418 Proceedings of the British Associatioti. 



and in those liigh walks ever to be seen among tlie foremost in the march 

 of scientific discovery. There are no claims to your notice which could 

 have been advanced in my behalf, even by my most partial friends, that 

 could have directed you to the choice you have made, but for the unhap- 

 py circumstance now alluded to. Those friends (I fondly hope) will 

 feel that they and the University have been compUmentcd in the person 

 of their aged academic sujierior. For myself, I can truly aver, that the 

 honour you have done r>ie is one to which I never could have presumed 

 to aspire ; and that now it leaves me nothing further to wish for, except 

 one thing, and one only, which is, that I were more deserving of so high a 

 compliment. Of the Association itself, its objects, and its construction, 

 ■whereby it is fitted for the attainment of those objects, it must be unne- 

 ccssarj^ for me to offer any explanation in this assembly, wherein all this 

 is so well understood ; but it may not be so generallj" known, because it 

 can scarcely be believed, that without these walls there are to be found in- 

 dividuals, though I hope not many, who regard your exertions with some- 

 thing like painful apprehension ; finding themselves unable to reconcile 

 the discoveries whicli have been made in a certain department of science, 

 to which your attention is here invited, to their views of the Mosaic his- 

 tory. With these apprehensions it would be my wish to deal tenderly, 

 if I could but learn how to respect them. I meant not to insinuate that 

 such persons could propose to restrict the investigation of truth in any of 

 the paths which may be supposed to lead to its i>ossession ; or that they 

 could possibly think tliat we should suppress any of the discoveries 

 which have been made, however alarming in their view of them ; for this 

 would be (to use the language of Bacon) " Deo per mendacium gratifi- 

 cari." But I do not mean to assert, and I do it most confidently, that 

 they are themselves to blame for that indigestion of which they complain. 

 Happily, however, as their ailment has its source altogether within them- 

 selves, so also is the remedy within their own power ; and if they would 

 condescend to permit me to advise, I think I could help them with a pre- 

 scription suited to their case. I would recommend that they should pro- 

 ceed with more patient circumspection, or at least more of self-distrust 

 and of doubting hiunility, both in their interpretation of the language of 

 the sacred historian, and in the inferences which they venture to draw 

 from certain discoveries which have been made in geological science. It 

 may be perceived that I suspect them of precipitancy in drawing conclu- 

 sions from views hastily adopted; and as they may not be prepared 

 to plead guilty to this charge, I would beg leave to ask them, have 

 they indeed ascertained how far back the sacred historian had pro- 

 posed to carry liis readers in the communications he was commission- 

 ed to make. The answer, perhaps, will be " to the origin of all things 

 to the creation of the universe. It is true that he prefaces his history of 

 God's government over his chosen people, by informing us that " in 

 the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." And it seems 

 equally certain that he here speaks of the original creation of all things 

 out of nothing. This, indeed, is a great subject ; and though nothing 

 circiuustantial is here revealed to us concerning it, yet the sacred import- 

 ance of the truth, assured to us by this single expression, is every way 

 suited to the prominent place assigned to it ; for it is nothing less than 

 the authoritative statement of the first and fundamental article of all true 

 religious faith. By it we are taught that self-existence is an attribxitc of 

 the one Supreme Being, and that all things whatsoever beside owe their 

 existence to his supreme power. How necessary it was to mankind to 

 have an authoritative declaration on this subject, we may readily convince 

 ourselves, by adverting to the errors into which the most celebrated men 

 of all antiquity had fallen, who presumed to speculate on these matters, 

 so far beyond the reach of human reason, without other guidance. Among 



