OP THE 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 -pRT^rnRTOTsT- N. J. I 
 
 BS 657 .G6 1859 
 ce Gloag, Paton J. 1823-1906 
 
 The primeval world 
 
 sn 
 
 BooJc. 
 
THE PRIMEVAL WORLD: 
 
 A TEEATISE 
 
 KELATIONS OF GEOLOGY TO THEOLOGY. 
 
 REV. PATON J. GLOAG, 
 
 AUTHOR OF A " TREATISE ON THE ASSURANCE OF SALVATION,' 
 AND A " TREATISE ON JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH." 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 T. & T. CLAEK, 38 GEOEGE STREET. 
 
 LONDON : HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. DUBLIN : JOHN ROBERTSON. 
 PHILADELPHIA: SMITH, ENGLISH, & CO. 
 
 MDCCCLIX. 
 
" Let no man, upon a weak conceit, of sobriety or an ill-applied moderation, think or 
 maintain that a man can search too far or be too well studied in the book of God's word 
 or the book of God's works — divinity or philosophy; but rather let men endeavour an 
 endless progress or proficiency in both; only let them beware that they apply both to 
 charity and not to arrogance, — to use and not to ostentation; and again that they do not 
 unwisely mingle or confound these learnings together." — Bacon. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Late investigations in Geology, have, as is well known, 
 been hastily imagined by some to lead to conclusions at 
 variance with certain portions of the Biblical Narrative. 
 Tliose who have endeavoured to establish the discrepancy 
 between them, have, for the most part, been adequately 
 informed neither in Geology nor in Theology, and have 
 been equally rash in taking for granted their own conclu- 
 sions in Geology, and their own interpretations of Scrip- 
 ture. Their arguments, on the other hand, have been very 
 frequently met by many authors, some of whom have 
 indeed displayed more zeal for religion than capacity for 
 scientific study, but others have treated the subject witli 
 consummate knowledge alike of Geology and Eeligion. It 
 seems only necessary to mention the late eloquent work of 
 Hugh Miller, and more especially the " Geology and 
 Scripture" of Dr. J. Pye Smith, to show how much genius 
 and learning have been devoted to the cause of religion in 
 reference to this subject. And indeed so many books have 
 been written on the connexion between Geolog;y^ and 
 revealed Eeligion, that some apology seems necessarj^ for 
 
IV PEEFACE. 
 
 the work which the author now ventures to intrude on the 
 public. All the works alluded to have been almost 
 entirely confined to the consideration of the facts of 
 Geology in their bearing on the Mosaic accounts of the 
 creation and the deluge. But whilst the author has ven- 
 tured to express his views on these subjects, he has 
 thought that there are important bearings of Geology upon 
 other branches of Theology, not yet sufficiently discussed, 
 and that therefore there may be room for a work treating 
 more generally of the relation of Geology to Theology 
 His first design was to have written a series of ' Geological 
 Lectures' on the plan of Dr. Chalmers' 'Astronomical 
 Lectures;' but as the principles and fundamental facts of 
 Geology are not so well known as those of Astronomy, 
 and as many details and technical terms were unavoidable, 
 he was induced to prefer the form of a treatise. 
 
 It will be seen from a perusal of the chapter on the 
 ' Mosaic days' that the author has been unable to think the 
 period arrived, when a satisfactory theory reconciling the 
 Mosaic cosmogony with the facts of Geology, can be very 
 confidently advanced. He believes that our knowledge of 
 Geology, and particularly of what is called the drift period, 
 is not sufficiently complete to admit of the enunciation of 
 any such theory, except as an hypothesis not inconsistent 
 with our present knowledge, but liable to be modified by 
 subsequent observations and discoveries. He has found 
 reason to dissent from several of the opinions advanced by 
 Hugh Miller in his ' Testimony of the Rocks,' perhaps the 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 most eloquent, but by no means the most valuable work of 
 that great man. 
 
 It was only after a very careful examination of the 
 arguments on both sides of the question, that the author 
 came to the conclusion that the deluge of Noah was limited 
 in extent. That it was universal, as regards the human 
 race, he firmly believes, as this is a fact asserted in Scrip- 
 ture, and supported by general tradition ; but he sees no 
 evidence for supposing that it extended to those portions 
 of the earth uninhabited by man. The arguments, how- 
 ever, which go to prove that the deluge could only have 
 been local, are not derived chiefly ft-om the science of 
 Geology; and at one time the author thought that in a 
 work dealing with geological topics, this difficult question 
 might with perfect propriety have been omitted ; but as it 
 has always been discussed in connexion with Geology, 
 although in truth the connexion is slight, and not at all 
 obvious, such an omission might have been regarded as a 
 serious defect. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A SKETCH OP MODERN GEOLOGY. 
 
 Our duty to contemplate the works of God. — Changes on the 
 earth's surface. — Aqueous and igneous rocks. — Characteristic 
 fossils. — Order and succession of strata. — Thickness of the stra- 
 tified rocks. — Commencement of creation. — Heat of the globe. 
 — Future condition of the earth. .... 9 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 ANTIQUITY OF THE EARTH AND RECENT ORIGIN OP MAN, 
 
 I. The antiquity of the earth. — Proved from the stratified rocks. — 
 Proved from the fossil remains. — Geology and astronomy com- 
 pared. — II. The recent origin of man. — Scriptural account of 
 Creation. — Geological periods. .... 28 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SUCCESSIVE CREATION OP SPECIES. 
 
 Series of different creations. — The development hypothesis. — No 
 scientific facts in its favour. — Impossibility of the transmuta- 
 tion of species. — Geology opposed to transmutation. — Geologi- 
 cal system of progression. — Creation by Divine interposition. — 
 Introduction of species. — Miraculous and special Providence. h:i 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK rV. 
 
 THE MOSAIC DATS. 
 
 The Mosaic account of creation. — I. The nature of the language 
 employed. — II. Meaning of the word creation. — III. Meaning 
 of the term days. — IV. Meaning of the term earth. . 80 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EXISTENCE OP DEATH BEFORE SIN. 
 
 Supposed changes by the fall. — I. Death of the inferior animals 
 before the fall. — II. This not contradicted by Scripture. — 
 III. Death among the lower animals a benevolent dispensation. 114 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DELUGE. 
 
 Scientific view of the deluge. — The physico-theological school. — ^ 
 Fossil remains not the effects of the deluge. — The drift not 
 caused by the deluge. — The deluge limited in its extent and 
 effects. — Scriptural statements with reference to the deluge. — 
 No geological facts opposed to the deluge. . . 136 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE ILLUSTRATED BY GEOLOGY. 
 
 Goodness of God seen in His works. — Divine goodness toward the 
 inferior animals. — Divine goodness seen in the geological 
 agencies of change; in the inclination of the stratified rocks; 
 in the minerals of the earth ; in the existence of volcanoes. — 
 Conclusion. . . . . . . . 169 
 
RELATIONS OF GEOLOGY TO THEOLOGY. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 A SKETCH OF MODERN GEOLOGY. 
 
 It is a Christian duty to meditate upon the character of 
 God, not only as exhibited in grace and redemption, but 
 also as displayed in creation. God is the Author of nature 
 as well as of revelation. His existence is declared, and 
 His perfections are manifested in the one as well as in the 
 other, and therefore both claim our devout attention and 
 earnest study. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Gentiles, 
 who were not privileged with a wi^itten revelation of the 
 Divine will, might, from the contemplation of the works of 
 creation, attain to a knowledge of the perfections of God — 
 His eternal power and godhead. On the one hand, it is 
 described as the character of the righteous, that they delight 
 to contemplate God in His works : " The works of the Lord 
 are gi-eat, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein ;" 
 whereas, on the other hand, it is represented as the cha- 
 racter of the wicked, that " they regard not the works of 
 the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands." 
 True piety derives much of its enjoyment from the con- 
 templation of the works of God. The good man studies 
 the book of nature as well as the book of revelation, and 
 
 A 
 
10 CONTEMPLATION OF THE WORKS OF GOD. 
 
 regards them both as inspired by God. Wherever he goes, 
 he sees the footprints of his Creator, at whatever he looks, 
 he beholds the marks of His handiwork, and he is never 
 alone, for he finds himself on all sides surrounded with 
 God. He considers the heavens as the work of God's 
 fingers, the moon and the stars as ordained by Him, the 
 landscapes as painted by His pencil, the grassy fields and 
 fruitful vales as enriched from His liberality, and the 
 majestic rivers, the sources of fertility and happiness, 
 as the tokens and evidences of His love. Our blessed 
 Saviour has set us the example of thus contemplating God 
 in His works. His discourses have continual reference to 
 the works of nature ; from them He drew the sublimest 
 lessons of piety, and by them He represented the mysteries 
 of His kingdom. He discourses upon the fowls of heaven 
 and the sowing of the seed, and from the lilies of the field 
 He reads us the lesson of confidence in God. " Consider 
 the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, neither 
 do they spin ; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon 
 in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." 
 
 There is a vast variety in the works of God, and ample 
 scope for the tastes and acquirements of each observer. 
 Every branch of science is replete with the evidences of 
 the Divine perfections, and instructive with the lessons of 
 piety. Astronomy vmfolds to us the glories of the heavens, 
 and in those countless worlds which it displays reveals 
 the grandeur of God ; comparative anatomy exhibits His 
 infinite wisdom in all those numberless and wonderful 
 adaptations of means to ends ; zoology teaches us the 
 goodness of the Creator in the capacities for enjoyment of 
 the different animals ; and moral philosophy reveals to us 
 the holiness and purity of His character. His perfections 
 also are indelibly engraven upon the rocks ; and however 
 
CHANGES ON THE EARTHS SURFACE. 11 
 
 barren of instruction these may apjiear to the inattentive 
 observer, yet they are in reality inscribed with characters 
 which prochiim that God is good. If the heavens declare 
 the glory of God, the rocks do not less strikingly proclaim 
 His wisdom and benevolence. If astronomy unfolds to 
 us the wonders of creation in the immensity of space, geo- 
 logy displays these wonders in the inmiensity of time. 
 " The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 
 In his hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength 
 of hills is his also." 
 
 In this chapter we propose giving a sketch of Modern 
 Geology. Of course it is utterly impossible to enter into 
 tlie minutiee of the science, or even to point out the man- 
 ner in which the results have been obtained. This is a 
 subject which already occupies volumes, and which is not 
 nearly exhausted. We merely state the results; and in 
 doing so we shall avoid, as carefully as possible, all tech- 
 nical terms, although the nature of the subject renders it 
 impossible to omit them entirely. The facts which we 
 shall mention, he it remembered, unless the contrary is 
 stated, are not mere theories, or probabilities, or specula- 
 tions, but absolute certainties, which have been completely 
 demonstrated. 
 
 We are accustomed to regard the surface of the earth as 
 being upon the whole permanent. We have always looked 
 upon the same hills, the same valleys, the same fields, the 
 same brooks, and the same rivers ; nor can the mind con- 
 ceive any emblems of stability more impressive than those 
 everlasting mountains, whose vast and imposing outlines 
 remain unchanged from one generation to another. The 
 slightest thought, however, soon corrects these impressions, 
 and teaches us that what we regard as permanent is in 
 reality continually changing. The brooks and rivers are 
 
I -2 CHANGES ON THE EARTH S SUEFACE. 
 
 constantly wearing down the hills, and carrying with them 
 (earthy materials to the valleys beneath. Every shower of 
 rain which falls disintegrates a portion of earth, which is 
 carried away by the rill or stream. The waves of the 
 ocean wear away the shore, and nndermine the rocks. 
 And we read in other quarters of the world of earthquakes 
 which alter the appearance of a whole district, and of 
 volcanoes which elevate mountains, and spread their con- 
 tents of lava and ashes over the soil. And these changes 
 are constant; at no time are the causes which produce 
 them at rest; the rivers are continually carrying down 
 earthy materials, and strewing them upon the ocean bed ; 
 and the waves are constantly dashing against our coasts, 
 and altering their general outline. All is in a state of 
 change — ceaseless, incessant change. In reality, the exist- 
 ing mountains are gradually becoming less, and the exist- 
 ing oceans are gradually fdling up, although many centuries 
 may pass before the change become perceptible. In the 
 remarkable words of Job, so descriptive of these changes: 
 " Surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the 
 rock is removed out of his place. The waters wear the 
 stones : thou washest away the things which grow out of 
 the dust of the earth." 
 
 Nor are these changes which are constantly taking place 
 .so small as we are apt to imagine. During floods eyery 
 brook and rill assumes a muddy appearance, bearing along 
 with it a large quantity of mud, sand, and small stones 
 into the stream with which it unites; and the streams, 
 likewise charged with mud, flow into a river, which car- 
 ries a vast amount of matter into the ocean. Now, if this 
 is the case in one small district, how immense must be the 
 ipiantity of sediment conveyed by rivers over the whole 
 earth. Nay, more, if such is the case with us in a com- 
 
CHANGES ON THE EARTH's SURFACE. 13 
 
 paratively quiet district, what must be the case in thosf 
 countries where rain falls in torrents, and compared with 
 whose rivers ours are hut as streams? The Nile of Egypt,* 
 the Niger of Africa, the Ganges of India, the Yellow Kiver 
 of China, and the still mightier rivers of America, nmst 
 carry yearly an incalculable amount of matter into tlu- 
 ocean. The Amazon is said to carry down with it such 
 an immense quantity of mud, that it colours the waters of 
 the ocean to the distance of three hundred miles from the 
 shore. The sediment which the Ganges conveys to the 
 Bay of Bengal has been carefully estimated, and is said to 
 be seven hundred thousand cubic feet per hour. This 
 would be, as Sir Charles Lyell remarks, as if nearly sixty 
 great pyi-amids of Egypt were carried down annually intn 
 tlie sea, the base of that pyramid covering eleven acres, 
 and its perpendicular height being nearly five luindred 
 feet. " It is scarcely possible," adds that author, " to pre- 
 sent any picture to the mind which w41i convey an ade- 
 ([uate conception of the mighty scale of this operation, so 
 tranquilly and almost insensibly carried on by the Ganges, 
 as it glides through its alluvial plain, even at the distance 
 of five hundred miles from the sea. It may, however, be 
 stated, that if a fleet of more than eighty Indiamen, each 
 freighted witli about one thousand four hundred tons' weight 
 of mud, were to sail down the river every hour of every day 
 and night for four months continuously, they would only 
 transport from the higher country to the sea a mass of 
 solid matter equal to that borne down by the Ganges, even 
 in this part of its course, in the four months of the flood 
 season ; or the exertions of a fleet of about two thousand 
 finch ships going down daily with the same burden, and 
 
 ♦ The Nile is estimated to cany down annually into the sea three 
 thousand millions of cubic feet of detritus. 
 
14 CHANGES ON THE EAETH'S SUEFACE. 
 
 discliarging it into the gulf, would be no more than equi- 
 valent to the operations of the great river." In addition 
 to this, it is probable that the Brahmapootra, which empties 
 itself into the same estuary, conveys annually as much 
 solid matter to the Bay of Bengal as the Ganges* 
 
 But we must not merely consider the amount of change 
 which is at present going on upon the earth's surface ; we 
 must remember that the same changes have existed and 
 exercised their influence during past ages. The same 
 changes have been going on during the six thousand years 
 since man was created, and, as we will have abundant 
 reason to conclude before this chapter is finished, during 
 thousands upon thousands of years before that event. 
 There never has been a cessation of these influences. 
 There never has been a time when the earth was at rest. 
 Rain, rivers, and the ocean have been continually wearing 
 down the earth, and reducing it to a level. And, on the 
 other hand, opposite agencies have also been at work. 
 Earthquakes and volcanoes have ever exerted an elevating 
 influence, raised land from the ocean bed, elevated moun- 
 tains, and preserved the inequality of the earth's surface."f- 
 
 * Lyell's " Principles of Geology" p. 282, ninth edition. This work 
 ought to be read by all who wish to know anything about geology. It 
 is undoubtedly the best book on the principles of geology in this or any 
 other language. Its value is increased by a remarkably perspicuous and 
 fascinating style. It is not merely a standard work on geology, but also 
 in English literature. Perhaps Sir C. Lyell theorises and exercises his 
 ingenuity too much ; and, as Professor Sedgwick remarks, it would be 
 desirable were the work stripped even of the semblance of hypothetical 
 assumption. 
 
 t Some cities in our own country which were once seaports are now 
 far inland, and others which once existed have disappeared, being sunk 
 below the level of the sea. Some countries, as Scandinavia, it has been 
 demonstrated, are gradually rising, whilst others, as Greenland, are gra- 
 dually sinking. And thus the dry land and the ocean are changing 
 places. 
 
FORMATION OF ROCKS. 15 
 
 In the productiou of these changes there have been two 
 agencies at work — fire and water. These agencies are 
 antagonistic in their effects. Fire, by means of earth- 
 quakes and volcanoes, has exerted an elevating influence, 
 and raised land to a higher level; whilst water, in the 
 rivers and the ocean, has exerted a degrading influence, 
 and worn down the earth to a lower level These agencies 
 have ever been at work during the vast cycles of the geo- 
 logical history of the world, and are the causes of all those 
 mighty revolutions which have taken place upon the sur- 
 face of the earth. 
 
 And now let us advance a step farther. We have con- 
 sidered the changes in operation, let us now see if we can 
 discern their effects in the rocks around us. And, for this 
 puq)ose, it is only necessary to consider what sandstone, 
 the most common of all our stones, really is. Its very 
 name implies that it is nothing more than sand consoli- 
 dated into stone. If so, then it must have been water- 
 borne, and water-formed. It must originally have formed 
 the shore, or rather the bed of some primitive ocean. In 
 some sandstones, termed conglomerates, we find many small 
 stones or pebbles embedded; and it is to be remarked, 
 that these small stones are in general rounded, proving the 
 action of water. What, then, are these conglomerates, but 
 the gravel or the beach of some former ocean converted 
 into stone? So, also, what is shale, but consolidated mud? 
 In short, the rocks above mentioned are composed of pre- 
 cisely the same materials as the deposits in our estuaries 
 and seas. Besides, in many of the sandstones we actually 
 find the ripple-mark of the ocean's waves, even as we now 
 see it on our coasts and shores. But what puts the mat- 
 ter beyond debate, is the fossil or organic remains which 
 are sometimes found in these rocks, generally the remains 
 
16 STRATIFIED AND UNSTRATIFIED ROCKS. 
 
 of some marine shell, animal, or plant, just as shells and 
 fish exist in our present oceans, and as animals and plants 
 are carried into them by our rivers. 
 
 There are, however, rocks of an entirely different de- 
 scription, which exhibit no proofs of the action of water, 
 and no traces of organic remains. They are in general 
 shapeless, and not, like the rocks above mentioned, strati- 
 fied or laid out in layers. Such, for example, are the traps 
 and granites of our mountains. Now, it has been proved 
 that these rocks have been caused by the action of heat, 
 and that they have once been in a state of fusion — that, 
 in short, they are similar to the products of modern vol- 
 canoes.* 
 
 The difference between these two classes of rocks — the 
 igneous and the aqueous, or as they are commonly called, 
 the stratified and the unstratified, is so marked that it can at 
 once be known by inspection. There have, then, been two 
 great agencies in the formation of rocks — water, the agency 
 employed in the formation of the stratified, as sandstone and 
 shale ; and fire, the agency employed in the formation of 
 the unstratified, as trap and granite : the same agencies 
 
 * The similarity between these rocks and the volcanic products of 
 modern times, is too close to permit us to doubt that they are both of the 
 same origin. Often the materials are precisely the same : many of the 
 ancient basalts are undistinguishable from the productions of existing 
 volcanoes. When in existing volcanoes the melted matter comes in con- 
 tact with other rocks, it often changes them and sometimes penetrates 
 into them : so also the stratified rocks in contact with the unstratified 
 exhibit a similar change, as if they had been acted upon by heat, and veins 
 are often seen to intrude themselves. The same phenomenon of dykes 
 or intervening masses of rock is common to the ancient imstratified rocks 
 and the modern volcanic rocks. And as modern volcanic rocks contain 
 no fossils, unless it so happens tliat the lava has flowed over organic re- 
 mains; so also is it the case with the unstratified rocks. In all these and 
 in numerous other respects, these unstratified rocks are precisely similar 
 to those which now originate from igneous agencies. 
 
CHAEACTEEISTIC FOSSILS. 17 
 
 which now exercise, the one a degrading, and the other an 
 elevating influence on the earth's surface. The igneous or 
 uustratified rocks, from being destitute of fossils, will not 
 at present occupy our attention : what we have still to say 
 refers wholly to the aqueous or stratified. 
 
 In the stratified rocks — the sandstones, shales, and lime- 
 stones, there are often found abundant remains of animals 
 — skeletons of creatures which once had life. These organic 
 remains are very numerous, amounting, it is said, to thirty 
 thousand species of plants and animals.* And what is here 
 to be particularly attended to is, that by far the greater 
 number of these fossils are entirely different from the crea- 
 tures which are now living upon the earth; those few 
 which are the same are chiefly confined to a few shells, and 
 are all found among the uppermost rocks; thus demon- 
 strating that when by far the greater number of these rocks 
 were deposited, the present race of animals had not existed. 
 These fossils, then, are almost all the vestiges of former 
 creations — impressions upon the sands of time which were 
 made ages before man existed — the relics of former worlds. 
 
 It is also to be observed, that there are what have been 
 denominated characteristic fossils ; that is, fossils, or orga- 
 nic remains, which are peculiar to one particular formation, 
 and which are not to be found in any other. For example, 
 there is a class of rocks called the " old red sandstone for- 
 mation:" now there are certain kinds of fish which are 
 peculiar and confined to it, and which are not to be found 
 in any other rocks either below or above. These fish, then, 
 are the characteristic fossils of the old red sandstone. Now, 
 
 ♦ Dr. Hitchcock states that the number of species found in the fossiU- 
 ferous rocks amounts to thirty thousand. Several years ago. Professor 
 Bronn described twenty-six thousand six hundred and seventy-eight 
 species. 
 
18 OEDEE OF THE STEATIFIED EOCKS. 
 
 from this fact, it follows that these characteristic fossils, 
 being peculiar to particular strata, discriminate these strata 
 from all others. Thus, then, the discovery of a single char- 
 acteristic fossil — of a single leaf, or fish, or shell, or tooth, 
 or bone of a reptile is sufficient to determine the geological 
 age of the formation in which it is found.* 
 
 Geologists have proved, by careful and extensive inspec- 
 tion, that there is a regular and unvaried order or succes- 
 sion of the different stratified rocks — that there is a series 
 of strata, and that the order in this series is never inverted. 
 Thus, for example, there is a particular rock called the 
 lias, which intervenes in the series between a rock called 
 the oolite above it, and a rock called the triassic below it ; 
 now this order is never inverted ; the lias is never found 
 above the oolite or below the triassic. Tt is not meant that 
 the series of formations is to be found complete in any spot 
 of the earth's surface ; on the contrary, it is always imper- 
 fect, and often some of the intervening members of the 
 series are awanting ; but what is meant is, that there is a 
 uniformity of sequence. *[• Now, this being the case, it is 
 evident that the lowest rock in the series is the oldest or 
 
 * "A well-pi'epared conchological geologist," observes Dr. Pye Smith, 
 " looks to the succession of strata as the possessor of a cabinet does to the 
 order of his shelves ; and, with a certainty as precise, knows what species 
 are to be found on eveiy layer." — Smith's " Scripture and Geology," p. 57, 
 Bohn's edition. 
 
 t " The arrangement of the various formations may be represented by 
 an alphabetical series from a to z; and this order, though it is frequently 
 imperfect, is never inverted. We often miss one or more terms in the 
 series, and lose, say the b, or h, or m, or even several letters in succes- 
 sion ; but we never find the b taking the place of the a, or the J preceding 
 the c, or any member of the series usurping the position of another which 
 ought to go before it ; in other terras, we never meet with the entire 
 series of deposits in one place, but those which do occur invai'iably follow 
 the regular order of sequence." — Kicuardson's " Geology," p. 59, Bohn's 
 Edition. 
 
THICKNESS OF THE STRATIFIED ROCKS. 19 
 
 first formed, and the uppermost rock is the newest or last 
 formed. These rocks are distinguished from each other, 
 not so nmch by their mineral character, which in many of 
 them is the same, as by the order of succession which may 
 be traced, and by the characteristic fossils which are found 
 embedded in them. Geologists have arranged these difier- 
 ent rocks into systems or formations, and to each they have 
 given cei-tain technical names agreed upon. There are at 
 least twelve such formations or systems, each of wdiich has 
 probably taken myriads of years to be formed, and each of 
 which is the sepulchre of a separate creation.* 
 
 It is evident that, there being a regular series of strati- 
 fied rocks, geologists may obtain some proximate knowledge 
 of the depth or thickness of the strata, supposing them all 
 lying the one above the other. This may be done by 
 measuring the thickness of each particular formation, and 
 adding them together. Now, geologists have calculated 
 that the thickness of the fossiliferous rocks is nearly eight 
 miles, and that below them there is a series of aqueous or 
 stratified rocks, which are unfossiliferous, and whose thick- 
 ness is at least two miles more. It is evident that this 
 thickness cannot be ascertained by direct measurement at 
 any one part of the earth. The highest mountains are not 
 five miles above the level of the sea, and the deepest mines 
 are only half-a-mile below it,— how, then, it may be asked, 
 can it be asserted that the stratified rocks are ten miles in 
 thickness? If, indeed, the rocks had remained as they 
 
 * The following is a list of the principal geological formations, begin- 
 ning at the lowest formation, that is, the oldest or first formed. The Clay 
 slate formation, the Silurian formation, the Old Red Sandstone, the Car- 
 boniferous system, the Permian and Triassic formations, the Lias and 
 Oolite, the Wealden, and the Cretacious system, the Tertiary formation, 
 and the Alluvium or present formation. Each of these is again subdi- 
 vided into groups, and the groups into series. 
 
20 ORDEK OF ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 were originally deposited, the one above the other; if the 
 theory of the old cosmogonists was true, that the earth 
 before the flood was a perfect level surface, "without a 
 wrinkle or a scar,"* it would be impossible to become 
 acquainted with its strata. But this is by no means the 
 case. There are comparatively very few places where the 
 ,rocks lie in a perfectly horizontal position; they have been 
 raised and displaced by igneous agency, and are now found 
 inclined to one another; and thus, from their inclined 
 position, we are enabled to know far more than could be 
 obtained by a mere examination of the eminences and 
 depressions of the earth; and from this circumstance, geo- 
 logists have been enabled to conclude that the stratified 
 rocks, — that is, those rocks which were originally sand, 
 mud, or lime, deposited by water, — are at least ten miles 
 in thickness. 
 
 In each of these formations there is a separate group or 
 class of organic remains ; so that there exists not only a 
 series of stratified rocks, but also a series of separate groups 
 of plants and animals. Not that these groups are entirely 
 distinct, for some few of the organic forms of one formation 
 are sometimes to be found in an adjoining formation; but 
 these forms are comparatively exceptional and few in 
 number, and speaking generally, the organic remains of 
 one formation are of a different type, and are easily distin- 
 guished, from the organic remains of another. Thus, 
 then, before man was created, the world has been replen- 
 ished over and over again by orders of creatures, entirely 
 different from those now living; — during the incalculable 
 ages of the past this earth existed, and then as now beasts 
 trod upon its surface and fisli swam in its waters. Such 
 
 * The allusion in the text is to Dr. Thomas Burnet's celebrated Theory 
 of the Earth. 
 
OEDEE OF OEGANIC REMAINS. 21 
 
 are the records of the earth which geology has disclosed to 
 us: its history is engraven upon the stones — the annals of 
 past creations. 
 
 And now let lis endeavour, if possible, to realize these 
 facts which we have stated. Let us travel in imagination 
 into the distant past. Let us fix our attention upon a 
 small portion of the earth. It is the ocean bed. Fish of 
 peculiar shape are swimming about it ; some with fins 
 spread out like wings, and others with huge scales like a 
 coat of armour. In general they are carnivorous, and prey 
 upon their fellows. Ages roll on. These fish have ceased 
 to exist; their remains have been embedded in the mud or 
 sand at the bottom of the ocean; this has been consoli- 
 dated into stone, and has been gradually elevated until it 
 forms part of the dry land. And now we are led, as it 
 were, into a different world. Gigantic ferns or reeds, like 
 trees, now grow upon the earth. A vegetation has sprung 
 up far ranker and more luxuriant than that which we read 
 of in tropical climes; but not one tree, not one plant is the 
 same as any which now exists. — Ages again roll on. The 
 vegetation has disappeared; the trees have been swept into 
 the ocean, or the ground on which they grew has been 
 submerged; the dry land has again become sea. And in 
 that sea we behold strange shapes and forms — huge rep- 
 tiles and terrible monsters of the deep: there is one, at 
 least thirty feet long, with a neck longer than that of any 
 swan, a head of a lizard, a body of a crocodile, and the 
 paddles of a whale: there is another, a flying monster, a 
 reptile covered with scales, with wings similar to those of 
 a bat, rivalling in its shape any of the fabulous dragons of 
 antiquity. But their existence also has its limits; the 
 species dies as well as the individual ; the age of reptiles 
 has come to its close; and after ages upon ages have passed 
 
22 COMMENCEMENT OF CREATION. 
 
 away, after another series of elevations and submersions, 
 after this portion of the earth has been sea and laud alter- 
 nately, it is ultimately raised, and peopled with created 
 intelligences, and is the seat of the mightiest empire that 
 ever existed upon earth, and has become the abode of 
 civilization and religion; for this portion of earth, the past 
 history of which we have traced, is a part of the island of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Every formation has, of course, been formed at the bot- 
 tom of the sea, and is therefore a decisive proof that the 
 district where it is now found once constituted the ocean- 
 bed. It is also a proof that dry land and sea existed con- 
 temporaneously, for the materials of which the formation 
 is composed were all originally washed off from the land; 
 and thus in past geological eras, whilst the stratified rocks 
 were deposited, there never was a time when all was land 
 or when all was water. Indeed, every portion of the dry 
 land has, in all probability, been frequently at the bottom . 
 of the sea. " By an abundance of various and complicated 
 evidence," says Dr. Pye Smith, " it is proved that there is 
 probably no spot on the face of the earth, both the dry 
 land and the seas as they at present exist, which has not 
 gone repeatedly through the conditions of being alternately 
 the floor of the waters, and an earthy surface exposed to 
 the atmosphere and occupied by appropriate tribes of vege- 
 table and animal creatures."* 
 
 But do we reach the limits of terrestrial creation? Are 
 the animals found in the lowest fossiliferous strata the 
 commencement of living beings? This is a point which 
 has not yet been decided by geologists. Some suppose 
 that there may have been creations older than those which 
 the lowest fossiliferous system discloses, but whose remains 
 
 * Pye Smith's ''Scripture and Geology" page 52. Bohn's edition. 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF CREATION. 23 
 
 have been obliterated by heat. Others again, and those 
 best entitled to our regard and credit, because they have 
 most carefully examined the lowest strata, assert that we 
 have most probably reached the commencement of creation. 
 The lowest formation containing organic remains is termed 
 the Silurian:* below it there are stratified rocks of vast 
 thickness, but wliich are destitute of fossils: nor is it a 
 just argument to say that in those the remains of fossils 
 may have been obliterated by heat, for some of these in- 
 ferior strata are unaltered, and are to all appearance quite 
 as well adapted for the preservation of fossils as the 
 Silurian beds above them. So that, in all probability, 
 notwithstanding the opinion of one of the most distin- 
 guished living geologists to the contrary ,-f- we have reached 
 the beginning of creation, — the point at which the Almighty 
 Creator called creatures into existence, and animated with 
 living beings the earth which before that period was " with- 
 out form and void." "In a word," says Sir Eoderick 
 Murchison, the distinguished investigator of the Silurian 
 system, " we can now fearlessly assert, that the geological 
 history or sequence of the earliest races of fossil animals is 
 firmly established. Its truth is sustained by the display 
 of forms which mark the period when the first vestiges of 
 life can be discovered, as well as the following successive 
 creations; and thus whilst, with the exception of one sacred 
 record, we can truly say that the origin of the greatest 
 empires of man is buried in fable and superstition, the 
 liard and indelible register, as preserved for our inspection 
 
 * We have here adopted the name given hy Sir Roderick Murchison. 
 Professor Sedgwick supposes that there is a still lower fossiliferous for- 
 mation, which he terms the Cambrian ; but Sir R. Murchison considers 
 this to be the lowest group of the Silurian. The difference is entirely 
 one of words. 
 
 t Sir Charles Lyell. 
 
24: COaiMENCEMENT OF CREATION. 
 
 in the great book of ancient nature, is at length interpreted 
 and read off with clearness and precision."* Professor 
 Sedgwick expresses himself in similar terms: " Have geo- 
 logists discovered any defined group of strata marking the 
 period when organic life first began? We shall never, I 
 think, be able to give any thing better than a doubtful 
 answer to such a question as this. In the Skiddaw slates 
 are found certain strata with impressions of Fucoids and 
 Graptolites. These are perhaps the oldest fossil beds of 
 the British isles; and below them are other beds of great 
 thickness, not metamorphic, and fit for receiving impres- 
 sions of organic remains, yet without any traces of animal 
 or vegetable life."*!* 
 
 Long, however, before these creations, the remains of 
 which are found in the rocky strata, were called into being, 
 this world existed, as is evident from the immense thick- 
 ness of the unfossiliferous strata. Some philosophers sup- 
 pose that the earth was originally in a state of fusion, that 
 through the course of ages it was gradually cooled, until it 
 was prepared to be the abode of plants and animals, and 
 that from that period this cooling operation has been going 
 on, until it reached such a state as to be fitted for man and 
 the present race of creatures. This, indeed, is a hypo- 
 thesis, although probable and embraced by some of the 
 greatest of our philosophers, not so well established as 
 those facts which we have mentioned. It is, however, 
 almost certain that there are oceans of fire in the interior 
 of the globe; the lower we descend into the earth the 
 warmer does it become, and at the distance of about fifty 
 miles below the surface the temperature is in all proba- 
 
 * Murchison's " Geology of Russia," vol. i., page 9. 
 t Sedgwick's " Discourse on the Studies of Cambridge University." — 
 Preface, page Iviii., fifth edition. 
 
THE FINAL CONFLAGRATION. 25 
 
 bility so hot as to be able to hold granite in a state of 
 fusion. 
 
 But geology does not merely inform us of the past con- 
 ditions of the earth, it also affords us some presages of the 
 future. We have seen the surface of the earth subject to 
 continual changes. Compared with the past duration of the 
 world, many of those mountains, which we speak of as ever- 
 lasting, are but as yesterday. And these changes are still 
 going on incessantly. A new formation is being formed at 
 the bottom of the sea, — a formation very different from any 
 of those which have liitherto been examined, containing crea- 
 tures of another order, the remains of man and his works. 
 Vessels have been wrecked and entombed in the ocean, 
 and have been embedded in the sedimentary deposits. 
 And thus, in the course of ages, if the world endure so 
 long, when the ocean bed shall be raised and converted 
 into dry land, the sea will disclose its treasures, and 
 exhibit in a fossil condition the remains of man, and the 
 different plants and animals now existing. These are not 
 conjectures, but what must be inevitably realized, imless 
 some mighty catastrophe, unexampled in the history of 
 the world, shall entirely alter the present state of things. 
 
 The Scriptures inform us that there is a catastrophe 
 which shall bring the present economy to a close, but 
 whether it be a total revolution and subversion of natural 
 laws, or only similar to some of those catastrophes whicli 
 from time to time have taken place in past geological ages, 
 they do not inform us. As the " old world " was formerly 
 destroyed by the agency of water, so the Scriptures inform 
 us the present world will be destroyed by the agency of 
 fire. " The day of the Lord," says St. Peter, " will come as 
 a thief in the night : in the whicli the heavens shall pass 
 away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with 
 
 B 
 
26 EENOVATION OF THE WOELD. 
 
 fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein 
 shall be burnt np." And the world has within itself these 
 elements of its own destruction* The volcano and the 
 earthquake are most conclusive proofs that fire rages in 
 the interior ; and this fire has only to be allowed free vent, 
 and then the awful catastrophe predicted by the apostle 
 ■vnR assuredly take place. I believe that such catastrophes 
 have occurred in past geological ages, and have swept away 
 former creations. And, in modern times, the most awful 
 desolations of particular portions of the earth have taken 
 place by means of fire: the earthquake has swept away 
 thousands of immortal beings, and in a moment of time 
 ushered them into the presence of their Judge: and the 
 volcano has desolated large districts, and converted them 
 into frightful deserts ; and God has but to give the word, 
 and the whole world will be shaken from pole to pole, and 
 the imprisoned fire will burst forth, and it may be convert 
 the globe into one vast volcano, and then every vestige of 
 being will be swept from the face of the earth. But there 
 will be no annihilation : from this scene of desolation we 
 believe a new world will spring into existence, fairer than 
 that which has been destroyed, destined, perhaps, to be 
 the abode of still higher orders of creatures, perhaps the 
 residence of redeemed men. " Nevertheless we, according 
 
 * "When we consider the combustible nature of the elements 
 of the earth, so far as they are known to us, — the facility with Avhich 
 their compounds may be decomposed, and made to enter into new 
 combinations, — the quantity of heat which they evolve during these pro- 
 cesses ; when we recollect the expansive power of steam, and that water 
 itself is composed of two gases, M'hich, by their union, produce intense 
 heat; when we call to mind the number of explosive and detonating 
 compovmds which have been already discovered; we may be allowed to 
 share the astonishment of Pliny, that a single day should pass Mithout a 
 general conflagi-ation." — Lyell's '■'■ Princijiles" p. 545, 9th edition 
 
THE USE OF SCIENCE. 27 
 
 to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness." 
 
 Finally, let us again press upon our readers their cUity 
 and high privilege to contemplate the works of God. The 
 book of nature lies open to our inspection, and God has 
 endowed us with faculties and senses to enable us to in- 
 terpret it. It as well as the written word is a revelation 
 from the God of heaven. We should thirst after the trutli 
 in every form, aim simply at it, and not be diverted or 
 turned aside from its pursuit by imaginary inconsistencies. 
 Truth is always one and indivisible: whereas error is 
 manifold, and leads to endless confusion and darkness. 
 But, at the same time, let us remember to consecrate all 
 our ac(|uirements to God. Let the sciences be but the 
 handmaids of religion. God has the entire right to every 
 thing we have ; and tlie more entirely we are devoted to 
 him, the more we infuse a religious spirit into every thing 
 we do, the more do we fulfil the (ireat end of our beinu-. 
 And be assured that the time spent in the pursuit of scien- 
 tific knowledge, when carried on in a religious spirit, is 
 not lost in its relation to the interests and the pursuits of 
 another world. I believe that one part of the happiness 
 of heaven will consist in examining the works of God, — 
 in exercising those faculties which in the pursuit of know- 
 ledge we have exercised upon earth, — in seeing in the 
 great laws which regulate the universe, in the truths of tlie 
 various sciences, and in the solution of those problems which 
 now engage our attention, new discoveries of God, fresh 
 proofs of His infinite perfections, brighter manifestations 
 of His eternal glory. " Now we see throng] i a glass darkly, 
 but then face to face ; now we know in part, 1 )ut tlien we 
 shall know even as also we are known." 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 ANTIQUITY OF THE EAETH AND EECENT ORIGIN OF MAN. 
 
 As the science of astronomy has cast a light on several 
 passages of Scripture which were formerly obscure and in 
 general misinterpreted, so geology has rendered a similar 
 service, and in both instances the works of God have illus- 
 trated His word. In particular, geology has explained the 
 meaning of certain passages of Scripture relating to the 
 creation, by making known to us the immense antiquity of 
 the world : it has assigned to it an age long anterior to the 
 Adaniic creation, and has thus taught us that the time 
 mentioned in the first verse of Genesis, when the heaven 
 and the earth were created, and stated indefinitely as " in 
 the beginning," is in reality separated by long intervening 
 ages from the six days, in wliich the earth was put into 
 its present form. But geology has not merely illustrated, 
 but also confirmed Scripture : whilst it has taught us the 
 antiquity of the world, it has also revealed to us the recent 
 origin of man ; it has demonstrated that the introduction 
 of man into this world could not have been long anterior 
 to the period assigned by Moses — that, in short, man is the 
 most recent of created beings. 
 
 These are the two points which we propose to consider 
 in the present chapter, the one as illustrating the scriptural 
 declaration as to the time of the creation of the earth ; the 
 other as confirming the scriptural declaration as to the time 
 of the creation of man. In the first place, we shall consi- 
 
ANTIQUITY OF THE EAETH. 29 
 
 der the antiquity of the earth ; and, in tlio second place, 
 the recent origin of man. 
 
 I. THE ANTIQUITY OF THE EARTH. 
 
 It was formerly a general opinion, and is perhaps still 
 a common notion, arising from an erroneous interpretation 
 of certain passages of Scripture, that the age of the earth 
 is only six thousand years. It has l)ecn thought that Scrip- 
 ture teaches us that the world was created out of nothing, 
 during the six days mentioned in the first chapter of 
 Genesis, and that, consequently, it is only a few days older 
 than man. The time described in the first verse as " the 
 beginning," has been understood to be the commencement 
 of the six Mosaic days. Now, ■with such a supposition 
 geology is entirely at variance. It leads our thoughts far 
 back into the past, and asserts that ages upon ages before 
 man was created this world existed, and was the habitation 
 of living creatures, of beings wholly different from any 
 which now exist — the works of Him, who is " wonderful 
 in counsel, and excellent in working." 
 
 It is, however, a difficult matter to exhibit clearly the 
 evidence of the antiquity of the earth which geology 
 affords, not from want of proof, but from a superabundance 
 of it. Each fact adduced must not be considered singly, 
 but in connexion with other points. This evidence may, for 
 the sake of perspicuity, be arranged under two distinct 
 kinds, — that derived from the thickness of the stratified 
 rocks, and that derived from the fossil or organic remains 
 found in these rocks. 
 
 1. The antiquity of the earth is proved from the thick- 
 ness of the stratified rocks. 
 
 These rocks have been formed by the deposition of sand 
 
30 ANTIQUITY OF THE EAETH 
 
 mud, or gravel in water : tliey are of aqueous origin — 
 formed in general at the bottom of the sea. This is evi- 
 dent from an inspection of them : some bear impressed 
 upon them the ripple mark of the waves, and most have 
 marine shells or fish embedded in them. Now similar 
 rocks are forming at present: rivers are carrying down 
 sand, mud, or gravel into the sea, and laying them on the 
 ocean bed, and the waves are continually wearing down 
 the shore ; even actual rocks are sometimes, though rarely, 
 formed by means of pressm-e, heat, or some cementing sub- 
 stance, and these are in all essential particulars the same 
 as the ancient rocks.* Now this being the case, it is evi- 
 dent that if we could calculate the rate at which matter is 
 deposited, either by rivers in their estuary beds, or by the 
 currents of the sea at the bottom of the ocean, we could, 
 by comparing it with the thickness of the stratified rocks, 
 attain to some proximate notion of the time required for 
 the formation of these rocks. 
 
 It has l)een found that this deposition of materials for 
 the production of rocks is in reality a work of extreme 
 slowness; perhaps on an average only a foot in a cen- 
 tury, or about sixty feet in thickness during the past 
 six thousand years. "j* In some places, in the neighbour- 
 hood of large and rapid rivers, as the Mississippi, the 
 Amazon, the Yellow river, and the Ganges, the work of 
 deposition has been carried on more rapidly, but even tliis 
 rapidity, comparatively speaking, is slow. The changes 
 which have taken place within the age of history on 
 
 * In Italy, lime is deposited in such quantities from calcareous springs 
 and streams, that in a few years it forms excellent building stone, called 
 travertine. 
 
 t " Lakes are ascertained to shoal up in the proportion of only a foot 
 in a ccnturj' ; and oceanic deposits are knoM'n to be correspondingly tardy 
 of accumulation." — Kichardson's " Geologij" p. 52, Bohn's edition. 
 
PROVED FROM THE STRATIFIED ROCKS. 81 
 
 tlie earth's surface are comparatively slif,4it, — a few miles 
 added to the diy land in one place, and a few miles 
 taken from it in another; a mountain raised up in one 
 country, and a plain sunk in another ; but the general 
 outlines of the earth have not been much altered. The 
 same ocean, without much perceptible difference, has flowed 
 between France and Britain since the days of the Romans ; 
 the same rivers have drained our country; and the same 
 mountains have reared their summits. In one view these 
 changes are great, when we consider them as continually 
 carried on throughout the earth ; but in another view they 
 are insignificant, when we compare them with the vast 
 thickness of the stratified rocks, and the gigantic changes 
 which have taken place during past geological eras. 
 
 Supposing, then, that during the last six thousand years, 
 on an average, one hvmdred feet of matter in thickness 
 has been deposited, and this is a most lilieral allowance, 
 we have next to inquire, 'WHiat proportion does this bear 
 to the tliickness of the stratified rocks? Now this thick- 
 ness, wliich may be accurately calculated, owing to the 
 regular series of succession of these rocks, and the inclined 
 positions in which they lie, has been estimated to be no 
 less than ten miles ; or, if we take the fossiliferous rocks 
 only into consideration, more than seven miles ; so that, in 
 round numbers, not much more than a four-hundredth 
 part of these fossiliferous rocks has been accumulated dur- 
 ing the last six thousand years, and this would give us the 
 age of the world to be greatly more than two millions of 
 years.* But this woidd be a very erroneous estimate of 
 
 * Supposing that a hundred feet of matter were deposited during the 
 last six thousand years, then taking tlie fossiliferous rocks, which are 
 seven miles in thickness, only into consideration, it would take 2,217,600 
 years for their dejiosition; but if we take into consideration the whole of 
 
32 ANTIQUITY OF THE EARTH. 
 
 the time required for the deposition of these rocks, for we 
 must not only consider their tliickness, hut also the changes 
 which have taken place as to the mode of their deposition. 
 The rocks are not all of the same kind, but of a very great 
 variety, thus proving a similar variety in the circumstances 
 under which they were formed. There is a long series of 
 stratified rocks, one succeeding another in regular succes- 
 sion, and each member of the series has been formed under 
 circumstances, as to the amount of dry land and sea, and 
 as to the mode of deposition, entirely different from any 
 which precedes or follows it. Indeed, all means of calcu- 
 lation as to the probable age of these rocks entirely fails 
 us, and we are only enabled to say that it must have been 
 immense. A learned geologist, for example, has calculated, 
 from the rate of deposition at present going on, that it 
 would require six hundred thousand years for the produc- 
 tion of a single series of the old red sandstone formation.* 
 And yet what is this compared with the entire mass of 
 the strata? The mind is exhausted in its endeavours to 
 comprehend a duration so immense. 
 
 It is also to be observed that the stratified rocks have 
 been formed from other rocks. The mud, sand, or gravel 
 of which they are composed once existed as parts of pre- 
 viously existing rocks, just in the same manner as our 
 present sand and mud consist of the fragments of our 
 rocks, worn down by water and atmospheric agencies. 
 
 the stratified rocks, which are ten miles in thickness, this woukl give 
 us a period of 3,168,000 years. 
 
 * M'Culloch's ^'' System of Geology" vol. i., pp. 506, 507. The thick- 
 ness of the strata, in Dr. M'Culloch's example, is more than three thou- 
 sand feet. A lake, he observes, does not shoal at the rate of half-a-foot 
 a-century ; and therefore, taking half-a-foot as an average, this will give 
 us exactly six hundred thousand years for the production of this series of 
 the old red sandstone. 
 
FALLS OF NIAGAKA. 33 
 
 This is true of all the stratified rocks, but it is more clearly 
 seen in the structure of a particular kind of sandstone, 
 termed the conglomerate. These conglomerates are com- 
 posed of a mass of distinct stones cemented together. 
 These stones, then, must have existed before the conglo- 
 merate was formed. But not only so, these small stones 
 are rounded, thus proving that they have been acted upon 
 by water, that, in short, a conglomerate is only a beach 
 consolidated into rock. And further, these stones must 
 have been broken off from parent rocks. Thus, then, we 
 have a series of changes: first the parent rocks, from 
 which the small stones were taken, were formed — then 
 these stones were broken from them, and rolled about the 
 sea for ages, until they were rounded — then they settled 
 down in the ocean bed — then, by pressure or some 
 cementing process, they were consolidated into hard rock 
 — and after that, they were raised from the bed of the 
 ocean, and now constitute a part of the dry land. 
 
 But perhaps an example of an actual measurement of 
 time, which has been most carefully made, will represent 
 more vividly the immense antiquity of the earth. The 
 example to which we allude is the time taken by the 
 river Niagara to excavate the ravine through which it 
 flows, and which has been so carefully calculated by Sir 
 Charles Lyell. Below the falls, the Niagara flows along a 
 deep ravine, with high precipices on both sides, for seven 
 miles, until it reaches the town of Queenstown, where the 
 level of the country is suddenly lowered. Now geologists 
 have proved that the falls were once at Queenstown, and that 
 the river has since excavated its bed between that and the 
 present position of the falls. The present rate of excava- 
 tion is estimated to be, at an average, one foot a year, so that, 
 if this rate had been uniform, it would have taken more 
 
34 ANTIQUITY OF THE EAETH 
 
 tlian thirty-five tliousaud years for the retreat of the falls 
 from QueenstoM'n. And although this could not have 
 been the case, although the rate of excavation must have 
 been sometimes slower and sometimes faster, yet it has 
 been estimated that the average of one foot a year would 
 be no exaggeration of the truth. And yet this immense 
 period of thirty-five thousand years is as nothing compared 
 with the age of the world ; it does not extend beyond the 
 newest formation, the uppermost tertiary, when the ter- 
 restrial shells were the same, or nearly the same, as those 
 now living* We must add to it all those numerous for- 
 mations which preceded it, and we will obtain a period, 
 compared with which the time taken for the recession of 
 the Niagara is but a day. " If such events," observes Sir 
 C. Lyell, " can take place, while the zoology of the earth 
 remains almost stationary and unaltered, what ages may 
 not be comprehended in those successive tertiary periods 
 during which the flora and fauna of the globe have been 
 almost entirely changed ? Yet how subordinate a place in 
 the long calendar of geological chronology do the succes- 
 sive tertiary periods themselves occupy. How much more 
 enormous a duration must we assign to many antecedent 
 revolutions of the earth and its inliabitants. No analogy 
 can be found in the natural world to the immense scale 
 of these divisions of past time, unless we contemplate 
 
 • This has been proved by the discovery of existing forms of shells 
 about four miles below the falls, and nearly three hundred feet above the 
 bottom of the present gorge. "The identity of the fossil species," observes 
 Sir C. Lyell, " with the recent is unquestionable, and these fresh water 
 deposits occur at the edge of the cliifs bounding the ravine, so that they 
 prove the former extension of an elevated shallow valley, four miles 
 below the falls, a distinct prolongation of that now occupied by the 
 Niagara, in the elevated region intervening between Lake Erie and the 
 falls." — Ltell's ^^ Principles," p. 218, ninth edition. 
 
PEOVED FROM FOSSIL REMAINS. 35 
 
 the celestial spaces which have been measured by the 
 astronomer."* 
 
 2. But secondly, perhaps a more striking proof of the 
 antiquity of the earth is derived /ry7>i the fossil or organic 
 remains which are found in the stratified rocks. 
 
 In these rocks there are found embedded the remains of 
 plants and animals, which in past geological ages existed 
 upon this earth. Upwards of thirty thousand different 
 species have been found in the rocky strata, and only a 
 very few of these are the same as the present creation. 
 By far the greater number are of an entirely different 
 order from any which now exist : they are the relics of 
 past creations which have long since disappeared. And 
 it is to be observed, that these creations follow one another 
 in a regular series. The fossil remains are not distributed 
 throughout the strata at random, but in a regular order; 
 each formation has its o^^•n peculiar organic remains,— a 
 creation belonging only to itself; thus demonstrating that 
 one creation after another has occupied the surface of the 
 earth : not merely has the individual died, but the entire 
 species has become extinct. Now, however short the life 
 of the individual may be, it is very different with that of 
 the species. The age of the individual may be reckoned 
 by years or by days, but that of the species can only be 
 counted by thousands of years. Since the present race of 
 animals and plants were created, only two or three species 
 are known to have become extinct,t during the last six 
 
 * Lyell's " Travels in South America," vol. 1, chap. ii. The subject 
 is also treated at considerable length in his "Principles," pp. 214-218, 
 ninth edition. To these the reader is referred for information on this, 
 perhaps, the most accurate measurement of geological time which ha? 
 been made. It is impossible to condense in a few paragraphs his rea- 
 sonings, as his own style is at once so perspicuous and concise. 
 
 t The Dodo of the Mauritius and the Moa of New Zealand, arc well 
 known instances of species which have become extinct. 
 
36 ANTIQUITY OF THE EAKTH 
 
 thousand years: but the rocky strata have disclosed to 
 us nearly thirty thousand species which have perished, 
 and not only so, but one succession after another of differ- 
 ent creations. Even the difference of a very few feet of 
 stratified rocks exhibits a change in the forms of animal 
 life ; some of the former species have died away and new 
 species have been introduced; thus exhibiting a change 
 greater than has been effected during the last six thousand 
 years. 
 
 And, further still, there is abundant evidence from the 
 fossil remains and the nature of the strata, that there must 
 have been frequent alternations of sea and land. A for- 
 mation containing fossils of marine origin is often suc- 
 ceeded by one containing only the remains of land animals 
 and plants. Thus, for example, there is a particular for- 
 mation, situated in the south-east of England, termed the 
 Wealden. It has been proved, from the nature of its fos- 
 sils, to be a fresh water formation ; perhaps formed by the 
 deposition of earthy materials at the mouth of some 
 immense river, or by the filling up of some gigantic lake. 
 But both above and below it are marine formations, as is 
 distinctly proved from the fossils which they contain. 
 Thus, then, there is here a series of alternations of sea and 
 land: first there is a sea, then the bed of the sea becomes 
 dry land during the deposition of the Wealden, afterwards 
 the land is depressed and again converted into sea, and 
 lastly it is elevated a second time, and is converted into 
 the land which now exists. Similar alternations of sea 
 and land are clearly discernible in the other formations. 
 Thus, during the deposition of the tertiary or newest system, 
 it has been proved that large portions of the earth have thus 
 changed several times. In short, it has been demonstrated 
 that every portion of the earth's surface, unless possibly 
 
PEOVED FEOM FOSSIL EEMAINS. 37 
 
 tlie tops of some mountains * has been frequently sea and 
 land alternately. Our present continents have often been 
 at the bottom of the sea, and our present ocean beds have 
 often constituted dry land. Now an immense length of 
 time must have been occupied in these alternations. At 
 present, as we have already observed, the outlines of our 
 continents have not been much altered during historic 
 tunes ; some countries are rising a few feet in a centiuy, 
 and others are sinking to the same degree ; but what an 
 enormous period must elapse before the dry land and the 
 ocean will have changed places, — a change which geology 
 teaches us has not once, but frequently taken place. 
 
 Various other proofs of the antiquity of the earth might 
 have been given. We might have alluded to the elevated 
 terraces, sea-beaches, and coast-lines which are to be seen 
 in many parts of our island ; to the extensive denudations 
 which have taken place ; to the vast thickness of the sedi- 
 mentary deposits in the deltas of some rivers ;-|- to the 
 differences of temperature which this earth has experienced; 
 to the proof which geology affords of volcanic action at 
 very different periods ; and to the fractures, faults, contor- 
 tions and displacements of strata, all of which presuppose 
 the lapse of ages : but there is a difficulty in stating these 
 
 * We insert this qualifying sentence, because as the igneous rocks 
 come from the interior of the earth, it may be improper to affirm that 
 some of the mountains which are composed of them, and which exhibit 
 no traces of stratified rocks, were once at the bottom of the sea. 
 
 t Sir Charles Lyell, for example, calcidates that it must have taken 
 more than one hundred thousand years for the formation of the delta of 
 the Mississippi. — ^^ Principles" pp. 272, 273, ninth edition. He adds, 
 "This period must be insignificant in a geological point of view, since 
 the bluffs or cliffs, bounding the great valley, and therefore older in date, 
 and which are from 50 to 250 feet in perpendicular height, consist in 
 great part of loam containing land, fluviatile, and lacustrine shells of 
 species still inhabiting the same country." 
 
38 THEORIES OF THE ANTI-GEOLOGISTS. 
 
 proofs in a popular form, and besides, those wliicli we have 
 already adduced are perfectly sufficient. 
 
 It was supposed at one time that the fossil remains were 
 caused by the deluge of Noah ; and that they, being found 
 in all quarters of the world, and at all heights, from the 
 low^est plains to the summits of our highest mountains, 
 were a proof of the universality of the flood. Wlien, how- 
 ever, the thickness of the rocky strata, the different crea- 
 tions, and the dissimilarity between the fossil remains and 
 the creatures presently existing are taken into account, it 
 is evident that such a supposition is most insufficient and 
 extravagant. — Others have attempted to account for these 
 phenomena by supposing that the strata were deposited 
 during the two thousand years wdiicli intervened between 
 the creation of man and the flood, and that at the deluge 
 the land and the sea changed places, so that what is now 
 land was before that event the ocean bed.* But here also 
 the cause is wholly insufficient for the effect. Be it ob- 
 served that the stratified rocks are ten miles in thickness, 
 — that not only one series of creatures have passed away 
 but a succession of creations, — that the land and the sea 
 have not once but frequently changed places, — and that 
 there is a reo-ular order of stratified rocks and of different 
 creations, each requiring an immense period for its dura- 
 tion. Instead of two thousand, two millions of years would 
 be wholly inadequate to account for such changes. — An- 
 other most extravagant supposition, advanced by certain 
 writers belonging to the anti-geological school, is, that the 
 earth was created in its present position ; so that although 
 the fossils look like the remains of organic beings, yet in 
 reality they never had life, but were created as they are in 
 
 * This is the theory adopted by Granville Penn in his " Comparative 
 Estimrite of the Mineral and Mosaic Geologies." 
 
ANTIQUITY OF THE EARTH. 39 
 
 a fossil condition. But these writers should think of the 
 consequences of advancing such a theory, as its natural 
 tendency is to lead to downright atheism, by destroying 
 entirely the argument derived from final causes: tliese 
 fossils exhibiting as plain marks of design, as the existing 
 species. 
 
 And now let us collect all these proofs together. AVlien 
 ^^■e consider the extreme slowness with which earthy 
 materials are deposited, a few inches at an average only 
 during a century, and compare this with the innnense 
 thickness of the rocky strata extending downwards to a 
 depth of ten miles ; when we consider the manifold changes 
 of these strata, that beds of shale, sandstone, and limestone 
 are constantly succeeding one another, proving an entire 
 alteration of the circumstances luider which thoy were 
 deposited; when we consider the fossil remains, their 
 immense number amounting to nearly thirty thousand 
 extinct species, and their regular succession not found at 
 random, but as in a cabinet, one series of creatures above 
 another; when we consider that these thousands of species 
 have lived, multiplied, and at length entirely disappeared, 
 and that every formation, and almost every group in each 
 formation, has a creation peculiar to itself; when we con- 
 sider the frequent alternations of sea and land which the 
 character of the fossils proves, that almost every portion 
 of the dry land which now is must have been repeatedly 
 at the bottom of the sea, and take into account at the same 
 time the extreme slowness with which land is now either 
 elevated or depressed ; when we consider all these things 
 together, and numerous other corroborative particulars, 
 which must suggest themselves to every attentive inquirer, 
 we are constrained to assign an antiquity to this earth so 
 great that any present method of measurement entirely 
 
40 GEOLOGY AND ASTEONOMY. 
 
 fails ; and we are compellecl in our reasonings to make an 
 almost unlimited use of the function of time, and to assert 
 that the past duration of our earth would not be exagger- 
 ated were we to assign to it, not thousands, but millions of 
 years. " Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth, 
 and the heavens are the works of thy hands."* 
 
 We have thus traced the age of the earth backward to 
 the time when the first stratified rocks were deposited. 
 But did the world exist before that period? and if so, what 
 was its condition? Here we are surrounded with mys- 
 teries ; we pass the boundary line which separates what is 
 ascertained from what is only conjectural. But still the 
 light of science illuminates, though feebly, even this distant 
 past, and reveals to us a vast series of ages. It teaches us 
 that in all probability this world was once in a state of 
 intense heat, — that it was a fluid mass, — and that vast 
 periods of time were occupied in the cooling and consoli- 
 dation of this melted matter, before the stratified rocks 
 began to be deposited. But we do not insist upon this ; 
 although probable, it is still only a hypothesis; enough 
 has been adduced to make us adore and wonder. "Great 
 and marvellous are thy works. Lord God Almighty." 
 
 Such is the grandeur of the science of geology ; by it we 
 penetrate into the immeasuralile past, and enlarge our con- 
 ceptions of the government of God. Astronomy unfolds 
 to us worlds innumerable as subject to His sway. It dis- 
 
 * " Those observers and philosophers who have spent their lives in 
 the study of geology, have arrived at the conclusion that there exists 
 irresistible evidence, that the date of the earth's first formation is far 
 anterior to the epoch supposed to be assigned to it by Moses; and it is 
 now admitted by all competent persons, that the formation even of those 
 strata which are nearest the surface must have occupied vast periods, — 
 probably millions of years, — in arriving at their present state." — Bab- 
 bage's Ninth " Bridf/eivater Treatise," page 78. 
 
GEOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY. 41 
 
 plays to us suns upon suns, systems upon systems, fir- 
 maments upon firmaments. It teaches us that, compared 
 with the extent of creation, this world is but a point, a 
 grain of sand, an atom of the works of the Most High. 
 But whilst by astronomy we penetrate into space, by geo- 
 logy we penetrate into time ; the one displays to us the 
 empire of God as consisting in unnumbered universes, the 
 other reveals that same empire as having existed for cycles 
 of ages ; by the one we are taught that this world is but a 
 point, by the other we learn that its past duration since 
 man was created is but a moment. " Geology," says Pro- 
 fessor Hitchcock, " carries us as far back into the arcana 
 of time as astronomy does into the arcana of space. Neither 
 the distance in the one case, nor the duration in the other, 
 can be estimated. But there is a sublime inspiration in 
 the effort to grasp the subject; and I see not why there is 
 not as much grandeur and high gratification in the idea of 
 vast duration as of vast expansion. And I see not why 
 we do not gain as much enlargement of our conceptions of 
 the plans of Jehovah respecting the universe in the one 
 case as in the other."* 
 
 But the connection between these two sciences is still 
 more intimate. Astronomy, in its marvellous disclosures, 
 has confirmed the declaration of geology regarding the 
 antiquity of the universe. The power of the telescope has 
 not only disclosed to us innumerable systems invisible to 
 our bodily eyes, it has also revealed to us their immense 
 distances, and, as an inference from this, their vast antiquity. 
 Light, it has been estimated, travels at the rate of one hun- 
 dred and ninety-two thousand miles a second ; it takes about 
 ten years to come from one of the nearest of the fixed stars ; 
 
 Hitchcock's " Relic/ion of Geology" p. 370. 
 C 
 
42 GEOLOGY AND ASTEONOMY. 
 
 but, as Sir William Herschell has calculated, from one of 
 the stars of the remote nebulae it would take two millions 
 of years to reach the earth. Thus, then, these lights are 
 seen by us through the telescope, not as they at present are, 
 but as they were two millions of years ago ; the universe, 
 then, must at least have been as old ; an antiquity is thus 
 assigned to it which human faculties are altogether unable 
 to gTasp. The declaration of geology is confirmed by the 
 declaration of astronomy. 
 
 " It has been truly said," observes the great Humboldt, 
 " that with our large and powerful telescopic instruments 
 we penetrate alike through the boundaries of time and 
 space; we measure the former through the latter, for in 
 the course of an hour a ray of light traverses over a space 
 of five hundred and ninety-two millions of miles. Wliilst, 
 according to the theogony of Hesiod, the dimensions of the 
 universe were supposed to be expressed by the time occu- 
 pied by bodies in falling to the ground, (the brazen anvil 
 was not more than nine days and nine nights in falling 
 from heaven to earth,) the elder Herschell was of opinion 
 that light required almost two millions of years to pass to 
 the earth from the remotest luminous vapour reached by 
 his forty feet reflector. Much, therefore, has vanished 
 long before it is rendered visible to us — much that we see 
 was once differently arranged from what it now appears. 
 The aspect of the starry heavens presents us with the spec- 
 tacle of that which is only apparently simultaneous, and 
 however much we may endeavour, by the aid of optical 
 instruments, to bring the mildly radiant vapour of nebu- 
 lous masses or the faintly glimmering starry clusters nearer, 
 and diminish the thousands of years interposed between 
 us and them, that serve as a criterion of their distance, it 
 still remains more than probable, from the knowledge we 
 
RECENT OEIGIN OF MAN. 43 
 
 possess of the velocity of the transmission of luminous 
 rays, that the light of remote heavenly bodies presents us 
 Mdth the most ancient perceptible evidence of the exist- 
 ence of matter. It is thus that the reflective mind of man 
 is led from simple premises to rise to those exalted heights 
 of nature where, in the light-illummed realms of space, 
 ' rayiiads of worlds are bursting into life, like the grass of 
 the night.'"* 
 
 II. THE EECENT ORIGIN OF MAN. 
 
 But whilst geology demonstrates the immense antiquity 
 of the earth, it no less positively asserts the recent origin 
 of man. It is evident that if man were as old as the fossil 
 animals, the remains of him would also be found along 
 with them in the rocky strata. His bones are as capable 
 of preservation as the bones of the inferior animals ; — the 
 bones of the horse and his rider are both found in equal 
 preservation in what was formerly the field of battle. Now, 
 it so happens, that no remains of man have been found in 
 any deposits, until we arrive at those which are evidently 
 of modern origin. From the uppermost beds of the ter- 
 tiary downward through the long series of formations there 
 are shells, and bones, and plants, and fish, and reptiles 
 innumerable, but not a single fossil bone of man. All 
 those human skeletons which have been found embedded 
 in limestone are demonstrably of very recent origin.-}* 
 
 * Humboldt's " Cosmos" vol. i. pp. 144, 145, Bohn's edition. 
 
 t The celebrated Guadaloupe fossil skeletons of men are embedded in 
 a limestone which is known to be at present forming. One of these skele- 
 tons is preserved in the British Mnsenm, and another in the Royal Cabi- 
 net at Paris. These skeletons are not, proi)erly speaking, petrifactions; 
 on the contrary, it has been ascertained that they retain all their ])ho.<;- 
 phate of lime, and some even of their animal matter. "The skeleton 
 from Gnadaloupe," observes Bakewell, ''is described as having been foniid 
 
44 RECENT OEIGIN OF MAN. 
 
 But the proof is still far stronger, when we consider that 
 if man had existed, not only his organic remains would 
 have been found, but in still greater abundance his works 
 — his tools, his weapons, his buildings, his boats, his 
 houses. Cities have frequently been overwhelmed by 
 volcanic matter, or covered by the gradual deposition of 
 soil; ships have been wrecked or swallowed up by the 
 deep ; Pompeii and Herculaneum have been dug up from 
 under the lava of Vesuvius, and the palaces of Nineveh 
 have recently been excavated : but not one work of art, not 
 one tool, not one vestige of man has been found in any 
 of the rocky strata below the alluvium: thus demonstrating 
 that man is one of the most recent of created beings, and 
 that all these various systems of creation wliich have passed 
 away existed before his introduction into the world. 
 
 It is to be observed, that on this important point all 
 geologists are agreed; there is no discordance of opinion 
 among them; and that whilst they all, with united voice, 
 assert the antiquity of the world, they likewise, with an 
 assent no less harmonious, assert the recent origin of man. 
 It is only necessary to quote the words of Sir Charles Lyell, 
 perhaps the greatest of living geologists, " I need not," says 
 he, " dwell on the proofs of the low antiquity of our species, 
 for it is not controverted by any experienced geologist; 
 indeed, the real difficulty consists in tracing back the signs 
 of man's existence on the earth to that comparatively 
 modern period when species, now his contemporaries, 
 
 on the shore below the high-water mark, among calcareous rocks full of 
 madrepores, and not far from the volcano called the Souifriere. The bones 
 are not petrified, but preserve the usual constituents of fresh bone, and 
 were rather soft when first exposed to the air. Specimens of the stone 
 present, when examined with a lens, the appearance of smooth grains, 
 consisting of rounded fragments of shells and coral, aggregated and 
 united without any visible cement." — Bakewell's " Geology" p. 21. 
 
RECENT ORIGIN OF MAN. 45 
 
 began to predominate. If there be a difference of opinion 
 respecting tlie occurrence, in certain deposits, of the remains 
 of man and his works, it is always with reference to strata 
 confessedly of the most modern order ; and it is never pre- 
 tended that our race co-existed with assemblages of animals 
 and plants, of which all or even a great jmrt of the species 
 ai'e extinct." And he adds, "No inhabitant of the land 
 exposes himself to so many dangers on the watei^ as man, 
 whether in a savage or civilized state ; and there is no ani- 
 mal, therefore, whose skeleton is so liable to become 
 embedded in lacustrine or submarine deposits ; nor can it 
 be said that his remains are more perishable than those of 
 other animals; for in ancient fields of battle, as Cuvier has 
 observed, the bones of men have suffered as little decom- 
 position as those of horses wliich were buried in the same 
 grave. But even if the more solid parts of our species had 
 disappeared, the impression of their form would have 
 remained engTaven on the rocks, as have the traces of the 
 tenderest leaves of plants, and the soft integuments of many 
 animals. Works of art, moreover, composed of the most 
 indestructible materials, would have outlasted almost all 
 the organic contents of sedimentary rocks. Edifices, and 
 even entire cities, have, within the times of history, been 
 buried under volcanic ejections, submerged beneath the 
 sea, or engulphed by earthquakes ; and had these catas- 
 trophes been repeated throughout an indefinite lapse of 
 ages, the high antiquity of man would have been inscribed 
 in far more legible characters on the framework of the globe, 
 than are the forms of the ancient vegetation which once 
 covered the islands of the northern ocean, or of those 
 gigantic reptiles which at still later periods peopled the 
 seas and rivers of the northern hemisphere."* "Tlie 
 
 * Lyell's " Principles," vol. i. pp. 245, 246, fifth edition. 
 
46 SCEIPTUKAL ACCOUNT OF CEEATION. 
 
 comparatively modern period of the creation of man," says 
 Mr. Eicliardson, " is a fact revealed by Scripture and con- 
 firmed by science. The same internal evidence which con- 
 vinces us of the antiquity of our planet, affords satisfactory 
 proof of the modern origin of our species." * To give only 
 one other quotation. Dr. Owen, the highest British autho- 
 rity on comparative anatomy and palaeontology, expresses 
 liimself as follows : — " Human bones have been found in 
 doubtful positions, geologically considered, such as deserted 
 mines and caves, in the detritus at the bottom of cliffs, but 
 never in tranquil, undisturbed deposits, participating in the 
 mineral characters of the undoubted fossils of these deposits 
 The petrified negro skeletons, in the calcareous concretes 
 of Guadaloupe, are of comparatively recent origin. Thus, 
 therefore, in reference both to the unity of the human 
 species, and to the fact of man being the latest, as he is 
 the highest, of all animal forms upon our planet, the inter- 
 pretation of God's works coincide with what has been 
 revealed to us as to our own origin and zoological relations 
 in liis word." 
 
 We are enabled, by reason of the discoveries of geology, 
 to interpret aright several passages of Scripture, and espe- 
 cially the opening clause of the sacred records, " In the 
 beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The 
 word creation is an indefinite term, and its sense, in any 
 instance, can only be determined from the meaning of the 
 passage in which it occurs. Sometimes it means making 
 things out of nothing, and at other times forming them out 
 of pre-existing materials. Here the word probably signifies 
 a creation out of nothing, the production of the materials of 
 which the universe is composed. The design of Moses in 
 
 * Richardson's " Geohyjj" p. 53, Bohn's edition. 
 
SCEIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF CREATION. 4-7 
 
 this verse, appears to l)e to teach that the universe owed its 
 origin to God. And this creation of all things out of 
 nothing is mentioned by St. Paul, with evident allusion to 
 this passage, as one of the objects of our faith— as a matter 
 of divine testimony. " Through faith w^e understand that 
 the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things 
 which are seen, were not made of things which do appear:" 
 thus teaching us that "things which are seen," that is, 
 things which are, were not made of "things which do appear," 
 that is, of previously existing materials. The phrase, " the 
 heaven and the earth," is, in the first verse of Genesis, pro- 
 bably used, according to the idiom of the Hebrew language, 
 to denote the universe. The time, when this creation of 
 all things out of nothing took place, is said to be " in the 
 beginning." The term is indefinite: it may signify the 
 commencement of the six Mosaic days, but it may equally 
 well be referred to a period in past duration, long antece- 
 dent to these days. Now it is here that geology elucidates 
 Scripture ; it teaches us that the latter interpretation is the 
 true one ; that the world was created ages before it was 
 fitted up for the habitation of the human race. And 
 hence we are enabled to interpret the passage — " In the 
 beginning, at some far distant period in past duration 
 unrevealed to us, God created, formed out of nothing, the 
 heaven and the earth — the universe of dependent beings." 
 Thus, then, we are taught that the first verse of the 
 book of Genesis is introductory; that it contains an 
 independent proposition ; it is an assertion of the origi- 
 nal creation of the heaven and the earth by God; it 
 fixes the time when this creation took place, indefinitely, 
 " in the beginning," that is at the commencement of time. 
 There is no connexion between the time described as the 
 beo-inning, and the six days in which the world was put 
 
48 SCEIPTUEAL ACCOUNT OF CEEATION. 
 
 into its present form ; for all that we know, ages may have 
 intervened between them, and geology teaches us that vast 
 ages actually did intervene. Tliere is no violence done to 
 the passage in giving it this interpretation; it admits of 
 it, equally as well as of that which supposes no interval to 
 have intervened between the original creation and the six 
 days ; nay, it is preferable to it, for the passage expressly 
 speaks of a previously existing chaos before the commence- 
 ment of the six days' work, thus suggesting that an interval 
 did exist. Scripture, then, is not opposed to, but illustrated 
 by, the declaration of geology concerning the antiquity of 
 the world. " T^Hien," says Dr. Whewell, " the language of 
 Scripture, invested with its new meaning, has become 
 familiar to men, it is found that the ideas which it calls up 
 are quite as reconcilable as the former ones were, with the 
 most entire acceptance of the providential dispensation. 
 And when this has been found to be the case, all cultivated 
 persons look back with surprise at the mistake of those 
 who thought that the essence of the revelation was involved 
 in their own arbitrary version of some collateral circum- 
 stance in the revealed narrative."* 
 
 It is also to be remarked, that this interpretation of the 
 sacred record was adopted by many emiuent divines long 
 before geology was ever heard of It is not a new mean- 
 ing forced upon the passage by geology ; it is an old view 
 of the subject proved to be correct. In particular, this was 
 a favourite interpretation of the early fathers. Justin 
 Martyr, Origen, Augustin, Ccesarius, Basil, Gregory Na- 
 zianzen, and Theodoret, aU taught that the first verse of 
 Genesis describes the creation of matter as an independent 
 proposition, and that an indefinite period elapsed between 
 
 ♦ Whewell's '•^Philosophy of Science,^' vol. ii. p. 146. 
 
GEOLOGY CONFIEMS SCRIPTURE. 49 
 
 the creation of the world and its present arrangement* 
 Similar also were the views of some divines in the Protes- 
 tant church. Thus Bishop Patrick, who wi'ote two hun- 
 dred and fifty years ago, in his commentary upon the first 
 verse of Genesis, says, " How long all things continued in 
 mere confusion after the chaos was created, before light was 
 extracted from it, we are not told. It might have been, for 
 any thing that is here revealed, a great while ; and all that 
 time the mighty Spirit was making such motions in it, as 
 prepared, disposed, and ripened every part of it for such 
 productions as were to appear successively, in such spaces 
 of time, as are here afterwards mentioned by Moses, who 
 informs us, that after things were digested and made ready 
 (by long fermentation perhaps) to be wrought into form, 
 God produced every day, for six days together, some 
 creature or other, till all was finished, of which light was 
 the very first." 
 
 But geology not merely illustrates, it also confirms 
 Scripture. It teaches us the important fact that man is 
 the most recent of created beings. This is a point of great 
 importance, and one which demonstrates the strict har- 
 mony wliicli there is between this science and revelation. 
 The recent origin of man is one of the most satisfactorily 
 proved facts of geology, and is therefore a strong and unan- 
 swerable confirmation of the sacred record. Thus geology, 
 although taunted and attacked by men who knew it not, 
 — although regarded by divines with a suspicious eye, — 
 has proved itself to be the handmaid of revelation ; it 
 brings all its rich treasures, and lays them at the footstool 
 
 • See an account of these opinions of the early fathers conceniing the 
 creation of the world in Cardinal Wiseman's "Lectures on the Connex- 
 ion between Science and Revealed Relifjion" vol. i. p. 297. ; and in Smith's 
 " Geology and Scripture" p. 164, Bohn's edition. 
 
50 GEOLOGY CONFIEMS SCEIPTURE. 
 
 of the throne of the Eternal; and, like its sister science 
 astronomy, it fills the mind of the devout worshipper with 
 feelings of awe, veneration, and love for the great Creator. 
 "And surely," as an eminent dignitary of the Eomish 
 church eloquently observes, " it must be gratifying thus to 
 see a science, formerly classed, and not, perhaps, unjustly, 
 among the most pernicious to the faith, once more become 
 her handmaid ; to see her now, after so many years of 
 wandering from theory to theory, or rather, from vision to 
 vision, return once more to the home where she was born, 
 and to the altar at which she made her first simple offer- 
 ings ; no longer, as she first went forth, a wilful, dreamy, 
 empty-handed child, but with a matronly dignity, and a 
 priest-like step, and a bosom full of well-earned gifts, to 
 pile upon its sacred hearth. For it was religion which 
 gave geology birth, and to the sanctuary she hath once 
 more returned."* 
 
 It is evident that the fact of the vast antiquity of the 
 earth should now be generally taught, and the common 
 erroneous notion that the world is only six thousand years 
 old abandoned and discarded. It is wrong to disturb old 
 cherished opinions on religious subjects without some good 
 reason ; but when these opinions have been clearly demon- 
 strated to be erroneous, it is then full time to communicate 
 more correct views. Now no fact of science, not even the 
 revolution of the earth around the sun, has been more 
 clearly demonstrated, than that this world is much older 
 than six thousand years ; this is one of those established 
 facts which now admit neither of doubt nor debate; to 
 do either is to evince a mind incapable of scientific rea- 
 soning. And there now exists no reason why this should 
 
 * Wiseman's " Lectures," vol. i., p. 321, 322, 
 
GEOLOGICAL PEEIODS. 51 
 
 not be as generally taught as the Copernican system of the 
 universe. Every man and child should be made aware 
 that the common opinion, that this world was created six 
 thousand years ago, is erroneous, and that its age is im- 
 mensely greater. Let it never for a moment be allowed or 
 inferred, that such a notion of the recent creation of the 
 world is taught in Scripture ; on the contrary, let the lan- 
 guage of Scripture on this subject be properly interpreted 
 and explained; for nothing is more calculated to under- 
 mine a man's belief than the discovery that the demon- 
 strated facts of science are in manifest and irreconcilable 
 opposition to what he has been accustomed to regard as 
 the revelation of Scripture. 
 
 We have in this chapter demonstrated the immense 
 antiquity of the world, or rather we have proved that its 
 age is incalculable — that ages were occupied in the forma- 
 tion of a single system — and that the past duration of the 
 world must be reckoned by millions rather tlian by thou- 
 sands of years. The mind is staggered and bewildered in 
 endeavouring to comprehend a duration so immense. But 
 it is because we contemplate time with reference to our 
 own short ephemeral existence upon earth. We speak of 
 days, and months, and years. But these are feeble terms 
 when we would wish to calculate the age of the world : 
 we must have another standard; we must contemplate 
 time in another point of view. Let us then contemplate 
 time with reference to God. A thousand years appear to 
 us to be of an immense duration, but in His sight it is but 
 as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch by night. 
 Compared with His past existence, millions of years are 
 but a short duration: the vast antiquity of the world 
 itself appears no longer immense. However unlimited the 
 drafts may be which geology makes on time, let us not be 
 
52 GEOLOGICAL PERIODS. 
 
 alarmed or disturbed at it ; we are certain that tlie universe 
 had a commencement ; that far distant in the past there 
 was a beginning when God created the heaven and the 
 earth. Time with reference to the Deity is a very different 
 thing from time with reference to us: to Him these immense 
 cycles are not long; and the different creations which 
 geology discloses are His creations, and therefore, the 
 time occupied by them must be contemplated, as it relates 
 to God and not to ourselves. " One day is with the Lord 
 as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one 
 day." 
 
 And if this subject impresses us with a profound sense 
 of the eternity of God, it should also teach us the ephe- 
 meral existence of man. Wliat are the threescore or the 
 fourscore years of man's existence compared with the past 
 duration of the world? AVhat is the antiquity of those 
 mighty empires that once ruled over the destinies of men? 
 What the age of those pyramids of Egypt, whose origin is 
 lost in darkness? What the past duration of the human 
 race itself, the six thousand years since Adam was created? 
 It is but as yesterday — but a moment of time compared 
 with the ages that are past. The duration of man is not 
 in the past but in the future. His past existence is but as 
 the lightning's flash, which appears only to vanish ; but 
 his future existence is unlimited — it is an eternity — a 
 period inconceivably longer than even the immense dura- 
 tion of the world. This future eternity is the destiny of 
 all of us, a solemn and awful thought, which should excite 
 us to increased diligence in cultivating a meetness for the 
 heavenly world, so that by securing an interest in a better 
 righteousness than our own, we may be found without 
 spot and blameless at the appearance of Jesus Christ. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 StrCCESSIVE CREATIONS OF SPECIES. 
 
 In this chapter we propose to make a few remarks on the 
 successive creations of species, to direct attention to that 
 remarkable series of different creations which the fossili- 
 ferous rocks disclose, and to exhibit the bearing wliich 
 these examples of creation have npon several important 
 points, both of natiu-al and revealed religion. We are 
 admitted, as it were, to inspect a system of creations, to 
 mark the work of the Lord in calling new creatures into 
 being, to discern the direct exertion of His almighty power, 
 and to see in aU this the manifest proofs of His divine 
 existence and over-ruling Providence. 
 
 Geologists, as we have observed in a previous chapter, 
 have demonstrated that in the fossiliferous rocks there is 
 a series of different creations. The fossil organic remains 
 are not found among the rocks in a confused state, mingled 
 together without order, but are regidarly arranged as in 
 shelves ; so that when we pass from one geological forma- 
 tion to another, we at the same time pass from one system 
 of creation to another. These systems are distinct from 
 each other. A few fossils of one formation may have 
 penetrated into the formation which succeeds it, but still it 
 is one of the best ascertained facts of geology that each 
 formation has its own set of fossils.* The organic remains 
 
 * " The mountain limestone of the north of England," observes Pro- 
 fessor Phillips, " contains about five hundred species of animal remains : 
 
54 SUCCESSION OF SPECIES. 
 
 of the old red sandstone are very different from those of 
 the carboniferous formation which immediately succeeds 
 it. And not only is this true of the different formations, 
 but, as many distinguished geologists affirm, even of the 
 groups into which each formation is divided. " It is now 
 a truth," observes Agassiz, " which I consider as proved, 
 that the ensemble of organised beings was renewed, not only 
 in the interval of each of the great geological divisions 
 which we have agreed to term formations, but also at the 
 time of the deposition of each particidar member of all the 
 formations." So entire has been the change, so distinct 
 are these formations, that, with the exception of some 
 microscopic insects, not one of the existing species of plants 
 and animals has been discovered in the chalk, although 
 that is a formation comparatively recent, and separated only 
 from the present by the tertiary.* All the existing beasts, 
 and bu'ds, and fishes, along with man himself, were intro- 
 duced at a period which, according to the annals of geology, 
 is only as yesterday.f Not a vestige of them is to be found 
 in any of the rocks, except in the uppermost beds. Thus 
 the world has changed its inhabitants over and over again ; 
 
 the lias one hundred and twenty, and the chalk fifty. Now of all the 
 six hundred and seventy species contained in the mountain limestone, 
 lias, and chalk, respectively, there is not one which is found in two of 
 tliese rocks. Neither of these strata contains a single fossil which is 
 found in either of the others. Between the era of the formation of the 
 mountain limestone, and that of the lias, the whole animal population of 
 the sea had been entirely changed, and a similar complete renewal took 
 place before the chalk was deposited."— Phillip's " Geologij" p. 67, 68. 
 
 * These microscopic insects have been discovered by Professor 
 Ehrenberg. 
 
 t " Every plant and animal that now lives upon earth began to be 
 during the great tertiary period, and had no place among the animals and 
 plants of the great secondary division." — Miller's " Testimony of the 
 Rocks" p. 195. 
 
SUCCESSION OF SPECIES. 55 
 
 the species has died as well as the individual ; one gi'oup 
 of plants and animals has passed away, and has been suc- 
 ceeded by another, and this again has yielded to a third ; 
 and so, during the incalculable ages of a past duration, one 
 creation has followed another, until at length man and the 
 present race of plants and animals were called into being. 
 
 It would be foreign to our object to enter into any 
 minute description of the different systems of creation 
 wliich have successively occupied this world; all that is 
 necessary is to give a list of them in their order. The 
 lowest fossiliferous formation is what has been termed the 
 Silurian system. The fossils found in it are chiefly shells, 
 and a peculiar animal termed the trilobite, of an extinct 
 genus, but of the same order as the crab and lobster. The 
 system also contains fossil fish of so distinct a nature, that 
 almost the entire class has passed away. Next follows 
 what has been termed the Old Eed Sandstone or Devonian 
 system The fossils of this formation are chiefly fish of 
 extraordinary forms, and often of gigantic size ; some armed 
 with strong plates of bone to resist the attacks of foes, 
 some furnished with weapons of offence and attack, and 
 some with a pair of fins spread out lilce wings. To this 
 succeeds the Carboniferous formation. Here the scene of 
 creation is changed: we quit the sea for the dry land. 
 Plants now abound. Trees of a peculiar form, gigantic 
 ferns, and reeds, and mosses now grow upon the earth. 
 There is a vegetation far more abundant than the world 
 has ever since seen. Almost all the coal which we con- 
 sume belongs to this formation, and once constituted the 
 trees and forests of the world that then was. Next suc- 
 ceeds what formerly was termed the New Eed Sandstone.* 
 
 * The New Red Sandstone system has been divided by geologists, on 
 account of the remarkable differences of the fossils, into two distinct 
 
56 SUCCESSION OF SPECIES. 
 
 This is a system, at least in our country, comparatively 
 barren of fossils. Fish are its chief characteristics ; there 
 are also a few forms of reptile life, and the footprints of 
 gigantic birds, larger than any wliich now exist, are found 
 impressed upon the rocks. After this succeeds the Oolita 
 This is what has been appropriately termed the age of 
 reptiles. Eeptiles of a gigantic size, far exceeding the 
 crocodile of the Nile, and of a strange shape, rivalling the 
 fabulous monsters of antiquity, abound. One of them, 
 the ichthyosaurus, a monster thirty feet in length, with 
 immense jaws, like those of a crocodile, and conical teeth 
 of large size, which prove that the animal was fierce and 
 voracious ; another, the plesiosaurus, a creature of similar 
 lengtli, but with an enormous neck, far longer than that 
 of a swan ; and a third, the pterodactyle, a flying reptile, 
 furnished with wings. Here also mammalia appear for 
 the first time, in the form of small marsupial and insecti- 
 vorous animals.* The Chalk or Cretaceous system fol- 
 lows — a formation which has been chiefly formed in deep 
 waters, and consequently contains shells and the remains 
 of fish, but all of them of so peculiar a nature that it 
 is doubtful if a single species survives. After this, comes 
 the Tertiary formation: this is the age of mammalia. 
 There are discovered the remains of beasts, which in 
 size far exceeded the elephant; one of them, the mega- 
 formations, the Permian and the Triassic. At this point the forms of 
 organic life appear to have undergone an entire change: the Pennian 
 constituting the close of the Palajozoic, and the Triassic the commencement 
 of the Secondary or Mesozoic period. 
 
 * The marsupial animals have heen discovered in the Stonesfield slate 
 belonging to the great oolite group; and the insectivorous mammals 
 have been very recently discovered in the Purbeck limestone, a fresh- 
 water bed, classed by Lyell in the upper oolite, and by other geologists 
 in the Wealden. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS. 57 
 
 theriiim, an animal similar to the sloth, but of the most 
 enormous proportions; and another, the deinotherium, 
 resembling the hippopotamus, but furnished with two large 
 tusks like a pickaxe, appended to the lower jaw, and 
 curved downwards, to enable it to dig up the roots of 
 plants on which it subsisted. Several species of the Ter- 
 tiary formation survive, but the greater number have 
 become extinct. To it succeeds the present formation — 
 that race or creation of animals and plants which now 
 occupies the earth.* 
 
 But it is the bearing which these examples of different 
 creations have upon several important questions of natural 
 and revealed religion, that we propose chiefly to consider. 
 Now, two views or theories have been taken of this sub- 
 ject: the one is, that these systems of creation have devel- 
 oped themselves from each other, and this theory is usually 
 known in this country by the name of the development 
 hi/2)othesis : and the other is, that they are the result of a 
 series of immediate interpositions by the divine Creator — 
 the theory of creation hy divine interposition. 
 
 I. In the first place, then, we advert to the development 
 hypothesis. 
 
 This theory is of ancient date, being very similar to the 
 philosophy of Democritus and other heathen sages. Lam- 
 arck in France formed it into a system, and it has recently 
 been revived and popularised by an anonymous writer in 
 our own country, f According to this theory, the germs 
 
 * These are the more important divisions into which geologists have 
 divided the fossiliferous rocks, but there have clearly in each of these 
 systems or formations been several creations. 
 
 t Although the " Vestiges of Creation" is well written, contains some 
 ingenious speculation, and had at one time no little notoriety, it was 
 never considered by any competent authority as of the smallest scientific 
 
 D 
 
58 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS: 
 
 of all existence consist in minute and often invisible par- 
 ticles termed "monads." How life has been bestowed 
 upon these germs, the advocates of this hypothesis are not 
 agreed; some suppose that this has been effected by gal- 
 vanic agency, and others that there is a living principle in 
 nature. These monads or germs gradually develop them- 
 selves into a higher life; they receive additions of new 
 particles ; they develop new powers ; these powers develop 
 new organs; and thus, throughout the past geological 
 ages, they have been advancing from a lower state of 
 development to a higher, from molluscs to fish, from fish 
 to reptiles, and from reptiles to mammals, until at length 
 they have reached the present race of creatures ; so that 
 man himself owes his origin to one of these germs, and has 
 passed through the various successive stages of existence, 
 until he has reached the most elevated rank in the scale 
 of being. 
 
 Farther, according to this theory, the habits and incli- 
 nations of animals are not adapted by the divine Being to 
 their peculiar bodily organs ; but these organs have been 
 developed or formed by previously existing habits and 
 inclinations. Thus, for example, a propensity for swim- 
 ming has developed the fins of a fish, a propensity for fly- 
 ing has developed the wings of a bird, and a propensity for 
 walking has developed the feet and legs of quadrupeds. 
 The long neck of the cameleopard has been formed by its 
 
 value. Its author's scientific information was evidently of the most 
 meagre, superficial and inaccurate description. Indeed, some apology 
 may be needed for alluding to a work which may now be considered as 
 happily consigned to a well deserved oblivion, and for noticing an hypo- 
 thesis, already fully and finally disproved; but it seemed impossible to 
 treat of the succession of species without adverting to this hypothesis, 
 and, considering its former popularity and its pernicious tendency, with- 
 out off'ering a refutation of it. 
 
ITS INFIDEL TENDENCY. oD 
 
 attempts to reach the branches of trees on which it fed; 
 the webbed feet of the duck is the result of its repeatedly 
 stretching out its toes when swimming ; and the teeth and 
 stomach of beasts of prey have been developed in the 
 course of many generations in consequence of the animal 
 food on which they subsist. In short, all animals have 
 their present forms and organs, not because they were ori- 
 ginally created so by God, but from the force of external 
 circumstances which has given rise to their different forms 
 and developed their peculiar bodily organs.* 
 
 Although, at first sight, we may suspect this theory of 
 positive atheism, inasmuch as it removes God entirely 
 from the creation and substitutes a certain blind instinct 
 termed law ; and although the former assertors of this sys- 
 tem openly avowed their disbelief in a personal Deity ; yet 
 the modern advocates of the development theory escape 
 the inference so apparently deducible by asserting, that 
 this principle of development in nature — this tendency to 
 rise from a lower to a liigher state owes its origin to. God •. 
 that when God created matter at first, he endowed it with 
 this plastic nature. 
 
 But although it thus escapes the charge of atheism or 
 the denial of a Supreme Being, it is of such an infidel ten- 
 dency, as to render the acknowledgment of God of no 
 value. It removes the divine Being so entirely from His 
 works, and so dispenses with His agency, as virtually to 
 dethrone Him, and to substitute in His place the god of 
 Epicurus. It is founded on gross materialism, and takes 
 no cognizance of the mental or moral nature of man. It is 
 directly at variance with tlie doctrine of immortality. 
 Man, according to this theory, is derived from one of the 
 
 * Lam.\RCk's " Theory of the Transmutation of Species." 
 
60 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS: 
 
 inferior animals by a process of gradual development. 
 Hence then it follows, either that man, like the inferior 
 animals, is mortal, or that the addition of a few atoms con- 
 fers immortality on a creature which before did not possess 
 it. The immense difference between man and the inferior 
 animals, which the doctrine of immortality supposes, is by 
 this theory denied. But especially is this notion in direct 
 variance with the Christian religion. It not only flatly 
 contradicts all those passages which speak of creation as 
 the direct work of God, but is opposed to that miraculous 
 intervention of the Supreme Being by which Christianity 
 was introduced into the world. On such a theory, where 
 is the use of a Saviour? Man is not a degraded being, but 
 is developing himself into a higher order ; and therefore a 
 scheme to restore him to his original purity and dignity 
 has under this hypothesis no place. In short, to adopt 
 the language of Professor Sedgwick, it is " an h}^othesis 
 which, avowedly, banishes God from any providential 
 government of the world; repudiates, and scoffs at, any 
 teaching, except such as springs by physical necessity out 
 of a universal scheme of materialism — a scheme which 
 makes religion but a fable, religious teachers but a band of 
 cheats, and a petition sent up to God in prayer but a blind 
 and ignorant effort to reverse or tamper with the unchange- 
 able laws of nature.'"* Such being, in our opinion, the 
 demoralizing tendency of this theory, it is of some impor- 
 tance to prove that it stands upon no philosophical basis, 
 that there exist no gi'ounds whatever for it ; and it becomes 
 worthy of refutation, not on account of its philosophical 
 plausibility, but only on account of its mischievous ten- 
 dency. 
 
 * Sedgwick's " Discourse on the Studies of the University of Cambridge." 
 — Supplement to the Appendix, p. 309, fifth edition. 
 
NO SCIENTIFIC FACTS IN ITS FAVOUR. 61 
 
 Such a theory is a mere dream and delusion ; it is based 
 upon mere assumptions and negative statements, and is 
 wholly unsupported by a single scientific fact. The dis- 
 coveries which have recently been made among the vari- 
 ous species of the animalcules have shown that life and 
 organization descend to a much lower form than we had 
 any conception of. Every drop of water and every blade 
 of grass swarms with animal life. Formerly it was sup- 
 posed that these infusorial animalcules were the monads 
 or germs of existence — mere animated globules; but the 
 microscope has now disclosed them to us as possessed of 
 various organs, and many of them as wonderfully formed 
 and as completely developed after their kind as man him- 
 self; thus destroying entirely the notion of a seK-creative 
 power in nature producing the mere rudiments of exist- 
 ence. And with regard to the other part of the theory, 
 the development of new organs, not one single example 
 can be produced where a new bodily organ has developed 
 itself. Animals, so far as we know, continue to be as they 
 were, as far back as we can trace their species. There are 
 fixed bounds to each species beyond which it cannot pass. 
 It has been asserted that development requires time ; but 
 not to say that this is a mere assertion founded on our 
 ignorance, we have demonstrative proof that for the last 
 three thousand years animals have continued as they are, 
 — that there has been no change on them, either for the 
 better or for the worse. In the catacombs of Egypt tliere 
 are mummies, containing not only the bodies of human 
 beings, but the remains of sacred animals. These remains 
 have been minutely examined by Cuvier, and higher autho- 
 rity on such a point never existed, and he declares, that 
 there was no more difference between them than between 
 the human mumnnes and the embalmed bodies of men of 
 
62 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS: 
 
 the present day. "Among the Egyptian mummies thus 
 procured," Sir C. Lyell informs us, "were not only those 
 of numerous wild quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles; but, 
 what was perhaps of still higher importance in deciding the 
 question, there were the mummies of domestic animals, 
 among which the bull, the dog, and the cat, were fre- 
 quent."* Three thousand years have passed away since 
 these animals have lived, and yet no change in the species 
 has occurred. To assert that even this is too short a period 
 is a confession that the known facts of science are all 
 against the theory — that, in short, the system of develop- 
 ment is a mere dream which admits not of argument or 
 proof. 
 
 But this theory of development is not only unsupported 
 by scientific facts, but is in direct opposition to the deduc- 
 tions of comparative anatomy and physiology. It is now 
 an ascertained fact, that all the parts and organs of an 
 animal are so joined together, and so dependent upon each 
 other, that no change can take place on one of them with- 
 out a corresponding change upon all the rest. " Every 
 organised individual," obsei'ves Cuvier, "forms one organised 
 system of its own, all the parts of which mutually corre- 
 spond and concur to produce a certain definite purpose, by 
 reciprocal reaction, or by combining towards the same 
 end. Hence none of these separate parts can change their 
 forms, without a corresponding change in the other parts 
 of the same animal." Change, for example, the teeth of a 
 tiger into teeth resembling those of an ox, and, in order to 
 its existence, the entire form, and organs, and habits, and 
 food of the animal would have to be changed ; — a change 
 so great as to amount to a new creation. Besides, it is a 
 
 * Lyell's " Principles," p. 586, fifth edition. 
 
GEOLOGICAL FACTS OPPOSED TO IT. 63 
 
 contradiction to assert, that the habits and inclinations of 
 animals have given rise to dr developed their several organs ; 
 for this would be to suppose animals to desire contrary to 
 their inclinations. The natures of animals are perfectly- 
 adapted to their peculiar habits and instincts ; and there- 
 fore admit of no development, so far as the influence of 
 inclination can produce a change. To suppose a fish, for 
 example, to develop itself into a bird, is to suppose it to 
 act in opposition to its own proper nature and to its pecu- 
 liar habits, instincts, and propensities.* 
 
 But it is especially to the science of geology that this 
 theory of development appeals. It is asserted, that in the 
 lowest fossiliferous strata we have only the rudiments of 
 existence, a few shells and worms; that as we ascend, 
 existence improves and developes itself: that there is a 
 regular system of progression from a lower order of beings 
 to a higher, from molluscs to fish, from fish to reptiles, and 
 from reptiles to mammals, until we reach the j)resent race 
 of animals. The facts of geology, however, so far from 
 being favourable, are found to be entirely against this 
 theory. The lowest fossiliferous formation, the Silurian, 
 does not, as has been represented, contain only the rudi- 
 ments and embryos of existence. It is true that the chief 
 fossils discovered in it are shells, but several of these 
 are not of the lowest but of the highest class of their 
 order.f There are also fish, and these not of a low but of a 
 
 * Lucretius and the ancient atheists supposed that the organs first 
 existed by chance, and that these gave rise to their uses: Lamarck and 
 the modern transmutationists suppose that the function existed first and 
 developed the organ. 
 
 t " The Bivalve MoUusca," says Professor Phillips, " of the oldest 
 Snowdonian rocks (the lowest fossiliferous group) were certainly as 
 complicated, nay, more highly organised, than the greater number of 
 conchifera of the present ocean, since they belong to the brachiopoda." 
 
64 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS: 
 
 high type, "being animals of at least as liigh a nature 
 as the sharks of the present creation * " All our most 
 ancient fish," observes Professor Sedgwick, " belong to 
 a high organic type; and the very oldest species that 
 are well determined fall naturally into an order of 
 fishes which Owen and Miiller place, not at the bottom, 
 but at the top of the whole class."-f- And whilst it is 
 true, that, so far as has been discovered, the order of 
 fish has preceded the higher order of reptiles, and the 
 order of reptiles the higher order of mammals, and that 
 thus there is a system of progression : yet at the introduc- 
 tion of each of these orders, it was not one of the lower, 
 but of the higher families which first appeared. The fish 
 of the Silurian and Old Eed Sandstone are high up in the 
 scale of fishes ; the reptiles of the Lias and Oolite are more 
 highly organised than any of the class which now exists ; 
 and the mammals of the Tertiary are larger in bulk than 
 any which now inhabit the earth. In each of these orders 
 there has been no development from a lower to a higher 
 class : it was the higher which were first introduced. Nor 
 is there to be found in all the strata, from first to last, a 
 single instance of development. A species has, after having 
 existed for ages, disappeared, and been succeeded by another 
 and an entirely different one ; but there is no evidence what- 
 ever, that the latter species is in any way connected with 
 the former — there are no connecting links between them. 
 In short, although geology does disclose a system of pro- 
 
 * "The lower Silurian," said Sir Eoderick Murchison in 1847, "is no 
 longer to be viewed as an invertebrate period; for the onchus (a species 
 of fish) has been found in the Llandeilo flags and in the lower Silurian 
 rocks of Bala." 
 
 f Sedgwick's " Discourse on the Studies of the University of Cam- 
 bridge" — p. Ixiv., Preface, fifth edition. 
 
GEOLOGICAL FACTS OPPOSED TO IT. 65 
 
 gression and improvement, yet it is not a progression by 
 development, which, as it demonstrates, has never existed. 
 " There was a time," remarks Hugh Miller, " in which the 
 ichthyic form constituted the highest example of life ; but 
 the seas during that period did not swarm with fish of the 
 degraded type. There was, in like manner, a time when 
 all the carnivora and all the herbivorous quadrupeds were 
 represented by reptiles; but there are no such magnificent 
 reptiles on the earth now as reigned over it then. There 
 was an after time, when birds seem to have been the sole 
 representatives of the warm-blooded animals ; but we find, 
 from the prints of their feet left in sandstone, that the 
 tallest men might have 
 
 ' Walked under their huge legs, and peeped about.' 
 
 Farther, there was an age when the quadrupedal mammals 
 were the magnates of creation ; but it was an age in which 
 the sagacious elephant, now extinct, save in the com- 
 paratively small Asiatic and African circles, and restricted 
 to two species, was the inhabitant of every country of the 
 Old World, from its southern extremity to the frozen shores 
 of the northern ocean; and when vast herds of closely 
 allied and equally colossal genus occupied its place in the 
 New."* 
 
 Thus then geology, so far from exhibiting a system of 
 progressive development of the several orders from a lower 
 to a higher state of being; shows rather the reverse, — a 
 system of degradation. The fish reached the climax of 
 their development during the periods of their earliest exist- 
 ence, when they swarmed in the seas of the Silurian and 
 Old Eed Sandstone worlds. The reptilia, especially, were 
 
 * Miller's '■^ Footprints of the Creator." — Second edition, p. 179. 
 
66 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS: 
 
 of a far higher class and type, when they were represented 
 by those huge monsters, whose skeletons we find embedded 
 in the rocks of the Oolite formation, than by the existing 
 animals of their order. And the quadrupedal mammalia 
 of the Tertiary, were as a class more gigantic than the 
 order which now exists. Facts such as these, whatever 
 their explanation may be, are entirely at variance with 
 the above hypothesis ; for they demonstrate that there was 
 no system of progressive development — no scale of being 
 from the lower to the higher organisms discoverable in the 
 fossiliferous rocks; and hence it is that every geologist of 
 any name or standing is opposed to such a scheme of 
 development, as being untrue to fact. 
 
 The case, as geology discloses it, appears to be this. Each 
 order of animals was introduced at separate periods: and 
 whilst there appears to be no development or advance in 
 any particular order, yet upon the whole there is a great 
 advance in creation — the lower order has been succeeded by 
 the higher. The fish appear to have been first called into 
 existence ; they were of a high type and class : this age of 
 fish was succeeded by the age of reptiles, reptiles of gigantic 
 size and high organization: the age of reptiles was suc- 
 ceeded by the age of quadrupedal mammals ; and, during 
 the deposition of the Tertiary, mammalia appear to be 
 the characteristic and ruling animals of that period: and 
 the age of quadrupedal mammals was succeeded by the 
 age of a being of still higher order, endowed with more 
 exalted powers, and appointed to a far higher destiny — 
 the age of man.* Thus then there has been an evident 
 
 * " We know as geologists," says H. Miller, " that the dynasty of the 
 fish was succeeded by that of the reptile, — that the dynasty of the reptile 
 was succeeded by that of the mammiferous quadruped, — and that the 
 dynasty of the mammiferous quadruped was succeeded by that of man as 
 
GEOLOGICAL SYSTEM OF PROGEESSION. 67 
 
 progression ; the higher orders have succeeded the lower — 
 the reptiles the fish, the quadrupedal mammals the reptiles, 
 and man the quadrupedal mammals; at each period an 
 order of creatures was introduced, greatly in advance of 
 its predecessor ; there was a gradual disclosure of the per- 
 fections of God — a disclosure which probably formed the 
 subject of praise and admiration to the higher intelligences 
 above. But, observe, this progression is not cut off from 
 the immediate interposition of God; it is not the residt of 
 blind chance or necessity; but it is inseparably linked 
 with the creative energy of the Most High, and is a mani- 
 fest proof of His miraculous interposition. 
 
 If it be inquired, Why were not the higher orders of 
 being created at once? Wliy was man, the lord of nature, 
 formed so late? Why for so long a period did there exist 
 nothing but irrational animals? It may be reasonably 
 replied, that all these questions are presumptuous, that 
 time is very different to God and to us, and that a gradual 
 disclosure of His perfections appears to be best adapted to 
 the imperfect capacities of His rational creatures. But 
 there also appear to have been physical reasons. These 
 different orders of animals were not introduced until the 
 earth was prepared for their reception. At first, tlie earth 
 appears to have been in such a state of heat as to be incap- 
 able of supporting any living creature. At the time when 
 
 man now exists, — a creature of mixed character, and subject, in all con- 
 ditions, to wide alternations of enjoyment and suffering. We know, 
 farther, — so far at least as we have yet succeeded in deciphering the 
 record, — that the several dynasties were introduced, not in their lower, 
 hut in their higher forms: that in short, in the imposing programme of 
 creation it was arranged, as a general rule, that in each of the great divi- 
 sions of the procession, the magnates should walk first. We recognise 
 yet further the fact of degradation specially exenipliticd in the lish and 
 the reptile." — Miller's ^'■Footprints" p. 301. 
 
68 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS. 
 
 the earth was prepared for them, fish were introduced; 
 and so with all the other animals, each produced in his 
 own season, and fitted to the peculiar state of the world, 
 until at length the earth was brought into such a state as 
 to receive the human race. Every system of creation is 
 adapted to the state of the climate that then was ; so that 
 the different systems would have perished had they changed 
 places. In the time of the Carboniferous formation, the 
 atmosphere appears to have been charged with carbonic 
 gas, destructive to the life of the higher animals ; and dur- 
 ing the early Tertiary periods, the general temperature was 
 equal to that of the torrid zone. There has been a con- 
 stant advance and improvement of the inorganic world; 
 it has become more suited to higher orders of being ; and 
 therefore we find that these higher orders have been intro- 
 duced by an all-wise and benevolent Deity. " We have 
 only," observes Dr. Hitchcock, " to suppose that the Crea- 
 tor exactly adapted organic natures to the several geolo- 
 gical periods, and we perfectly explain the phenomena of 
 organic remains."* "The great organic changes," remarks 
 Professor Sedgwick, " were brought about, not by gradual 
 transmutation wrought among the specific types during 
 a long lapse of ages, but by altered conditions to which 
 the organic types were successively adapted." -j- 
 
 It is also to be observed, with regard to this develop- 
 ment theory, that it is opposed by all the scientific men of 
 the age. Whatever may be the opinions of these men on 
 religious subjects, however indifferent some of them may 
 be to Christianity, whatever may be the peculiar branches 
 of natural science to which they have directed their atten- 
 tion, yet they all, with united voice, declare against the 
 
 * Hitchcock's " Religion of Geology" p. 258. 
 
 t Sedgwick's " Discourse" &c., Preface to the fifth edition, p. Ixix. 
 
CREATION BY DIVINE INTEEPOSITION. 69 
 
 li}T)otliesis of development. It has not received the sup- 
 port of a single great man of the present day — it cannot 
 reckon among its modern advocates a single great name. 
 All our eminent geologists, Lyell, Murchison, Sedgwick, 
 Buckland, I)e la Beche, D'Orbigny, Hugh Miller, and 
 Edward Forbes ; all our great zoologists, physiologists, and 
 comparative anatomists, Cuvier, Agassiz, Owen and Eoget ; 
 all our distinguished botanists, Lindley, Harvey, and 
 Hooker — all with united voice declare against it,— each in 
 his own department asserts that it has not a single fact in 
 its favour, and that it contradicts the ascertained facts of 
 science, and that, however plausible it may appear to men 
 of narrow views and limited acquirements, it is opposed 
 to all those general deductions which constitute the higher 
 walks of science.* 
 
 II. But we now proceed, in the second place, to offer a 
 few remarks on the theory of creation hy Divine interposi- 
 tion. 
 
 We have seen that the theory of development has not a 
 single fact or argument to support it — that it is opposed 
 to many of the deductions of science — that it is at variance 
 
 * "I believe very little," observes Agassiz, " in the genetic descent of 
 living species from those of the various tertiary laycis, which have been 
 regarded as identical, but which, in my opinion, are specifically distinct. 
 I cannot admit the idea of the transformation of S])ecies from one for- 
 mation to another. In advancing these general notions, I do not wish 
 to offer them as inductions drawn from the study of any particular class 
 of animals, and applied to other classes, but as the results of direct obser- 
 vation of very considerable collections of fossils, of different formations, 
 nnd belonging to different classes of animals, in the investigation of 
 which I have been specially engaged for many years." In Lyell's " Prin- 
 ciples" there is a most masterly refutation of the hypothesis of Lamarck, 
 Miller's " Footprints of the Creation," and Sedgwick's Preface to the 
 fifth edition of his "Discourse on the Studies of the University of Cam- 
 bridge," are most able answers to the " Vestiges of Creation." 
 
70 CEEATION BY DIVINE INTEEPOSITION. 
 
 with the disclosures of geology — and that no scientific 
 writer of any note or name has given it his support. The 
 other theory that has been advanced to account for the 
 fact of creation, is, that God has directly interposed, and 
 that creatures owe their existence to His immediate agency. 
 In the fossiliferous strata we see that various species of 
 animals have existed, and after a time disappeared. Their 
 disappearance or extinction may very easily be accounted 
 for by a change of circumstances. The dry land may 
 have become sea, or the sea dry land, and thus all the 
 animals which inhabited the one or the other must have 
 perished. The climate may have changed, a warm tem- 
 perature may have been succeeded by one much colder, 
 or inversely, and this would cause a corresponding change 
 in the animal and vegetable world. We know that toward 
 the close of the Tertiary formation the temperature was 
 greatly altered during the drift period, and we also know 
 that in consequence of this alteration numerous species 
 disappeared. So also the drying up of any large inland 
 lake, as for example, Lake Superior in America, which, 
 according to the calculations of Sir C. Lyell, must one day 
 take place, would cause the extinction of several peculiar 
 species of plants and animals which are found only there.* 
 In short, it is now an ascertained fact in geology, that 
 "the greatest changes of organic types among the strata 
 are connected with physical revolutions." -f* But the place 
 
 * Agassiz has discovered in Lake Superior and the neighbouring lakes 
 several species of fish not found in any other water. 
 
 t "I affirm it as certain truth, that the greatest changes of organic 
 types among our strata are connected with physical revolutions, and that 
 it is by a change of conditions, and not, properly speaking, by a lapse of 
 time, that we can rationally interpret the organic sequence of the old 
 world." — Sedgwick's " Discourse" Preface to the fifth edition, p. Ixxxv. 
 
INTRODUCTION OF SPECIES. 71 
 
 of extinct aniinals in creation lias been supplied by other 
 creatures of a distinct nature. Now, whence did they 
 come? What cause produced them? They could not, as 
 we have seen, possibly be developed from those which pre- 
 ceded them ; nor was there any thing in the nature of the 
 catastrophe which destroyed the former race of animals 
 that could call them into being. God alone can be the 
 Author of their existence — the animating Spirit of the 
 Lord must have moved upon the surface of the earth. We 
 have here an instance of the immediate interposition of God 
 — a proof of the existence of the Supreme Being who called 
 these creatures into existence, and re-peopled the world. 
 He it was who spake the word, " Let the waters bring forth 
 abundantly, and let the earth bring forth the living crea- 
 ture after his kind;" and the effect followed: the seas were 
 again filled, and the land was again occupied with created 
 beings. What Sir Isaac Newton observes with reference 
 to the arrangements of matter, is still more applicable to 
 the introduction of new systems of living creatures. " The 
 growth of new systems out of old ones, without the media- 
 tion of a divine power, seems to me to be apparently 
 absurd." 
 
 But especially does this direct interposition of God 
 appear most signally in the recent origin of man. That 
 the introduction of man into the world was at a period 
 comparatively recent, is a fact admitted by all geologists. 
 No remains of him, nor any of his works, are to be found 
 in any of the fossiliferous rocks. In the Tertiary formation 
 there are the remains of some animals which now exist, 
 but there is not the vestige or the trace of man. It is not 
 imtil we come to the alluvium that we discover liis bones 
 and his works. Thus, then, we can point to long cycles 
 of ages when man was not, and to the precise epoch when 
 
72 CREATION BY DIVINE INTERPOSITION. 
 
 he began to be* Geology, then, discloses the great fact 
 of the introduction of the human race. And surely when 
 we consider the vast distance which there is between man 
 and the inferior animals, the mental and moral powers 
 with which he is endowed, it is the height of extravagance 
 to suppose that he owes his existence to development. 
 The interval betAveen man and the highest of the inferior 
 animals is wide and unfilled up. We have not only to 
 account for the bodily shape of man, but also for his mental 
 nature. Man, then, is the immediate work of God, far 
 superior to, and removed from, any creature which now 
 exists, or has in former geological ages existed upon the 
 earth, " So God created man in His own image, in the 
 image of God created He him." 
 
 It was formerly a favourite argument among atheistical 
 writers, that there has been an eternal series of all the 
 animals which now inhabit the earth. Thus, according to 
 them, things have continued as they were from the begin- 
 ning ; each sx^ecies has propagated its own kind during the 
 infinite ages that are past: there has been an eternity of 
 each kind of animals. Man, for example, instead of being 
 created at a particular period, has, as a race, existed from 
 eternity. We have not now, as formerly, to betake our- 
 selves to metaphysical arguments against this objection ; 
 the science of geology entirely confutes it ; it sweeps away 
 the foundation on which it stands. It points back to a 
 period when it asserts, without the slightest possibility of 
 
 * " Independently of every written testimony, we prove by natural 
 evidence that man, with all his powers and appetencies, his marvellous 
 structure, and his fitness for the world around him, was called into being 
 within a few thousand years of the days in which we live — not by a 
 transmutation of species, (a theory no better than a phrenzied dream,) 
 but by a provident contriving power." — Sedgwick's ^^ Discourse," p. 26, 
 fifth edition. 
 
MIKAC'ULOUS PEOVIDENCE. 73 
 
 mistake, and without tlie least fear of contradiction, 
 that man and all the present race of animals were not. 
 Thus, then, it is an ascertained fact, that each of the exist- 
 ing species had a beginning ; and thus the infinite series of 
 the atheist can have no place in modern science. 
 
 But the fact of creation not only contradicts the notion 
 of the atheist, it also confutes the argument of the infidel 
 against the miracles of the gospel. The infidel argues that 
 a miracle cannot be proved, because it is contrary to uni- 
 form experience — that the laws of nature have ever been 
 constant — and that no testimony whatever can establish a 
 miracle, because it is as probable that the testimony may 
 be false as it is that the miracle may be true. Now, not to 
 dwell upon the fallacy of this argument, we have in geo- 
 logy examples of divine interpositions, that is of miracles, 
 in the repeated introductions of different species of animals. 
 Here are miracles : plain, palpable, and undeniable mira- 
 cles. The miracle of creation has been repeated over and 
 over aaain. Thus, then, miracles cannot be said to be con- 
 trary to experience ; we have demonstrative evidence that 
 they have frequently occurred. And, observe also, this 
 evidence is not derived from testimony ; it is the evidence 
 of our own senses ; we can read it with our own eyes ; we 
 have only to look for ourselves ; to examine the rocks, and 
 the fossil remains which they contain, in order to come to 
 the inevitable conclusion of all geologists, that throughout 
 the vast ages of the past there has been a series of crea- 
 tions distinct from each other.* We appeal, then, to these 
 
 * " Even Hume," observes Professor Hitchcock, " would hardly deny 
 that the creation of whole series of animals and plants was miraculous ; 
 and yet, in proof of that creation, we need not depend on testimony; for 
 we can read it with our own eyes upon the solid rocks." — Hitchcock's 
 " Religion of Geology" p. 279. 
 
 E 
 
74 CEEATION BY DIVINE INTEEPOSITION. 
 
 creations as infallible proofs that God has interfered in the 
 government of the world, and therefore as confutations of 
 the assertion that He has never so interfered. And if 
 God has thus wrought miracles to repeople the earth with 
 new creations, it is still more probable, that He would 
 interpose when the human race, destined for immortality and 
 formed in His image, had fallen into a state of moral ruin, 
 in order to reveal His will concerning them, and to mani- 
 fest Himself, not merely as the Creator, but in the still 
 higher character as the Saviour of the lost. 
 
 And still farther, we think the argument may be applied, 
 not merely to the miraculous, but to the special Providence 
 of God. There are some who suppose that no such special 
 Providence exists ; that all is ordered by unbending and 
 inflexible law ; that, for example, it is useless to pray for 
 rain in the time of drought, or for health in the time of 
 sickness, or for safety in the time of danger— that all things 
 depend upon the laws of nature, and the laws of nature 
 are constant. But when I read in my Bible of God's care 
 for each of His creatures ; when I read about the number- 
 ing of our hairs, and the fall of a sparrow; I cannot believe 
 in the non-existence of a special Providence. And when 
 I see in the rocks that Providence has been exercised over 
 and over again, and that not merely in the creation, but in 
 the various adaptations of the different animals, in their 
 extinction as well as in their introduction; I am led to 
 suppose that the same reign of Providence continues. I 
 see numberless ways and means in which this Providence 
 can be exercised without any direct or at least sensible 
 interference with the laws of nature. The divine Bein^r, 
 who holds the hearts of all men in His hands, can so 
 dispose and influence their minds as to bring about His 
 purposes. He can suggest thoughts within them, by the 
 
SPECIAL PKOVIDENCE. 75 
 
 inspiration of His Spirit, unknown to them, and thus by 
 this means alone effect an entu-e change upon the circum- 
 stances, not only of the individual himself, but of those 
 connected with him. And thus, almost in every case, by 
 an exertion of a divine influence on the minds of ourselves 
 or others, our prayers may be directly answered. And as 
 to the external laws of nature, there may be secret ways, 
 hidden and concealed from us, by which even these may 
 be influenced, so that the very thing for which a man 
 prays, the rain in the season of drought, and the health in 
 the season of sickness, and the safety in the season of 
 danger, may take place, and all apparently by natural 
 means.* Some there are who suppose that the entire use 
 of prayer is the indirect effect, the reflex influence that 
 it has upon our minds, by making us more submissive, 
 and more patient, and more humble, but that we are not 
 to expect a direct and immediate answer. But surely this 
 is not the nature of prayer as revealed in the Bible. There 
 we are told to come to God as children to a father, and are 
 assured that whatever we ask we will receive ; in short, 
 that at the throne of grace God condescends to meet us, 
 
 * These interpositions of Providence may also be brought about by the 
 surprising conjunctions of circumstances. An earthquake, for example, 
 may be considered simi)ly as a natural phenomenon; but its occurring at 
 the verj- spot where Korah and the rebellious Israelites had pitched their 
 tents, is a proof of a special interposition on the part of God. And 
 although in this instance the interposition is so marked that it may justly 
 be denominated miraculous, yet conjunctions of circumstances equally 
 surprising and equally remarkable have frequently occurred. " Herein," 
 says Isaac Taylor, "is especially manifested the jjerfection of divine 
 wisdom, that the most surprising conjunctions of events are brought 
 about by the simplest means, and in a manner that is perfectly in har- 
 mony with the ordinary course of human affairs. This is, in fact, the 
 great miracle of Providence, that no miracles are needed to accomplish 
 its purposes." 
 
76 FUTURE CONDITION OF THE EAETH. 
 
 even as an earthly benefactor bis fellowmen ; and tbat, as 
 we can influence and. persuade man by our prayers, so 
 much more can we influence and persuade God, the most 
 benevolent and liberal of beings. 
 
 To conclude, we have seen that although geology does 
 not countenance the notion of development, yet it discloses 
 a system of progression by which a higher order of beings 
 succeeds a lower; the dynasty of fish has been succeeded 
 by the dynasty of reptiles, and the dynasty of reptiles has 
 been succeeded by the dynasty of quadrupedal mammals, 
 and the dynasty of quadrupedal mammals has been suc- 
 ceeded by the dynasty of man* Man now appears on this 
 earth as the highest of created beings ; he is constituted 
 the lord of the inferior creation. " All things are put in 
 subjection under his feet; all sheep and oxen; the beasts 
 of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea." 
 Tliere is a great gap between him and the highest of 
 the inferior animals, greater than that which exists between 
 one animal and another. But has creation now reached its 
 ultimate state of perfection? Will the dynasty of man not 
 give place to something better, and be succeeded by a 
 higher and nobler dynasty? Analogy suggests that crea- 
 tion is progressive, and that the future will yet disclose a 
 higher order of being. And what analogy suggests, Scrip- 
 ture appears to confirm. We are there told that redeemed 
 man shall be glorified and advanced to a state of perfec- 
 tion, which shall, in all probability, excel our present con- 
 dition, as much as our present condition excels that of the 
 inferior animals. " We learn," observes Hugh Miller, 
 " that the dynasty of man, in the mixed state and charac- 
 ter, is not the final one, but that there is to be yet another 
 
 * The reader need not be informed that the phraseology here employed 
 is that of Hugh Miller. 
 
DYNASTY OF REDEEMED MAN. 77 
 
 creation, or, more properly, re-creation, known theologi- 
 cally as the resurrection, which shall be connected in its 
 physical components, by bonds of mysterious paternity, 
 with the dynasty which now reigns, and be bound to it 
 mentally by the chain of identity, conscious and actual; 
 but which, in all that constitutes superiority, shall be as 
 vastly its superior as the dynasty of responsible man is 
 superior to even the lowest of the preliminary dynasties."* 
 We are informed in Scripture, that the present system 
 will be destroyed by fire, that " the earth and the works 
 that are therein shall be burnt up." But no annihilation 
 will result from such a conflagration ; out of the ruins of 
 the old world, a new world will spring into existence. 
 "Nevertheless," adds the apostle, "we, according to his 
 promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein 
 dwelleth righteousness." We dare not affirm, as many 
 theologians have done, that this world renovated will be 
 the abode of immortal and redeemed men; but from vari- 
 ous passages of Scripture, and several analogies in nature, 
 there seems a probability that such may be the case. Then 
 will creation be advanced to a far liigher perfection than 
 at present ; then will man be raised to a far higher state of 
 glory and dignity; then will his moral and intellectual and 
 corporeal natures be exalted and purified. " It doth not 
 yet appear what we shall be." A purely intellectual being, 
 
 * Miller's ''Footprints of the Creator" 2d edition, p. 301. We would 
 earnestly recommend this work to the reader. Like all the other works 
 of Hugh Miller it is a work of genius ; there is in it a wonderful com- 
 mand of the English language, and the reasoning is strong and forcible. 
 Three chapters near the beginning are however nearly unintelligible, 
 except to those acquainted with palteontology and comparative anatomy. 
 The other portions of the work are perspicuous; but upon the whole this 
 is the most technical, and on that account the least popular work of that 
 great and good man. 
 
78 THE FUTUEE ECONOMY. 
 
 such as an angel, could not, in all probability, tell what 
 higher order of corporeal creatures would succeed that of 
 the quadrupedal mammalia; nor can we form any idea of 
 wherein will consist the superior excellence and dignity of 
 redeemed men* This is the kingdom of Christ; that 
 kingdom, the subjects of which are all righteous, and who 
 shall enter upon a course of progressive improvement 
 throughout the ages of eternity. 
 
 The late Hugh Miller, in his " Footprints of the Crea- 
 tor," draws another striking analogy from the lessons 
 which geology teaches us. He has observed, that whilst 
 there is an advance of being in general, there is a degrada- 
 tion of particular orders — the fish, the reptiles, and the 
 mammalia have all degenerated from what they once were 
 in past geological ages. So, he observes, it will be to a 
 considerable extent with the human race. Being will 
 advance in the order of redeemed men ; but at the com- 
 mencement of this dynasty " there will be a re-creation of 
 not only elevated, but also of degraded beings — a re-crea- 
 tion of the lost." Perhaps the analogy is overdrawn, but 
 still it is striking, and the fact which it is thought to sha- 
 dow forth is true. The human race shall be divided into 
 two great classes — the class of the saved and the class 
 of the lost — between whom a great moral guK will be 
 fixed, and that gulf will widen throughout eternity. It 
 depends upon ourselves to which of these two classes we 
 will belong ; our eternal destiny is committed to our care ; 
 it relies upon ourselves whether, in a future life, we will 
 
 * The comparison is not here stated sufficiently strongly; it should be 
 thus: even as the quadrupedal mammals of the Tertiary, supposing 
 them capable of reasoning, could form no idea of the higher dynasty of 
 man which was to succeed them; so no more can we form any concep- 
 tion of the still higher dynasty of redeemed man which shall succeed us. 
 
THE FUTURE ECONOMY. 79 
 
 be elevcated or degraded beings. Let us make religion the 
 great duty of our lives; let us seek to obtain an interest 
 tn Christ, and in the benefits of that redemption which He 
 has procured for us; and thus, by an habitual reliance on 
 the merits of the Saviour, a cultivation of the virtues of 
 the Christian character, and a patient continuance in well- 
 doing, let us seek after glory and honour and immortality. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE MOSAIC DAYS. 
 
 The sacred Scriptures open with a description of the crea- 
 tion and arrangement of the universe — a description which, 
 for the union of simplicity of diction with sublimity of 
 thought, is probably unequalled by any composition. The 
 first sentence contains a comprehensive statement of the 
 creation of the universe. It reveals God to us, as the 
 Creator of heaven and earth, the great First Cause, the 
 Source and Origin of all existence. And there is a majes- 
 tic simplicity in the narrative of the several acts which 
 follow. "And God said. Let there be light; and there 
 was light." The simple word of Jehovah is alone suffi- 
 cient to produce the required effect; He has only to speak, 
 and the work is done ; to command, and all things stand 
 fast. Wliat a contrast is there between this account of 
 creation by Moses and the heathen cosmogonies ! Although 
 sometimes admired by ingenious men, yet they are in 
 reality mere childish tales, mere fabulous inventions, desti- 
 tute alike of philosophic truth and probability to recom- 
 mend them. The religions of the heathen are inseparably 
 connected with the teachings of a false science; these con- 
 stitute part and parcel of their doctrine; and therefore 
 their falsehood is a sufficient reason to cause the claims 
 of those religions to a divine origin to be rejected. But 
 
MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF CREATION. 81 
 
 there is nothing of this kind in Scripture ; it does not pro- 
 fess to teach scientific truth ; the facts of science consti- 
 tute no part of its theology ; and when it does touch upon 
 natural phenomena, it is to illustrate religious truth, and 
 to render it intelligible to the people to whom the revela- 
 tion was given. 
 
 Hence, then, the truth of revelation does not depend upon 
 the philosophical truth or falsehood of the scientific facts 
 wliich it is supposed to contain, because these facts consti- 
 tute no part of the revelation, but are merely illustrative ; 
 although we believe that the scriptural language, when 
 properly interpreted, will be found, not to be contradicted, 
 but elucidated by the modern discoveries of science. 
 WTiereas it is very different with heathen religions ; the 
 scientific facts contained in them constitute an essential part 
 of their theologies. Perhaps the account of the creation of 
 the world may by some be considered as an exception to this 
 remark, but, so far as we know, it is the only exception; and 
 the contrast between it and the absurdities of the heathen 
 cosmogonies is most apparent. " These follies," (the hea- 
 then cosmogonies,) observes Dr. King, " even when di'essed 
 out in all the fascinations of learning and eloquence, make 
 a poor figure beside the first chapter of Genesis— simple, 
 grave, majestic, as we could desire any narrative to be, 
 having God for its Author, and Providence for its subject."* 
 In this chapter we propose to consider the six creative 
 days, as recorded by Moses in the first chapter of Genesis ; 
 to contemplate them in the new light which geology affords ; 
 not to force them into an agreement with the doctrines of 
 that science, but to endeavour, according to the principles of 
 a sound philology, to find out, if possible, their true mean- 
 ing ; and although we may be unable to cUscover what is the 
 
 * King's " Geology and Reliyion," pp. 83, 84. 
 
82 MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF CEEATION. 
 
 true principle of reconciliation, yet to prove at least, that 
 in the Mosaic narrative of creation, there exists no real 
 discrepancy between the facts of science and the state- 
 ments of revelation. 
 
 Now, it is freely admitted that this is a subject of great 
 difficulty. It is with regard to the six creative days, and 
 not with regard to the age of the world, that the real prob- 
 lem of harmonizing the narration of Moses with the dis- 
 coveries of geology consists. Scripture does nowhere assert 
 the age of the world; it leaves this matter entirely unde- 
 termined ; it states the time of creation indefinitely as " in 
 the beginning," and thus affords ample room for the cycles 
 of geology. But, on the other hand, it does assert that the 
 earth was put into its present form in the space of six days, 
 that each day had its peculiar work, and that at the end of 
 that period the whole was perfected and finished. Now 
 there are, it is not to be denied, several geological difficul- 
 ties which stand in the way of this account of creation, as 
 commonly interpreted by us — some points in the harmony 
 between Scripture and geology formerly advanced, which 
 the late discoveries of science require should be re-con- 
 sidered and modified. These difificidties must not be 
 shrunk from, but boldly met and encountered, being con- 
 fident that Scripture shall suffer nothing from scientific 
 discoveries. " Those are not the best friends of Christianity, 
 who feel either dislike or alarm when the torch of science, 
 or the torch of history, is held up to the Bible." 
 
 I. The first point to be ascertained is, Wliat is the true 
 nature of the language employed? AVh ether the descrip- 
 tion here given us by Moses is a poem, a vision, or a simple 
 narrative? Until this is decided, we cannot proceed one 
 step in the interpretation of the passage. Now there are 
 several opinions on this point which merit our attention. 
 
THE MYTHICAL THEOEY. 83 
 
 One theory, advanced by the Rev. Baden Powell, Savi- 
 lian Professor of Geometry in Oxford, is, that the account 
 given lis by Moses is not to be considered or interpreted 
 as a historical narrative, but that it is simply a " mythic 
 poem," intended to teach the Israelites that the universe 
 owes its existence to Jehovah ; that this is the great germ 
 of truth in the account, and that the other matters are 
 merely accessories and embellishments.* " The one great 
 fact," he observes, " couched in the general assertion that 
 all things were created by the sole power of one Supreme 
 Being, is the whole of the representation to which an his- 
 torical character can be assigned. As to the particular 
 form in which the descriptive narrative is conveyed, we 
 merely affirm that it cannot be history — it may be poetry." 
 Thus, then, according to this theory, the Mosaic account 
 is not history, but mythic poetry. And we are no more 
 to expect to find out a reconciliation between it and the 
 facts of science, than we are to look for an exact agree- 
 ment between Milton's " Paradise Lost" and the true his- 
 tory of the fall. 
 
 But such a theory is liable to very grave objections. It 
 appears to us to be at variance with the notion of the 
 inspiration of the Mosaic narrative; the knot is merely 
 cut, it is not unloosened. Professor Powell admits the 
 inspiration of Moses, and that he was the author or editor 
 
 * This theory was first advanced by Professor Powell in his " Connec- 
 tion of Natural and Divine Truth;" it is again brought forward by him 
 in the article " Creation," in Kitto's " Encyclopajdia of Biblical Litera- 
 ture," and more recently in his " Christianity without Judaism." The 
 same hypothesis was advanced in a sermon of Professor Powell's, entitled, 
 " Revelation and Science," and published at Oxford in 1 833. The sennon 
 is a most able one, and contains some very valuable observations, not- 
 withstanding what we think the erroneous notions of the author on this 
 particular point. 
 
84 THE MYTHICAL THEOEY. 
 
 of the first chapter of Genesis ; he speaks of Moses being 
 " inspired to adapt and apply the narrative, borrowed, per- 
 haps, from some poetical cosmogony, to the ends of reli- 
 gious instruction;" but it is not easy to see how this 
 admission agrees with his theory, that the account of crea- 
 tion is a myth. Nor is there anything in the passage that 
 would lead us to suppose that we have here merely a fic- 
 titious poem. The style is evidently historical, and not 
 poetical ; and its form is that of a plain narrative, and not 
 of an instructive parable. " The whole," observes Dr. Pye 
 Smith, " is in the style of plain narrative, evidently intended 
 to be understood as a simple, straightforward, unadorned 
 history. The dramatic form, introducing the Creator as 
 speaking, to command an effect; and then stating that 
 the effect followed, and that He was pleased with the con- 
 templation of it, is a part of the great characteristic which 
 runs through all the Hebrew Scriptures, and especially the 
 earlier parts of them, the Anthropopathia ; a mode of 
 expression adapted, by the graciousness of the Divine con- 
 descension, to the capacity and habits of thought which 
 belong to men in an unpolished state of society, who were 
 totally ignorant of abstract phraseology, and would have 
 been unable to receive spiritual sentiments, unless clothed 
 in language borrowed from sensible objects, and from the 
 emotions and actions of men."* But what especially leads 
 us to reject this theory of Professor Powell, is, that if the 
 account of creation be a myth, we have no guarantee 
 for the truth of other portions of the books of Moses ; the 
 same mode of reasoning may be applied to them. And 
 when once we admit the mythic principle, it is impossible 
 to distinguish what is true from what is false in the account 
 
 * Smith's ^'■Scripture and Geology," pp. 179, 180, Bohn's edition. 
 
MOSAIC VISION OF CREATION. 85 
 
 given us. Even although, then, we coukl see no way of 
 sohang the problem, yet so long as we hold the Mosaic 
 account to be part of a divine revelation, we must not 
 have recourse to the above hypothesis, which indeed solves 
 the difficulty, but at the expense, as it appears to us, of 
 inspiration ; we must rather be content to remain in ignor- 
 ance, believing, in the meanwhile, that there is no real 
 opposition between science and revelation; but that the 
 facts of the one, and the declarations of the other, are both 
 founded on truth. 
 
 Another theory is, that the account given by Moses is 
 the relation of what was revealed to him in vision, or in a 
 series of visions — a description of what he saw in pictorial 
 representations. This theory has been maintained under 
 a variety of forms, and sometimes with considerable inge- 
 nuity. " If," says Dr. Knapp, " we would form a clear and 
 distinct notion of this whole description of creation, we 
 must conceive of six separate pictures, in which this great 
 work is represented in each successive stage of its progress 
 towards completion. And as the performance of the painter, 
 though it must have natural truth for its foundation, must 
 not be considered, or judged of, as a delineation of mathe- 
 matical or scientific accuracy, so neither must this pictorial 
 representation of the creation be regarded as literally and 
 exactly true."* Similar theories of conciliation, with some 
 variety in their details, have been advanced by other 
 writers: in particular by Dr. Kurtz in Eussia,"f* and by 
 Mr. Sime in our own country, in his " Mosaic Eecord in 
 Harmony with the Geological" But, in all probability, 
 this theory would have been forgotten, or given up as 
 
 ' See Knapp's ^'■Lectures on Christian Theology " \o\ i., p. 35.5-360. 
 t The theory of Dr. Kurtz is given at length by Mr. Miller, in his 
 " Testimony of the Hocks." 
 
86 MOSAIC VISION OF CREATION. 
 
 untenable, liad not Hugh Miller, in his last work, " The 
 Testimony of the Eocks,'' given it the authority of his 
 distinguished name, and embellished it with all the 
 fascinations of his wonderful eloquence* He supposes 
 that the whole series of geological formations from the 
 gneiss down to the tertiary were " revealed in a series of 
 visions to Moses, as the successive scenes of a great air- 
 drawn panorama." This theory, however, we think, must 
 be relinquished, or at least greatly modified, l)y every one, 
 who in his researches after truth is guided by the prin- 
 ciples of a cautious philosophy. It derives the greater 
 part of its plausibility from the imagination, rather than 
 from the judgment. There is nothing whatever in the 
 account given us by Moses, which would lead us to suppose 
 that he was recording a description of a vision which he 
 had seen: the language is that of a plain, simple, and 
 '\ unadorned narrative, and it is altogether irrelevant to 
 adduce passages to prove that God often revealed His will 
 to Moses by visions and pictorial representations, a fact 
 which none denies ; the present question being, is there any- 
 thing in the passage or the context, that would lead us to 
 infer, that the several acts of creation were placed before 
 him in vision? Besides, as we shall afterwards endeavour 
 to show, this theory leads to no satisfactory solution of the 
 difficulty : as there is no strict resemblance between the 
 order of creation as described by Moses, or, as they would 
 say, as seen by Moses in vision, and the order as disclosed 
 in the stratified rocks. 
 
 It is to be borne in mind that Scriptm-e always describes 
 
 ^ natural phenomena, not according to their scientific reality, 
 
 but according to the appearances which they present. It 
 
 * Miller's " Testimony" Lecture Fourth — " The Mosaic Vision of 
 Creation." 
 
INTERPEETATION OF SCRIPTURE. 87 
 
 is not the design of revelation to teach the trutlis of science: 
 these are the objects of reason, and not of faith. Its great 
 purpose is to reveal the will of (lod to us His creatures — 
 to make known the riches of His grace through Clu-ist 
 Jesus to, an apostate race. Hence, then, when Scripture 
 touches upon natural objects, it is not as they really and 
 scientifically are, but as they appear to us to be. Indeed, 
 in aU books, except those especially devoted to science, the 
 same method is adopted. We speak of the rising and 
 the setting of the sun, of the firmament of heaven, and of 
 the changes of the moon. There is truth in all these 
 descriptions, not scientific but optical truth. Thus in this 
 first chapter of Genesis, natural objects are described as 
 they would have appeared to a spectator, supposing that 
 there was then such an one upon the earth. It speaks of 
 the firmament which divides the waters wliich were under 
 it from the waters which M^ere above it: of the sun as the 
 greater, and the moon as the lesser luminary, and the stars 
 as subordinate to either, without any regard to their rela- 
 tive magnitudes. " The historian," observes Moses Stuart, 
 in a work written expressly against geology, " everywhere 
 speaks as an optical observer, stationed on a point of our 
 world, and surveying from this the heavens and the earth, 
 and speaking of them as seen in this manner by his bodily 
 eye. The sun, and moon, and stars, are servants of the 
 earth, lighted up to garnish and to cheer it, and to be the 
 guardians of its times and seasons. Other uses he knows 
 not for them ; certainly of other uses he does not speak. 
 The distances, magnitudes, orbicular motions, gravitating 
 powers, and projectile forces of the planets and of the stars, 
 are all out of the circle of his history, and probably beyond 
 his knowledge. Inspiration does not make men omniscient: 
 It does not teach them the scientific trutlis of astronomv, 
 
V 
 
 88 INTEEPEETATION OF SCEIPTUEE, 
 
 or chemistry, or botany, nor any science as such. Inspi- 
 ration is concerned with teaching religious truths, and such 
 facts or occurrences as are connected immediately with 
 illustrating, or wdth impressing them on the mind. This 
 is the object and extent of it: and to assume or suppose 
 that it goes beyon assigning a placed this, is to it which it 
 was never designed to fiU."* And Calvin, who was ignorant 
 alike of the discoveries of astronomy and of those of geology, 
 in a remarkable passage expresses himseK in similar terms, 
 — " It is well again to repeat what I have said before, that 
 it is not here philosophically discussed, how great the sun 
 is in the heaven, and how great, or how little, is the moon : 
 but how much light comes to us from them. For Moses 
 here addresses himself to our senses, that the knowledge of 
 the gifts of God which we enjoy may not glide away. 
 Therefore, in order to apprehend the meaning of Moses, it 
 is to no purpose to soar above the heavens; let us only 
 open our eyes to behold this light wliich God enkindles 
 for us in the earth. By this method the dishonesty of 
 these men is sufficiently rebuked, who censure Moses for 
 not speaking with greater exactness. For, as it became a 
 theologian, he had respect to us rather than to the stars."f 
 Upon the whole, then, we conclude that the language 
 employed by Moses, in his account of creation, is that of a 
 real narrative. It is to be judged of as such, and to be 
 examined by its accordance with fact. It relates what 
 really took place, and not what was merely seen in vision, 
 or what is merely stated to embellish a poem. It is true 
 that there was no human eye upon the earth, to see and 
 
 * Moses Stuart's ^'■Philological View of the Modern Doctrines of 
 Geology," pp. 45, 46. Clark's edition. 
 
 t Calvin's " Commentary on Genesis," vol. i., p. 85, 86— Calvin Trans- 
 lation Society. 
 
MEANING OF THE WORD CREATION. 89 
 
 describe tlie several acts of creation which passed before 
 it : but they are described, as they wouhl have been seen 
 and described by an individual, supposing that such an 
 one was then alive upon the earth. The account was 
 revealed to Moses, or to whomsoever was the narrator, by 
 the inspiration of God, and it is a description of events 
 which actually took place. 
 
 II. The second point to be determined is the meaning 
 of the words created and made, so frequently employed in 
 the sacred narrative of creation. 
 
 There are two different Hebrew words employed in the 
 passage, and which are rendered by our translators, indis- 
 criminately, created or made. The one word hara is a 
 stronger term than the other, and is used in the first verse 
 to denote the creation of heaven and earth : the other word 
 asah is a weaker term, and is used in the fourth command- 
 ment to denote the making of heaven and earth in the 
 space of six days. They correspond with our English 
 words created and made. The second term appears always 
 to denote a new arrangement of existing materials, rather 
 than a proper creation from nothing: but even the first 
 term, as the word created with us, is indefinite, and its 
 sense can only be determined from the meaning of the 
 passage in which it occurs.* 
 
 It would be superfluous to repeat the proofs which geo- 
 logy affords of the existence of the earth long anterior to 
 the period of the creation of man. This is a demonstrated 
 
 * The term bara is employed, not merely to denote the original crea- 
 tion of heaven and earth, but also the formation of man out of the dust 
 of the ground. (Gen. i. 27.) In the first verse it evidently denotes a 
 bringing into existence, a creation out of nothing, and not a mere arrange- 
 ment of previously existing materials: for in the second verse we read 
 that the earth, which had been created, was without form and void. 
 
 F 
 
90 MEANING OF THE WOED CEEATION. 
 
 fact of science, which can now neither be doubted nor 
 called in question. Certainly, thousands, and in all proba- 
 bility, millions of years before man was created, this world 
 existed, and was the abode of living creatures. But what 
 we would here observe is, that this is in entire harmony 
 with the Mosaic record of creation. The first verse of 
 Genesis stands forth as an independent proposition, and 
 asserts the time of creation indefinitely, as " in the begin- 
 ning." There is from Scripture no reason to object to the 
 intei-vention of ages between this original creation and the 
 arrangement of the earth, in its present form, in the space 
 of six days. 
 
 The only plausible objection which has been brought 
 against this view of the subject, is the force of the con- 
 necting particle and, which unites the first with the second 
 verse of Genesis, and from which it is inferred that there 
 is an immediate sequence : " In the beginning God created 
 the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without 
 form and void." But there is here no order of sequence 
 laid down ; the particle here rendered and is merely the 
 connecting particle of the Hebrew language, which, however, 
 does not determine the mode of the connection. " It may be 
 copulative, or disjunctive, or adversative ; or it may express 
 a mere annexation to a former topic of discourse, the con- 
 nection being only that of the subject-matter, or the 
 continuation of the composition. This continuative use 
 forms one of the most marked peculiarities of the Hebrew 
 idiom ; and it comprehends every variety of mode in which 
 one train of sentiment may be appended to another."* 
 Hence, then, the value and meaning of this particle is 
 extremely manifold, and it may be very differently trans- 
 
 * Smith's " Geology and Scripture^" page 248. Bohn's edition. 
 
MEANING OF THE WOED CREATION. 91 
 
 lated in various passages. In our Euglisli translation it is 
 usually rendered by the copulative conjunction and, but 
 this is not always the meaning which is there given to it. 
 It is also frequently rendered by the conjunctions hut, now, 
 thus, also, &c. In the passage under consideration, it has 
 been differently translated by learned critics. One mean- 
 ing given to it, which has met with the most favourable 
 acceptance among biblical scholars, is that of the elder Ros- 
 enniiiller, who renders it by the particle afterwards : " In 
 tlie beginning God created the heaven and the earth : after- 
 wards the earth was without form and void." If this 
 be the true translation, the passage not only allows, but 
 demands a period intervening between the creation of 
 heaven and earth, and the chaos to whicli the earth was 
 reduced.* 
 
 We conclude, then, that the terms rendered created or 
 made in the Mosaic description of tlie six days' work, 
 exclusive of the first verse, signify, not the original creation 
 of aU the tilings there mentioned out of nothing, but a 
 new arrangement or remodelling of previously existing 
 materials. This must be the true meaning of the terms 
 independently of the deductions of geology, or the views 
 which we may take of that science. No one now, since 
 the discoveries of astronomy, can believe that the sun 
 and moon and stars were created out of nothing less than 
 
 * Pye Smith remarks that to go no farther than the tirst two leaves of 
 the Hebrew Bible, we find this copula rendered in our authorized version 
 by thus, hut, now, and also. Dr. Dathe of Leipzig, renders the first two 
 verses in this manner — "In the beginning, God created the heaven and 
 the earth. But afterwards the earth became waste and desolate." " The 
 general sense of the verse," says Moses Stuart, " would not be materially 
 injured by translating it thus — ' afterwards the earth was without form."" 
 Upon the whole, we regard the objection as very trifling: even our f)wii 
 conjunction " and " does not always signify immediate secjuencc. 
 
92 THE CREATIVE DAYS : 
 
 six thousand years ago, and yet the making of these is 
 described as being a part of the fourth day's work. In the 
 first day, we read of light being called into existence: at 
 that period, the sun must have existed, and therefore 
 even those who suppose that indefinite periods are denoted 
 by the term days, must grant the existence of the sun 
 before the fourth day. Matter, then, was created out of 
 nothing " in the beginning," — at some far distant period in 
 the past. Then the heaven and the earth were called into 
 existence. Tliis world, we know from geology, was the 
 abode of different creations for ages upon ages before the 
 creation of man. To this fact of science there is nothing 
 at variance in the sacred Scriptures. Afterwards, in the 
 space of six days, the world was put into its present form: 
 its materials were re-arranged; its form was readjusted; 
 and it was constituted the abode of man. It is in this 
 sense that we understand the declaration of the fourth 
 commandment. " In six days the Lord made (asah) heaven 
 and earth, the sea, and all that in them is " — that is, did 
 not create them out of nothing, but Tnade or arranged them 
 in their present form. 
 
 III. Our third inquiry is, Wliat is the meaning of the 
 term day in the description by Moses of the six creative 
 days? Now, there are here two views, each of wdiich has 
 been adopted and defended by learned men : some regard 
 the six days of creation as periods of indefinite length, and 
 others consider them as natural days. 
 
 The theory of indefinite periods, as it has been termed, 
 was formerly maintained by several distinguished geo- 
 logists, when the science of geology was not in so advanced 
 a state as at present; and after having been for a time 
 abandoned, it has recently been revived and maintained 
 with much ingenuity and ability. The distinguished 
 
THEOKY OF INDEFINITE PERIODS. 93 
 
 naturalist and geologist Ciivier was an advocate of this 
 theory; such also was the opinion of De Luc, Parkinson, 
 and Professor Jamieson of Edinburgh ; and in more recent 
 times, the same theory has been advanced by Professor 
 Sillimau of America,* and appears to be maintained by the 
 Eev. Dr. Anderson of Newburgh in his interesting and 
 instructive work, " The Course of Creation." This theory 
 proceeds upon the assumption that the days of the Mosaic 
 creation are not to be understood as natural days, em- 
 bracing only twenty-four hours ; but as indefinite periods, 
 each embracing, it may be, a million of years. Abundance 
 of time is thus afforded for the various geological creations ; 
 for, according to this opinion, the world was in existence 
 for five long periods before the sixth day, when man was 
 created. 
 
 The above theory has lately come into great notoriety 
 and favour, by its being adopted and defended by Hugh 
 Miller, in his last most able work. He takes the three 
 great palaeontological divisions into which geology is 
 arranged, and assigns to each of them a creative day, 
 although the days are not taken in their order, the fourth 
 day being omitted. " The geologist," he observes, " in his 
 attempts to collate the divine with the geological record, 
 has only three of the six periods of creation to account for, 
 — the period of plants, the period of great sea-monsters 
 and creeping things, and the period of cattle and beasts of 
 the earth. He is called on to question his systems and 
 formations regarding the remains of these three great 
 periods, and of these only. And the question once fairly 
 stated, what, I ask, is the reply? All geologists agree in 
 
 * Professor Silliman advances this view of the subject in a treatise on 
 the Consistency of Geology with Sacred History, published in 1833 as a 
 supplement to tlic American edition of Bakewell's " Geology." 
 
94 THE CREATIVE DAYS : 
 
 liolding that the vast geological scale naturally divides into 
 three gTeat parts. There are many lesser divisions, — divi- 
 sions into systems, formations, deposits, beds, strata: but 
 the master divisions, in each of which we find a type of 
 life so unlike that of the others, that even the unpractised 
 eye can detect the difference, are simply three — the Palae- 
 ozoic or oldest fossiliferous division; the Secondary or 
 middle fossiliferous division; and the Tertiary or latest 
 fossiliferous division."* The iirst, or Palaeozoic division, 
 chiefly represented by the Carboniferous system, he refers 
 to the third day ; the second, or Secondary division, chiefly 
 represented by the Lias and Oolite, he refers to the fifth 
 day ; and the third, or Tertiary division, represented by the 
 Tei-tiary periods, he refers to the sixth day. In another 
 chapter of the same work, he carries his theory still farther, 
 and assigns to each day a particular geological system or 
 formation. "Tliese (geological days) may be named in 
 their order as, first, the Azoic day or period ; second, the 
 Silurian and Old Eed Sandstone day or period ; third, the 
 Carboniferous day or period; fourth, the Permian and 
 Triassic day or period ; fifth, the Oolitic and Cretaceous 
 day or period ; and siodh, the Tertiary day or period."-f- 
 
 As is evident, from the above quotations, the advocates 
 of this theory have endeavoured to support it by geological 
 arguments. They siippose that the order of creation, as 
 described by Moses, corresponds with that developed by 
 geology. At first, the earth was in a fluid state, covered 
 with a sea and without inhabitants ; then, on the third day, 
 plants were created, answering to the abundant vegetation 
 of the Coal measures ; on the fifth day, the waters brought 
 forth moving creatures, answering to the gigantic reptiles 
 of the Lias and Oolite ; on the sixth day, the beasts of the 
 
 * Miixer's " Testimony of the Rocks," pp. 134, 135. f Ibid, p. 175. 
 
THEORY OF INDEFINITE PEEIODS. 95 
 
 earth were created, answering to the mammalia of the Ter- 
 tiary; and last of all, man was called into existence* 
 The resemblance, however, between the order of creation as 
 developed by geology, and that laid down in Scripture is 
 more fanciful than real; at least no such order can be dis- 
 covered on an examination of the stratified deposits. Ac- 
 cording to Genesis, plants were created on the third day, 
 and animals not until the fifth : but, according to geology, 
 animals and plants are discovered together as contempora- 
 neous in the lowest fossiliferous strata ; and numerous for- 
 mations had passed away, long cycles of ages had elapsed, 
 before the Carboniferous system was deposited ; the trilo- 
 bites of the Silurian and the fish of the Old Red Sandstone 
 existed before the flora of the Coal measures. We are also 
 told that the sun did not appear until the fourth day, a 
 statement perfectly in accordance with the idea that the 
 days are natural periods ; but at variance with the theory 
 of indefinite periods, which would suppose that, for long 
 preceding ages, the sun had never once shone upon the 
 earth, t Besides, according to this theory, Moses describes 
 not the creation of present plants and animals which now 
 exist, but of those which have for ages been extinct ; for 
 not a single plant of the Carboniferous system, not a single 
 animal of the Oolite now survives. But who can admit the 
 truth or probability of this? Why should Moses describe 
 
 * Cuvier asserts that " the cosmogony of Moses assigns to the epochs 
 of creation precisely the same order as that which has been deduced from 
 geological considerations:" and Professor Jamieson of Edinburgh has 
 endeavoiued to exhibit the correspondence in detail. 
 
 •f Birds are mentioned as having been created on the fifth day, that is, 
 according to this theory, during the deposition of the Lias and Oolite; 
 but very few of their remains are found in the fossiliferous rocks. Their 
 footprints have been discovered in the Triassic; and it is not until we 
 reach the Eocene beds of the Tertiary that their bones have been found. 
 
^Q THE CEEATIVE DAYS : 
 
 the creation of extinct species, and pass entirely over those 
 which now exist, and which alone are connected with man? 
 The advocates of this theory have also attempted to 
 support it by philological arguments. The word day, they 
 observe, is an indefinite term ; it is often, in Scripture and 
 in common language, used to express a period of vast dura- 
 tion ; we speak of the day of grace, the day of salvation, 
 the day of human life ; there is then no philological neces- 
 sity of restricting the term to a duration of twenty-four 
 hours. But this argument appears to us to be wholly 
 irrelevant. It is very true that the word day is an inde- 
 finite term ; that it often signifies a period of long dura- 
 tion; we admit all that is demanded on this point; but 
 what is gained thereby? The question is not, What is the 
 meaning of the term in other passages? but. What does it 
 mean here? Now we cannot see how it can be more 
 plainly affirmed to mean a natural day. In every one of 
 the creative days the Scripture speaks of a morning and 
 an evening.* And besides, we have, in this very passage, 
 a definition of the term day, which corresponds only with 
 the supposition that a natural day is meant. " And God 
 called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.'' 
 But what especially leads us to believe that the days of 
 the Mosaic account are natural days, and not long periods, 
 is the reference to the creative days in the fourth com- 
 
 * The advocates of the theory of indefinite periods endeavour to found 
 an argument on Gen. ii. 4, " These are the generations of the heavens 
 and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God 
 made the earth and the heavens." Here, they observe, the term day is 
 used figuratively. But, as Dr. Smith remarks, "The word used in this 
 place is not the simple noun: but it is a compound of that noun with a 
 preposition, formed according to the genius of the Hebrew language, and 
 producing an adverb, requiring to be rendered by such words as when, at 
 the time, after." 
 
NATUEAL DAYS. 
 
 inandmeut : " Six days shalt tliou labour and du all thy 
 work. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth." 
 Now, according to the above hyi^othesis, these two periods 
 of six days are very different ; the first is a period of six 
 natural days, but the second is a period of indefinite mag- 
 nitude, in all probability six millions of years. But surely 
 it is against all the principles of sound criticism to give 
 two such different meanings to the same word, in the same 
 passage, unless there be sometliing in the construction of 
 the passage itself which necessitates the difference. It is 
 true, that the advocates of the alwve theory endeavour to 
 surmount the objection by conceiving the Sabbath or 
 seventh day itself to be a long period— the period of 
 redemption ; and that the fourth commandment teaches us, 
 that as God created the heaven and the earth in six periods 
 and rested on the seventh ; so should we work during six 
 periods and rest the seventh, and that the proportion 
 between these periods depends on the difference between 
 the natures of God and man. But such an interpretation 
 is evidently unnatural, and made only to suit a precon- 
 ceived hypothesis. 
 
 For these reasons, and for others that might be 
 assigned, we conclude that the term day does not mean 
 an indefinite period. Both the discoveries of geology and 
 the principles of philology seem to us to be opposed to 
 such a meaning being assigned to it. We are led, then, to 
 believe that by days here are meant natural days— succes- 
 sive periods of twenty-four hours. This is evidently the 
 obvious and natural meaning of the term day in the pas- 
 sage under consideration; the other interpretation is ibrced 
 and unnatural. At the same time, we give this opinion 
 with diffidence, and are far from asserting positively that 
 the theoiy of indefinite periods is erroneous ; on the con- 
 
98 MEANING OF THE WORD EARTH. 
 
 trary, we fully concur in the remarks of Dr. Hitclicock, 
 who, after summing ujd the arguments for and against the 
 above theory, observes, "Geologists and theologians, for 
 the most part, prefer to regard the six days as literal days 
 of twenty-four hours. But, generally, they would not 
 regard the opposite opinion to be as unreasonable as it 
 would be to reject the Bible from any supposed collision 
 with geology."* 
 
 IV. In the fourth place, another very important word 
 remains to be considered, \A^iat is the meaning of the term 
 "earth" in this connection? Now here also there are 
 several opinions, which require to be discussed. 
 
 A very common theory, once almost universally adopted 
 by biblical geologists, and still resorted to by men of great 
 eminence, as the solution of the difficulty, is that by earth 
 here is meant the whole world — the entire globe. This 
 was the opinion which Dr. Buckland advanced, although 
 with diffidence, in his " Bridgewater Treatise," and which 
 Dr. Chalmers adduced as his solution of the geological 
 problem.-f- According to the distinguished advocates of 
 this theory, the world, which had for indefinite ages pre- 
 viously existed, was brought into a state of disorder or 
 
 * Hitchcock's " Religion of Geology" p. 67. 
 
 t '* The detailed history of creation in the first chapter of Genesis," 
 says Dr. Chalmers, "begins at the middle of the second verse; and what 
 precedes might be understood as an introductory sentence, by which we 
 are most appositely told, both that God created all things at the first, 
 and that afterwards, by what interval of time it is not specified, the earth 
 lapsed into a chaos, from the darkness and disorder of which the pre- 
 sent system or economy of things was made to arise." So also Arch- 
 bishop Sumner expresses himself in similar terms. " We are not called 
 upon to deny the possible existence of previous worlds, from the wreck 
 of which our globe was organised, and the ruins of which are now fur- 
 nishing matter to our curiosity." — Sumnek's " Records of Creation" vol. 
 i., pp. 284, 285. 
 
buckland's theory. 99 
 
 chaos, iiii mediately before the creation of man; all former 
 creations of plants and animals were destroyed; and in 
 the space of six days the earth was reduced to its present 
 form, according to the order laid down by Moses, furnished 
 with an entirely different and new creation, and consti- 
 tuted the abode of man. According to this theoiy, there 
 was a universal chaos, a total extinction of previously 
 (existing plants and animals, and an entirely new creation, 
 an introduction of a completely different set of creatures. 
 " The first evening," observes Dr. Buckland, " may be con- 
 sidered as the termination of the indefinite time which 
 followed the primeval creation announced in the first verse, 
 and as the commencement of the first of the six succeed- 
 ing days, in which the earth was to be fitted up, and peo- 
 pled in a manner fit for the reception of mankind. We 
 have, in this second verse, a distinct mention of earth and 
 waters, as already existing, and involved in darkness ; their 
 condition also is described as a state of confusion and 
 emptiness, {tohu hohu), words which are usually interpreted 
 by the vague and indefinite Greek term, chaos, and which 
 may be geologically considered as designating the wreck and 
 ruins of a former world. At this intermediate point of time, 
 the preceding undefined geological periods had terminated, 
 a new series of events commenced, and the work of the 
 first morning of this new creation was the calling forth of 
 lio-ht from a temporary darkness, which had overspread 
 the ruins of the ancient earth." ''• This theory was advanced 
 at a period when the science of geology was comparatively 
 in its infancy; it, at the time, came in conflict with no 
 geological facts, and was perfectly adequate to reconcile 
 the Mosaic narrative with the disclosures of science. But, 
 
 ♦ BuCKLAKu's '■'■ Bridgewater Treatist,"' vol. i., pp. 23-26. 
 
100 EXISTING SPECIES BEFOKE THE ADAMIC CEEATION. 
 
 since that period, farther discoveries in geology have been 
 made, which must cause this theory to he greatly modified, 
 if not entirely abandoned. 
 
 Although there has been a great variety of geological 
 creations, yet the point at whish geology at present tends, 
 is, that there never has been a complete break in the chain 
 of existence — that these creations are connected together, 
 so that a few of the species of one formation have passed 
 into that which succeeds it. This, indeed, is not yet fully 
 demonstrated; there still appears to be an almost entire 
 break between the Permian and Triassic formations,* and 
 between the Cretaceous and the Tertiary. But be this as it 
 may, it is certain that there is no break between the pre- 
 sent formation and the Tertiary or those strata whicli 
 immediately preceded it. Many of the previously exist- 
 ing plants and animals, instead of being destroyed, have 
 come down to our day. Indeed, the whole series of the 
 Tertiary periods are arranged according to the greater or 
 lesser number of existing shells which they contain. 
 According to Sir C. Lyell, the numerical proportion of 
 existing to extinct shells in the different Tertiary periods 
 is 3^ per cent, in the Eocene period, 17 per cent, in the 
 Miocene period, from 35 to 50 per cent, in the older Plio- 
 cene period, and even as great as from 90 to 95 per cent, 
 in the newer Pliocene or Pleistocene period.-f- Nor is it 
 only shells which have existed before the Adamic creation, 
 but several of the present species of plants and animals. 
 
 * The Permian formation is the end of the Palaeozoic, and the Triassic 
 is the beginning of the Secondary period ; and Professor Ansted tells us 
 that, " between the close of the older epoch and the commencement of 
 this (the Triassic) every species, both of animal and vegetable, almost 
 without exception, seems to have been changed." — " Ancient World," p. 
 112. 
 
 t Lyell's " Manual of Geology" p. 116, fifth edition. 
 
EXISTING SPECIES BEFORE THE ADAMIC CEEATION. 101 
 
 Of plants, Hunli Miller, in his " Testimony of the Eocks," 
 mentions the common Scotch fir, the common birch, the 
 common oak, and the Norwegian spruce ; and of animals, 
 he mentions the goat, the badger, the fox, the wild cat, 
 and the red-deer, as having existed thousands of years 
 before man was created. There is no break of existence, 
 no chaos of death, between them and tlie present creation. 
 Thus, then, there was no such universal chaos over the 
 whole world, immediately before the Adamic creation, as 
 consisted in the entire extinction of all previously existing 
 plants and animals ; for it is contrary to all analogy to 
 suppose, that God would re-create precisely the same 
 organic forms. " It is," says Hugh Miller, " a great fact, 
 now fully established in the course of geological discovery, 
 that between the plants which in the present time cover 
 the earth, and the animals which inhabit it, and the plants 
 and animals of later extinct creations, there occurred no 
 break or blank, but that, on the contrary, many of the existing 
 organisms were contemporary during the morning of their 
 being with many of the extinct ones during the evening 
 of theirs. We know farther, that not a few of the shells 
 which now live on our coasts, and several of even the 
 wild animals which continue to survive amid our tracts of 
 hill and forest, were in existence many ages ere the human 
 age began. Instead of dating their beginning only a single 
 natural day, or at most two natural days, in advance of 
 man, they must have preceded him by many thousands 
 of years. In fine, in consequence of that comparatively 
 recent extension of geologic fact in the direction of the 
 later systems and formations, through which we are led to 
 know that the present creation was not cut off abruptly 
 from the preceding one, but that, on the contrary, it dove- 
 tailed into it at a thousand different points, we are led also 
 
102 PYE smith's theoey. 
 
 to know that any scheme of reconciliation which would 
 separate between the recent and the extinct existences by 
 a chaotic gulf of death and darkness, is a scheme which no 
 longer meets the necessities of the case." * 
 
 Accordingly, another scheme of reconciliation has been 
 advanced, in order to remove this difficulty, by one who, 
 more than any other man, united in himself the qualifica- 
 tions of an accomplished geologist and a profound theolo- 
 gian ; we allude to Dr. Pye Smith. He supposes that by 
 the term earth is not meant the whole, but a portion of 
 the world; and he endeavours by philological arguments 
 to prove that this is the meaning of the term in the Mosaic 
 narrative of the six days' work.-j- " Considering," says he, 
 " all the evidence of the case, I can find no reason against 
 our regarding the word, subsequently to the first verse, 
 and throughout the whole description of the six days, as 
 designed to express the yart of our world which God was 
 adapting for the dwelling of man, and the animals con- 
 nected with him." And the narrative of the six days' 
 work he considers to be " a description, in expressions 
 adapted to the ideas and capacities of mankind in the 
 earliest ages, of a series of operations, by which the 
 Being of omnipotent wisdom and goodness adjusted and 
 furnished not the earth generally, but, as the particular 
 subject under consideration here, a portion of its surface, 
 for the most glorious purposes." And this portion of the 
 
 * Miller's " Testimony of the Bocks," p. 121, 122. 
 
 t The eulogium which Dr. Hitchcock pronounces on Dr. Pye Smith is 
 most just and merited. "We can say of him, what we can say of verj' 
 few men, that he is accurately acquainted with all the branches of the 
 subject. Eminent as a theologian and a philologist, and fully possessed 
 of all the facts in geology and natural history, he gives us his opinion, 
 not as a young' man full of novelties, but in the full maturity of judg- 
 ment and of years."^ — Hitchcock's " Religion of Geology," p. 122. 
 
PYE smith's theory. 103 
 
 earth he conceives to have been " a part of Asia, lying 
 between the Caucasian ridge, the Caspian sea, and Tartaiy 
 on the north, the Persian and Indian seas on the south, 
 and tlie high mountain ridges which run at considerable 
 distances on the eastern and western flank." This portion 
 of Western Asia, the cradle of the human race, he supposes 
 " was by atmospheric and geologic causes of previous 
 operation under the will of the Almighty, brought into a 
 condition of superficial ruin, or some kind of general dis- 
 order." Afterwards, elevations of land took place, and in 
 the course of six days, this district was prepared by a 
 series of creative acts for the residence of man, and of the 
 several plants and animals which are peculiar to that 
 region.* 
 
 Sucli is an outline of the celebrated theory of Dr. Pye 
 Smith. It has since been defended and illustrated by 
 various writers.*f- We have not space to enter into its 
 details. It has been advanced with great ingenuity, sup- 
 ported with much learning, and defended with remarkable 
 candour and liberality. The restriction of the term earth 
 to only a portion of the world is favoured by the fact, as 
 is now agreed upon by the generality of biblical geologists, 
 that a similar limitation must be given to the term iri 
 reference to the deluge. The reduction of a portion of the 
 
 * Pye Smith's ^^ Scripture and Geology" — p. 249-251. This work, 
 however much we may differ from some of its assumptions, is of extraordi- 
 nary erudition, ingenuity, and ability. The distinguished author a])pears 
 to be equally at home in philology, theology, and geology. It is cer- 
 tainly the best work on Geology in its relation to Revelation. 
 
 t In particular, this theory forms the groundwork of a recent publi- 
 cation of much merit, — " Geology and Genesis, a Reconciliation of the 
 two Records," by the Rev. George Wight. London : John Snow, 1857. 
 Dr. Pye Smith's theory is here adopted and carried out to its legitimate 
 consequences. 
 
104 PYE smith's theoey. 
 
 earth to a chaotic state is in itself by no means an 
 improbable hypothesis; it is what must frequently have 
 occurred in past geological ages; and even in modern 
 times, we have an example of it in the effects produced by 
 the eruption of Skaptar Jokul in Iceland, in the year 1783 : 
 and Mrs. Somerville tells us, that in that island there is " a 
 low valley, a hundred miles wide, extending from sea to 
 sea, which is a tremendous desert, a scene of perpetual 
 conflict between the antagonistic powers of fire and frost, 
 without a drop of water or a blade of grass ; and where no 
 living creature is to be seen, not a bird, nor even an 
 insect."* 
 
 This theory of restricting the six days' creative work to a 
 small portion of the earth, if otherwise admissible, certainly 
 removes the geological difficulty which attaches itself to 
 the other interpretation of the term earth. There is here 
 ample space allowed for the previous existence of many 
 of the present species of plants and animals ; the scene of 
 creation is restricted to one definite centre ; and whilst it 
 was reduced to superficial ruin and disorder, the world 
 around it was the seat of animal life and enjoyment. We 
 are not aware of any geological objections which militate 
 against it ; indeed, Hugh Miller, although on other grounds 
 opposed to it, candidly admits that this scheme " certainly 
 does not conflict with the facts educed by geologic 
 discovery."-f- 
 
 Still, however, we are far from asserting, or believing, 
 that this is the true key to the understanding of the Mosaic 
 narrative — the true solution of the question. It seems to 
 be a theory adapted to the present state of geological 
 
 * Mrs. Someeville's " Physical Geography" Vol. I. chap. 13. See 
 also King's " Geology and Religion,'" pp. 108-110, fifth edition, 
 t Miller's " Testimony of the Rocks" p. 131. 
 
THEORY OF A NEW GEOLOGICAL ERA. 105 
 
 science, but which may not stand the test of future dis- 
 covery. In short, it is an hypothesis which requires confir- 
 mation ; and, until this confirmation, we woukl hesitate to 
 assert, that the term earth in the Mosaic narrative of 
 creation denotes only a portion of the world. The descrip- 
 tion given us in the first chapter of Genesis, appears to be 
 too magnificent and grand to admit of such a limitation to 
 only a small portion of the earth, and to the creation of 
 only a few species of plants and annuals. And the phrase 
 employed in the fourth commandment appears to be too 
 universal an expression to admit of so restricted a mean- 
 ing, — " In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
 sea and all that in them is." 
 
 Tliere is still a third view of the term earth, which 
 intervenes between the views of Dr. Buckland and Dr. 
 Smith. This theory agrees with Dr. Buckland's, in sup- 
 posing that by the term earth, is meant the whole world ; 
 but it differs from it in so far as it holds that there was 
 only a partial, instead of a total destruction of previously 
 existing plants and animals. Prior to the six Mosaic days, 
 according to this theory, a geological convulsion or 
 catastrophe took place, co-extensive with the earth, when, 
 probably by igneous agency, a great revolution Avas effected ; 
 part of the dry land, it may be, having subsided below the 
 level of the sea, and a portion of the bottom of the sea 
 being elevated ; and this was the state of chaos or confusion 
 mentioned in the second verse of Genesis, where it is said, 
 that " the earth was without form and void." But by tins 
 geological convulsion, is not meant that there was a total 
 extinction of life, a destruction of all created beings; 
 several animals and plants survived the convulsion, 
 although perhaps by far the greater number, not only of 
 individuals, but of species, were destroyed. In short, there 
 
 G 
 
106 THEORY OF A NEW GEOLOGICAL ERA. 
 
 was here the termination of an old formation, — the end of a 
 geological period. Afterwards, in the space of six days, 
 the earth was put into its present form, and an entirely 
 new creation of animals and plants was called into exis- 
 tence. There is nothing in the sacred narrative which 
 would lead us to infer that such a creation was restricted 
 to a particular place ; there is nothing which prevents us 
 supposing that there may have been various centres of 
 creation. This new creation consisted in the present race 
 of plants and animals, except those which had survived 
 the geological convulsion. But what distinguishes and 
 exalts it above all other geological creations is the intro- 
 duction of man into the world, — a being formed in the 
 image of God. This theory, then, whilst it meets the geo- 
 logical difficulty as to the existence of several of the living 
 species before the Adamic creation, does not necessitate us, 
 as in Dr. Smith's theory, to restrict the term earth to a 
 small portion of the world. 
 
 It is to be observed that, in all probability, there have 
 been numerous similar destructions and creations in past 
 geological ages. Although it may be true that each%rma- 
 tion is connected with the preceding, by having several 
 species common to both, yet it is still more fully ascertained 
 that each formation has a creation peculiar to itself At 
 or toward the close of one formation, there must have been 
 a considerable destruction; at or after the beginning of 
 the next formation, there must have been an entirely new 
 creation."*^ An example will best illustrate what is meant. 
 
 * Such a statement, however, it is to be obsei-ved, would, in all proba- 
 bility, be denied by Sir C. Lyell and the Uniformitists. According to 
 them, the introduction of new species was gradual. This, however, is 
 contested by Professor Sedgwick and other distinguished geologists. 
 Professor Hitchcock observes, " that a new creation occurred at the com- 
 mencement of the several geological periods can hardly admit of a doubt." 
 
THEORY OF A NEW GEOLOGICAL EEA. 107 
 
 There are a few species discovered which are common to 
 the Old Eed Saudstone formation and the Carboniferous 
 system; but still each has a creation peculiar to itself; 
 there are characteristic fossils which never penetrate from 
 the one into the other ; when, then, we pass from the Old 
 Eed Sandstone to the Carboniferous system, we find an 
 extinction of numerous species, and an entirely new crea- 
 tion of other and different species. There is here, then, 
 what we may, for want of a better term, call a geological 
 catastrophe ; a chaos or extinction on the one hand, and a 
 creation or renovation on the other ; the fish of the Old Ked 
 Sandstone have been succeeded by the fauna and flora of 
 the Carboniferous system. Professor Sedgwick, perhaps 
 the most cautious of our English geologists, informs us, 
 that the changes of the forms of organic life appear to have 
 been contemporaneous with changes in the physical world. 
 " The greatest changes of organic types," he observes, 
 " among our strata are connected with physical revolu- 
 tions." And Elie de Beaumont supposes that " in the his- 
 tory of the earth, there have been long periods of compara- 
 tive repose, during which the deposition of sedimentary 
 matter has gone on in regular continuity; and there have 
 also been short periods of paroxysmal violence, during which 
 that continuity was broken." " The appearance of moun- 
 tains," remarks Agassiz, " and the inequalities of the sur- 
 face resulting from it, seem to have coincided generally 
 with the epochs of the renewal of organized beings." 
 So, according to this theory, in a precisely similar manner, 
 although there are several species common to the upper 
 Tertiary and the present period, yet each has a creation 
 peculiar to itself; there is an extinction of many of the Ter- 
 tiaiy species, and an entirely new creation of many of tlie 
 existing species ; we pass from an old to a new geological 
 
108 THEOEY OF A NEW GEOLOGICAL EEA. 
 
 formation ; there is a catastrophe or convulsion at the end 
 of the one, and a new creation at the beginning of tlie 
 other. Man and the greater number of existing species 
 were created at the period assigned by Moses. 
 
 It is argued by an influential school of geologists, that 
 the laws of nature have ever been uniform, that the changes 
 upon the earth's surface have never upon the whole been 
 much more violent than they are now, and that geological 
 catastrophes or convulsions are chimerical. With the pro- 
 foundest deference for Sir Charles Lyell, as perhaps the 
 most distinguished of living geologists, we cannot but 
 think that he has carried his theory of uniformity to an 
 unwarrantable extent. We have little sympathy with the 
 views of the old catastrophists, but still we regard a middle 
 view as the correct one, that whilst the laws of nature have 
 upon the whole been uniform in their action, yet that at 
 certain periods there have been what may be called geo- 
 logical catastrophes, — partial destructions of existing spe- 
 cies, and entirely new creations. This hypothesis has been 
 adopted by Elie de Beaumont. " Each revolution, or as it 
 may be termed, frightful convulsion," he remarks, "has 
 fallen in with the date of another geological phenomenon ; 
 namely, the passage from one independent sedimentary 
 formation to another, characterized by a considerable 
 difference in organic types." Such appears to us the only 
 theory accounting for the marked differences in the organic 
 forms of different formations. Between the close of the 
 Permian and the commencement of the Triassic formation, 
 " every species, both of animal and vegetable, almost 
 without exception, seems to have been changed."* A 
 similar almost entire break of existence occurs between the 
 
 * Ansted's '•'■Ancient World" -p. 112. 
 
THEORY OF A NEW GEOLOGICAL ERA- 10!J 
 
 end of the Chalk formation and the commencement of the 
 Tertiary periods. At the end of the Permian and of tlie 
 Chalk there is also abundant evidence of the most extensive 
 and violent igneous action. Here, then, are two examples of 
 what, to say the least, are very like catastrophes, — almost 
 entire extinctions on the one hand, and entirely new crea- 
 tions on the other. 
 
 It is further argued by the advocates of this theory, that 
 there is evidence of such a geological convulsion at the 
 close of the Tertiary formation. Not only was there an 
 entire extinction of many of the then existing species, but 
 a great alteration of the surface of the earth. An immense 
 change in the temperature took place, at least in northern 
 and high southern latitudes. A comparatively warm climate 
 was succeeded by the temperature of the frozen zone. The 
 land in Scotland is supposed to have sunk from one to two 
 thousand feet. Icebergs and glaciers abounded. The 
 immense boulders, which are ^^found in this country, are 
 evidences of the intensity of the cold, and of the power of 
 the forces in operation. It was, as an eminent geologist 
 terms it, an age of extinction. "All this while," he 
 observes, " both the land and the water seem to have been, 
 for the most part, destitute of inhabitants." How long 
 this drift period continued, geologists have not ascertained ; 
 but it is certain, that it intervenes between the uppermost 
 Tertiary and the present formation. " It seems," says Dr. 
 Hitchcock, " that a time was chosen for its operation when 
 the globe was almost destitute of organic life, and not long 
 before the time when a new and nobler creation than those 
 previously occupying the earth was to be placed upon it."* 
 The advocates of the above theory do not venture to affirm 
 
 * Hitchcock's " Religion of Geology," pp. 172, 173. 
 
110 NOT PEEPAEED TO DECIDE. 
 
 positively that this is the chaos mentioned in Scripture ; 
 but still here, at a period comparatively recent, we have a 
 season of destruction, and at its close another mighty revo- 
 lution, when the present land was raised, and the earth was 
 put into its present form. 
 
 We are, however, by no means prepared to affirm that 
 the theory, which would identify the creation of Genesis 
 with a new geological era, is a true and satisfactory solu- 
 tion of the difficulty. Like the theory of Dr. Pye Smith, 
 it is an hypothesis which deserves candid discussion and 
 contu'mation, or else refutation. One great objection to it 
 is that the number of existing species found in what are 
 supposed to be deposits of the newer Pliocene period, and 
 therefore pre-Adamic, is very large. And farther, there 
 are appearances, such as elevated beaches and coast lines, 
 deltas, channels of rivers, &c., that seem rather to favour 
 the idea of a period of rest than of disturbance, immediately 
 before the Adamic creation. We have seen that Sir 
 Charles Lyell estimates the time taken by the Niagara in 
 excavating its channel at thirty thousand years, and the 
 time taken by the Mississippi in forming its delta at a 
 hundred thousand years. Similar calculations have been 
 made by him and other distinguished geologists from the 
 inspection of other natural phenomena. In short, we are, 
 as yet, too ignorant of the nature of the drift period to 
 assert any thing positive on the subject. 
 
 For this reason, we regard all attempts at the discovery 
 of an adequate theory of reconciliation, for the present, 
 hopeless. Geology, as a science, does not appear to be in 
 that state of advancement which would enable us to apply 
 its deductions to the Mosaic narrative ; there are still several 
 data wanting ; we are, in particular, ignorant of the period 
 immediately preceding the present, and therefore of those 
 
NOT PEEPARED TO DECIDE. Ill 
 
 facts, which it is essential to know, before we can form any- 
 satisfactory theory. There is avowedly among geologists 
 an ignorance as to the precise state of the earth, immedi- 
 ately before the present creation ; that part of the geologi- 
 cal record, so to speak, is written with strange characters^ 
 and is hardly legible. Until, then, we are able to know, 
 with some degree of certainty, the geological condition of 
 the earth immediately before the creation of man ; it is, we 
 tliink, impossible to assert, whether the account given by 
 Moses agrees or disagrees with the facts of geology. 
 
 Upon the whole, the matter must still be left in 
 considerable doubt. Biblical geologists are not in a 
 position to attain to a full and perfect theory. They have 
 been employed rather in removing difficulties and destroy- 
 ing false theories, than in advancing any thing positive on 
 the subject. And there is much truth in the remark of 
 Professor Sedgwick, that BibUcal geologists " have prema- 
 turely, and, therefore, without an adequate knowledge of 
 all the facts essential to the argument, endeavoured to 
 bring the natural history of the earth into a literal accord- 
 ance with the book of Genesis."* " Geology," observes^ 
 Dr. King, "is but feeling its way to the formation of a 
 complete and coherent system. If in its present state it 
 exhibited an apparent accordance with our interpretation 
 of Scripture, new difficulties might arise from subsequent 
 geological discoveries. It is enough for the present that 
 apparent contradictions are becoming less prominent, 
 while possible means of reconciliation are enlarging on 
 the view."i- And hence, we are still constrained to adopt 
 the language of Dr. Buckland, however unsatisfactory 
 such language may be to impatient mmds : " It must be 
 
 * Sedgwick's "DiscoMrse," Appendix, p. 115. Fifth edition. 
 t Ki>'g's " Geology and Religion" p. 107. 
 
112 SCIENCE IN HAEMONY WITH EEVELATION. 
 
 cordially admitted that the season has not yet arrived, 
 when a perfect theory of the whole earth can be fixedly 
 and finally established, since we have not before us all the 
 facts on which such a theory may eventually be founded."* 
 
 It is, however, to be borne in mind, that our ignorance of 
 the true method of reconciliation between the facts of 
 geology and the statements of revelation, does not prove 
 that there is any real discrepancy. Both the geological 
 facts, when fully demonstrated, and the scriptural declara- 
 tions, Avhen properly interpreted, are founded on truth, 
 and cannot possibly contradict each other. We believe 
 that there exists a reconciling principle between them, 
 although from want of data we may not be able to discover 
 it. Meanwhile, our ignorance ought to teach us caution 
 and patience, but ought not for a moment to lead us to 
 imagine that there is any real contradiction between 
 science and revelation. Some of the theories alluded to in 
 this chapter do not, so far as we can discern, directly con- 
 tradict either geology or Scripture ; and should, therefore, 
 teach us that there need be no irreconcilable discordance. 
 We are far from affirming or believing, that any one of 
 these theories is the true solution of the difficulty; we 
 merely assert, that this much they demonstrate, that in the 
 Mosaic narrative of creation, there need be no real dis- 
 crepancy between the facts of science and the statements 
 of revelation. 
 
 We need be under no apprehension that true science 
 shall ever be opposed to revelation. The word of God is 
 not contradicted, but illustrated and confirmed by His 
 works. This has ever been the case in past ages ; and this 
 will ever be the case in the ages to come. Scripture does 
 
 * Buckland's " Bridgewater Treatise," p. 12. 
 
SCIENCE IN HARMONY WITH EEVELATION. 1 1 3 
 
 not shrink from the strictest scrutiny, nor is it at all afraid 
 that any discovery of science shall either weaken its 
 evidence, or contradict its statements. In former ages, 
 religious men were afraid that the discoveries of astronomy 
 were at variance with Scripture, and in our days similar 
 apprehensions have been occasioned by the discoveries 
 of geolog}'^ ; the apprehensions to which the astronomical 
 discoveries gave rise have long ago subsided, and astronomy 
 has proved herself the handmaid of revelation; and the 
 same, we believe, will be the issue of those apprehensions, 
 occasioned by the geological discoveries; nay, we affirm, 
 such abeady ought to have been their issue, had men but 
 dismissed all unreasonable jealousy, and sought after the 
 truth with candour, honesty, and patience. " It follows," 
 says Dr. Pye Smith, " as a universal truth, that the Bible, 
 faithfully interpreted, erects no bar against the most free 
 and extensive investigation, the most comprehensive and 
 searching induction. Let but the investigation be sufficient, 
 and the induction honest ; let observation take its farthest 
 flight ; let experiment penetrate into all the recesses of 
 nature ; let the veil of ages be lifted up from all that has 
 been hitherto unknown, if such a course were possible ; — 
 religion need not fear, Christianity is secure, and true science 
 will always pay homage to the divine Creator and Sove- 
 reign, ' of whom, and through whom, and to whom are all 
 things; and unto whom be glory for ever.' "* 
 
 * Smith's " Geology and Religion" Bohn's Edition, p. 283. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 EXISTENCE OF DEATH BEFOEE SIN. 
 
 One important point, on which the facts of geology are 
 supposed to be at variance with the declarations of revela- 
 tion, is the existence of death among the inferior animals 
 before the fall of man. It is the common notion, that the 
 inferior animals were made subject to death in consequence 
 of the sin of man, — a notion which, we believe, is still 
 often inculcated from the pulpit, as if it were derived from 
 the word of God. And thus, according to this opinion, 
 not only the death of man, but the death of all living 
 creatures is mysteriously connected with the sin of Adam. 
 Before the fall, it is supposed, that the inferior animals, 
 like Adam, were endowed with immortality; pain and 
 death were unknown ; there were no venomous serpents 
 or ravenous beasts; either carnivorous animals did not 
 then exist, or their propensities were restrained, and they 
 subsisted on the herbs of the field. Eden was the scene 
 of unbroken harmony and peace, the wolf dwelt with the 
 lamb, and the leopard with the kid. But sin marred 
 all; no sooner had man fallen, no sooner had he 
 stretched forth his hands and taken of the forbidden 
 fruit, than a terrible change to the worse take place. 
 The natures of the lower animals were altered; many 
 became ferocious, — many which, before that event, were 
 
SUPPOSED CHANGES AT THE FALL. 115 
 
 herbivorous became carnivorous, and death for the first 
 time entered the world. The balmy climate of Eden 
 was also changed, the soil lost its fertility, and the 
 beauteous flowers and rich fruits of paradise were ex- 
 changed for the thorn and the thistle.* The supposition is 
 poetical, and highly pleasing to the sensitive mind which 
 shrinks from suffering and pain. At first sight also, before 
 the subject is attentively considered, it seems most agree- 
 able to our notions of the beneficence of the Creator. And 
 accordingly to it, without a due regard to their tnie mean- 
 ing, these expressions of the apostle have been supposed 
 to refer. " By one man sin entered into the world, and 
 death by sin." " By one man came death." " In Adam 
 all die." " The creature was made subject to vanity, not 
 willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the 
 same in hope." " The whole creation groaneth and tra- 
 vaileth in pain together until now." 
 
 In this chapter we propose to consider this subject at 
 length, — The Existence of Death among the inferior ani- 
 mals before sin. We shall attempt to show that this fact, 
 ascertained by the discoveries of geology, is not at variance 
 with the statements of revelation. We regard the opinion, 
 
 * Thus we find a modern author saying — " When both the beasts of 
 the field and the cattle were brought into the garden to Adam, that he 
 might give them names, the distinction between wild and tame animals 
 would not exist. The change to the worse in the original natures of so 
 many of the inferior animals was part of the curse which sin entailed on 
 the world, and, probably, began to make its appearance very gradually, 
 but was fully developed before the universal deluge." — " The Creative 
 Week," p. 326. It was the opinion of Calvin, that the inferior animals 
 were changed to the worse in consequence of the sin of Adam: and that, 
 in particular, they lost their gentleness, and became savage and fero- 
 cious: although he does not positively assert, that they became carni- 
 vorous. — Calvin's " Commentary on Genesis," vol. i., pp. 132, 290. 
 Calvin Translation Society. 
 
116 DEATH BEFOEE THE ADAMIC CEEATION. 
 
 that the inferior animals were subject to death because of 
 sin, as wholly erroneous, as uncountenanced by Scripture, 
 and completely contradicted by the discoveries of modern 
 science. 
 
 In considering this subject, we shall, first, attend to the 
 geological fact — that death did exist before sin : we shall, 
 secondly, prove that this fact is not contrary to the state- 
 ments of Scripture: and we shall, thirdly, endeavour to 
 show that death, and even death by violence, among the 
 inferior animals, is a benevolent dispensation. 
 
 I. The first point, then, is to inquire into the geological 
 fact — that death, as regards the inferior animals, did exist 
 in this world before sin. 
 
 Geology informs us that myriads of ages before man 
 existed, animals lived and died. Their skeletons are found 
 entombed in their rocky sepulchres. These fossil organic 
 remains are so numerous, that whole rocks are almost 
 entirely composed of them. The mountain limestone group 
 is often completely filled with shells of particular forms, 
 and by reason of the abundance of certain kinds, such as 
 the encrinite and the producta, the limestones in which 
 they are contained have been termed encrinital and pro- 
 ducta limestones: the nummulitic limestone,* of which 
 some of the pyramids of Egypt are constructed, is entirely 
 composed of chambered shells; and the chalk and the 
 tripoli are said to be only a conglomeration of microscopic 
 shells. Other rocks, it has been proved, are entirely formed 
 of an almost infinite number of fossil animalcules.*!" There 
 
 * The nummulitic limestone belongs to the Eocene period of the Ter- 
 tiary formation: it often attains a thickness of many thousand feet. It 
 is largely developed in the Alps, Pyrenees, and Carpathian mountains, 
 as well as in the North of Africa. 
 
 t In the chalk, Mr. Lonsdale asserts that the microscopic shells are 
 
DEATH BEFOKE THE ADAMIC CEEATION. 117 
 
 are also uuraerous remains of fish and reptiles of a gigantic 
 size. And not only are these animals, whose dead bodies 
 are thus found in the rocks, entirely different from any 
 which now exist, but there have been numerous systems 
 of creation obviously distinct from each other. Here, then, 
 is death in a gigantic scale. In surveying the different 
 formations, we just pass from one platform of death to 
 another. And, be it further observed, that many of these 
 animals were carnivorous, and were provided with organs 
 designed to enable them to destroy other animals — with 
 powerful teeth, and sharp claw^s, and strong jaws, thus 
 declaring, that ages before man was created death and death 
 by violence was in this world. 
 
 We cannot resist the temptation of giving an extract on 
 this subject from the " Testimony of the Eocks," that 
 learned and eloquent work of the late Hugh Miller. The 
 passage is long, but it is one of great eloquence, and 
 exhibits the matter in a clear and forcible point of view. 
 
 "We are told by Goethe, in his autobiography, that he 
 had attained his sixth year when the terrible earthquake 
 at Lisbon took place, — ' an event,' he says, ' which greatly 
 distm'bed' his 'peace of mind for the first time.' He could 
 not reconcile a catastrophe so suddenly destructive to 
 thousands with the ideas which he had already formed for 
 himself of a Providence all-powerful and all-benevolent. 
 But he afterwards learned, he tells us, to recognise in such 
 events the " God of the Old Testament!' I know not in 
 
 unutterably numerous ; in a cube of tripoli rock about one-tenth of an 
 inch, 500 millions of shells are contained; in a cubic inch of the polish- 
 ing slate of Bohemia,' there are 41,000 millions of animalcules ; and in an 
 ounce-and-a-half of a particular stone in Tuscany, 10,454 microscopic 
 shells were counted. For further information on the subject, see Buck- 
 land's " Bridgewater Treatise," Chap. xii. 
 
118 DEATH BEPOEE THE ADAMIC CKEATION. 
 
 what spirit the remark was made ; but this I know, that it 
 is the God of the Old Testament whom we see exhibited in 
 all nature and all Providence ; and that it is at once wisdom 
 and duty in His rational creatures, however darkly they 
 may perceive or imperfectly they may comprehend, to hold 
 in implicit faith that the adorable Monarch of all the past 
 and of all the future is a King who ' can do no wrong.' 
 Tliis early exhibition of teeth, and spine, and sting, — of 
 weapons constructed alike to cut and to pierce, — to unite 
 two of the most indispensable requirements of the modern 
 armourer, — a keen edge to a strong back, — nay, stranger 
 still, the examples furnished in this primeval time, of wea- 
 pons formed not only to kill, but also to torture, — must be 
 altogether at variance with the preconceived opinions of 
 those who hold that until man appeared in creation, and 
 darkened its sympathetic face with the stain of moral 
 guilt, the reign of violence and outrage did not begin, and 
 that there was no death among the inferior creatures, and 
 no suffering. But preconceived opinion, whether it hold 
 fast, with Lactantius and the old Schoolmen, to the belief 
 that there can be no antipodes, or assert, with Caccini and 
 Bellarmine, that our globe hangs lazily in the midst of the 
 heavens, while the sun moves round it, must yield ulti- 
 mately to scientific truth. And it is a truth as certain as 
 the existence of a southern hemisphere, or the motion of 
 the earth round both its own axis and the great solar cen- 
 tre, that, untold ages ere man had sinned or suffered, the 
 animal creation exhibited exactly its present state of war, — 
 that the strong, armed with formidal^le weapons, exquisitely 
 constructed to kill, preyed upon the weak; and that the 
 weak, sheathed, many of them, in defensive armour equally 
 admirable in its mechanism, and ever increasing and mul- 
 tiplying upon the earth, far beyond the requirements of 
 
DEATH BEFORE THE ADAMIC CREATION. 119 
 
 the mere maintenance of their races, were enabled to 
 escape, as species, the assaults of the tyrant tribes, and to 
 exist unthinned for unreckoned ages. It has been weakly 
 and impiously urged, — as if it were merely with the geo- 
 logist that men had to settle this matter, — that such an 
 economy of warfare and suffering, — of warring and of being 
 warred upon, — would be, in the words of the infant Goethe, 
 unworthy of an all-powerful and all-benevolent Providence, 
 and in effect a libel on His government and character. 
 But that grave charge we leave the objectors to settle with 
 the great Creator himself Be it theirs, not ours, accord- 
 ing to the poet, to 
 
 ' Snatch from His hand the balance and the rod, 
 Rejudge His justice, be the god of God.' 
 
 Be it enough for the geologist rightly to interpret the 
 record of creation, — to declare the truth as he finds it, — 
 to demonstrate, from evidence no clear intellect ever yet 
 resisted, that He, the Creator, from whom even the young 
 lions seek their food, and who giveth to all the beasts, 
 great and small, their meat in due season, ever wrought as 
 He now works in His animal kingdom, — that He gave to 
 the primeval fishes their spines and their stings, — to the 
 primeval reptiles their trenchant teeth and their strong 
 armour of bone, — to the primeval mammals their great 
 tusks and their sharp claws, — that He of old divided all 
 His creatures, as now, into animals of prey and the ani- 
 mals preyed upon, — and that from the beginning of things 
 He inseparably established among His non-responsible 
 existences the twin laws of generation and of death."* 
 But not only geology, but also physiology teaches us the 
 
 * Miller's " Testimony of the Rocks," pp. 74-76. 
 
1 20 CAENIVOEOUS ANIMAI;S. 
 
 existence of death among the inferior animals before sin. 
 Large classes of existing species are carnivorous ; they are 
 made with the design that they should live upon other 
 animals, and with this view their whole animal frame is 
 constructed. They are provided with peculiar teeth to tear 
 and devour, with sharp claws or talons to seize their prey, 
 with powerful muscles to overcome resistance, with stings 
 to pierce their victims, and with a digestive apparatus 
 appropriate to the nature of their food. Indeed, so much 
 is this the case, and so related is each portion of the ani- 
 mal frame to the whole, that a skilful anatomist can, on 
 the inspection of a single bone, declare whether the animal 
 to which it belongs was carnivorous or herbivorous. By 
 far the greater number of carnivorous animals could not 
 possibly exist on vegetable food; their natures are so con- 
 stituted that they derive nourishment only from the flesh 
 of other animals.* The lish also which inliabit our seas, 
 and rivers, and lakes, do, with a very few exceptions, all 
 prey upon each other. Now it was God who made ani- 
 mals so ; it was He who designed and formed them to live 
 on animal food. " The young lions roar after their prey, 
 and seek their meat from God." 
 
 Some suppose, in order to get rid of this difficulty, that 
 carnivorous animals were not created until after the fall 
 or the deluge ; but this is a mere gratuitous assumption, 
 for which not the slightest proof can be advanced. Others 
 
 * " The anatomical structure," says Dr. Pye Smith, " of the larger 
 part of animal species presents demonstration that they were created to 
 live upon animal food. There are those who have affirmed the contrary, 
 and have supposed that, by persevering practice, lions, and wolves, and 
 all carnivorous creatures, might be brought to live on a vegetable diet. 
 Every physiologist must smile at this monstrous absurdity. A few 
 species, indeed, are omnivorous; and this circumstance has misled some 
 persons." — Smith's " Geology and Scripture" pp. 263, 264, Bohn's edition. 
 
CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS. 121 
 
 tin" Ilk that after the fall the nature and strncture of these 
 animals were completely altered, so that, whereas they 
 were before that event herbivorous, they were then made 
 carnivorous. "All the inferior creatures," observes a 
 modern expositor Cf the first chapter of Genesis, " were 
 created with gentle and peaceful dispositions. A great 
 alteration must have taken place in their natures, before 
 they began to desire other food than what was at first 
 appointed them ; and a still greater, before they were 
 visited with the fierce desire of preying upon one another. 
 At first these instincts and appetites of tlie lower animals 
 might not be fully developed. The springing up within 
 them of wild instincts, not before felt, would inspire them 
 with new tastes and desires, and give full play to all their 
 bodily energies. The new dispositions of not a few of them 
 led them to destroy and devour their fellow-creatures ; and 
 their great strength, now exerted to the utmost, ensured 
 them complete success. And the very circumstance of 
 their drinking warm blood, and eating raw flesh, would 
 have a powerful tendency to render their natures more and 
 more savage and cruel. They were no longer herbivorous ; 
 they were now carnivorous and truly wild.'* But it is suf- 
 cient to oliserve, in order to refute this most extravaa'ant 
 hypothesis, that a change so great would be equivalent to 
 a new creation ; a herbivorous animal could not possibly 
 become carnivorous, unless almost every bone, and nmscle, 
 and tooth were altered. In short, it is a law pervading by 
 far the greater part of the inferior creation, that animal life 
 is sustained and supported by the dead bodies of other 
 creatures. 
 
 If we attend more minutely to the animal economy, we 
 
 * " The Creative Week" pp. 375, 376. 
 H 
 
122 OEGANIC LIFE INVOLVES DEATH. 
 
 will arrive at the unavoidable conclusion, that organic life 
 necessarily involves death. In the vegetable world the 
 plants derive their nourishment, in a considerable measure, 
 from inorganic matter, either from the atmosphere or from 
 the soil on which they grow. But it is entirely otherwise 
 with animal life. It is supported by dead organic matter. 
 Animals do not live on air or on dust, like plants, but 
 either on vegetable or animal food. Thus then there is a 
 continual circle of life and death; by death, animal life is 
 supported and sustained. The plant withers and the animal 
 dies, but out of this region of decay and death, new life 
 springs forth, and innumerable living creatures derive their 
 nourishment. Some have thought that animal life might 
 be entirely sustained by dead vegetable matter ; but not to 
 mention that, if this were the case, the supply of food would 
 fall short of the demand, this hypothesis would, either 
 not remove the difficulty as to the necessity of death, or 
 w^ould require by far the greater number of living creatures 
 to be blotted out of existence. " In every leaf, or root, or 
 fruit which animals feed upon, and in every drop of water 
 which they drink, they put to death myriads of living 
 creatures, whose bodies are as ^ curiously and wonderfully 
 made' as our own, which were full of animation and 
 agility, and enjoyed their mode and period of existence as 
 really and effectively under the bountiful care of Him 
 ' who is good to all, and whose tender mercies are over 
 all His works,' as the stately elephant, the majestic horse, 
 or man, the earthly lord of all."* 
 
 But did death exist in the paradise of God? Did beasts 
 then tear and devour each other as they do now? Did 
 Adam in paradise witness the anguish, and pain, and 
 
 * Smith's " Geology and Scripture,'' pp. 87, 88. Bohu's edition. 
 
DEATH IN PARADISE. 12o 
 
 death of the inferior animals ? Would jou rob Eden of its 
 immortality and its bliss? But there is nothing whatevei 
 in the scriptural description of paradise, unless it be a few 
 remote references to be afterwards adverted to, that would 
 lead us to suppose that the lower animals were endowed 
 with the same privilege of immortality as man. The tree 
 of life was expressly planted and provided for Adam ; but 
 we read of no tree of life to which the lower animals might 
 repair, and eat, and live for ever ; we read of no promise of 
 life or threatening of death made to them, nor of any con- 
 nexion between their death and the eating of the forbidden 
 fruit by man. And therefore w^e have no hesitation in 
 affirming, supported as we are by science and uncontra- 
 dicted by Scripture, however opposed it maybe to prevalent 
 opinion, and however at variance it may be with our pre- 
 conceived notions of the primeval state of the world, that 
 even before the fall, beasts tore and devoured each other 
 as now, — that then as now the lower creation was divided 
 into animals of prey and animals preyed upon, — and that 
 then as now there existed the ravenous lion, the ferocious 
 tiger, and the venomous serpent, — and that then as now 
 there was, as regards the lower animals, a constant circle 
 of life and death.* 
 
 And now, let us observe, in passing, what great light 
 this fact of the existence of death in paradise, as regards 
 the lower animals, casts upon the trial of obedience and 
 the threatening of disobedience proposed to our first 
 parents. " In the day thou eatest thereof," said God tc) 
 Adam, " thou shalt surely die." Death was the penalty 
 of disobedience ; but if there were no death in paradise, if 
 
 * Some suppose that ravenous animals were excluded from the small 
 region or district of the earth which constituted paradise: to this no 
 objection can be urged, except that it is a mere gratuitous .supposition. 
 
1 2-t SCRIPTURAL STATEMENTS. 
 
 the inferior animals were immortal, Adam would have 
 remained ignorant of the nature of the penalty ; whereas, 
 witnessing the pangs of death in the inferior animals, 
 seeing the agonies of dissolution, he would not only under- 
 stand what was meant by death, but would feel it to be a 
 truly awful calamity. He was created superior to the lower 
 animals, not merely in being possessed of a rational soul, 
 but also in being honoured with immortality, whilst they 
 were subject to death. This glorious distinction, however, he 
 forfeited when he fell ; he reduced himself to the same level 
 with the beasts which perish, in becoming like them subject 
 to death; and, as regards his immortal soul, subject to a yet 
 deeper degradation, the greatness of which eternity only can 
 disclose. " The wages of sin," the punishment threatened 
 to disobedience, " is death," — a curse indeed, since it de- 
 prived man of immortality, the peculiar privilege of his 
 race, and exposed him to the wrath of his offended Creator. 
 
 II. The second point is to prove that this ascertained 
 fact of geology, the existence of death among the inferior 
 animals before sin, is not contradicted hy the statements of 
 revelation. 
 
 This we conceive is a point which is very easily made 
 out ; for nowhere does the Scripture teach us directly, and 
 it is only by a forced interpretation that it is supposed to 
 teach us indirectly, that the death of the inferior animals 
 was a consequence of the sin of man. If we carefuUy 
 read over the description given us of paradise in the second 
 and third chapters of Genesis, we will find not the least 
 hint that the lower animals were at first immortal. And 
 there seems a fitness in immortality being restricted to that 
 class of creatures who alone were endowed with reason and 
 a capacity for religion. 
 
 Some expressions in the sentences pronounced after the 
 
SENTENCES PRONOUNCED AFTER THE FALL. 125 
 
 fall are supposed to favour the notion that the inferior 
 animals suffered as well as man. Thus the curse pro- 
 nounced upon the serpent, that it would go upon its belly 
 and eat dust all the days of its life, is thought by some to 
 teach, that, after the fall, the nature of that animal was 
 changed ; but, not to mention that this curse is expressly 
 limited to the serpent, and cannot without violence be 
 applied to other creatures, it is evident from the narrative 
 that it was pronounced upon the one great Serpent, the 
 Tempter or evil spirit. It does not concern our present 
 argument to inquire what the meaning of the passage truly 
 maybe; enough that we show it has no bearing on the 
 question we are discussing. — Again, a part of the sentence 
 pronounced upon the man is supposed to imply a change 
 in the climate or in the nature of the soil : " Cursed is the 
 ground for thy sake : in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the 
 days of thy life. Tliorns also and thistles shall it bring 
 forth to thee : and thou shalt eat of the herb of the held." 
 But supposing this to be the true interpretation of the pas- 
 sage, yet we cannot see what connection it has with the 
 point in question; a supposed change in the climate or 
 soil is no objection against the death of animals before 
 that change took place: both facts may be consistently 
 admitted and maintained. 
 
 But whilst there is nothing in the description of para- 
 dise at variance with the notion that the inferior animals 
 were subject to death before sin entered into the world, 
 there is, we think, something in its favour. Tlie command 
 given to be " fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth and 
 the sea," pronounced at the creation of those animals, 
 implies a succession of beings, and consequently involves 
 death. The law of reproduction implies, as its counterpart, 
 the law of dissolution. If animals were naturally immortal, 
 
] 26 DEATH THE PENALTY OF SIN. 
 
 they would, by being fruitful and multipljdng, soon over- 
 stock tlie world, and the earth would not be able to pro- 
 duce vegetable food sufficient for their nourishment. The 
 same command was indeed addressed to man ; but we are 
 expressly told that man, before h.e fell, was immortal and 
 not subject to death; so that it is most probable, if he had 
 preserved his innocence, he and each of his posterity, after 
 a season of probation on earth, would have been translated, 
 without dying, to a higher state of being. 
 
 There are also some expressions in St. Paul's epistles 
 which are thought to teach that the sin of man was the 
 cause of the death of the inferior animals. Of such a 
 nature is the following passage : — " By one man sin entered 
 into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed 
 upon all men, for that all have sinned." But the state- 
 ment is here expressly limited to the human race; it is 
 declared to apply to all men and to those who had sinned : 
 but the brute creation are incapable of moral obedience 
 or disobedience toward God, and therefore death to them 
 cannot be the punishment of their sins. A similar state- 
 ment is made in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: — "Since 
 by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of 
 the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
 all be made alive." Here, also, there is an express limi- 
 tation to the human race — to that order of beings who 
 shall be raised from the dead, and whom Christ shall make 
 alive — and therefore the words cannot possibly apply to the 
 inferior creation. Another passage, much insisted upon, is 
 St. Paul's description of the oppressed creation : — " The 
 creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by 
 reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. We 
 know that the whole creation groaneth and travaUeth in 
 pain together until now." The passage is e\'idently 
 
INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURAL PASSAGES. 127 
 
 obscure: it cauuot be proved tliat the term creation 
 includes the lower animals,— the more probable meaning 
 ])eing, that it is restricted to the human race; but even 
 although it should be so extended as to embrace all 
 creatures, yet it does not assert that the death of the 
 inferior creatures was caused by sin; the utmost that it 
 asserts is that they suffer, as in many ways they do by 
 cruelties and oppressions, from the sins of men. As regards 
 those passages iii the prophets, which predict the happy 
 and peaceful reign of the Messiah by a change on the 
 propensities of the inferior animals, so that from being 
 ravenous and venomous they became gentle and harmless, 
 it is evident that these are expressions, conceived in the 
 happiest spirit of poetry, denoting the great moral changes 
 wliich shall be eftected by the prevalence of the Gospel. 
 " The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 
 lie down with the kid, and the call; and the young lion, 
 and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 
 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones 
 shall lie down together ; and the lion shall eat straw like 
 the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of 
 the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
 cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all 
 my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the 
 knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."* 
 
 From these scriptural passages it is evident that death, 
 as it regards man, is a very different thing from death, as it 
 regards the lower animals. As it regards the lower animals, 
 death is merely the law of their nature. They die, because 
 
 • The future fate of many ravenous animals seem.s rather to be to 
 become extirpated, than to have their ferocious natures changed. This 
 will probably be the fate of many of them, when the human race becomes 
 more civilised and more numerous. 
 
128 DEATH AMONG THE LOWER ANIMALS, 
 
 tliey were so constituted; their existence necessarily and 
 inevitably leads to death. With regard to them, there is no 
 connexion between sin and death; they are not morally 
 accountable creatures, they are incapable of moral obedi- 
 ence or disobedience toward God. But it is very different 
 with death as it regards the human race. Here it is inse- 
 parably connected with sin. It was sin which gave birth 
 to deatli ; sin is its cause, its origin, its producer. Man as 
 originally created was endowed with the high privilege of 
 immortality; if he had remained in innocence, he would 
 not have died ; he would probably have been translated to 
 a higher world, like Enoch and Elijah; but having sinned 
 he has become liable to death. And this death is always 
 present with him. The lower animals are ignorant of their 
 fate ; the fear of death does not trouble them, or break in 
 upon their happiness. But it is not so with man ; he knows 
 that he must die, and this his knowledge often makes him 
 wretched. We are accustomed to regard death as dreadful ; 
 to our race it is so, but not to the other creatures. It is 
 sin which makes this great difference; it is this which 
 causes death to be such an alarming event to man. To 
 the human race, then, the cause of death is sin ; but to the 
 inferior animals, it is the original law of their nature. 
 " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
 sin: and so death passed upon all men, for that all have 
 sinned." 
 
 III. The tliird point is to endeavour to shew that death, 
 and even death hy violence, among the inferior animals, is 
 a benevolent dispensation. 
 
 Death, as it regards man, is a punishment, a penalty ; but 
 death, as it regards the inferior animals, is no penalty what- 
 ever, but a benevolent dispensation. At first sight, indeed, 
 it seems that death is an infliction; and more especially 
 
A BENEVOLENT DISPENSATION. 129 
 
 the violeut death of auiiiials, the existence of beasts of prey 
 furnished with weapons of destruction, is supposed to be 
 at variance with unmixed benevolence, and hence it is 
 inferred that it could not have existed in a world of inno- 
 cence. But this arises from a very partial view of the 
 subject. If there were no death, or, in other words, if ani- 
 mals were immortal, even supposing that such a state of 
 things could exist in conformity with the laws of organic 
 life, it is evident that happiness would be limited to a 
 comparatively small number; animals could not possibly 
 increase and nmltiply as they do at present, for in a short 
 time there would be no room in the world to contain 
 them; the dry land and the sea would be overstocked. 
 Happiness, then, would be confined within narrow bounds ; 
 it could not extend beyond the limits of a single genera- 
 tion. But surely it is much more agreeable to our notions 
 of the goodness of God to conceive, that He should com- 
 municate happiness to many, rather than restrict it to 
 a few. Now this is accomplished by a succession of dif- 
 ferent creatures. When one race of animals have enjoyed 
 their existence, they give place to another race ; and thus 
 the pleasure of existence is multiplied manifoldly.* True, 
 
 * Dr. Hitchcock well observes, that young animals enjoy more, in the 
 same period of time, than those more advanced in age. " This," he 
 remarks, " arises partly from the superior health and vigour enjoyed hy 
 the young, but partly also from the novelty of the scenes presented in 
 early life; and so far as it results from the latter cause, it proves that a 
 succession of races would enjoy more than a single race continued inde- 
 linitely, because the successive races would always be comparatively 
 young." — Hitchcock's " Religion of Geology" p. 85. See also some 
 valuable remarks on this subject in Harris' ^^ Pre- Adamite Earth," part 
 fifth. " A world of immortal animals and plants," he observes, " a world 
 that knew no climatic change, no seasons, no organic nor inorganic 
 variety — a stagnant and unprogressive creation — would be as unsuited 
 to the created as to the Creating mind." — p. 225. 
 
130 DEATH AMONG THE LOWER ANIMALS, 
 
 this requires tlie introduction of death; but death is no 
 great evil to the lower animals. It is merely the depriva- 
 tion of happiness to individuals ; but this is far more than 
 counterbalanced by the happiness conferred on successive 
 races, and diffused over so immense a variety and multitude 
 of creatures. There is, then, under the present system, a far 
 greater amount of happiness conferred, than there would be 
 on the hypothesis of the immortality of the lower creation. 
 But some do not object to death itself as regards the 
 inferior animals, but to death by violence, to the existence 
 of carnivorous animals, and they conceive that this is at 
 variance with our notion of unmixed benevolence, and 
 hence regard it as being one of the evils accompanying 
 the fall of man, and the result of sin. But the problem 
 just resolves into this, What kind of death is the most 
 beneficial to the animal itself, or to the animal creation in 
 general, — whether death by natural decay and old age, or 
 death by violence? Now, to take the first supposition, it 
 is evident that a brute animal, left to perish by natural 
 decay, is placed in a condition of great misery. In human 
 infirmity there is the assistance of a man's friends to alle- 
 viate his pains, and minister to his necessities. But there 
 is nothing analogous to this care and tenderness of man 
 for man in the lower animals. When the limbs of a beast 
 become stiffened from age, so that it can no more hunt for 
 its food, no fellow ministers to its necessities; when its 
 strength fails, no assistance is afforded to supply the place 
 of its activity; when its senses are blunted, no relief 
 is administered; and it must either perish from abso- 
 lute starvation, or drag out a miserable existence, from 
 scarcity of food. Even in our domestic animals, when 
 old age overtakes them, we are frequently constrained 
 to put a violent end to their existence, from compas- 
 
A BENEVOLENT DISPENSATION. 131 
 
 sion for their sufferings. But on the other supposition 
 of death by violence, the animal is in the full enjoy- 
 ment of health and vigour, it suffers nothing from the 
 infirmities of old age, and its life is taken from it almost 
 instantaneously, and in general without much pain. Most 
 of the carnivorous animals, it has been ascertained, endea- 
 vour to seize their victims on a particular point at the 
 back of the neck, where a wound of the spinal nerve causes 
 either paralysis or instantaneous death, and apparently no 
 suffering * And, besides, beasts are not troubled with fears 
 and anxieties about the future; they enjoy the present 
 hour, and know not what awaits them the next. " A 
 hare," it has been well remarked, " notwithstanding the 
 number of its dangers and enemies, is as playful an ani- 
 mal as any other." And farther, we do not think that we 
 should overlook in our argument the positive enjoyment, 
 derived from this system, to the carnivorous animals, in 
 the pursuit and capture of their prey. Immortality, then, 
 being out of the question, death by violence, far from being 
 inconsistent with the goodness of God, is an instance of 
 His kindness and care toward the lower animals. Food 
 is thus aftbrded to the beasts of prey, and their victims, by 
 a sudden death, are saved the far greater and more pro- 
 huiged sufferings of an uncared for old age.-f 
 
 * Some animals of the feline family appear to form an exception to 
 these remarks, as they torture their victims before killing them; but 
 even in these instances the animal preyed upon is paralysed. 
 
 t The argument is well stated by Professor Ansted, in his " Ancient 
 World," and he arrives at the conclusion that death by violence is to all 
 unreasonable animals the easiest death: and he adds that "it would 
 lie as unreasonable to doubt the wisdom and goodness of this arrange - 
 ineut, as it would be to call in question the mutual adaptation of each 
 part in tlie threat scheme of creation." — Ansteu's " Ancient World," p- 
 168, second edition. 
 
132 EXCESSIVE INCEEASE CONTROLLED. 
 
 Another thing to be taken into consideration, besides 
 tlie desirable relief from the sufferings of old age, is that 
 by means of carnivorous animals, an excessive increase of 
 any particular species is controlled and prevented. Many 
 animals multiply so rapidly that, unless there were some 
 check, they would soon occupy the room allotted to other 
 animals. Now this necessary check is afforded by the 
 existence of the carnivorous animals ; they limit this ani- 
 mal superfecundity ; and thus the whole system of creation 
 is kept in its proper proportions. Those animals who have 
 few or no enemies are found to increase very slowly; 
 while those who are exposed to a multitude of foes increase 
 in a greater proportion. And thus it happens that whilst 
 no one species is extirpated by carnivorous animals, none 
 is permitted so to multiply as to occupy an undue space 
 in creation. And over and above these beneficial effects, 
 it is in general the old and the sick that are removed to 
 make room for the young and the healthy; and each dead 
 body affords the means of nourishment and enjoyment to 
 other creatures. In short, the language of universal nature 
 is, " Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast 
 Thou made them all : the earth is full of Thy riches. So is 
 this great sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, 
 both small and great beasts. These wait all upon Thee, 
 that Thou mayest give them meat in due season."* 
 
 * This subject is most ably treated by Dr. Paley in his Natural Theo- 
 logy, Chap, xxvi, and by Dr. Buckland in his Bridgewater Treatise, 
 Chapter xiii. " The appointment of death," observes Dr. Buckland, 
 " by the agency of the carnivora, as the ordinary termination of animal 
 existence, appears in its main results to be a dispensation of benevol- 
 ence ; it deducts much from the aggregate amount of the pain of univer- 
 sal death; it abridges, and almost annihilates, throughout the brute 
 creation, the misery of disease, and accidental injuries, and linger- 
 ing decay; and imposes such salutary restraint upon excessive increase 
 
SIN THE STING OF DEATH. 1 88 
 
 It is because death is a punisliment and a terrible cala- 
 niity to us, that we suppose it to be the same to the inferior 
 creatures, forgetting that it is sin which makes all the dif- 
 ference. " The sting of death," says the apostle, " is sin." It 
 is this which arms death with deadly venom, and converts 
 it into a terrific enemy. Death and sin are thus, as regards 
 man, inseparably connected. Man is trou.bled with the ter- 
 rors of an accusing conscience, and the fears of a coming 
 retribution. He feels that guilt attaches itself to his soul, 
 and exposes him to the wrath of his offended Creator. He 
 cannot lose sight of the fact that he is a morally account- 
 able being ; that this is the peculiar property and the awful 
 responsibility of liis race. And hence it is that he trembles 
 to think of death, because he knows not what is beyond, 
 and his fears rather than his hopes prevail. If it were 
 not for sin, death would not be so great a calamity; the 
 considerations of a calm philosophy would reconcile us to 
 our fate. It is not so much death that we dread, the mere 
 loss of animal life; it is the consequences which follow 
 after; it is that state of retribution where we know not 
 what awaits us. The certain prospect of death, the loss of 
 earthly happiness, the pains of dissolution, all these are 
 indeed evils, but none of these, nor all of them together, 
 constitute the real terror of death as regards the human 
 
 of numbers, that the supply of food maintains perpetually a due ratio 
 to the demand. The result is, that the surface of the land and depths 
 of the waters are ever crowded with myriads of animated beings, the 
 pleasures of whose life are co-extensive with its duration; and which, 
 throughout the little day of existence that is allotted to them, fulfil with 
 joy the functions for which they were created. Life to each individual 
 is a scene of continued feasting in a region of plenty; and when unex- 
 pected death aiTests its course, it repays with small interest the large 
 debt, which it has contracted to the common fund of animal nutrition, 
 from whence the materials of its body have been derived." 
 
IS^ DEATH TO THE CHEISTIAN. 
 
 race ; it is the fear of the wrath to come, — the awful con- 
 sciousness of unpardoned guilt. 
 
 We do not here mean to affirm that the consciousness 
 of sin, and the dread of a future retribution, are the only 
 circumstances which render death more terrible to man 
 than to the inferior animals. There are numerous other 
 considerations, such as the frustration of all our earthly 
 plans, the loss of intelligent enjoyment, the disappoint- 
 ment of our earthly hopes, the separation from those 
 we love, which, even apart from the consideration of a 
 future retribution, render death terrible to man; and none 
 of which considerations affect the inferior animals. But 
 still the chief consideration, the real terror and sting of 
 death, is sin. 
 
 And accordingly, death to the good man is not so great 
 a calamity. Christ has vanquished this great enemy. He 
 does not indeed deliver His people entirely from its domi- 
 nion ; He does not at once confer on them an immortal 
 life ; but He changes as regards them the nature of death, 
 —He deprives it of its sting. When 'a man feels that his 
 sins are pardoned, when the heavy load of guilt is removed 
 from his conscience, death appears to him no longer ter- 
 rible ; it is merely the mode of his departure to another, 
 and higher, and purer state of existence. He feels, with 
 the apostle, that "to die is gain:" and that when the 
 earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, he has a 
 building' of God, an house not made with hands, eternal 
 in the heavens. And hence it is that the death of believers 
 in Scripture is not spoken of as death, but as a sleep; 
 when the soul falls asleep in Jesus, with the humble 
 hope of again awakening to a glorious immortality. And, 
 perhaps, no where has faith obtained greater triumphs, 
 no where has the power of Christianity been more conspi- 
 
DEATH TO THE CHRISTIAN. 1 35 
 
 cuoiisly displayed, tliau on the bed of deatli. This has 
 often been to the true Christian the fiekl of victory, and 
 death has been to him a triumphal chariot in which, like 
 Elijah of old, he has entered the gates of the celestial city. 
 Thus has death ceased to be death; it has been converted 
 into a joyful translation from earth to heaven. The curse 
 lias been removed; death only bears the mere external 
 appearance of an evil; it is, in reality, the messenger of 
 peace which calls the soul to heaven. 
 
 Such we consider to be the true nature of death, both as 
 regards the inferior animals, and as regards the human race. 
 To the inferior animals, it is a benevolent dispensation; 
 to man, it is a part of the original cvirse, but to those who 
 are redeemed through Christ the curse is converted into a 
 blessing, and death becomes merely the manner in which 
 tlie soul passes from this world of sin and sorrow to the 
 glories and happiness of heaven. The Christian dies ; but 
 his death is the birth of his soul, — the commencement of 
 his heavenly existence. 
 
 " He sets 
 As sets the morning star, which goes not down 
 Behind the darkened west, nor hides obscured 
 Among tlie tempests of the sky, but melts away 
 Into the light of heaven."* 
 
 " Quoted from Hitchcock's " Religion of Geology,'" p. 92. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DELUGE. 
 
 It has until lately been the generally received opinion, 
 both among biblical scholars and scientific "WTiters, that 
 the deluge of Noah was universal in its extent, so that 
 every portion of the earth was covered by its waters. The 
 terms in which tlie narrative is given are so broad as 
 apparently to coimtenance this opinion. We are told that 
 " all flesh died that moveth upon the earth, both of fowl, 
 and of cattle, and of beast, and of .every creeping thing 
 that creepeth upon the earth, and every man;" and "that 
 all the high hills that were under the whole heaven 
 were covered." The discoveries of geology, until recently, 
 appeared to confirm this opinion. The marks of the 
 agency of water were seen to be indelibly imi)ressed upon 
 the rocks; vast numbers of shells and other marine ani- 
 mals were discovered in all parts of the eartli, even at the 
 tops of the highest mountains; and, what was regarded 
 by the better informed as more conclusive evidence, 
 immense quantities of drifted materials, clay, sand, and 
 gravel, were found lying upon the surface ; and the most 
 distinguished geologists of the day, with very few excep- 
 tions, af&rmed that these drifted materials were proofs of 
 tlie universality of tlie deluge. Of late, however, in con- 
 sequence of more recent discoveries, and a more minute 
 
THE DELUGE. 137 
 
 inquiry into geological phenomena, geologists have changed 
 their views; and it is now the general o})inion among 
 them, that in this part of the world at least, there are 
 no traces whatever of the deluge ; and some of our most 
 distinguished Biblical geologists affirm that there are 
 conclusive arguments, derived from geology and other 
 kindred sciences, which prove that the deluge could not 
 have been universal; they judge that it was local in its 
 extent and effects, and was chiefly confined to Armenia, 
 or at least did not extend beyond western Asia* 
 
 Here, then, there is an apparent discrepancy between 
 the statements of revelation and the teachings of science. 
 Eevelation appears to affirm that the deluge was universal 
 in its extent and effects; science, on the other hand, is 
 said to teach that it could only have been local ; and that, 
 consequently, although the human race, except Noah and 
 liis family, were destroyed by it, yet by far the greater 
 number of the inferior animals were beyond the reach of 
 its influence, and so escaped destruction. This is the sub- 
 ject which we propose to consider in this chapter — the 
 extent of the deluge — whether it was universal or local? 
 And we trust that we shall be able to demonstrate that 
 here, as in other parts of the Mosaic narrative, there is no 
 contradiction between Scripture and science. ■ 
 
 Tliere are two points wliich here require to be discussed, 
 the teachings of science, and the statements of revelation, 
 concerning the deluge. We shall first, consider the light 
 which science casts on this event; and secondly, advert 
 to the Scriptural statements concerning it. 
 
 I. In the first place, then, we have to consider the light 
 which science casts upon the deluge. 
 
 • This is the decided opinion of Dr. Pye Smith, Dr. Hitchcock, Dr. 
 King, and Hugh Miller. 
 
 I 
 
138 THE PHYSICO-THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL. 
 
 There was formerly a class of divines, known by the 
 name of the Physico-theological school, some of whom 
 exist even to this day, who tanght that Scripture, when 
 rightly understood, contains a complete system of natural 
 philosophy. They employed themselves chiefly in con- 
 structing cosmogonies, or theories concerning the creation 
 of the world, and the most remarkable changes which it 
 has undergone. In these theories the deluge occupied a 
 conspicuous place, and the most gigantic effects were 
 ascribed to it. The most renowned of these ancient cos- 
 moffonists was Dr. Thomas Burnet.* His work bears the 
 strange title, " The sacred theory of the earth, containing 
 an account of the original of the earth, and of all the 
 general changes which it hath undergone, or is to undergo, 
 till the consummation of all things." This work is full 
 of the most extravagant suppositions, but yet is written 
 with considerable elegance. According to Dr. Burnet, the 
 face of the earth before the deluge was smooth and regular, 
 without mountains and without a sea: " it had," as he 
 expresses it, " the beauty of youth and blooming nature, 
 fresh and fruitful, and not a wrinkle, scar, or fracture in all 
 its body ; no rocks, nor mountains, no hollow caves, nor 
 gaping channels, but even and uniform all over."-f- The 
 crust of the earth, how^ever, being heated by a perpetual 
 summer, was at length broken up, so that the waters in 
 the interior of the globe rushed out and caused the deluge. 
 
 ■* Dr. Thomas Burnet must not be coufounded with the celebrated 
 Bishop Gilbert Burnet, a mistake which has been made by several 
 writers. 
 
 t Burnet's Theory, Vol i. p. 65, Glasgow edition of the year 1753. 
 This work is divided into four books, — 1st, Concerning the Deluge. 2d, 
 Concerning Paradise. 3d, The burning of the world. 4th, The new 
 heavens and the new earth. It is illustrated by numerous curious plates, 
 shewing the state of the earth under these dilFerent conditions. 
 
THE PHYSICO-THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL. 139 
 
 Dr. Woodward, the founder of the Professorship and 
 Museum of Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge, 
 supposed that by means of the dehige, " the whole terres- 
 trial globe was taken to pieces and dissolved, and again 
 settled down from this promiscuous mass, as any earthy 
 sediment from a Huid." Winston, the successor of Newtctn 
 as Professor of Mathematics, published in 1696 his " new 
 theoiy of the earth from its original to the consummation 
 of all things," being designed to be an improvement of Dr. 
 Burnet's theory. He supposed that the deluge was caused 
 by a comet coming in contact with the earth, and agreed 
 with Woodward in supposing all stratified deposits to have 
 arisen from " the chaotic sediment of the earth." To such 
 an extent did these ancient cosmogonists carry their views, 
 that Hutchinson, an opponent of Woodward, published a 
 work entitled " Moses' Principia," designed as an answer 
 to the Principia of Newton, in which he endeavoured to 
 deduce the facts of natural philosophy from Scripture. 
 And even in our own time such like extravagancies have 
 been taught. The Eev. William Kirby, in his Bridgewater 
 Treatise, " On the history, habits, and instincts of animals," 
 not only agrees with Dr. Burnet in supposing that there 
 is a subterranean ocean, but also supposes that there exists 
 a subterranean world of animals, and that the huge rep- 
 tiles, whose remains are found in the rocky strata, formerly 
 existed in the interior of the globe. Many of the extrava- 
 gant o])inions of the old cosmogonists have been revived 
 by Granville Penn, Dean Cockburn, Fairholnie, and other 
 writers of the antigeological school. 
 
 But omitting these and such like extravagancies, as now 
 unworthy of refutation, we would observe first, that tJie 
 fossil remains are not and cannot possiblij he the effects of 
 the deluge. 
 
140 FOSSIL KEMAINS AND THE DELUGE. 
 
 The fossil remains, which are found in the stratified 
 rocks, in all the places of the earth's surface, and at all 
 heights, were formerly supposed to have been deposited 
 by the flood of Noah. AVhen, especially, it was found 
 that most of these fossils were of marine origin, they were 
 considered as incontrovertible proofs of the reality and extent 
 of the deluge. Shells and the remains offish and of marine 
 lizards are most plentifully distributed throughout the 
 earth, at the tops of hills as v/ell as in valleys, thus proving 
 beyond doubt that the places where they are found were 
 once under water. Now it was very natural, in the infancy 
 of geology, to refer all these to the deluge.* It is, however, 
 completely inexcusable in the present day; and yet we 
 find the same error made in theological works of authority 
 and repute. Thus Home, in his Introduction to the Scrip- 
 tures, remarks, " The universality of the deluge is con- 
 firmed by the fossilized remains of animals belonging to a 
 former world, which are found in every quarter of the 
 globe." •[• And in the edition of Buck's Theological Dic- 
 tionary, by the late Dr. Henderson of Highbury College, 
 there is the following statement, without note or correction. 
 " It may also be observed that in the regions far removed 
 from the Euphrates and Tigris, viz., Italy, France, Switzer- 
 land, Germany, England, &c., there are frequently found, 
 
 * In the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, a great 
 controversy was carried on among naturalists, as to whether the fossil 
 remains were the effects of the deluge. The celebrated naturalist 
 Scheuchzer, in 1708, wrote a treatise on a fossil skeleton, under the title 
 of " Homo Diluvii Testis," and which he asserted was the skeleton of a 
 man who had been drowned in the flood. This gave rise to a very ani- 
 mated and prolonged controversy. The skeleton was afterwards exam- 
 ined by Cuvier, and proved by him to belong to a lizard of an extinct 
 species. 
 
 t Horne's " Introduction to the Scriptures" Vol. i. p. 148, ninth 
 edition. 
 
FOSSIL REMAINS AND THE DELUGK 141 
 
 in places many scores of leagues from the sea, and even at 
 the tops of high mountains, whole trees sunk deep under 
 ground, as also teeth and bones of animals, fishes entire, sea 
 shells, ears of corn, &c., petrified, which the best naturalists 
 are agreed could never have come there but by the deluge."* 
 
 Now none that are in the least degree acquainted with 
 geology, need be told that this opinion is most unfounded 
 and extravagant. If these organic remains had been 
 deposited by the flood, they would all have been confusedly 
 mixed together ; but on the contrary, they are found in the 
 rocky strata regidarly arranged as in a cabinet ; there is no 
 mixture of land and marine animals, and each formation 
 has its own peculiar fossils. All these fossil animals, 
 moreover, except a very few in the uppermost strata, are 
 of extinct species ; whereas, if they had been the relics of 
 the antidiluvian world, they would have corresponded for 
 the most part with living plants and animals ; the remains 
 of man and his works w^ould certainly have been found, 
 whereas no vestige of this kind has been discovered em- 
 bedded in any of the rocks, except those which are now 
 forming. But w^hat puts the matter beyond doubt is the 
 vast thickness of the fossiliferous rocks. It has been clearly 
 demonstrated that they extend downwards to a depth of 
 from six to seven miles, and that they are made up of 
 hundreds of different beds containing peculiar fossils ; so 
 that it is altogether impossible that they could have been 
 the effects of a temporary deluge, which at the longest 
 lasted only for little more than a year. 
 
 Secondly, What is termed the drift or diluvium is nut 
 the effect of the deluge. 
 
 * This edition of Buck's " Theological Dictionary," was published so 
 late as the year 1851. Dr. Campbell of London comniits the same 
 egregious error in his notes to the Bible recently jmblished. 
 
142 THE DEIFT. 
 
 There are found scattered, here and there over the 
 surface of this country, and in northern and high southern 
 latitudes, vast quantities of rubbish or detritus, com- 
 posed of clay, sand, gravel, and huge stones called 
 boulders, which have evidently been drifted to their 
 several positions by the action of some powerful deluge. 
 Besides, there are many caves, in which are found the 
 bones and skeletons of different animals, several of them 
 being the same as those now existing. It has also been 
 proved that all these accumulations and remains are com- 
 paratively of very recent origin, — that they occurred after 
 the Tertiary or the most recent formation. Now it was 
 very natural to refer all these to the action of the universal 
 deluge, and geologists of the highest standing and eminence 
 adopted this opinion and published in defence of it. Such, 
 in particular, was the theory advanced by the illustrious 
 Cuvier ; and in Our own country, at one time supported by 
 Dr. Buckland in his " Eeliquiee Diluvianee," — though after- 
 wards formally renounced by him. By Dr. Buckland, the 
 deluge was represented as excavating valleys, carrying 
 fragments of rocks from one place to another, strewing the 
 earth's surface with immense quantities of gravel, and 
 washing the dead bodies of animals into caves and holes.* 
 It is a difficult matter to exliibit clearly the evidences by 
 which it has been fully demonstrated, that the drift, or, as 
 Buckland termed it, the diluvium, cannot be the effect of 
 any temporary deluge, because the proof depends on a 
 
 * An animated and interesting controversy was carried on, on this 
 point, between Dr. Buckland and the late Dr. Fleming of Edinburgh. 
 Dr. Fleming contended that the deluge had left no traces of its operation 
 upon the surface of the earth. " I am not," he says, " prepared to 
 witness in nature any remaining marks of the catastrophe, and I find my 
 respect for the authority of revelation heightened, when I see, on the 
 present surface, no memorials of the event." 
 
BUCKLAND ON THE DEIFT. 14-3 
 
 multitude of particulars, the full force of which can only 
 be appreciated by the geologist. All those distinguished 
 geologists, Buckland, Sedgwick, Greenough, Hitchcock, 
 and others, who formerly taught otherwise, have one by 
 one openly renounced their opinions, and now declare that 
 the drift is a deposit, or rather a series of different deposits, 
 antecedent to the deluge, and which, or at least the greatest 
 portion of it, occurred before the present creation. Thus 
 I)r Buckland, in a note in his Bridgewater Treatise, candidly 
 renounces the opinion advanced in the Eeliquise Diluvianae. 
 " The evidence," he there says, " which I have collected 
 in my ' Eeliquite Diluviana?,' 1823, shows that one of the 
 last great physical events that have affected the surface of 
 our globe, was a violent inundation, which overwhelmed 
 great part of the northern hemisphere, and that this event 
 was followed by the sudden disappearance of a large num- 
 ber of the species of terrestrial quadrupeds, which had 
 inhabited these regions in the period immediately pre- 
 ceding it. I also ventured to apply the name Diluvium to 
 the superficial beds of gravel, clay, and sand, which appear 
 to have been produced by this great irruption of water. 
 
 " The description of the facts that form the evidence 
 presented in this volume, is kept distinct from the ques- 
 tion of the identity of the event attested by them, with any 
 deluge recorded in history. Discoveries which have been 
 made, since the publication of this work, show that many 
 of the animals therein described, existed during more than 
 one geological period preceding the catastrophe by which 
 they were extirpated. Hence it seems more probable, that 
 the event in question was the last of the many geological 
 revolutions that have been produced by violent irruptions 
 of water, rather than the comparatively tranquil inunda- 
 tion described in the inspired narrative. 
 
144 NATUKE OF THE DRIFT. 
 
 " It has been justly argued, against the attempt to iden- 
 tify these two great historical and natural phenomena/that 
 as the rise and fall of the waters of the Mosaic deluge are 
 described to have been gradual, and of short duration, they 
 would have produced comparatively little change on the 
 surface of the country they overflowed. The large pre- 
 ponderance of extinct species among the animals we find 
 in caves and in superficial deposits of diluvium, and the 
 non-discovery of human bones along with them, afford other 
 strong reasons for referring these species to a period ante- 
 rior to the creation of man."* 
 
 Professor Sedgwick expresses himself in similar terms. 
 " Bearing," he says, " upon this difficult question there is, 
 I think, one great negative conclusion now incontestibly 
 established — that the vast masses of diluvial gravel, 
 scattered almost over the whole surface of the earth, do 
 not belong to one violent and transitory period. It was, 
 indeed, a most unwarranted conclusion, when we assumed 
 the contemporaneity of all the superficial gravel on the 
 earth. We saw the clearest traces of diluvial action, and 
 we had, in our sacred histories, the record of a general 
 dehige. On this double testimony it was, that we gave a 
 unity to a vast succession of phenomena, not one of which 
 we perfectly comprehended, and under the name diluvium, 
 classed them all together. Our errors were natural, and of 
 the same kind which led many excellent observers of a 
 former century to refer all the secondary formations of 
 geology to the Noachian deluge."-f- 
 
 The drift formation is one of the most difficult problems 
 in the science of geology. Geologists are not agreed as to 
 the precise period of its occurrence, its cause, its duration, 
 
 * BucKLANu's " Bridgewater Treatise" pp. 94, 95. 
 
 t Sedgwick's Address to the Geological Society iu 1831. 
 
THE DKIFT NOT CAUSED BY THE DELUGE. 145 
 
 and the mode of its operation ; but on this point they are 
 aoreed, that it could not have been the effect of one tern- 
 porary deluge. The reasons or facts by which they have 
 arrived at this conclusion are such as the following: — 1. 
 It has been proved that the drift, however widely spread, 
 is local, and not universal in its extent. It is chiefly con- 
 lined to northern and high southern latitudes ; no traces 
 of it are found in equatorial regions ; and it is also wholly 
 awanting in countries bordering on the Mediterranean. 
 2. It has been proved that the drift consists, not of one, 
 but of several deposits which occurred at ver}^ different 
 periods. There are distinct sets of accumulations, the one 
 often lying above the other, which could not have been 
 caused by the same flood of waters.* 3. It has been 
 proved that the drift formation occupied immense periods 
 of time. There are extensive erosions and denudations 
 caused by it, which would require ages to produce. And 
 the huge stones or boulders are in general rounded, 
 proving that they were for a considerable time exposed to 
 the action of water. All these effects could not have been 
 produced in the course of a year. 4. A large proportion 
 of the animals, found in caves and superficial deposits of 
 the di'ift, are of extinct species, thus affording the pre- 
 sumption that they belong to a creation anterior to that of 
 man; and this opinion is confirmed by the fact that no 
 remains of man or of his works are foimd in the drift. 
 5. The drift has been caused chiefly by the agency of ice, 
 and not simply of water. Many of the huge boulders, it 
 
 * " The Scandinavian boulders in the north of Germany," observes 
 Professor Sedgwick, " are of an older date than the diluvium of the 
 Danube ; and we can prove, that the great erratic blocks, derived from 
 the granite of Mount Blanc, are of a more recent origin than the old 
 gravel in the tributary valleys of the Rhone." 
 
1*6 EXTENT OF THE DELUGE. 
 
 has been proved, have traversed seas and mountains, and 
 are found at an elevation of several hundred feet. Now, 
 the only natural agency known that could have produced 
 these effects, is that of icebergs. Geologists, therefore, have 
 come to the conclusion, that during the drift period the 
 land was sunk to the depth of nearly two thousand feet, 
 that nothing of Britain remained above the water except a 
 few small islands, and that it was a season of intense cold, 
 when icebergs deposited their contents on what now con- 
 stitutes the surface of this island.* For these and a 
 variety of other considerations, it is now the universally 
 received opinion among well-informed geologists, that the 
 accumulations of the drift could not have been the result 
 of the Mosaic deluge. 
 
 Thirdly, The recent discoveries of geology and other 
 kindred sciences, are by several biblical geologists and 
 naturalists, considered to lead to the conclusion, that the 
 deluge was only local in its extent arid effects. 
 
 This is the chief point to be considered, and therefore 
 requires a more careful examination than the other two. 
 It is here that the teachings of science are supposed to 
 come in contact with the teachings of revelation. We must, 
 therefore, inquire into the facts of science, — what has been 
 fully demonstrated on this point ; and must by all means 
 avoid asserting propositions to be true which have not been 
 proved. Now there are several arguments brought for- 
 ward, which we shall candidly examine and give to each 
 its true weight. 
 
 1. It has been asserted that there are several geological 
 phenomena which prove that the flood could not have 
 
 * The amount of submergence during the drift period has been vari- 
 ously estimated. It is said, that in Scotland, there are water-worn 
 boulders found at altitudes of 1800 and 2000 feet. 
 
THE AUVEEGNE VOLCANOES. l-iT 
 
 been universal. There are in the sonthern part of the 
 centre of France, in the province of Auvergne, a chain of 
 mountains which contain a number of extinct volcanoes. 
 The rivers have made themselves channels in the conso- 
 lidated lava, to the depth of a hundred and fifty feet, and 
 fossils have been found in strata, interposed between the 
 volcanic beds, belonging to the Eocene, Miocene, and Plio- 
 cene groups of the Tertiary formation.* Now the argu- 
 ment stands thus : On the tops of these hills there are 
 loose scori?e, ashes, and other volcanic products. There is 
 every reason for supposing that the Auvergne volcanoes 
 have not been in action since the deluge, and that conse- 
 quently these scoriaj were deposited before that event.f 
 If, then, this were the case, it is argued that these hills 
 could not have been exposed to the action of the diluvial 
 waters, for these loose materials would have been washed 
 away. For similar reasons, Sir Charles Lyell concludes 
 that " no devastating wave has passed over the forest zone 
 of Etna since any of the lateral cones were thrown up ; 
 for none of these heaps of loose sand and scorise could 
 have resisted for a moment the denuding action of a vio- 
 lent flood;" and to these lateral cones he assigns an anti- 
 
 * Geologically, then, these hills are of recent origin, as they belong to 
 the Tertiaiy formation, but this is long anterior to the creation of man. 
 Mr. Scrope observes, that the vast excavations effected by the erosive 
 power of the streams which feed the Axdeche, having made for them- 
 selves channels in the basalt?rock or consolidated lava, one hundred and 
 fifty feet in depth, prove that even the most recent of these volcanic erup- 
 tions belong to an era incalculably remote. 
 
 t Sir Charles Lyell informs us that there are no proofs as yet dis- 
 covered that these volcanoes have been in action since the Pliocene 
 period. He observes, " The extinct volcanoes of Auvergne and Cantal, 
 in Central France, seem to have commenced their eruptions in the upper 
 Eocene period, but to have been most active during the Miocene and 
 Pliocene eras."— Ltell's '' Manual," p. 550, fifth edition. 
 
l-iS WATEES OF THE DELUGE. 
 
 quity of no less than twelve thousand years* In addition 
 to the extinct volcanoes of Auvergne and Etna, several such 
 accumulations of scoriae are to be found in other parts of 
 Europe; but there is a difficulty in determining their age, 
 whether within or beyond the human period. The argu- 
 ment, however, we think, cannot be considered as demon- 
 strative, and can only be viewed as a probable supposition, 
 requiring to be corroborated by other arguments.-f* 
 
 2. It has been asserted, that there is not a sufficient 
 quantity of water in the globe to cover the highest moun- 
 tains. The height of the highest mountains has been esti- 
 mated to be about five miles ; and to cover them, it has 
 been calculated, would require eight times the quantity of 
 water that is in the globe. Now, the question just comes to 
 be, Whence this immense quantity of water? From what 
 reservoir did it floM^, and what has since become of it? 
 Accordingly, a vast number of hypotheses have been pro- 
 posed, and great ingenuity displayed in answering the 
 inquiry. Some suppose that there is a subterranean abyss 
 from which the waters came, and to which they again 
 retired; but science has demonstrated that no such sub- 
 terranean ocean can possibly exist. Others, as Whiston, 
 thought that the deluge was caused by a comet impinging 
 upon the earth; but it has been proved that a comet is 
 merely vapour. And others have resolved it all into a 
 miracle, — that the waters were by a miracle created, and 
 afterwards by a miracle annihilated. This, however, it has 
 been replied, is a mere begging of the question; and 
 we are not at liberty thus to assume miracles, when no 
 
 * Lyell's ^'Principles of Geology," p. 423, ninth edition. 
 
 t See this subject fully treated of in Lyell's "Manual," chap, xxxii., 
 and in Scrope's " Memoir of the Geology of Central France." See also 
 Pye Smith's "Scripture and Geology," pp. 134-139. 
 
SIZE OF THE AEK. 149 
 
 intimation of their occurrence is given. The Scriptures 
 appear to assign the dehige to two natural causes — to the 
 fountains of the deep being broken up, and to the windows 
 of heaven being opened;* that is, to the ocean overflowing 
 its banks, and to an excessive fall of rain; causes per- 
 fectly sufficient to account for a local deluge of consider- 
 able extent, but which, if the quantity of water in the 
 globe remained constant, could not possibly produce a 
 universal deluge. 
 
 3. It has been further urged, that the ark is of too sniaU 
 dimensions to contain pairs of all the unclean, and septu- 
 ples of all the clean animals. Now, this argument just 
 resolves itself into the inquiries, What was the size of the 
 ark? and, Wliat is the number of existing species of ani- 
 mals? 
 
 As to the size of the ark, its dimensions are given us in 
 the sacred Scriptures ; we are there told that it was an 
 oblong building of three stories, and that it was " three 
 hundred cubits in length, fifty cubits in breadth, and thirty 
 cubits in height." There are different opinions as to the pre- 
 cise length of a cubit, as there were several cubit measui-es 
 employed by the Hebrews.-j* Hugh Miller, in his " Testi- 
 mony of the Eocks," adopts the natural cubit, being the 
 length of the arm from the elbow to the end of the middle 
 finger, or about eighteen inches. This would make the 
 ark four hundred and fifty feet in length, and seventy- 
 
 * It is, however, still a disputed point among theologians, whether the 
 causes here mentioned are to be regarded as wholly miraculous or simply 
 natural: and if the causes were miraculous, that is, entirely removed 
 out of physical laws, all inquiry as to the quantity of water necessary is 
 superfluous. 
 
 t There seem to liave been no less than four different cubit meaeure- 
 ments among the Jews. 
 
150 NFMBEK OF ANIMALS. 
 
 five feet in breadth;* and tliese dimensions multiplied by 
 three, the number of stories, would give us the space which 
 it contained, being in round numbers a hundred thousand 
 square feet. Dr. Hales, who also adopts the natural cubit 
 as his measurement, asserts that this would be sufficient 
 "to carry 20,000 men, with provisions for six months, 
 besides the weight of 1800 cannons, and of all military 
 stores." -f- This, however, while making no provision for 
 the cannon and stores, would only admit of five square 
 feet to each man. 
 
 The next thing to be taken into consideration is the 
 number of animals. Wlien Dr. Hales made his calculation, 
 he proceeded upon the assumption of the correctness of the 
 number given by Buffon, about two hundred or two hundred 
 and fifty quadrupeds ; J but according to the latest calcula- 
 tion, it is estimated that of existing mammals there are, in 
 round numbers, 1 500 species, of birds 6000, and of reptiles, 
 very few kinds of wliich can live in water, about 1000; 
 
 * According to Dr. Arlmthnot's calculation, the length of the ark is 
 about 547 feet; its breadth 91 feet; and its height 55 feet. Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, Shuckford, and Hales, give the same measurement as in the 
 text. Hugh Miller remarks, that even adopting the larger cubit, (21 
 inches,) it would only give an area equal to about one-seventh of the 
 great Crystal Palace of 1851 ; or the area of the three floors of the ark, 
 taken together, would fall short, by about 28,000 square feet, of that of 
 the northern gallery of the Palace, which measured 1848 feet in length, 
 and 96 feet in breadth. 
 
 t This calculation is adopted by Home, in his "Introduction to the 
 Scriptures," and by Dr. Kitto, in his " Illustrated Commentaiy on the 
 Holy Bible." 
 
 X Dr Hales' words are, " Can we doubt of its (the ark) being sufficient 
 to contain eight persons, and about two hundred or two hundred and 
 fifty pair of four-footed animals ; a number to which, according to Buffon, 
 all the various distinct species may be reduced, together with all the sub- 
 sistence necessary for a twelvemonth." 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 151 
 
 and besides an immense number of species of insects, 
 amounting to more than 500,000. Nor are all these 
 recently discovered species of small bulk ; on the contrary, 
 some of them are the largest of existing animals; there 
 are now discovered two species of elephants, and at least 
 six species of rhinoceros, instead of one of each according 
 to previous calculations. From this, then, it would appear, 
 that there are upwards of 508,000 species of animals ; and 
 these require to be midtiplied, some by tw^o and others by 
 seven, so that there would be more than a million which 
 would require to be lodged in the ark, supposing the deluge 
 to have been universal. And, besides the animals them- 
 selves, there is also their food, which was ordered to be stored 
 up for them, and which would occupy at least as large a space 
 as themselves.* Taking, then, these two facts into consi- 
 deration — the size of the ark, containing a space of a hun- 
 dred thousand square feet, and the number of animals which 
 it would require to hold if the flood were universal, being 
 more than a million with space for their food ; it is extremely 
 difficult to suppose, that the ark could afford sufficient 
 accommodation to contain these animals and their food, 
 even after every allowance has been made for the diminu- 
 tive size of the greater number of them. 
 
 4. Another objection against the universality of the 
 flood has been drawn from the well-known fact, that most 
 animals are distributed into districts beyond the limits of 
 which they cannot exist. Every large district has its pecu- 
 liar plants and animals. " The great continents," says 
 
 * Many of the animals being carnivorous would require other animals 
 to be provided for them, as food on which to subsist. Some kinds of food 
 could scarcely be stored up; as the difterent plants and trees on which the 
 insects subsist. " There are myriads of insects that can live upon but 
 single plants that grow in very limited botanic centres." 
 
152 DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 
 
 Cuvier, " contain species peculiar to each ; insomuch that 
 whenever large countries of this description have been dis- 
 covered, which their situation had kept isolated from the rest 
 of the world, the class of quadrupeds which they contained 
 has been found extremely different from any that had 
 existed elsewhere. Thus, when the Spaniards first pene- 
 trated into South America, they did not find a single spe- 
 cies of quadruped, the same as any of Europe, Asia, or 
 Africa. Similar circumstances have occurred in our own 
 time, when the coasts of New Holland and the adjacent 
 islands were first explored." The animals which dwell in 
 the frigid zone could not possibly survive one month, if 
 they were conveyed to the torrid zone ; and conversely, the 
 animals which dwell near the equator would at once 
 perish, if transported to the poles. In order, then, that all 
 animals might be collected into the ark, we must conceive 
 that some supernatural impulse was communicated to them, 
 contrary to their natures, to wander from their fixed cen- 
 tres; that they were preserved in circumstances and in a 
 climate where, if left to themselves, they would die ; and 
 that after the flood they were transported back again to 
 those districts from which they came, — the polar bear to 
 Greenland, the sloths and armadillos to South America, 
 the kangaroo and other marsupial animals to Australia, 
 the African elephant to the wilds of Africa, whilst the 
 Asiatic elephant, a different species, was left in Asia. In 
 short, to use the emphatic language of Dr. Pye Smith, 
 although the terms in which he expresses himself are 
 perhaps too strong, " All land animals have their geogTa- 
 phical regions, to which their constitutional natures are 
 congenial, and many could not live in any other situation. 
 We cannot represent to ourselves the idea of their being 
 brought into one small spot, from the polar regions, the 
 
THE FISH AND PLANTS. 15S 
 
 torrid zone, and all the other climates of Asia, Africa, 
 Europe, America, Australia, and the thousands of islands ; 
 their preservation and provision ; and the iinal disposal of 
 them; without bringing up the idea of miracles more 
 stupendous than any that are recorded in Scripture. The 
 great decisive miracle of Christianity, the resurrection of 
 the Lord Jesus, sinks down before it."* 
 
 5. As another argument against the universality of the 
 deluge, it has been urged, that the fisli and plants could 
 not survive such a catastrophe. It has been considered 
 absurd to assign a place in the ark for the fish, as it was 
 thought that they could easily exist in their native ele- 
 ment. But this is a mistake ; the fresh-water fish coidd 
 not possibly exist if the flood covered the whole earth, and 
 so converted all the water into salt;-f- nor could even most 
 of the salt-water fish withstand the force of such a mighty 
 rush of waters, and which would sweep away their nourish- 
 ment. By far the greater number of land plants also could 
 not survive a submersion in water for a year; whole spe- 
 cies would be extirpated and only a very few woidd escape 
 destruction, j We are therefore reduced, on the h}'pothe- 
 
 * Smith's " Geology and Scripture" p. 145, Bohn's Edition. 
 
 t A small quantity of salt water will dilute a large quantity of fresh 
 to such a degree as to destroy animal life. A few species of fish can 
 live in brackish water. 
 
 X •'■ Of the one hundred thousand species of known plants, few would 
 survive submersion for a twelvemonth; nor would the seeds of most of 
 the others fare better than the plants themselves. There are certain 
 hardy seeds that in favourable circumstances maintain their vitality for 
 ages; and there are others, strongly encased in water-tight shells or 
 skins, that have floated across oceans to germinate in distant islands; 
 but such, as every florist knows, is not the general character of seeds; 
 and not until after many unsuccessful attempts, and many expedients 
 had been resorted to, have the more delicate kinds been brought unin- 
 jured, even on shipboard, from distant countries to our own. It is not 
 
 K 
 
] 54 ABUSE OF MIRACLES. 
 
 sis of a universal deluge, to one or other of these three 
 alternatives; either provision was made for the fish and 
 plants in the ark, a thing which its size, not to mention 
 other obvious reasons, would not admit of; or these fish 
 and plants were destroyed by the deluge and afterwards 
 re-created, a mere gratuitous hypothesis contrary to all ana- 
 logy ; or else they were preserved by a series of miracles. 
 
 To all these arguments, against the universality of the 
 deluge, it has been replied, that the flood is a miracle and 
 is therefore not to be judged of by natural laws, and that 
 even although the difficulties were ten times greater than 
 they are, yet the power of God could overcome them. 
 Now it is not to be denied that God is able to remove all 
 these difficulties which stand in the way of the univer- 
 sality of the flood by the interposition of miracles ; but the 
 question is, Have we scriptural evidence that He has done 
 so? or, if the Scripture is silent on the point, Is it at all 
 probable that such a gigantic system of miracles has been 
 wrought? For consider what this assumption supposes; 
 consider the number, and magnitude, and nature of the 
 miracles which it takes for granted. A miracle could 
 create a sufficient quantity of water, eight times that of the 
 present oceans, and another miracle could destroy it. A 
 miracle could bring together all the different animals from 
 their several habitations, a second miracle could preserve 
 them in existence in a climate where otherwise the most 
 of them would perish, a third miracle could supply them 
 with their appropriate food or sustain them in life without 
 it, and a fourth mii'acle could transport them back to the 
 
 too much to hold that, without special miracle, at least three-fourth.s of 
 the terrestrial vegetation of the globe would have perished in a universal 
 deluge that covered over the dry land for a year." — Miller's " Testi- 
 mony of the Rocks" pp. 338, 339. 
 
DELUGE LOCAL IN ITS EXTENT. 155 
 
 same places from wliicb they came. A miracle conld keep 
 alive all the fresh-water fish, whilst salt water covered tlie 
 Avhole earth, and all the land plants, whilst they were sub- 
 merged nnder water for more than a year. Moreover, on 
 this supposition, we must go farther, and affirm that a 
 miracle could lessen the dimensions of the different animals 
 and make them small enough for the ark to contain them. 
 A miracle, if the observations of the most distinguished 
 geologists are correct, could so preserve the summits and 
 flanks of certain volcanic hills, as to prevent their loose 
 materials from being swept away by the diluvial waters. 
 But are we warranted to form these conjectures? Do they 
 not savour of presumption and irreverence? The end 
 which God had in view in the deluge was the destruction 
 of the human race ; but if it can be shewn that there is 
 every reason to suppose that man was confined to a limited 
 district, then, to accomplish this end, there was no neces- 
 sity for a universal deluge. As has been well remarked, 
 " The supposition of such miracles is highly improbable, 
 not to say irreverent. Wlien we are confuting the pro- 
 digies of the heathen, we are accustomed to point out their 
 want of an adequate object, their apparent uselessness; 
 and we ought not rashly to expose the miracles of Scripture 
 to a similar reproach.'* 
 
 Upon a review of ,the whole subject, we conceive 
 that the discoveries of science go to demonstrate, that the 
 deluge of Noah could not have been universal. All the 
 arguments which have been stated, appear to us to be 
 strong, if not conclusive proofs that the flood did not cover 
 tlie whole earth. So strong and convincing did the argu- 
 
 * King's " Geologij and Religion" p. 127. The same line of argiuneiit 
 is there very forcibly stated. 
 
156 SCEIPTUEAL ACCOUNT OF THE DELUGE. 
 
 ment appear to Hugh Miller, that he gives his opinion of 
 it in the following terms. " The argument on the general 
 question is a cumulative one ; and while many of its com- 
 ponent portions are of themselves so conclusive, that only- 
 supposititious miracle, and not presentable argument, can 
 be arrayed against them, its aggregate force seems wholly 
 irresistible." * The same view of a local deluge has been 
 adopted by Dr. Pye Smith, Dr. Hitchcock, Professor Sedg- 
 wick, Dr. King, and all our most accomplished Biblical 
 geologists.i* 
 
 II. But we now proceed to the second part of our 
 subject, and inquire, What are the scriptural statements on 
 the deluge? Wliether they do, or do not, conflict with 
 the scientific view of its limited extent? 
 
 We have the scriptural narrative of the deluge in the 
 sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters of the Book of Genesis. 
 We are there informed that the wickedness of men became 
 so great, that God resolved to destroy them. Noah and 
 his family alone found favour in the eyes of the Lord ; and 
 accordingly he was divinely commanded to prepare an 
 ark to the saving of his house. " And God said unto 
 Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me : for the earth 
 is filled with violence through them : and, behold, I will 
 destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher 
 wood. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters 
 upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath 
 of life, from under heaven : and every thing that is in the 
 earth shall die." Into this ark Noah was enjoined to take 
 
 * Miller's " Testimony of the Rocks" p. 344. 
 
 t Some writers, in order to avoid the difficulties which heset a uiuTer- 
 sal deluge, and who yet are unwilling to abandon the idea of it, suppose 
 that after the deluge there was a new creation of plants and animals, 
 different from those which existed before that catastrophe. 
 
UNIVEESAL TEADITION. 157 
 
 two of every kind of unclean animals, and seven of every 
 kind of clean animals, to keep seed alive upon the earth : 
 and he was also ordered to provide of all fruit that is eaten, 
 both for himself and for them. Seven days after he had 
 entered the ark, we are informed that the flood came,— 
 " the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the 
 windows of heaven were opened ; and the rain was upon 
 the earth forty days and forty nights." So great was the 
 quantity of water, that " all the high hills, that were under 
 the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward 
 did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered." 
 The effects of the deluge are represented as consisting in a 
 total destruction of life. " And all flesh died that moved 
 upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, 
 and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, 
 and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of 
 life, of all that was in the dry land died." After the lapse 
 of a little more than a year, the ark rested on the mountains 
 of Ararat, and Noah and those who were with him in the 
 ark came forth on dry land. 
 
 Now we have the most convincing proof that such a 
 deluge, as caused the destruction of the whole human race, 
 did occur. There is scarcely any fact in the Old Testa- 
 ment which is confirmed by such irresistible collateral 
 evidence. It forms part of the traditions of every nation. 
 In all lands of the Old World, in Europe, Asia, and Africa ; 
 among the ancient Greeks, Komans, Egyptians, Chaldeans, 
 Phenicians, Germans, and Scythians; in Judea, Persia, 
 China, and the South Sea Islands, there exist traditions of 
 a universal deluge. And the same traditions have been 
 discovered in the New World; the Mexicans, Peruvians, 
 and the savage tribes of America, all possessed their 
 
158 UNIVEESAL TEADITION. 
 
 accounts of this catastrophe.* Every nation has its Noah 
 "who was alone saved among the world of the impious. And 
 what is most singular is, that although these traditions are 
 mixed with fables, yet they all have some of the circum- 
 stances narrated in the Mosaic account. In most of them 
 we read about the ark; in some about the raven and the 
 dove that were sent from it ; in others of the olive branch 
 which the dove brought back ; and in others of the different 
 kinds of animals that were taken into the ark ; in short, 
 almost the entire scriptural account of the deluge could be 
 collected from the traditions of the various nations. Thus, 
 for example, in the description of Deucalion's flood, as 
 given us by Lucian, we are told that, " in a universal 
 deluge which covered the whole earth, Deucalion alone 
 was preserved, on account of his piety and justice. He 
 built a great ark, and entered into it with his wife and 
 children; and there came to him in pairs, boars, horses, 
 lions, serpents, and all other creatures that lived on the 
 face of the earth ; and they sailed together with him in the 
 same ark as long as the water prevailed." And Plutarch 
 tells us, that " a dove was sent out by Deucalion from the 
 ark, which entering into the ark again was a sign of the con- 
 tinuance of the flood, but afterwards flying away was a sign 
 of serene weather."-f" In short, so remarkable a consistency 
 of such general traditions must by every reasonable man 
 be regarded as demonstrative proof that a deluge did occur 
 co-extensive with the whole human race. 
 
 * See a most interesting account of these different traditions, in 
 Miller's " Testimony of the Rocks," lecture seventh. See also Faber's 
 •'Horse Mosaic*;" Bryant's "Analysis of Ancient Mythology;" and 
 Professor Hitchcock's " Historical and Geological Deluges compared." 
 
 t Horne's " Introduction to the Scriptures," Vol. i. p. 157. Ninth 
 Edition. 
 
UNIVEESAL TBADITION. 159 
 
 It has been argued that a universal tradition of a deluge 
 is a proof that tlie deluge also must liave been universal 
 in its extent; because traditions exist in every country, 
 therefore, it has l)een inferred, the deluge nnist have 
 extended over every country. A very little consideration 
 will prove that this inference is erroneous. If, indeed, 
 every nation had a distinct Noali of its own, then the 
 inference would hold good; but if there were only one 
 Noah, then it is evident that there must also be one centre 
 of tradition. Wlien nations emioTated from the orii^inal 
 abode of the human race they would carry their traditions 
 with them, and as these traditicms became, in the course 
 of time, confused and corrupted, they would attach their 
 narratives of the deluge to their own particular districts. 
 Such a universal tradition does not prove that the deluge 
 was universal as regards the earth, l)ut merely that it was 
 universal as regards the human race; that all men were 
 swept away by it, and that only Noah and his family sur- 
 vived. It is a strong and irresistible corroboration of the 
 scriptural account of the deluge, as regards the destruction 
 of mankind; but it has no relation whatever to its geo- 
 graphical extent, — whether the waters covered the whole 
 earth, or were only limited to a particular district in western 
 Asia. 
 
 Let us, then, direct our attention to the scriptural state- 
 ments concerning the geographical extent of the deluge. 
 Now, it is at once admitted that the Bible does, at first 
 view, seem to teach the universality of the flood, so that, 
 if it were not for the discoveries of science, this view of 
 the subject would have been in general acquiesced in. 
 We are expressly told that " the waters prevailed exceed- 
 ingly on the earth ; so that aU the high hills, that were 
 under the whole heaven, were covered," and that " all flesh 
 
160 UNIVEESAL TEEMS. 
 
 died tliat moved upon the earth, both of man and beast." 
 What terms, it is asked, can be more universal, and if they 
 are to be interpreted in a limited sense, what certainty can 
 there be in the language of Scripture? 
 
 It is to be observed that the term earth, as employed in 
 the Old Testament, often denotes merely the land or the 
 locality wherein the writer dwelt. At other times it is 
 employed to signify that portion of the dry land inhabited 
 by man, as the ancients could have no knowledge of what 
 was beyond this. Universal terms are also very frequently 
 employed in Scripture to denote only a very large num- 
 ber.* The scriptural instances of this are very numerous ; 
 we merely mention a few, taken at random. Thus it is 
 said, that all " countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to 
 buy corn," — a statement which, it is evident, can only 
 refer to the countries in the immediate neighbourhood of 
 Egypt ; it being impossible that in those days men could 
 journey from the most distant parts of the earth for the 
 purpose of purchasing corn in Egypt. " This day," said 
 God to the Israelites, "will I put tlie fear of thee upon 
 the nations that are under the whole heaven;" but from 
 the narrative it appears that it is only the Canaanites and 
 the nations in the immediate neighbourhood who are here 
 meant. "The fear of David," we are informed, "went 
 forth into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him 
 upon all nations," — expressions which can only be used 
 in a limited sense, as denoting Egypt and the nations of 
 western Asia. " All the earth," it is said, " sought to Solo- 
 mon to hear his wisdom," — an expression which, although 
 
 * Dr. Pye Smith has truly observed, " To those who have studied the 
 phraseology of Scripture, there is no rule of interpretation more certain 
 than tliis, that universal terms are often used to signify only a very large 
 amount in number or quantity." — " Scripture and Geology" p. 268. 
 
THE ANTEDILUVIAN POPULATION. 161 
 
 apparently universal, can only embrace a comparatively 
 small portion of the earth. And even in the New Testa- 
 ment, there are universal terms which require a similar 
 limitation to be given to their meaning. Thus, in St. 
 Luke's gospel, we are told, that " there went out a decree 
 from Cffisar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed ;" 
 which can only refer to the countries belonging to the 
 Roman empire. In the Acts of the Apostles, we are 
 informed, that " there were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, 
 devout men, out of every nation under heaven;" yet, in 
 the enumeration which follows, the region is limited to 
 Persia in the east, Italy in the west, Egypt and Arabia in 
 the south, and Pontus or the Black Sea in the north. So 
 also St. Paid, in the epistle to the Colossians, says, that the 
 " gospel was preached to every creature which is under 
 heaven;" a declaration wdiich must necessarily be under- 
 stood in a limited sense. 
 
 But it is said that there are cu-cumstances in the scrip- 
 tural account of the deluge which prove that the universal 
 terms there employed must be taken in their full extent. 
 It is argued that before the deluge the earth was, in all 
 probability, as populous as it is now, and that if this were 
 the case the flood must have been imiversal, in order to 
 have destroyed the whole human race. Sixteen hundred 
 years elapsed between the creation and the deluge, which 
 period, especially considering the great age of the antedi- 
 luvians, it is thought, must have been sufficient to have 
 peopled the whole world. Accordingly, very ingenious 
 calculations have been made as to the population of the 
 antediluvian world. Dr. Thomas Burnet supposes ten 
 thousand millions to be a very moderate estimate.* But 
 
 * The calculation by which Dr. Burnet arrives at this extraordinary 
 result, is given us in the 23d page of his " Sacred Theory," vol. i. The 
 
162 THE ANTEDILUVIAN POPULATION. 
 
 this and other similar calculations proceed on the omission 
 of one very important fact recorded in the sacred narra- 
 tive. We are informed that "the earth was fdled with 
 violence," and that " all flesh had corrupted' his way upon 
 the earth." We must, then, take into account the effect of 
 human wickedness in diminishing the population. Pales- 
 tine may be said to he comparatively a desert, when we 
 contrast tlie numl)er of its present inhahitants with the 
 number which it contained before the Romans under Titus 
 invaded the country. During the invasion of tlie northern 
 hordes of barbarians into the Eoman empire, the number 
 of inhabitants in Italy was greatly reduced, and that coun- 
 try has never recovered its former population. So also all 
 conquerors liave lessened the population of those countries 
 which they have invaded. In the West Indies, the Spa- 
 niards in the course of a very few years, completely 
 depopulated thickly inhabited districts;* and the same 
 was the effect of their conquests of the once flourishing 
 empires of Mexico and Peru. The inhabitants of many of 
 the islands in the South Seas are rapidly decreasing in 
 number. The extreme violence of the antediluvians, then, 
 must have put an effectual check to any great increase in 
 their population ; and would, perhaps, had not the divine 
 judgment interposed, have terminated, in the course of time, 
 in total extinction. 
 
 population of the globe at present is considerably less than a thousand 
 millions; so that, according to Burnet, before the flood it was ten times 
 greater. 
 
 * A most interesting and painful account of the cruelties of the Spa- 
 niards in the West Indies is given us by Washington Irving in his "Life 
 of Columbus." If the antediluvians were equal to them in wickedness, 
 the population before the flood must have been veiy small indeed: and 
 yet the Spaniards were not only professing Christians, but many of them 
 religious fanatics. 
 
SUBSIDENCE OF THE LAND. 163 
 
 It is further argued that there are several expressions 
 wliich prove that the deluge must have been universal. 
 For example we read: — "All the high hills that were 
 under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits 
 upward did the waters prevail: and the mountains were 
 covered." If, then, the flood covered the higli hills, and 
 especially as the lofty Ararat was one of these hills, it 
 must, on the principle of water finding its level, have 
 covered the whole earth. But this objection is founded on 
 an error in physical science. Geology has demonstrated 
 that the changes on the earth's surface do not arise from 
 any change in the ocean, but in the land : the level of the 
 sea has remained for ages nearly the same throughout the 
 globe; it is the land which has changed. If, then, there 
 were, in a portion of western Asia, a subsidence of the 
 land, and if the subsidence continued so tliat all the high 
 hills of the district were covered with water, it would be 
 no proof whatever that the whole world was similarly sub- 
 merged under the ocean.* According to appearances, it 
 would seem as if the sea advanced upon the land, and 
 would have been so described by an unscientific observer, 
 whereas in reality it was the land that had sunk.-f- And it 
 is also to be observed that, in the very district of western 
 Asia, there is a large portion of land, around the Caspian 
 and Dead seas, which is several feet below the level of the 
 
 * An example of an extensive submergence of land occurred in 1819 
 at Cutcli in the delta of the Indus: a large tract of laud, 2000 square 
 miles in area, was by an earthquake converted into an inland sea. 
 
 t When in 1822 a large tract of Chili, about a hundred miles from 
 north to south, and containing an area of about 100,000 square miles, 
 was elevated from two to seven feet above its former level, the natives 
 believed, not that the land had risen, but that the ocean had permanently 
 retreated. 
 
164 NEW INTEEPEETATIONS OF SCEIPTUEE. 
 
 ocean, and whose subsidence has been proved to be of 
 comparatively a recent date." 
 
 But it has been said that such a limitation of the uni- 
 versal terms with which the deluge is described would 
 never have been thought of, had it not been for the dis- 
 coveries of science. Granting this to be the case, what 
 follows from such an admission? Does not science cast 
 light upon many passages of Scripture, and afford us the 
 key to their true interpretation? Has not the science of 
 astronomy, for examj)le, explained to us several passages 
 which otherwise we had misinterpreted? And if we are 
 to allow astronomy to explain and illustrate Scripture, why 
 should not geology also do the same? If, according to the 
 principles of philology, the passage admits of a particular 
 meaning, although it may not be the most obvious one, yet 
 if science has demonstrated that such a meaning is true, 
 surely there is no violence done to Scripture by its adop- 
 tion. AVe do not on this principle render the meaning of 
 Scripture uncertain, by saying that the former interpreta- 
 tions were incorrect, any more than we shake the foun- 
 dations of science by affirming that the former theories 
 
 * In our translation, it is said that tlie ark rested on the mountains of 
 Ararat. It is now generally agreed upon by biblical scholars that by 
 this is not meant the lofty mountain of that name, but a district of Ar- 
 menia. The word is so rendered in our translation in 2 Kings xix. 37, 
 and Isa. xxxvii. 38. Josephus says that " the ai-k rested on the top of a 
 certain moimtain in Armenia." 
 
 Besides the answer given to the objection in the text, it might be 
 replied, that the water might be miraculously suspended, by attractive 
 influence, over the district where the flood occurred, so that all the high 
 hills were covered, without supposing any subsidence of the land. In 
 either case the miraculous nature of the deluge is asserted ; for we have 
 no sympathy whatever with those who attempt to explain away the 
 miracles of the Old Testament by the natui'al operations of physical 
 causes. 
 
OPINIONS OF COMMENT ATOES. 165 
 
 were false. Geology and other kindred sciences enable us 
 to give the proper meaning to the Mosaic narrative of the 
 deluge ; they teach that by the term earth is meant only 
 the portion of the world inhabited by man, and that by all 
 flesh is meant tlie animals inhabiting this district ; and this 
 limitation of universal terms is perfectly agreeable to the 
 language of Scripture in other places. Science, then, we 
 af&rm, does not contradict, but only illustrates the Mosaic 
 narrative. 
 
 But it is a mistake to suppose that such an interpreta- 
 tion of the Mosaic narrative would not have been thought 
 of, except for the recent discoveries of science. Nearly a 
 hundred and iifty years before these discoveries were made, 
 and long before geology as a science was known, very emi- 
 nent divines taught that the deluge was local in its extent. 
 Bishop Stilling-fleet, and Poole, the illustrious commentator, 
 both entertained these views. " I cannot see," says Bishop 
 Stilling-fleet, " any urgent necessity from the Scripture to 
 assert that the flood did spread over all the surface of the 
 earth. That all mankind, those in the ark excepted, were 
 destroyed by it, is most certain, accoLjiiing to the Scriptures. 
 The flood was universal as to mankind ; but from thence fol- 
 lows no necessity at all of asserting the universality of it as to 
 the globe of the earth, unless it be sufficiently proved that 
 the whole earth was peopled before the flood, which I despair 
 of ever seeing proved."* " It is not to be supposed," says 
 Poole, " that the entire globe of the earth was covered with 
 water. Where was the need of overwhelming those regions 
 in which there were no human beings? It woidd be highly 
 unreasonable to suppose that mankind had so increased, 
 before the deluge, as to have penetrated to all the corners of 
 the earth. It is, indeed, not probable that they had extended 
 
 * Stillingfleet's " Origines Sacra" book iii. chap. iv. 
 
166 GEOLOGY IN FAVOUE OF THE DELUGE. 
 
 themselves "beyond the limits of Syria and Mesopotamia. 
 Absurd it would be to affirm that the effects of the punish- 
 ment inflicted upon men alone, applied to places in which 
 there were no men. If, then, we should entertain the 
 belief that not so much as the himdredth part of the globe 
 was overspread with water, still the deluge would be uni- 
 versal, because the extirpation took effect upon all the part 
 of the world which was inhabited. If we take this ground, 
 the difficidties which some have raised about the deluge 
 faU away as inapplicable and mere cavils ; and irreligious 
 persons have no reason left them for doubting the truth of 
 the Holy Scriptures."* 
 
 If we adopt the opinion that the deluge was limited in 
 extent, then not only are there no geological facts contrary 
 to it, but strong presumptions in its favour. Geologists 
 have proved that very extensive deluges must have occur- 
 red over and over again. It is one of the most recognised 
 facts in their science that a subsidence of the land has 
 frequently taken place, and that lofty mountains have been 
 submerged under the sea. And especially in the geologi- 
 cal period immediate]^ before the present, in the drift era, 
 there must have been repeated instances of extensive 
 diluvial action, and some of them at a very modern period. 
 Violent deluges must have swept over large portions of the 
 earth. These are supposed to have been occasioned by the 
 elevation of mountain chains which caused the ocean to 
 sweep over the adjoining lands. Some suppose that these 
 elevations have been slow and gradual ; others regard them 
 as sudden. Many of our most distinguished geologists 
 af&rm that the drift era may have extended even to 
 modern and historic times; and that some of its last 
 deposits may have been formed since man was created; 
 * Poole's " Si/nopsis on Genesis vii." 
 
GEOLOGY IN FAVOUE OF THE DELUGE. 1 67 
 
 and therefore that there is no natural impossibility or 
 improbability in supposing that a similar cause may have 
 Ijroduced the deluge of Noah. This is the opinion of so 
 accomplished and cautious a geologist as Professor Sedg- 
 wick, and expressed by him also at the very time when he 
 publicly declared liis conviction that the drift, taken as a 
 whole, was not the effect of the deluge. " Though," says 
 he, " we have not yet found the certain traces of any great 
 diluvian catastrophe which we can affirm to be within the 
 human period ; we have, at least, shown that paroxysms of 
 internal energ}^, accompanied by the elevation of mountain 
 chains, and followed by mighty waves desolating whole 
 regions of the earth, were a part of the mechanism of 
 nature. And what has happened, again and again, from 
 the most ancient up to the most modem periods in the 
 natural history of the earth, may have happened once 
 during the few thousand years that man has been living 
 on its surface. We have therefore taken away all anterior 
 incredibility from the fact of a recent deluge ; and we have 
 prepared the mind, doubtmg about the truth of things of 
 which it knows not either the origin or the end, for the 
 adoption of this fact on the weight of historic testimony."* 
 And in his " Geology of the Lake district," he expresses 
 himself in similar terms : " If we have the clearest proofs 
 of great oscillations of sea-level, and have a right to make 
 use of them, while we seek to explain some of the latest 
 phenomena of geology, may we not reasonably suppose, 
 that, within the period of human history, similar oscilla- 
 tions have taken place in those parts of Asia which were 
 the cradle of our race, and may have produced that 
 destruction among the early families of men, which is 
 described in our sacred books, and of which so many tra- 
 
 * Sedgwick's " Address to the Geological Society" 1831, p. 34. 
 
168 DUTY TO INVESTIGATE TEUTH. 
 
 ditions have been brought down to us through all the 
 streams of authentic history?" 
 
 It becomes us at all times to follow the truth wherever 
 it conducts, to cultivate a sincere affection for it, and not 
 to be diverted or turned aside from its pursuit. Nor need 
 we be afraid that one truth shall ever contradict another. 
 As Scripture is the infallible word of God, we may rest 
 ■satisfied that all the discoveries of science and all the rea- 
 sonings of a sound philosophy will only render homage to 
 its divinity, and serve to confirm and illustrate its con- 
 tents. And let it be remembered that Scripture has its own 
 evidences, — evidences which for multitude, and variety, 
 and strength, and clearness amount to absolute demonstra- 
 tion, — evidences which no attacks of infidelity have ever 
 been able to shake, — and therefore, whatever may be the 
 discoveries of science, however apparently at variance they 
 may be with the statements of revelation, we may be per- 
 fectly sure, that there is not, and there cannot be any real 
 contradiction ; the peculiar evidences of revelation remain 
 untouched. Religious men, indeed, have with mistaken zeal 
 attacked scientific discoveries, as if opposed to revealed 
 truths, and in modern times no science has been more fre- 
 quently the object of these attacks than geology; but it so 
 happens, that probably no science has numbered among its 
 votaries more men, who are eminent alike for their piety 
 and for their scientific attainments, and whose religious 
 convictions, far from being weakened or disturbed, have 
 been increased and confirmed by the illustrations which 
 geology has afforded them of revealed truth, and by the 
 lofty conceptions which it has been the means of foster- 
 ing within them of the beneficence and wisdom and 
 grandeur of God. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE ILLUSTEATED BY GEOLOGY. 
 
 The works of creation reveal to us the existence and some 
 of the attributes of the Supreme Creator. God has im- 
 pressed His perfections upon the things which He has 
 made. His goodness, especially, is made known to us in 
 nature. " The Lord," says the Psalmist, " is good unto all, 
 and His tender mercies are over all His works." " God," 
 says the apostle, " hath never left Himself without a wit- 
 ness, in that He doeth good." And our blessed Saviour 
 tells us that our heaveidy Father is kind even to the 
 unthankful and the evil Not only revelation, but crea- 
 tion, throughout all its works, proclaims that God is good. 
 The things which God has made, whilst they reveal to us 
 His eternal power and Godhead, at the same time disclose 
 to us His infinite benevolence. This divine attribute is 
 impressed on every thing which we behold. We see it 
 in the glory'and grandeur of the sun, in the mild radi- 
 ance of the moon, in the brilliancy of the fixed stars, in 
 the perpetual revolutions of the seasons, and in the con- 
 stant succession of day and night. We read it in the 
 verdure which adorns the earth, in the beauty of the 
 flowers, and in the corn which covers our fields. We see 
 it in the happiness of the inferior creation, in the warbhng 
 of the birds, in the fluttering of the insects, and in the life 
 and activity and joy which everywhere abound in a sum- 
 
170 GOODNESS OF GOD 
 
 mer's evening. We experience it in tlie frame and con- 
 stitution of our bodies, in the faculties and emotions of 
 our souls, in our intercourse with our friends, in the inter- 
 change of thought and affection, in the comforts of domes- 
 tic and social life, and in the peace and safety afforded hy 
 the institution of government. But not less clearly is this 
 attribute inscribed upon the rocks. Geology, whilst it 
 reveals to us the grandeur of God, and enlarges our concep- 
 tions of His empire as extending through the vast cycles 
 of a past duration, and furnishes us with convincing proofs 
 and striking examples of His almighty power and infinite 
 wisdom, also affords us new displays and bright mani- 
 festations of His unbounded benevolence, and proclaims, 
 in language intelligible to all who listen, that God is good. 
 Dr. Paley, in his masterpiece, the " Natural Theology," 
 discoursing upon the goodness of the Deity, brings for- 
 ward two most conclusive arguments in proof of it. The 
 first is, that " in a vast plurality of instances in which 
 contrivance is perceived, the design of the contrivance is 
 beneficial:' This argument he happily illustrates by a 
 variety of well chosen instances; and, indeed, we have 
 just to open our eyes and look around to see proofs and 
 examples of beneficent contrivance. Although pain and 
 evil exist in the world, yet the original purpose of every 
 thing appears to be eminently beneficent. Nothing can be 
 discovered the chief design of which is to produce pain or 
 disease. " Evil," observes Paley, " no doubt, exists; but is 
 never, that we can perceive, the object of contrivance." 
 The original and main design is the production of happi- 
 ness ; evil is a mere incidental effect, but is in no sense 
 whatever the purpose of the contrivance. " Teeth are con- 
 trived to eat, not to ache; their aching now and then is 
 incidental to the contrivance, perhaps inseparable from it ; 
 
SEEN IN HIS WORKS. 171 
 
 but it is not the object of it. In describing implements of 
 husbandly, you would hardly say of the sickle, that it is 
 made to cut the reaper's hand; though, from the construc- 
 tion of the instrument, and the manner of using it, this 
 mischief often follows. But if you had occasion to describe 
 instruments of torture or execution ; this engine, you would 
 say, is to extend the sinews; this to dislocate the joints; 
 this to break the bones ; this to scorch the soles of the feet. 
 Here pain and misery are the very objects of the contriv- 
 ance. Now, nothing of this sort is to be found in the 
 works of nature." 
 
 Dr. Paley's second argument is, that "the Deity has 
 superadded pleasure to animal sensations, beyond what 
 w^as necessary for any other purpose, or when the purpose, 
 so far as it was necessary, might have been effected by the 
 operation of pain." The examples of the truth of this 
 observation are innumerable. The world is full of the 
 instances of the Divine liberality. The beanty which is 
 painted on the flowers, the delightful odours which are 
 wafted to us by the summer's breeze, the landscapes which 
 are spread out before us, the agreeable sounds which ever 
 fluctuate in our ears, the pleasantness of the seasons, and the 
 gratification which we find in the exercise of our faculties, — 
 all these are pleasures, superadded beyond what is necessary 
 for the perfect operation of the laws of nature, proofs and 
 manifestations of the goodness of the Lord, refreshing and 
 cheering streams which proceed from the ever-flowing 
 fountain of the Divine benovolence. " Lord, how mani- 
 fold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all; 
 the earth is full of Thy riches." * 
 
 It is necessary, however, that caution be exercised, and 
 
 * Paley's " Natural Theology" chap. xxvi. — " The goodness of the 
 Deity." The whole chapter is well worthy of most attentive study; the 
 
172 FINAL CAUSES. 
 
 tliat more especially when we apply the argument to past 
 geological ages, in asserting what is the main design of any 
 contrivance or object. In the world which now exists, 
 there are abundance of direct proofs of the truth of Dr. 
 Paley's propositions; but in those worlds which have 
 passed away, we may be unable to assert with confidence, 
 what are the chief purposes which God had in view in cer- 
 tain of His works ; and therefore it is perhaps pressing the 
 argument too far to assert that the design of certain geolo- 
 gical phenomena was wholly or chiefly the good of men. 
 Still, however, although there may be other reasons, yet if 
 the happiness and welfare of men are evident, though it 
 may be incidental effects of these phenomena, there is a 
 strong presumption that there was in their occurrence a 
 prospective provision for the good of man. We cannot, for 
 example, assert that the chief design of the sun or moon 
 is to illuminate the earth, yet we have no doubt that this 
 is one of their uses intended by the Creator. God's 
 works are known unto Him from the beginning, all are 
 comprehended in the great scheme of providence, and 
 all are so arranged as to be a system of mutual adapta- 
 tions. This world was in a course of preparation for 
 man ages before his existence, and in the bowels of the 
 earth there were designedly stored up and prepared for 
 him materials for his comfort and benefit, the want of 
 which would greatly have impeded his progress in civilisa- 
 tion, and materially impaired his happiness. " I would in 
 this, as in all other cases," observes Dr. Buckland, "be 
 unwilling to press the theory of relation to the human 
 race, so far as to contend that all the gi'eat geological phe- 
 
 reasoning is admirable, and several passages are of great beauty. We 
 think, however, that Paley has overlooked too much the justice of God in 
 the answers which he gives to the objections against the Divine goodness. 
 
DIVINE GOODNESS TOWARD THE INFERIOR ANIMALS. 173 
 
 nomena we have been considering were conducted solely 
 and exclusively with a view to the benefit of man- We 
 may rather count the advantages he derives from them as 
 incidental and residuary consequences; which, although 
 they may not have formed the exclusive object of creation, 
 were all foreseen and comprehended in the plans of the 
 great Architect of that globe, which, in His appointed time, 
 was destined to become the scene of human habitation."* 
 
 In this chapter, we propose to apply the arguments of 
 Dr. Paley to geology ; to consider the beneficial contrivances 
 and the superadded pleasures which that science discloses ; 
 to direct attention to the geological proofs of the Divine 
 benevolence. And in doing this, we shall mention several 
 instances which geology exhibits of the goodness of God. 
 not only as regards the human race, but also as regards 
 the inferior animals. 
 
 I. And the first instance, which naturally suggests itself, 
 is the fact, that vast numbers of animals enjoyed existence 
 in past geological ages. 
 
 Geology carries our thoughts back to the mjTiads of 
 ages which are past, and shows us this, our world, the 
 habitation of unnumbered creatures, the works of the 
 Supreme Creator. Now the goodness of God is seen in 
 the creation of the inferior animals. Indeed, no other 
 reason for their creation can be assigned than that tliey 
 should enjoy existence. It is impossible to suppose that 
 God created animals to be miserable, or endowed them 
 with life to render their existence a curse. So far as we 
 can perceive, there is a far larger amount of happiness tha ti 
 of misery among the inferior animals in their natural stat^. 
 The simple fact of their existence, then, is proof of a positive 
 amount of happiness, and of the Divine benevolence. Now 
 
 * IJuckland's " Bridgewaier Treatise," Vol. i. p. 99. 
 
] 74 GOODNESS OF GOD 
 
 we .have every reason to apply this line of argument 
 to the entire series of past creations. Geology thus extends 
 the benevolence of God to the past; it reveals to us 
 His goodness, as being exercised during millions of years 
 before man was formed, in calling innumerable creatures 
 into being, and causing them to rejoice in His benevolence. 
 In meditating on the goodness of God, we are too apt to 
 restrict its manifestations to the human race, and to forget 
 that it likewise extends to and embraces the inferior ani- 
 mals. They, as well as we, are the objects of the Divine 
 benevolence. The goodness of God is seen in their preser- 
 vation and in the provisions made for their happiness. He 
 has furnished them with a proper supply of necessary 
 food; He has adapted their forms and organs to their 
 peculiar nourishment; He has superadded pleasure to 
 their animal sensations ; He has provided amply for all 
 their wants out of the riches of His liberality; He has 
 implanted within them various instincts and inclinations, 
 to the satisfaction of which He has aimexed enjoy- 
 ment; He has fitted their natures to the elements and 
 climates in which they live ; He has clothed them with 
 suitable coverings ; He has imparted to them different dis- 
 positions and qualities according to their natures ; and He 
 has bestowed upon them either weapons for the capture 
 and destruction of their prey, or else means of defence 
 against the attacks of foes. " These all wait upon Thee, 
 that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. 
 That Thou givest them, they gather; Thou openest thine 
 hand and satisfiest the desire of every living creature." 
 "The pastures are clothed w^ith flocks; the valleys also 
 are covered over with corn, they shout for joy, they also 
 sing." And our blessed Saviour directs our special atten- 
 tion to this care and kindness of God toward the inferior 
 
TOWAED THE INFERIOR ANIMALS. 175 
 
 creation. " Behold the fowls of the air ; for they sow not, 
 neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your 
 Heavenly Father feedeth them." " Are not two sparrows 
 sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the 
 ground without your Father." 
 
 Now the argument stands thus: — The same kindness 
 and care, which God now exercises toward the inferior 
 animals, were exercised during the past geological ages. 
 In the fossil organic remains we find as numerous instances 
 of benevolent design and contrivance as in living animals. 
 Each animal then, as now, was provided for by the care of our 
 heavenly Father ; each then, as now, had its appropriate food, 
 was endowed with its peculiar instincts, and was adapted 
 to the climate in which it lived ; and therefore, we conclude 
 that each then, as now, was an object of the Divine benevo- 
 lence. It is this extension of the same benevolence, which 
 is now exercised toward the inferior animals, to the im- 
 measurable ages of the past, that constitutes the disclosure 
 of geology. The goodness of God is thus seen in a far vaster 
 number and greater variety of living creatures, and the 
 manifestations of it are thus multiplied and increased 
 indefinitely. 
 
 The existence of carnivorous animals is no objection to 
 the goodness of God toward the inferior creation. This 
 system of things in reality increases the happiness of the 
 lower animals. It permits a far larger number to exist 
 and to share in the Divine bounty; it employs the dead 
 bodies of animals as the means of sustaining and affording 
 enjoyment to a vast quantity of other creatures ; and as to the 
 fact of death by beasts of prey, this is in general less pain- 
 ful to the inferior animals than death by disease or old age.* 
 
 * See this subject fully treated in the fifth chapter of this work — " On 
 the existence of death among the inferior animals before sin." 
 
I 76 IGNEOUS AND AQTJEOUS AGENCIES. 
 
 II. We derive our second proof of Divine benevolence 
 from the geological agencies of change which operate upon 
 the surface of the earth. We shall mention only two 
 examples of these geological agencies. 
 
 Almost all the changes which have occurred on the surface 
 of the globe have been effected by igneous and aqueous 
 agencies. The igneous agency has been the instrument 
 of raising land to a higher level, elevating it may be 
 the bottom of the ocean, and forming all those chains 
 of mountains which are upon the earth. The aqueous 
 agency, on the contrary, has been the instrument of 
 reducing land to a lower level, wearing down mountains by 
 means of streams and rivers, transporting earthy materials, 
 and strewing them along the ocean bed. Fire constitutes 
 the one agency : its effects are seen in the upheavings of 
 the earthquake and in the melted matter which issues 
 from the volcano. These effects, at first sight, appear to be 
 evils ; but their influence in elevating the land, and coun- 
 teracting the degrading effects of the aqueous agency, is 
 eminently beneficial. Water constitutes the other agency : 
 its effects are seen in the transporting power of streams, 
 rivers, and the ocean. It is in itself a great reservoir 
 of life, and contains a far vaster number of inhabitants 
 than the dry land. But especially is the goodness of God 
 seen in the balance which is sustained between these two 
 agencies ; they form an equipoise to each other. If the 
 igneous agency were the greater, the land would be all 
 elevated into mountain chains, and the ocean confined in 
 deep chasms ; whereas, if the aqueous agency were the 
 greater, the sea would have in the course of ages covered 
 nearly the whole of the earth's surface. But God has set 
 bounds to both: He has said to the violence of the volcano 
 as well as to the billows of the sea, " Hitherto shalt thou 
 
DISINTEGKATION AND CONSOLIDATION. 177 
 
 come and no farther ;" He weighs the mountains in scales, 
 whilst He measures the waters in the hollow of His hand ; 
 and thus, by this nice adjustment of these mighty agencies 
 in nature, He imparts a stability to the world, and deriv(^,s 
 permanence as the result of a series of changes, and security 
 as the effect of the most awful convulsions. 
 
 Another class of agencies on the surface of the earth 
 arise from disintegration and consolidation. In this also, 
 we discover the proofs of the Divine benevolence. The dry 
 land is composed partly of soft earthy materials, and partly of 
 hard and compact stones or rocks ; now these are the effects 
 of disintegration on the one hand, and of consolidation on 
 the other. By disintegration the rocky materials are 
 pulverised, worn down, and converted into what we com- 
 monly call earth. This is done by means of the chemical 
 influence of the atmosphere, and the mechanical influence 
 of water. All the earth, and soil, and loose materials on 
 the surface, are nothing more than rocks ground to powder 
 by the mighty agency of nature. The necessity and utility 
 of this are seen in the formation of soils. If disinte- 
 gration did not exist, there would be no soils, and con- 
 sequently no plants could grow upon the earth, and as 
 a farther consequence no animal life could possibly exist ; 
 the world would be converted into a frightful desert, an 
 entire mass of rock, unanimated by a single living organism. 
 But, on the other hand, the opposite agency, consolidation, 
 is no less necessary. The loose materials — sand, clay, or 
 gravel, are again consolidated and converted into rock. 
 This is done by pressure at the bottom of the ocean, by the 
 influence of heat, or by some cementing substance. If it 
 were not for this, we would have no stones to build for 
 ourselves habitations. Thus, then, by the combined action 
 of these two antagonistic agencies, the happiness and com- 
 
178 BENEVOLENT DESIGN IN THE 
 
 fort of man are provided for. The mighty hammer of 
 nature breaks the rock in pieces, grounds it into powder, 
 and thus prepares it to sustain animal and vegetable life ; 
 whilst, on the other hand, the loose earthy materials are 
 formed into hard rock, and in this compact state are 
 employed by man in adding to his comfort and happiness. 
 III. A third instance of the goodness of God is seen in 
 the inclination of the stratified rocks. 
 
 All the stratified rocks are formed by the agency of 
 water in estuary beds or at the bottom of the sea. They 
 were originally deposited in a horizontal position, one 
 layer being placed upon the top of another. They have not 
 however remained in this their original position ; but have 
 been elevated by igneous agency, and have thus been 
 inclined to the horizon. They are now found at the earth's 
 surface at different inclinations ; some even perpendicular, 
 though in general the angle of inclination is small The 
 effect of this is eminently beneficial to man. If the stra- 
 tified rocks had not been inclined, if they had remained in 
 their original horizontal position, the one above the other, 
 they would have been inaccessible. The only way by 
 which they could have been reached would have been by 
 penetrating into the earth ; but all the labour of man has 
 seldom been able to penetrate to the depth of half-a-mile. 
 •Hence all those valuable materials which are contained 
 in the rocks — sandstone, marble, coal, mineral salt, and 
 the metals, would have been wholly beyond our reach; 
 they would, so far as regards us, have had no existence ; 
 and thus we would have been deprived of all those things 
 which constitute the elements of civilisation and comfort. 
 But by the inclination of the strata, the stratified rocks 
 are accessible to a depth of ten miles, and thus all those 
 useful deposits which they contain are within the reach of 
 
IKCLINATION OF THE STRATIFIED EOCKS. 1 79 
 
 Imman industry, and are bestowed as the reward of hviman 
 labour. Tliis, to the inattentive observer, insignificant 
 circumstance, is tlie source of all our mineral wealth ; and 
 when we consider how essential many of these substances 
 are to civilised society, we must regard the inclination of 
 the strata as a striking instance of the goodness of God. 
 
 It is owing also to the inclination of the strata, that 
 water is so plentifully diffused over the earth's surface. 
 By this means are mountains and valleys formed, and 
 these give rise to streams and rivers. And, especially, this 
 is the primary cause of wells and springs. The water, 
 being absorbed by the porous strata, is prevented, by means 
 of impervious rocks, from sinking down into the depths of 
 the earth ; and, at a lower level, in consequence of the 
 inclination of the strata, it is again given forth, as a sj^ring 
 or fountain.* Such, also, is the cause of what are called 
 Artesian wells. By boring into the surface of the earth 
 through the inclined strata of impervious rocks, a bed con- 
 taining water is reached, and the water, on the principle of 
 a fluid finding its level, rises to the surface of the earth, as 
 a perennial fountain. Now, we need not observe how 
 essential water is for the fertility of any portion of the 
 earth. To deprive it of this element would be to convert 
 it into a Sahara desert. But in consequence of the simple 
 fact, that the strata are inclined, water is diffused over 
 nearly all lands ; and if we regard the circulation of the 
 blood in animals, and of the sap in vegetables, as a striking 
 instance of the wisdom of God, so also is this aqueous cir- 
 
 * Springs are caused chiefly by the rain water percolating through 
 porous rocks, or through joints and fissures, and then coming to stiif 
 water-tight rocks, as the argiUaceous rocks, so that its fai'ther downward 
 progress is prevented ; and when these porous rocks again appear at the 
 surface at a lower level, the water issues forth from them, according to 
 the well-known law that water finds its level. 
 
180 BENEVOLENT DESIGN IN THE 
 
 culation which cheers and refreshes the material earth, and 
 becomes the source of fertility and enjoyment. " He 
 sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the 
 hUls. They give drink to every beast of the field ; the 
 wild asses quench their thirst. He watereth the hills 
 from His chambers ; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of 
 Thy works." 
 
 IV. A fourth geological argument for the Divine bene- 
 volence is derived from those valuable substances which are 
 to be found in the earth's crust. 
 
 Perhaps the most valuable of all the substances dug out 
 of the earth is coal. It has been demonstrated that this is 
 almost entirely of vegetable origin ; that it is an assemblage 
 of plants which have become mineralised through heat and 
 pressure. The coals which we burn once constituted the 
 trees of a past creation. Millions of years have passed 
 away since these trees existed and spread out their branches 
 into the air. Not a single one of their species now sur- 
 vives upon the surface of the earth ; they have all perished, 
 and that whole group of plants has become extinct. Tlie 
 land on which they grew has been submerged, or the trees 
 have been borne away by rivers, and deposited in estuaries 
 or on the ocean bed ; and these have been kept for vast 
 ages as in a store house, and they now, in these latter days, 
 constitute the fuel of man. It is marvellous to think, that 
 we are actually burning the trees which grew upon the 
 earth millions of years ago, that the forests of a former 
 world supply us with fuel, and that the relics of a creation 
 long since extinct form our greatest riches, and are the source 
 of our commercial prosperity. " If," observes Dr. Hitch- 
 cock, "a created and intelligent being from some other 
 sphere had alighted on this globe, during that remote 
 period when the vegetation now dug out of the coal forma- 
 
FOEMATION OF COAL. 181 
 
 tion covered the surface with its gigantic growth, he might 
 have felt as if there was a waste of creative power. Why, 
 he must have inquired, is there such a profusion of 
 vegetable forms, and such a colossal development of indi- 
 vidual plants? To what use can such vast forests be 
 applied? But let ages roll by, and that same being revisit 
 our world at the present time. Let him traverse the little 
 island of Britain, and see there fifteen thousand steam- 
 engines moved by coal dug out of the earth, and produced 
 by these same ancient forests. Let him see these engines 
 performing the work of two millions of men, and moving 
 machinery which accomplishes what would require the 
 unaided labours of three or four hundred millions of men, 
 and he could not doubt but such a result was one of the 
 objects of that rank vegetation which covered the earth, 
 ere it was fit for the residence of such natures as now dwell 
 upon it. Let him go to the coal fields of other coun- 
 tries, and especially those of the United States, stretching 
 over a hundred and fifty thousand square miles, containing 
 a quantity absolutely inexhaustible, and already imparting 
 comfort to millions of the inhabitants, and giving life and 
 energy to every variety of manufocture through the almost 
 entire length of the country, and destined to pour out their 
 wealth through all coming time, long after the forests shall 
 all have been levelled; and irresistible must be the con- 
 viction upon his mind, that here is a beautiful example 
 of prospective benevolence on the part of the Deity."* 
 " However remote," observes Dr. Buckland, " may have 
 been the periods, at which these materials of future bene- 
 ficial dispensations were laid up in store, we may fairly 
 assume, that, besides the immediate purposes effected at, 
 or before the time of their deposition in the strata of the 
 
 * IIitchcock'8 "Religion of Geology" pp. 178, 179. 
 
] 82 BENEVOLENT DESIGN IN THE 
 
 earth, an ulterior prospective view to the future uses of 
 man, formed part of the design, with which they were, ages 
 ago, deposited in a manner so admirably adapted to the 
 benefit of the human race."* 
 
 But coal is only one of the many valuable materials found 
 in the earth. Lime, for instance, also abounds. This sub- 
 stance is almost entirely composed of the coverings or shells 
 of animals ; in some kinds of limestone these shells are so 
 small and microscopic that millions of them are required to 
 constitute a very small portion. The use of lime in the 
 improvement of soil, and in cementing together the stones 
 of our houses is universally known. Here, then, is another 
 prospective provision of God ; for the animals whose shells 
 constitute limestone, lived ages before man existed. Sand- 
 stone is another valuable substance. This has been formed 
 by the action of rivers carrying down sand to the sea, where 
 in the course of ages it has been consolidated, and again 
 elevated to form part of the dry land. Thus all our build- 
 ing stones were prepared ere yet man was created. In 
 like manner all the valuable metals are found in the earth's 
 crust; they are discovered in veins filling up fissures of 
 rocks. It has been proved that the rocks had originally 
 no such veins ; and that the metals were afterwards, and 
 by a slow process, deposited in them. These metals are 
 found in various parts of the earth's crust ; and it has been 
 remarked that the most useful, such as iron and lead, are 
 the most common, and found in different kinds of rock; 
 whereas those which might better be spared, and yet are 
 useful as standards of the value of other commodities, 
 are rare, and each is found only in one particular rock.f 
 
 * Buckland's '■'■ Bridgewater Treatise" pp. 537, 538. 
 t " As for metals," observes Ray, " they are so many ways useful to 
 maukind, and those uses so well known to all, that it would be lust 
 
MINEKALS OF THE EAETH. 183 
 
 " And if," as Dr. King justly observes, " benevolent design 
 appears in the formation of coal, and lime, and the metals 
 individually, the illustration becomes cumulative when we 
 view them in conjunction. Coal was prepared in one way ; 
 limestone in another; metals in a mode different from 
 both. But after pursuing paths most unconnected and dis- 
 similar, they meet in serving man."* 
 
 Our own country, above all other lands, has been blessed 
 with mineral wealth. The different geological formations 
 with their respective deposits, are to be found in different 
 parts of this island. Coal, lime, sandstone, fossil salt, iron, 
 lead, tin, and other valuable substances abound. It is to 
 tills, under God, that we owe a great part of our national 
 wealth and prosperity. We are enabled to put into motion 
 the most extensive machinery ; to carry on a traffic almost 
 co-extensive with the world; to supply other nations with 
 our goods and the products of our country ; and, although 
 geographically a small and insignificant island in a remote 
 part of the world, yet geologically, perhaps the most 
 valuable spot of the globe, we have become the most 
 powerful nation which the world has ever seen, and our 
 colonies and dependencies occupy an extent of country far 
 larger than the Koman empu-e at the period of its greatest 
 extension. 
 
 It may, however, be objected that we are carrying the 
 argument too far. No doubt such valuable materials do exist 
 in the earth's crust — coal, lime, sandstone, and the metals ; 
 
 labour to say any thing of them. Without the use of these we could have 
 nothing of culture or civility ; no tillage or agriculture; no reaping or 
 mowing; no ploughing or digging: no pruning or lopping; no grafting 
 or incision; no mechanical arts or trades; no vessels or utensils of house- 
 hold stuff; no convenient houses or edifices; no sliipping or navigation." 
 * King's " Geoloc/ij and Religion" p. 209, fifth edition. 
 
184 PROSPECTIVE PEO VISION FOR MAN. 
 
 and, no doubt, they are exceedingly serviceable and advan- 
 tageous for man; but liow do we know that they were 
 formed or deposited with a design to his special benefit? 
 Man found them, and by |his ingenuity employed them, 
 but from this we can draw no argument as to their original 
 purpose, Now, in answer to this objection, it is necessary 
 to recall the caution given at the beginning of this chap- 
 ter. It is true that we cannot positively afi&rm that the 
 exclusive design of these materials was the benefit of man : 
 although with regard to some, as the metals, it is difficult 
 to imagine any other design ; yet, if the evident effect of 
 them is to promote human happiness, we may reasonably 
 infer that there was a prospective provision for man, and 
 that his benefit was one of the objects which God had in 
 view, and that more especially as such is the beneficial 
 effect of a great number of substances. Man is the most 
 exalted being that has appeared upon the earth ; he alone 
 is endowed with a reasonable soul ; and, his creation and 
 existence being foreseen by God, it is not at all an impro- 
 bable supposition to imagine, that throughout the past 
 geological ages there was provision made for his hap- 
 piness. We have many geological facts which go to 
 demonstrate that such was actually the case, and that 
 throughout the vast series of ages there was a preparation 
 going on for the special benefit of man. This is the con- 
 clusion which some of the most eminent and cautious 
 geologists and naturahsts, uninfluenced by any theological 
 considerations and guided only by the light of science, 
 have arrived at. It is impossible, within the limits of this 
 work, to state the grounds on which they formed this con- 
 clusion. We merely quote the words of Agassiz, probably 
 the greatest naturalist alive. " The aim of the Creator in 
 forming the earth, in allowing it to undergo the successive 
 
DIVINE BENEVOLENCE IN VOLCANOES. 185 
 
 changes which geology has pointed out, and in creating 
 successively all the diiferent types of animals which have 
 passed away, was to introduce man upon the surface of 
 our globe. Man is the end toward which all the animal 
 creation has tended from the first appearance of the first 
 palasozoic fishes."* 
 
 V. A fifth instance of the Divine benevolence, derived 
 from geology, is the existence of volcanoes. We mention 
 these phenomena especially, because they are popularly 
 regarded as being purely an effect of the Divine dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 When we confine our views to the disastrous effects of 
 earthquakes and volcanoes, and entirely overlook the 
 beneficial effects resulting from them, we are constrained 
 to regard them as the instruments of punishment, rather 
 than as the proofs of benevolence. We see the tenible 
 effects of earthquakes in the sudden destruction of thou- 
 sands of himian beings. We read in ancient history of an 
 earthquake which destroyed in the city of Antioch a 
 population of upwards of two hundred thousand. In 1692, 
 Port Eoyal, the capital of Jamaica, with nearly all its 
 inhabitants, was swallowed up or submerged under the sea. 
 In 1755, the great Lisbon earthquake took place; the 
 greater part of the city was destroyed, and in the course of 
 six minutes sixty thousand persons perished. In 1773, the 
 town of Guatimala, the capital of that country, and having 
 apopulation of eight thousand families, was swallowed up, 
 and every vestige of its former existence entirely obliter- 
 ated. In 1797, the town of Eiohamba in Peru was 
 destroyed, and forty-five thousand persons perished. The 
 effects of volcanoes, although apparently more awful, have 
 not been nearly so destructive ; they are not so sudden in 
 
 * Quoted from Millek's " Testimony of the Rocks," p. 211. 
 M 
 
186 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE IN VOLCANOES. 
 
 their action as earthquakes, and time is generally afforded 
 to the neighbonring inhabitants to make their escape. In 
 the celebrated eruption of Vesuvius, about the commence- 
 ment of the Christian era, although three cities, Pompeii, 
 Herculaneum and Stabise, were buried by the lava and 
 volcanic ashes, there was not a great destruction of 
 human life, most of the inhabitants having made their 
 escape. In 1759, the mountain of Jorullo in Mexico 
 was elevated by volcanic agency to a height of 1600 feet 
 above the level of the plain, but we do not read that many 
 perished. The most extensive volcanic eruption of which 
 we have any account is that of Skaptar Jokul, a mountain 
 in Iceland, which occurred in 1783; a large tract of 
 ground was converted into a burning plain, twenty villages 
 were destroyed, and nine thousand persons perished. 
 
 If we attended only to these terrible effects, we might 
 conclude that earthquakes and volcanoes are the expres- 
 sions of the Divine displeasure, directed toward a sinful 
 race ; and we do not venture to deny that such may be 
 one of the purposes fulfilled by these phenomena. But 
 still, when we consider their nature and cause, we will, at 
 aU events, discern goodness as weU as severity. There 
 are, in all probability, beneath the earth's crust vast oceans 
 of melted matter, and if there were no vent for the expansive 
 gases and vapours, the whole world would be destroyed. 
 Now it is the upward movement of these confined fires 
 wliich constitutes the earthquake, and their escape which 
 gives rise to the volcano. It has often been remarked that 
 the eruption of a volcanic vent puts a stop to a series of 
 earthquakes. Thus, then, volcanoes are in reality the safety- 
 valves of the earth by which the confined fires escape.* 
 
 * This is a point on which nearly all philosophers are now agreed. It 
 was first adverted to by Strabo, in the beginning of the Christian era. 
 
GEOLOGY THE HANDMAID OF RELIGION. 187 
 
 More than two hundred of these safety-valves are scat- 
 tered in different portions of the earth's surface ; and they 
 are in reality the means of preventing this world from 
 being destroyed in one universal conflagration. If these 
 vents were shut up, if every passage from the interior of 
 the earth to the surface were closed, a universal upheaving 
 and destruction would be the inevitable result, — the earth 
 and all that is therein would be burned up. 
 
 Such are some of the proofs which geology affords of 
 the benevolence of God. This science, far from being, 
 as was once supposed, antagonistic to religion, or merely 
 barren of religious inferences, affords, perhaps more than 
 any other science, abundant proofs and manifestations 
 of the perfections of God. As astronomy extends our 
 conceptions of the exercise of these perfections through 
 the immensity of space ; so geology shows us their devel- 
 opment through the immensity of time. As comparative 
 anatomy teaches us to discern the wisdom of the Deity in 
 the innumerable instances of design in the animal crea- 
 tion ; so does geology exhibit to us the same wisdom in the 
 organization of the fossils embedded in the rocks and in 
 the contrivances of past creations. And as we have seen 
 in this chapter, the goodness of God is clearly manifested 
 in the many benevolent provisions which geology discloses. 
 And, especially, there is no science which affords us such 
 direct proofs of the existence and providence of God, seen 
 in His immediate interposition in the creation of the dif- 
 ferent animals which have successively occupied the earth. 
 
 " Since," says he, " the craters of Etna have been opened, which yield a 
 passage to the escape of fire, and since burning masses and water have 
 been ejected, the country near the sea-shore has not been so niucli 
 shaken as at the time previous to the separation of Sicily from Lower 
 Italy when all communications with the external surface were closed." 
 
188 THE DIVINE JUSTICE. 
 
 Geology demonstrates that there was a time when man 
 and the present race of animals were not, and that nothing 
 but the agency of a supreme Creator can account for their 
 existence. " Shall it any longer then be said,"^, observes 
 Dr. Buckland, " that a science, which unfolds such abun- 
 dant evidence of the being and attributes of God, can rea- 
 sonably be viewed in any other light than as the efficient 
 auxiliary and handmaid of religion? Some few there still 
 may be whom timidity, or prejudice, or want of opportu- 
 nity allow not to examine its evidence ; who are alarmed 
 liy the novelty, or surprised by the extent and magnitude 
 of the views which geology forces on their attention, and 
 who would rather have kept closed the volume of witness, 
 w^hich has been sealed up for ages beneath the surface of 
 the earth, than impose on the student in natural theology 
 the duty of studying its contents; a duty, in which for 
 lack of experience they may anticipate a hazardous or a 
 laborious task, but which, by those engaged in it, is found 
 to afford a natural and righteous and delightful exercise of 
 their highest faculties, in multiplying the evidences of the 
 existence and attributes and providence of God."* 
 
 It becomes us, however, in our reflections on the bene- 
 volence of God, not to lose sight of His eternal justice. 
 We must beware of regarding God as a Being who is 
 1)enevolent at the expense of His other attributes ; who is 
 too good to punish the guilty, or who is not moved to 
 righteous indignation on account of sin. Such is not the 
 God whom the Scripture reveals ; and such is not the God 
 whom nature makes known. From several of the benevolent 
 contrivances we observe in nature suffering may result as 
 well as happiness. The earthquake and the volcano, espe- 
 
 * Buckland's •' Bridgewater Ti-eatise," pp. 593, 594. 
 
CROSS OF CHEIST. 189 
 
 cially, carry destruction with them to thuusauds. These 
 are not examples of unmixed benevolence. Many instances 
 could also be produced of God's holy indignation against 
 sin, and of the connexion which he has established in Pro- 
 vidence between sin and its punishment. The benevo- 
 lence of God is a benevolence toward a sinful race ; it is 
 mercy mingled with judgment. 
 
 Indeed in nature there are several difficulties connected 
 with our consideration of the Divine benevolence; some 
 enigmas which man by his own unassisted reason cannot 
 solve. God, as it were, reveals Himself in two different 
 characters, as a God of love and a God of justice. We see 
 these different manifestations often in the same event ; the 
 earthquake which destroys its thousands is yet the source 
 of general good. This led the heathen to imagine that 
 there were in reality two gods ; the one the source of all 
 that was good, and the other the cause of all that was evil. 
 Eevelation, however, has solved the difficulty; it reveals 
 God to us, as a God of infinite benevolence and yet of 
 inflexible justice; and whereas nature disclosed these 
 attributes as apparently in opposition to each other, reve- 
 lation teaches us that a divine harmony subsists between 
 them. In the great scheme of salvation through a cruci- 
 fied Kedeemer, the justice and mercy of God meet together; 
 and from the cross of Christ, God proclaims Himself to us 
 His sinful creatures to be, at one and the same time, the 
 just God and the mercifid Father. It is only when we 
 realise the element of moral evil, and contemplate the 
 Divine character as revealed to us in Scripture, that we are 
 enabled to discover, in all its extent and fulness, the bene- 
 volence of the great Creator. Why moral evil should 
 exist at all is a profound mystery which has baffled the 
 faculties of men from the beginning, and wliich may justly 
 be regarded as insolvable; but it is, we have reason to 
 
190 CKOSS OF CHRIST. 
 
 believe, the very benevolence of God which causes Him to 
 punish the wicked, in order to the promotion and preser- 
 vation of the happiness of the universe at large ; and there- 
 fore it is most unwarrantable, whilst we continue in sin 
 and impenitence and in the neglect of the provisions of 
 the gospel, to trust to that benevolence for escape from the 
 punishment which our sins have merited. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Agassiz — on the renewal of organised 
 beings, 54: ; on the transmutation of 
 species, 69 ; on the prospective pro- 
 vision for man, 184. 
 
 Amazon — sediment of its waters, 13. 
 
 Anderson, Eev. John, D.D. — his opi- 
 nion of the creative days, 93. 
 
 Animals— number of existing species, 
 150 ; their distribution, 151 ; Divine 
 goodness toward them, 173. 
 
 Ansted, Professor — his " Ancient 
 World" quoted, 100, 108, 131. 
 
 Antediluvian population, 161. 
 
 Anti-geologists — theories of, 38. 
 
 Antiquity of the earth — proved from 
 the stratified rocks, 29 ; proved from 
 the fossil remains, 35. 
 
 Ararat, Mount, 164. 
 
 Arbuthnot, John, M.D. — on the size of 
 the ark, 150. 
 
 Ark, size of, 149. 
 
 Artesian weUs, 179. 
 
 Astronomy— compared with geology, 
 40 ; proves the antiquity of the uni- 
 verse, 41. 
 
 Auvergne volcanoes, 147. 
 
 Babbage, Charles, Esq. — on the anti- 
 quity of the earth, 40. 
 
 Bakewell, Robert, Esq. — on the fossils 
 of Guadaloupe, 43. 
 
 Beaumont, M. Elie de — his theory of 
 geological cycles, 107, 108. 
 
 Bronn, Professor — on the number of 
 fossil species, 17. 
 
 Buckland, Dr. — on the creation, 99; on 
 the necessity of caution in proposing 
 theories of reconciliation. 111; on 
 the death of the lower animals, 132 ; 
 his "ReUquiaj DiluviansD," 142; on, 
 
 the diluvium, 143; on the relations 
 of the earth to the uses of man, 172 ; 
 on the goodness of God in the depo- 
 sition of coal, 181 ; on geology as 
 the handmaid of religion, 188. 
 
 Buck's Theological Dictionary — arti- 
 cle on the deluge, 140. 
 
 Burnet, Dr. Thomas — his " Theory of 
 the Earth," 138, 161. 
 
 Calvin — on the Mosaic account of the 
 creation, 88 ; on the changes at the 
 fall, 115. 
 
 Carnivorous animals — designed by 
 God, 120; their use, 130, 132; no 
 objection to the Divine goodness, 
 175. 
 
 Chalmers, Dr. — on the creation, 98. 
 
 Changes on the earth's surface, 11, 
 176. 
 
 Characteristic fossils, 17. 
 
 Coal formations, 180. 
 
 Conglomerates, 15, 33. 
 
 Consolidation, 177. 
 
 Creation — its commencement, 22, 23; 
 Mosaic account of, 46, 80 ; different 
 systems of, 55; meaning of the 
 word, 89. 
 
 " Creative week," the, 115, 121. 
 
 Gu\'ier — on identity of Egyptian mum- 
 mies with Kving species, 61 ; on the 
 correlation of fonus, 62 ; on the crea- 
 tion, 93, 95 ; on the distribution of 
 animals, 152. 
 
 Death — before the Adamic creation, 
 116; the punishment of disobedi- 
 ence, 123; as it regards the lower 
 animals, 128; as it regards man, 133 
 
 Deluge — its supposed universality, 
 
192 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 136 ; limited in its extent and effects, 
 146; scriptm-al narrative, 156; uni- 
 versal tradition, 157. 
 
 Deucalion, deluge of, 158. 
 
 Development hypothesis, on the, 57, 
 59, 61, 63. 
 
 Disintegration, 177. 
 
 Distribution of animals, 151. 
 
 Drift or diluvium — its nature, 109, 
 142 ; not caused by the deluge, 144. 
 
 Earth — changes on its surface, 11; its 
 internal heat, 24; its mutability, 
 25; its antiquity, 29, 39; prepared 
 for its inhabitants, 67; its future 
 condition, 76. 
 
 Earthquakes, 185. 
 
 Egyptian mummies identical ^vith liv- 
 ing species, 61. 
 
 Extinction of species, 70. 
 
 Fall — supposed changes at the, 114, 
 121 ; sentences after the, 125. 
 
 Fathers, the Christian — their inter- 
 pretation of Gen. i. 1, 48. 
 
 Fleming, Dr. ; on the deluge, 142. 
 
 Formations, list of geological, 19, 55. 
 
 Fossils ; characteristic, 17 ; their order 
 and succession, 20, 21, 55; their 
 abundance, 116; not the effects of 
 the deluge, 141. 
 
 Ganges, sediment of its waters, 13. 
 
 Geological periods, 51. 
 
 Geological system of progression, 66. 
 
 Geology; a sketch of, 11; compared 
 with astronomy, 40 ; illustrates Scrip- 
 ture, 46; confirms Scripture, 49; 
 opposed to the development theoiy, 
 63. 
 
 God — contemplation of His works, 9; 
 His goodness, 169; His justice, 188. 
 
 Guadaloupe fossil skeletons of men, 43. 
 
 Hales, Dr., on the size of the ark, 150. 
 
 Hanis' " Pre-Adamite Earth," 129. 
 
 Heat, internal, of the earth, 24, 40. 
 
 Hebrew language, its conjunctive pre- 
 fix, 90. 
 
 Herschell, Sir William; on celestial 
 distances, 42. 
 
 Hitchcock, Professor; on the number 
 of fossil species, 17 ; on geology and 
 astronomy, 41; on the drift period, 
 109 ; on a succession of races among 
 the lower animals, 129 ; on the coal 
 deposits, 180. 
 
 Home's "Introduction to the Scrip- 
 
 tm-es," 140, 158. 
 Humboldt, Alexander von, on celestial 
 
 distances, 42. 
 Hutchinson's " Moses' Principia," 139. 
 
 Iceland; the seat of volcanic action, 
 
 104, 186. 
 Igneous and aqueous agencies, 15, 176. 
 Indefinite periods, theory of, 92. 
 Introduction of species, 71. 
 
 Jamieson, Professor; his adoption of 
 the theory of indefinite periods, 93, 
 95. 
 
 Justice of God, 188. 
 
 King, Rev. David, LL.D. — on the Mo- 
 saic and heathen cosmogonies, 81; 
 on the reconciliation between Geo- 
 logy and Genesis, 111; on the abuse 
 of miracles, 155; on the geological 
 proofs of the Divine benevolence, 
 183. 
 
 Kirby, Eev. WiUiam; his diluvian 
 hyijothesis, 139. 
 
 Kitto, Dr.; 150. 
 
 Knajip, Dr. ; his hypothesis of the Mo- 
 saic vision of creation, 85. 
 
 Lamarck on the transmutation of 
 species, 59, 63. 
 
 Limestone, 116, 182. 
 
 Lonsdale, William, Esq. — on micro- 
 scopic shells, 116. 
 
 Lyell, Sir Charles — on the sediment of 
 the Ganges, 13; his "Principles of 
 Geology," 14 ; on the falls of Nia- 
 gara, 33 ; on the delta of the Missis- 
 sippi, 37; on the recent origin f)f 
 man, 44; on the Egyptian mum- 
 mies, 66; on existing shells in the 
 Tertiary periods, 100; on Etna and 
 the Auvergne volcanoes, 147. 
 
 MaccuUoch, John, M.D. — on geologi- 
 cal periods, 32. 
 
 Man — recent origin of, 43, 71; pro- 
 spective provision for, 184. 
 
 Metals— 182. 
 
 Microscopic fossil shells, 116. 
 
 Miller, Hugh — on the geological system 
 of pi'ogression, 65, 66; on the future 
 economy, 76, 78; his " Footprints of 
 the Creator," 77 ; on theMosaic vision 
 of creation, 86 ; on the creative days, 
 93; on existing species before the 
 Adamic creation, 101 ; on death be- 
 fore the Adamic creation, 117; on 
 
INDEX. 
 
 198 
 
 the size of the ark, 150; on plants 
 and tlie deluge, 153 ; on the extent of 
 the deluge, 156. 
 
 Mississippi — its delta, 37. 
 
 iliracles — proved by geology, 73; 
 abuse of, 154. 
 
 Mosaic account of the creation, 46, 80 ; 
 the deluge, 156. 
 
 Murchison, Sir Eoderick — on the 
 earliest forms of organic life, 23 ; on 
 the fish of the Silurian system, 64. 
 
 Mythical theory advanced by Profes- 
 sor Powell, 83. 
 
 Niagara, falls of, 33. 
 Nummulitio limestone, 116. 
 
 Organic life involves death, 122. 
 Organic remains, 116. 
 Owen, Professor — on the recent origin 
 of man, 46. 
 
 Palej', Dr. — his " Natural Theology," 
 
 refen-ed to, 132, 170. 
 Patrick, Bishop, on Genesis i., 49. 
 Perm, Granville, Esq. — his theories, 
 
 38, 139. 
 Phillips, Professor — on the different 
 
 creations of species, 53 ; on the mol- 
 
 lusca of the Snowdonian rocks, 63. 
 Physico-theological school, the, 138. 
 Plants could not survive a universal 
 
 deluge, 153. 
 Poole, Matthew, on the deluge, 165. 
 Population, antedihivian, 161. 
 Powell, Professor — his hypothesis on 
 
 the Mosaic account of creation, 83. 
 Providence — Miraculous, 73; special, 
 
 74. 
 
 Ray on Metals, 182. 
 
 Revelation — see Scripture. 
 
 Richardson, G. F., Esq. — on the order 
 of the stratified rocks, 18; on the 
 slow formotion of stratified rocks, 30 ; 
 on the recent origin of man, 46. 
 
 Rocks, their formation, 15. 
 
 Science — its use, 27 ; in hannony with 
 revelation, 112. 
 
 Scripture — its style with regard to 
 natvu-al phenomena, 87; its state- 
 ments with regard to death, 124; its 
 account of the deluge, 156. 
 
 Scrope, O. Poulett, Esq — on the Au- 
 vergne volcanoes, 147. 
 
 Sedgwick, Professoi- — on the earliest 
 fonnsof organic life, 24; on tlie de- 
 velopment hypothesis, 60; on the 
 fish of the Silurian system, 64; on 
 organic changes, : 68, 70 ; on-^ the 
 recent origin of man, 72; on the 
 changes of organic types, 107; on 
 prematui-e theories of reconciliation, 
 111 ; on the drift and the deluge, 144 ; 
 on geological deluges, 167. 
 
 SiUinian, Professor — his theoiy of 
 creation, 93. 
 
 Silurian formation, 23, 55, 63. 
 
 Sime's " Mosaic record in harmony 
 with the geological," 85. 
 
 Siu the sting of death, 133. 
 
 Smith, Dr. J. Pye — on characteristic 
 fossils, 18; on the alternations of sea 
 and land, 22; on the style of the 
 Mosaic account of creation, 84 ; on the 
 conjunctive prefix of the Hebrew, 
 90 ; his theory of reconciliation be- 
 tween Geology and the Mosaic nar- 
 rative of the ci-eation, 102; on the 
 hannony between science and revel- 
 ation, 113; on the anatomical struc- 
 ture of animals, 120 ; an organic Hfe 
 involving death, 122; on the miracles 
 necessary for a universal deluge, 
 152 ; on the use of universal terms, 
 160. 
 
 Somerville, Mrs. — on Iceland, 104. 
 
 Species — number of fossil, 17 ; succes- 
 sion of fossil, 53 ; extinction and in- 
 troduction of, 70; number of exist- 
 ing, 150. 
 
 Stillingfleet, Bishop— on the deluge, 
 165. 
 
 Strabo, on earthquakes and volcanoes, 
 186. 
 
 Stratified rocks — their formation, 15, 
 16,30; their order, 18; their thick- 
 ness, 19 ; slowness of their foi-mation, 
 30 ; time required for their deposi- 
 tion, 31; their inclination, 178. 
 
 Stuart, Professor Moses — on the lan- 
 guage of Scripture with regard to 
 natural objects, 87. 
 
 Sumner, Archbishop — on the creation, 
 98. 
 
 Taylor, Isaac, Esq. — on special provi- 
 dence, 75. 
 Tertiary periods, 100. 
 Theory of a new geological era, 105. 
 Time — its reference to geology, 31, 51. 
 Traditions of the deluge, 157. 
 
194 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Transmutation of spectes, 58. 
 
 Uniformitists — hypothesis of the, 108. 
 Universal terms, 160. 
 Unstratified rocks, 16. 
 
 " Vestiges of creation," 57. 
 Volcanoes — of Auvergue, 147; proofs 
 of the Divine benevolence, 185, 186. 
 
 Water, fresh and salt — the effects of, 
 153. 
 
 Waters of the deluge, 148. 
 
 Wealden formation, 36. 
 
 Whewell, Dr. — on new meanings at- 
 tached to scriptiu-al expressions, 48. 
 
 Whiston — his " Theory of the earth," 
 139, 148. 
 
 Wiseman, Cardinal — on geology as 
 the handmaid of revelation, 50. 
 
 Woodward, Dr. — on the deluge, 138. 
 
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