Prof. Gaussen says that “when the Scriptures speak of the form of the earth, they term it a globe [Isa. xl, 22; Prov. viii, 27]; when they speak of the position of this globe in the bosom of the universe, they suspend it upon nothing (Job xxvi, 7), and in speaking of its solid covering, they teach us that, while its surface gives us bread, beneath, it is on fire [Job xxviii, 5], literally ‘beneath,’ it is overturned, and as on fire]; elsewhere, that it is reserved unto fire, and will be burned in the last times, with all the works that are found therein.” Dr. Cumming affirms that 2 Pet. iii, 7, “ought to be translated,” “The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept stored with fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” While the correctness of this translation may be questioned, that the bosom of the earth is not solid, but has in it a vast quantity of liquid fire, need not be doubted. A correspondent of the Christian Standard of Oct. 31, has an article on this subject, from which we make the following extracts: “Our theory, that the interior of the earth is filled with molten lava, on which the shell of the earth rests as it did before the deluge on the water, as a vast raft or body of wood rests on water, is susceptible of proof from several sources: “1. In all parts of the world, where the surface of the earth has been penetrated to any depth—and the deepest mine is said to be about a mile in depth—after getting below the influence of the atmosphere on the surface, the heat is said to increase, as you descend, on an average of about a degree to every fifty feet. In descending, then, it would be but a few miles until you would come to where all would be fire, or everything would be in a melted state. The depth to this fire, varies, however, it being in some places nearer to, and in others further from, the surface of the earth. Here we have proof of the strongest character, that the interior of the earth is a great mass of melted matter—or of molten lava. “2. The volcanoes. These are found in all parts of the world, north and south of the equator. Some of these, as Mount Vesuvius in Italy, and Mount Ætna in the island of Sicily, have, according to the accounts of authentic history, been burning for upward of three thousand years; and are now apparently no nearer becoming extinct than they were at first. This proves that they must be supplied from some great internal, inexhaustible source of molten matter; as had it been from materials within them, these would have been exhausted long ago! We will here remark that this lava is not a geological formation, like the rocks of the earth, but is peculiar to the interior of the earth, as it exists in all volcanoes, and is found only where thrown out by them; showing, too, that it is with this molten lava that the interior of the globe is filled, as we have affirmed. These volcanoes are the great ‘safety-valves’ of the earth; and are to the globe what these are to the steam boiler. As when the pressure of steam in the boiler becomes too great, these safety-valves let it escape, and thus prevent the boiler from bursting; so as to these volcanoes. It is the opinion of some—among them the late Alexander Campbell, as expressed in one of his letters from Europe to his daughter, published at the time in the Harbinger—that the under side of the earth, where it rests on this lava, is constantly melting off and uniting with it, and the crust of the earth constantly becoming thinner! As in doing this it expands with the heat, and by the change of its character in assimilating with the lava, the pressure of the lava increases, until it115finds vent in the eruption of a volcano, or occasions an earthquake. Hence earthquakes—and some of the greatest ones—take place at a distance from volcanoes where there is no vent for the lava; as the earthquake at Lisbon, Portugal; at New Madrid, Missouri; those in the West Indies, &c. As a proof of this, those observing earthquakes speak of them ‘often as being stopped on the opening of volcanic vents.’ Here, then, we have a second argument in favor of our theory. “3. The thermal waters, or warm and hot springs. These, like the volcanoes, are found in all parts of the world; and as sometimes the water is scalding hot, they must derive their heat from the proximity of the water to these internal fires of the earth, at its source, or where it passes; these fires, as we have remarked, being in some places nearer the surface of the earth than in others. What are called the Geysers in Iceland, are known to derive their heat from these internal fires of the earth; while those in California, if anything more remarkable, must do the same. Hot steam frequently issues from the earth, in connection with these, which must be caused by the internal fire. Here we have a third argument in its favor. “4. The undulating motion of the earth in an earthquake; or its motion like the waves of the ocean. This shows that the earth as a comparative shell, must rest on a soft mass—on this vast mass of molten lava—for were the globe entirely solid all through, or but partially filled with this melted lava, it could not have this undulating motion in an earthquake. This has not only been noticed by all persons who have felt and observed earthquakes (among them the writer), but it is said of the earthquake at New Madrid, Mo., that ‘over an extent of country 800 miles in length, from the mouth of the Ohio [river] to that of the St. Francis, the ground rose and sank in great undulations.’ The great distance at which earthquakes are felt goes to prove our theory. In the great Lisbon earthquake ‘the shock was felt on the one side as far as the southern shores of Finland, and on the other [side of the Atlantic 3,000 miles wide] reached beyond the St. Lawrence in Canada, and was observed in some of the West India islands—an area no less than 7,500,000 square miles.’ What is called the ‘tidal wave’ of the ocean, so observable and remarkable in the late great earthquake in South America, and said to have been 40 feet in height on the coast of Chili and Peru, is no doubt caused principally by this undulating motion of the earth. Here we have a fourth argument to sustain our theory. “But be all this as it may, we have the assurance in the word of God, as already quoted—in one of those prophetic declarations made by an inspired apostle, which always have and always will meet their fulfillment—that the world and all it contains is to be consumed with fire; which will as certainly take place as the sun continues to rise and set! God can easily ‘break up the fountains of the great deep’ of internal fires, and cause a universal rain of fire and brimstone from heaven, as was partially the case in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and thus cause a deluge of fire, which will destroy the world, when each hill-top, in the language of a poet, ‘will outsmoke Vesuvius!’ Or, by withdrawing the nitrogen from the atmosphere, and leaving only the oxygen gas, everything would soon take fire; and the rocks and metals of the land and mountains would burn like wood, and the waters of the ocean, rivers, and streams, be consumed like oil!’”—Advent Herald.