and productive powers of nature herself, so torpid and sluggish, as they are represented in this novel and extraordinary theory. If it were given to the imagination, to flutter where the body could not follow or exist, and to conceive thoughts or subjects that never could have reached it through the avenue of the senses-upon such grounds as the lights of geology supply, here a crystallized rock, there a bituminized vegetable, let us wade our way to some firm consistance, and catch a faint view of the earliest epochs of creation. That heat was the prime agent in the structure of the surface of the earth, as it is, in the formation of all organized bodies, distinct evidences are left in the lowest rocks to which we have penetrated; nor could it have acted so unequivocally, powerfully, or universally, if the ocean had then been in existence. We may conceive, therefore, that the heat dislodged from among the component atoms of the earth, from the centre up to the surface, by the approximating effects of gravitation, or the attraction of cohesion, and from the surface down to the centre, by the contracting power of the extreme cold of space, issued where there was least resistance at the surface itself. Along with it, and by its dispersive power, exhaled into an atmosphere the finer and more subtile portions of the earth, in a vaporous state. These gases, it may be assumed, were kindled by, and inflamed in their turn, the highly heated crust, which, while in a molten and incoherent state was thrown by the various influences of the earth's rotation, into irregularities of level, of height, and depth. Part of these vapours were condensed into water, by the cold above, or still more emphatically, and in a manner antithetical to the theory now in question, exploded by a chemical union into the whole body of ocean, with a thunder-clap which shook the earth in its sphere. The precipitation of the mighty waters on the ardent and enkindled earth, breaking down and grinding to atoms its craggy surface, was followed, perhaps, by their immediate rejection back into the atmosphere, in whole or in part, till bringing with them the icy chill of space above, they hollowed out and slaked for themselves a bed, or rather cauldron, wherein they continued still to toss and boil and seethe, casting up round the whole expanse of the globe, incessant volumes of the densest vapour; and sinking into numberless rifts and chasms, by the force of steam and the imprisoned gases, convulsed with a simultaneous effort the compass of the earth, raising up or depressing, rending asunder and breaking up, the vast tabular pavement into masses, and laying open their disruptured and tilted joints, to the dissolving action of the floods. Language, the creation of more peaceful times, would utterly fail to describe what man himself was incapable of beholding. Can we place any limits to the rapid and irresistible power of this mighty agent, water, in whatsoever form it may have acted in creation, the destruction of the fire-baked crust of the earth to the greater part of its depth, and its reconstruction round the globe, in successive layers, mellowing gradually to the surface under its softer influence, are sufficient evidences of it. The internal heat partly repressed by the profound depths of ocean, exerted its accumulated force on the shallower parts, and raised them into land, over which the vaporous atmosphere ever lowering, whirled about by hurricanes, and condensed by electric storms and the radiation of cold from above, discharged its never ceasing torrents; not as now, in a night's inundation, covering vast tracts with sand and mud, breaking over river banks, and washing away villages and trees, and disfiguring the face of a whole country; but in effects commensurate with infinitely greater causes, acting over the whole surface of the globe at the same time, deluging whole continents with the materials of older rocks, wearing down and dissolving the upper portion of every fresh deposit, and reproducing it under simpler forms, with gradually lessening effect to the highest stratum. The currents of the ocean, too, dependant on the earth's rotation, the tidal wave, the tremendous swell and uncontrolled force of the surge, goaded on by winds of irresistible fury, speedily broke down and demolished the first appearance of land, and overwhelmed that, which maintained its position, with the ruin of other lands. These effects still decreasing, as the exaltation of land formed a barrier to the flow of the waves and currents, and by diminishing the evaporating surface of the ocean, lessened the perpetual outpouring from the disburthened heavens, and admitted the growth and permanency of an ever increasing extent of continent. The elevation and depression of strata so manifest in all parts, naturally result from the alternate passage of heat from the interior, and of the cold of space, expanding and contracting successively the outer rind of the earth,—it being ever kept in view how thin is the portion thus acted on, and how infinitesimal these oscillations. When the excess of primal heat and its consequences passed away, the earth became more sensible to its own particular laws, and hence many deviations from these general views. We derive from the carboniferous period an evident proof of the gradual decrement of heat from the earliest time. For if the heat of the earth was so great at that epoch, as not merely to counteract the normal tendency of the poles to congelation, but even to produce within the arctic circle, vegetation of much larger and more abundant growth, than the hottest regions of the torrid zone now possess; if the earth had then attained, out of the bare rock, a certain order and arrangement fitting it for the reception of vegetable, and some small portion of animal life, what must have been the degree of heat which prevailed, before it had cooled down sufficiently to become the abode of organic being,—and that it had cooled down is highly probable, for the general temperature of the earth has since fallen to a degree of cold, at which the poles are now perpetually frozen. In like manner, if the internal heat is capable of raising, however insensibly, vast beds of the ocean, and whole tracts of continent, as it is alleged to be still doing; how much more universally, forcibly, and rapidly, must it have acted, when it maintained a temperature far exceeding that of the tropics, all over the globe; still more so, when it existed in the highest degree at the earliest period. Water too, which, by its powerful effects dissolved, at first, the greater part of the solid surface of the earth, ever decreasing in the circuit and violence of its action, subsided at last into the peaceful deposit of alluvium. How clearly is all this manifested in the earth's formation, and how plainly does it contradict the allegations of this theory. At the height at which the chalk stands in the geological scale, we may conclude that the temperature of the ocean had so far declined as to be favourable to the developement of the coralloid animalculae, and their separation into vast deposits; for they are known still to abound in the warmer latitudes. A geologist has computed, that sixteen millions of years were required to form a certain stratum of some thousand feet of uninterrupted thickness in Wales. Is it possible that the earth could have remained so perfectly at rest, during such an incredible period, as to have allowed such a deposition to take place, without the least irregularity or intermixture of other strata? Its entire uniformity is rather a proof of the suddenness of the operation. When it is objected, "that so many myriads of ages consumed in the growth of a world, is inconsistent with infinite power and wisdom," we are answered by some advocate of this theory, pointing to the immeasurable distance between this world and the stars, and we are asked to account for so boundless a void as that; and this is considered a sufficient reply. But the void, thus referred to, not like that of a world lying pointless and profitless, in the throes of its birth, for countless ages, is, on the contrary, pregnant with purpose, tremblingly alive with the pulsations of light in all directions, instinct with the infinitely delicate films of attraction of every possible length, direction, and ratio; a medium, a great highway of communication between the various members of the starry union were it otherwise, and the distance between these worlds materially diminished, we should feel ourselves continually pulled on one side or other by the various planetary influences, like so many puppets, and cease to be masters of our own motions; while the delicate organs of sight would be destroyed by the too close proximity of innumerable blazing orbs above and around us; as blinding as the red-hot basins with which the jealous Emperors of the East were wont to extinguish the sight and pretensions of those nearest the throne. ; Let us now enquire what is proposed by this theory. Is it intended to suggest that the Almighty, at the beginning of all things, created the universe at one and the same time, assigning to every world its appointed place for eternity: and that the removal of any one of these, or the insertion of any new world among the others, would destroy this established order and equilibrium; and that when, in the course of time, each world is fully peopled, continents are submerged, with all their vestiges of the living on them, and new tracts heaved up, leaving only such a tradition of a former world as the deluge supplies? But neither can we consider this opinion tenable, for all the grounds on which geologists calculate the age of the world, have reference to its present surface only, and as no depth or amount of exploration has ever lighted on any preadamite cyclopean building, traces of abnormal animals, nor any signs of a former world, such a supposition is altogether gratuitous, nor is it easy to divine, whence proceed those material causes, that act thus over again and again to all eternity the first scenes of creation. If economy is distinctly traceable through all nature, if it is an au thentic rule, an established law over all created things,-why was it wanting in creation itself? What an unaccountable waste of time and power is assumed in this theory, utterly countervailing all the benefits obtained afterwards by the frugality of Providence, and leaving so painful a vacuum in the human mind, so weary and long-drawn an absence of all wisdom and beneficence, as is truly abhorrent to our rational nature. Conceive, if it be possible, the light and life-giving power of the sun, beaming, all-bountiful, yet to no purpose, for millions of years over an insensate earth,-the silver moon for countless ages shedding its soft lustre on a thankless world,-the lovely morning breaking for endless years, and not an eye upturned to admire and adore, the seasons revolving in a perpetual round, and not a hand to record their beneficent purposes, by sowing the seed, or reaping its produce; and the blessed gifts of heaven, so prized by men, all running to waste, and created to no present end. Is it thus that we pronounce of Almighty wisdom and power? When we behold then, the great act of creation completed; every department of nature, populous with overflowing races, or adorned with every mode of vegetable life; every system of heat and cold, of drought and moisture, of growth and decay, all duly evolved and co-operating in harmony; a state of atmosphere, of climates and seasons, highly conducive to the existence of men and animals, and productive of all that is essential to their wellbeing; -when we behold all these so duly balanced, that the slightest departure from their present relations would involve the destruction of the whole, how can we imagine that the uniform regularity with which these diverse operations are now carried on, represent correctly those periods of disorder and imperfection which characterize the world so manifestly in its creation. Why, too, should so infinite a time, according to human calculation, be assigned, in preparation for the execution of a purpose so clearly finite, as the covering a certain given space, with beings ever multiplying rapidly. It is far easier to comprehend that the Almighty, with certain powerful instruments at his command, created the world, lapping it at one time in flame, and quenching it at another with flood, urging on each successive epoch, suitable to its inorganic or organic nature, and perfecting the whole, with a unity of design and accomplishment, that authenticates it as the work of an Almighty mind,-than to conceive, in the absence of all visible means, how the first man was created. The miraculous portion of creation, then, may well incline us to believe that the creation which preceded and accompanied it was in its nature little less miraculous. LITERARY NOTICES. Britain's Last Struggle: being a series of Lectures, illustrative of the Character, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of the "Two Witnesses;" by the Reverend JAMES WRIGHT, Minister of the Congregation of Original Seceders, Laurieston Street, Edinburgh. Third edition. Edinburgh: James Wood, Princes Street. London: J. Nisbet & Co., Berners Street. 1853. We have always considered that the interpret prophecy is a dangerous one. system of definitely attempting to Not to speak of the presumption, and in many instances, the impious presumption of endeavouring to make light what God has left dark, there is the danger, which has too often become a certainty, of exciting the ridicule of the profane, or confirming the scepticism of the unbelieving. We have frequently thought that Cowper's lines, with reference to God's providential dealings with the world, and with men, was very applicable to prophecy : "Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain ; At present, partly from the unsettled and cloudy state of the political horizon at home and abroad, and partly from the subject of prophecy being enthusiastically contemplated, there is a prevalent attempt to give a form and voice to this hovering spirit of uneasiness and uncertainty; and, as in all ages, prophecy is pressed into this venturous, we had almost say, presumptuous, service-sanguine, enthusiastic, and fanatical men have, in every age, been found interpreting prophecy, in accordance with the complexion of their creed, and to confirm their own particular notions. Even Popery has the hardihood to interpret the mystic pages of John; and of course, in its own favour. Taking advantage of the feeling that is abroad with reference to public affairs, we have publication after publication issuing from the press; and recently, among the number, a sixpenny pamphlet, entitled the "Coming Struggle"-which pretends to determine the mysterious events of the Apocalypse with authoritative certainty, and affirms, with something like inspired assurance, that, in the next fifteen years, these events shall have come to pass. Such interpreters of prophecy have always been found from the Thessalonian Christians downwards, whom Paul both admonishes and rebukes, for their heated and hasty expectations. Every reader of history, to go no further, cannot fail to remember the Fifth Monarchy men of the time of Cromwell, who formed a very large body indeed in the commonwealth, and concerning the exertion of whose influence, to the very overturning of the government, the Protector had at one time the most serious apprehensions. His course was the true one. He firmly set himself to repress their ridiculous extravagances.-It augurs little for the sound sense and solid piety of the British public, when an anonymous pamphlet can so successfully excite the hopes, and arouse the fears, of the inhabitants of these lands;—and where, we may well ask, is the proof that the would-be predictions of the pamphlet in question-we say the pamphlet in question, for certainly they are not those of the Book of Revelation-are to come to pass? One is, that the British Government having withdrawn Sir Stratford Canning, from being ambassador at the Porte, the way is left open for the Emperor of Russia seizing upon Turkey, and that he is instantly to be in possession of the Sultan's capital. Well, in answer to this, we have to ask the author what he makes of Sir Stratford Canning's having returned? The conclusions which he ominously draws from this circumstance, are manifestly forgone and impotent. But this is only a specimen of the entire production; and we are to have crowded into the next fifteen years, events of such magnitude and importance, as that none, approaching them in consequence have happened, during the progress of the last fifteen has done. What will the author of this rash, ridiculous and bombastic attempt at vaticination, say at the end of the period he sets apart for the fulfilment of his prophecies? We tell him, if he be then alive, that "he will be ashamed and confounded." The author of the book whose title-page we have given above, also affirms, in an interpolated preface, that the occurrences, which he shadows forth in his lectures, will assuredly take place during the next fifteen years. But what are the occurrences, according to his interpretation of this portion of the mystic |