as they would tell us, stamped by the Almighty on matter, harmony would be perpetually violated, the whole of animate creation would present us with a multitude of jarring and discordant parts; and the naturalist would have to relinquish in despair, the hope of obtaining a glimpse of the great plan of creation, the grand scheme by which the whole is blended into unity; for plan and unity would exist only in his imagination. But it is not so, for nature herself proclaims the hand of her Divine Original, and throughout her vast domains shows to us God in his power, wisdom, and goodness.

Having thus briefly detailed the general and common characters of the class, Reptilia, and enumerated the orders into which it appears naturally to resolve itself, we shall proceed, without further preface, to enter upon our subject more at large, and treat each order in succession, trusting that the reader will find in the following pages information mingled with interest, and science. relieved by a popular mode of presenting it. We aim only at a clear and correct outline, to serve as a guide to the investigation of the structure, habits, and manners of the living beings which the God of nature has created: an outline which may be filled up or enlarged, but which will be found in conformity with the present advanced state of natural history.

So far, then, have we attempted to give, by way of introduction, an outline of the characteristics and natural habits of the Reptiles, an extensive and remarkable group of the animal kingdom.

The particulars into which we have entered, curious in themselves and interesting to the intelligent mind, bespeak the wisdom of God in creation, who created "every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind" and 66 saw that it was good." He himself, in the book of Job, appeals to the leviathan, or crocodile, as a proof of his power; a power manifested in the little lizards that sport on the sunny bank, and in the tremendous boa that spreads terror and destruction around.

So convincing are the proofs of a God of infinite power and wisdom, which the structure and characters of living creatures display, that the atheist, when he considers them, is overwhelmed with a sense of his own folly; and though he may say in his heart there is no God, cannot say so in his head; his depraved wishes, not his intellect, speak for him.

A study of the works of the creation leads us, then, immediately to God. The meanest creatures, as we call them, proclaim the hand of their Divine Original. Hence the science of natural history, in all its departments, is both a profitable, a gratifying, and a worthy object of our attention: it expands the mind, and opens to our reflection mysteries which must ever baffle the endeavours of our finite intellect to comprehend, and in which God glorifies himself, at the same time that he teaches us humility. It must be confessed, however, that the study of nature, though it enlarges our ideas of the power and wisdom of God, and tends to humble us, shows to us his glory as manifested only in creation; it gives us no information as to our condition before God, as to our hopes for eternity, as to our need of salvation, and the way of our obtaining it. But here, happily, where the light of nature fails, the light of revelation beams gloriously upon us; its pure rays illuminating the path in which we should tread, and animating us to pursue it to

the end.

When our first parents, in a state of innocence, surveyed with delight and astonishment the wonders of creation, God himself imparted to them a knowledge of his will, which no created beings around them could possibly have made known. When they fell through disobedience, entailing the curse upon their posterity, labour, and sorrow, and death, it was God himself, who with reference to the Messiah, revealed to them, as a dispensation of mercy, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head; though it should bruise his heel. Of the Messiah, thus shadowed forth

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in this promise, the sacrifice of the believing Abel was a type, a firstling of the flock; emblematical of the "Lamb that was slain," as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

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God, again, in the Mosaic dispensation, gave to the Israelites a system which the light of nature could never reveal, a system of sacrifices and ceremonies; while by the mouth of prophets, he spoke more fully and clearly of the Messiah, the Redeemer of the world. The promises and prophecies have been fulfilled, the Day-spring from on high hath visited us; Christ, the Messiah of the prophets, who "thought it not robbery to be equal with God," was made in the likeness of man," and suffered death upon the cross, and bore 66 our sins in his own body on the tree." All who thus believe in him have eternal life. The promise of pardon through the blood of Christ, is made to all who unfeignedly believe. In this atonement for sin, a revelation is made of the purposes and mercy of God towards fallen man. These purposes, this mercy, the light of science fails to disclose. We may examine and re-examine the forms and structures of living creatures, where indeed we read in visible characters the power and the wisdom of God in creation; but it is for revelation alone to make known unto us the way of salvation, to convince us of the mercy of God to a ruined world, and to prove to us how mercy and justice are reconciled in the atonement Christ made for sin. To this atonement we must be led, not by the light of science, but by the Spirit of God, whose gracious influences will not be sought in vain.

Diverse, then, in their influence upon us, and in the views they display, are the light of science, and the light of revelation. The one impresses us with exalted conceptions of God, as an eternal, all-powerful, all-wise Being; the other leads us to know our own lost state by nature, the mercy of God in providing a ransom, and opening to us the way unto eternal life.

To some of our readers this digression will not be distasteful. To those who condemn it, as utterly out of