rock-beds, hammer and nail for all the dwellings, sledge and anvil for all the smithies, axle, spindle, machinery for all the factories, awl and needle for all the stitching, scissors for all the fashions, cutlery for all the side-boards and surgeons' tables, hooks and harpoons for all the fishing, anchors and cables, beam and boiler for all the shipping, engine and double track for all the railroads, and while need shall be, as, alas! there yet is, though may it disappear in the good time coming, sword and rifle, ball and cannon for all the armaments, of the wide, wide world? And in the whole mighty provision is there less than a great plan, a grand arrangement for the progressive development, the general culture, the onward and upward movement of the entire human race?

The system of adjustments thus conspicuously seen in the class of bodies just examined, the more useful metals, is, however, very far from belonging even mainly to them. The fact is, all terrestrial nature, full as it is of other grand lessons, concurs in proclaiming, with united voice, the Divine purpose to educate and bless universal man. If we inspect the soil on which we tread, whereon our dwellings have their firm foundation, and which from ceaseless resources ministers nourishment to all vegetable and animal being, we find its elements, besides their combined service in agriculture, adapted each in its own way, to extend the comforts and diffuse the elegancies of civilization. It is surely not a little remarkable that of the three abundant earthly bodies, lime, sand, and clay, which constitute the chief portion of all soils, each should be so extensively applicable to its own special uses in the service of human society. In addition to the important part performed by lime, as we have seen, in the enormous smelting processes of the world, it is, as each one knows, a necessary ingredient in the cements, which render stable and impervious to the elements, the walls of cottage and palace, factory and temple, throughout the globe. Then the other two earths, besides a like service in association with lime, the one by direct mixture with it to form mortar, and both in conjunction to produce those convenient, regular, and durable blocks of artificial stone, so familiar under the common name of bricks, are each

of world-wide application to other uses, as beautiful as they are beneficial. Is it less than part of a surprising plan, that clay, all diffused as it is, should have received properties which, over and above all else that it answers, adapt it to the production, under cvltivated art, of all those neat, suitable, exquisite forms of porcelain ware, which minister so improvingly not only to the physical, but also to the mental taste? And still more remarkably, is it less than a wonderful ordinance for the elevation of men, that sand, so common, so abundant, should, in addition to all its other services, be so constituted as, through scientific skill, to produce that admirable, beautiful substance glass, the comfort, the ornament of our homes, and more, greatly more for as it lets in upon private chamber, and public hall, and sacred fane, the gladdening light of day, so does it by another marvellous adjustment, when suitably curved, besides reinvigorating the energies of enfeebled vision, empower optic tube telescopic and microscopic, to pour in upon the mind the light of truth from nature, in her grandeur, and in her humble munificence. Surely, surely, this is a token from heaven of what is intended to be yet wrought for all the rationally endowed creatures on whom the sun-light falls.

And where can we look without finding similar indications? The air we breathe sustains the flame that warms us, and that fire is itself a provision universally attendant upon man, and essential to his existence; a servant obedient to his behests, and mighty to minister, with unfailing breath, and hands innumerable, to his comfort and his culture. The delicious nectar of nature which we quaff from its own living, sparkling fountain, stimulated by that other glowing agent, becomes itself aroused into a resistless energy adequate to tasks incredible, yet wisely dealt with, tractable, submissive, faithful; at once the most vigorous, the most versatile, and the most untiring of all the laborers even subjected by superior reason; and ever at hand, wherever man can find a dwelling-place! Is there no all-suggesting significance in this?

But, not to multiply to weariness our illustrations, from evidences that crowd the world, we conclude with one other instance, and perhaps the most striking of all, in its character

and relations. As man multiplies and improves, as his wants increase, and his knowledge extends, larger harvests must be reaped. His cotton-fields and his pastures must expand; his sugar-plantations and his coffee-groves must have more room; his orchards and his gardens must be multiplied. In short, the soil must be tilled, with nearer and nearer approximation to its utmost capacity. For this, then, the forests must fall-save only as timber, after all that metal can substitute for land and sea-structures, has to be spared and cherished. All fuel above the earth's surface, for civilized men, is undoubtedly failing, and surely destined, at no distant day, to become utterly inadequate, if not altogether unused. How then shall extra-tropical human homes be warmed? Food every where prepared? Metal reduced and wrought? Steam generated for universal service? And adequate illumination secured, alike to cities, and multiplied rural dwellings, for the useful night hours of half the year, in all but the equatorial countries of the earth?

The great problem has, for countless ages, been solved in the plans of Providence, and the answer laid by to be brought forth in the fore-seen day of need. Far back, in the unregistered cycles, e'er yet our steaming planet, in the solemn silence of its mighty journeying, had heard the sound of human voice, or even, it may be, the foot-fall of solitary quadruped, creative wisdom had called into being vast forests of resinous quality, and gigantic proportions. These, whatever ends subserving in those preparatory revolutions, when sufficiently accumulated for their after-purpose, were at length uptorn, gathered into huge masses, floated into great lake-beds, beds, covered with enormous deposits of earth and rock, and subjected to immense pressure, heat, and various adjusting force, till finally was fitly prepared and located, beneath the land's protecting surface, a system of coal-beds, absolutely exhaustless, in every quarter of the globe. A fuel, compact, accessible, convenient; demanding, indeed, skillful effort for its extrication, but even therein ministering to culture; and containing in such abundance the elements of brilliant flame, as to supply the best possible artificial illumination for every city and habitation on earth. Is there not something greatly won VOL. VI.-23.

derful here? Man's benefit, comfort, improvement, education, planned, provided for, so many ages before he was born! For be it remarked, whatever general purposes, apart from man, the soils, and the metals, and other elements of nature may be alleged to serve, it can not be conceived that these vast deposits of coal look to any other end, than service to human creatures.

Now let the extent of this provision be borne in mind. From the beds of the British islands more than fifteen millions of tons are annually dug and consumed. Yet calculations, founded on the known thickness of seams and extent of their area, render it altogether likely that several thousand years of use, on so vast a scale, can not exhaust those beds. Throughout Europe, there is a similar supply. Belgium, and Holland, France and Germany, have all their own productive mines; and the quantity in Russia surpasses estimate. One deposit in the western part of the Empire is nine hundred miles long. And another, along the western base of the Uralian mountains, twelve hundred miles long! The amount in China is probably unsurpassed by that in any other country, (Williams' Middle Kingdom, vol. i. p. 241.) In Australia the coal-formation also occurs in immense extent. The mineral is known to abound in Japan. And Dr. Livingstone recently reported the discovery of large deposits of excellent quality in the heart of Central Africa. South-America seems to be less furnished with the valuable material than any other portion of the world. Though in some places it has been found there also, (Hitchcock, Geol. of Gl., p. 58.) But the deficiency is much more than supplied by the enormous coal-measures of North-America. To mention no other, though large de posits are known in British America, in the Mississippi valley, and on the Pacific coast, the great Appalachian coalfield, extending from New-York to Alabama, seven hundred and twenty miles long, covers nearly one hundred thousand square miles. "If we suppose the average thickness," says President Hitchcock, (Geol. of Gl., p. 93,) " of all the beds to be fifty feet, (some single beds are so thick,) the whole amount in solid measure of the coal in the United States would be three million and a half of cubic miles! A quantity absolutely inconceivable, yet the calculation is certainly a moder

ate one. Whatever else, therefore, fails in the United States, her coal can never be exhausted."

Now when we contemplate this provision in its significance and its fullness, all over the earth, can we believe otherwise than that it is a divine preparation for the gradual diffusion, throughout the globe, of all the comfort, all the civilization, all the high culture, ultimately involved in fire and light, steam and machinery, as these are directed by science, guided by skill, and plied with awakened and rewarded industry? When we think, too, of the solemn march of ages, during which this preparation has been reserved, while impressed with the estimated value thus put upon the creature, fallen as he is, to whom it relates, shall we be discouraged by the slow movement, hitherto, in history, of the contemplated purpose? Especially considering that man has been set in the course of improvement but as yesterday. What are these generations and their partial progress to that mighty past? What to the mighty future foreshadowed in these magazines of instrument ality?

Grouping now in one system all these coördinated elements, the adaptation between the human faculties and the structure of the universe, the adjustments provided for promoting world-wide intercourse among men, and means of knowledge as well as instruments of power put into the hands of mankind, is it possible not to be impressed with the conviction that all this is not intended to be restricted, wasted, or defeated; that verily there is in these unlimited concurring arrangements for progress, a pledge from Him to whom a thousand years are as one day, that sooner or later, comfort and knowledge, regulated industry, order, refinement, and good culture shall every where prevail; and man in general, individually and nationally, occupy a widely different position from that he now does, towards his fellow-men, the privileges of his position, and the Author of his blessings?

Nor let it be supposed that the progress thus indicated can be only a material or even intellectual advance. It is that, indeed, but very much more. In the actual relations of the human faculties and of the world, it is not possible extensively to divorce the moral and religious from the physical, the