opinion, that, though water might have carried these accumulations to the places, where they are found deposited, water could not have made the impressions on the rocks. They have, therefore, concluded, that the detritus was first embedded in ice, and, in that state, borne along by floods; and these icebergs, full of materials more solid than ice, produced the marks still visible on the rocks. Geologists, moreover, show, that these heaps of drifted matter were deposited, in the places they now occupy, before the commencement of the human era. Now, as a good comparative anatomist, like Cuvier, can, from seeing a bone, or even the fragment of a bone, make out, and describe, the whole frame of the animal, to which it belonged; and, moreover, say, whether it was graminivorous, or carnivorous; so, from the fact of there having been ice in our planet, long before the human period, we may with certainty infer the existence of all the four seasons of the year. Ice is a constant adjunct or concomitant of winter; indeed, winter might be defined the icy season of the year. But, it would truly be a dull, dreary, uncomfortable world, and void alike of life and the means of life, in which winter reigned everywhere throughout the year; and, the numerous fossils of these remote epochs show, that these were busy times, as regards both vegetable and animal life; and prove clearly, that, then, as now, the other seasons shared the year with winter. And, having thus ascertained the periodical round of the seasons, in the pre-Adamite states of the earth, from them we may add to our proofs of the existence of the sun in these times. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter, are the effects of light and heat varying every moment, as at present, in all the different parts of the globe; and this variation of light and heat could be caused then, only as it is caused now, by the earth constantly altering its place and position with respect to the sun. What stronger T proofs could be desired of the existence and action of the sun before the creative week began? Thousands of years, before the world was in a fit state for becoming the habitation of man, the sun gave forth his effulgence by day, by night the moon and the stars blended their fainter beams with the shades and dark clouds of the sky; and were, even to the irrational animals, which then had exclusive occupancy of the earth, "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years." When day broke, slumber fled their eyes, as happens with the animals of our own era, and they went abroad in quest of food-some, it may be—to prey upon their fellow creatures, and, in turn, to be devoured by others stronger than themselves; and the night, by the departure of the sun, was to them a sign, which they perfectly understood, to repair to their natural coverts, and once more enjoy the sweet and unbroken oblivion of repose. They knew spring and summer by the profuse foliage, which then bedecked the earth; autumn by its berries and coarse fruits, and its leaves becoming browned through age, and winter-where winter domineered-by its snows, and its frosts, and its scanty. store of good things for food. In this way and we could arrive at the same conclusion in several other ways-we discover, that the sun, moon, and stars, existed, and were in full operation, untold ages before the creative week. This brings us to the question-In what, then, did the permanent adaptation of the fourth day consist? That it related to the sun and moon we are distinctly told (though we do not conceive any change to have taken place on the body of the moon); but, though the account of the work done is very copious for so concise a history, it does not define the particular adjustment made on the sun, and which would result in a change of the moon as "the lesser light" of our earth. The fulness of the description, when other considerations are lost sight of, is apt to make unreflecting readers suspect, that the original creation of the sun and moon is spoken of. This, however, would be a hasty and unwarranted conclusion. In chapter ninth of Genesis we are informed that after the Universal Deluge God made a covenant with the earth, never more to bury it under the waters of a flood; and also, that God appointed the rainbow, as the visible token of this voluntary and gracious promise to mankind. The stipulation never more to drown the world was altogether a free act on the part of God; but, having made it, he not only bound himself to fulfil it, he gave to man a deed of contract, as a pledge, that the covenant would have its full and literal accomplishment, and that deed was "the bow in the cloud in the day of rain." Now, the rainbow is a natural phenomenon that, according to the present constitution of things, must always take place in certain states of the atmosphere.* *In contemplating the works of creation and the course of physical events, it will assist us in forming exact ideas, if we draw a distinction between creations and the results of creations. The firmament or atmosphere is a creation, the plants called into existence on the third day were creations, the animals formed on the fifth and sixth days were creations; but, the clouds are not creations, the bow formed on the clouds is not a creation; the clouds and the rainbow are results proceeding, partly from creations, partly from other results. Further: creations and the results of creations both owe their origin to the Great First Cause -the former directly or by primary agency; the latter indirectly or by secondary agency. Primary agency was put forth in the creative week; the secondary agencies have been in steady and unceasing operation ever since. To suppose the rainbow did not exist till : Moreover rainbows are not confined to day and the sun; there are lunar rainbows by night-more faint, as we might expect, and less frequent. Bows of a similar nature and exhibiting exactly the same colours may be seen also in the clouds of spray hovering over large rivers and waterfalls; and similar phenomena are formed in the prism, in drops of water, dew, soapbubbles, &c.* These other natural appearances prove the solar rainbow to be a purely natural occurrence, and not created on purpose to be a sensible token of the covenant. Indeed, the very circumstance of its after the Deluge is equivalent to asserting, that there were neither clouds nor rain before that event, which would imply a constitution of the world in antediluvian times altogether different from that which it has had since the Flood. But, there were clouds before the Deluge, there was rain too before it. The two most remarkable falls of rain that ever happened in this world occurred in the antediluvian period. Both of these falls were miraculous, both notable for their extent. The one took place in the sixth day of the creative week, and watered the whole of the ground that had been relieved of the flood on the third day; and we may conclude with full certainty that a grand rainbow, spanning the sky from horizon to horizon, was visible when the shower was nearly over. The other great fall was the continuous rain of forty days which occurred at the end of the antediluvian age, and which, in part, produced the Deluge.-Enough surely has been said to prove, that the rainbow is not a creation, but an effect or result, which, in certain states of the atmosphere, must necessarily fall out. * A complete circle-not a mere curve-showing the prismatic colours, may occasionally be seen round the flame of a candle. being a natural sign of a departing storm is what fits the rainbow for becoming a covenanted pledge, and the very circumstance, we may warrantably infer, which led to its adoption. Just as if God had said: "You know the bow in the cloud to be the natural sign of a departing storm; the sight of it has often cheered you, because you knew it would be immediately followed by fair weather: henceforth let it be something more to you than an indication of clear skies and bright suns; let it be the token to you of the covenant I have made with you, never more to destroy the earth and every living thing by a flood of waters, as I have done; every time you behold the bow in the cloud, read in it a renewal of my promise never more to deluge the earth with water."--The bow had often been seen in the cloud before the Deluge; but, to the antediluvians, it was not a sign of mercy to mankind; if rightly understood, it would be an indication of a storm having spent its force, but of nothing more. The Greeks and Romans misunderstood this beautiful appearance in the sky, and supposed it to betoken a gathering storm, to which it powerfully contributed. Among the antediluvians, a few who were skilful in discerning the face of the sky, may have discovered, that the bow always became visible at the end of a storm, when the clouds were racking, and the heavens, at least in one quarter, were again bright with the sun; and a discovery of such practical importance would soon spread among the few families, by which the earth was then peopled. The bow is in itself a beautiful and attractive sight; but, when its utility is known, it has a twofold claim on our attention. If the antediluvians understood it, the appearance of it in the cloud must have delighted them, though, how long the good weather was to continue, the bow told them nothing. On the morrow after the bow, painted in all its exquisite colours, had |