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globe, which is in reality the formation of a star I Here he beheld a 

 momentous history which reaches back through millions of years. It 

 breaks upon the mind like a new revelation I And such, though not 

 miraculous, it must truly be regarded. These great scientific discove- 

 ries now rising like the morning sun upon us, are doubtless a part of 

 the plan of God. They have not entered th.e minds of men by chance. 

 They are given by Him to make known His own benevolent doino-s. 

 the long series of His own wise and mighty acts. '• Come, behold the 

 works of the Lord I" cried the old Hebrew bard. We have greater 

 cause than he to say. " Come, behold the acts of the Most High," as 

 we point to the formations of the rocks, beginning far below the Lower 

 Silurian, and tracing from time to time the growth and progress of 

 vegetable and animal life, with the growth of the solid globe as an ap- 

 propriate habitation for millions of advancing species, ending in "man 

 whose heaven-erected face the smiles of love adorn" — man recognizing 

 a benevolent First Cause who has ■' made all nature beauty to the eye 

 and music to the ear." The I'eligious element in Geology is one of its 

 great charms, and this attracted the mind of Wilson. 



To the question whether Dr. Wilson was a religious man we must 

 go for an answer to the old and everlasting touchstone, "By their 

 fruits ye shall know them." His whole life was a most eminent exam- 

 ple of goodness. His kindness, gentleness, and constant endeavors to 

 please, were always felt. His benevolence was as marked in the innu- 

 merable small acts of daily life as in those large exertions which will 

 forever bless the world. He was punctual in all his engagements, strictly 

 upright in all his dealings, and never over-reaching in trying to make 

 a bargain in his own favor. On one occasion, when he inquired of a 

 collector the price of a cabinet of insects which he had determined to 

 buy, and when told the amount it would cost, he remarked, •■ Only 

 that sum. is it possible i"' His spirit and conduct were admirable in 

 all the social relations of life, in his family, among his friends, and in 

 the societies with which he labored. His most striking peculiarity was 

 his modesty and unassuming bearing. So far from looking out for 

 • the chief seats" and for high ofiices, he carefully avoided them. He 

 tried in every way not to be conspicuous. His father was a member of 

 the Society of Friends, but he himself did not adopt any peculiarities 

 of dress, and probably was never considered a member of that Society. 

 His theoretical religious opinions were mainly those of the Friends, 

 and yet he was one of the chief subscribers in the erection of an Epis- 

 copal church edifice at Newark, Del., which he occasionally attended, 



