in the upper part of this impenetrable wall, openings by which the water can enter and retire, so as to renew itself, and furnish them with a constant supply of their aliment, and of the material with which they erect their habitation."

In reference to a Final Cause, the observations of these authors are exceedingly striking. Here is an animalcule, bound to a particular locality like a plant, and appearing scarcely to possess qualities superior to a vegetable, yet acting in concert with innumerable individuals of its species, not only to erect structures extending for hundreds of miles, but, in the mode of the combined operation, displaying an extent of scientific skill, which rivals the wisdom of the most experienced engineer, while the structures themselves incalculably exceed his power. When we observe such a society of animals, not only erecting their buildings in the form best calculated to resist the force of the ocean, but even raising buttresses and breakwaters in the places most liable to be assailed, and proportioning them, with consummate art, to the force of the current they have to resist; and when we further find them, with remarkable precaution and forethought, leaving openings, where necessary, for the entrance and reflux of the tide, so as to keep up, by a constant renovation of the waters, an accession of food and of materials for their work,—how is it possible to withhold an acknowledgement, that the instincts thus indicated are derived from an intelligence not their own?

But, if we look further, and consider the ultimate effect of these structures,—if we trace them, gradually rising from the deep bed of the ocean, till they fill up vast tracts lately occupied by a waste of waters, and lay the foundation of future islands and continents, the habitation of living beings, we shall discover new grounds of surprise and adoration. That these scarcely animated polypes should be capable of effecting all this, and should, in truth, have already, to a considerable extent, effected it, affords a singular view of the operations of Providence, and seems to corroborate those anticipations which originate in other sources, respecting future changes in the

history of the human race. From considerations arising from the extraordinary vigor of reproduction in the animal world, and of the power of human industry and skill, in increasing the supply of esculent vegetables, both by their selection and by the cultivation of the soil, I have shown the probability of a further rapid and most extensive multiplication of human beings, and of animals and vegetables fitted for their use; and, in the labors of the apparently insignificant coral animalcule, there seems to be still another means, by which this beneficent end may be destined to be accomplished. It is true, that the progress of coral formations is slow; but the operation is on an immense scale, proceeding, in the warmer climates, in every region, and almost in every locality, where rock is to be found at the bottom of the ocean, at such a depth as to be within the influence of the light. A few ordinary shocks of an earthquake might, according to Mr. Lyell's observations, cause vast tracts of these already-formed reefs and shoals quickly to emerge from the sea; and we know that, in this case, various provisions, elsewhere alluded to, are made by Providence, by which they would soon be covered with vegetation, and rendered habitable.

We cannot, indeed, penetrate the future intentions of the Universal Governor; but we, at all events, behold, even in the lowest view we can take, a most wonderful and interesting manifestation of benevolent action. "To me," says Mr. Ellis, after an elaborate investigation of the history of living corallines, "these disquisitions have opened new scenes of wonder and astonishment, in contemplating how variously, how extensively, life is distributed through the universe of things; and it is possible that the facts here related, and these instances of Nature animated in a part hitherto unsuspected, may excite the like pleasing ideas in others; and, in minds more capable and penetrating, lead to further discoveries,-further proofs (should such yet be wanting) that One infinitely wise, good, and all-powerful Being, has made, and still upholds, the whole of what is good and perfect."

14*

SIXTH WEEK-SUNDAY.

THE INVISIBLE ARCHITECT.

LET us suppose that a skilful navigator, who ploughed the deep five hundred years ago, had taken soundings, and laid down accurate charts of the Southern Pacific, so that no islet, no shoal, no dangerous sunken rock, had failed to be noted by him. Let us further suppose him returned now to his ancient occupation, and afloat on his familiar waters. It would not be the new inventions about his modern-rigged vessel, the skill in taking observations from the heavens, not even the occasional apparition of a ship propelled by steam, and rolling its wheels upon the unstable floor, that would most amaze him. He would gaze around on leagues, where wave succeeding wave was all that erewhile met his vision, and behold islands in which active tribes now dwell under the shade of full-grown palms, and around whose swelling headlands the many-peopled canoe darts in all the activity of commerce; islets where the young cocoanut already unfolds its leaves, and groups uncounted of flat green spots just emerging from the waters; and in places over which his ancient bark had sailed in safety, he might see and hear the foaming breaker, indicating that some new obstacle has arisen to impede the long roll of ocean, and to warn the mariner of the reef, that lurks below. "Whence come all these ?" cries the astonished sailor. "Has some star been shivered, and dropped its beautiful fragments into the sea, that was once so unbroken in its solitude? Have volcanic fires been at work, to heave up these blooming islands? Has some genius of mischief built these leagues of submarine dike, to work the doom of many a gallant vessel ?"

Thou mayest inquire, thou ancient man, but the architect of all these fair islets will give thee no reply.

Thou mayest resume thy plummet-line, and take anew thy bearings, and again form an accurate chart for the guidance of thy fellows, and then go sleep again; and when again five centuries have come and gone, thou mayest return, and then peradventure these islands will be formed into one vast continent, of which these dangerous reefs will constitute the noble promontories, and still around its coasts will have arisen new islets and new reefs; and smiling dwelling-places, thronged with human beings, shall arise where now the white waves curl upon the briny waters. "But," says the incredulous man of the sea, "will God descend and resume the work of creation, that all this may be brought to pass ?" No the Creator will not resume his creation-work, He will only continue to exercise his preserving power, and his architects will accomplish all this. "Still the architect appears not: who and where is he?" He is a mason, who not only uses stones for his building, but produces them. He knows nothing of mortar, or of cement, and yet his walls are as adamant. He has neither plane, nor chisel, nor trowel; there is no sound of hammer in his city. He erects edifices loftier than the Pyramids, yet has no mechanical power by which to raise his rocks. to their summits. He can answer thee nothing ;—no tongue, no eyes, no hands, no brains, has he, yet from the caves of old ocean has he raised that, which fills you with admiration. Let me describe him, that you may admire with me the wonderful work of God.

He is a being scarcely belonging to the animal creation, a minute pouch of organized matter, with no organs, save a few tentacles surrounding his mouth; yet with these he is able to secrete calcareous particles from food collected amid the waters, and to transpire or regurgitate them so as to construct a limestone house. He is also empowered perpetually to send forth germs that repeat the same action; and thus, in process of time, by the combined efforts of millions, are groups of islands built up in the midst of the fluctuating ocean, which eventually arrive at the climax of their purpose, by becoming the permanent abode of man himself.

Here is, indeed, a marvellous edifice, and an invisible architect, a process continually advancing, unaided and unnoticed by the world. But there is a more mysterious edifice, which has been in progress for six thousand years, an edifice permanent and beautiful, of which the world takes no account. Would you see it? It is but in fragments here. Its chief, its foundation-stone, was long since cut out of the mountain, without hands. The living stones with which its walls are built, are hewn and fitted in the quarry: all their irregularities being there smoothed away, all their rough places broken off, they are polished and rendered beautiful before they are removed to be placed in the walls of that living temple, of which Solomon's was but a feeble type.

But what, ask you, is this noble temple? and where is the busy quarry out of which its stones are hewn ? Reader, it is "God's building!" This world is the quarry; you are, perhaps, yourself, or, at all events, you may, if you will, become, one of those living stones, built up into a spiritual house. Have you ever been moulded under the warnings or invitations of the word of life? It is because the Master Builder has shed an effusion over the stone of your hard heart, and, thus prepared, it has yielded to the hand of the Workman. Has conscience become quickened by the power of conviction, and rent off some darling sin? Then was a visible alteration produced in the surface of the stone. Has calamity broken away some inveterate evil, and left you suffering, but ductile, and praying, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" Then may you well believe that you are in the hands of the Workman, and that the process of fitting you for the spiritual building is going on in earnest. Take heed to it, watch for it, pray over it, lest the work be impeded, and the Master Builder cease to apply his forming hand to you. Muse much on that living temple. Its foundation is laid in atoning blood,-blood shed for many; and why not for you? Salvation it has for

walls and bulwarks; and there all the saved shall find their appropriate place. But if the builders of the temple on Mount Zion would have rejected a stone, whose