Here we have an additional proof of its universality; for Noah would not have been enjoined so particularly to take into the ark some of every living thing that moveth upon the earth, "fowls after their kind, cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the earth after his kind."-vi. 20;-he would not, I say, have been so enjoined, had any part of the earth escaped the sentence.

Verses 6 and 7. "And Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark."

It is a remarkable circumstance, and shews that all the events of this world are governed by God's wisdom and providence, that notwithstanding the great ages of mankind at this time,-for Adam lived to see his grandson to the eighth generation, viz., Lamech the father of Noah, and Noah conversed with Abram his grandson to the tenth generation, (and outlived some of them,) and with all his ancestors, except Adam and Seth, (and Enoch, who was translated)—yet all these seven ancestors died, even Lamech his father, before the flood came upon the earth.1

Thus we see that God would not have carried all these off by death, had he suffered any of mankind to escape by journeying to a distant country.

Verse 11. "All the fountains of the great deep. were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."-See note to i. 6. of Genesis, in "Mosaic Geology."

The highest mountain on the earth is not five miles high, which, in comparison to the whole globe, is not a greater inequality than the protuberances on the rind of an orange. We may, therefore, easily imagine how small a quantity of water (in comparison), emitted from the bowels of the earth, would be sufficient to drown the whole globe.

The mean depth of the Atlantic, as stated by Dr. Young, is three, and of the Pacific four, miles; and water covers at present two-thirds of the surface of the world. See observations under the head of "Mosaic Geology," pages 328, 9.

Verse 19. "And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered."

Jacob..........

In the last column we may observe how rapidly the age of man diminished after Noah. He not only, therefore, lived to converse with Abraham, but actually outlived two of his descendants, Peleg in the fifth, and Nahor in the eighth, generation from himself, whose age he exceeded six times.

Here is another distinct statement of the earth being entirely surrounded by water.

Among geologists, Werner and many others are satisfied, from the appearances of the strata of the earth, that the whole earth was covered. Dolomien observes, that limestone covers more than two-thirds of our continents, and that its beds being horizontal, and containing fossils, mark the long residence of the sea on them.

Verse 20. "And the mountains were covered; fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail."

These are the greatest proofs that we have of the deluge, and remain unanswerable. If they were covered, we may be sure that all flesh must have perished; and that they were covered is evident on examination, when we shall find them covered with sand, sea-shells, and skeletons of fishes.

Dr. Buckland states that mummulites (a species of shell-fish) are found so close together on Mount Bolca, the Alps, Carpathians, and Pyrenees, as to resemble the grains in a heap of corn.

Other parts of the earth have been covered with different strata since the deluge, which strata are still going on; but mountains being above their influence, expose only the stratum deposited by the deluge. And if we refer to the historian, we shall find that all nations have a tradition respecting it, and consider themselves as the direct descendants of a single pair of human beings, saved from the general destruction; which would not have been the case had any portion of mankind been saved besides Noah and his family.

In application we may remark, that though God has promised that "the waters shall no more become

a flood to destroy all flesh," Gen. ix. 15. yet a general destruction not only of the generations of mankind, but of the globe and universe, is plainly foretold, both in the book of Revelation, and by our Lord himself in chapter xxiv. of Matthew, from verse 29 to the end. But the effect of death will be the same whether we are taken off now, or at the last trump. "Watch, therefore, for ye know not at what hour your Lord doth come:"-" for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh."

"Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden, which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflowed by a flood; which said unto God, Depart from us.”—Job xxii. 15—17.

"Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils."-Psalm of David xviii. 15.

"Thou coverest it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains."civ. 6.

"The world that then was, being overflowed by water, perished."-2 Peter iii. 6.

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The following passages seem also to refer to it :Job xii. 15. Psalm lxi. 2; lxix. 1, 2, 15; xc. 1 to 6. 1 Peter iii. 20. 2 Peter ii. 5. Besides which, our Lord himself refers to it: see Matt. xxiv. 37 to 39.

THE RELIGION OF NATURE.

No. I. INTRODUCTION.

To an attentive observer of the human race, whether in past or present times, few things are more striking than the prevalence, among all nations, of some form of religious belief and worship; however absurd may be that belief-however senseless or detestable the rites of that worship.

Be the idol visible or imaginary, wood or stone, animal or vegetable; be it the bull or the onion of ancient Egypt, the solar Apollo of the Greeks and Romans, the misletoe of the Druid, or the hideous and deformed image of India or Owhybee; still it is an idol—a false god, and it is worshipped as a divinity, whether by the horrible unnatural rites of - Typhon, by the frantic orgies of the Bacchanalia, or by the bloody immolations of Juggernaut's car. It is religion, however absurd, however odious.

No nation is without some form, some degree of it; from the wise and polished sage of Athens or Crotona, and the mystical Brahmin philosopher of the banyan-tree, down to the debased cannibal of New Zealand, and the naked, besotted devil-worshipper of the Eboe river. All, however pagan, however barbarous, have some notion of a deity, either good or bad; some fear of his vengeance, some desire for his favour. It is left for civilized man, in