that may divert them from it, but they hasten to turn after it-whatever reminds them of their pretended destination is mournful to them, whatever brings them nearer to it, is frightful. They allow the truth of every thing, and feel the importance of nothing-they admit the authority of Scripture, and deny every thing it contains-they call God their Father, and would be ashamed to bear the characters of his children-they acknowledge a Deity and an eternity, and live as if there were none. I need not designate them further. What consistency can be expected from such as these?

If then, we would be Consistent, we must first see that our object and means of pursuing it, our path and our destination are agreed. If they are not, let us examine where the evil is. Do we want information, do we want judgment, or do we want honesty? One or the other we want assuredly.

There is a character consistent in beauty, in holiness, in perfection. The features of it have been sketched, distinct though separate, in the records of eternal truth -the whole have been conjoined, embodied, realized, in the person of the incarnate Deity. Conformity to this standard is perfection-every departure from it is an imperfection-here perfect consistency would be perfect holiness. It is a standard no man has attained -yet is it the only one with which consistency is desirable. When we seek consistency for ourselves, this ought to be what we mean-when we desire consistency in others, this ought to be the rule by which we judge them. But I fear, for the most part, that is not our meaning. The only lawful code of conformity is abrogated, the only real standard of excellence, consistency with which is beautiful, and every inconsistency with which is a defect, is put out of sight; while we make to ourselves each one a standard of our own, moulded on our own prejudices, our own habits, our own peculiar taste and character; and by this we measure every thing, judge every thing, and too frequently condemn

every body, for no better reason than because they are not like ourselves. In great things and in small things, from the important features of moral rectitude to the trifling ornaments of exterior propriety, Self is our standard, and all is right or wrong, admired or condemned, as it agrees with or departs from this standard, this household deity, that each one has made for himself, and fashioned to his own taste that he may worship it. CONSISTENCY, therefore, a word that in the language of christianity should mean conformity to our Maker's will, has come in common language to mean little else than conformity to the narrow ideas of the individual who uses it.

CONVERSATIONS ON GEOLOGY.

CONVERSATION V.

MRS. L.-Our business to-day is with the Primary or Primitive Rocks, so called from their being the lowest with which we are acquainted, and to all appearance the first formed at least the earliest deposited in their present situation on the earth's surface. There are many reasons beside their actual position, which lead to this conclusion, and seem to designate the Granite Rocks as the mould on which the Creator formed and shaped the earth; though proofs are not wanting of their having materially changed their forms by eruption or otherwise. No organic remains, the remnants or impressions, that is, of living things, whether animal or vegetable, are found in these rocks: whence it has been inferred that they were formed before the existence of living things. This inference, though very reasonable and most probably just, does not amount to certainty, because the rocks might be so formed by combustion, as to

efface all traces of organized matter, if it had existed on them. There are among these massive rocks no fragments intermixed of other rocks, though fragments of these are frequently intermixed with the Secondary Strata, as if broken off and removed from their first position. Neither are there among these rocks any of those veins and beds that in the higher strata cross and intersect each other, as if all had sometime been liquified together. Every thing gives to these Primitive Rocks the appearance of having been placed there at once, encircling the nucleus of the earth, a solid, compact, and immoveable mass, or moveable only by some great convulsion of nature. Standing generally in a vertical position, or nearly so, while their base is fixed below the surrounding substances, and beyond our reach to fathom, their heads are frequently found rising above every thing else, giving form to the loftiest mountains, and obtruding themselves, bare and uncovered, even above the soil and the verdure that covers and conceals these secrets of the earth. Sometimes a lofty mountain is seen standing alone amid surrounding plains-more frequently running in chains from shore to shore. In England these mountains are comparatively rare; there is abundance of Granite in Cornwall and other parts; but it rises to no great height. In Scotland the boldness and beauty of the scenery is in many parts derived from the presence of these Granite Rocks. Granite may be traced at the summit of the Grampian hills: Ben Nevis, the loftiest of the British mountains, is composed of it, and is 4370 feet high. But these are trifling protuberances compared with the Alpine chains, and the yet more elevated mountains of South America, which are of the same materials. Mont Blanc has its peak of Granite 15,600 feet above the level of the sea, and the highest of the Andes is 20,280 feet.

MATILDA. It seems then that Granite, which you consider the lowest substance, appears on the surface as the uppermost, and least concealed.