THE service in the Sistine Chapel on Good Friday Morning was very long. The Passion, according to St. John was chaunted, being the XVIII. XIX. and xx. chapters of his Gospel. We had also a Latin sermon from the Procurator of the Augustines, delivered with much gesticulation; at the conclusion of which he proclaimed an indulgence of thirty years, and thirty times forty days, granted by the Pope to all present.

After this, the ceremony of uncovering and adoring the cross began. A number of prayers were repeated, after which the Cardinal officiating went up to the altar, and approaching the crucifix which is covered with black cloth, uncovered the upper part of it, saying, in Latin, Behold the wood of the cross,' two choristers replied, on which the safety of the world hung,' and the whole choir sang, Come, let us adore.' The Pope and all Romanists present knelt. After a short interval the Cardinal again approached and uncovered the right arm of the crucifix, repeating as before; and the same responses were made by the choir. Lastly, he uncovered the whole cross, the same words being said and sung. The cross we are told is not uncovered all at once, because Christ did not manifest himself suddenly to all. The top part first uncovered represents the Jewish people, the right arm next uncovered represents the Christian people, and the final uncovering of the whole represents the preaching of the crucified to the whole world.

The Cardinal then took the cross from off the altar, and laid it on a crimson velvet cushion placed on the steps of the altar.

Several attendants went up to the Pope and took off his shoes

NOVEMBER 1833.

and part of his robes, his mitre also was removed, and thus barefooted and bareheaded he proceeded to adore the cross. Three times, as he approached it, he knelt and prayed, and then knelt, prayed over it, and kissed it, and presented an offering of a hundred crowns of gold, worth about seven shillings and sixpence each.

After his return to his throne all the Ecclesiastics present went through the same ceremony in pairs. The Cardinals were unrobed, and had their shoes taken off by their servants, and each presented an offering of one crown of gold. I presume the taking off the shoes is in memory of the words spoken to Moses from the burning bush; but for what reason I know not, the lower orders of the clergy performed the ceremony with their shoes on their feet.

When the adoration was concluded, the procession set out in the order formerly described, to the Pauline chapel, to bring back the host (the body of our Lord) from the sepulchre in which it was deposited yesterday.

The procession was similar to that already described. On arriving in the Pauline the Pope knelt and prayed, and the officiating Cardinal gave the key of the sepulchre to the Sacristan, who unlocked the door and took out the box containing the host. He then took out the host, and placed it in the vessel formerly mentioned, and presented it to the Cardinal, who presented it to the Pope, who covered it with a corner of his mantle, and set out with the procession to carry it back to the Sistine Chapel. The choir sang during the procession the hymn, "Vexilla Regis prodeunt,'The standards of the King come forth;' and on the Pope's entry into the

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place upon the globe, without the entire destruction of animal life, and the total overthrow of the whole vegetable kingdom; as it is a well known law of nature, that animal bodies, when destroyed by drowning, invariably float at one period of their decomposition; and that almost all vegetable substances, being specifi. cally lighter than water, must always come to the surface, at least, for a time; and as such floating animal and vegetable bodies could not but follow the action of the winds, the tides, and more especially, the CURRENTS of the then universal ocean, some of which currents have, at all times, a tendency from the equatorial regions towards the poles: from all these several reasons, we cannot come to any other rational conclusion, but that all the fossil remains of land productions, over the whole surface of the present dry lands, became embedded in their present situations at the period of the Mosaic Deluge; and that, consequently, the climates of the earth have been, in no way, suddenly changed, as some philosophers have thought it necessary to suppose; but that, on the contrary, the antediluvian animals, and plants, must have been distributed over the various climates of the former dry lands, and in nearly the same latitudes in which similar existing species are now respectively found.

Sixthly. As we have found the most conclusive proofs, that, amongst other animal fossils, the remains of the human race are not unfrequently found, although, in that small numerical proportion to those of other species, which the Sacred History would lead us to expect, we must entirely reject those doctrines of philosophy which teach a gradual perfection in the animal creation; and which suppose, that man was not yet created, at the period when those animals, the remains of which we now discover, existed on the earth.

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Seventhly. We feel our belief in the Mosaic Record, of all these wonderful events, strengthened and confirmed by the many traditional, and other proofs that have been brought forward, of all the present human race, in every climate of the world, having sprung from one family, and from one period, which period was that of the Mosaic Deluge; and that that postdiluvian family origin must have first arisen in Asia, is proved by the affinity of so many common expressions in the laff. guages of levén the most remote islands,

with the original languages of that portion of the globe.

Lastly.As all these conclusions, to which we have been naturally led, in the course of this inquiry, tend to corroborate, in the most distinct manner, the history of the early events on the earth, as given in the Mosaic, and other books of Scripture, our confidence in the unerring accuracy of these Records is firmly established; for by such collateral evidence we should try the veracity of any other ancient history: but when we add to the usual qualifications of a correct historian, the incomprehensible guidance of DIVINE INSPIRATION, so clearly evinced by numerous prophecies distinctly fulfilled, we feel, that the conclusions to which our inquiries have conducted us, by the simple evidence of reason and of facts, are only such as might have been anticipated, when we consider the Unerring Source from which this Divine guidance or Inspiration flowed; and that both the events, and the Inspired Record of them, which has been so wonderfully preserved for our information, are SUPERNATURAL AND DIVINE. Pp. 486-493.

Long, however, as these extracts are, we feel it important to convey some more adequate idea of the views entertained by our author on the subject of the deluge, and we shall attempt this by connecting together a few detached passages.

The most common notion entertained of this catastrophe, is, that by some means, incomprehensible to us, the sea rose upon the dry land to the height of the highest mountains; and after destroying every living thing, excepting those whom it pleased God to spare, the waters gradually retired to their hidden retreats, leaving the same dry land, that had before been inhabited, though variously changed, in its actual surface, by the wreck and ruin with which it remained charged.

It would be difficult to say from what source this erroneous idea of the deluge has first arisen; the mode by which this fatal event was brought about by the councils of the Almighty, has not indeed been given us by the Inspired Historian; but the clearness of the recital, together with the effects, which we now every where find t 2doborate, can leave

no

doubt in an unprejudiced mind, that the above mentioned common opinion is altogether false, and has given rise to many of the equally false doctrines and theories of the chaotic Geology.

In the Mosaic Record we are told, "And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them (mankind), and behold, I will destroy them, TOGETHER WITH THE EARTH."

Here we have it distinctly announced by the voice of the Almighty, that he was not only to destroy mankind from off the earth, which would have implied the earth remaining as at first, to become the habitation of a postdiluvian race: but they were to be destroyed TOGETHER WITH THE EARTH on which they dwelt. It is also afterwards declared by the Almighty, in establishing a covenant with mankind. "And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; NEITHER shall there any more be a flood to DESTROY THE EARTH." The latter part of this sentence would have been altogether unnecessary, were we not given to understand by it, that the earth, or dry land, of the antediluvian world, had then been destroyed, as well as its wicked inhabitants.

shew the destruc

These passages.. tion of "the earth that THEN WAS," formed a part of the effects of that awful judgment; and the phenomena presentedto our view the whole earth that NOW IS," establish the truth of the historical record in a manner the most conclusive.-P. 142.

Many disputes have arisen, and theories been formed, among philosophers, respecting the mode by which a deluge might have been brought about by natural causes: but, like the theories of first formations, they lead the mind, at every step, into obscurity and contradiction. Some have supposed the earth to be hollow, and to contain water, which, issuing out by some incomprehensible means, deluged the earth, and again retired to its hidden abode. Others have supposed, that by a great earthquake, a heaving up of the superincumbent mass of one portion of the earth might have raised the waters of the ocean, so as to form one vast wave on the surface, which swept over the remaining parts of t the earth. In supporting, this theory it is truly stated, that, during partial earthquakes, an agitation

of the sea, somewhat similar, takes place, the effects of which have often been most destructive in low countries. But this theory implies one sweeping convulsion which could have lasted but a short time, and been but partial in its effects; whereas, both history, supported by the traditions of the most obscure nations, and physical facts, tend to convince us that the deluge must have lasted some considerable time, and been universal in its destructive effects.

As to the theory of the cavous nature of the globe, in order to contain water for the purpose of one particular deluge of a few months duration, we have, amongst other powerful objections, this especial one; that such an arrangement would be in contradiction to all the general laws of the Creator.... We have not a vestige of ground for supposing that there was any superabundance in the primitive creation of water; nor that any portion of it was, as it were, locked up from common use, and reserved for one especial occasion. Besides this objection of the reason, we have also one of fact: for when we come to measure the depths of the sea, and the quantity of water existing on our whole planet, by the great and only true scale before mentioned; and when we find its medium depths, all over the earth, not to exceed, comparatively, a thin coat of varnish on a common artificial globe; we shall at once perceive how utterly unnecessary it would be to demand so great a quantity of water as a hollow earth would contain, for the sole purpose of effecting so diminutive an end. No. The ends of the Almighty are brought about by much more simple means; and when we are informed by the Inspired Record, that not only the inhabitants of the first "dry land," but also that "dry land" itself was to be destroyed, we can, without any strain upon our reason, and in perfect accordance with surrounding physical facts, imagine the same Great Being by whose power the waters were, at first, gathered together, issuing his second mandate for the execution of this terrible decree, and saying, Let the level of the dry land be lowered, and let the foundations of the great deep be broken up: and it was so'

But if we insist on discovering or inventing a mode by which the Almighty caused this destructive, interchange of sea and land to take place, we shall find our

selves in the same inextricable difficulties, as when endeavouring to account for the mode of first formations by secondary causes. We must make our reason bend to the inscrutable ways of the Omnipotent, and submit, with whatever rebellious reluctance, to the great truth every where impressed upon us, that the ways of God are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts." All our reasoning must end in this point, that the Deluge, like the Creation, was a preternatural event, which could by no means be brought about but by preternatural means; and consequently that we should in vain search for a cause in the mere laws of nature.-Pp. 143-146.

We must however, hasten to conclude. The result of Mr. F.'s reasonings is, that at the period of the deluge, the bottom of the then existing ocean was raised, and the then existing land depressed that what was then land is now sea, and what was then boceanis hour habitable earth that the chalk, and salt, and shells, &c. now found on hills, &c. were the deposits at the bottom of the antediluvian ocean-that the coal was formed by the deposit of antediluvian forests at the time of the flood that the organic remains Jump of men and animals are the relics destroyed by the deluge, and subsequently petrified and formed into rock that these relics were collected from considerable distances by the long-continued action of the currents during the time that the waters prevailed, and that the hypothesis of Dr. Buckland and others, that the remains of animals found in Kirkdale cave, &c, are

seen

the relics of animals s once living in its immediate vicinity, is utterly unfounded. It will thus be that the conclusions of Mr. Fairholme are entirely contrary to those of Dr. Buckland, Mr. Lyell, and other eminent geologists, while his work contains some very striking instances of the absurd consequences resulting from the diw beliquo mood

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hypotheses which some of these eminent men have adopted.

With

of the world, and the actually short period during which

the regard, however, to the actual age

so much in

the

in action in secondary causes have been on portions of the globe we now inhabit, we may safely prefer the subject to the powerful such abundance, and dustry, by this author Lyell himself. I have had occasion in a note, nal note, in ano ther part of this treatise, to notice t startling facts produced by Mr. Lych, with respect to the quantity of mud daily imported into the sea by the single river, the Ganges: it is there admitted by Mr. Lyell, that even at the lowest estimate, viz. one part in a hundred, of mud, in the waters of that river, there is imported daily into the Bay of Bengal, ef æ mass, more than equal in weight and bulk to the great pyramid of Egypt.' It does not suit the theory of Mr. correctness of in which it is ness, that river, in once, nearly times the weight of that gigantic monument. If we even divide the difference

equal

Lyell to admit the Rennell's estimate,

with much cleardeposit of that

instant single instead of only

SEVENTY-FOUR

THE S

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THIS small publication contains an address for each day of the week preceding the administration of the Lord's Supper, accompanied with a Prayer the Communion Service itself with observations, prayers, &c.interspersed, and the whole

'closes with a few occasional prayers, especially intended for young persons, servants, &c. who have not much leisure for the perusal of larger works on this important ordinance.

9011

THIS is a kind of Dictionary of the Bible, where the answers are given in quotations from the Holy Scriptures and the Apocrypha, which are placed side by side, as if of equal authority. Thus under the word FEAR.

*Fear is nothing else but a betraying of the succours which reason offereth. Wisdom xvii. 12.be

13 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 1 John iv. 18.

The next article is VJFEAR OF GOD, who?

to In explanation of which the following texts are printed at full length; Ps. cxi. 10. Proy. xix. 23. Eccles. i 124Ibid. x. 24. Prov. i. 7. Deut. v. 29. Ibid. xxviii. 58, 59. Ps. lxxxv. 9. Ibid. xxxiv. 9. Mal. iv. 2. NOVEMBER 1833.

The volume is closed by a brief account of the several Books and Writers of the Old and New Tes tament, and remarks upon the Apocrypha, which contain much useful matter in small compass. In speaking however of the Apocrypha, the Writer observes that all the Apocryphal books were written subsequently to the cessation of the prophetic Spirit, but before the promulgation of the gospel; this appears exceedingly doubtful. We cannot but feel that the writer's respect for these Apocryphal writings has very much diminished the value of his work, which is yet in many respects ealculated pitfor usefulness; and has obviously been compiled with considerable care and industry.

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