in further trespassing upon the patience of my readers. I would only mention that we passed several fine hotels, a number of pilgrims' stations, and a very curious and interesting little shepherds' chapel. Twice we had to pass through a quantity of clouds which for the time obscured the view of our surroundings; but the weather on the whole was all that could be desired, and our only cause of delay arose from the irresistible temptation to stop and examine some striking

geological formation, or to admire some lovely scene more charming or romantic than the rest. The town of Waggis was reached in good time, and after a short but welcome rest we embarked on board a steamer, which conveyed us up the lake, past the far-famed scenes of many of William Tell's exploits, to Fluelen, where we landed, and started on our way to Altorf, en route for the Devil's Bridge on the Great St. Gothard Road.

HE sceptic may ask, If so long an interval happened between the beginning of creation and the calling of light into being, and all light comes to our world from its sun, without which there can be neither heat nor life, where did the light come from which lightened the world and gave life to the grass, growth to the seed, and maturity and ripeness to the fruit which had been called into existence previously?

We are told in the New Testament that "God commanded the light to shine; " and the Hebrew rendering of Gen. i. 3 is, "Light, be! And light was." Now, to command a servant into one's presence presupposes his previous existence; and the sun, moon, and stars may have been created long before they were visible from the earth's surface,

since many distinguished Hebrew scholars tell us that the words "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven" do not signify a literal creation of the heavenly bodies, but only constituting them for their work and for the division of time. The words are not the same as "created," and the passage in ver. 14 rightly comprehended implies a previous existence; the "lights" in the expanse were "to be" for signs and seasons.

Very much more might be said, and has been already said, on this doubtful subject; the difficulty has been smothered by some who declare the first of Genesis to be a riddle, and nothing more; we heartily agree in the belief that at least onehalf of God's word is composed of riddles, the most interesting in the world; and, without doubt, this chapter, describing the genesis of

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 carboniferous 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. doter18 992 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 surfact indicates some great catastrophe which only finds its explanation in the Scrip-1 ture of truth, which declares that d "the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished."

which have just returned from the Eastern seas, deeply laden with valuable cargoes of silk, tea, drugs, spices, &c., &c., and gangs of men are hoisting chests and bales and boxes from the hold to the deck, whilst others, in turn, wheel them on handbarrows to the sheds on shore, every separate article being carefully checked and entered in books by officers appointed for that purpose. Arrived in the sheds, they are weighed, marked, entered in other books, and then sent off to some of the adjacent warehouses till sold. Threading our way carefully over chains and ropes and slippery planks to another jetty, we find Australian clippers discharging cargoes of wool, vessels from the Indies with sugar, tobacco, ivory, and, indeed, from all parts of the world, with every known product.

Then we come to vessels outward bound, taking into their capacious holds immense piles of our manufactures, cotton goods from Lancashire, cloths from Yorkshire, earthenware from Staffordshire, cutlery from Sheffield, ale from Burton, destined to supply the wants of dwellers at the antipodes, and to be scattered in every region of the globe. If we can obtain permission to enter the warehouses, we shall find the six or seven floors of which they consist closely packed, separate warehouses being appropriated to each class of goods. In the tobacco warehouses we may see more than 20,000 hogsheads of tobacco piled two in height, ranged in long rows, the alleys between being several hundred feet long. In another warehouse there is room for 120,000 chests of tea; and in the immense vaults

beneath, one of which covers twelve acres of ground, are stowed almost countless gallons of wine and spirits, the long vista of arches, dimly lit, stretching across in every direction, till the eye can no longer trace the receding glimmer of the far-off lamps, and the stranger becomes oppressed by his inability to grasp the stupendous total. Yet this dock is only one of several, and I have only glanced at a few of the more prominent features.

But we must not linger longer. Leaving by the principal entrance in Upper East Smithfield, we are surrounded again by shops which minister to the wants, or pander to the vices, of our sailors, and very shortly come again in sight of the Tower, the most prominent building in the group before us being the White Tower, a lofty square keep, with a turret at each angle, which forms a conspicuous object in the surrounding scenery.

Having very recently made a long visit to this interesting building, it will perhaps be most convenient if I describe it just in the order in which we saw it.

Immediately on entering the gate, strangers are challenged by the yéomen warders, a body of men specially appointed to conduct visitors, on payment of a shilling each, over those portions of the Tower which are open to the public. These yeomen on state occasions are dressed in an antique costume, similar to that popularly known as the beefeaters'," but ordinarily they wear a modern uniform, excepting that the hat is low-crowned, made of black velvet, and adorned with coloured ribbons.