the deceitfulness of sin." How awfully did that man err in his judgment of time and eternity, who said to his soul, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years," when that time he accounted so long was ended, and that eternity he believed so distant, approached in a moment. He was wofully deceived by the sin of covetousness. This false estimate of time and eternity is so universally prevalent, that it behoves every one to watch and pray against it, particularly those who by reason of their youth and strength are more particularly liable thereto. Next to the false estimate of time that sin imposes on us, may be named the unjust value and stress it induces us to place upon wealth, and those things that riches can procure. Having succeeded in imposing this false value upon wealth, sin leads its votaries to determine, in spite of every obstacle, to be rich, and can we then wonder if they "pierce themselves through with many sorrows?" So great is the infatuation that the all-awakening question-"What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his whole soul?" seems to sound in their ears in vain. Perhaps we are not outraging propriety in comparing the word of God to an excellent telescope which brings the scenes of eternity home to our minds; but sin snatches this heavenly glass from our hands, or seeks to invert the faithful instrument, and thus to represent the end of life, which is near at hand, to be far distant, and to throw impending eternity quite out of our view. Sin also makes an improper estimate of the persons of men; those that are the excellent of the earth it leads men to denominate the offscouring of all things. It raises persecutions against them, and declares that they are not fit to live, while it designates the stupid atheist, a man of spirit; the cavilling deist, a profound reasoner; and he that denies the truth of all religion, as one who has proper ideas of the liberty of man! O let us then beware of this deceitful quality of sin, and earnestly beseech the Lord to deliver us from its numerous snares.

Sin grossly deceives us, by first captivating our hearts and then distorting our judgment. It is fabled of the Syrens that all those who listened to their voices, were sure to fall victims to their power. It is exactly the case with sin; before we venture to listen to its seductive allurements, we retain, with reverential awe, the ideas that have been piously instilled into our minds, of accountability to God, our need of a Saviour, and impending judgment; but sin

glosses, explains away, and at length flatly denies these important truths, and persuades its excited victim that he firmly believes, what alas! he only hopes may be true, that "there is no God." This is the prolific principle from which infidelity will constantly spring. Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. When a man is determined, be the consequence what it may, to gratify his sinful appetites, a profession of infidelity has too much the appearance of reason and consistency for him to be long without it. If, however, that open profession would make him less pleasing to the generality of his neighbours, he covers himself with the outward form of religion, and thus becomes still more odious to God and dangerous to men. Let us not forget while praying for such characters as these, (for they of all others most need our prayers,) that we ourselves also are encompassed with infirmity. A love of sin, since the fall of our first parents, has become natural to man. Look at the child, as yet so young that it cannot articulate a word plainly, and observe the swellings of anger and even rage on its countenance; mark the rebellious spirit as pourtrayed in its look to her who bare it; yet, see how it smooths its angry brow, and assumes a deceptive, placid look, as its father's footstep is heard approaching. Nothing but natural depravity and love of what is sinful could produce these results, for if nature can teach anything, it must teach children to love and obey their parents. Reason, it is true, is not yet in full vigour, but when it is, what then? Will it eradicate these evil principles? No-that is beyond its power. All that reason can do is in some measure, to cover their effects in the man, as a sort of natural instinct, reason's dawn, taught the child to do before its father. Against this corrupt principle one only remedy is provided, but thanks be unto God, that remedy is all-sufficient-it is the cross of Christ. Jesus not only paid the penalty of our sins, but died to save us from the power of them. He is our wisdom to dispel the mists of natural darkness from our minds, and to make us wise to everlasting salvation. Our righteousness to enable us to stand before our God, arrayed in the wedding garment of the Lamb. Our sanctification to purify us from sin, and devote us to the service of our Lord and Master. Our redemption from the wages of sin, and its otherwise uncontrollable power. Looking, therefore, unto Jesus, is the only safeguard against the deceitfulness of sin.

Sin's final deceit is the substitution of despair for those false hopes by which it deceived its victim. Having by slow and almost imperceptible degrees, hardened the heart of the sinner, and rendered his breast impervious to the brightest beams of God's providential goodness, it advances still further, and failing to implant a settled conviction of the non-existence of a deity, it incites the sinner, when in the madness of despair, to brave the terrors of the Almighty. In this awful state he commits all iniquity with greediness, and his thirst for sin is only equalled by his hatred of God and his holy word. There is no offence so great that he will not attempt to commit, and with a fearful inversion of the laws of his nature he will only seek to excel in those things, in which to excel is the greatest shame. This terrible state can be compared to nothing more fitly than that to which the Scriptures liken it. Such a sinner is like the barren earth which, though it receive the rain that comes upon it, brings forth no fruit to those who dress it, but beareth briers and thorns; and as this is rejected by men and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned; so stands this hardened sinner before God, in whose hands we will leave him; and in conclusion, endeavor to draw some practical admonitions from the consideration of that sin whose deceptive character we have been contemplating. From the foregoing observations we may learn how needful it is to beware of the beginnings of evil; we know not to what the smallest sins may lead, let us then fear them as we would to venture on the brink of a profound abyss. Let us daily meditate on the just requirements, and awful sanction of the moral law. Let us bring all our actions, words, and thoughts, to the touchstone of its testimony, regarding it as a looking-glass for the soul to discover its defects, and to exhibit the true pattern of loveliness to which it ought to aspire. Let us watch our hearts with all diligence, and closely examine the motives of all our actions. Let us unite earnest prayer to a constant attendance on the means of grace, and let our watchfulness extend also to our Christian brethren, so that while we cautiously beware that we ourselves have not a heart of unbelief, we may, by friendly admonition, (but especially by a holy life and conversation,) exhort them also to take heed that they be not hardened "through the deceitfulness of sin."

J. F.

Tewkesbury.

VOL. IX. 3rd SERIES.

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THE DINOTHERIUM.*

(From Dr. Buckland's Bridegwater Treatise.)

THE most abundant remains of the Dinotherium are found at Epplesheim, in the province of Hesse Darmstadt, and are described in a work now in process of publication by Professor Kaup. Fragments of the same genus are mentioned by Cuvier, as occurring in several parts of France, and in Bavaria and Austria.

The form of the molar teeth of the Dinotherium so nearly resembles that of the Tapirs, that Cuvier at first referred them to a gigantic species of that genus. Professor Kaup has since placed this animal in the new genus Dinotherium, holding an intermediate place between the Tapir and the Mastodon, and supplying another important link in the great family of Pachydermata. The largest species of this genus, Dinotherium giganteum is calculated both by Cuvier and Kaup to have attained the extraordinary length of eighteen feet! The most remarkable bone of the body yet found is the shoulder-blade, the form of which more nearly resembles that of a mole than of any other animal, and seems to indicate a peculiar adaptation of the fore leg to the purposes of digging; an indication which is corroborated by the remarkable structure of the lower jaw, which has two enormous tusks placed at its anterior extremity, and curved downwards, like the tusks in the upper jaw of the Walrus.†

* It may perhaps be necessary to inform some of our readers that this singular creature is no longer to be found alive; but is here described from those remains of it which have been discovered in a fossil state. We have had occasion more than once to intimate that many successive changes have taken place in the structure of our earth, and its inhabitants, which appear to have occupied a much longer period than is generally supposed. The author of this account of the Dinotherium, after considerable study and research, has come to the conclusion that millions of years have elapsed since the creation, and has shewn (what indeed we never doubted,) that the Scriptures are quite in accordance with this opinion, as we had previously attempted to prove in an article entitled The Earth, in our volume for 1834, p. 193. Until it can be made evident that the expressions, In the beginning, and About six thousand years ago, are synonymous, we shall fear nothing from the disclosures of geology, which have hitherto tended in no inconsiderable degree to magnify not only the name,' but the 'Word' of Him who is perfect in wisdom. ED.

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↑ As this apparatus forms the great distinguishing characteristic of the strange animal we are describing, we had intended to further illustrate it by a wood-cut, but on second thoughts conceived it better to refer our readers to the original jaw in one of the upright cases of the long gallery at the British Museum, the inspection of which will amply reward all who are curious in such matters. ED.

I shall confine my present remarks to this peculiarity in the position of the tusks, and endeavour to shew how far these organs illustrate the habits of the extinct animals in which they are found. It is mechanically impossible that a lower jaw, nearly four feet long, loaded with such heavy tusks at its extremity, could have been otherwise than cumbrous and inconvenient to a quadruped living on dry land. No such disadvantage would have attended this structure in a large animal destined to live in water; and the aquatic habits of the family of Tapirs, to which the Dinotherium was most nearly allied, render it probable that, like them, it was an inhabitant of fresh-water lakes and rivers. To an animal of such habits, the weight of the tusks sustained in water would have been no source of inconvenience; and if we suppose them to have been employed as instruments for raking and grubbing up by the roots large aquatic vegetables from the bottom, they would, under such service, combine the mechanical powers of the pick-axe with those of the horse-harrow of modern husbandry. The weight of the head, placed above these downward tusks, would add to their efficiency for the service here supposed, as the power of the harrow is increased by being loaded with weights.

The tusks of the Dinotherium may also have been applied with mechanical advantage to hook on the head of the animal to the bank, with the nostrils sustained above the water, so as to breathe securely during sleep, whilst the body remained floating at perfect ease beneath the surface: the animal might thus repose moored to the margin of a lake or river, without the slightest muscular exertion, the weight of the head and body tending to fix and keep the tusks fast anchored in the substance of the bank; as the weight of the body of a sleeping bird keeps the claws clasped firmly around its perch. These tusks might have been further used, like those in the upper jaw of the Walrus, to assist in dragging the body out of the water; and also as formidable instruments of defence.

The structure of the scapula (shoulder-blade), seems to shew that the fore leg was adapted to co-operate with the tusks and teeth, in digging and separating large vegetables from the bottom. The great length attributed to the body would have been no way inconvenient to an animal living in the water, but attended with