decayed and corrupt state to food fresh and sweet. Yet such is the case with birds of prey; and, being so formed, they greedily devour carrion and garbage wherever they are to be found; and so prevent the noisome matter from polluting the air, and breeding pestilence. And in the warm latitudes of the earth, especially, men prize the services of these birds very highly.

But there are many other ways in which we derive benefit from the creations of the fifth day. To pass over the vast amount of cheap food and stated employment which they furnish to the labouring classes of almost every country in the world, the study of the structure, nature, habits, &c., of fish and birds, ranks among the most delightful of intellectual pursuits, both in themselves, and as exhibiting, in numberless forms and ways, the goodness, wisdom, and power, of Him by whom all things were made.

SIXTH DAY.

But the simple shades of night again disappear from the cloudless vault of heaven-a presage of the approaching sun; the dawn, having put to flight the stars, brings on the morning of the sixth day; the morning stars sing together, and all the sons of God shout for joy: The Creator is again present at the scene of his miraculous doings, and ready to begin the works of the last and great day of the creative week.

THE CREATION OF LAND ANIMALS.

Ver. 24. "And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind; cattle, and creep

ing things, and beasts of the earth after his kind: And it was so."

25. "And God made the beast of the earth after his kind; and the cattle after their kind; and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: And God saw that it was good."

We have here three distinct kinds of animals brought into existence :

I. THE BEAST OF THE EARTH: By the phrase "the beast of the earth" we are to understand what we usually designate wild beasts (as distinct from domestic cattle), though we have no reason to suppose they were created in a wild state-beasts that were intended to live at large, in unmolested accordance with their own natural desires and instincts, far from the abodes of men in dens, and caves, and coverts, and holes of the earth; and to search for food suitable to their respective natures on hills and in dales, in woods, forests, thickets, and green lawns. To this numerous class may be referred-the lion, the tiger, the bear, the rhinoceros, the hyena, the beaver, the badger, the squirrel, the ape, the monkey, the giraffe, the antelope, the deer, the sloth, the hedgehog, the fox, the hare, &c.

II. CATTLE beasts intended to become subject to man, and useful and serviceable to him in a great variety of ways: the camel, the horse, the ass; cows, sheep, goats, swine, &c.; the various sorts of dogs, &c. Many of these are found living in a wild state in thinlyinhabited parts of the world at present. As barbarous and savage tribes of men have all become degenerated from the civilized condition, so these animals, now running wild, may be pronounced the descendants of tame and domesticated stocks.

It would seem that, from the very first, "the beasts of the field" were fitted and designed to lead a life of

independence; and "the cattle," to be under the immediate care and superintendence of man. That appears to be the primary distinction between these two sorts of animals. Man, immediately on his creation, was invested with dominion over both kinds; and, though he was not to have the full immediate use and enjoyment of them, they were created prospectively for his benefit. Some were to furnish him with food; others, with clothing; others, with medicine; whilst others, again, were to be highly serviceable to him by the toils which they were specially made to undergo and endure. But the ends of their creation as regards man are too well known to require being here particularised.

When both the beasts of the field and the cattle were brought into the garden to Adam, that he might give them names, the distinction between wild and tame animals would not exist. The change to the worse in the original natures of so many of the inferior animals was part of the curse which sin entailed on the world, and, probably, began to make its appearance very gradually, but was fully developed before the Universal Deluge; before that event also another distinction — namely into clean and unclean, had taken place among the inferior animals.

III. CREEPING THINGS: this phrase includes all land animals that produce their young from eggscommonly termed oviparous animals-whether they creep along the ground without legs, or from the shortness of their legs seem to creep. The following kinds of creeping things belong to the human era:

(1.) The Chelonians: The tortoise, the turtle.

(2.) The Saurians: The crocodile, the alligator or cayman, the lizard, the chameleon, the skink, the iguana.

(3.) The Ophidians: Serpents and snakes of all sorts -the viper, the rattlesnake, the boa constrictor, &c.

(4.) The Batrachians: The frog, the toad, the salamander, the siren, the proteus.*

The animals of the human period differ considerably, in several respects, from the animals of the preceding epochs :

(a.) The animals of the human period are far more simple in type than the animals of the by-gone geological epochs. Whether right or wrong, it is a common saying, that a bat is half bird, half mouse. Thus viewed, the bat is not simple, but combines the characteristics of two sorts of creatures. The flying fish, and the flying dragon, furnish other examples of compound

* The reader will observe, that no mention is made in the Record of the creation of insects, though, in point of numbers, they far exceed all the other living creatures of the globe taken together. It is not difficult, however, to account for what, by some, may be thought an omission. Not a few of the insects are part of the curse which sin brought upon the world; and had man continued upright as he was made, these never would have existed at all. Now, though all insects were direct creations, like the beasts, the cattle, and the creeping things, those which form part of the original curse pronounced on the ground, could not have been brought into existence till after the Fall. But a great proportion of the insect tribes do not originate in the same way with the other sentient creations. In countless instances they owe their being to soil, climate, situation, and a host of other circumstances, without at least any overt interference on the part of the Deity. And, whereas the other animals belonging to our epoch were all created" in the beginning," and have but one centre of creation, insects have been forming at all times since the Fall, and have centres of creation, without number and without end.

types in animals. But, such instances are rare, and should be regarded as exceptions to the simplicity or oneness of type characteristic of the animals of our era; whereas, in the preceding epochs, complicateness of type, especially among the reptiles, forms a very prominent feature in the faunas.

(b.) The animals of the human period are, generally speaking, smaller in type than the animals of the previous epochs. We have but a small number of land animals of huge size, and none of them are entitled to be called monsters-a name fitly applied to the characteristic animals of the tertiary epoch.

(c.) The number of genera and species of land animals is greater in our period than in any former epoch. The kind of requirements for them in the earlier epochs were fewer, and rendered a smaller number of genera and species necessary.

(d.) The different purposes which animals of all sorts-both land and water-were designed to serve, in the geological periods that preceded the human, made different sorts necessary. All these animals may be said to have been created to serve one main endthe preparation of the globe for the plants and animals of the human period; in particular, to be the abode of mankind; to this end also the plants of the former epochs contributed greatly. Thus, the faunas and the floras, before our time, whilst they served an immediate purpose, that purpose was prospective to a far higher end. The fauna and flora of our era contribute in a thousand ways to the necessaries, the conveniences, the comforts, the luxuries of human life. To point out all their uses volumes would be necessary, and many volumes have been written for the express purpose. Suffice it here to say-If the chief end for which man was made was to glorify God; the chief end for which plants and animals were created was to benefit man.