here be said, that God's foreis to come, enables him to

so as to meet the event. nosition heretofore adalike prepared for we establish a

e, reason, and ', which, in id by predes

s proclaims the

that he is for himself

good, and to eschew the

A was alike prepared for every respecteth man, is fully proved, demonstration, by the case of Enoch jah, which has been discussed at large in rmer page; and from whence we conceive, was clearly elicited, that if man had continued stedfast in obedience to his mighty Former, his corporeal nature had been changed into a glorious one; he translated from a terrestrial to a celestial paradise; and from whence, when Elijah re-appeared on earth, we know it was in a transformed state-we know it was in glory.

But how may we suppose the animal creation could have been disposed of, if not destroyed by death? And let us consider which appears most probable, whether they were or were not in their primeval state ordained for death: if the former, man, in a state of immortality, had been hourly doomed to behold an appalling spectacle, and, without miraculous interposition, been destined to perform the noisome task of committing the

over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so."

Now a moment's consideration will show us, that our small globe was utterly inadequate to fulfil the command enjoined by its Creator; the whole animal creation having been ordained by the heavenly benediction to be fruitful, to multiply, and also to have their wants supplied by the produce of the earth. And, supposing man to have stood, consequently no loss of life was required for the purpose of symbolic sacrifices, no creatures carnaged to sustain or to gratify the now gross appetite of man; no creatures injured, and their lives curtailed by the ferocious passions now so prevalent in man; no change effected in the once innocent and harmless natures of the brute creation; or in their original delegated means of sustenance, now so altered as to render them hostile enemies to each other, preying on their fellows from a shrimp unto a whale; how had the earth been speedily overrun with creatures of all kinds, and how impossible would it have been for its productions to have supplied their wants!

We know it will here be said, that God's foreknowledge of all that is to come, enables him to arrange all circumstances so as to meet the event. But we must maintain the position heretofore advanced, namely, that God is alike prepared for every event; for were it not so, we establish a doctrine at once repugnant to virtue, reason, and the express assertions of Scripture, which, in utter contradiction to the opinion held by predestinarians, in the strongest terms proclaims the free agency of man, and that he is for himself ordained to choose the good, and to eschew the evil. And that God was alike prepared for every event as far as respecteth man, is fully proved, even to a demonstration, by the case of Enoch and Elijah, which has been discussed at large in a former page; and from whence we conceive, was clearly elicited, that if man had continued stedfast in obedience to his mighty Former, his corporeal nature had been changed into a glorious one; he translated from a terrestrial to a celestial paradise; and from whence, when Elijah re-appeared on earth, we know it was in a transformed state-we know it was in glory.

But how may we suppose the animal creation could have been disposed of, if not destroyed by death? And let us consider which appears most probable, whether they were or were not in their primeval state ordained for death: if the former, man, in a state of immortality, had been hourly doomed to behold an appalling spectacle, and, without miraculous interposition, been destined to perform the noisome task of committing the

hapless myriads daily destroyed by the devastating hand of death, to that earth from whence they sprung-a work that would have ill accorded with the delightful employment assigned to him by his benign Creator in his innocent estate, which was to dress and keep a garden. And indeed, the amazing multiplication of the prolific multitudes, that must necessarily have ensued, had their lives not been cut short either by annihilation, or a speedy removal from off our earthly clod unto some new abode, would, we apprehend, have rendered this annoying task beyond the power of man to have fulfilled. Now weighing these circumstances, and laying them together, would it be totally at variance with God's other operations, or monstrous to surmise that the latter, (in the event of man's retention of his innocence,) had been by the Father of all mercies primevally designed.

The wonderful changes which we ourselves behold wrought on the insect tribes, have been already noticed, and need not repetition; therefore, that transformation might have been intended to have been passed upon the corporeal nature of the brute creation, as well as upon that of man, is a conjecture no way discordant with the common laws of nature. And it is still less discordant to surmise, that instinct might have been ordained, by regular advance, at length to progress to reason, with which it unquestionably forms a link in the great work of creation; and that upon such advance a change was wrought upon the envelope wherein it was contained,

pur

rendering it a vehicle, as well suited for the pose of sustaining probationary trials, as is our mortal frame. Probationary beings would be immediately constituted, for the disposal of whom the universal parent could not be at any loss. For does not our probationary heavens abound, nay even teem with seminaries, adapted for the trial of accountable probationaries?

But such a disposal of the brute creation, as has been just surmised, is now, we know, completely frustrated by the sin of man, through which their animal nature has been ordained to perish. For death has passed on all, and the bodies of animals perish in an unredeemed state; for the humble servants of their master man could not, it is conceived, remain immortal, when they had been polluted by vile inclinations, and their lord had been upon the same account doomed to death. Now should it be allowed that any thing like truth is contained in the observations stated, it will be also readily conceded, that although through man's transgression, the corporeal nature of the brute creation has, (it appears most probable,) been consigned to destruction, yet that it is utterly discordant with the divine benignity to suppose, that God would on that account annihilate instinct likewise, (if, indeed, it could be annihilated.) The apparent reasons why the corporeal nature of the brute creation should, since the fall of man, have been ordained to perish, have in part been briefly submitted to our readers. Through the sad change in man, who had been invested with dominion over them,