133 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
salvation, Init lias left for the present nntold much of the great story of his love." 
The sequence of this chapter is naturally the "exposition." " In the beginning 
God created the heaven and the earth " is the starting-point of both theologists 
and geologists — indeed, of all mankind. Concurring in the intei-i)retation of a great 
" interval in which all pre-historic geology finds its place," onr author ]iroceeds to 
the second verse of the Mosaic narrative, " And the earth was without form and 
void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep," and considers that this " was 
not a phenomenon preceding all order whatever, Init a marked iiiterruiition in the 
sequence of i)hysical events." The Si)irit of God moving upon the face of the 
waters he regards as the putting forth of the Divine energy for the commencement 
of the present state of things, which differs as a whole so much from any ante- 
cedent condition, that it can well be called a new creation. " Light was now made 
to appear \ first as to the darkness out of which it immediately sprang, and/csi 
with reference to all that of which it was the introductory manifestation." " On 
the second day, the present atmospheric arrangements were restored and developed ; 
differences of climate had been i)roduced long before ; but out of the condition of 
disorder and dark miracle of verse 2, now again were evolved, at the fiat of the 
Almighty, the play of the gi'eat system of exchange, whereby the clouds " drop 
down fatness." On the third day, " The present geogi-aphy of the earth's surface was 
made apparent, and then the creation and growth of vegetation in soils which had 
been prejiared in previous ]ire-historic epochs." Day four — " The unveiling, in the 
now lucid atmosphere, of the sun, the moon, and stars, in peqietual connexion 
of forces and influences with the earth — not the original establishment, but the 
first manifestation as regards the eartii's present surface." In the fifth verse, it is 
considered, we have naiTated to us " the creation, as a whole, of the present assem- 
blage of aquatic animals and of birds." The fifth day is viewed as a narration of 
the creation, as a whole, of the present assemblage of aquatic animals and of birds, 
and here we would transcribe one remark as liighly pertinent. "It is owing," 
runs the passage we allude to, " to the creation of everything, ' after its kind,' 
both in this and in the jirevious stages, that we can advance with unfaltering foot- 
step into the domains of the dead, to iironounce with confidence concerning the 
true character of the relics." " Among the most antitpie things we can gaze upon 
are the familiar /or;/(s of the creatures around us. In unvaiying similitudes have 
they been preserved and transmitted from the first." 
l^he passage describing the transactions of the sixth day, " infonns us of the 
creation, as a whole, of the living species of reptiles and animals, and lastly of man 
liimself." 
The second chapter of Genesis is regarded as " a summary of the work of creation 
as relating to the present condition of the earth, with special reference to the 
appointment of a day of rest, and the primeval histoi-y of mankind," and in a scien- 
tific point of view, " as confirmatory of the conclusion derived from natural history, 
that no new species nor any new substance has been created since the period here 
indicated." 
After just considerations of the difficulties besetting the reconciliation of the 
two accounts, and of the probably partial character of the Deluge, the geology of 
the " Scripture Lands," and the bibliography of the subject of the treatise, con- 
clude this interesting book. 
Some jioints in lioth Ijooks, as in all works of this class, may seem strained 
to meet a special purjiose, and others to have an unnatural a]ipearance, still both 
authors have made good selections of the best ])ublished ideas iijion these important 
discussions, and have added many sensible remarks of their own ; and we would 
end our review by re-echoing the concluding remarks of Mr. Pattison. "And 
should it be, that after jill these eflijrts, somewhat of obscurity still hangs over 
the subject, we will believe in the goodness and wisdom of God notwithstanding, 
endeavouring to walk humbly, and therefore surely, before Him." 
