ch, however, will not be the termination of the
present order of things; we are taught to look for this in an igneous
eruption, the source of which now slumbers almost quiescent beneath our
feet.

Not only does revelation, but science, teach us that the earth must have
been covered with water, and void of animate life, previous to its
becoming the habitation of man. But they read their scriptures
differently from us who think that this state of things was the actual
beginning. There is no necessary connexion between the first verse of
Genesis and the succeeding. The beginning of the existence of matter,
and the state of vacuity and darkness whence the present order of things
emerged, may have been, so far as the text is concerned, and were, as we
know from appearances, separated from each other by unnumbered ages.

Neither is it necessary that we accept the literal meaning of the
passage, and conceive the Deity speaking with human voice, and calling
creation forth by audible fiat. The voice of the Deity is that unheard
and silent command which nature hears and obeys throughout all his
works. The pious and sincere believer sees an overruling providence
preserving him in kindness when it saves him from shipwreck, or
chastening him in mercy when it deprives him of friends or relations, as
distinctly as if he beheld the prince of the air stayed in his furious
course, or the angel of destruction taking his visible stand beside the
pillow of departing life. No miracles are necessary to him who sees in
the rising and setting of the sun, in the order and beauty of the
universe, in the absolute perfection of its mechanical laws, in his own
fearful and wonderful structure, the evidence of infinite wisdom in
design, and infinite power in execution; and the examination of the
structure and character of our globe, is as well calculated as any other
physical study to exhibit in full and brilliant light these attributes
of the Deity.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] See American Quarterly, Vol. V.

[9] See American Quarterly, Vol. III.

[10] Our author has "alluvion."

[11] Alluvial in our author.

ART. V.--AUTO-BIOGRAPHY OF THIEVES.

1.--_The American Trenck; or the Memoirs of Thomas Ward, now in
confinement in the Baltimore Jail, under a sentence of ten years'
imprisonment for robbing the United States Mail._ Baltimore. 18mo: 1829.

2.--_Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, a Swindler and Thief, now transported
to New South Wales, for