206 



most staggering, will be found to unite in con- 

 firming the faith of the doubtful, and giving ad- 

 ditional confidence and satisfaction to those who 

 already believe. 



It will not easily be forgotten how eagerly the 

 infidel has seized on the slightest appearances 

 which seemed to militate against the truth of 

 Divine inspiration, or how often and how sig- 

 nally his most formidable attacks have not only 

 been foiled, but turned against himself. The 

 fate of the Hindoo chronology, by which Bailly 

 and Playfair so exultingly endeavoured to over- 

 throw the chronology of the Bible, and the abor- 

 tive attempts of Brydone, and other writers of his 

 class, to assign an antiquity to the present sur- 

 face of the earth far beyond the catastrophe of 

 the flood, by their plausible but hollow specula- 

 tions on the successive alternations 01 lava and 

 earth in the volcanic regions, might well render 

 the enemies of the sacred record more cautious, 

 if experience could teach them wisdom. 



Among the various testimonies which the re- 

 cent labours of the geologist have borne to the 

 truth of scripture history, there is probably none 

 more remarkable than that which has been de- 

 rived from the researches of Cuvier. That emi- 

 nent philosopher, has demonstrated, from an 

 accurate examination of the present state of the 

 earth's surface, that it is of comparatively recent 

 origin, and cannot have been of a date much 

 earlier than that which Moses has assigned to 

 the deluge. " I conclude," says he, "with M. 



