powers, surely she may then cease her operations and developments, and let the present good endure.

Fourthly, This theory is false, inasmuch as it is a partial statement of those facts which nature has presented to us for investigation. Nature denudes, but nature also renovates, and renovates not by death but life; not by the predominance of one or more forces, but by force neutralising force, law limiting law. We have heard a great deal said about the "balance of power" as it stands related to the interests of liberty, not only, in Britain, but in Europe; a state of things on which the interests of true freedom depends far more than on the predominance of an individual or a faction. As it is in the social and national, so is it in the material world; permanent order can only exist and be realised by the proper adjustment of law to law, force to force, which adjustment now exists and is distinguished by those who recognise and believe in the "Balance of Nature;" and it is this subject which we intend to dwell upon in the following articles, in which we purpose to give facts and reasons to prove that the productions and influences of life are equal to, if not superior, as neutralisers to the doings of denudation or death. An advocate who only states half the truth of his case, and only brings into court part of the evidence which he knows is available, may be a good advocate in a forensic sense, and may be faithful to the interests of his client, but not to the interests of truth and justice; for it is only by a full statement of evidence for and against that a true decision can be come to, and it is only by true decisions that the interests of truth and justice can be upheld. That scientific geologists are true in their efforts to establish the interests of their clients or theories, we doubt not; that is, if a statement of evidence in their favour, and a witholding of that which is against them can be called true. But are they equally true to nature or that power which they profess implicitly to obey? If so, why do we hear so much about denudation, the destructive element, and so little about life, the power that creates and restores? Why such a straining to make the present the measure of the past, and to persuade men that if they can only swallow the camel of the present, they need not strain at swallowing anything the past can present? If modern geologists are the men of science they profess to be, they know far more of the influence of vegetable and animal life on the surface of the globe than we do; but why do they not state it in its proper relations? We admit that life is often discussed as one of the great and manifold phenomena of existence, but scarcely ever is it referred to as a neutraliser of the effects of denudation. We have "Elements of Geology," "Principles of Geology," "Geological Text Books," and "Observers" for every

gradation and class of students; but the "Conservatism of Nature," as exhibited and established by the facts of geological science, is a book yet to be written, that is as far as our knowledge of geological literature goes. Is this fair? is this honest?

From the above implication there is one name which we desire to shield and honour, that of the late Dr. Conybeare. He did not write a book on the subject indicated, yet he left an important protest in the introduction of that invaluable work, "The Geology of England and Wales." Our attention was first directed to this protest by a writer in the "English Cyclopædia," article, "Surface of the Earth," who says that the statements therein contained have not received that attention from succeeding geologists which they deserve; and so valuable do we consider them to all men. who do not want to discard common sense in the pursuit of truth, that we present them in full: "We have finally to examine the local changes which have taken place subsequently to this last great and general convulsion, and which still continue to take place under the influence of the order of causes at present in actual operation. In these we may often observe a balanced and compensated effect of destruction and renovation; for instance, in the most powerful of these causes, the agency of the sea upon the coasts, we find the head-lands and projecting promontories underminded and washed away by the waves, towards which their sections present in consequence scars of mural cliffs; but the materials thus absorbed are usually thrown up again, and constitute extensive tracts of newly formed marsh-land along the less exposed points of the coast; in parts also forming new banks and shoals in the adjoining channel of the sea. The agency of rivers is of a similar description; these, when their higher branches assume the force of wintry torrents, carry away sometimes in considerable quantity the looser materials of the soil through which they rush; but they deposit these materials again in the formation of alluvial flats and deltas near their mouths. The action of atmospheric causes, the frost rifting and detaching portions of the outer surfaces of rocks, and the rain by washing the finer portions away, either contribute to the agency of the torrents, or accumulate the fragments detached, in a slope or talus of debris at the foot of the hill whence they are derived.

"These actions, however, appear to be circumscribed within very narrow limits; over a great part of the earth's surface the influences of these wasting causes is absolutely null, the mantle of greensward that invests it being an effectual protection. The burrows of the original Britons, after a lapse of certainly little less, and in many instances probably more than two decades of centuries, retain very generally all the pristine sharpness of their outline; nor is the slight fosse that sometimes surrounds them in any degree

filled up. Cases, then, which in two thousand years have not affected in any perceptible manner these small tumuli, so often scattered in very exposed situations over the crest of our hills, can have exerted no very great influence on the mass of those hills themselves in any assignable portion of time, which even the imagination of a theorist can allow itself to conceive; and when circumstances are favourable to a greater degree of waste, still there is often a tendency to approach a maximum at which further waste will be checked; the abrupt cliff will at last become a slope, and that slope become defended by its grassy coat of proof. It should appear that even the actions of the sea, certainly the most powerful and important of all those we have surveyed, has a similar tendency to impose a limit to its own ravages. It has obviously, in many instances, formed an effectual barrier against itself by throwing up shingle banks and marsh lands in the face of cliffs, against which it once beat; and after the destruction has been carried to a certain point, it appears necessary from the mode of action (excepting where very powerful currents interfere) that the very materials resulting from the ruin should check its further increase; even where these currents exist these also have a tendency to throw up barriers of shingle in their eddy. Historical records, and the very nature and physical possibilities of the case, alike compel us to dissent entirely from the crude and hasty speculations which would assign to the causes now in action the power of producing any very material change in the face of things; and which would refer to these alone, acting under their present forces, the mighty operations which have formed and modified our continents." Outlines of Geology of England and Wales. Introduction, paragraph 12, pages 31-33.

The above extract contains statements and facts which claim the attention of every scientific observer, and if they have not received that attention which the writer before referred to thinks they merit, yet we hesitate not to say that in the future due attention will be given, if not to the particular paragraphs quoted, yet to the facts therein announced and pointed out. Facts may be discarded at the present, but they will rear their heads and voices in the future. The voice of Dr. Conybeare may not be listened to nor even heeded amidst the din of the professors who are propounding speculations which the doctor we think justly pronounces "crude and hasty," but perhaps there may yet come a calm when the small still voice of truth may again be heard, and Dr. Conybeare yet gain attention.

It will be perceived that Dr. Conybeare refers to all the chief agents of denudation; not only to rivers, &c., but to the sea as well. And his remarks on the sea we recommend to the attention of all those who live on, or near to the sea-board. If his remarks

are true, that there is a tendency in the ocean to neutralise its own effects, and that even its destructive powers tend to conservatism, sure we are that if destruction cannot be predicted of the sea in its own domain, it cannot be so of the agents operating on the land; at least, this holds true in the district before named, and in which our observations have been made, for here vegetable life in its grassy coat of proof, and its other natural allies, are all that is necessary to check the ravages of the invading foe, and under the shadow and protection which the name of Conybeare gives, we purpose, in the succeeding papers, to show that Life is equal to Death, and, as a neutraliser, it is all that is necessary to save the world from the ravages of the denuding agent referred to, or that the present results of nature's operations are Conservative.

GEORGE RACE.

ART. II. THE TWO HELPERS.

"For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."-Rom. viii. 24-27.

HOPE

OPE is a treasure, a gem of incalculable value. To him who has it, it is of more worth than an extensive estate is to another man who has reached the top of his ambition, and who sickens with disgust over what he has obtained. Of earthly good, the hope is frequently better than the acquirement. The mind nauseates in possession what it yearned after in prospect. It is Isaid that distance lends enchantment. The far-off mountains are blue, and poetic, and grand. Come into close quarters with them, the illusion vanishes and the grandeur is qualified. So, blessings between which and us, time and space and difficulties and contingencies intervene, seem very desirable. Their value is enhanced by the adventure required to come at them, by the difficulties to be conquered in order to realise them. The mind, putting a fictitious worth on them, springs after them with an ardour corresponding to its own estimate rather than commensurate with their

real value. Possession corrects the false calculations. The fruition is not answerable to the expectation. It is often found that hope yields more enjoyment than is to be found in realisation. When Alexander, on one occasion, had divided the spoils of a victory to his officers and men, forgetting his own share (as generous minds are apt to do), some one asked him what he had reserved for himself. His reply was-hope. Future conquests would yield him his portion. The man who has hope has a sure source of enjoyment, and a spring of activity within him. Even if it fails of realisation, it is a thing of great interest in the meantime. True as this philosophy is concerning secular good, we cannot apply it to the hope of heaven. We must just reverse it in respect of heaven, the possession of which will far surpass the prospect, and the fruition overswell the hope. We cannot put an over-estimate on the happiness in reversion for the saints. Earthly good is fallacious and fleeting, liable to many accidents and to much alloy. Heavenly good is pure and permanent. The hope of heaven is a richer blessing than the highest earthly possessions.

The first two verses of the section under review are about hope. The first clause of verse 24, "For we are saved by hope," is thought by some to mean that hope saves us by supplying motivity to action and effort. If we gave up hope we would give up endeavour after its object, and relapse into utter indifference and inactivity. This is good philosophy and is worthy of our attention, whether it explains this passage or not. Hope is saving, inasmuch as it is buoyant and prompts to persevering endeavours. Let us illustrate. Say a ship at sea has sprung a leak, and the water is gaining fast in the hold. The pump must be vigorously worked or certain destruction awaits the vessel and all on board. Now, it will materially affect the result whether hope is entertained or not. Despair may sink her, when the elements could not do so, if vigorously contended against. Hope may save her, when the elements left to their own course would not do so. Some of the crew pronounce it useless to try to save her, and affirm there is no hope. Happily, there are others of more hopeful hearts, who believe it possible to bring her into harbour. The pumps are worked accordingly with brawny arms incessantly, by hopeful hands relieving each other at intervals, till at length after a protracted struggle they gain their point and land in safety. Now, what saved that vessel? unremitting activity at the pumps. Certainly vigourous pumping stood in palpable relation to the result. But you will touch the truth more deeply and philosophically if you say she was saved by hope. The pumping kept the vessel afloat. But what was it that kept the pumps going? The men's arms. But what was it that kept the men's arms in motion? It was hope combined with the love of life, and you may add, with trust in God, to make it more

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