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THAT DIFFICULT PROBLEM, THE MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES, as it has been emphatically termed by Sir John Herschell, the appearance and extinction of certain types of organic beings, on the surface of the globe." Now, the mode in which the distinguished Mantell presents the subject is a good exemplification of the cautious method of avowing the spontaneity of living beings, and it will be seen to correspond exactly with the Reviewer aforesaid, and with the more direct and manly avowal of Professor Tiedemann. Thus: "In this point of view, the Age of Reptiles may be considered as merely an exaggerated effect of the organic law of creation, which is imparted to the fauna of the Galapagos Islands in reptilian character." "Organic law" is here substituted for the "plastic faculty" of Professor Tiedemann. All this, too, is generally accompanied by a prodigal display of faith in that very Revelation which it wounds in its most vital parts, and with the more dangerous pretension that it harmonizes with the Word of God.

Finally; if we may be allowed to advert to the authority of Revelation so far as it is our purpose to prove it true, the preservation in the Ark "to keep seed alive upon all the face of the earth"-represents the Creator as acting with that consistency which we unavoidably associate with Infinite Wisdom in the perpetuation of a systematic whole, and is fatal to the entire hypothesis of antecedent creations and extinctions. And, to suppose an imperfect preservation in the ark and subsequent creations, as many have done, is to suppose an act of inconsistency, whose analogies in the hand of man would subject him to ridicule. Even the admitted preservation of the human race, by the same reasoners, through the instrumentality of the ark, carries with it, upon Unity of Design, that of terrestrial animals also. But, we have, for our present conclusion of this subject, irresistible analogies against this doctrine of spontaneity of being, in the fact that not a single new species of animals or plants has appeared within the observation of man-save only the acarus Crossii. The whole condition of physical nature, as will be conceded by all, is precisely the same now as when the present races of animals and plants made their appearance upon earth; and, therefore, were there

a shadow of foundation for the geological doctrine of spontaneity of being, there should have been, by the plainest analogy, a constant development of new species in both departments of the living kingdom; and this, especially, in consideration of the immensity of species which had sprung into being when their assumed spontaneity ceased abruptly, and of the highest perfection of physical agents for the production of what was ascribed to them in their supposed imperfect condition.

We may now be permitted to quote, upon this subject, an argument which occurs in our Essay on the Soul and Instinct, page 159. Thus :-"Let us now see how far the statements of Scripture agree with what is manifestly fundamental in Nature. We are told, for example, that man and beast were created entire out of the earth; but had it been said that the materials of the earth organized themselves into living beings, the Narrative would be rejected as an imposture. Nay more; had it been affirmed that man was created in the condition of an infant, and thus left to grow up to maturity under the influence of the laws which actually govern his organization, the statement would be unanimously pronounced absurd. The infant, without a ray of instinct (see pages 93, 105 of Essay), destitute of volition and muscular power, the personification of helplessness, and for years dependent on maturer age, growing up to manhood under physical circumstances alone! Yet is this doctrine extensively propagated through the delusion that— "the Creator endowed certain forms of inorganic matter with the properties requisite to enable them to combine, at a fitting season, into the human organism". This is the doctrine of the "Vestiges of Creation". It is also the doctrine of those eminent men, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Forbes, Dr. Pritchard, Dr. Fletcher, Mr. Roberton," and of other able writers on the same side" (page 10 of Essay.) Glaring as the absurdity is, in relation to man especially, it seems not to have been considered in the haste to represent "the Organic Creation as the result, not of any immediate or personal exertion of the Deity, but of natural laws which are expressions of His will." How much more absurd, therefore, the opir ion of spontaneity of being which requires 17 or 18 elements to organize themselves, and to conduct the whole process of development and growth, till VOL. III.-13.

the being shall have obtained sufficient maturity of mind and body to aid in the acquisition of nutritive matter which had, up to that stage of existence, devolved upon the elements themselves and the compounds into which they had united? How did they obtain, at their start into being, the seventeen or eighteen elements of which all animals and plants are composed, and which are indispensable at the beginning of existence? Is there any thing in chemistry that will expound the union of such a number of elements into compounds of the most exact nature, or these compounds by any thing known in physics into systems of Design, if you had all the elements to begin with? Or, take oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, alone, which are the principal elements; the chemist completely fails to fabricate the most simple organic compound out of these or any number of elements. Were there, however, nothing beside to substantiate the Revelation of Heaven, the proof which is offered by the infancy of man, in being conclusive as to his origin, would, extend itself to every other statement in the Mosaic Record.

"Since, therefore, it is so palpably manifest that man must have been brought into existence with a maturity of both mind and body that should qualify him for self-preservation, and since, also, it has never been surmised that the spontaneity of living beings began otherwise than with the elements of matter, or at most with organic matter in its most simple form, the analogy which is supplied by the facts in relation to man establishes the literal construction of the statement as to the Creation of animals and plants in a state of maturity. But what we have thus said of the absolute exigencies of man, who has neither instinct, reason, or muscular ability to guide him in early life, is as applicable to all mammiferous animals, whether of the land or of the sea, and to the unfledged bird, in respect to the nature of their early food, who would, of course, immediately perish without the assistance afforded by the parent. But, the organization of animals lower in the scale, (the acarus Crossii, for example, whose suppositious creation by man has received no little countenance, albeit though the operator had only three elements for his work,) is on a par in respect to Design, living functions, &c. with that

of man; and whoever, therefore, attempts or admits the creation of such an animal, necessarily places the whole upon the ground of spontaneity of being." And this, according to our demonstration, is equivalent to the avowal of atheism, or, if it be preferred, pantheism. But other facts and arguments remain to be produced, upon this subject.

ORGANIZATION OF THE EARTH.

We now enter upon substantial geological ground, and shall carry with us those fundamental laws which are profoundly involved in the Creative acts that are exclusively relative to the earth, but of a different character from that philosophy by which we have endeavoured to demonstrate the literal meaning of the Narrative of Creation, and that it was as precisely dictated as were the Ten Commandments. And, although we do not intend to employ the Word of God in proof of itself, yet as our discussion continues to be predicated of His statements, we must necessarily have them before us.

"And the earth was without form and void; and DARKNESS was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God MOVED upon the face of the WATERS.

"And God said, LET there be LIGHT; and there was light."

"And God said, LET there be a FIRMAMENT IN THE MIDST OF THE WATERS; and LET it DIVIDE THE WATERS FROM THE WATERS;" that is, yp, firmament, to stamp down, and ↳, to separate or divide. "And God made the firmament, and divided the waters," &c.

"And God said, LET the WATERS under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and LET the dry land appear. And it was 80. And GOD CALLED the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the WATERS called He SEAS."

"And God said, LET US make man in Our Image, after Our Likeness." "And God created man in His Own Image." "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul."

We have introduced the foregoing series of Creative acts for the purpose, also, of showing by the coincidence of language in which they are expressed, that a common rule of interpretation must apply to the whole; and that same rule must apply equally to every other part of the Record. By no possible. prevarication can this fundamental law of language be violated or modified; and least of all where every consecutive act is equally a part of a systematic whole. This principle is as true of the plans of man as of the Creator. If the declarations, therefore, in respect to the creation of light and of man denote, as the exigencies enforce, the direct exercise of Creative Energy, then, by the analogies of the acts, as well as by the sameness of language, the organization of the earth was equally dependent upon that Energy. There remains, therefore, the alternative, only, of either receiving the several statements according to the meaning which must be applied to the creation of light and of man, or of rejecting them as altogether false. We doubt not, also, that the able and eminent advocates of theoretical geology, whether lay or clerical, will come to understand that this is the only dignified, honorable, or truthful course. This, too, will save the defenders of Revelation from all farther trouble of expelling the invader from the ground which he occupies for the purpose only of laying it a desert waste.

Our premises declare, that, when the earth was brought into being, it was in a chaotic state. But whether this be admitted or not, (as it universally is), we shall endeavour to demonstrate that by no possible operation of the properties and laws of matter, could the earth have been brought into its present condition without the direct interposition of "the Spirit of God"; and this, we apprehend, will render the specific statement in the Narrative more acceptable than it has been. We shall not, therefore, leave it to the candor of theoretical geology of absolutely rejecting the Record, but shall endeavour to place it upon the foregoing alternative; especially in consideration of the despotism with which it has swayed the ignorant masses. Upon this ignorance it established its authority at the earliest period of its speculative career; and it was an easy achievement to engulph all classes of society in either the Neptunian