FINAL EFFECTS. 



897 



the consolidated crust, formed on the surface of a cooling 

 planet, and subsequently broken up by the subsidences and 

 contractions induced by continued refrigeration. The only 

 legitimate inference in the present state of our knowledge 

 appears to be this, — that as at a certain depth the beds of 

 mineral matter, whether of alluvial or of volcanic origin, 

 may become so entirely changed in structure and composi- 

 tion as to afford no certain data of their original nature ; 

 therefore, for aught we know to the contrary, this world 

 may have been teeming with life, innumerable ages ere the 

 formation of the most ancient granitic rocks of which we 

 can take cognizance. 



49. Final Effects. — In fine, Geology does not reveal 

 to us the first creation of animated beings ; it does not afford 

 any physical evidence of a beginning ; it does not warrant 

 the attempt to explain the miraculous interpositions of 

 Providence by the operation of natural laws ; but it unfolds 

 to us a succession of events, each so vast as to be beyond 

 our finite comprehension, yet the last as evidently foreseen 

 as the first. It instructs us " that we are placed in the 

 middle of a scheme — not a fixed, but a progressive one, — 

 every way incomprehensible — incomprehensible in a measure 

 equally with respect to what lias been, what now is, and 

 what shall be hereafter."* 



This new volume of Natural Religion which Geology has 

 supplied, has been so ably illustrated by the Dean of West- 

 minster, "J* that I need not dwell on the evident adaptation 

 of the successive tribes of living beings through indefinite 

 periods, to the varying physical conditions of the earth, and 

 by w 7 hich its surface was ultimately fitted for the abode of 

 the human race. Thus the infusoria lived and died in 

 countless myriads, and produced the tripoli and the opal ; 

 river-snails and marine mollusks secreted the marbles, and 

 * Bishop Butler. f Bridgewater Treatise. 



