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EXAMINATION OF MR COMBE'S ANALOGIES.

for man, in the same way as a field is improved and prepared by a skilful husbandman to receive its destined crop; and if we are to reason from analogy, are we to conclude, that, having once introduced man upon the scene, the author of his being has from that moment abandoned all active superintendence of his welfare? Is the moral world of so much less consequence than the physical, as not to deserve, or are its elements so much simpler and more regular in their action as not to require, such superintendence?

This argument from analogy is in every view the most unfortunate that can be conceived, as it leads, not remotely or doubtfully, but by direct and obvious inference, to conclusions the very reverse of those drawn by Mr Combe; and these conclusions are, as might be expected, supported in the fullest manner by the statements of Scripture, and the undoubted facts of history.*

* As in the physical world Mr Combe has stated that four or five successive creations of plants and animals have taken place, in order to render it fit for the habitation of man, so in the moral world there have been already five great periods or epochs, where God expressly interfered, in an extraordinary and miraculous manner, for the purposes of influencing the destinies of the human race.

The first of these occurred at the Fall, when God pronounced the sentence of death upon man, as the punishment of his disobedience; and, at the same time, gave the first promise of a Saviour, who was to restore his fallen nature.

The second occurred at the Flood, when God interfered to destroy the whole inhabitants of the earth, with the exception of the family of Noah and his sons, who were miraculously saved in an ark, and with whom, after the Flood, he made a new covenant.

The third occasion took place at the Call of Abraham, when, the whole race having again fallen into idolatry, God made choice of an individual and family to preserve the knowledge and worship of his

name.

The fourth great epoch occurred when the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, and when the Law was delivered to them by Moses, previous to their settlement in the land of Canaan.

The fifth and last occasion of miraculous interference, and to which

II.-Other Analogies tending to prove the opposite of Mr Combe's doctrine.

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But if, in regard to the physical and moral world, considering each as a whole, and looking to the procedure of their Author respecting them throughout a course of ages, there is reason to believe that they have both been constituted in such a manner as to require his occasional interference in the manner described the principle as to each distinct act of creation seems to be the very reverse. From all that can be gathered of the history of the earth and its productions, either from observation of their past and present state, or from the researches of geologists, there appears nothing like progressive creation or evolution of individuals or species in any department of nature. When a new species of plants or animals appears to have been created, it is not derived from an older and more imperfect one, but starts at once into existence, at the Almighty fiat, in all its completeness and perfection. Whatever length of time the species may be continued by ordinary generation, the later offspring of the race acquire no new qualities. Through whatever number of generations, or length of ages, their remains are found accumulated, these remains, in each particular species, are all marked by the same type, the oldest generations being equally

all the rest were preparatory, took place at the advent of our Saviour, and the events consequent thereupon.

I do not insist upon the views now incidentally thrown out, as of any great importance, or as adding any thing to the evidence or credibility of revelation; but since Mr Combe has introduced the argument from analogy, I wish to shew to what issues such an argument may be easily carried; and I am not aware that in doing so I have used it in other than a legitimate way, or have transgressed the bounds of fair analogical reasoning.

'perfect as the most recent. There is no such thing as equivocal generation. One species of animals never produces another. The turtles and sauri of the preAdamite world, might have multiplied in their fens and shallow waters to the end of time, they never would have produced the mammoth or the megatherium, the lion or the tiger. None of these would ever have produced a human being. This is well understood by Mr Combe. He distinctly and correctly states, that each new race of plants or animals was the result of a separate act of creation; and he states, moreover, in the very outset of his work, the general fact, that every creature, and every physical object, "has received its own definite constitution.”*

* In evidence of what I have stated on this point, I may refer to the following passage in Cuvier : "The following objection has already been started against my conclusions, Why may not the presently existing races of land quadrupeds be mere modifications or varieties of those ancient races, which we now find in the fossil state, which modifications may have been produced by change of climate and other local circumstances, and since raised to the present excessive difference, by the operation of similar causes during a long succession of ages?

"This objection may appear strong to those who believe in the indefinite possibility of change of forms in organized bodies, and think that, during a succession of ages, and by alterations of habitudes, all the species may change into each other, or one of them give birth to all the rest. Yet, to those persons, the following answer may be given from their own system: if the species have changed by degrees, as they assume, we ought to find traces of this gradual modification. Thus, between the Palæotherium, and the species of our own days, we should be able to discover some intermediate forms, and yet no such discovery has ever been made. Since the bowels of the earth have not preserved monuments of this strange genealogy, we have a right to conclude, that the ancient and now extinct species were as permanent in their forms and characters, as those which exist at present; or, at least, that the catastrophe which destroyed them did not leave sufficient time for the production of the changes that are alleged to have taken place.”†

After making some observations on the varieties produced in animals by domestication, and by the mixture of breeds effected by the con+ Cuvier's Essay on the Theory of the Earth, translated by Jameson, 4th Ed. p. 114

This being the case with regard to the successive races of plants and animals, in the ages preceding the creation of man, as far as can be discovered from the researches of geologists, what is our experience respecting those species with which the earth is furnished at present? Do we find that the different genera and species of plants and animals now on the earth contain, each within itself, the elements of improvement? Are the trees of the forest now of loftier growth, and more splendid dimensions, than those which originally covered the mountains of our globe? Does the cedar now rear its umbrageous head in greater magnificence than it did in the days of Ezekiel, who describes it "with fair branches and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature, and having its top among the thick boughs? The fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches, nor any tree in the garden of God like unto him in beauty." Do we not know, on the contrary, that the glory of Lebanon is fallen, and that in the whole of that mountain range, once covered with the most magnificent forests, a few scattered remnants are all that remain, without the least prospect that its pristine honours will ever be restored? Do we not find the same in all countries originally covered with wood, that the existing trees are a dwarfish and insignificant race, when compared with those giants of the forest, of which the wrecks and ruins are here and there to be observed, or which have been

trivance, and under the influence of man, and shewing that all these varieties are perfectly insignificant, and never amount to an alteration in the original and proper specific type, Cuvier comes to the conclusion, "that animals have certain fixed and natural characters, which resist the effects of every kind of influence, whether proceeding from natural causes or human interference; and we have not the smallest reason to suspect, that time has any more effect upon them than climate."*

Theory of the Earth, p. 122.

found preserved in an entire state in the marshes, or buried fathoms deep in soil, the accumulation of ages?

But to come nearer the point at issue: Is there the smallest reason to believe that any existing species of animals has become improved or advanced in the scale of perfection, by virtue of a principle of progression inherent in its own nature, and which time has evolved and brought to maturity? Does the lion now traverse the burning desert with a more lordly step, or shake the wilderness with a more appalling roar, than he did in the days of Moses, who refers to him as the type of every thing that is strong and terrible, or of Solomon, who compares his roaring to "the wrath of a king?". the horse exhibit now more magnificent qualities, than those ascribed to him in the Book of Job? And has man, with all his boasted wisdom and skill, "given the horse strength, has he clothed his neck with thunder?"

Does

Does the hawk now fly more swiftly, or does the eagle mount up with a stronger wing, or make her nest higher in the rock, than in ages long past? Are the goodly wings of the peacock adorned with more splendid colours, or are the feathers of the ostrich larger and finer, or her flight swifter, than in the days of Job? "What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider."

I refer to the above passages, merely as occurring in the most ancient writings in the world, to shew that the productions of nature described in them, possessed, upwards of three thousand years ago, the same qualities as they do now, and that no improvement or alteration ever has taken place in these qualities. In the absence of all evidence to the contrary, this might be quite sufficient ; but we are not left to mere negative evidence, or the descriptions of ancient writers on this important point, We have the positive evidence of undisputed facts, that