law of the planet required, and the wickedness of man, in the stream of God's providence, called forth, the flood. A new event, then, occurred in the earth's history. The windows of heaven-i. e., of the firmament or atmosphere were opened, and the upper waters, originally separated and suspended on high by the breath of the Spirit of God, poured down; and the fountains of the great deep, or oceanic depths, and the waters contained in great internal cavities in the earth's bosom, broke forth; and the whole mass of waters, under the balancing law of gravitation, rolled round the planet at a depth sufficient to destroy all flesh but that which covenant mercy had sustained in the ark.

It was an era in this world's history-a change in its habit took place. Since then, the gathering of cloud in various quantities and aspects, and its occasional fall as rain, is the characteristic feature of our economy. And though it were impious to infer for a moment either that God could not, or would not, if he pleased, act by an instant miracle, contrary to all his established laws-either for blessing or for curse-yet there is something very delightful in the contemplation of the working of God simultaneously and harmoniously in two several departments of his government; and making the necessary and pre-appointed eras of change in his physical creation bear with infinite accuracy and propriety of application on the characteristic states and features of his moral creation. "Yet his days shall be 120 years." There is the fixed period of the coming physical crisis. And again, "yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights." At that precise limit, the foreseen iniquity of the antediluvian race was full-the last scene of infidel revelry and defiance had terminated-the last shout of riotous mirth had sunk down under the oppressive weight of slumber; and with early morning the crisis came. "I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh." The inevitable results of the law of gravity under the

control of its peculiar appointed idiosyncrasies in this portion of God's universe, chime in and tally exactly with the moral work that he is carrying on; and this critical outburst of waters from above and below, is the timely-intended, and well-adapted, Scourge in the hands of Almighty justice, upon a guilty and impenitent world.

But the event has another deeply interesting aspect, in the influence of this flood upon the surface of the earth. What the outward landscape, form, and appearance of our earth was before the flood we cannot say. Probably, however, much of its inequality of surface of hill and vale, and mountain-range and valley existed then. Though even, in this respect, great changes did take place; for evidently in that spot where the garden of Eden was planted at the source of at least two yet existent rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, the earth has been upheaved so as to become a highly elevated region ; and the source and the course of those several rivers very materially changed.

Similar great changes of outline may have occurred in other places, but the most important change that did occur was the diluvial deposit on the slopes and flats during the subsiding of the waters. If we have the opportunity of watching an inundation from the swell of rivers by rain in a mountain district, we see it at times, when the waters run down violently, denuding some portion of land of its vegetable mould, and leaving the barren rock; or bringing a mass of broken pieces of rock, and throwing them confusedly over some other portion; or, finally, as the quieting waters gradually pass away, leaving a rich and thick deposit of comminuted debris of various rocks, beautifully levelled upon the lower grounds. This is a miniature representation of the diluvial operations. It was the purpose of God not to visit the earth any more with a flood; but to carry on his purposes, and the gradual development of his remedial scheme for the eternal salvation of an unnumbered multitude during a

period of some thousands of years. During this time man in his growing millions must be sustained; and the operation of the flood was, upon a great scale, to deposit on the earth's surface, for this purpose, a soil adapted to vegetable growth, which did not exist there before. The mighty waters tossing violently round the loftier eminences would wash down all the disintegrations of nearly 2000 years, and roll them and carry them about by their currents till the time of their retiring came; and thus in differing combinations according as the waters were drawn off suddenly or more slowly, they would deposit these results in ever-varying combinations of gravel, sand, mud, or rich vegetable soil on different parts of the earth's surface; and this has secured the sustenance and comfort of industrious man in all his generations. It is delightful to recognize in this the purpose of the great Governor of all; and to see that the hand which creates, corrects, and blesses is ONE! (Job xxxvii. 11-13.) The harmony of purpose and operation is complete. The creative idea in its origination, and the infinite multiplicity of detail in its development are in entire accordance. Between the deep booming vibrations of the eternal "Thema," and the infinite minuteness, complexity, and sparkling brilliancy of the melodious variations, there is no discord!

One idea yet remains. It is of deeply stirring interest. The physical history of our earth very probably involves another great crisis, "which in His times He shall shew, who is the great and only potentate." Scientific men, apart from, and independent of, all reverence for or belief in revelation, have been led by the observations of fact and the deductions of reason, to conclude that necessarily the great mass of the internal substance of our globe is liquid fire; raised by the enormous pressure of gravitation to the highest state of incandescence, or the white light of iron heated by the bellows in a blacksmith's forge. One of the main arguments for this is the hot-springs that come up from the deeper strata which lie

more remote from the earth's surface; and also, that in all mining operations, after having got below the superficial influence of the sun, and traced its regular decrement-there is found an increasing heat as the mine descends, increasing exactly in the proportion which would exist if the calculations of the increase of heat from gravitation are correct.

It is known also that this earth is as to its superficies a cooling substance that it has been sustaining, for a long period, a gradual decline of superficial temperature. Experience also teaches us, that when the temperature of the internal substance, and the surface of any mass is in undue proportion, fissures and rents occur in the outer coat or surface. Is it not very probable that in the future history of our globe there is a definite period; when the balance of the cooling surface with relation to the sustained heat of the interior, shall be so disturbed, that mighty rents and fissures shall open the way for the boiling lavas in its bosom; and the fountains of the yet deeper deep may burst forth, and, similarly to the water flood of olden time, pour a deluge of liquid fire around the earth, till it cover the tops of the highest mountains, and all flesh again die in that terrific stream?

We are not entitled to say that in this way, as a natural sequence, the great prophesied and impending crisis shall come. It may be a matter of purely sovereign authority, independent of all secondary and already created and arranged agency. momentary blast of the breath of omnipotence might wither the universe into nonentity-no wise man can deny this.

A

But the physical probabilities are in favour of the idea that such a crisis is prepared for, and will assuredly come; and that the second causes in action are gradually bringing it on. And then it surely receives confirmation from the view previously taken, of the harmony existing in the divine mind between his physical and moral operations-between the normal idea or purpose in the bosom of God, and its most remote and minute develop

DANTE is a poet of sorrow. He lived in dark and troubled times: the cries of civil discord were ever in his ears: and those social feelings, which must have been unusually vivid in a nature like his, were agitated and wrung by the sanguinary quarrels of his countrymen. But, above all, he was wounded in his dearest part: it seems evident that he was a believer in Christianity, though certainly very far from being free from the errors of his age; and to one whose eyes had been only partially opened to the truth, how hideous must have been the spectacle presented by the tyrannical Church of Rome, spreading out like some gigantic and loathsome spectre across the horizon of his thoughts! He was a reformer: we cannot wonder, therefore, that his lot was a bitter

one.

To mingle readily with the crowd, to echo the popular opinions, to use the frailties and sufferings of others as a stepping-stone for selfaggrandizement-this involves no inward struggle, no heart-burning, no mental agony; but for a man to find himself, as it were, alone in the world, to keep within the sanctuary of his breast thoughts which, if uttered, would be received with execration, or with greater boldness openly to contend with those fierce enemies of truth-superstition and ignoranceto war, on the one hand, with the tenacious prejudices of the learned, and, on the other, with the reckless love of change which distinguishes a large portion of the masses, to be a reformer, but not a revolutionist-an awakener, but not an agitator-this demands a self-denial, a renunciation of personal comfort, an energy of purpose, which few have the power or the will to exercise. Let us not complain, then, of the gloom of Dante.

Though we cannot adopt the opinion of Ugo Foscolo, that Dante aspired to form a new religious sect, yet it seems clear that he fondly wished a reformation in the Church,

and purer form of that Christianity on which rested his choicest hopes. In his works Italy possesses a standing protest against the usurpation of Rome. Hence it is that we find in Italians holding Protestant sentiments so affectionate a reverence for this poet. Of modern writers, Professor Rosetti has written an elaborate work on the anti-papal spirit of Dante: Sig. Di Menna, in his tract "Il Pastore Appenninese," gives a selection of passages to shew that Dante trusted for salvation to Jesus alone; and Sig. Ferretti, in the account of his conversion from Romanism given in the "Eco di Savonarola" says, "the reading of our classics, and especially of Dante, contributed not a little to render me more fully convinced that the religion in which the priests brought me up was not the one preached by the mouth of Jesus Christ, and sealed by the total effusion of His blood."

But it is not on the character and works of Dante generally that we purpose to speak: we intend only to offer a few remarks on his "Paradise," which we may venture to call the evangelical portion of his sacred poem.

It has not been usual to give to the "Paradise" of Dante its due praise, in comparing it with the other parts of the Divina Comedia. Sismondi, in particular, speaks very slightingly of it. "It is here," says that writer, "difficult to understand him; and whilst we are endeavouring to discover the meaning of his enigmatical words, we cease to sympathize with his feelings, and to accompany him on his way. In his account of the infernal world, there is nothing supernatural, which is not in strict accordance with our own nature. He only exaggerates those forces and those evils of which we have real experience. When he issues from purgatory, and enters into heaven, he presents us, on the contrary, with supernatural appearances like those