THE PROGRESS OF CREATION, CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE EARTH. BY MARY ROBERTS, Author of "Annals of My Village, a Calendar of Nature for every LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., CORNHILL, BOOKSELLERS TO THEIR MAJESTIES. PREFACE. WE learn from the Mosaic record, that the first act of creative power gave existence to the mighty nucleus of our globe, and that, before the revolution of seven days, the herbless granite was clothed with vegetation; moving creatures then passed through the waters, and winged fowl were seen to fly across the heavens; cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, walked forth in all the vigour of their new existence, and, lastly, man, created in the image of his Maker, had dominion over every living thing. All then was perfect; but man fell, and with him fell the fresh and beautiful Creation." My meditations on this subject have led me to pass on to the present condition of the earth, and to consider its animal and vegetable productions with an especial reference to the benefits which they confer on man. I have further observed their adaptation to different portions of the globe, and how wonderfully the most inhospitable regions are rendered habitable by the location of some peculiar species. Remarkable phenomena on the surface of the earth have been also pointed out; and in so doing I must confess my obligations to the learned author of the Comparative Estimate of the Mineral and Mosaical Geologies, and to Cuvier's Essay on the Theory of the Earth. Throughout this volume, I have ever kept in view, that the heavens, and earth were finished, and all the host of them in six days; and that no theory, however plausible, can be admitted in opposition to the Divine Record. |