upon the earth. The greatness of God's power is here shown by making the air support a body nearly one thousand times heavier: this it does by converting it into steam. But the air not only supports water, for massive bodies of iron are likewise observed to come from it,' and which are supposed to have been generated therein, unless indeed we believe them to have been projected from the volcanoes of the moon; but whatever the cause, the effect is alike wonderful.

We may thus form a slight idea of the vast quantity of water which the atmosphere is capable of sustaining, especially when it has been ascertained that 150,000 million tons of water fall in Great Britain, in the form of rain or dew. The evaporation of the Mediterranean is so great, that it does not increase, although seven large rivers enter it, besides the constant current through the straits of Gibraltar. See Dr. Thomson's 'Outline of Heat and Electricity.' The mean depth of the Atlantic is three, and of the Pacific four miles (Dr. Young); and water now

1 A stone fell in Yorkshire, in December, 1795, weighing 56 pounds (half-a-hundredweight). Sir Joseph Banks observed a great similarity in its structure with several that were picked up at Sienna, in July, 1794. The emperor Maximilian had an account drawn up of one that fell at Ensisheim, in 1492, weighing 270 pounds. A mass of iron seen by Pallas, in Siberia, which was of meteoric origin, weighed 1400 pounds. Another, found about 500 miles N. W. of Buenos Ayres, is described in the Phil. Trans. for 1788. It weighed upwards of 13 tons. A specimen of it is in the British Museum. Another mass was found in Brazil, about 150 miles from Bahia. It was estimated at upwards of six tons. A fragment was analyzed by Dr. Wollaston. Another, and perhaps the most probable theory, is that proposed by Chladni, viz. that they are bodies, or fragments of bodies, moving in open space, like the comets, which occasionally come within the attraction of the earth. But whatever their origin, it is certain that they are supported and carried round the earth, by its centrifugal and centripetal forces combined, for some time before it finally strikes it; for it is observed that they always fall in an oblique direction.

covers more than two-thirds of the surface of our globe.

Bishop Watson says that the water contained in the clouds would form a stratum round the earth thirty feet in depth. But after God had thus separated this body of water from the waters of the earth, yet there remained still sufficient to cover it. See verse 9. If to these two great bodies of water were added that contained in the bowels of the earth, as at the time of the deluge, when "the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven opened," (see vii. 11.) we need not suffer ourselves to be perplexed by the assertions of those who maintain the impossibility of an universal

Deluge.

Verses 9, 10. Here the water is described as gathered together in different places, so as to form "seas," and thus to enable the dry land to appear. This may have been effected by means of volcanoes, and the other ever-acting powers of the earth, so as to cause the earth to rise in the form of mountains and high lands. This is confirmed by vii. 19, 20; and both these passages, by observation of the mountains themselves, few of which have any secondary strata upon them, which they would have, had they been level at the time of the deluge.

Verse 14. See verses 3-5, "days." The revolutions of the earth, therefore, if not its rotations, commenced on the fourth day.

Verse 16. Sir William Herschel discovered that the body of the sun is an opaque substance, and that its light and heat proceed from a luminous atmosphere attached to it, but 2500 miles distant from its surface.

Though the sun was created on the fourth day, yet the light that is attached to it was created on the first day. See verses 3-5. It is possible that this light was supplied by the comets, for these are ascertained to diminish every revolution.

"He made the stars also." Moses does not describe the stars as assisting the moon to rule the night, and it is uncertain whether he meant them to be included in the following verse, in “giving light upon the earth.”

From this it is manifest that they may not have been created at the same time as the sun and moon. We may, therefore, conclude, that the sun and moon were created for the service of the earth, and that the stars were to assist therein, though not ordained exclusively for that purpose. This is confirmed by several of the stars being invisible to the naked eye, and the greater the power of the telescope, the more becoming visible. New stars are also continually appearing in the heavens, which Huygens concluded was owing to their light having only just reached the earth, although created from the foundation of the world; but this must be greatly exaggerated, though it would take four months for the sun's light to reach Sirius, which is the nearest of the stars, this is twenty-one million of millions of miles distant, and they are thought to be similar distances from each other.

From the sudden appearance of some, however, and the as sudden disappearance of others, they may be rather regarded as recent manifestations of the power and governance of an infinite Deity.

But for what cause have the stars been created? Though we are ignorant of this, yet we may be

certain that God intended us to profit by them. If created exclusively for the sight of man, we may compare them to some of the minerals of the earth, which, though beautiful to the eye, are only stumbled upon by chance, and are of no further use to mankind, but are intended to cause us to glorify God, by convincing us of his great power. See Job xxxvi. 24. For though we may consider it as impossible that God should create such large bodies (being at least a million times larger than our earth), which may not be discovered till future ages, and then only by a solitary astronomer; and some to be kept concealed from the eye of man for ever: yet whether is easier, or which more difficult for God to create, an atom or a world, a shining mineral or a glowing sun? See Matthew ix. 5. But if, as is far more probable, from their resemblance to our sun, they are centres round which other worlds revolve, we are lost in the contemplation of the wonderful works of God. Then may be applied to them that saying of Christ to the Jews, John x. 16. "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."

Verse 20. Thus birds as well as fish are children of the ocean. They resemble each other, in their forms and the elements in which they move, and also in their manner of moving, and propagating by eggs. Dr. Thomas Willis observes that their brains are very similar; so also are their eyes.

Verse 21. This refutes the theories of those who say that the simpler kinds of animals lived first, and gave way gradually to more complex ones.

Verse 31." And behold it was very good." To God,

How

whose wisdom is far above out of our sight, nothing was imperfect, but every thing was very good. foolish then do we discover ourselves to be, when we find fault with the least of God's works. (To be continued.)

AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION.

We were so struck by the justness of the following remarks, that we take the liberty of transferring them from the columns of the Record,' to our pages.

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'We avail ourselves of this opportunity of stating our deliberate conviction, which we trust we may be permitted to do without giving offence to any one, that there is at present a want of faithfulness exhibited by the higher clergy and dignitaries of the church, who perceive the important error and extreme danger of the doctrines now advanced by Dr. Pusey and others. We submit with all deference and respect, and only from an imperious sense of duty, that they betray unfaithfulness-we say, unfaithfulness— in not bearing at least as public a testimony against those doctrines as their abettors exhibit in their promulgation. And with all respect we warn them that important mischief is insidiously advancing in the church, which might have been in all probability prevented, and which may now be effectually arrested, if they will, at least, with boldness and decision declare the sense of the malignity of the evil, which we know they entertain.

These semi-popish and pestiferous dogmas are