IN i i.i BIOK 



living beings, each al>idin_' h\ its own nature. Doubtless peace and tran- 

 quillity occupied the regions of Paradise when originally diverted from 

 solitude, though po-sibly Ibr periods hi it .short mid Heeling, if we say so, 



dune in profound ignorance, in all humility, for we cannot presume 

 to allirm what might be the earliest of it, and what the latest, or \\hai 

 tlie progTWB. 



Neither the -mailer nor the lar^e-i an- i-alled of the greater import- 

 mice, nor do \ve know the inlluem v either of light or of darkness. 



Yet \\e may presume that only what was actually done pr 

 pleasing to the Omnipotent Being, or good in his Mght. Fart her. 

 without arrogance, we may conjecture, that harmony alone predominated 

 when the gates of Paradise were first unlocked, that the lion and the 

 lamb reposed together in peace. 



If the earliest periods were so spent in harmony, by what \\ere these 

 succeeded? Did the sun still sink tranquilly beneath the horizon; did 

 darkness overspread the earth ? What could be displayed when hid In-ani!- 

 ushered in the morning of the second day, or of the third ? When the 

 preceding evening fell, did peace still prevail ; or now, when Min.hine 

 proclaims the truth, has the flesh of the lamb been pie reed by the Ian;:- 

 of the lion ; were its innocent limbs besmeared by the bloody stain> and 

 remnants of its gore? Too much reason there i to l>elieve, that the 

 vices of animated nature, still revelling to our degradation, were already 

 let loose, but that, through the Divine favour, we have gained the mean> 

 of i ibliter.it inir their revolting impression, or effacing their sanguinary 

 nsequences. 



The Powers of the Creator over the creation adapt each cr< 

 being to the peculiar place it shall occupy in the Universe. 



We commenced our survey with strange and unusual object*, tlm- 

 of which an innumerable part of mankind have never heard, ami whieh 

 few have ever seen. But we found life vigorous in the Ilolothuria 

 throughout a remarkable distribution; nor was its distribution impaired, 

 as we turned to the Astcrias and Echinus. 



Pursuing our irregular course, we reached other beings, whose or- 



