98 THE LAPSE OF TIME. 



for the life of a mortal man, but compared with the 

 ceaseless flow of ages, which we call eternity, this same 

 thousand years becomes, as it were, an imperceptible 

 speck, less than a drop of water compared to the 

 Atlantic, a point of time so inconceivably minute, that 

 no human mind could grasp it as an intelligible unit of 

 measurement. For time, we have an inexhaustible past 

 on which to draw. Against any given theory of pro- 

 duction, no objection pure and simple that the theory 

 makes too large a demand upon time, can be maintained. 

 An objection, to be valid against the existence of life on 

 the earth a million of years back, must postulate that 

 there was no earth then in existence, or none capable of 

 supporting life ; for if we choose to stand by the doctrine 

 of final causes, life upon the earth must have begun as 

 soon as life upon the earth was possible, otherwise we 

 should have a fair and perfect design with its purpose 

 unaccomplished ; or, if we prefer the Theory of Develop- 

 ment carried out to its legitimate consequences, equally 

 must we admit, that as soon as the earth was fitted for 

 living creatures, living creatures would be generated 

 upon it. 



In tracing back the duration of the globe, the first 

 demand of the uninitiated will be for the written evi- 

 dence of historical records. The popular impression 

 claims to be founded upon such evidence of the most 

 authoritative description. Little do the upholders of 

 this impression in general understand that they are 

 building their faith, not upon the Book of Genesis, 



