our world, is the deepest of them all. But there is a key to this holy riddle-book, which, sealed to the natural eye, is revealed to every prayerful student by the Spirit who "searches" for the deep things of God in His word.

And thus we see that science has given a beautiful illustration to Scripture. Does the latter declare that "God is light"? Does it describe the Saviour as "the Sun of righteousness"? are the heavens said to be "garnished by the Spirit"? And are we told that the eternal Godhead, like most of His works upon earth, is a compound of three? So does science teach that every ray of sun is a triple compound, a symbol of Deity; a combination of blue, red, and yellow, possessing a trinity of properties, or three distinct forces -light, heat, and chemical agency all necessary in the preservation of the phenomena of life, even as the divine Trinity are necessary in the creation, redemption, and sanctification of every immortal spirit who is born again.

Did space permit, we might occupy much in considering the varied phenomena in nature as exhibited in geology, as illustrative of the truth of revelation, the varied strata of the earth corresponding with the order mentioned in Holy Writ.

Could the sceptic point us to fossil mammoth remains of the age of reptiles, when "God created great whales," below the carboniferous strata, the work of the third day, when the earth brought forth grass and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, we might find a want of reconciliation in the two records, but it is not so; between the word and the

works of God, it is well said, there can be no actual discrepancies; and the seeming ones are discernible only by the men who see worst.

No, the order in Scripture is light, then life; first vegetable for animal wants, then fish "abundantly,"* and aquatic fowl; then great whales, or reptiles; then cattle and creeping things, and then man. And of the six or seven miles only through which geologists have penetrated, what has science discovered? From the carboni erous period, through the same order of stratification, no fossil human remains have been yet discovered, a proof that man was the last chapter in the history of creation.

Such are a few imperfect references to the beginning of our world; it had its birthday, and it had its baptism too, and to that we would now refer.

It is not a little remarkable that almost every nation in the world has its tradition of the deluge; this is so well known that a very slight reference only is needed to remind our readers of the fact. Even amongst the forgotten North American Indians, Humboldt found a tradition of the deluge prevailing, and he states the prevalence of the same opinion in many other states in the vast tracts and tribes of that country; some, indeed, appear to have a mixed notion of fact and fiction.

The Scandinavians asso

"Abundantly."-See Gen. i. 20. The herring produces 36,000 eggs; the mackerel, 546,000; the sole, 1,000,000; the flounder, 1,357,000; the cod, the most fertile of fishes, from four to nine millions.

ciated human blood with everything, turning the skulls of their enemies into drinking vessels. Their monstrous notion of the deluge is not a little remarkable. "On the death of the great giant Ymir, whose flesh and bones form the rocks and soil of the earth, and who was slain by the early gods, his blood, which now constitutes the ocean, rushed so copiously out of his wounds, that all the old race of the lesser giants, his offspring, were drowned in the blood which it occasioned, save one; and he, by escaping on board his bark with his wife, outlived the deluge."*

In China and Hindostan a common opinion is entertained of the flooding of the world by a general deluge. The Egyptians and Assyrians are said to have believed in a like catastrophe, whilst many of the fables of the Greeks are founded on similar phenomena.

Without going into the question of the universality of the deluge, it is sufficient for our purpose to refer to the Mosaic record, where the fact is stated of God's determination to destroy man whom He had created, by submerging the earth, and compare the surface of the earth in illustration.

No one can doubt that effects of submergence are to be found every where. What are all our vast beds of chalk but the now solid beds of ocean? How came our bone caves depositories for the remains of tropical animals, such as the lion, the tiger, and the elephant? And, above all, whence came those singular sandstone remains, which in various parts of the world exhibit

* Hugh Miller.

the action of water in a remarkable manner?

On the common of Rusthall, at Tunbridge Wells, is a singular block of stone called the "Toad Rock," being in shape somewhat like that animal. It rests on a narrow neck that seems hardly sufficient to bear its own weight.

The water has left it high and dry, and, worn by the frosts and showers of thousands of years, it looks down upon you in eloquent silence. A short distance from the spot, in Eridge Wood, are more sandstone remains, where the ripple marks of the waves have worn away the lower portions as we observe on our sea-shore now.

The locality is rich in illustration of the baptism of our globe, and every rounded pebble confirms the truth as it is brought to light from some old sea bottom. dod9118 998 It is probable that one system of philosophy may displace another p but, look where we may, abundant proof exists that the present condition of our earth's surfacoindicates some great catastrophe which only! finds its explanation in the Scripture of truth, which declares that "the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished."und

Tunnel at the Rother

hithe end, and stand for a few minutes on the Surrey shore of the river, and look across it, we shall see, stretching far away on either hand, dense clusters of masts, overtopping the roofs of lofty warehouses. These belong to the thousands of vessels harboured in the several docks, which extend from the Tower to Blackwall, a distance of about two miles and a half, and comprising hundreds of acres of water, surrounded by many miles of warehouses and walls, and constructed at

millions.

Dwellers in inland towns and districts can form little conception of the magnitude of these places, and the enormous quantities of goods which they contain.

Let us again enter the Tunnel, and ascending the shaft at Wapping, pass through a small wicket-gate in a lofty wall, which almost immediately faces us.

This is the London Docks, and a few steps along the quay brings us at once to a scene of considerable bustle. Alongside, in tiers three or four deep, are noble ships, some of