THE

CHRISTIAN LADY'S MAGAZINE.

APRIL 1847.

THE TREASURES OF WISDOM.

No. VII.

HAVING now shown the deep and real harmony between the declarations of Scripture, with all the analogies of Providence, and the discoveries of Geological science, let us now return once more to the saying of the Apostle, and consider what treasures of wisdom, in this new field of thought, may be found hidden in Christ our Lord.

What is the general nature of those discoveries? It is that our earth, on which we tread daily with thoughtless feet, is stored with countless memorials of past ages, before man was created for its final tenant. The mountains, whose sublime grandeur we admire, have been upheaved from the depth of former oceans, and, by their countless fossil shells, bear within themselves a register of their own birth-place. The coal, which ministers to our daily comfort, is due to forests of plants APRIL, 1847.

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now extinct, which once flourished with more than tropical luxuriance, before the earth had cooled down into its present state, which fits it for the residence of mankind. Monsters, now also long extinct, lived and preyed on each other in those ancient and unknown seas. The strata which form our own happy island, bear marks, in every part, of the ocean out of which they have risen, and of volcanic agencies, which have raised them out of those hidden depths, to become the home of a mighty nation. The plains of that vast empire which now frowns over Europe and Asia with such colossal grandeur, once formed the bosom of a mighty sea, by which the Baltic, the Euxine, and the Caspian were grouped together, the northern Mediterranean of some pre-Adamic world. It would detain us too long, even if we were more competent for the task, to unfold the details of these changes, so far as the dim conjectures of modern research have been able to decypher them. However these may vary, one thing seems abundantly clear, that our planet has been the theatre of prodigious changes, that seas have become dry land, and dry land been submerged in the sea, that a central fire has burst repeatedly through the shell of solid matter, and mountain ranges been elevated by its volcanic power, that liquid lava has been injected upward through strata, previously formed, and that the present structure and geography of the earth is the final result of many stages of formation, that lose themselves in mystery and darkness, and have left only dim relics of extinct life to guide us in their discovery.

Is the knowledge, then, of those truly "dark ages" lost for ever? Are these poor, imperfect guesses of science the sole remains of perhaps ten thousands of years, in which our lonely planet was slowly advancing

towards its final destiny, as the dwelling-place of mankind? No, assuredly, the treasures of this knowledge, however dark and mysterious the elements that compose it, are all hidden in His bosom, who is "the power of God, and the Wisdom of God." "When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the deep; when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment; when he appointed the foundations of the earth. Then I was by Him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before him-rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, and my delights were with the sons of men. Now, therefore, hearken unto me, ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways."

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How thrilling and wonderful, beyond all the fictions of romance, is the truth revealed to us in this passage! He who came down from heaven to seek and to save lost sinners, is the Word who was in the beginning with God. By Him were all things created, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist!" Through all those dim ages of our world's infancy, He, who is the Wisdom of the Father, was gazing upon it with an eye of watchful providence, and presiding over the long and bewildering course of those elemental changes. Before our planet had cooled

down, for the ocean depths to rest upon its surface, He ordered all those fiery surges, the strange laboratory of a coming world. Before the mountains were settled in their lofty ranges by the expansive forces from below, He watched the struggle of the fierce elements, and appointed the place of their future development, and all the bounds of the everlasting hills. He was there, to originate, to control, and guide all the various workings of animal and vegetable life, in those remoter ages, before"the highest part of the dust of the earth," the latest formed pleiocene and diluvial strata, had yet been deposited in their turn, and completed the long series of changes, that fitted the earth for the abode of man. Without weariness or impatience, with an eye of infinite love, He watched the whole progress of the embryo planet, ever looking forward to its final issue, and the triumphs of His own mercy which were to be there revealed in their due season. Even in those dim and distant ages, unmeasured as yet by human chronology, He was rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of men. And thus every part of the earth we tread upon may have been visited, for long ages, with His thoughts of special mercy ; and while monsters of the deep were sporting in its dark caverns, He thought of the day, when those caverns should be reared into hills and valleys, and patriarchs and prophets, apostles and martyrs, the beloved of their Lord, should make them echo with songs of praise, and glorify His name by bright examples of faith and patience in their brief pilgrimage here below.

And here, perhaps, we may trace some analogy with the features of our Lord's personal ministry here on earth, when incarnate for our salvation. His mother, though blessed among women, showed marks of natural

impatience that her Son should enter at once on His bright career. His answer was a gentle and firm rebuke of that impatient spirit so natural even to the redeemed children of God. "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." For thirty years the Lord of glory had lived here below, unnoticed and unknown, and no part perhaps of his whole course would be cause of more surprise and wonder to the blessed angels. His mother, who had treasured in her heart the promise of His greatness, was impatient that it should be revealed. But no impatience could find a place in His bosom. He was willing to be unknown and overlooked in the world He himself had made, until the fulness of the time appointed of His Father. The greatness of the work, when once begun, would abundantly recompense for the long delay. How seldom do even Christians, while they read the shining record of our Lord's ministry and death, remember this long, silent interval of thirty years, of which no record is given, the needful and mysterious preparation for that hour, when "He manifested His glory, and His disciples believed on Him."

So it may have been, and probably so it was, in those forgotten ages of our planet's first history. Those who believe the Almighty Power of God, to frame the world in a moment, fit for human abode, may naturally shrink from the supposed demonstrations of science, and resolve them all into some strange illusion; though, if they follow merely the first hasty impression of what befits Omnipotence, it would be hard to account even for six days of delay. Perhaps even the holy angels, if they were permitted to foresee the creation of man, or the wonders of redeeming love, might be ready, like the Virgin, to plead with their Lord, and remonstrate against this