27 
from these premises are deduced that the past was what it 
was, and that the present is what it is. We may hardly 
dispute the conclusion. 
Grant everything that does exist, or ever did exist, and 
there is nothing to deduce but the method of descent; — on 
which subject much eloquent writing has found its way into 
circulation; and, though it has been elaborated with great 
abilities, copiousness, and perseverance, what reliance can be 
placed on any hypothesis of descent, where the cause of the 
introduction of organisms is ignored ? — where the source of 
vitality is unacknowledged ? — or where homage is paid to the 
dead framework of creation, as the parent of all the living 
glories we see ? 
Allow that we can trace back all the complications of form 
manifested in us and around us, to a cell for the vegetable 
kingdom, to an egg for the animal kingdom, and these to a 
primordial unit — will this unit represent all the phenomena ? 
We are of, and from, the inorganic, but not by it. The clay 
is there ; but where is the Potter ? The entire of the visible 
is from the inorganic — whether of the most intricate com- 
plexity or simplest cell — though much of it is built up by an 
independent power. But, notwithstanding that the visible is 
from the inorganic, is, also, that which animates the smallest 
portion of the visible ? I believe not. It may be well, 
therefore, to attempt to show — 
That it is not sufficient to grant the existence of organic 
matter, with its transmitting and varying tendencies, and the 
conditions of existence by which it is surrounded — in order to 
establish true deductions ; 
That the origin of life was not through any of the means to 
which we apply the term, natural ; such as chemical combina- 
tions — electro-magnetic or other forces ; that, in fact, from 
the inorganic the organic could never — through the agency of 
the inorganic alone — proceed ; 
That neither from geology, nor from any other science, can 
we glean the real history of life ; 
But that it *is, nevertheless, required to know and to 
explain — to have a true and perfectly clear and comprehensible 
conception of the origin of existence — in order to establish the 
true relation between the various phenomena of nature ; and I 
do most honestly believe that the plain speaking of science 
and the plain speaking of the Bible are parallel roads ; along 
either of which, or both of which, the highest scientific 
student and the lowliest believer can walk with equal profit 
and honour. 
Life assumed, we can bend it to subserve almost any 
