nent, in a manner, it is believed, that has never before been attempted.

To the eye of a finite being, could there have been one present to witness the passing panorama, there would have appeared many retrograde movements, but in reality all were steps in the grand development which was to have its termination in the present era, the "Era of Mind." For this, all that preceded

was only preparatory.

In the latter part of the preceding era the animal kingdom, apart from man, culminated; for the system then reached the highest grade of development presented by the merely animal type, and brute passion had its fullest display. In the era [of Mind] now opening, the animal element is no longer dominant, but mind, in the possession of a being at the head of the kingdom of life; and the era bears the impress of its exalted characteristic even in the smaller size of its beasts of prey. At the same time, the ennobled animal structure rises to its highest perfection; for the vertebrate type which began during the paleozoic in the prone or horizontal fish, finally becomes erect in man, completing, as Agassiz has observed, the possible changes in the series to its last term."-P. 573.

But may not the objection be raised here that this is assuming quite too much for our own era, and for man, the being of Mind, and grand characteristic of the era? May it not be well to heed the sarcastic language of the poet ?

"While man exclaims, 'See all things for my use,'

'See man for mine!' replies the pampered goose."

The author gives us the very satisfactory answer as follows, namely:

In order to a correct apprehension of the distinctions and eminence of the era of mind, a few of the attributes of man are here enumerated.

Man was the first being that was not finished on reaching adult growth, but was provided with powers for indefinite expansion, a will for a life of work, and a boundless aspiration to lead to endless improvement. He was the first being capable of an intelligent survey of nature and comprehension of her laws; the first capable of augmenting his strength by bending nature to his service, rendering thereby a weak body stronger than all possible animal force; the first capable of deriving happiness from beauty, truth, and goodness, of apprehending eternal right, of looking from the finite to the infinite, and communing with God his Måker. Made in the image of God, surely he is immeasurably beyond the brute, although it shares with him the attribute of reason.

The supremacy of the animal in nature, which continued until now, here yields, therefore, to the supremacy of the spiritual. As

the body, through its development and adaptation, is made for the service and education of the soul that is slowly maturing in connection with it, so with the system of the world, as regards both its inorganic and organic departments, there was reference throughout its history, no less than in its final adjustment, to man, the last, the highest, the spiritual creation. And the earth subserves her chief purpose in nurturing this new creation for a still more exalted stage, that of spiritual existence.-Pp. 573, 574.

The question concerning the "Antiquity of Man," which has of late received so much attention, the author does not specially discuss, but merely remarks in passing that the age of man opens in the "Terrace" Epoch; the period when the present river terraces were formed; in which were made the very latest posttertiary deposits not referrible to the action of present rivers and streams. (See pages 535 and 548.)

To those who are curious in the study of this question, it may be interesting to remark that the Niagara River, or rather the deep gorge it has excavated for itself, furnishes the best data to be found in this region for a kind of practical elucidation of the subject.

According to the author of this work, the introduction of man took place during the "Terrace Epoch," which is considered as a "transition period," connecting the latest post-tertiary with the historic times. Now this excavation of its own channel by the Niagara River began after or at the close of the drift period, and not very long before the beginning of this "Terrace Epoch;" consequently, if we can determine the time which has been required for the Niagara River to accomplish this work, we shall know, approximately, how long our race has existed on this globe! But to do this we need to know what has been the average annual rate at which the recession has progressed in times past; a period which has not yet been satisfactorily settled.

Mr. Bakewell, in 1830,* thought he found evidence that for the forty years preceding, the recession had averaged about three feet annually; but probably this is too much, and Lyell,† in 1841, thought it would not exceed one third of this, or one foot a year; and Hall coincides with him. The author of the work before us (page 591) names an inch a year, or eight and +Lyell's Travels, vol. i, p. 27.

* Literary Journal, vol. xiv, p. 47.

Rep. 4th Dist. N. Y., p. 348.

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one third feet a century, as a more probable rate, and others still have made lower estimates. If we adopt any one of these estimates, it is easy to calculate the time that would be required to produce the six miles of excavation below the Falls.

Taking the rate at one foot a year, the six miles will have required thirty-one thousand years; if at the rate of one inch a year, which is eight and one third feet a century, three hundred and eighty thousand years.

That the recession has required a very long period is plain, but when we undertake to estimate it in years we find it difficult to settle upon any definite number.

In concluding this paper a few general observations suggest themselves.

1. No one can read the work before us without being impressed with the profoundness of the author's views of the great subject of which it treats. In this we may claim for it a dedecided superiority over any other work in the English language. He seizes upon the mighty subject with the grasp of a giant, and presents it systematically before us in all its great features and relations with singular clearness; and, at the same time, brings forward in long array the multitudinous details on which the immense superstructure depends.

In all the qualities which constitute the peculiarities of an excellent book, we hesitate not to say the volume has not often been surpassed.

2. With his profound knowledge of the whole subject, the author has found nothing to disturb, in the least, his long professed belief in the Christian religion, or his firm reliance upon the Bible as the Book of God. On minor points, where others have so often stumbled, he feels no difficulty. Take, for instance, the origin of species, which has always constituted a vexed question:

With regard to the origin of species, geology suggests no theory from natural forces. It is right for science to search out Nature's methods, and strive to employ her forces, organic or inorganic, in the effort, vain though it prove, to derive thence new living species. The study of fossils has given no aid in this direction. It has brought to light no facts sustaining a theory that derives species from others, either by a system of evolution, or by a system of variations of living individuals, and bears strongly against both hypotheses. There are no lineal series through cre

ation corresponding to such methods of development. . . . With any such system of development of species from species, the system of life, after ages of progress, would have become a blended mass; the temple of nature fused over its surface and throughout its structure. The study of the past has opened to view no such result. Pp. 602, 603.

That species after species, and race after race, both of plants and animals, have in some way been introduced upon this earth, and after flourishing their brief day, again entirely disappeared, leaving only such remains as are preserved in the rocks constituting the crust of our globe, is abundantly manifest; but the method of their introduction is a point man has not yet been able to determine. Science on this point having thus far entirely failed us, the author is willing to leave it, for the present at least, unexplained. It is not the only question pertaining to this study that we are obliged to leave thus.

But geology, while reaching so deeply into the origin of things, leaves wholly unexplained the creation of matter, life, and spirit, and that spiritual element which pervades the whole history like a prophecy, becoming more and more clearly pronounced with the progressing ages, and having its consummation and fulfillment in man. It gives no cause for the arrangement of the continents together in one hemisphere, and mainly in the same temperate zone, or their situation about the narrow Atlantic, with the barrier mountains in the remote west of America and in the remote east of Europe and Asia, thus gathering the civilized world into one vast arena; it does not account for the oceans having that exact relation in extent and depth to the land which, under all the changes, allowed of submergence and emergence through small oscillations of the coast, and have permitted the spreading out of sandstones and shales by the waves and currents, the building up of limestones through animal life, and the accumulation of coal beds through the growth of plants; and all in numberless alternations; nor for the various adaptations of the systems of plants and animals to the wants of the last species in that system. Through the whole history of the globe there was a shaping, provisioning, and exalting the earth, with reference to a being of mind, to be sustained, educated, exalted. This is the spiritual element in geological history, for which attraction, water, and fire have no explanation.-P. 740.

3. There is no discrepancy between the teachings of geology and the teachings of the Bible. This, at least, is the deliberate opinion of the author of this work. After a brief discussion of the "Cosmogony" of the first chapter of the book of Genesis, he says:

The record of the Bible is, therefore, profoundly philosophical in the scheme of creation which it presents. It is both true and divine. It is a declaration of authorship, both of creation and the Bible, on the first page of the sacred volume.

There can be no real conflict between the two books of the GREAT AUTHOR. Both are revelations made by him to man; the earlier telling of God-made harmonies coming up from the deep past, and rising to their height when man appeared; the later teaching man's relations to his Maker, and speaking of loftier harmonies in the eternal future.-P. 746.

Of this great science, geology, the author had previously said with equal beauty and truth:

Geology appears to bring us directly before the Creator, and, while opening to us the methods through which the forces of nature have accomplished his purposes; while proving that there has been a plan glorious in its scheme and perfect in system, progressing through unmeasured ages and looking ever toward Man and a spiritual end; it leads to no other solution of the great problem of creation, whether of kinds of matter or of species of life, than this, DEUS FECIT !

ART. V.-LESSON FROM THE BAR TO THE PULPIT.*

EVERY man who deems himself called by summons of the Most High to stand forth his herald to the sons of men, should know that it is a God of perfections who calls him to the work, "even the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." His all-seeing eye is ever on his vineyard, and on those who labor therein. Will he then, a God most perfect in his style of action, rest content at beholding ungainly airs and slouching attitudes, or mangled words and boorish genuflections at his sacred altars?

Let us turn our attention to that qualification of the public speaker, eloquence. Is it essential that it be cultivated as a means of aid in the work of the Christian ministry? Is time lost that the servant of God may devote to its acquirement?

In commencing an answer to these interrogatories, we may with much profit go back to very remote periods of the past. It is in our power to recur to a time when the point was raised before Deity himself. Possibly, after that, further pursuit were

*The title to the present article is selected by the Editor.