honour done to one of these dull creatures, by having been bestrode by the great Lord of life; neither, whether any inference may be deducible from this species having been the kind selected in the foregoing remarkable instance, and in the case of the reproof administered to Balaam from the ass on which he rode, tending to show that by these proverbially stupid creatures having been so highly favoured, Deity designedly evinced his power of advancing them to reason in a more advanced state of being. "And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him." (Mark i. 10.) The blessed Spirit either became incarnate in, or assumed the likeness of, that innocent creature. And when the Spirit drove our Lord into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, He was forty days with the wild beasts, fully demonstrating his power over them. (13.) And this power He also imparted to his disciples. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; (over all, those creatures whose natures have been polluted through Satan's interference ;) "and nothing shall by any means hurt you." (Luke x. 19.) And it may be inferred, that He who thus on earth controlled and undid the effects of Satan's operations, may ultimately totally destroy in savage creatures the works of the devil. And the supposition that they all may be futurely cleansed, further appears from the vision of St. Peter, wherein he "saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel de

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scending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air." And these were all proclaimed by a voice from heaven to have been cleansed by their God. (Acts x. 11, 12, 15.) "And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm." (xxviii. 3, 5.) Thus eliciting the power imparted to him by his blessed Lord. In Romans iii. 13, the tongue of the wicked is compared to the poison of asps, a venom infused through one and the same agency, and both alike within the reach of cure from the omnipotent Physician. "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now," (viii. 22,) through the operations of the malignant agent; and, as already has been explained at large, a powerful intimation is contained in this chapter, that all will be set to rights by the irresistible interference of the benignant One. And St. James describes the amelioration of the animal creation as a far more easy task than that of curbing that vehement fire, that world of iniquity, the deadly tongue of man, "which setteth on fire the course of nature, and which itself is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue of man can no man tame; it is an

unruly evil, full of deadly poison," beyond the reach of cure, except from an almighty band. (iii. 6-8.) Therefore St. Peter counsels us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt us in due time; care upon him, for he careth for us.

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casting all our

To be sober,

to be vigilant, because our adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter v. 6-8.) And let us not be rebuked for iniquity, as was Balaam, when the dumb ass spoke with man's voice to forbid the madness of the prophet, (2 Peter ii. 16,) nor let that proverb happen unto us, "The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (22.) Let us not act like natural brute beasts, who, in the event of man's defection, were made to be taken-that is, their brutal nature-and destroyed for their support. (12.) And, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind." These highest orders of intelligents are hieroglyphically compared unto the animal creation, as is even Deity himself. "Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book. And in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, stood a lamb as it had been slain." (Rev. iv. 2, 6; v. 5, 6.) And when the bottomless pit was opened, and evil spirits were sent forth on our earth, (or permitted to assail us,) the shape assigned for them was like to that of creatures who had been given up to

Satan's power, for they were like to locusts and to scorpions. (ix. 2, 3.) And further resemblances of the same kind are recorded in this chapter:"And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God, that ye may behold the downfall of kings, and captains, free and bond, small and great." And this may suggest a possibility that these would not be summoned, even in visionary view, to this last awful supper, were they not designed in some degree to participate the blessing that will be then dispensed.

CHAPTER VI.

WE have now concluded this long research, and though Scripture does not condescend fully and clearly to answer the object of inquiry -namely, whether some compensation may not be kept in store by that Lord whose mercies Holy Writ declares shall never fail, and whose works shall never perish, for all the dreadful sufferings endured by the unoffending animal creation through the sin of man; yet we think that the general sense of Scripture does not oppose the gratifying supposition, that there will be a remuneration made them by him whose tender mercies extend over all his works, in the event of these sufferings being improved into a salutary purpose, in a secondary and accountable estate; or it may be awarded by means far, far beyond the human ken or guess, by him unto whom all things are possible. We can only, from arguments founded on probabilities, deduce possibilities; and those, which in the course of this inquiry we have ventured to state, it will be remembered, have all arisen from contemplation on the glorious attributes concentrated in Deity, as