1 82 Natural Theology. 



of nature. What chemist can gather a spadeful of 

 soil in any portion of the earth, and find in it these 

 elements, as he will, so essential to plant and ani- 

 mal life, without being filled with wonder at the 

 accuracy of that great chemical experiment when 

 the world was made ? And when he has learned 

 from geology by what means these substances have 

 been spread over the earth, and so prepared that 

 they may be ever present in the soil, his wonder 

 is not diminished, and he needs what has been 

 called the " capacious credulity of an infidel," to be- 

 lieve that anything but Infinite Wisdom and Power 

 could produce the result which he sees. The poetic 

 language of Holy Writ has for him a literal meaning : 

 " \Vho hath measured tJic waters in tJic hollow of his 

 hand, and inctcd out hcarcn with a span, and com- 

 prehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and 

 weighed the mountains in scales, and tJie high hills 

 in a balance ? " 



He finds an answer in the elements. These ele- 

 ments, so wonderfully constituted, so nicely balanced 

 in quantity and so carefully distributed by the geo- 

 logic forces that have continued to act 'since the 

 foundations of the earth were laid, give not only the 

 conditions of sensitive life, but all that sensitive life 

 can desire. Man, the lord and master of the animal 

 kingdom, finds in the combination and power of the 

 elements the support of his life, the means of enjoy- 

 ment in the exercise of all his senses, the means of 

 improvement in the use of all his powers. 



We learn also, that these combinations in the pro- 



