TWELFTH WEEK-SATURDAY.

I. GEOLOGY. ITS PHENOMENA CONSISTENT WITH THE MOSAIC

ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION.

THE existence of mountains, which, in the volume on Spring, will be shown to be a most beneficent arrangement, modern geology has proved to be owing to a general disruption of the original crust of the earth. On its first formation, the surface of our globe must have been a plain, or, at least, very nearly approaching to it. The rocks and minerals of which it is now composed, are, on good grounds, believed to have been originally in a liquid state; and, whether fire or water were the agents employed, or if, what is more probable, both of them were employed either separately or together, the strata of the earth must, by the law of gravitation, have been formed horizontally, and the surface must then have been level. This introduces us to a most curious and interesting subject; and I intend to devote a few papers to a rapid view of the discoveries of the geologist; but before entering on this alluring field, it seems proper to advert to the attack which has been made by infidel writers on the Mosaic account of the creation; that this matter being put on its proper footing, we may be enabled to proceed with safety and freedom.

These writers allege, that there are incontrovertible proofs of the existence of the world before the era assigned to the Mosaic creation; and that all geological appearances concur in bearing evidence, that many existences, both organized and unorganized, instead of being created in six days, have been successively produced and remodelled in the course of many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of ages.

Now, granting all this to be distinctly established, for I do not think it necessary to dispute the general view thus stated, much less am I inclined to call in question the facts by which it is supported, there are two ways by which

6

these appearances have been attempted to be reconciled to the Mosaic account. The first and ordinary way is, by supposing that the six days mentioned by Moses as the period in which Creative power was exerted, may be interpreted to mean so many ages of indefinite extent: and in support of this opinion there are not wanting plausible arguments. The word day is assuredly often taken in Scripture to signify an age or an era; thus, we read of an acceptable day,' and 'a day of vengeance; and, still more distinctly, of 'the latter day,' 'the day of judgment,' and 'the day of salvation ;'--all which expressions are evidently meant to indicate, not a natural day of twenty-four hours, but a peculiar period in the actings of God's providence. Again it has been argued that the various works assigned to each day, when taken for an era, correspond, with wonderful exactness, to the geological indications; the choas, when all the elements were in a mixed and turbid state; the separation of the principle of light; the subsidence of the waters, and the appearance of dry ground; the creation of the vegetable kingdom; then of the inhabitants of the sea; then of the inhabitants of the land; and, last of all, of man ;—seem to follow in the precise order of succession which the various periods marked by the labours of the geologist appear very clearly to sanction. All this might appear to be satisfactory, were it not that the sacred writer seems anxiously to preclude the possibility of such an explanation, by ending the account of each day's operation in these words, 'And the evening and the morning were the first(the second, the third, &c.)-day ;' a mode of expression which seems very emphatically to confine the duration of the work, in each instance, to a natural day, or a revolution of the earth on its axis, although this, doubtless, may then have been much more tardy than it is at present.

This method of getting quit of the difficulty, seeming, therefore, to be untenable, we are bound to receive the Mosaic account of the creation in the natural and unstrained sense of the words, as an inspired, and therefore true representation of the succession of visible appearances on each of

the six days of this first week of time, as connected with the system in which man was brought into existence; but the inquiry is still open,-whether or not the materials of which our present world is composed, might have been made use of by the Eternal Creator at a period, or during a succession of periods, previous to that of the creation recorded by Moses.

In looking at the account contained in the first chapter of Genesis, with this inquiry in our minds, what do we see? First of all, we have an affirmation in general terms, that God is the Creator of all things; for I think it will be readily conceded, that nothing more than this is meant by the expression, 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' Then follows a declaration, that immediately before the commencement of the Mosaic creation, the materials of which the new world was to be composed were already in existence, but in a chaotic state. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.' Nothing is said of the preceding state of this chaos; because the business of the sacred historian lay entirely with the world as it now exists; but, undoubtedly, there is here no assertion which precludes the previous use of the materials, on which the Almighty was now beginning to operate; on the contrary, the very existence of these materials, if it does not imply, at least renders plausible the supposition, that they may at some still earlier period have been employed in some other manifestations of the Divine perfections.

Now, if we are permitted to take this view, all the objections of the geologist, arising from the appearances which indicate the existence of organized and living beings long before the era of man, vanish at once. Should it be found, that for many thousands, or even millions of years, the matter of the earth was in existence before the creation of the human race, and that it had been made use of by Him whose being is from eternity, as the habitation of other modes of vegetable and animal life, in many successive epochs, and with a constant progression towards higher powers and more perfect forms, such facts, so far from invalidating the Mosaic account,

seem perfectly consistent with the analogy of revealed religion, which is itself progressive, and the belief of them is even favoured by the manner in which the account of what must then be considered as the latest creation, is introduced.

This is the view, then, which I am disposed to take, though I am quite aware that some highly ingenious attempts have been made to reconcile all geological appearances to the opinion that the materials of the world did not exist previous to the Mosaic account,--of the soundness of which I shall at present say nothing. In any case, the evidence of Scripture, which rests on separate grounds, and is unimpeachable, must be received as paramount. Let every human system, however plausible, perish, which contradicts the word of eternal truth. Magna est veritas et prævalebit.*

* After this and the succeeding papers on Geology were written, and while the first edition of this work was going through the press, Dr. Buckland published his highly interesting and valuable Bridgewater Treatise. It is a great satisfaction to me to observe that this intelligent author has adopted the same view with myself, as to the mode of reconciling the Mosaic account with the discoveries of Geology,—a view which he states himself to have long entertained, and to have previously given to the world in his Inaugural Lecture, in 1820. He also quotes some other authors as agreeing with him in this method of reconciliation, such as Dr. Chalmers, Bishop Gleig, a writer in the Christian Observer, &c. My own opinion, which was formed independently of these writers, I can now advance with greater confidence. Dr. Buckland enters into some details of the six days of creation, supported by critical notices on the Hebrew text, by the Regius Professor of Hebrew in Oxford (Pusey), which are very satisfactory. It is shown that the Hebrew word (bara), which we translate 'created,' does not necessarily signify formed out of nothing, though it is a stronger word than asah, made: and it is also stated, that when, in the fourth commandment, it is declared that, 'in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,' the word employed is not bara, but asah, from which it appears that it expresses nothing more than 'a new arrangement of materials which existed before.' Indeed, if we are strictly to interpret the word 'create,' as signifying made out of nothing, it cannot apply to the work of any of the six days, which consisted in the act of forming out of materials already in existence.

THIRTEENTH WEEK-SUNDAY.

ON THE DIFFICULTY OF COMPREHENDING THE OPERATIONS OF PROVIDENCE.

WE have been contemplating the perfections of the Creator, as exhibited in His works. Let us pause a little on this day, set apart for devotional exercises, and turn to the consideration of the same perfections, as exhibited in His moral government.

One of the first things that strikes the mind in adverting to this subject, is the difficulty of comprehending God's dealings with his rational creatures. We immediately discover, that 'His ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts.' A peculiar mystery hangs over his operations, when we examine them by the unassisted light of reason; and this mystery is greatly modified, although it is not altogether removed, when revelation adds its clearer light. This every inquiring mind must have felt, in considering the various questions connected with the existence of moral evil. Let us look, then, at the sources of this mystery, and we shall find them all resolving themselves into this one fact, the infinite transcendency of the Divine perfections.

The wise and good among men frequently act on principles which are not obvious to their inferiors, who are not capable of entering into their exalted views. Can it be matter of surprise, then, that the feeble and grovelling race of Adam should be found incapable of entering into the councils of Him who is infinitely wise, and infinitely good? As in His own nature he is incomprehensible, so in the operations of His providence He may be, and, indeed, He frequently must be, influenced by motives far above our conception. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts.' He acts from the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable impulse