DISCOVERIES WITH SACRED HISTORY. 9 
gony ; and, as in this respect, Geology has 
shared the fate of other infant sciences, in 
being for a while considered hostile to revealed 
religion ; so like them, when fully understood, 
it will be found a potent and consistent aux- 
iliary to it, exalting our conviction of the Power, 
and Wisdom, and Goodness of the Creator.* 
No reasonable man can doubt that all the 
phenomena of the natural world derive their 
origin from God ; and no one who believes the 
Bible to be the word of God, has cause to fear 
any discrepancy between this, his word, and the 
results of any discoveries respecting the nature 
of his works ; but the early and deliberative 
stages of scientific discovery are always those 
of perplexity and alarm, and during these stages 
the human mind is naturally circumspect, and 
slow to admit new conclusions in any depart- 
ment of knowledge. The prejudiced persecutors 
of Galileo apprehended danger to religion, from 
* Hsec et hujusmodi coelorurn pheenomena, ad Epocham 
sexmillennem, salvis naturse legibus, segre revocari possunt. 
Quin fatendum erit potius non eandem fuisse originem, iieque 
cosevam, Telluris nostrse et totius Universi : sive Intellectualis, 
sive Corporei. Neque mirum videri debet heec non distinxisse 
Mosem, aut Universi originem non tractasse seorsim ab ilia 
mundi nostri sublunaris : Hsec enim non distinguit populus, aut 
separatim sestimat. — Recte igitur Legislator sapientissimus philo- 
sophis reliquit id negotii, ut ubi maturuerit ingenium humanum, 
per setatem, usum, et observationes, opera Dei alio ordine dige- 
rerent, perfectionibus divinis atque rerum naturae adaptato. — 
Burnet's ArchcBologice PhilosophiccB. C. viii. p. 306. 4to. 1692. 
