658 



A FEW REMARKS 



too plainly where the happiness, the blessings, and the comfort 

 men might enjoy, have by themselves been slighted, or de- 

 stroyed, from forgetting the line between using, and abusing ; 

 and by turning a deaf ear to the reflection that they are but 

 ' tenants at will.' 



Much of my own uneasiness was caused by reading works 

 written by men of Voltaire's school ; and by those of geologists 

 who contradict, by implication, if not in plain terms, the 

 authenticity of the Scriptures ; before I had any acquaint- 

 ance with the volume which they so incautiously impugn. 

 For geology, as a useful branch of science,* 1 have as high a 

 respect as for any other young branch of the tree of know- 

 ledge, which has yet to undergo the trial of experience ; and 

 no doubt exists in my own breast that every such additional 

 branch, if proved by time to be sound and healthy, will con- 

 tribute its share of nourishment and vigour to the tree which 

 sprung from an immortal root. For men who, like myself 

 formerly, are willingly ignorant of the Bible, and doubt its 

 divine inspiration, I can only have one feeling — sincere sorrow* 



Few have time, as well as inclination, to go far into both 

 sides of any question ; but truth can hardly be drawn out of 

 the well unless some exertion be made, in examining each 

 argument, or in selecting a well-tried and experienced guide. 

 It is idle to say, as I have heard asserted, that such works as 

 those above-mentioned do little harm ; experience proves the 

 contrary ; of which I am made painfully aware, not only by 

 my own conscience, but by conversation with friends. 



While led away by sceptical ideas, and knowing extremely 

 little of the Bible, one of my remarks to a friend, on crossing 

 vast plains composed of rolled stones bedded in diluvial detritus 

 some hundred feet in depth, was " this could never have been 

 effected by a forty days' flood,"— an expression plainly indicative 

 of the turn of mind, and ignorance of Scripture. I was quite 

 willing to disbelieve what 1 thought to be the Mosaic account, 

 upon the evidence of a hasty glance, though knowing next to 



* By which word I mean ' Knowledge,' in its most comprehensive 

 signification. 



