With regard to the introduction of death, I believe that death upon a most extensive scale prevailed upon the earth, and in the waters that are under the earth, ages, yea countless ages, before the creation of man—before the sin of any human being had been witnessed; that is what Geology teaches most indisputably: whether the Scriptures contradict this statement, is another question. With regard to the Noachian Deluge, I believe that it was quite partial in its character, and very temporary in its duration; that it destroyed only those animals that were found in those parts of the earth then inhabited by man; and that it has not left one single shell, or fossil, or any drift or other remains that can be traced to its action. Whether the Scriptures teach any other doctrine, is another question. By this time the ground between us is narrowed, and I may probably anticipate that I shall have objections to answer, or misapprehensions to remove, quite as much on the part of those who _devoutly believe_, as on the part of those who _honestly doubt_ the Christian Scriptures. First then, I. _How old is the world?_ How many years is it since it was called into being, as one of the planets? How many centuries have elapsed since its first particle of matter was created? The answer comes from a thousand voices, “How old? why, 6,000 years, and no more, or closely thereabouts! Every child knows that;—talk about the age of the world at this time of day, when the Bible clearly reveals it!” Now I ask, Where does the Bible reveal it? Where is the chapter and the verse in which its age is recorded? I have read my Bible somewhat, and feel a deepening reverence for it, but as yet I have never read that. I see the age of man recorded there; I see the revelation that says the _human_ species is not much more than 6,000 years old; and geology says this testimony is true, for no remains of man have been found even in the tertiary system, the latest of all the geological formations. “_The Bible, the writings of Moses_,” says Dr. Chalmers, “_do not fix the antiquity of the globe; if they fix any thing at all, it is only the antiquity of the species._”