"has not been observed, that the same subli

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mity which is universally perceived in the "clause, Let there be light, and there was

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light,' subsists equally in this clause; 'Let "the waters be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land be seen, and it "was so.' The sentiment of sublimity in the "former clause, results from the contemplation "of an instantaneous transition of the universe "from the profoundest darkness to the most splendid light, at the command of God. All "men familiarly apprehend the sadness of the former, and the delight of the latter; and they are, therefore, instantly sensible of the glorious nature of the change which was then so suddenly produced. But the nature of the change which must necessarily have taken place, in suddenly rendering visible a part of a "solid Globe, the universal surface of which "had been overflowed, and concealed by a "flood of waters, is not so familiarly, or so in"stantly apprehended; the mind, therefore, "does not care to dwell upon it, but is con"tented with receiving the general information “that the sea was formed. Hence, both com

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mentators, and geologists, have equally failed "to draw the immediate and necessary in"ference from the revelation of that great and “ ́undeniable geological fact.

There is, besides, this further reason for our regarding the creation of light with more wonder and admiration than that of the "gathering "together of the waters;" that however great and stupendous the latter operation must have been, it comes more easily within the scope of our intelligence than the former. We can imagine to ourselves secondary causes which could produce hollows in the surface of the earth, but the creation of light is far beyond the reach of our finite understandings. Although we can study its effects, and although science has made many brilliant discoveries with regard to these effects, yet we can in no way comprehend its origin. Its nature is beyond our reach its creation, therefore, excites our admiration, in proportion to the difficulty we feel in comprehending it; but we are not, on this account, to form an erroneous estimate of the great operation which we are now to consider; for the formation of a bed for the ocean could be the work of that Intelligence alone, which was able, at the first, to create that ocean.

This depression, small as it proves to be, compared with the diameter of the whole earth, was sufficiently deep and extensive to cause vast changes in the structure of a great part of the surface of the Globe. In whatever mode the bed of the ocean was sunk, it is quite certain that the shores of the newly gathered waters

must have been left in a rough, broken, and precipitous state. The descending portion of the solid earth, which was to form the bottom of the new sea, must have been subjected to extensive fracture and derangement, and must instantly have been acted upon by that continual movement, and circulation, which were then decreed, and have ever since been kept up, in the great body of the waters.* The tides, and the currents, these unceasing agents, would then commence their unwearied labours; and the immense debris of primitive rocks, would, by constant movement and friction, be reduced to the various stages in which they are now often found. From that day forth, the vapours exhaled from the waters by the heat of the sun, were to be converted into the various meteoric phenomena with which the firmament is charged. The clouds were to descend upon the now "dry "land;" the rills, the brooks, the rivers, were now to begin their never ending courses, each charged with its load of moveable particles,

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* "The transition rocks include a considerable variety of earthy substances; but they are generally composed of the primitive rocks, reduccd to a state of disintegration, apparently by a mechanical cause, and afterwards re-united "into conglomerate masses, by some kind of cement, of an argillaceous or calcareous nature."

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Edin. Encyclop. Physical Geography. p. 488.

destined to be deposited in the bed of the new sea. The sands, and gravels of the new shores, would then be unmixed with those various secondary, or shelly substances, we now find amongst them in such abundance. Their appearance would then be altogether crystalline and primitive; and the first strata arranged by the ocean on the granitic surface of the sea's bed, would naturally be formed of such substances, and without any vestige of animal bodies which had not then be created; and which, though soon afterwards "brought forth " abundantly," could not, for a long time, have left their shelly remains in the abundance we have reason to know they subsequently did.*

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*No fossil remains have ever been found in what are "termed the oldest formations. In the transition rocks," (the formation of some of which we are above considering,) "where they first occur, they are but very rare; yet in the "newer" (or upper) "transition rocks they increase considerably in quantity. In the floetz formations they continue increasing in quantity to the newer formations."

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Edin. Encyclop. Mineralogy, p. 409.

In considering the fossil remains of shell fish, which are by far the most abundant of all fossils, we must remember that the accumulation of their shelly remains would be progressive. Those of the first generation, for instance, would exist through many generations of living fish; and at the end of a hundred generations, we should find nearly all the shells of these generations, though the numbers of living

If an opportunity, therefore, were given us for the examination, we should expect to find various strata composed of broken masses of primitive rocks, reposing upon these same rocks in their solid and unbroken condition. The opportunity has been placed within our reach, and we do find such strata as were to be anticipated, and to which, even the chaotic Geology has given the name of transition of fragmentary formations; a name evidently suggested by their appearance and composition.

It is not my intention, in this place, to proceed with the consideration of the three last days of the creation, as recorded in the Mosaic history, because they do not present the same grounds for geological enquiry which are to be found in the operations of the first three days, which we have now been considering. We have seen that the creation of the primitive portions of the earth, that is, of rock, of water, and of the aerial atmosphere surrounding both, could have been effected only by the fiat of the Almighty architect of the universe. We have found no reason to cast a shadow of doubt upon the Mosaic record, where it informs us that the

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creatures were not increased from the first year. thus easily and naturally account for the scarcity of fossil shells in the earlier formations, and for their progressive abundance in the subsequent ones.