n the world by 200 or 300 years. Shem, or Job, was
ninety-eight years old when he entered the ark, and he lived thirty years
after Abraham, with whom therefore he shook hands, as well as with
Methuselah, who shook hands with Adam. Only one man, therefore, stood
between Adam and Shem, and only two, or not quite two, between Adam and
Abraham. The book of Berosus, of Babylon, is the only one that compares
with Job in antiquity. This was the age of tradition before Moses
compiled the first portions of it. In the days of Abraham, Shem was the
patriarch, or oldest, of his family; and it was therefore to him he did
homage, according to the patriarchal custom, under the name of
Melchisedec, when returning from the slaughter of the kings. Shem had
brought with him from the days before the flood much of the knowledge and
wisdom which had been accumulated in the earth during the 2,000 years
previous to that event, and which was swept away when only eight persons
were saved in the ark. We have been told that the human race has
gradually improved, and that our ancestors in far off ages were monkeys,
or something of that sort, but the remains of the ruins and knowledge of
antiquity show everything the reverse of this to be the truth. Look at
that Pyramid. We could not build it to-day, with all our boasted
science. It will bear in every respect the closest scientific scrutiny.
Our greatest scientists are only beginning to comprehend the depths of
its mysteries, yet it is over 4,000 years old. The capstone on top of it
is a Pyramid in itself, in miniature, unlike anything of the kind or any
other building on the earth. The reverend gentleman then continued to
read from Job xxxviii., and shew that the writer of it was master of
astronomical and geographical science and the builder of the Pyramid,
which is a miniature of the measurement of the earth and indicates the
history of the human race. After this preliminary dissertation he took
for his text Isaiah xxviii. 29: "This also cometh forth from the Lord of
hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working."

The Bible is a growing book, being more read and better understood as the
years pass by; and as men shall increase in knowledge and power, so the
Bible will gain in influence and authority. Opposition to its teaching,
and vaunting denial of its authority, shall be made subservient to its
interests by goading on the Church to a wiser and more noble defence a