too ignorant to perceive the unbounded hazard of such a principle. And, it may surprise them to be told, boastful as they have been, that they have not even read with understanding, the plainest passages of a book, which is far more often read than considered, and much too often read for the purpose of confirming a religious hypothesis, not for discovering the truth."*

Baron Cuvier. "We see," says Baron Cuvier, "that, even in confining themselves to the limits of Genesis, naturalists have a wide field before them; they soon found themselves in difficulties, and when they had succeeded in attributing to the six days of creation, indefinite periods, ages costing them nothing, their systems took a flight proportioned to the intervals which they could dispose of."

Ignatius Paradisi. Ignatius Paradisi, a learned ecclesiastic of Florence, has advanced a theory by which the facts established by Cuvier concerning the revolutions of the globe are reconciled with the Mosaic cosmogony.

The first of these revolutions, is that which displaced the materials of which the surface of the globe is formed, from their original position;-elevating the mountains and forming the great valleys which the earth now presents. At this time "darkness dwelt upon the face of the deep," no organized beings had been created, and hence among: the primitive rocks, no fossil remains are found.

The second revolution, or series of revolutions, formed the strata now called secondary, and in which are includ-ed innumerable remains of plants and animals. Hence these revolutions took place after God had said, "Let the earth bring forth grass," and "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life."

Geologists have attempted to show, that between these revolutions, there must have been an indefinite series of ages, and an equal number of creations and annihilations of organized beings, at least before the races now in existence were brought into being.

But, says Paradisi, it does not seem reasonable to attribute to a long duration of time, the production of those

* Geology, vol. ii. p. 62..

+ Revolution of the Globe, p. 28.

phenomena of the causes and agents of which we are entirely ignorant. We find at first, that "The earth was without form and void," Gen. i. 2, and how long it was in this state, we are not told. But when the "Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," then took place those first revolutions, the origin and cause of which, geologists have so vainly attempted to conjecture. With respect to the agents employed to effect this revolution, we are entirely ignorant. It is sufficient for us to show that nothing in geology is opposed to the expressions of revelation, but on the contrary that all the new discoveries tend to confirm its truth.

Who will not perceive, in the expression, "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," the origin of these first revolutions, for the historian immediately proceeds to describe the effects produced. "Let there be light." "Let there be a firmament." "Let the waters under the firmament be congregated," and "Let the dry land appear."

To see in an instant, light divided from darkness; waters formed into seas, and the dry ground appearing at the command of the Omnipotent, what is it but to exhibit the most violent changes.

Could the work of the third day, when the mountains were elevated, the waters gathered, and the dry land made to appear, have been performed without convulsing the earth to her centre? And how vain would it be to seek to reduce such phenomena to the ordinary laws of nature? As vain as to attempt to explain by the laws of vegetation, the sudden production of ripe fruits; or by those of animal physiology, the instant creation of a man in full size and vigor. Says Cuvier, "the methods of nature are changed, the thread of her operations is broken, and none of the agents she now employs could have produced her ancient works."

The second series of revolutions happened when our earth was clothed with vegetation, and full of living beings with the exception of man, having also many species of animals now extinct. These revolutions are indicated by the remains of plants and animals found in the strata of our globe.

At this period, only a single pair of our race were in existence. They were placed in the garden of Eden, but they sinned and fell. "Cursed be the ground for thy sake," said God to Adam; and who can tell what horrible

revolutions this earth was made to suffer, when this awful malediction was pronounced? We may believe that with the exception of such as were in Paradise, every creature which had life, perished, and that the whole earth was changed into a dreary desert, fit only to produce briars and thorns. In this awful change ought we not to see that revolution which buried such innumerable numbers of plants and animals in the strata of the earth, and whose remains we find at this day?

"Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field," was the terrible sentence which the sin of man brought upon the earth, and upon himself.

We know with certainty that the earth has suffered a revolution, which buried the productions of her surface in its ruins; and it is a fact of sacred history, that this same earth was cursed of God, and that in consequence of that curse it was suddenly and entirely transformed, and laid waste. Nor can any known cause, except this curse, be assigned with any degree of probability to account for this revolution. Why, then, have recourse to a long succession of ages to explain such phenomena? Time is not of itself an agent of nature. No extent of time can give to nature, forces which it does not possess, nor agents of which it is manifestly destitute.

If we inquire where was man, and the animals which survived this revolution, the historian informs us. They were all in the Paradise of delights. Without inquiring into the site of Paradise, it is evident that it was separated from the earth which was cursed. This appears evident from the expressions, Plantaverat autem Dominus Deus, Paradisum Voluptatis; But the Lord God had planted a Paradise of pleasure; and afterwards, Tulit ergo Dominus Deus, hominem et posuit eum in Paradiso voluptatis. Therefore the Lord God took man and placed him in the Paradise of delight. It evidently follows that Paradise was a very different place from that earth which was cursed, and which was afterwards destined to be the abode of Adam and his posterity. Here, therefore, our first parents dwelt with all the animals which survived the catastrophe consequent upon the curse God had pronounced. The fossil bones which are found so, abundantly at the present day, belonged to animals which had been dispersed over the earth. These all perished, and hence many of

their species remain extinct, while the species which were in Paradise are those which now exist. Paradise was then the only place of refuge, as the ark afterwards was during the deluge. Thus may these singular phenomena be explained by the sacred history, and under its faithful guidance do we recognize the second series of revolutions, exhibited by the aspect of our earth.

These are the opinions of some of the most enlightened men who have lately written on this long controverted subject, and we may remark in general, that the more that is known of geology, the greater is the number of advocates for allowing the common reading of the scriptures to remain, under a belief that further investigations will destroy every ground of excuse for a change in the obvious meaning of Moses.

INDIAN ASTRONOMICAL TABLES.

Since we are on the subject of the connection between the sciences and revelation, we will end our labors by briefly citing two or three instances, in which infidelity, for a time, was allowed to triumph over the scriptures in such a manner as seemed to show, that either the demonstrations of the exact sciences must be false, or the writings of Moses could not be true. But the reader will see, that in these as well as in all other cases, inspiration has proved itself the test of truth.

The Hindoo, or Indian Tables, were calculated by the astronomers of India, and were supposed, by many, to substantiate, in no small degree, the pretensions of the Hindoos to the vast antiquity which they have always claimed for their nation. Here, it was said, were mathematical calculations of great abstruseness and accuracy, made by these people, thousands of years anterior to the epochs at which any European nation could trace its origin.

These tables were first published in Europe by M. Bailly, a Frenchman, who claimed a high standing in the world for learning and eloquence. But had it not been for the influence of Professor Playfair, of Edinburgh, they would have been little known, and, therefore, would have had little influence in depreciating the veracity of Moses.

In a paper which this learned professor read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in 1788, he declared his unqualified belief in the truth and solidity of this Hindoo production.

No Professor in Europe, had, at that period attained to a higher eminence in the department of mathematics, than Playfair; and being withal a man of amiable manners, and the most eloquent of scientific writers, his open avowal of the truth of a series of mathematical calculations, designed to prove that the Christian had no foundation for his belief, could not but have produced strong emotions in the public mind. Some who had never before doubted, now began to waver; while others who had before tried to become sceptics, now had sufficient excuse, as they thought, to come out downright infidels.

Professor Playfair's commentary on the Indian Astronomy was published in the Phiosophical Transactions for 1790. He there says, that "it is through the medium of astronomy alone, that a few rays from those distant objects, (the primitive inhabitants of the earth,) can be conveyed in safety to the eye of a modern observer, so as to afford him a light, which, though scanty, is pure and unbroken, and free from the false coloring of vanity and superstition." Thus declaring, that it is through the medium of astronomy, and not through that of revelation, that we are to look for any knowledge of antiquity, "which is pure, and free from the false coloring of vanity and superstition."

With respect to the tables themselves, Professor Playfair says, "that on grounds which have now been explained, the following general conclusions appear to be established. The observations on which the astronomy of India is founded, were made more than 3000 years before the Christian era, (consequently 650 years before the deluge, by the Hebrew chronology,) and, in particular, the places of the sun and moon, in the beginning of the Calyyoug, or age of misfortune, that is 3102 years before the Christian era, were determined by actual observation."

"Two other elements of this astronomy," he continues, "the equation of the sun's centre, and the obliquity of the ecliptic, when compared with those of the present time, seem to point to a period of this astronomy 1000 or 1200 years earlier, (that is 4300 years before the Christian era,) and the time necessary to have brought the arts of calculating