898 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. VIII. 



coral-polypes the limestones, with which we construct our 

 edifices and ornament our temples and palaces ; and herb, 

 plant, and tree, have been converted either into a material 

 to enrich the soil, or changed into a combustible mineral, to 

 serve as a fuel in after-ages, when such a substance became 

 indispensable to the necessities and luxuries of civilized 

 man. Hence a new interest has been thrown around every 

 grain of sand, and every blade of grass ; and the pebble 

 rejected by the Divine as affording no evidence of design, 

 becomes in the hands of the Geologist a striking proof of 

 Infinite Wisdom.* 



But ought we to rest content in the assumption that all 

 these wonderful manifestations of Creative Intelligence 

 were solely intended to contribute to our physical necessities 

 and gratifications ? — Say, rather, that this marvellous dis- 

 play of beauty, power, and goodness, was designed to fill 

 the soul with high and holy thoughts, to call forth the exer- 

 cise of our intellectual powers, to excite in us those ardent 

 and lofty aspirations after truth and knowledge, which 

 elevate the mind above the sordid and petty concerns of life, 

 and give us a foretaste of that high destiny, which we are 

 permitted to hope will be our portion hereafter ! 



50. Concluding remarks. — Having thus endeavoured 

 to interpret the natural records of the earth's physical 

 history, and traced the succession of geological epochs, each 

 embracing indefinite periods of long duration, and the muta- 

 tions in the organic kingdoms of nature coincident with the 

 varying conditions of the lands and waters — mutations 

 governed by laws with which we are but very imperfectly 

 acquainted — let us finally contemplate the relations of our 

 planet to the innumerable worlds around us. For, while 



* Paley. This remark alludes to the celebrated argument of this 

 distinguished author, on a watch and a stone, in the first page of his 

 Treatise on Natural Theology. 



