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duced, certainly not by way of any direct proof, but simply by way of shewing that the system of expanding the six demiurgic days into six ample periods is no merely modern speculation.

"IV. The discoveries, or possibly the re-discoveries of our ablest physiologists afford however, so far as I can judge, positive and direct and palpable demonstration, that the six creative days must have been six periods of vast, though to us unknown, duration.

"Few subjects are more interesting than that upon which I am now entering and to the sound believer it is rendered doubly interesting, both by the strong light which it throws upon the Mosaical narrative, and by the wonderful and (as it were) undesigned confirmation which it affords to the scriptural verity.

"1. It was long and very naturally received as a principle by Christian philosophers, that the various fossils which from time to time have been dug up from the bowels of the earth, particularly those which contain the relics of marine animals, and which yet have been found in the very recesses of the largest continents, were the result of the universal deluge, and therefore gave the most incontrovertible attestation to the Mosaical record of that catastrophe.

"The argument seemed valuable, at once for its brevity and its conclusiveness; for no doubt, where marine exuviæ are discovered, there at some period or other must have been the waters of the ocean: and, as such, it was constantly adduced as a most powerful auxiliary to that mass of arguments by which the truth of this grand historical fact has been so triumphantly and so incontrovertibly established.

"But when the science of oryctology came to be more minutely and systematically studied, difficulties gradually arose; which more and more shewed the impropriety

and the impossibility of explaining the mysteries of the subterranean world, by calling in the agency of the deluge.

66

(1.) Moses assures us, that pairs of all the land-animals, which existed before the flood, were preserved in the ark. Hence it follows, that at least no genus of land animals was lost or became extinct in consequence of that catastrophe. Modern oryctology, however, teaches us, past all reasonable controversy, that whole genera of animals, which now no longer exist, and which (if we admit the inspiration of Moses) must therefore have ceased to exist anterior to the deluge, did actually exist at the period when their remains began to be fossilized. Such being the case, the deluge plainly cannot account for the fossil remains of animals, which had themselves ceased to exist or had become extinct before the deluge. To solve the difficulty, we must call in some great revolution yet more ancient than the flood; by which unknown land-animals and unknown sea-animals and unknown vegetables, all at present in a fossil state, were lodged many feet below the surface of those lands which we now inhabit*. But no such revolution took place, between the creation of man and the general deluge. Therefore the revolution must have taken place, and the animals must have become extinct, at an epoch anterior to the creation of man.

"(2.) Again: rents and ruptures and disarrangements may be continually observed in the several strata of fossil bodies; which disturb their regularity, and which have evidently.

"It is possible, I allow, that many genera of marine animals, as yet unknown to naturalists, may even now be in existence; but it is next to impossible, that any gebe in existence, and should nevertheless nera of the larger land animals should still have hitherto remained concealed from hu

man observation. See this matter well discussed in Cuvier's Essay on the Theory of the Earth, § 25. p. 61. 4th edit."

been produced by some mighty convulsion. But the strata them selves which contain such fossil bodies, must necessarily have existed before the disarrangement which they experienced from the agency of the convulsion that disturbed them. Therefore, whether that convulsion was produced by the deluge, or whether it preceded the deluge (for, in either case, the result of the argument will be the same), the fossil remains which constitute those strata, must have existed anterior to the deluge, and consequently. cannot be the effects of the deluge*.

" (3.) With this conclusion agrees a most remarkable fact, which perhaps on no other principle can be satisfactorily accounted for. While the fossil relics of beasts, and birds, and fishes, and vegetables, exist to such a stupendous amount, as to form even whole masses of secondary mountains; no proper fossilized portion of the human subject has ever yet been detected in the midst of this multitude of animal and vegetable fossils. Now, when we consider the millions who perished at the time of the universal deluge, so extraordinary a fact is surely most unaccountable, if we adopt the hypothesis that fossil remains are the consequence of the deluge: for, in that case, we shall be obliged to admit, that, while innumerable animals, which were then destroyed,

"Mr. Cuvier justly pronounces this great convulsion to have evidently been produced by a mighty flood of waters,

which, not more than five or six thousand years ago, buried all the previously inhabited countries: but my argument will be equally conclusive, whether we ascribe the rents and ruptures in question to the agency of the general deluge or to that of some yet more ancient convulsion. (Essay on the Theory of the Earth, § 34. p. 173, 174.) Mr. Parkinson agrees with Mr. Cuvier on this point. (Organic Remains of a former World, vol. iii. p. 454.) Indeed there can be no reasonable doubt, I think, that the strata were broken and dislocated, as we now find them, by the action of the deluge."

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 259.

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Tothe Editor of the Christian Observer. I was pleased to find that you had taken notice of the endeavour which has recently been made to benefit the rising generation, by means of Infant Schools. Your review of Mr. Wilderspin's publication presents us with a method of conveying early instruction, which will, without doubt, be highly beneficial, not only in the case of Infant Schools, but of many private families. Moral tuition (founded, I need not say, on the principles of Christianity) can never begin too soon. It may commence advantageously with the earliest dawn of reason, and should be employed to regulate almost the first perceptible ebullitions of feeling. It may, however, be justly doubted, as you have shewn, whether the case be quite similar with regard to intellectual teaching. No small degree of judgment is requisite, in order to regulate the mental discipline of childhood so as not to injure the delicate and tender faculties of the opening mind, either by a too indiscriminate, or a too early, attempt to improve or restrain them. A tree, even though intended at some future period to be regularly trained to the wall, or as an espalier, is not thus confined in its earlier growth. It is suffered to assume its own peculiar form; and subsequent culture easily removes the unnecessary shoots, and gives a right direction to those which are vigorous and proper to be retained.

Still it must be allowed that a certain degree of early intellectual tuition is advantageous, especially for mental discipline: and if, at the same time, attention is paid to moral and religious culture, its advantages will, of course, be proportionably greater. Infant schools there3 L

fore ought, in this view, to be encouraged; but, like every thing else, they have their legitimate boundary and sphere of action; and, as is observed in your review, their distinguishing excellence is their peculiar suitableness to large towns and populous or manufacturing districts; to which I will add, that I fear that considerable evils might arise from their general introduction into our country villages and agricultural parishes.

To rescue the infant poor connected with our large towns from the filth and idleness of their crowded courts and alleys, and, what is still more to be dreaded, from the early contagion of vicious habits which find so ready a reception in our fallen nature, is exceedingly desirable, and cannot fail to be approved and cordially promoted by every Christian philanthropist and liberal-minded politician. But if benevolent or opulent persons, who have seen the good effects of Infant Schools in these instances, should adopt measures for their establishment in their respective neighbour hoods in the country, I consider that the production of ultimate good would be exceedingly questionable. To allude, in the first place, to what your review so strongly insists upon, the health and physical vigour of the poor, I would inquire whether the system proposed would tend to form so hardy a race as the present peasantry of our land. Can we expect that a child in an Infant School should gain that strength and vigour which it would acquire, if suffered to play in a garden, a field, or on a hedge-bank, for the first six or seven years of its life? When twenty or thirty little creatures are thus systematically drilled together, even supposing that the utmost ingenuity is employed in order to devise suitable means of exercise and indulgence, yet no one can imagine that this can be effected in the same degree as on the supposition of each child's being left to exercise and amuse itself. Nor can there be that

constant exposure to air, with all the variations of weather, which causes, perhaps as much as any thing, the hardiness of our English peasantry. Besides, our manufactures are already extensively undermining the health of a large portion of our population. Firmness of bodily contexture and vigour of constitution are lamentably disappearing among the lower classes of our countrymen, in consequence of their confined and sedentary habits; and, in many instances, diseases are perpetually fixed upon the present and future generations. But surely if we advert to the amazing importtance of health and vigour to those who are dependent upon their labour for subsistence, and who, if deprived of these blessings, become burthensome both to themselves and to others, we ought not, without the greatest consideration and caution, to adopt any measures, even of intended philanthropy, which are calculated to augment the growing evil, especially by extending the same debilitating effects to the children of the agricultural classes.

But, in addition to these physical injuries, I am apprehensive lest the system under consideration should tend to loosen the bonds of domestic intercourse; an evil which you justly deprecate, but which you state does not apply to the schools in question. Parental and filial affection forms one of the most pleasing characteristics of our lower classes; as well as one of the greatest alleviations of the hardships connected with their lot. This affection is doubtless often injudiciously manifested; but still it is a blessing conferred by God himself on our common nature, and ought not to be trifled with. It is in early life, even at the very time when they are necessarily the greatest burthen to their parents, that the children of the lower classes constitute their greatest comfort; but should they be removed from under the affectionate superintendance of the mother, what can we expect but that the affection both of

the child and of its parent will be proportionally diminished. I must allow, however, some deduction for what you observe, that the children are not separated from their parents except during a few of the busy hours of the day: that "their meals, their repose, their endearments," as you observe, "are at home: they are not made Spartans by the hardhearted policy of sacrificing the individual to the state;" and that the Schools in question are intended only as "an asylum to which, during a few hours of their arduous day, the poor may send their children without risk, and receive them back to partake with them of their humble repast, to share their poverty and privation, and to nestle around them after the cares of the day are concluded."

Again: possibly in some cases, in addition to the points which I have mentioned, moral evils also may arise from the extension of Infant Schools to our agricultural districts. Children in towns will, of necessity, herd together; and therefore, in such cases, the formation of Infant Schools tends to diminish the evils of their intercourse; for, under the restraints of a school, they are less likely to corrupt each other, than if suffered to run wild through the streets. But the case is far otherwise with respect to the agricultural poor. Their cottages are often detached; and even villages afford no very numerous population. May it not then become a question, whether, by collecting these little creatures in bands of twenty, thirty, or forty, we do not run a greater risk of fostering their inherent corruption, than by leaving them in their native cottage, or by suffering them to play before its door? Here again, however, I am willing to allow for a right as well as a wrong influence of social feeling under judicious direction; and am only anxious for a deliberate survey of the question on all sides. I am far from wishing to disparage schools for the instruction of youth in general, or even

schools for infants in such places as seem to afford a prospect of utility. On the contrary, it is my sincere wish that this truly praise-worthy attempt to benefit the young, may be fairly tried in all our large towns and manufacturing districts. But I feel desirous that, through the medium of your useful publication, the matter should be more thoroughly examined before the adoption of Infant Schools shall become general throughout the country. The higher orders may do much for the benefit of the lower; but if their assistance be not wisely ad:ninistered, it may prove, and too often does prove, injurious to the objects of their care. There never can be too extensive an exercise of true benevolence; but there may be too great haste in adopting well-meant schemes of improvement, the failure of which tends to cast undue suspicion on every other scheme of intended charity.

C. E.

Tothe Editor ofthe Christian Observer, Ir the writers of many of our popular hymns could witness the numerous alterations which successive editors and collectors have introduced into their compositions, they would, in many instances, be scarcely able to identify their own stanzas. One correction is made for the sake of the sense, and another for the sake of the sound; one, for the sake of the doctrine, another for the sake of the music; short hymns are eked out, and long ones are lopped off, till the original poem, as it came from the hands of the writer, is superseded and forgotten. Bishop Kenn's well-known Morning and Evening Hymns, among others, have so long undergone these emendatory processes, especially in the article of abridgment, that in nearly twenty collections of Psalms and Hymns which I have consulted, I have not been able to find a copy of the original verses. This abridgment is, indeed, quite necessary for the

purpose of singing, as the Bishop's. hymns are more than double the length usually allowed for compositions of this nature; but I think your readers will be of opinion with me, that in the abridgment some very beautiful lines and thoughts are usually omitted.

The following is, I believe, a correct copy of these celebrated hymns, as they came from the hands of the author. Various improvements might, doubtless, be suggested, and, among others, the alteration of such words as "dear" and 66 lovers," which do not convey precisely the same associations now as in Bishop Kenn's time; but I doubt whether the popular substitution of "early" for "joyful," in the first stanza, is an improvement; for a man who awakes and rises with the sun, may be concluded to rise "early," though such is the insensibility of our hearts for the greatest mercies, that he may still need, like the royal Psalmist, to exhort himself to pay his sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving with a "joyful" heart. Some of the other current corrections are, doubtless, improvements; and I think it might be well if,among other alterations, a slight turn were given to one or two expressions which, to many minds, wear a somewhat self-righteous cast; though nothing can be more clear than the orthodox and scriptural complexion of the whole composition.

WINTONENSIS,

MORNING HYMN.

AWAKE, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run:
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise,
To pay thy morning sacrifice.

Thy precious time, mis-spent, redeem;
Each present day, thy last esteem;
Improve thy talent with due care;
For the great day thyself prepare.
In conversation be sincere,
Keep conscience, as the noon-tide, clear;
Think how th' all-seeing God thy ways,
And all thy secret thoughts, surveys,
By influence of the light divine,
Let thy own light to others shine;

I

Reflect all heav'n's propitious rays,
In ardent love, and cheerful praise.
Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear thy part;
Who, all night long, unweary'd sing,
High praise to the eternal King.
wake, I wake, ye heavenly choir:
May your devotion me inspire,
That I, like you, my age may spend,
Like you, may on my God attend!
May I, like you, in God delight,
Have, all day long, my God in sight;
Perform, like you, my Maker's will.
O may I never more do ill!
Had I your wings, to heav'n I'd fly;
But God shall that defect supply,
And my soul, wing'd with warm desire,
Shall all day long to heav'n aspire.
All praise to thee, who safe hast kept,
And hast refresh'd me, whilst I slept:
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake,
I may of endless life partake.

I would not wake, nor rise again :

Ev'n heav'n itself I would disdain,
And I in hymns to be employ❜d.
Wert thou not there to be enjoy'd,

O never then from me depart ;
For to my soul, 'tis hell to be
But for one moment void of thee.
Lord, I my vows to thee renew,
Disperse my sins, as morning dew;
Guard my first springs of thought and will,
And with thyself my spirit fill.
Direct, controul, suggest this day,
All I design, or do, or say;
That all my pow'rs, with all their might,
In thy sole glory may unite.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,
&c.

Heav'n is, dear Lord, where'er thou art:

EVENING HYMN

ALL praise to thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light:
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath thy own almighty wings.
Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done;
That with the world, myself, and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.
Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed;
To die, that this vile body may
Rise glorious at the awful day.
O may my soul on thee repose,
And may sweet sleep mine eye-lids close;
Sleep, that may me more vig'rous make,
To serve my God, when I awake.

When in the night I sleepless lie,
My soul with heavenly thoughts supply;

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