims another mighty event, which could not fail to leave clear traces behind. The waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered.' And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.' The infidel has often exultingly asked, Where could water be found to rise to the tops of the mountains ? Though all the clouds in the sky would empty themselves upon the earth, they would occasion no such flood. Without supposing any miraculous supply of water, who can tell with what rapidity the waters of the ocean could be drawn up by the ordinary process of evaporation, and poured down upon the devoted earth? But not only were the windows of heaven opened, and did the rain descend forty days and forty nights, but the fountains of the great deep were broken up, which probably means, that the sea burst from its enclosures, and slowly rolled as a mighty wave over the earth; we presume that this effect would be produced, by either accelerating or retarding the earth's motion upon its axis. If we suppose it to have been retarded, and that the line of the equator passed through some of

the northern countries, which the fossils of the tertiary era appear to prove, the north-west current, afterwards mentioned, will be accounted for. But without stopping to inquire by what means the decree of God was executed, we ask, Does geology convey to us any information concerning the fact? Does the surface of the earth bear any marks of having been swept over with an overwhelming torrent of waters? Here again we must allow the author of the Vestiges to speak for himself (p. 138): 'A great valley has been scooped out in the midst of sedimentary strata, leaving the edges of these facing each other from the opposite sides, with perhaps here and there an isolated mass starting up to the height of the two sides, being composed of matter which has resisted the agency by which the adjoining matter was removed. Here, it is thought, we see incontestable traces of the operation of moving water.

'The second fact we are called to notice is, that over the rock formations of all eras, in various parts of our globe, but confined, in general, to situations not very elevated, there is a layer of stiff clay, mostly of a blue clour, mingled with fragments of rock of all sizes, travel-worn and otherwise, and to which

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