GEOLOGY. 



THE term Geology is derived from #e, the earth, and logos, word, 

 or discourse ; and is therefore equivalent to a treatise concerning 

 the earth. The direct ohject of this science is to unfold the solid 

 substance of the earth, to discover hy what causes its several parts 

 have been either arranged or disorganized, and from what opera- 

 tions have originated the general stratification of its materials, the 

 inequalities of its surface, and the vast variety of bodies that enter 

 into its composition. 



It will be evident, that to go into the details of this science can 

 form no part of the object of this work ; but there area few branch- 

 es of the subject which ne cannot be allowed to pass over, in con- 

 sequence of their intimate connexion with some important particu- 

 lars of the sacred writings. 



There is no necessity to revive here the controversy which once 

 disturbed the Grecian schools, concerning the eternity of matter,, 

 and the spontaneous formations of atoms. Pythagoras, Socratcs r 

 Plato, Aristotle, and others, continued to maintain the barrier 

 against the influx of principles so destructive of the moral happiness 

 of man. Dr. Cudwortli, in his 'True Intellectual System of the 

 Universe,' spent the better periods of his life in bringing forward 

 their ancient arguments, connected with the advantages of modern 

 literature, with a view to put the free-thinkers of his time entirely 

 out of countenance. Moralists, poets, and divines, acknowledge 

 their obligations for his labors. But truth must still be clad in ar- 

 mor. The warring passions of men against the laws of hejiven, 

 ever raise their weapons against the doctrines of revelation. Every 

 now and then, a new enemy approaches our flanks, wishful that we 

 should not perceive his manoeuvres till he has struck the blow. He 

 approaches in the garb of science, and gains our ear as the friend 

 of reason and of truth. Having obtained some ascendancy by his 

 wisdom, and pleased us by his eloquence, he slides imperceptibly 

 to the eternal war which the ocean lias waged against the cliffs and 

 promontories, and to the immeasurable periods which our conti- 

 nents have endured. 



Now, if these doctrines be really founded, and by fair deductions, 

 from the characters of the earth, then Moses is in error, and the an- 

 cient patriarchs were ignorant of the origin of the world; then the 

 claims of revelation are nugatory, and impositions on the credulity 

 of the public. If the history of nature do not afford arguments, 

 and speak with a thousand voices of conviction to the mind, if 

 the earth itself do not furnish chronometers of a comparative juve- 



