SYSTEM OF NATURE. 
129 
the ground: butterflies and birds wandered through the 
air, and the earth was peopled with placental animals. 
Thus it appears the first series of creations were normally 
fishes, the second normally reptiles, and the third nor¬ 
mally birds, respectively representing the three great radii 
of economy. After all these was that great and last crea¬ 
tion of all, of which man was the object and the master¬ 
piece. “ God created man in his own image ; in the image 
of God created he him; ” and man was not called into 
existence alone : together with him were created myriads 
of those bright and beautiful creatures now inhabiting the 
earth, and whose remains, like those of man, have yet to 
become the property of the geologist. 
Let it not be supposed that I quote the emphatic language 
of the scriptures except as beautifully appropriate to the 
subject. That Book treats not of Science. It has always 
appeared to me that those geologists who plead the cause 
of the Bible have done more harm than good by their 
sophistries—their weak attempts to prove a coincidence 
between what is written and what is seen ; and that they 
open a wider field for doubt by inventing hypotheses so 
easy of disproof. In these cases, I believe what I read in 
the Bible and what I see with my eyes ; and if the results 
do not always agree so well as I could wish, I seek not to 
pervert or twist a meaning on the one hand, or disguise a 
fact on the other, for the sake of proving a correspondence 
between the two ; but humbly and devoutly trust that 
whenever time may open to us the Book of Nature, we 
shall find its pages in perfect accordance with those of the 
Book of Truth. 
Each series of creations may comprise thousands of 
years ; the aggregate amount of time being so vast that 
K 
