face. They tell us of indefmite periods of deposition from the chaotic waters, of the sinking of these waters, and the appearance of the rocks above them, and again, of a sudden rising and overflow of the waters on the newly bared rocks, and of many other events which they detail with all the minuteness of history and all the confidence of truth. Their appeal to the philosophy of Bacon and of Newton in support of their theories, is singularly unhappy. Bacon says expressly, "that there is nothing in the history of the Creation to invalidate the fact, that the mass and substance of heaven and earth was created in one moment of time; but that six days were assigned for disposing and adjusting it." He admits most distinctly the authority of the Mosaic record; and those who reject this, and at the same time pretend to follow him, are, to say the least, not very consistent. Our author now proceeds to take up the sacred record in detail, and he illustrates it by many very ingenious and novel observations. He shows that Rosenmuller, Bishop Patrick, and other eminent commentators, have been drawn away from the simplicity of the Mosaic narrative, by the imposing arguments of the Mineral Geology.

Mr. Penn concludes this survey, which we regret our limits will not permit us to copy, with a passage from Lord Bacon, in which that great man professes his belief,

"That God created heaven and earth;

and gave unto them constant and perpetual laws, which we call of Nature; which is nothing but the laws of the Creation; that the laws of nature, which now remain, and govern inviolably till the end of the world, begun to be in force when God rest ed from His work:-that, notwithstanding God hath rested from creating, since the first Sabbath, yet, nevertheless, He doth accomplish and fulfil His divine will in all things, great and small, general and particular, as full and exactly by providence, as He could do by miracle and new creation;

Mr. Penn comes next to the DELUGE, which is perhaps the most interesting topic of all Geological discussions. His views of that great revolution seem to be not less accurate than they are novel, notwithstanding the multitudinous inquiries which have been directed to this subject. The Mineral Geologists have determined, "that the soils of all the plains, (such as those of Alsace, Holland, and Lombardy,) were deposited in the bosom of a tranquil water; that their actual order is only to be dated from the period of the retreat of that water; and that the date of that period is not very ancient." In this conclusion, the most distinguished Naturalists of the age concur, among whom we may mention, Dolomieu, Saussure, De Luc, and Cuvier. By following the Mosaic history, we obtain the details of this great revolution.

Moses states, that, in consequence of the wickedness of man being great in the Earth, God resolved to destroy what he had made-“ man and beast"-"all flesh"-" together with the earth;" excepting only the righteous Noah and his family. The full import of the phrase "with the earth," has seldom been attended to in this inquiry, though it must obviously form the basis of all our reasoning. The Hebrew particle n is most frequently rendered by cum, unà cum-with, together with. The Septuagint gives, KAI Ty; the Chaldee Paraphrase and both the Targums give cum terrâ; and Aben Ezra much more strongly paraphrases the passage, "Perdam eos, et perdam terram," I will destroy them, and I will destroy the earth. St. Peter says distinctly: ὅτοτε κοσμος, υδατι κατακAVODELS, TWRETO. (2 Pet. iii 6.7.) "the world which then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

A still more ancient testimony confirms the interpretation, Job xxii. 15, 16., which Mr. Penn renders, with some learned commentators, "whose foundation (the Earth) was destroyed by a flood of waters." The same ancient author says, alluding to the two great revolutions, "He withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; also, He sendeth them forth, and they destroy the Earth." (chap. xii. 15.) What strongly confirms this view of the passage, if, indeed, it require further confirmation, is the promise of God given after the deluge, "Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the Earth.".

From these historical documents, our Author infers, that the second Earth, upon which the Ark rested, (for that which is now our habitation, is not, he contends, that which existed before the deluge,) was produced in the same manner as the first Earth, then destroyed by the breaking up of the rocks and strata which formed its crust, thus forming of the first Earth a new basin for the sea, and elevating the for mer basin of the sea to become the new dry land. For the legitimacy of his logic, he again appeals to his guides, Bacon and Newton. If the first Earth was formed by draining off the waters into a basin formed for them, on the principle of referring like effects to like causes, we should be led to conclude that the second Earth also might be produced by similar means. And that this is not a mere conjecture, is proved by the record itself, and by all the facts which the modern study of Geology has elicited. But if so, the Earth which we now inhabit, constituted the bed of the ocean for the period of one thousand, six hundred, and fifty-six years; it was also subjected to the operation of the waters of the deluge for about twelve months. The Mineral Geologists are all agreed as to the fact, "that our continents once formed the bed of the sea." This is incon

testably proved by the immense beds of sea-shells incrusted in the masses of mountains, and by the innumerable marine productions found, when the lowest strata are penetrated to a great depth. Sometimes, the shells are so numerous as to constitute the entire body of the stratum; and they are almost every where in a high state of preservation, retaining their most delicate and fragile parts, and often their pearly lustre. It is to be remarked also, that every part of the Earth which has hitherto been explored, exhibits such appearances. As to the accuracy of these facts, there is now no controversy even among the most sceptical.

The agents which Mr. Penn conceives to have been called into operation, besides the mass of water, are earthquakes and volcanoes. He makes a very proper distinction here, between what we know of these agents from modern observation, and what must have been the extent of their action when called into simultaneous operation over the whole globe. He refers to the Giant's Causeway, the Island of Staffa, and other great depositions of basalt, for the proof of a more widely diffused volcanic action, than we can now expect to see exemplified in the limited range of a few conical mountains.

M. Boué, in his "Essai Géologique sur l'Ecosse," just published, has concluded, that all the basaltic rocks from Dunbar to the, Firth of Clyde, are the production of an immense submarine volcano, which he thinks must have existed somewhere in East Lothian. As M. Boué reasons upon data very different from Mr. Penn, this conclusion is of some importance. This volcanic action is supposed by our Author to have been produced by the admission of the sea water to subterranean fires in the interior of the globe; while the whole was directed by the same 'Power that established the laws of volcanic action.

The general conclusion is, that there have been two, and only two great revolutions of this globe; the first, at the formation of the basin of the primitive ocean; the second, at the formation of the basin of the present ocean. This, our readers are aware, is at complete variance with the theories of Geologists, who, instead of two, affirm that there have been "four successive seas," and that the revolutions have been numerous; thus multiplying causes without necessity, and contrary to sound philosophy. They hesitate not to ascribe the formation of low levels, or plains, between chains of mountains, to the hand of Time and atmospheric agents, which have imperceptibly eroded and wasted away all the immense mass of matter which filled up the void now existing; though they forget to tell us why the mountains themselves were spared, and why the hand of time and the atmospheric agents acted so capriciously, as it would appear from these historians, they must

have done.

It is a very singular circumstance, in the history of infidelity, that the French encyclopedists brought forward the very arguments here adduced by Mr. Penn, in order to disprove the deluge altoge

ther.

"It is a truth," they say, "now recognised by the most enlightened naturalists, that the sea, in the most remote times, occupied the greater part of the continents which we inhabit; it is to its residence, that is owing the prodigious quantity of shells, of skeletons of fishes, and of other bodies, which we find in the mountains and strata of the earth, in places often very distant from the bed which the sea actually occupies. In vain would any one attribute these phenomes na to the Universal Deluge: we have shown, under the article Fossils, that that

revolution, having been merely transient, could not have produced all the effects which the greater part of naturalists have attributed to it. Whereas, in supposing the residence of the sea upon our earth, nothing will be more easy than to form to oneself a clear idea of the formation of

the strata (i. e. the secondary strata) of the earth; and to conceive, how so great

a number of marine bodies are found in a soil which the sea has abandoned."

These writers were little aware, that they were urging the very statement of the record; and that what they so authoritatively opposed, was, in fact, not the rethe record."* cord itself, but the misinterpretation of

The reasoning of Mr. Penn as to the means by which the bones and bodies of land animals now subsisting only within the Tropics, have been imbedded to a great depth in the, soil of Siberia and other northern countries, is, we think, one of his most successful efforts of ingenuity, learning, and sound judg ment. Keeping to his description of the breaking up of the former continents in order to form a new channel for the present ocean, and to the effects of the great deluge, he shows, that, according to the strongest analogy drawn from the tides and currents, and the velocity of sailing, that the body of an elephant or of a rhinoceros, could have been transported from the Equator to Siberia in from fifteen to twenty days. The rapidity with which such a body might be imbedded to a considerable depth, he illustrates. from the effects of the Pororoca or Bore, a rapid elevation of the tide which frequently occurs on the East coast of America. Condamine says, that the Bore reaches its greatest elevation in one or two minutes, advancing with a tremendous noise, presenting in front "a promontory of water" from twelve to fifteen feet in height, and breaking down and sweeping away 'every thing in its course. An eye-witness told Mr. Penn, that a Bore which occurred on the coast of Nova Scotia, instantly imbedded a schooner of 32 tons so deep in sand and, ooze, that only her taffel, or upper rail of the deck, could be seen. Now, when the whole mass of the waters of the globe were flowing over the mountains at the ↑ Encyclop. Tom. X. Art. Mer.

deluge, it is easy to conceive that their effects must have been much greater than that of any Bore whatever. In this way, Mr. Penn at once gets over the difficulty of supposing that the ante-diluvian animals lived where their remains are now found. This is rational and intelligible, compared with the wild and impious speculations which infidelity has vented on this subject.

We are indebted to the Eclectic Review for the condensed form of

Mr. Penn's book, which we have now presented to our readers-we have however made some slight alterations, and some very considerable abridgments of the article as it appears in that Review, and could not therefore properly give it as an exact quotation-We may on some future occasion give Mr. Penn's remarks upon the sacred words in the first chapter of Genesis, in detail -and the ingenious observations which he offers on each day's work of the great Creator.

FROM THE MISSIONARY HERALD.

Soon after the great change in the South Sea Islands became known in Great Britain, it was determined by the Directors of the London Missionary Society, to send out a Deputation, as soon as convenient, to take a view of things on the spot ;-to aid the missionaries in organizing new churches;to aid the converted inhabitants in fixing their social institutions;-to suggest practical improvements;-and to make a report of facts, and proceedings, and to recommend measures, in the face of Europe and the world. It may be questioned, whether a more honourable service has been assigned to men, since the apostolic age. The Directors were looking out for suitable men to be employed in this agency, for more than a year, when the Rev. Daniel Tyerman, of the Isle of Wight, and George Bennet, Esq. of Sheffield, were appointed. They sailed from London in May, 1821;reached Tahiti in October;-resided at that and the neighbouring islands till March, 1822;-and then entered upon the visit, which is described in their letter. We published, in our number for Februa ry, the principal part of a letter from Mr. Tyerman to a lady in England. This, however, should not supersede the publication of the following testimony of himself and his colleague to the same facts; a testimony given with great deliberation, for the express purpose of cheering the hearts and encouraging the labours of American Christians, by a fair exhibition of what God has done in the favoured islands, where his power has been so signally manifested. It is to be remembered, also, that the testimony now published, was written nine months later than the others; that is, after

a longer residence of four months among the people concerning whom it is given, and a subsequent interval of five months for comparison and reflection. Yet not a single abatement is made; and, in some respects, the testimony is more full and explicit.

Perhaps some of our readers may inquire how it is, that idols were still detected and brought forth to be burned, and that the people were waiting for the king to give a decided countenance to the. missionaries, when idolatry had been abolished almost three years before, and the missionaries had been established at the islands, more than two years. The explanation is briefly this. Where the idols were so very numerous, and there were so. many household gods, it is not to be supposed that all would be destroyed at once. Though the burning was general, some idols would be clandestinely preserved. After the destruction of the idols and consecrated places, the people were as destitute of any just views of religion as before, They were, also, as much addicted to their vices. From want of knowledge of the language, missionaries are never able at first to convey religious truth to the minds of heathens. In the case before us, though the rulers of the Sandwich Islands admitted the missionaries to reside there, and have treated them with kindness, great pains have been taken by unprincipled foreigners to prejudice all classes of the natives against evangelical exertions, and to excite suspicion of the motives, which brought the missionaries thither. This evil was always anticipated. It must always be met, in similar cases; and met patiently and firmly. In the mean time, it was to be

supposed, that the minds of the chiefs and people would remain in a state of indifference, till they knew more of religion, and in a state of suspense, as to what part they should ultimately take. The final issue, however, is not doubtful. Christ will be acknowledged and obeyed in these islands, and in the whole world, which now lies in wickedness.

Some persons may think the progress of the missionaries slow, in having added to their Spelling Book only eight pages in six months. This is to be accounted for, we presume, from the extreme difficulty of ascertaining the true pronunciation of an unwritten language, and from the desire to have the words printed rightly at first, and before any copies are put into circulation. Those who have attended most to this subject know, that it requires great caution and diligence.

Some persons, seeing the English names of Pitt, Adams, and Cox, applied to leading men at the islands, may think that English men, or Americans, have been employed by the king, as governors of different parts of his dominions. This is not the fact. The chiefs, who bear these names, are fullblooded natives. Pitt and Adams have learned to speak the English language.

Our readers will perceive, that the missionaries have introduced a new orthography of several names, which occur in the following communications. This is done to produce uniformity, by adopting the alphabet, which will be used hereafter. In forming an alphabet for a language never before written, the first point to be aimed at is, to assign but one sound to each letter, If we could suppose our own language to be brought into such a state, the advantages would be so great as to defy all calculation. The sounds of the vowels, which the missionaries have fixed upon, are as follows: a, as in father; e, as a in lute; in convene, redeem; o, as in over; u, as oo in pool, or o in remove; ae, as ay in ayes, ai, as i in idol, mile, ao, as a in far, closely followed by o; au as ow in vow; ei, eu, and on, the sounds of those letters, as above de scribed, pronounced in quick succession. The missionaries have inadvertently written some of the names as heretofore; Owhyhee, for instance; which, we presume, should be Owaihi, the first aspirate being so slight as very properly to be omitted.

DEAR SIR,

as e or ee

Oahu, (Woahoo,) Aug. 9, 1822.

Though such is the demand for our assiduous attentions, in communicating instruction to the people, that we have scarcely a moment to spare for the purpose of writing to the Board, or to any of our friends at this time; yet we seize the opportunity, with great satisfaction, to speak to you of the continued faithfulness

English Missionary Deputation.

By another letter to yourself, sent by the ship Lady Blackwood, in the early part of May, by the way of South America, you will probably learn the interesting fact, that, in the wise providence of God, the English Missionary Deputation, composed of the Rev. Mr. Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq., accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Ellis, missionary at Huahine, and several natives of the South Sea isles, who have been taught the Christian religion,— have been directed to these favoured shores, and allowed to witness with us what God has here begun to do. This singular, and truly desirable, though unexpected event, was brought about in connexion with the sending of a schooner, built at Port Jackson, by the way of the Society Islands, as a present from his Britannick Majesty to the king of the Sandwich Islands.

Acknowledgment of Favours.

We are now happy very gratefully to acknowledge the reception of your kind, interesting and refreshing letters, and a variety of pamphlets and newspapers, by the. Tarquin, the Houqua, and the Pearl, together with the needful supplies for warded gratuitously by the Houqua, for our aid and comfort. To all, by whom we are so kindly favoured and so greatly obliged, our cordial thanks are due; but we can make them no better return, than by praying for their prosperity, and applying ourselves with increasing diligence, energy and activity to our appropriate and important work of communicating gratuitously, by our feeble instrumentality, to the perishing heathen, the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ.

We would not forbear to mention here the receipt, by the ship Tartar from China, of a precious letter from Mr. Oliphant, a respectable American gentleman at Canton, breathing the spirit of the age, the spirit of expansive and operative benevolence, accompanied by a donation to the mission, of goods and various articles of convenience, to the amount of about three hundred and eighty dollars. With many kind words of encouragement and consolation, he begs our acceptance of "this trifle," with the assurance, that if it should diminish our privations, and promote our comfort, and in any way aid us in bringing