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discussion for the purpose of either crediting or discrediting 
the suggestions of the philosopher concerning them. 
On the other hand, some scientific facts and principles are 
so well established that those who are acquainted with them, 
and who also value the integrity of the Scriptures, cannot dis- 
regard them, and shut their eyes to the necessity of bringing 
them into conformity to what has been written with the pen 
of inspiration. Thus, who is there, in the present day, with a 
competent knowledge of geological science, that questions the 
fact of the succession of the sedimentary strata in the earth's 
crust ; that is to say, that the primary system of rocks pre- 
ceded the secondary, and that the secondary preceded the 
tertiary, and that the different formations that make up those 
respective systems, from the lowest known member of the 
primary to the superficial deposits of the tertiary, succeed 
each other in a well-defined order — and that too, although the 
system of Laurentian rocks has been recently discovered 
below the Cambrian, which till then was supposed to have 
been the lowest and earliest deposited of the sedimentary strata? 
Again, what geologist questions the progress of life with 
the progress of time — from the lower to the higher species of 
animal vitalities — from the lowest known form of submarine 
life, through the higher forms of submarine life, and upward 
and onward through reptiles, birds, and mammals, to the 
human races, though more recent investigations have added a 
zone of animal life in the subjacent Laurentian rocks ? for 
such discovery has only confirmed and consolidated the prin- 
ciple of progressive creation, inasmuch as the type of animal 
life that has been developed in these bottom rocks is of the 
lowest organization. Had reptile or mammal remains been 
found in these newly-discovered rocks, or had human remains 
been brought to light either there or in any part of the 
primary or secondary systems, it might be suggested with 
truth, that the theory of progression is in a sick and dying 
state. As it is, these additions to our geological knowledge 
have strengthened the principle of progression, and demand 
that we should deal with it as an ascertained fact, and not as 
a doubtful theory. Such loosenings of the foundations of 
acquired knowledge are as treasonable to the cause of scientific 
truth as the denial of the divine origin of the Mosaic record is 
to the cause of Scripture inspiration. Well-established truths 
of this nature ought not to be discredited, more especially as 
they tell the same story of the divine modus operandi in the 
creation of life as is told in the first chapter of Genesis — that 
is to say, that the life-giving Spirit of God poured vitality into 
the waters while primeval darkness was on the face of the 
