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EXPLANATIONS 



most undoubtedly under the influence of natural laws 

 which we yet see continually operating. The remains 

 and traces of plants and animals found in the succession 

 of strata, show that, while these operations were going 

 on, the earth gradually became the theatre of organic 

 being, simple forms appearing first, and more complica- 

 ted afterwards. A time when there was no life is first 

 seen. We then see life begin, and go on ; but whole 

 ages elapsed before man came to crown the work of na- 

 ture. This is a wonderful revelation to have come upon 

 the men of our time, and one which the philosophers of 

 the days of Newton could never have expected to be 

 vouchsafed. The great fact established by it is, that the 

 organic creation, as we now see it, was not placed upon 

 the earth at once ; — it observed a progress. Now we 

 can imagine the Deity calling a young plant or animal 

 into existence instantaneously ; but we see that he does 

 not usually do so. The young plant and also the young 

 animal go through a series of conditions, advancing them 

 from a mere germ to the fully developed repetition of 

 the respective parental forms. So, also, we can imagine 

 Divine power evoking a whole creation into being by 

 one word ; but we find that such had not been his mode 

 of working in that instance, for geology fully proves that 

 organic creation passed through a series of stages before 

 the highest vegetable and animal forms appeared. Here 

 we have the first hint of organic creation having arisen 

 in the manner of natural order. The analogy does not 

 prove identity of causes, but it surely points very broadly 

 to natural order or law having been the mode of proce- 

 dure in both instances. 



But the question is, Does geology really show such a 

 progress of being ? This has been denied in some quar- 

 ters, and particularly in the elaborate criticism upon the 

 Vestiges, which appeared in the Edinburgh Review* 

 In reality, the whole of the geologists admit that we 

 have first the remains of invertebrated animals ; then 

 with these, fish, being the lowest of the vertebrated; 

 next, reptiles and birds, which occupy higher grades; 

 and, finally, along with the rest, mammifers, the highest 

 of all; and yet controversialists will be found gravely 

 telling their readers, " It is not true that only the lowest 

 forms of animal life are found in the lowest fossil bands, 

 July, 1345. 



