X. That the rivers go down by the valleys to the sea, which is never filled, and that they go up again to the places whence they came.

XI. That the winds go in circuits and return in their circuits, as Colonel Reid has been endeavouring to prove only very lately.

XII. That the stars of heaven are infinite in number, like the sand of the sea-shore for multitude, although the human eye can only distinguish about 1,000, and the ancient astronomers believed that there were no more than 1,022.

XIII. That the stars are not gods, as the wisest and most religious of the ancient philosophers believed them to be, but material things created by God.

XIV. That the stars have no influence over the destinies of men or nations—although in all former times, and even in the comparatively modern courts of Charles V. and of the Valois in France, princes, great men, and people alike believed in magic, and consulted the stars.

XV. That the sky is not a solid vault, as the ancients believed-a mistake which caused the translators of the Old Testament, both Greek

and Latin, to call it "firmament," according to their own notions of science; whereas the word "firmament" does not give a correct translation of the original Hebrew word, which means "expanse," an admirably chosen and expressive word.

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XVI. That the plants were created on the earth long before man.

XVII. That the animals of the sea and of the air were created long before those of the earth.

XVIII. That the birds are the contemporaries of the fishes and other marine animals. XIX. That the animals and the plants have both had a beginning, and that there was a time when neither the one nor the other were in existence.

XX. That man, notwithstanding his own pretensions in all ages, and the frequent assertions of unbelievers, has existed only a comparatively short time on the earth, having been created long after the plants, after the birds, after the marine animals, after the insects, after the reptiles, and after all the terrestrial animals.

Science, you see, is but a child when com

pared with the Scriptures. What are we to learn from this? Let us adore God, my friends; let us adore him as his wisdom and his glory are shown in his magnificent works; but, above all, let us adore him for the most precious gift of his holy word. And when human Science in our day ventures to oppose her latest notions to the holy Scriptures, let us listen attentively to all she says, but let us always remember, at the same time, that for thirty centuries she has never ceased to raise similar objections, as to other points not less important, with respect to which she has been successively obliged to confess her mistakes.

The subject of the next lesson will be the 26th, 27th, and 28th verses of the first chapter of Genesis.

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CHAPTER X.

THE CREATION OF MAN IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image: in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."—GEN. i. 26-28.

We have now reached the last period of the work of creation, when God made man,—the last and the most wonderful of all his works.

The palace was finished, all was ready, all was perfect, for God himself had looked on it, and he saw that it was "very good." And now the happy king is to appear for whom all these glorious things have been prepared. Can you fancy what he was like, this first man-your father and mine? Imagine his feelings (who could describe them?) when he saw himself for the first time on this beautiful earth, among all the wonderful works of his God. What a sublime moment in the history of our

world, when all creation saw the appearance on our planet of the first Adam, its king and its priest; who, at a later period, was to give place to the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, who was to make manifest to the Church all the glorious perfections of holiness, wisdom, and divine mercy!" to the intent," says St. Paul, "that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph. iii. 10, 11).

The first Adam was placed by God on the earth in a state of felicity and innocence; he was crowned with glory and honour; all things were put under him; God gave him dominion over all the works of his hands; and, what was the most glorious distinction of all, he made him in his own image and after his own likeness.

O my friends, let us ask God to help us to understand the glory and felicity of our first father, when he rose pure and perfect from God's creating hand, that we may the better understand also from what a height we have