ORGANIC GEOLOGICAL DYNAMICS. 635 



their lines, both point to a mysterious and invisible,, 

 origin of the world. 



All that which claims our assent on those higher 

 grounds of which theology takes cognizance, must 

 claim such assent as is consistent with those grounds; 

 that is, it must require belief in respect of all that 

 bears upon the highest relations of our being, those 

 on which depend our duties and our hopes. Doc- 

 trines of this kind may and must be conveyed and 

 maintained, by means of information concerning the 

 past history of man, and his social and material, as 

 well as moral and spiritual fortunes. He who be- 

 lieves that a Providence has ruled the affairs of 

 mankind, will also believe that a Providence has 

 governed the material world. But any language in 

 which the narrative of this government of the ma- 

 terial world can be conveyed, must necessarily be 

 very imperfect and inappropriate ; being expressed 

 in terms of those ideas which have been selected 

 by men, in order to describe the appearances and 

 relations of created things as they affect one another. 

 In all cases, therefore, where we have to attempt 

 to interpret such a narrative, we must feel that we 

 are extremely liable to err ; and most of all, when 

 our interpretation refers to those material objects 

 and operations which are most foreign to the main 

 purpose of a history of providence. If we have to 

 consider a communication containing a view of such 

 a government of the world, imparted to us, as we 

 may suppose, in order to point out the right direc- 



