METHOD IN THE GROWTH OF CONTINENTS. 307 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



METHOD IN THE GROWTH OF CONTINENTS. 



TTOW impressive the unity of purpose with which Na- 

 -*—■- ture has pushed forward the consummation of her 

 vast schemes ! Ends have been foreshadowed through al- 

 most an eternity of years, w T hile the all-directing Mind has 

 steadily controlled the ministering forces, in the midst of 

 millions of disturbing agencies, till the premeditated work 

 has been accomplished. We witness in the plans of the 

 Infinite Architect the same intelligent cohesion of parts as 

 in a well-laid human scheme ; and while the relations of 

 certain events far transcend the scope of our reason, and 

 the perfection of contrivance is immeasurably superior to 

 that of human designs, we understand enough and measure 

 enough to know that a philosophy which is at once human 

 in its method and divine in its comprehension underlies the 

 whole chain of natural events. There is a logical relation- 

 ship of things established by God and recognizable by man, 

 and the sequences of events are ofttimes so clear that even 

 finite intelligence is able to penetrate the future and unveil 

 plans existing only in the Infinite conception. 



This ideal connection of the parts of the Creator's uni- 

 verse is, perhaps, best traced among organized beings, but 

 I propose first to point out its existence in the history of 

 inorganic nature. The infinitely diversified features of the 

 earth's surface have been wrought out by the operation of 

 a few principles working through ages in definite modes. 

 We see that certain rocks bear the evidences of their sedi- 

 mentary origin. We look about, and find sedimentary ac- 



