treasures which we regard with such indifference, He views in their infinite magnitude and importance; and all these, with unerring wisdom, He adjusts (independent of the vain wishes of men) so as to promote the greatest good. Here is another obvious source of inadequate comprehension on our part.

We must further remember, that these unsearchable operations are not confined to the welfare of individuals. They embrace the interests of nations,—of the earth,— of the universe! While there is not a living being in creation to whom the paternal care of the Creator does not extend, He views the world as a whole, and so regulates every part, as either to promote the happiness of all, or to visit them with retributive justice. What a wonderful conception is this! From the worm to man, from man to the archangel, all are linked together in the counsels of God; and, while there is not one of all these creatures whom He does not care for, as if there were no other being to occupy his attention, all are governed as one great family, of which each member has its own department, and in which one great design is constantly kept in view, the perfection and happiness of the whole.

Nor must we forget, that the schemes of the Self-existent are not bounded by time, but embrace eternity. In the present world, the moral government of God is only begun. That may appear imperfect and disordered, of which we only see a part, when, if the whole were displayed and understood, every minute particular, and the united result of the whole, would be found to be the perfection of wisdom.

He who has seen a powerful and complicated system of machinery in operation, of which he was only permitted to examine a small part, may form some idea of the effect of so partial a view of the operations of Providence. He saw an apparently confused and unwieldy mechanism, of which he neither understood the principle nor the use. Wheels on wheels, moving in seeming disorder,-valves opening and shutting,-levers straining,-beams revolving,-while fire and water combined their mysterious

powers. He perceived, in short, an immense expense of labor and ingenuity,-and all for what? He could not tell: He observed amazing powers in operation; he heard a grating and astounding noise,-and that was all. But were he admitted into the upper apartments, where the effect of all these operations is displayed, what a different opinion would he form! How would he admire the talents which could so control the powers of Nature, as to give man a force immensely superior to his own, and add to the resources, and insure the prosperity, not of individuals only, but of the whole empire!

And so it is with the operations of Providence. Here we see but a part, and that a very small part, of the machinery by which He conducts the moral government of the world. Even if we could understand all the relations of temporal things, we could not understand their bearings on eternity. Some glimpses, indeed, Revelation has afforded us into that upper apartment, where the whole scheme is consummated, and where the ways of God are vindicated to His creatures; but how imperfect and how inadequate! Let us look forward with eagerness and hope to the approaching period, when the veil shall be removed from our eyes, and "we shall know even as we are known."

THIRTEENTH WEEK-MONDAY.

II. GEOLOGY.-SUCCESSIVE PERIODS OF DEPOSIT.

ASSUMING the existence of matter from an indefinite period before the commencement of the Mosaic creation, let us attend to the opinions which have been adopted by modern geologists, from views founded on the knowledge they have acquired of the crust of the earth.

It should seem, according to these inquiries, that there are three well-marked periods in the primitive history of

I.

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VII.

our globe, during which the most extensive changes have taken place on its surface, and fresh deposits have been made. The order of time in which these changes have been effected, can be fixed, as is supposed, with considerable precision. We are first informed, that there was what may be called the Primitive era, or period of granite, when this species of rock, with other stony substances, and the wide-spread ocean from which, in the process of ages, extensive deposits of sand were made, seem to have covered the whole face of the earth, forming a cheerless and gloomy waste, destitute of organized existences, and void of life. This epoch is said to have been followed by another period of long duration, in which some violent convulsions have taken place, and active powers have been at work, effecting extensive changes, without appearing, during its continuance, to have settled down into a permanent state; hence called the Transition period. It is during this period, that the first rudiments of vegetable and animal existences seem to have taken their origin, as the lowest kind of organized beings are found embedded in its deposits.

"Beginning with the animal kingdom," says Dr. Buckland, "we find the four great existing divisions of Vertebrata, Mollusca, Articulata, and Radiata, to have been coeval with the commencement of organic life upon our globe. No higher condition of Vertebrata has yet been discovered in the transition formation than that of fishes." "The Mollusca, in the transition series, afford examples of several families, and many genera, which seem at that time to have been universally diffused over all parts of the world." “The earliest examples of Articulated animals are those afforded by the extinct family of Trilobites." These seem to have perished at the end of this series. "The Radiated animals are among the most frequent organic remains in the transition strata. They present numerous forms of great beauty." Of the vegetable kingdom in this earliest period of organized existences, Dr. Buckland says, "In the inferior regions of this series, plants are few in number, and principally marine; but in its superior regions, the remains of land plants are accumulated in prodigious quantities." They form,

in their destruction, a great part of our present coal fields, and many strata of the carboniferous order contain subordinate beds of a rich argillaceous iron ore. "A formation," adds our author, "that is at once the vehicle of two such valuable mineral productions as coal and iron, assumes a place of the first importance among the sources of benefit to mankind; and this benefit is the direct result of physical changes which affected the earth at those remote periods of time, when the first forms of vegetable life appeared upon its surface."

Resting on the transition rocks, and therefore believed immediately to succeed them in the era of their deposition, come the rocks of what has been called the Secondary epoch, during which, along with a distinct and peculiar vegetation, animals have existed, chiefly the inhabitants of the waters, or saurian reptiles, of gigantic forms, partly marine, partly amphibious, and partly terrestrial; and, at the same period also, have lived mammalia of the marsupial order, and some testudinata and feathered tribes ; as, not only their petrified remains, but, what is still more remarkable, the marks of their footsteps on sandstone, have recently been found to testify. Dr. Buckland, in speaking of fossil Testudinata, says, "The remains of land tortoises have been more rarely observed in a fossil state. Cuvier mentions but two examples, and these in very recent formations, at Aix, and in the Isle of France. Scotland has recently afforded evidence of the existence of more than one species of these terrestrial reptiles, during the period of the new red or variegated sandstone formation. The nature of this evidence is almost unique in the history of organic remains." In a foot note, he states that a discovery of fossil footmarks, similar to that made at Corncocklemuir, which was communicated by me, in 1828, to the Edinburgh Royal Society,* has recently been made in Saxony, at the village of Hessberg, near Hildburghausen, in several quarries of gray quartzose sandstone, alternating with beds of red sandstone, nearly of the same age with that of Dumfriesshire, of which notices have been given by Dr. Hohnbaum, Pro

*[See vol. xi. of their Transactions.-AM. ED.]

fessor Caup, and Dr. Sickler. In another place, he also mentions footmarks of several extinct species of birds, having lately been found by Professor Hitchcock, in the new red sandstone of the valley of the Connecticut, one of them of a species of enormous dimensions, which took a stride of six feet.

[Professor Hitchcock's account of his discoveries was presented to the public through the American Journal of Science and the Arts, and may be found in vol. xxix., article Ornithichnology; a word derived from the Greek, signifying stony birdtracks. The Professor gives an interesting description of the footmarks, accompanied with illustrative drawings, among which is one representing the foot of the gigantic bird just alluded to.

Of this, he says, "In one specimen, the claw is at least two inches long, and even then a part of it appears to be missing. The whole length of the foot, consequently, is sixteen or seventeen inches! Length of the successive steps, between four and six feet! Indeed, I suspect, from the numerous examples which I have seen of tracks at the distance of four feet, that this was the ordinary step of the bird when walking; while it was able to lengthen it to six feet, when moving rapidly."

In speaking of another species, he observes, "The best specimen that I possess, exhibits, at a few inches behind the heel, a depression nearly an inch deep, and several inches across; the anterior slopes to which, in the rear, appear as if large bristles had been impressed upon the mud. The impression extends backwards from the heel, at least eight or nine inches; so that the whole length of the track is not less than two feet! The rock on which this species of track appears, is composed of a fine blue mud, such as is now common in ponds and estuaries; and where the bird trod upon it, in some cases, it seems the mud was crowded upwards, forming a ridge around the track in front, several inches in height. Indeed, I hesitate not to say, that the impression made on the mud appears to have been almost as deep, indicating a pressure almost as great, as if an elephant had passed over it. I could not persuade myself, until the evidence