FOSSILS. 179 



present to succeeding generations a succint narration 

 of the wonderful process of the creation, and a brief 

 display of so appalling an occurrence as the deluge, 

 intended for the destruction of the human race. 

 Such is the problematical nature of the evidence here 

 afforded us, that it canot be surprising why natural- 

 ists, in endeavouring to avail themselves of some 

 assistance from the Bible to support a favorite theory, 

 should so widely differ in their opinions respecting 

 the import of a sentence. It seems to us, however, 

 that there should be no doubt but that the book of 

 Genesis is intended to record the principal events of 

 that age, those of striking importance ; and those 

 which shew the consequences of good and bad actions 

 in the lives of men ; and hence it is that the writer 

 describes in sufficiently precise language, and at 

 sufficient length, these circumstances : whilst, di- 

 rectly afterwards, he implies in one verse the omission 

 of a hundred or two of years. Therefore, we neither 

 rank among those who contend that the Mosaic 

 record is a forgery and an imposition on our credulity 

 — nor among such as pronounce it a distinct and 

 satisfactory explanation of the plan of the creation 

 or of the manner of the flood's destruction and over- 

 flow of the earth, or, lastly, of the mode in which the 

 present tribes were preserved and provided for. From 

 whence then are we to derive our knowledge of the 

 changes experienced by the earth and its inhabi- 

 tants? We have no older record than the Bible, 

 and the traditions of the most ancient nations bear 

 testimony only to the mere circumstance of a flood. 

 We must appeal therefore to natural evidence ; we 

 must appeal to natural phenomena for an explanation 

 of the causes acting to their existence of the effect 

 of their existence ; of the relations of their existence 

 to such as succeed, and precede them. We must 

 apply to the fossils and their containing strata for 

 an account of the time and manner of their deposits, 

 of the causes which brought them, their prede- 

 cessors, and successors, to act a part in the theatre 



