pliocene formations of alleged great antiquity, at the age of these deposits ; geologically of fossil human remains and flint implements we can only approximate the time by com- along with bones of the mammoth and other parison with existing operations ; wbile animals long since extinct (' Antiquity of palaiontologieally-the differences between l\Ian,' chs. i.-xix.). But (I) "So far as these extinct pachyderms and those stiL research has been prosecuted in the different existing are not greater than that which quarters of the globe, no remains of man or appears between the several living species, of his works have been discovered till we and would therefore indicate no great palaion- come to the lake-silts, the peat-mosses, the tological antiquity-nothing that may not' river-gravels, and the cave-earths of the post- have taken place within a few thousand years tertiary period," which seems at least an of the _ordinarily received chronology" (Page indirect confirmation of the Biblical record. on 'The Philosophy of Geology,' eh. xii. pp. (2) "The tree canoes, stone hatchets, flint 114-117). With these undesigned replies implements, and occasional fragments of the from a late eminent authority in geological human skeleton," upon which so much is science, the Bible student will do well to based, "have been chiefly discovered within pause before displacing the currently-received the limited area of Southern and Western age of man by the fabulous duration claimed Euro~e," while "we have scarcely any in- for him by the first-named writers.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-32.-1'he antedilu:viansaints. I. DESCENDANTS OF ADAM. As such they were-1. .A sinful race. Adam's son Seth was begotten in his father's image. Though still retaining the Divine image (1 Cor. xi. 7) as to nature, in respect of purity man ]Ja6 lost it. Inexplicable as the mystery is of inherited co~ruption, it is ~till 11: fact tb,i.t the moral deterioration of the head of the human family has transmitted itself to all the members. The doctrine of human depravity, however unpleasant and humbling to carnal pride, is asserted in Scripture (Gen. vi. 5, 12; viii. 21; Job xv. 14; xxv. 4; Ps. xiv. 2, 3; Ii. 5; Isa. liii. 6; Rom. iii. 2:J), implied~ the universal prevalence of sin and death (Rom. v. 12-21), assumed 1~ the doctrmes o~. regener- ation, which is declared to be ne<'essary absolutely and umversally (John m. 3), and redemption, of which one part of the design was to deliver men from th.e power as well as guilt of sin (Ephes. v. 25--27; Titus ii. 14; Heb. ix. 12-14; xiii, 12), and abundantly confirmed by experience, which testifh~s that "the wicked are estranged from the womb, and go astray as so?n as they be born, s~eaking lies" (Ps. lvi~.. 3). 2. A long-lived race. Whether theu_ remarkable longevity ":'as due to the 0;1gmal vigour of the p1"imus R()1TW, or to the mfluenc~ ?£ the tree o! hfe, or to the emmency of the Setbites' piety, 1t was-(1) A gre_at pny1/ege, affordmg to themselves ~~l?le opportunity for self-cultivation and family trarnmg; to the world enlarged fac1ht.1es for advancement in intelligence and civilisation; and to the Church the means of transmitting truth from age to age, and of drawing more closely together the bonds of. religious c0mmunion. (2) An unexpected privilege. Upon the mind and heart of cu. v. 1-32.) 'l'HE BOOK OF GENESIS. 99