--at the distance of 3 miles, it is cut off and thrown down again 240 feet."

An evidence of the effects which could be produced only by a general deluge, is also afforded by those organic remains to which I have already adverted, and particularly by those immense quantities of marine shells, which have been discovered in situations so elevated, and in places so far removed from the sea, as to prove that they were left there by a flood extending over the whole globe. At Touraine, in France, a hundred miles from the sea, is a bed of shells stretching 9 leagues in extent, and 20 feet in depth, and including shells not known to belong to the neighbouring sea. Humboldt found sea shells on the Andes at an elevation of 14,120 feet above the level of the sea. The slaty mountain of La Bolca, near Verona, is famous for petrifactions, among which are enumerated more than one hundred species of fish, natives of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, here assembled in one place.

It appears, therefore, that the researches of Geology confirm the fact of a universal deluge, and thus afford a sensible proof of the credibility of the Sacred Historian, and, consequently, of the truth of the doctrines of Divine Revelation. But, besides the testimony which this science bears to the authenticity of Scripture History, it exhibits some of the grandest objects in the history of the physical operations of Divine Providence. It presents to our view, in a most impressive form, the majestic agency of God, in convulsing and disarranging the structure of our globe, and which at first sprung from his hand in perfect order and beauty. When we contemplate the objects which this science embraces, we seem to be standing on the ruins of a former world. We behold "hills" which "have melted like wax at the presence of the Lord," and "mountains" which have been carried into the midst of the sea." behold rocks of enormous size, which have been rent from their foundations, and rolled from one continent to another— the most solid strata of the earth bent under the action of some tremendous power, and dispersed in fragments through the surrounding regions. We behold the summits of lofty mountains, over which the ocean had rolled its mighty billows -confounding lands and seas in one universal devastationtransporting plants and forests from one quarter of the world to another, and spreading universal destruction among the animated inhabitants of the water and the earth. When we enter the wild and romantic scene of a mountainous country or descend into the subterraneous regions of the globe, we are

We

every where struck with the vestiges of operations carried on by the powers of Nature, upon a scale of prodigious magnitude, and with the exertion of forces, the stupendous nature of which astonishes and overpowers the mind. Contemplating such scenes of grandeur, we perceive the force and sublimity of those descriptions of Deity contained in the volume of inspiration: "The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majes ty; in his hand are the deep places of the earth, the strength of hills is his also. He removeth the mountains, and they know not; he overturneth them in his anger; he shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. At his presence the earth shook and trembled: the foundations also of the hills moved, and were shaken, because he was wrath." "Thou coveredst the earth with the deep, as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hastened away." While retracing such terrific displays of Omnipotence, we are naturally led to inquire into the moral cause which induced the Benevolent Creator to inflict upon the world such overwhelming desolations. For reason, as well as revelation, declares, that a moral cause must have existed. Man must have violated the commands of his Maker, and frustrated the end of his creation; and to this conclusion the Sacred Historian bears ample testimony." God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air."

ASTRONOMY.

Another science which stands in an intimate relation to religion, is Astronomy.

This sublime science teaches us the magnitudes and distances of the heavenly bodies, their arrangement, their various motions and phenomena, and the laws by which their move. ments are regulated. It presents to our view objects the most wonderful and sublime; whether we consider the vast magnitude of the bodies about which it is conversant-their immense number—the velocity of their motions-the astonishing forces requisite to impel them in their rapid career through the regions of the sky-the vast spaces which surround them, and in which they perform their revolutions-the magnificent circles they describe the splendor of their appearance-or the important ends they are destined to serve in the grand system of the

universe. Having adverted to this subject, when illustrating the Omnipotence of the Deity, I shall here simply state a few additional facts with respect to the general appearance of the heavens, the bodies which compose the planetary system, and the discoveries which have been made in the region of the stars.

When we lift our eyes towards the sky, we perceive an apparent hollow hemisphere, placed at an indefinite distance, and surrounding the earth on every hand. In the day time, the principal object which appears in the hemisphere, is the sun. In the morning, we see him rise above the distant mountains, or from the extremity of the ocean; he gradually ascends the vault of heaven, and then declines, and disappears in the opposite quarter of the sky. In the northern parts of the globe, where we reside, if, about the 21st of March, we place ourselves on an open plain, with our face towards the south, the sun will appear to rise on our left, or due east, about six in the morning, and about the same hour in the evening, he will set due west. In the month of June he rises to our left, but somewhat behind us, in a direction towards the north-east, ascends to a greater height at noon than in the month of March, and, after describing a large arc of the heavens, sets on our right, and still behind us, in the north-western quarter of the sky.. In the month of December, if we stand in the same position, we may observe, without turning ourselves, both his rising and setting. He rises in the south-east, ascends to a small elevation at noon, and sets in the south-west, after having described a very small arc of the heavens. Every day he appears to move a little towards the east, or contrary to his apparent diurnal motion; for the stars which are seen to the eastward of him, appear every succeeding day to make a nearer approach to the place in which he is seen. All the variety of these successive changes is accomplished within the period of 365 days 6 hours, in which time he appears to have made a complete revolution round the heavens from west to east.

The moon is the next object in the heavens which naturally attracts our attention; and she is found to go through similar variations in the course of a month. When she first becomes visible at new moon, she appears in the western part of the heavens, in the form of a crescent, not far from the setting sun. Every night she increases in size, and removes to a greater distance from the sun, till, at last, she appears in the eastern part of the horizon, just as the sun disappears in the western; at which time she presents a round full-enlightened face.

After this, she gradually moves farther and farther east

ward, and her enlightened part gradually decreases, till at last she seems to approach the sun as nearly in the east as she did in the west. and rises only a little before him in the morning, in the form of a crescent. All these different changes may be traced by attending to her apparent positions, from time to time, with respect to the fixed stars.

This

A dark shadow is occasionally seen to move across the face of the moon, which obscures her light, and gives her the appearance of tarnished copper. Sometimes this shadow covers only a small portion of her surface; at other times it covers the whole of her disk for an hour or two, and its margin always appears of the figure of a segment of a circle. phenomenon, which happens, at an average, about twice every year, is termed an eclipse of the moon. It is produced by the shadow of the earth falling upon the moon, when the sun, the earth, and the moon, are nearly in a straight line; and can happen only at the time of full moon. Sometimes the moon

appears to pass across the body of the sun, when her dark side is turned towards the earth, covering his disk either in whole or in part, and intercepting his rays from a certain portion of the earth. This is called an eclipse of the sun, and can happen only at the time of new moon. In a total eclipse of the sun, which seldom happens, the darkness is so striking, that the planets, and some of the larger stars, are distinctly seen, and the inferior animals appear struck with terror.

Again, if, on a winter's evening, about six o'clock, we direct our view to the eastern quarter of the sky, we shall perceive certain stars just risen above the horizon; if we view the same stars about midnight, we shall find them at a considerable elevation in the south, having apparently moved over a space equal to one half of the whole hemisphere. On the next morning, about six o'clock, the same stars will be seen setting in the western part of the sky. If we turn our eyes towards the north, we shall perceive a similar motion in these twinkling orbs, but with this difference, that a very considerable number of them neither rise nor set, but seem to move round an immoveable point, called the north pole. Near this point is placed the pole star, which seems to have little or no apparent motion, and which, in our latitude, appears elevated a little more than half way between the northern part of our horizon and the zenith or point above our heads. A person who has directed his attention to the heavens for the first time, after having made such observations, will naturally inquireWhence come those stars which begin to appear in the east? Whither have those gone, which have disappeared in the west?

and, What becomes, during the day, of the stars which are seen in the night?-It will soon occur to a rational observer, who is convinced of the roundness of the earth, that the stars which rise above the eastern horizon come from another hemisphere, which we are apt to imagine below us, and when they set, return to that hemisphere again; and, that the reason why the stars are not seen in the day-time, is, not because they are absent from our hemisphere, or have ceased to shine, but because their light is obscured by the more vivid splendor of the sun. * From such observations we are led to conclude, that the globe on which we tread is suspended in empty space -is surrounded on all sides by the celestial vault-and that the whole sphere of the heavens has an apparent motion round

This is put beyond all doubt, by the invention of the telescope; by which instrument, adapted to an equatorial motion, we are enabled to see many of the stars even at noon-day. The Author of this work, about eleven years ago, made a number of observations, by means of an Equatorial telescope, to determine the following particulars:-What stars and planets may be conveniently seen in the day-time, when the sun is above the horizon? What degrees of magnifying power are requisite for distinguishing them? How near their conjunction with the sun they may be seen; and, whether the diminution of the aperture of the telescope, or the increase of magnifying power, conduces most to render a star or planet visible in day-light. The results of several hundreds of observations on these points, accompanied with some original deductions and remarks, are inserted in Nicholson's Philosophical Journal," for October, 1813, vol. 36, p. 109-128. The following are some of the results which were deduced from the observations:-That a star of the first magnitude may be distinguished at any time of the day, with a magnifying power of 30 times, but that a higher magnifying power is preferable-That most of the stars of the second magnitude may be seen with a power of 100; and with a power of 60 times, when the sun is not much more than two hours above the horizon-That the planet Jupiter, when not within 30 or 40 degrees of the sun, may be seen with a power of 15 times;-and that Venus may, in most instances, be seen with a power of from 7 to 100 times, and upwards -That Jupiter can scarcely be distinguished in the day-time, when within 26 degrees of the sun; but that Venus may be distinctly perceived near her superior conjunction, when only 1 degree and 27 minutes from the sun's margin; and, consequently, may be visible at the time of that conjunction, when her geocentric latitude equals or exceeds 1 degree 43 minutes-That she may be perceived, like a fine, slender crescent, within 35 hours after passing her inferior conjunction, &c. &c. One practical purpose to which such observations on Venus, at the time of her superior conjunction, may be applied, is, to determine the difference (if any) between her polar and equatorial diameters. For, it is only at that conjunction that she presents to the earth a full enlightened hemisphere; and in no other position can the measure of both diameters be taken, except when she makes a transit across the sun's disk. As the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, are found to be spheriods, it is highly probable that Venus is of a similar figure; but this point has never yet been ascertained by actual observation. See also "The Edinburgh Philos. Journal," No. 5, for July 1820, p. 191; and No. 13, for July, 1822-"The Scots Mag." for Feb. 1814, p. 84.-"Monthly Mag." Feb. 1814, and August 1820, p. 62.