“There was something about this divinity of his person, that was probably unsuitable to a more open display of himself to the public than he vouchsafed to make. He shewed himself, however, to all the Apostles; ‘he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once;’ in short, there were sufficient witnesses to attest his identity, and to publish the truth of his miraculous resurrection to all mankind. The Jewish people, in the rejection of our Lord, had filled the measure of their guilt; they had no further claim on him, and he no longer held his visible residence among them. When led to the cross, he had warned them that they would see him no more till they should be prepared to acknowledge his authority.
“The resurrection of our Saviour ensures resurrection to us also; it ensures to us a second life; but the complexion of that life depends on our faith, and our obedience in this. He ‘will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body;’ but this transformation of our being requires a previous transformation of our mind.
“It is true that, as nothing has been distinctly communicated to us on the mode of existence after our resurrection, we can know but little of the precise nature of that future life; but there may be more analogy in it to our present state than we can now venture to affirm. There is some reason to believe that the employments of the good and wise, and the chief sources of their happiness in this world, have more or less relation to those which they are to enjoy in the world to come. The study of nature, the pursuit of knowledge, and the exercise of our faculties, when controlled by religion and virtue, may all, perhaps, assist in qualifying us for occupations and enjoyments in the ‘kingdom of the Father,’ infinitely more excellent and refined indeed, yet not entirely dissimilar.
“But whatever view we take of the mode of our future existence, it must revive and invigorate our minds to feel that the evidence of the resurrection of mankind is full and complete; and that we may, therefore, look forward, with perfect confidence, beyond these clouded scenes of mortality, to their final result. Let us now go, my children, and during the solemn service of this day, let us turn our eyes forward to that permanent happiness that we are taught to expect as the fruits of the discipline and vicissitudes experienced in the present life—and now, and always, let us keep our minds steadily and gratefully fixed on that glorious consummation of immortality, which our Lord has purchased for us, by his death and resurrection.”
27th.—A new world of knowledge has opened to me, dear mamma, since my uncle began to teach us a little geology. I know it is but an outline, the slightest sketch, as he says, of the science; but it is sufficient to give a general idea of the strata near the surface of the globe; and the specimens of the different series have made all he told us doubly impressive. He has no beautiful minerals and crystals, as they are very expensive, and not so instructive as his rock collection. Indeed, he considers his children in all that he does; and these drawers were, I believe, arranged purposely for their benefit.
He shewed us this morning another class of substances imbedded in the secondary strata; these are the pebbles or broken fragments of rocks which they are often found to contain, and which have evidently belonged to strata older than themselves. For instance, new red sandstone frequently contains pieces of the carboniferous limestone belonging to the order next below it, as well as of many still older rocks: it is, in fact, nothing but a mass of sand and gravel cemented together; and which sand and gravel are only the remains, or debris as they are called, of former rocks. My uncle says we may conclude, from this fact, that the rocks from which those fragments were derived must have been exposed to the action of violently agitated water, which tore off these masses, and rounded them by friction, before the newer rock, in which the fragments are now imbedded, was formed.—Another conclusion he draws from it, is this: these rocks were undoubtedly at some former period, beds of loose gravel; but loose gravel could never have been left by the water piled up in a highly inclined slope: we may therefore be sure, when new sandstone and other rocks of the same kind are found in nearly vertical strata, that this cannot have been their original situation, but that they must have been forced into their present position by some convulsion after their consolidation. These consolidated gravel beds are called conglomerates, breccias, or pudding-stones, according to the materials of which they are composed.
He told us that the remains of marine animals, such as we saw the other day, are found in two-thirds of the rocks that compose the surface of the globe; and even on the highest summit of the Pyrenean mountains in Europe, and of the Andes in America. From this important fact, it is ascertained, without the possibility of doubt, that those continents have not only been covered by the ocean, but that they are formed of materials which once gradually collected at the bottom of that ocean.
A long conversation followed, but I cannot trust myself to write it; it principally turned on the wonderful changes that have taken place in the level of the ocean. What extraordinary causes could have lowered it to its present level, or else have raised up the land out of its bosom?—If the land has really subsided, what can have become of the enormous quantity of water which once flowed round the tops of the loftiest mountains? These questions, he said, have long engaged the attention of philosophers, and many ingenious theories and fanciful suppositions have been advanced to solve them. He slightly mentioned some of them; but merely to gratify our curiosity, strongly advising us to repress our anxiety about causes till we were in possession of facts.
28th.—Canada Extracts.
“Loghouse, April 5th.—You can scarcely conceive, when I saw your handwriting, the thrill of delight it gave me—your letter was a real feast—I could not sleep that night, from the fulness of my head and heart.