.......... 66 fall." The persons addressed had no need to be warned against “deceiving themselves by calling themselves elect, when they were not," for they had already obtained like precious faith with" the Apostles, and were previously exhorted to add to their "faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity." These were the things which were necessary to make their calling and election sure, and to prevent themselves from falling. This exposition is warranted by the connection, and also by a reading of considerable authority, which connects the additional words, iva dia Twv Kaλwv εργων, with βεβαιαν υμων την κλησιν και εkλoyηy πoliodai. Further, the word Beßaios, translated sure, is rendered by Schrevelius, stabilis, firmus; and consequently answers only to the fifth meaning of the word sure, as given by Dr. Johnson, viz. firm, stable, steady, not liable to failure. Hence, the brethren were exhorted not to make themselves sure of their election, but to make their election sure, firm, stable, or not liable to failure. I can make nothing of paragraphs 5 and 6. "Finally, there is no contradiction in the sacred scriptures to the doctrine of eternal election." Why he has written this sentence, and why he has adduced no proof, I know not. St. Michael's Mount is a small conical hill, 231 feet high-the whole northern base is of clay slate, which seemed to lie more horizontally than at Marazion. It does not extend to any height up the mount. The upper part of the mount consists of granite, which on the south side continues down to the water's edge. Then we come to the clay slate. On the east side, where the granite terminates, numerous veins of it run into clay slate in different directions; I traced some of them for a length of 125 feet, and then only lost them, because they ran under heaps of loose stones, which I was unable to remove. These veins vary in width from an inch or two to about a foot and a half; (and if any doubt remain) you will find two beds of granite in the clay slate, and the position of these beds is such, as to indicate, in the clearest manner, that the great body of the granite has been deposited after the clay slate. These facts, continues he, put it beyond dispute, that the granite of St. Michael's Mount, is not primitive, but transition granite. The transition rocks have, with those not primitive and alluvial, been denominated secondary; but the four rocks truly called transition, contain organic exuviæ, dissimilar to those found in the secondary, and are the depository of those petrifactions, called zoophites, which form the first link in the chain of animated beings; being that class of organization, which it seems difficult to refer exclusively to the animal or vegetable domain, having, in some degree, the organs of both. "As to the others that are left, &c." [the reprobate, I conjecture] "I would only answer, secret things belong to God; and as this is a subject on which we ought to be silent," &c. If eternal reprobation or preterition is one of God's secret things, we ought certainly to be silent; but until it be proved to be one of his secret things, we ought not to be silent. Others, as well as the Church of Rome, may palm doctrines and mysteries upon the scriptures of truth, and then advise or command us to shut the eyes of our reason, and swallow all; but we shall not be frightened from a faithful inves- None of these, it should be rememtigation of scripture by the presump-bered, are to be found in the succeedtuous prohibitions of some, who ad- ing rocks; and indeed those found are dress us in the language of inspiration, not corresponding in form with the “O man! who art thou that repliest present tenants of the ocean. The against God?" We reply not against transition, also, are the first ranges in God, but only against the fallible inter- which mechanical depositions are to preters of God's word. be found. As the composition of the If Anti-Arminius be disposed to primitive is altogether of crystals, prolong the controversy, let him learn, formed by chemical precipitations, that I shall deem this, and my pre-probably the transition are chiefly chemical formations, with mechanical | pressed with the forms of vegetables.† deposits intermingled. We alluded to the period of their production, when the primitive mountains upreared their summits from the waters, "And the loud surges lash'd the sounding shore." The attrition and collision of the waves, whose motion does not extend deep, wore down masses of the original mountains which were deposited on their flanks and sides. These rocks, containing zoophites and shell fish, seem to prove that the boon of vital existence was first bestowed on those races of beings. The animals belonging to this division are extinct from the earth, and the vegetable traces remaining are found to be those of monocotyledons. The reliquiæ of animals, whose structure is more complex, with those enjoying the organs of progression and sight, are not found imbedded in these formations. Although in the strata, superincumbent on the transition, there appear no more specimens of pelagian remains, yet impressions of vegetables are very numerous, and there is often an alternation of coal, and bituminous, and carbonaceous matter. It is believed, therefore, that these partial excavities containing diverse strata, were once the bed of lakes, when the present continents were emerging from the ocean. Primary and transition mountains overtop all others, excepting those heaved up by volcanoes. They abound in metals, and afford materials for the sculptor and for architectural purposes. They attract the aqueous exhalations, and condense them. Here springs and fountains rise, and streams roll down their declivities, to give fertility to the plains. The rage of the tempest is restrained by their opposing fronts, and they also give salubrity to the air, by promoting currents that purify it. The last, not least, of their uses, is to embellish the terrestrial domain. The rugged peak! the steep acclivity! the precipitous rock! afford spectacles of grandeur and sublimity, unequalled by the mightiest efforts of art, and which, as he meditates on them, tend to improve the better feelings of man, while they decorate and dignify his abode, and eminently contribute to his comfort and prosperity. The mountains of Thibet, those constituting the Himalayan Chain, are the loftiest in the world. The highest summit, overlaid with sempiternal snow, according to Col. Kirkpatrick, in his History of Nepaul, rises to the astonishing altitude of 26,462 feet above the level of the plains. It is called Dwawala-giri, or white moun This apparent and remarkable difference in the contents of the upper and lower strata, from marine animals to vegetables, denotes an entire revolution after the mountain limestone was formed, and before the coal strata were laid on. This circum-tain. stance is connected with another surprising one, that metallic veins are discontinued with the transition; and seldom traverse the later stratifications alternating with coal. The northern counties of England furnish us abundant examples of this gradation from animal to vegetable remains. Mr. Farey, in his Derbyshire, states, that the reliquiæ of animals, of marine origin, are found in the mountains of limestone, of the peak of Derbyshire, and of Craven in Yorkshire; but on one side they are covered by superstrata of 100 or 200 yards in thickness, of coal and bituminous matter, which he calls limestone shell, from being laid on that rock, and which are im The cotyledon is the seed-lobe for the nutrition of the embryon plant. It is 6,000 feet higher than Chimborazo, 11,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc, and 22,000 feet higher than the loftiest peak in Britain. The proud column-Egypt's boast and its wonder-bears a proportion to these natural wonders far less than that of the dwarf moss to the stately cedar. " So, pleas'd at first, the tow'ring Alps we try, Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky; And the first clouds and mountains seem the last. But those attain'd, we tremble to survey eyes; Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise.” We cannot dwell singly on each interesting species of rock belonging + Bakewell. to the various orders. We must, for brevity's sake, select one or two for examination in a cursory way. The secondary formations are widely spread over the globe; their magnitude considerably depends on that of the primary mountains connected with them. They rise among the Cordilleras to 12,000 feet, but in the British dominions seldom so high as 3000 feet. They generally form gently swelling hills, and pleasing slopes, that diversify and adorn the landscape. Mr. Burke has well observed, that sublime objects are large in their dimensions; beautiful ones, less; great ones, rugged and negligent. Beauty, smooth and polished; the great ought to be dark and gloomy, solid, and even massive; but beauty should be light and delicate. The vast amplitude, rugged forms, and indurated texture, of the primitive, entitle them indisputably to be ranked amongst the sublimest objects in nature-while the easy and devious course of the secondary formations-their pleasing forms-their milder tints and outlines-add grace, beauty, and ornament, to natural scenery. Brine springs are met with occasionally in coal strata, which proves that rock salt exists below. The origin of salt rocks, if we were better acquainted with them, would probably prove that they had been formed in hollows or lakes. The rock salt formation of Cordona seems to have been effected in this way. The Count Delaborde has given a fine drawing, and a good description of it, in his splendid work, Voyages Pittoresque dans l'Espagne. It is situated in a valley more than a league in circumference: its surface is covered with vegetable soil. The largest rock is 663 feet high, and 1220 broad at the base. Besides this, there are others, and the valley is traversed with salt hills. At the foot of the salt mountain, a rivulet jets out, which runs along the valley, and discharges itself into the river Cordona. These salt rocks have fissures and caverns, where are found stalactites of salt, like bunches of grapes, and of different colours. Besides these beautiful forms, they rise above the * Brande's Geology. river, like a mountain of precious gems, and display all the vivid tints of the rainbow, when the sun shines on them. Hence, perhaps, the orgin of the palaces of diamonds, constructed by the fairies and genii in the solitudes of Asia, as feigned in Oriental romance. Near the Missouri River, in America, an immense mountain of salt, 80 miles long, has not long ago been found; but some countries are entirely destitute of it. In Delhi and Agra, in Hindostan, its price is 2s. 6d. per lb; and in the interior, such is its value that it forms the coin of the country. It abounds at Cracow, in Poland. Wraxall visited its vast caverns. Subterranean galleries, at an immense depth, led him to a most spacious hall, or artificial excavity, many hundred feet in length and breadth, and 1000 persons might dine in it; and the splendour of its sparry columns, its crystal ceilings, floor, and sides, illuminated with torches, gave a magical and transcendent effect to the astonishing apartment. The salt rocks and brine springs of Cheshire, are deserving notice. The beds of saline mineral at Northwich, are a mile and a half long, and three quarters of a mile in breadth. The various strata above, are destitute of extraneous fossils. Nearly 160,000 tons are annually procured from these mines for home use and exportation. The objection to the theory of the salt being formed in lakes, is, that rock salt is free from the impurities of sea water, but if the evaporation were slow, the salt would separate from its impurities by crystalization, and the refuse be washed away, being deliquescent. I shall here pay a tribute of respect to my amiable and learned friend, the Rev. J. Sutcliffe, A. M. to whose friendly communications, and valued intercourse, I am indebted for an initiation to the study of Geology; and I would here acknowledge it by extracting his sensible remarks on salt rocks. "From the inundations of the sea," says Mr. S. "and the retreat of its waters, after washing up the lower grounds, I would endeavour to account for the strata of salt, which ex + Bakewell. tend for 14 miles over the lower parts of Cheshire, and in some places at no great depth. The crystals are sometimes found adhering to small pieces of wood, which once unquestionably floated on the waves. At the mouth of every river, the daily conflicts between the tide and the stream, naturally form a bar. And in places where the stream was weak, as in Cheshire, the obstructed waters would leave shallows, meres, or lakes, behind, on the irregular surface of the earth. These bars and banks would be overflowed by the equinoctial tides, whose waters, when evaporated to a certain degree, being greatly strengthened by the saline matter, which would ascend from the lower strata of salt which exist in that county, would form the strata successively as now found." Mines.-Veins of tin and copper lie nearly east and west; those veins running north and south seldom contain either of those metals. The north and south veins are filled by quartz, ochre, and clay, which meeting with the veins of metal, pass through them, and split them; the northern vein continuing its course uninterruptedly. The latter, or northern vein, varies in size, from an inch to 10 feet; but of whatever size they may be, they divide those of tin and copper, and, as the miners express it, heave them out of their course. The copper vein equally disturbs and displaces the tin vein, when it runs that way. The luxuriant play of crystals, the tasteful forms of the sparry concretions, the brilliant ores which sport in the fissures and cavities of rocks, &c. seem to intimate that nature is ever busy in the recesses of the bosom of the earth, indulging herself in giving birth to substances, of ever-varying forms, and of the richest variations of colour. Chalk.—The hills of chalk are generally about 3 or 400 feet high, very smooth in their outline, and in England they run nearly east and west. There are two formations, the upper and the lower. The upper is known by the flints which traverse it in horizontal or parallel seams,-that without flints, however lofty, is of the lower formation. It contains echinites, ostracites, belemnites, and the re Sutcliffe's Introduction to Geology. mains, occasionally, of amphibious and land animals. The only metalliferous substance found in it, is iron pyrites. The chalk formation of the Isle of Wight demands particular attention; for the strata, instead of being flat, horizontal, and level, as at Portsdown Hill, take an almost perpendicular direction. On a visit to the Culver Cliff, a few weeks ago, I felt penetrated with astonishment at this circumstance. We approached this stupendous wall of chalk, rather abruptly, and were overwhelmed with awe at the sublime appearance alluded to. Nature in one of her angry moods seemed to have heaped up this prodigious stratification, from an horizontal to a vertical line; or else, oppressed with the enormous load, to have succumbed under her burden, and allowed part of its base to sink far below the other. Whatever were the cause, the contemplation of the object fills the mind with awe. By a sort of religious metonymy, we seemed to take a glimpse of the omnipotent hand that displaced it; while we viewed the vast rock that was upturned. The impress of mighty power stamped upon it, led the mind irresistibly to reflect on the grand moving cause. In England the chalk forms the floor of two immense excavities, which have been called the London and Isle of Wight Basins. These have been filled up by clay, gravel, and marl. This last stratum is remarkable for containing fossils of the elephant, hippopotamus, and elk; while the vast animals described by Cuvier, the megatheria, &c. are never associated with them, but are always found in the strata of more ancient date below. The chalk basins of the Isle of Wight, and of Paris, are remarkable for exhibiting proofs of a very curious fact, that there have been numerous inundations of salt and fresh water on the same spot. There is a regular alternation of fresh water animals, with those of marine origin. The clay is in some places 500 feet thick, and the untenanted habitations of nautili, &c. are involved in it. It is supposed that these basins were vast lakes, which various catastrophes have filled up with the wreck of other rocks. Basalt, is a black ponderous sub stance, highly magnetic, fusible per ner; the Neptunian and Plutonian se, and is presented to us in various doctrines:-the first referring its oriforms, as in hexagonal columns, mas-gin to the action of water, while the sive, and in irregular prisms. Britain, Plutonists affirm that it betrays marks perhaps, presents some of the most of igneous origin. It resembles some magnificent and unrivalled specimens lava, in being prismatic. Beds of coal of this homogeneous rock. The Giant's in the vicinity of dikes of basalt have Causeway, in the county of Antrim, been said to be coaked. Clay bas in Ireland, offers an example of mas- been hardened, and violently forced sive and columnar basalt, perhaps through by basalt veins. Added to unequalled in the world. It is a mole this, Sir James Hall and Mr. Watt or quay, that projects from a promon- have thought that they produced, by tory, many hundred feet into the sea. fusing basalt, incontestable analogies. It strikes the eye of the observer, as a that its forms are owing to fire, being colossal edifice, an immense temple, more regularly crystallized in the cenreared by the great architect of the tre than at the surface. But those world. The caverns are of massive- who have chosen water for a solvent. the galleries of columnar basalt. The have proved that it often rests on, and jointed columns, fitted with accuracy alternates with, rocks whose origin is to each other, rise in a majestic and indisputably aqueous,-that many regular manner 6 or 700 feet above substances are prismatic, not producthe level of the sea, forming a tower-ed by fire,-that in the furnace basalt ing terrace impending over the ocean flows into glass,-that it frequently beneath. Basalt is used in the arts-envelopes shells and vegetable rein manufacturing glass bottles. It should be noted also, that its structure has given rise to the two opposing theories of Hutton and Wer mains, and that siliceous nodules, containing water, are found in fissures and chasms of basalt. (To be concluded in our next. ) POPULATION OF GREAT BRITAIN. AMONG the local regulations by which civilized communities are distinguished, that which preserves an accurate estimate of their respective population must be deemed of considerable importance. The increase or the diminution of the inhabitants of any country, must always have an immediate connection with its agriculture and commerce; and it rarely fails to furnish a barometer by which we may learn something of its prosperity or decline. When the census, in 1801, was taken, many families were most seriously alarmed, lest it should lead to something like a poll tax. In consequence of this, in numerous instances, erroneous statements were given, which were deficient in point of number, so that the aggregate sum most probably fell considerably short of the real amount. In 1811, these fears had subsided, and the estimate may be deemed less inaccurate than the preceding. But at that period, the country, involved in a protracted and extensive war, which spread through every quarter of the globe, presented many obstacles to a fair and unequivocal estimate of the total population. In 1821, neither of the preceding causes operated as on former occasions. The statement, therefore, of this census, has a fair claim to confidence, and so far as the comparative estimates may be deemed accurate, we may observe the progressive increase of population, notwithstanding the devastations of war, and the extent of emigration. At the conclusion of another period, should the sound of war remain unheard, the effect of peace upon the increase of the human species in this country. will become apparent; and the observable proportions may lead to some interesting calculations and important results. The following is a Comparative Statement of the Population of the several counties of Great Britain, in the years 1801, 1811, and 1821; shewing the rate of increase or diminution thereof, between the years 1801 and 1811; and between the years 1811 and 1821.— |