SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1756, 1 November 1905, Page 73

SUNDAY READING.

Clergymen and all interested in religious work are invited -to send news items and other contributions suitable for publication in this column to “Mizpak,'” care of Editor “New Zealand Mail/ - ’ Wellington. ; MONSTERS OF THE DEEP.

(By a Banker.) Far back, down the long and dim vista" of the great past, aeons before man existed upon the earth, ages beforeany (true placental) mammalian life — lion,, horse, ox, giraffe, or hosts of others drew breath., the aspect of Britain 'was ' altogether different to that of the present day. instead or the sturdy oak, the lol'iy \dm, or the vide-spread-itiu' beech or sycamore, the vegetation consisted of tali, succulent reeds and mosses, with also palm-like eycads and conifers and some others. There were no chalk.cliffs, for chalk did not exist, scarce any- flowers, it is conjectured, hut principally flowerless cryptogams and other forms producing their seed on t-ho- ufider side of the fronds and in other ways, all of which grow in luxuriant vigour in tbe warm humid soil ; and file general appearance must have presented an aspect tar less beautiful and attractive, and far less picf tiresque and lovely than tbe natural beauty and richness of the scenery of tne present day. But the country was utterly unfit tor the habitation of man, who would soon bare become exterminated by tbe vasthordes of gigantic and monstrous creatures which then ravened over it- in countless numbers; giant mailed monsters of stupendous proportions: mighty frogs as largo as an ox; tremendous lizards fifty feet long, with jaws of immense capacity, their eves the tdxe of. a football, anil tiieir formidable teeth .'equal to crushing a hippopotamus. Ana there were flying boasts something bice bats, which could easily .have swooped down upon a man like an eagle seizing a lamb, carried bun oft, amt devoured him at leisure in his lair. But doubtless the most- prodigious and altogether amazing creature which ever trod Ibis eatllt —attaiun.g, m-em uing to the great geologist ' «• a length, of nearly a on?,'!* ed i-e** 1 ., ami a height of mo:-. Sou? He- leal {:» specinitii has recently bc-en discovered in America of nearly those dimensions)--i.s the AI !a ofosiiu! a dread! ui and

hideous monster, capable, if man had then existed upon earth, of devouring at a meal several dozens of men, women and children. As the creature’s hide would perhaps have been many times thicker than that of an elephant—if in similar proportion it would have been two or three feet thick—"big game” shooting would involve taking a battery of cannon instead of the usual rifle. But there is another existence upon earth, far more dreadful and far more powerful than those our great Adversary, who (with his invisible myrmidons) “goetli about like a roaring lion seeking whom be may devour.” Ay, but our omnipotent Friend and Deliverer, the Son of God, Who took upon Him the form of man, and made Atonement for all who come to Him for rescue from the power of the Evil One, and will both cast their sins into oblivion. and will deliver them from all his assaults and all his subtle temptations.