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careful correlation of the science of Geology with that of 
Astronomy, their discoveries mutually confirm one another ; 
leading us, by the magnitude of their results, to one inevitable 
conclusion, viz., that the creation of the physical universe was 
not the work of six natural days, which took place about 6,000 
years ago, but of a period which is now lost in years, that must 
be reckoned by millions. Hence we are bound, as honest 
inquirers, to concede that Scripture, in its account of creation, 
although it may really be capable of an interpretation which 
is not inconsistent with scientific thought, — was nevertheless 
primarily couched in language which paid no respect to philo- 
sophical exactness. 
II. — We have to show that, notwithstanding this, some 
of the statements of Scripture are so exactly 
SCIENTIFIC, AS TO BE PERFECTLY CONSISTENT EVEN WITH 
THE LATEST MODERN DISCOVERIES. 
17. Let me only call your attention to three things: the 
first in connection with Geology; the next with Physiology; 
and the third with Astronomy. 
18. If there be one thing more clearly established by the 
modern science of Geology than another, it is this : — that the 
origination of animal life has been progressive. It matters not, 
for my present purpose, whether the student believes in the 
theory of evolution, or of separate creational constructions, 
everything goes to prove that there was a gradual course of 
development in this department of organic existence which, 
commencing with the simple forms, ended with man as the 
highest. All the fossiliferous rocks bear testimony to this. We 
begin with the Foraminiferce, even as low as the earliest Lauren- 
tian. The Cambrian and Silurian introduce us to mollusks, 
corals, and starfish. As soon as we ascend to the Lower Ludlow 
rocks, we find ourselves, for the first time, in the presence of a 
Vertebrated order of fishes, which increase in number and per- 
fection as we pass upwards through the Old Red Sandstone 
deposits. By-and-by we reach a new order, viz. the Batra- 
chian, Labyrinthodont, and Saurian reptiles, amphibious air- 
breathing creatures, which are found in the coal-measures. In 
the Lower Trias of the United States we first meet with the 
footprints of birds. In the Triassic beds of North-western 
Germany we also find, for the first time, evidence of a small 
Mammifer, probably insectivorous. By the time, however, that 
