LECTURE VII.

PART I. Page 162.

PSALM XII. 6. The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried
in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The certain and infallible truth of all that is taught in the Holy
Scriptures, when taken in its own genuine sense. Our duty to elicit
that sense. Induction and examination of the forms of language used
in Scripture to convey to man a knowledge of the nature and perfec-
tion of GOD. The gracious condescension and benefit of this me-
thod, for the religious instruction of mankind. This character of the
scriptural style displayed in the descriptions of natural objects.
General rule of interpretation hence derived. Prejudices of former
interpreters, both Romanist and Protestant. Galileo. Milton. Su-
perior advantages of the Christian dispensation.

PART II. Page 184.

Application of the principle established, to the interpretation of
the narrative concerning the Creation. The independent position of
the first sentence. Astral creation. The subsequent description re-
fers to a limited region of the earth. The series of operations. The
human creation. Death, before the fall of man. The same prin-
ciple applied to the fact of the Deluge, which is shown to have been
universal as to the extent of the human population, but not geogra-
phically universal. Concluding vindication of the principle and its
applications, as irrefutable, and absolutely necessary for maintaining
the honour of the word of God.

LECTURE VIII. Page 214.

ECCLESIASTES XII. 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole of

man.

Religion the perfection of our nature. The duty of scientific stu-
dies, especially in a course of education. Exhortations to personal
efforts for improvement. Peculiar claims of Botany and Geology.
The proper accompaniments of scientific pursuits. Advantage to the
comforts of life. Moral uses. Responsibility to the just and holy
GOD. Interest and urgency of these considerations. The rational
claims and attractions of religion.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.

A, referred to at pages 7 and 200.

PAGE

DISSERTATION On the Laws of Organized Natures involving the

Necessity of Death; and on Geological studies in general . 239

B, referred to at page 11.

On the Evidence derived from Astronomy to the Extent and

Antiquity of the Universe

252

B b, referred to at page 32.

On the Thickness of the Solid Crust of the Earth

258

C, referred to at page 41.

On the Number of Species in the earlier Fossiliferous Rocks

261

D, (page 47,) referring to the series of Propositions, page 26 to 50.

DISSERTATION on the Evidence of a very high Antiquity of the

Earth

284

G, referred to at pages 67 and 244.

On the Fossil Animalcules

318

Mr. Hartley's Account of Christian Piety in the Puy de Dome

327

332

On Dr. George Young's Scriptural Geology; and on the Coal

Formations

344

N, referred to at page 158.

On the Comparison of the Egyptian and the Mosaic Cosmogo-

Sentiments of the elder Rosenmüller, Bishop Bird Sumner,

and Dean Conybeare, on the initial portion of the Book of

Genesis

360

Q, referred to at page 185.

Professors Wiseman and Hitchcock, on the reference of the

Mosaic Records to Geological Truths

363

R, referred to at pages 188 and 196.

DISSERTATION on the Solution of Difficulties with respect to

the Mosaic Narrative, in reply to Observations by Professor

Baden Powell

S, referred to at pages 189 and 192.

On the Duty of these Investigations; and in Vindication of

Dean Buckland

365

382

Quotations from Lamarck and Herder, on the meaning and

use of the term Nature.-Professor Agassiz on the Series

of Animal Creatures through the Strata

Lord Bacon's Prayer for the right use of Science, and its prac-

tical connexion with Revealed Religion

INDEX

392

394

395

ON THE RELATION

BETWEEN

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

AND SOME PARTS OF

GEOLOGICAL SCIENCE.

LECTURE I.

PSALM CXI. 2. The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.

GEOLOGY does so seek out the works of the Most High. It has claims upon the regard of all cultivated and pious minds. It leads us to study that which God has made our earthly abode, in its present state, filled with monuments of past conditions, and presages, I venture to think, of the future. It leads us into some acquaintance with a magnificent part of the counsel of Jehovah's will, according to which He worketh all things; the machine of dependent beings and subordinate causes, by which the Supreme Cause accomplishes his purposes of wisdom and righteousness. We see those causes to be the same in their nature, and similar in their mode of operation now, as in countless ages past; though differing through a wide range in the intensity of their action and the form of their results.

Rain, rills, and rivers, aided by the electric and chemical and mechanical agency of the atmosphere, are continually wearing away the solid earth, transporting it into the estuaries of the sea, and committing it to the currents which spread it out upon the oceanbed. There the spoils of the land are added to the defunct shells and skeletons of marine life, the astonishing amount of the works

B