GEOLOGY. 



73 



wt*i,* hevr, which were lately proposed, and 

 iltermpted by a certain portion of the religious 

 world. Even within the limits of Europe, this 

 could not be attempted, with the prospect of 

 Christians joining in devotion at one and the 

 same time ; for, when it is six o clock in one 

 part of Europe, it is eight at another, and five 

 o clock at a third place ; much less could such a 

 concert take place throughout Europe, Asia, and 

 America. So that science, and a calm consi 

 deration of the nature and relations of things, 

 may teach us to preserve our devotional fervour 

 and zeal within the bounds of reason and pro 

 priety ; and, at the same time, to direct our 

 reflections, and our Christian sympathies, to 

 take a wider range than that to which they are 

 usually confined. 



Besides the considerations now suggested, a 

 serious contemplation of the physical objects 

 and movements which this science exhibits, has 

 a tendency to excite pious and reverential emo 

 tions. To contemplate this huge globe of land 

 and water, flying with rapidity through the voids 

 of space, conveying its vast population from one 

 region to another at the rate of fifteen hundred 

 thousand miles in a day, and whirling round its 

 axis at the same time, to produce the constant 

 succession of day and night, to contemplate 

 the lofty ridges of mountains that stretch around 

 it in every direction ; the flaming volcanoes ; 

 the roaring cataracts ; the numerous rivers, in 

 cessantly rolling their watery treasures into the 

 seas ; the majestic ocean, and its unfathomable 

 caverns ; the vapours rising from its surface, and 

 replenishing the springs and rivers ; the ava- 

 anche hurling down the mountain s side with a 

 noise like thunder; the luxuriant plains of the 

 torrid zone ; the rugged cliffs and icebergs of 

 the polar regions ; and thousands of other ob 

 jects of diversified beauty and sublimity, has 

 an evident tendency to expand the conceptions 

 of the human mind, to increase its sources of 

 animal enjoyment, and to elevate the affections 

 to that all-powerful Being who gave birth to all 

 the sublimities of Nature, and who incessantly 

 superintends all its movements. 



In fine, from the numerous moral facts, which 

 geography unfolds, we learn the vast depth and 

 extent of that moral degradation into which the 

 nu man race has fallen the ferocious tempers, 

 and immoral practices, which are displayed in 

 the regions of pagan idolatry the horrid cru 

 elties, the vile abominations, that are daily per 

 petrated under the sanction of what is termed 

 religion the wide extent of population, over 

 which the prince of darkness sways his sceptre 

 the difficulties which require to be surmount 

 ed before the &quot; gospel of salvation&quot; can extend 

 its full influence throughout the pagan world 

 and the vast energies which are requisite to ac 

 complish this glorious event. All these por 

 tions of information are calculated to confirm 

 10 



and illustrate the scriptural doctrine of the uni 

 versal depravity of man to exercise the faith 

 of the Christian, on the pronuses of Jehovah, 

 in reference to the conversion of the benighted 

 nations to rouse his sympathies towards his 

 degraded brethren of mankind, to excite his in 

 tercession in their behalf, and to direct his be 

 nevolence and activity in devising and execut 

 ing schemes for enlightening the people who are 

 sitting &quot; in darkness, and in the shadow of 

 death.&quot; 



GEOLOGY. 



Another subject intimately related to the for 

 mer, is the science of Geology. 



This science has for its object, to investigate 

 and describe the internal structure of the earth, 

 the arrangement of the materials of which it is 

 composed, the circumstances peculiar to its ori 

 ginal formation, the different states under which 

 it has existed, and the various changes which it 

 appears to have undergone, since the Almighty 

 created the substance of which it is composed. 

 From a consideration of the vast quantity of ma 

 terials contained in the internal structure of our 

 globe, and of the limited extent to which men can 

 carry their operations, when they attempt to pene 

 trate into its bowels, it is obvious, that our know 

 ledge of this subject must be very shallow an-1 

 imperfect. The observations, however, which 

 have been made on the structure of our globe 

 during the last half century, and the conclusions 

 deduced from them, are highly interesting, both 

 to the philosopher and to the Christian. Before 

 the facts, on which this branch of natural histo 

 ry is founded, were accurately ascertained, a 

 variety of objections to the Mosaic history of the 

 creation were started by certain skeptical philo 

 sophers, founded on partial and erroneous views 

 of the real structure and economy of the earth. 

 But it is now found, that the more accurately 

 and minutely the system of nature is explored, 

 the more distinctly do we perceive the harmony 

 that subsists between the records of Revelation, 

 and the operations of the Creator in the material 

 world. If both be admitted as the effects of the 

 agency of the same Almighty and Eternal Being, 

 they must, in the nature of things, completely 

 harmonize, and can never be repugnant to each 

 other whether we be capable, in every instance, 

 of perceiving their complete coincidence, or not. 

 If any facts could be produced in the visible crea 

 tion which directly contradict the records of the 

 Bible, it would form a proof, that the oracles 

 which we hold as divine were not dictated by 

 the Creator and Governor of the universe. But, 

 although some garbled facts have been trium 

 phantly exhibited in this view, it is now ascer 

 tained, from the discoveries which have been 

 lately made in relation to the structure and forma 

 tion of the earth, that the truth of the facts d- 



