f steam would be wanting. Not only are machines of
no value unless impelled by natural agents, but they themselves are
subject to rapid decay, and require perpetual attention. Such is not the
case with the machinery of the universe; its motions are perpetually
varying, but yet in their variations invariable; continually oscillating
on each side of mean rates, yet never losing or gaining in intensity.
Such too is the case on the surface of our globe; the seasons
alternately clothe the forests with verdure, and strip them of their
leaves; seed time and harvest recur with invariable precision; the whole
of existing vegetables perish, and animals die and decay, yet the race
is perpetuated. Shall we set bounds to the exertion of almighty power,
and say, that races, that families, that species and genera, nay that
whole natural kingdoms may not in their turn decay and die, after
providing for the repeopling of the earth by new inhabitants? The
catastrophes of our planet are not yet at an end; the time will and must
come, as we may guess from natural appearances, and as we find predicted
in scripture, when the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and the
earth shall melt with fervent heat; and in the new system of
appearances, the new heaven and earth shall succeed--the corruptible
bodies that are now sown in dishonour, shall be raised in honour and
incorruptible.

The present surface of our globe is to our limited views slowly
changing; to him who compares time with the immeasurable duration that
has preceded and must succeed our existence, it is rapidly hastening to
apparent ruin. The waters raised from the ocean, falling in greatest
abundance on the land, tear and wear away the surface, and deposit it in
the bed of the sea. Deltas form at the mouths of rivers by this action;
the basin of the ocean is gradually elevated, and, in addition, islands
and archipelagos are raised from its bed. The surface of the sea is for
the present lessening under the influence of these causes, but the time
must come, unless it be prevented by some catastrophe, when the ocean
must in its turn encroach upon the land, when the plains and valleys
shall become bays and gulfs, or even unite in continuous expanses of
water, and the greater mountains alone, diminished in bulk by continued
abrasion, shall stand as islands in the vast abyss. The earth would then
again be without form and void of inhabitants, as it was before the
creation of man. Su