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we also indebted for a manly defence of the bible truths; more particularly at this period, to Mr. King, in his "Morsels of Criticism;" to Mr. Howard, in his "Thoughts on the Structure of this Globe;" and to Mr. Kirwan, (to quote him again) in his "Geological Essays." I can

prediction of one of their famous preachers, the Jesuit Neuville, soon after the appearances and the popularity of the "Système de la "Nature," who thus expresses himself:—

"O religion sainte de Jesus Christ! ô tròne de nos rois! ô "France! ô patrie! ne fût-ce pas comme chrétien, je gemirois comme citoyen; je ne cesserois point de pleurer les outrages par lesquels on ose vous insulter, et la triste destinée qu'on vous "prepare. Qu'ils continuent de s'étendre et de s'affermir ces "affreux systèmes, leur poison devorant ne tardera pas à consumer "les principes, l'appui, le soutien nécessaire et essentiel de l'état "Dès-lors, dans le plus puissant empire, il faudra que tout croule, “que tout s'affaisse, que tout s'anéantisse: pour le détruire, il ne sera pas besoin que Dieu déploie sa foudre et son tonnere, le ciel pourra se reposer sur la terre du soin de le venger et de la punir. "Entraîné par le vertige et le delire de la nation, l'etat tombera, ❝.se précipitera dans un abîme d'anarchie, de confusion, de sommeil, "de décadence, et de dépérissement."

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After this eloquent harangue, the writer's observations are as follow:

"Dieu ne plaise qu'une si funeste prediction s'accomplisse jamais "à la lettre: nous aimons à croire, que nous en serons quittes pour la "peur, et que les François, à la vue de l'abime qui est déjà ouvert "devant eux, rétrograderont avec effroi, et s'indigneront contre l'impiété qui les y pousse. Parlons clairement: aimons à croire l'athéisme cessera bientót de lever sa tête hideuse dans toute ""la France; aimons à croire, que ceux qui gouvernent, au lieu de "paroitre tolerer seulement la religion par commiseration pour la "foiblesse du peuple, la protégeront hautement par la conviction de - 66 sa vérité et de sa necessité; aimons à croire, qu'ayant pris pour

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not also pass over a work now, perhaps, little known, but combating, with great success in its day, a formidable opposition to the Mosaic records, a "Treatise on the Deluge," by the Rev. A. Calcott. Mr. Brydone, whoni we must consider rather as the tale-bearer of infidelity, than its bold and avowed partizan, has received his Christian rebuke from the pen of the most ingenious and pious Mr. Gisborne.* Might I be allowed to hint a small objection to some of the above-mentioned writers, it would be for adopting some sort of system of their own, and for not stedfastly adhering to the proofs the earth affords of

"modéle les Etats-Unis dans la tolérance de toutes les religions, "comme les mêmes Etats, ils refuseront, je ne dis pas seulement “la protection, mais la tolérance même à l'athéisme et au maté"rialisme; aimons à croire, qu'ils ne souffriront point que le peuple "François offre plus long-temps un spectacle infiniment odieux,

sans exemple dans tous les siècles; je veux dire le spectacle d'un "peuple sans religion: enfin, aimons à croire, qu'ils ne permettront રે pas que nous tombions dans un état qui nous feroit justement regreter le Paganisme.

"Mais si le gouvernement s'endort sur les dangers qui menacent "si prochainement l'état d'une subversion totale, s'il perséveroit dans son indifférence pour la religion, (des malveillans diroient ❝ dans son mépris et dans sa haine) c'est un motif de plus à tous les 66 François qui aiment sincèrement leur patrie, de redoubler de vi66 gilance pour la conservation des principes religieux, et de remplir 66 avec plus de zèle, chacun dans sa partie et suivant la mesure de "ses talens, l'office de defenseur de la religion, que la qualité de "citoyen, aussi bien que celle de chrétien, nous impose."

* Vide note to his last most admirable publication on the Christian Religion, p. 562.

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an universal deluge. Perhaps they could not all be collected into a narrower compass, and with a finer allusion to their Christian issue, than in the passage which, on that account, I cannot forbear laying before the reader: "All the phænomena of nature speak some religious "truth to those who have ears to hear their voice.

When

"we say this, we do not deny that volcanos may have a "natural use in purging the earth and giving vent to com"bustible principles, which, if wholly confined, might "shake and shatter the earth to pieces before the time. "These things are very consistent, because the wisdom of "GOD works for many different ends by the same means.

"A review of the earth and its contents, however "short and imperfect, must inspire us with an awful "sense of the Divine power and wisdom. But we are "not to stop there; the natural history of the earth bears an unanswerable testimony to the truth of revelation; " and we should never fail to apply it to that purpose,

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when an opportunity offers.

The scripture, which tells

66 us that this earth, on which we live, is now under sen"tence to be destroyed by fire, doth also teach us, that it "hath been once destroyed already by water; of which "destruction the earth still bears such evident marks, "that the belief of it is as obvious to every observer of

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nature, as it is necessary to a Christian. From the "surface of the earth we understand, that the whole was 66 once under water; which descended, with an accele"rated velocity, from the land to the seas, toward which

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"all the furrows of the earth are directed, and in which "they terminate. Then, if we search under the earth, 66 we find, that as man is not in the state in which GOD "first made him, but fallen into disorder and sinfulness; "so the earth has undergone some natural revolution, "which, in part, dissolved its substance, and lodged " within it such bodies as must have been the remains of a former earth, because they could not possibly be the "productions of the present. Bones of animals, shells "of fishes, fruits of trees, are found buried at all depths, " and even in the midst of the hardest stone and marble. “Whence we are to argue, 1. That these bodies were 66 transported and deposited by a flood of waters; because "most of them belonged to the sea. 2. That the matter " of the earth must have been in a state of solution when "this happened; because it could not otherwise have in"closed sea shells, and filled up their cavities through the ❝smallest apertures. 3. That the flood was general, 66 or common to the whole world; because these monu"ments of it are found in all countries of the earth; on "the highest mountain, and in tracts most remote from "the sea.

"To account for a disorderly situation of things, out of "their several places, under ground, we must apply to

water or to fire, which two are the causes of all the "changes in this globe. We cannot apply to subter66 raneous fire, because here is an effect which is univer"sal, and subterraneous fire is a cause but partial and

"occasional; the marks of which, when compared with "those of water, are but of small extent.

Besides, fire "would have destroyed bodies which water preserved; such as the tenderest shells, the skins of scaly fish, the "fruits and leaves of vegetables. All these would bear "drowning and burying, but could never survive the de"vastations of fire. How could fire transport the pro❝ductions of all climates into one place? But if they "floated on water, subject to winds, tides, and currents, "such a thing might easily be; accordingly, we find the "fruits of the East and West-Indies; bones, teeth, and "shells from fish of different seas; the elephant of Africa, "the tortoise of America, all near to one another in the "same spot, as if laid up for a testimony to the truth of "the holy scripture, which alone gives us a faithful ac"count of this great revolution in nature. When we 66 are informed, that the earth we now inhabit is the

burying-place of a former earth, it is as reasonable "that we should dig up the remains and ruins of it, as "that we should find the bones and coffins of former "generations in the earth of a church-yard.”‡

*"The effects of fire, compared with those of water, may per"haps be nearly in the same proportion, as the forge of the smith, "with its slags and cinders, when compared with the lands of the "whole parish."

"What is here said is verified in the island of Sheepy, in Kent."

Again the Rev. Mr. Jones, in his 5th sermon on the Earth and its Minerals.

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