THEORY OF THE EARTH. 461 



has read what has now been written, will see how 

 much further he may venture, even till he loses him- 

 self in a series of ages, which, to our narrow concep- 

 tions, is almost an eternity. And have I not shown 

 that what is thus consistent with the Conduct of the 

 Deity is also not inconsistent with His revealed Word? 

 If I have not, I have proved nothing; if there were 

 aught in geology which contradicted that Word, I 

 should be among the first to say, the science is in error. 

 But it is not in error : it is one of the strongest 

 evidences, towards natural religion, as it is also a new 

 one. For thus too do we discover the wisdom and 

 the goodness, which, never leaving the earth without 

 that Life which it was capable of supporting, has ever 

 adapted its forms to those capacities: just as, during 

 our own period, it changes the balances of the present 

 ones, as the habitation itself changes, under His direct 

 power, or under the subsidiary and appointed powers 

 of Man. And does it not also teach us, that His Will 

 interposes when needful ; that not even a secondary 

 cause can, always, act, under that previous appoint- 

 ment which an antient philosophy had supposed, and 

 a modern one has, unwarily or censurably, followed ? 

 Can the periods of revolution have occurred without 

 His immediate interposition and command? And this 

 is His Providence. Worthy surely therefore of regard 

 is a science which thus demonstrates the chief attri- 

 butes of the Deity, and thus elevates our minds to the 

 Creator and Governor of all : which teaches us fur- 

 ther, that all progression is improvement ; almost also 

 assuring us, that the destruction in which we have 

 been taught to believe, shall be succeeded by a better 

 and a fairer earth, when He shall think fit to issue 

 the Command. 



THE END. 



