Chatburn. 221 



that of the creation of man, tell us, with so sublime an 

 eloquence, that creative power was no less exquisitely 

 expressed then, though human eyes there were none to 

 behold, than at this moment, in the sweetest lineaments 

 of meadow and garden. Formerly it was supposed that 

 these wonderful fossils, and likewise those found in the 

 coal-mines, were memorials of Noah's flood ; and very 

 curious and interesting is it to look back upon the en- 

 deavours made by one of the early delineators of fossil 

 remains, to establish the identity of extinguished things 

 with existing ones. We allude to Scheuchzer, who, in 

 one of the most remarkable books in our priceless Chet- 

 ham Library,* gives numerous beautiful drawings of fos- 

 sils, which he believes to include petrified poplar-cat- 

 kins, ears of barley, fronds of the common shield-fern, 

 &c. This was natural enough; but Geology has now 

 put it beyond all possibility of overthrow that there 

 have been many successive creations, both of plants and 

 animals ; and no one must now say that to receive this 

 great truth is to accept something contrary to "religion," 

 for if contrary it were, "religion" would signify ignor- 

 ance. Far more reverent is it to feel that there is no 

 place where life is not present, and that there never was 

 a time when life was not. 



These "Crinoidea" were animals with stalk-like bodies 

 several inches in length, and bearing upon the summit a 

 head, much of the character of an Actinia or "Sea 

 * Physica Sacra. 1739. Vol. i. p. 49. 



