TKKTIAKY F0R^r\T10^•S. 
107 
harmless, and consistent vvitli a sincere attaclunent to the Cliristian 
fait li, hut as the Old V one that can he entertained l)V person of a souiul 
and enliii,htened mind ; and the objection raised aj>;ainst it was, tliat 
it seemed to lie at variance with tiie literal meanini^ of the sacred 
writings. Sucli arc the consequences of sujiposing that what we may 
regartl as a literal interpretation of the language of the scriptures 
.should interfere with tlie Ireedom of philosoi)hical incpiiry. 
OF TKRTIAUY FttU.MATION.s. 
56. A jirincipal source of the errors into whicli men have fall¬ 
en, and of the unsound doctrines they have embraccil in the 
science of Geology, is to lie found in their assumptions respecting 
the c/ge of the earth, which has very generallv been lield not to 
have existed more than a few tliousands of years. 'I’lic creation 
of man, \vas supposed to liave been immediately conscipicnt upon 
that of the soil on wldch lie was to trcatl, and as the descendants 
of Adam are given in regular succession, down to the date to 
which j^rofane history ascends, a reverence for wliat was sup¬ 
posed to he reconled as true in the sacred volume, shackled the 
spirit of free encpiiry. And even after it Avas observed tliat 
without abandoning our belief in the divine origin of the scrip¬ 
tures, or rejecting any of tlie statements contained in tliem, we 
may assign a greater antiquity to the earth, men were slow in 
appropriating the eternity which we know must be already past, 
to tlie iiroduction of the changes that the crust of the glolie has 
evidently undergone. As in the first attempts at navigation, it 
was a small arm of a bay, or a river, that was passed, next there 
was a tedious and winding voyage along the shore, and always 
within siglit of land, and it was not till ages had elapsed, that the 
mariner learned to commit himself fearlessly to the broad ocean 
—so, when it began to be generally admitted that the earth had 
existed, and been the dwelling place of living beings, prior to the 
creation of man,geologists seemed filled with a strange a]iprchcn 
sion and dread of the ])ast eternity, and contented themselves with 
the opinion that the earth might be some few centuries or thou¬ 
sands of vears older, than bail been [ireviously sn|)|ioscd. They 
were fearful of embracing the idea that the earth though not cter 
nal, might be of an age, in comparison with which, the existence 
of man U|ion its surface sinks into insignificance. The tendency 
of modern iliscovcries in geology has been, to enlarge immeasura 
hlv the siqiposed term of its past duration. 
We have heretofore given the names, and the order of succes¬ 
sion, of a long scries of secondary strata, occupving the south¬ 
eastern part of England, (Sec. d!),) aiul stated that the races 
which are entombed in tlie ohlest of these strata must have ditlcr 
cd widely from such as now inhabit the earth ; hut that there i.s 
a gradual approach in the more recent strata, to the type of such 
as are found living in the existing oceans. The most recent of 
