Ill 
that cultivation lessens the number of these wild plants, 
and introduces into its place trees, and fruits, and shrubs, 
which though not equally ornamental, are better adapted to 
supply the wants, and add to the luxuries of a rich and 
crowded population. 
It may truly be said in conclusion, that these relics of 
vegetable organism are proofs of a great Creator’s skill. 
Instead of leading us to doubt the truth of Scripture, these 
fossils silently and eloquently speak our Maker’s praise. 
The divine may indeed preach a sermon on stones. The 
botanist here beholds every portion of a Fern in the stone. 
He has the root-stock, the stalk, the frond, the leaflet, the 
vein simple or forked, the fruit on the back or on the sum- 
mit of the frond, and the curled-in bud. The antiquarian, 
when he has found a precious coin, of which the inscription 
is almost illegible, and the figure of the sovereign who issued 
it nearly effaced, can by certain rules of art determine the 
period when it was struck. In like manner, the Christian 
geologist beholds in the depths of the earth evidences, which 
though hard to decipher, certainly prove His power, who by 
His word made the heavens and the earth, and all things 
that are therein. There may be some difficulty at first in 
reconciling revelation with geological discoveries, and where 
are there not difficulties ? Finite man cannot grasp all 
truth. It will, however, we rest assured, be ascertained in 
the result, that Biblical truth and natural science will har- 
monize, and that there will not be a shadow of difference 
between the creation as narrated by Moses and other in- 
spired writers, and as unfolded by the various discoveries 
in the bowels of the earth. 
