REVIEWS. 



159 



God. In one sense, however, progress iii tlie organic world lias been dependent 

 on, thongh not caused by, progress in the inorganic. We see in geology many 

 grounds for believing tbat each new tribe of animals or plants was introduced 

 just as the earth became fitted for it; and even m the present world we see 

 that regions composed of the more ancient rocks, and not modified by subse- 

 quent disturbances, present few of the means of support for men and the higher 

 animals ; while those districts in which various revolutions of the earth have 

 accumulated fertile soils or deposited useful minerals are the chief seats of 

 civilization and population. In lilce manner we know that those regions which 

 the bible informs us were the cradle of the human race, and the seats of the 

 oldest nations, are geologically among the most recent parts of the existing 

 continents, and were no doubt selected by the Creator partly on that account 

 for the birthplace of man. We thus find that the bible and the geologists are 

 agreed not only as to the fact and order of progress, but also as to its manner 

 and use. 



Both records agree in affirming that since the beginning there has been 

 but one great system of nature. We can imagine it to have been otherwise. 

 Our existing nature might have been preceded by a state of things havmg no 

 coimection with it. The arrangement of the earth's surface might have been 

 altogether different. Races of creatures might have existed havmg no affinity 

 with or resemblance to those of the present world; and we might have been 

 able to trace no present beneficial consequences as floAving from these past 

 states of our planet. Had geology made such revelations as these, the con- 

 sequences in relation to natural theology and the credibility of scripture would 

 have been momentous. * * * The questions would naturally have arisen. 

 Are there more creative powers than one ? If one, is he an imperfect or capri- 

 cious bemg, who changes his plans of operation ? * * * Happily for us, 

 there is nothing of this kind in the geological history of the earth, as there is 

 manifestly nothing of it in that which is revealed in scripture. In the scripture 

 narrative each act of creation prepares for another, and in its consequences ex- 

 tends to them all. The inspired writer announces the introduction of each 

 new part of creation, and there leaves it without any reference to the various 

 phases which it assumed as the work advanced. In the general view which he 

 takes, the land and sea first made represent those of all the following periods. 

 So do the first plants, the first invertebrate annuals, the first fishes, reptiles, 

 birds, and mammals. He thus assures us that, however long the periods re- 

 presented by days of creation, the system of nature was one from the beginning. 

 In like manner, in the geological record, each of the successive conditions of 

 the earth is related to those which precede and to those which foUow, as part of 

 a series. So also a uniform plan of construction pervades organic nature, and 

 uniform laws the inorganic world in aU periods. 



"We can thus include in one system of natural history all animals and plants, 

 fossil as AveU as recent ; and can resolve all inorganic changes into the operation 

 of existmg laws. The former of these facts is in its nature so remarkable, as 

 almost to warrant the belief of special design. * * * The periods mto 

 which geology divides the liistory of the earth are different from those of scrip- 

 ture ; yet, when properly understood, there is a marked correspondence. 

 Geology refers only to the fifth and sixth days of creation, or at most to these 

 Tvith parts of the fourth and seventh ; and the only natural division that scrip- 

 ture teaches us to look for are those between the fifth and sixth days, and 

 those w^hich within these days mark the introduction of new animal forms, as 

 for instance the great reptiles of the fifth day. We have already seen that the 

 beginning of the fifth day can be referred almost with certainty to that of the 

 Paleozoic period. The begimiing of the sixth day may with nearly equal cer- 

 tairty be referred to that of the Tertiary era. The introduction of great 



