24 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



(*) III. All this, however, proceeds upon a sup- 

 position of the earth having been formed at first 

 an oblate spheroid. There is another supposition ; 



only adapted for vegetables and the lowest description of animal 

 life; afterwards for animals of an amphibious nature, and such as 

 could exist only on the marshy shores of lakes, or in places occa- 

 sionally covered with water. By degrees this state of the surface 

 gave way to others more fitted for a further supply of animals to he 

 created. The principal origin of these changes appears to have 

 been provided in the powers attached to the substances, of what- 

 ever nature they may be, existing in the interior of the earth ; but 

 these powers have been merely mechanical, and could not origi- 

 nate organized vegetables and animals. The class of changes at 

 the surface, constituting the tertiary formations of the geologist, 

 appear to have been that which was followed by the introduction 

 of a great variety of large animals, many of which are now ex- 

 tinct. The surface was still to be further improved by making it 

 fitted for a wide extension of animals and of their food. Tliis has 

 been done by the means afforded for the extension and spreading 

 of allu\ial matter, so admirably adapted for the growth of plants, 

 and therefore for the existence of animal life. The changes of 

 surface which have been alluded to are all parts of the same 

 design. Between the succeseive changes great intervals appear 

 to have elapsed. The imagination is able to form no conception 

 of the leugth of time since the chaotic state began to change. 

 Notwithstanding the time that must have existed between each 

 change, one uniform plan can be discerned. The animals which 

 wc must admit to have been successively created, show, by their 

 organization, the same Creator. Thus, if we admit the fluid and 

 chaotic state of the earth, (the alternative if we do' not admit an 

 original spheroidal formation,) there cannot be a question as to the 

 powerful arguments to be derived from the change on the surface 

 and its series of organized beings. Indeed, if the matter be well 

 considered, it will appear to many that the most conclusive argu- 

 ments for design and contimied superintendence may be deduced 

 from the researches of the modern geologists. — See Second Note 

 to Chap XXV. infra. 



