creature invisible in His sight (Esth. xiii.)

"But all

things are naked and open to His eyes” (Heb. iv.) Of a solitary in the desert, it is related that on being asked how he came to know that, there was a God, he replied: "In the same way, as I know by the prints that are made in the sand, whether an animal has passed before me. Do not," he added, "the heavens by the splendour of the stars, the world by the immensity of its extent, and the ocean by the magnificence of its waves, sufficiently make known the power and greatness of their Author?"

In the dispute between Job and his incredulous friends, the most patient of men hesitated not to appeal even to the brute creation. "Ask, then, the beasts, and they shall tell thee; speak to the earth, and it shall answer thee; and the fishes of the sea shall tell: Who is ignorant that the hand of the Lord hath made all these things?" (Job. xii.) Wherefore, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, our God, to receive glory, and honour, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for Thy will they were, and have been, created" (Apoc. iv.)

CHAPTER III.

GEOLOGICAL, AND OTHER WITNESSES, (CONTINUED).

"THE earth's beauty makes His works known among the people: remember that His name is high" (Is. xii.) "Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth." (Is. xl.) "Come, and behold ye the works of the Lord, what wonders He has done upon earth." (Ps. 45). "O Lord, Lord, Almighty King! Thou hast made heaven and earth, and all things that are under the cope of heaven." (Est. xiii.) "And God called the dry land, earth.” (Gen. ii.)

Apart from Revelation, we know nothing of the world's remotest annals, except from its wrecks and ruins. Comparing these remains with divine testimony, we may learn from both witnesses how the earth became the pavement of a temple to the Most High, and how slowly, though surely, was raised the present majestic super

structure.

It is an axiom that, to exercise a student's intellect, to

stimulate a philosopher's research, and to encourage a divine's investigation, no theme can be selected more attractive than nature's varied aspects, when viewed as illustrations of God's power and magnificence.

"Thus the children of men,

Whom Nature's works can charm, with Godliness,
Hold converse,--grow familiar, day by day,
With God's conceptions,-act upon His plans,
And form to His, the relish of their souls."

Paleantologists are said to have registered about a thousand species of extinct animals in Britain alone. Linnæus's axiom was, that "minerals grow, plants grow and live, while animals grow, live, and feel." But, may it not be said that the more we search into the Creator's natural kingdoms the more we perceive a principle of unity in them all?

Almost everywhere, geologists may trace physical analogies, which coincide with revealed truths. These results may be adduced in proof of the world's origin from an Intelligent cause. If explorings amid nature's antiquities be candidly examined, they will be found, in the main, to agree with the Mosaic account of the world's creation.

The earth's history may be summarily divided into the three following propositions: First, "God was the primeval Author of all things. Secondly, at the world's formation, to the chaotic materials, the Lord said: "Let there be order," and harmony was the consequence. Thirdly, some thousand years ago, in punishment of human crime, man's terrene abode was accursed by

its Creator. Subsequently, with the exception of Noah's household, the earth's criminal inhabitants were deluged and destroyed by a watery flood. Vestiges of this catastrophe may still be seen on the globe's surface.

Notwithstanding this disaster, what lovely features do not the earth's landscapes present, especially at summertide, to the rambler, who may exclaim:

"Beautiful world

Shining around me ;
Manifold, million hued!
Wonders confound me !

From earth, sea, and starry sky,
Meadows and mountains,

Eagerly gushes

Life's magical fountains.

Thou quick-teeming world,

Though scoffers may blame thee,
I admire and worship

The God, who did frame thee.”

Whoever wanders, with an observing eye, in search of remote evidence to the Creator's power, may find much to repay inquiry in the vestiges of an antedeluvian period. Even were he to travel over hill and dale as far "As fancy flies, or life stream flows,

From Arabia's desert to the Greenland snows,"

he would find himself encompassed with "a cloud of witnesses."

Referring to the children of men, Truth's oracle assures that “God set his eye upon their hearts to show them the greatness of His works, that they might praise the name, which He hath sanctified, and glory in his wondrous acts, that they might declare the glorious things of His works." (Eccles. xvii.)

Hence the declaration of Israel's inspired king: "The light of the Lord's countenance is signed upon us, and His majesty fills the whole earth.” (Ps.)

Removing from one natural kingdom to another, let the student interrogate the common elements, and he—

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May find a tongue in every flame,
And hear a voice in every wave;
To these the bounteous Godhead gave
Fitting organs to praise his name.
They speak their Maker as they can,

Yet wish they had the tongue of man."

At early dawn, ere the meadows have thrown off their fleecy mantles, and while the hedge-rows are still ornamented with gems more pellucid than diamonds, then is the appropriate time,—

"To upspring from the bed of sloth, to pass

The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour,
To meditation due, and sacred song;

During a daily devious morning walk."

Poets tell us, as was before observed, that there is a sweetness as well as sanctity in the mountain air; indeed, if the geological rambler's path lead from the plain to a highland acclivity, let him, by all means, pause to inhale it, while

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he marks the sable woods,

That shade sublime yon mountain's nodding brow.
With what religious awe, the solemn scene,

Commands his steps, as if the reverend form

Of Moses or of David should forsake

The Elysian seat, and down the embowering glade,
Move to his pensive eye."

Again, when a solitary mountaineer beholds the dawn

ing sun bathe, with light, the roseate sky, or, when