mind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so."

All therefore was now prepared for the formation of that being who should have dominion over the things of the earth. The fruits spontaneously yielded their increase; and the soil poured forth the full harvest of her treasures for his subsistence. The air resounded with the cheerful notes of birds, and the groves were enlivened by their glossy plumage. The earth teemed with beasts and cattle, whose docility and strength, might be made available to the various purposes of his existence. The harmony of the system was almost complete. All was good in itself, and adapted to the uses for which it was designed; and the works which He had accomplished, had in them that surpassing excellence, which was inseparable from the mind of Him who formed them. The last crowning labor is commenced. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon - the earth. So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." The labor is complete; and the sixth day closes with the contemplation of the Eternal Author, Architect, and Giver of life on his work. He saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. Thus," continues the inspired historian, "the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had

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made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because, that in it He had rested from all His work, which God created and made."

It is at this point that we make that break in the history, which geologists have been used to make at the opening verse, in the manner we have discussed. We must suppose the original creation to have fulfilled its destined cycle, precisely after the same mode which they have adopted; and the earth to have pursued its course for a certain period, determined in the counsels of God, deprived at the least, of every kind and species of animal life. And in the outset of this branch of the enquiry it may be remarked, both as a conciliation to any whose minds may shrink at the novelty of the idea; and also as an illustration, that it is far from improbable, that the Moon, at this very time, revolves, as far as the principle of life is concerned, precisely in the manner, in which, for a present purpose, we suppose the earth to have done after the destruction it had undergone previous to the formation of Adam. No celestial body, both from its proximity and other advantages equally peculiar to itself, has been more constantly and elaborately investigated by astronomers, than the Moon. Facts are continually accumulated; and yet no one, I believe, amongst modern professors ventures to affirm, that he has the slightest grounds for proof of the presence either of animal or vegetable life on its surface. It still rolls on, apparently for the sole purpose for which Moses asserts that it was originally moulded into form; "to give light unto

the earth;" and wanders through its tributary course an illuminated chaos. In the opinion of Sharon Turner "the moon has either no atmosphere; or it is of such extreme rarity as to exceed the nearest vacuum we can produce by our best constructed air pumps; so that no terrestrial animal could breathe alive on its surface. If then it is inhabited, it is not by beings who have bodies, either like men, or of our animated races."* Herschel, after stating that the mountains of the moon are "wonderfully numerous, occupying by far the larger portion of the surface;" and that they offer in its highest perfection, the true volcanic character, as it may be seen in the crater of Vesuvius, and in a map of the volcanic districts of the Campi Phlegræi or the Puy de Dôme, adds, that "the Moon has no clouds, nor any other indications of an atmosphere. Were there any it could not fail to be perceived in the occultations of stars and the phenomena of Solar eclipses. Hence its climate must be very extraordinary; the alternation being that of unmitigated and burning sunshine fiercer than an equatorial noon, continued for a whole fortnight; and the keenest severity of frost, far exceeding that of our polar winters, for an equal time. Such a disposition of things must produce a constant transfer of whatever moisture may exist on its surface, from the point beneath the sun to that opposite, by distillation in vacuo after the manner of the little instrument called a cryophorus. The consequence must be absolute aridity below the vertical sun, constant accretion of hoar frost in the

opposite region, and perhaps, a narrow zone of running water at the borders of the enlightened hemisphere. Owing to the want of air, however, it seems impossible that any form of life analogous to those on earth, can subsist there. No appearance indicating vegetation, or the slightest variation of surface which can fairly be ascribed to change of season, can any where be discerned."* And Brewster on Ferguson adds, in confirmation of these views, that "there is no water in the Moon, neither rivers, nor lakes, nor seas; and hence we are entitled to infer, that none of those atmospherical phenomena, which arise from the existence of water in our globe, will take place in the lunar world."†

Now these opinions, (and many others of the same nature might easily be adduced) founded as they are on deliberate reasoning, and the results of long and patient investigation, are of great value; as they tend to prove, that it may be consistent with God's providence that a sphere may revolve for a long course of years without inhabitants; and dispose the mind, at the least, for the reception of an analogous state in regard to the earth. It is a cardinal point in disquisitions of this nature, to divest ourselves equally of prejudice and precipitation of judgment, as being equally opposed to the establishment of Truth. The prejudice in the present instance, inclines perhaps greatly against the probability of heavenly bodies existing during many ages without inhabitant or life; and the judgment flies against the theory, at first sight, with a force and

Herschel, Cab. Cycl. 229.

+ Vol. ii. 184.

power from which it is not able to recover. And it is, therefore, a great point to demonstrate the possibility, if not the fact, at the commencement of an inquiry, which, to some extent, is based on such a supposition.

But not to dwell too long, or seem to rest too much weight on a subject which is only collateral to the chief design, we recur to the direct history of Genesis. Having stated that God rested on the seventh day from the work which he had made, Moses thus continues. "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And 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."

Now this is said to be a repetition of that portion of the work of the sixth day which relates to man. It is supposed, that God having revealed the formation of man to have been after his own image, and that the dominion of the earth was concealed to his charge, now discloses to the prophet in a more distinct and elaborate form, the mode in which this creation was effected. Other subjects are also introduced in this second effort of inspiration; among which the attention especially fixes itself on the minute details of the formation of Eve from the rib