CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 315 



426. Record of the Rocks and History. In reading 

 history as written by men there is always more or less 

 doubt about its reliability. It is even so with the histo- 

 ry of recent times, but more especially with that of times 

 long gone by, as already alluded to in 419; but the 

 record which the Creator has left in the rocks is a true 

 history. When Geology first unfolded its leaves to the 

 world, it was the idea of some that the animal and vege- 

 table forms found in the strata were the mere images of 

 living things imprinted there, and not actual remains. 

 This most unworthy idea of the Deity's work of creation 

 is not now entertained by any one, but the history folded 

 up in the rocks is universally recognized as a true life- 

 record of past ages. We may sometimes err in read- 

 ing it, or may even fail to decipher it ; but, nevertheless, 

 thete is no mistake in this record written by the Infinite 

 and the True. 



427. The Two Divine Records of the Creation. There 

 are two authentic records of the creation of the earth, 

 the one contained in the Bible, and the other inscribed 

 on the rocks. Some scientific men, who do not absolute- 

 ly deny the truth of the Bible, seem to think that the 

 record developed by their discoveries has a certain and 

 indisputable claim on their faith, which the other record 

 has not. But both are equally authentic, though the ev- 

 idences of authenticity are different in the two cases. It 

 is just as well established that the Bible is a divine rec- 

 ord, the authors being merely agents of the Deity, as 

 that the record in the rocks was made by divine power, 

 heat, water, light, electricity, etc., being the agents by 

 which it was made. These two records can not, then, 

 be inconsistent with each other, though they may be ap- 

 parently so, from a wrong interpretation of the one or 

 the other. In interpreting the account of the earth's cre- 

 ation in the Bible, we must remember that it does not 

 purport to be a scientific account, and therefore common, 

 and not scientific expressions are used. Judged of in a 



