11. What of the Andes?

What of the Himalayas ?

What did it do in Noah's time?

12. What farther?

Since what time has this been?

How was the power shown in Lot's time?

13. What river course did it turn?

Through what country did this river run ?* Gen. 2: 13.

How did it affect the route from Babylon to the west?

What prophecy was fulfilled? Gen. 26: 7.

ORIGIN OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL

LIFE.

LESSON LIII.

"And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind."-Gen. 1: 25.

1. Everywhere, from the cold snows of the Arctic circle to the burning suns of the Equator, from the surface of old ocean to its deepest soundings, nature abounds with vegetable and animal life. We have animals of every conceivable form and size, from the spermaceti whale to the smallest infusoria.

2. It is difficult now to find an inch of earth's surface, or a drop of water that does not teem with organic life. It is very evident there was a time when there was none of them.

3. The reproduction of organic life is through

cells; but this does not account for its origin. A cell, or an egg, is an effect that must have had a first cause. That cause lies not within the known laws of matter. In proportion as we find marks of design, we must look for an intelligent designer. This cannot be found in matter.

4. There must have been a first vegetable, and a first animal of every kind, since the cells of each produce only their kind. The Creator of the first originated the whole. Many efforts have been put forth by professed scientists, to show that animal life may exist without a creator. 5. The few imperfect experiments made, have not been sufficient to prove that an animal may live without a cause. They tell us that they have boiled water, and subjected weeds and hay, to more than boiling heat, and then corked them in bottles, but in a few days detected animal life. 6. The first thought, perhaps, would be, that two, three, or four hundred degrees Fahrenheit would kill any infusoria, or their eggs. But it should be remembered that some animals will endure an incredible amount of heat; even man has endured heat, higher than any employed in reported experiments upon infusoria. It would be absurd to contradict the plainest principles of reason, to gratify a skeptical heart, that we may reach a creation without a creator.

7. If organic matter may at any time rise up and live, there is no limit to this kind of creation.

No such local causes exist as to produce animals, or vegetables of a particular kind, in one region more than in any other of the same zone.

8. Both plants and animals had their creation in particular localities. The migratory agencies that spread seeds are very numerous, yet some plants have never been disturbed in their native home. We instance a beautiful flower upon one of the islands in the Grecian Archipelago. It has been known for many hundreds of years, but only there.

9. Similar remarks might be made concerning animals. These miscalled scientists would be at a loss to account for the facts of restricted localities to animals, as why the turkey should have been restricted to the western hemisphere, the kangaroo to Australia, or the grizzly bear to the western part of North America.

10. The lama of South America, the orangoutang of the East Indies, the hippopotamus of Africa, and the chimpanzee, are also examples of animals confined to localities, from whence they have never emigrated.

11. The development theory contradicts universal observation. We have never observed any specimen of plants or animals in a state of tran'sition from one kind to another. The most profound researches of geology have never discovered any in the past. The eagle of to-day builds his nest precisely as he did six thousand years

ago.