0* 



tion of the old state of things, and a complete 

 destruction of organized existences. The ma- 

 terials from which the Mosaic creation was pro- 

 duced were, as scripture informs us, in a state 

 of chaos; "the earth was without form and 

 void ;" and such was the commixture of ele- 

 ments, that light could not penetrate the formless 

 abyss. " Darkness was on the face of the deep." 

 The organic remains, however, which are to be 

 found embedded in the rocks of this first period, 

 prove incontestably that the great Creator had 

 not suffered the materials he had called into be- 

 ing to lie unoccupied. Plants and animals, of 

 various forms and species, all of them differing 

 from those which are now to be found on the 

 earth, have left unequivocal traces of their exist- 

 ence ; and, what is not less worthy of remark, 

 during the countless ages of that primeval pe- 

 riod, it appears that more than one series of 

 organized beings have been created and annihi- 

 lated. 



There is something sublime in this discovery 

 of the hand of Omnipotence busied in communi- 

 cating life and joy to inhabitants of the earth at 

 periods so exceedingly remote, arid so far pre- 

 ceding the very existence of the human race ; 

 and it seems scarcely possible to enter on this 

 field of enquiry without deep feelings of awe and 

 reverence. To penetrate the gloom of chaos, 

 and see the same Eternal Being, who has in this 

 later creation given such unequivocal displays of 

 his perfections in the history of man, manifesting 



