RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY. 37 



appears to me the same thing as to suppose that He was 

 obhged, through want of previous acquaintance with the 

 changes on the earth's surface, to meet the emergencies as 

 they might arise, and to compensate for the unforeseen ex- 

 tinction of one race of beings, by the special creation of 

 another. 



The course of Dr. Carpenter's thought had at this time 

 only appeared to confirm the view of the world and of life 

 in which he had been brought up. He had accepted the 

 Biblical record as a supernatural revelation accredited by 

 miracles. He said, indeed, that — 



We must allow a great deal in regard to the form of what we 

 call revelation, and that physical science, in the form in which 

 it is now developing itself, is another revelation which is adapted 

 to convince the intellect of those who could not receive the 

 same doctrines as mere matters of faith. 



And' he added — 



As the mind of man advances, I believe that the Biblical 

 revelation will come to be regarded in the light in which 1 now 

 view it, i.e. as specially designed for those periods when the 

 human mind would more passively receive the truths it teaches, 

 and would give more ready credence to the proofs by which it 

 was then supported ; that, as less confidence comes to be placed 

 in the external evidences, the strength of the internal will be 

 found to increase ; and that, in fine, the fundamental truths of 

 religion will rest on the generalizations of science, blended with 

 the express declarations of God, the latter being received chiefly 

 as such, because in full accordance with the former. 



The " internal evidences," however, on which Dr. Car- 

 penter was then disposed to rely, were not those of the 

 moral and religious affections ; they were almost wholly of 

 an intellectual kind ; they were such as were suggested by 

 the contemplation of the " plan of creation," and the indica- 

 tions of the presence and energy of mind in the world 

 around. In such a mood of thought, miracles still had 



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