Early History of the Earth. 303 



theory of creation that has ever been broached. 

 Now, as to the second question, whether that whole 

 account really accords with the revelations of geo- 

 logy, we an>wer that we believe its correspondence 



ich that if we cannot in every instance be sure 



we are ri^-ht. we can challenge opposers to show a 



'Cement On this point, in the present 



'loose to take the position 



niied by Htitlcr in his Analog). ting the 



immortality of the soul ; that the contrary cannot 



>hown. Ilavin- these explanations, and 



wishing to be distinctly understood as disclaiming 

 all e of absolute certainty, we proceed to 



A- what seems to be a reasonable 



of the Bible account of creation with the revelations 

 of s . >und has been traversed by able 



men, and in such i: 3 we gladly boi , 



from them all the light tl;- 1 upon our 



iway. * 



i long history to our globe before any 

 permanent records were left in t; :nentary 



Its, When we 1: ! back to the first forms 



of life that appeared upon the globe, and to the deep 

 rocks below them, we look off into what has been 

 regarded by Hugh Miller and some other geologist-' 

 as a dark unknown. It is by the light of chemistry 

 alone that we can thread our way back beyond the 

 positive record of geologic formations. And we be- 



* It is proper to state that this lecture was prepared twelve years ago, essentially 

 as it It is impossible in a single lecture to give a full discussion of the 



subject or to quote from authors. Those who would fully understand the present 

 state of the discussion, should read Hugh Miller, Dana, Lewis, and Dawsou. 



