Principal Wiseman, to the larger part of books like those upon which I have thought myself called to animadvert. Of them it may be said that, however dissimilar in some respects, they agree in certain characters: such are, the laying down of facts or statements in a partial manner, thus producing defective and often widely erroneous impressions; the keeping out of sight other facts which would be adverse to their hypotheses, probably from not being themselves acquainted with those facts; a frequent forgetfulness of equity in stating and describing the objects under consideration; their being either insensible to the difficulties which belong to their own schemes, or not feeling any obligation to remove those difficulties; in short, their carrying on their arguments in the way which too much resembles the chicanery of counsel in a bad cause.

Striking is the contrast which this method of reasoning and writing bears to the character of a work which I do not say is unexceptionable, but which, for completeness and accuracy, for fairness of statement and perspicuity of exposition, for force of reasoning and felicity of suggestion, stands forth among the books of our day, very signally distinguished; but which has been made an object of censure and suspicion, by some who have never carefully studied it, and of serious regret by intelligent and candid geologists ;-Mr. LYELL's Principles of Geology. We cannot but lament that he takes so slight a notice of the bearings of his subject upon the ancient records* of revelation; using general expressions when precise distinctions were called for, and thus laying himself open to painful imputations. The hope had been cherished that, in the editions after the first, he would have obviated serious objections which had been advanced in a spirit so candid and kind as to have possessed a just claim upon his respect. This, however he has not done. It therefore remains for the readers of his indispensable volumes, to make such explanations and corrections for themselves. It is not, I trust, in me an unbecoming hope, that these lectures may furnish, in some degree, the means of so doing. Yet a work which the Council of the Royal Society, two years ago, honoured

*

Supp. Note, N; on the Comparison of the Egyptian and the Mosaic Cosmogonies. + Supplementary Note O; on some Passages in Mr. Lyell's Principles of Geology.

by the adjudication of the Royal Medal, a work of which Sir John Herschel says, "I now read it for the third time, and every time with increased interest," a work whose luminous and lively diction makes even so interesting a subject more attractive, —cannot have its merits exploded by a few though serious faults, and from which it is a pleasing and reasonable hope that it will be expurgated. If I may venture on the expression of my own opinion, it is, that the day is not distant when the chief points of difficulty will be satisfactorily cleared up; and that, in particular, the great question between catastrophes and uniformity of action, brought to comparison upon a scale of appropriate amplitude, will be found to shade off into a fair coalescence. All will fall under the universal principle that, through a series of dependent agencies, extensive and complicated beyond our mental grasp, GOD "worketh all things, according to the counsel of his own will." Professor Sedgwick, while he did not spare the language of frank and strong criticism, uttered the impressions of his honourable mind, with impartiality as noble as it was splendid in eloquence. Speaking of Mr. Lyell's first volume in the first edition, he says, "Nineteen twentieths of his work remain untouched by these remarks. His excellent and original historic narrative, his dignified philosophic views and clear descriptions, his admirable account of the effects brought about by the great causes, whether aqueous or igneous, now acting on the crust of the globe, contribute to make his volume in the highest degree both popular and instructive: and I cannot but express a wish that, in the future editions of his work, the system of Geological Dynamics may be stripped of even the semblance of hypothetical assumption."*

It would be desirable here to give a sketch of the reasons which we have for believing in the high antiquity of the earth: but the length of this lecture and the demands of the subsequent ones, render such an attempt impracticable.+ Instead of it, my kind and patient auditors will allow me to conclude by reading a passage, from a paper by an unknown writer, in the Christian Observer for the present month.

"In regard to difficulties, the popular interpretation labours under

* Address to the Geol. Soc. Feb. 1831; on retiring from the President's chair. To meet this object, the Supplementary Note F, was added to this volume.

heavier ones than that of the scriptural geologist; but I fear that such argumenta ad hominem are of very little service; for there is a class of minds upon which inductive science makes no impression. Argue with a person of this order of intellect, (he may be a good linguist, a critic, an historian, a man versed in polite literature,) upon the known and incontrovertible facts of Geology; he cannot deny them; but when you press the conclusion, you perceive that his mind has not really grappled with them. He replies, 'How do we know that it was not a miracle?" or, "How do we know that things were then as they are now?' or, 'I will believe God rather than man;' or, "We know nothing at all about the matter;' or something equally vague, and to which of course no reply can be given. But the most common resource is, 'The Deluge did it all.' This reply exhibits either complete ignorance of the facts, or a rejection of the inevitable conclusions which they suggest. No epitome of those facts would do justice to them; for they would require at least a hundred pages of minute detail; and yet, without having even glanced over the outlines, some persons are not ashamed to say, 'It was the Deluge;' or, 'It was a miracle;' and they persuade themselves they do God service by this sort of obtund argument. Geologists have carefully examined some ten miles' thickness of solid fossiliferous strata to the number of hundreds, which they are able to do by means of their slanting position, where the edges crop up. These strata are not homogeneous; but consist of successive layers differing widely in their character and contents. They are divided into groups; they are not jumbled confusedly-fresh water productions with salt, land animals with fishes, present with extinct genera or species; but they lie as methodically as the shelves of specimens in a cabinet, being to all appearance successive sedimentary depositions gradually accumulated through a period of very long duration; the footsteps of animals on the once soft moist sand (now hard rock), and the ripple marks of water, being in many cases still visible, and the most delicate and brittle species of shells being unfractured. At the bottom are numerous strata of slate, shell, limestone, and sandstone, containing vegetable and animal sea-water remains now wholly unknown. Over these come sand and clay, interlaid with vast forests of coal, and other land and freshwater productions. Then come limestone, and sandstone, and clay; all containing organic remains quite distinct from those of the former groups. Then come the upper fossiliferous rocks; in which, for the first time, appear land animals; but even these quite distinct from those that now inhabit the world. These ten miles of strata upon strata bear marks of successive changes in the crust of the earth, both by dislocation and gradual accretion, every particle of clay or sand, for example, being so much pulverized rock; and the vast

masses of fossiliferous stone, often composed almost entirely of shells, having every appearance of being the sediment at the bottom of oceans for very lengthened periods; how long no man can calculate; but this we know, not through eternal ages, for the very first announcement of Holy Writ is, that God created all things; they were therefore not self-derived or eternal. But to pretend that there is any proof in Holy Writ, that God created them about six thousand years ago, and that to doubt this is infidelity, is to foist the received interpretation in the place of the inspired word, as well as to deal very harshly by our christian neighbour who thinks otherwise. The geologist only asks a hearing; but he is not heard; he is taunted, declaimed against, and silenced; whilst the infidel stands by and admires the proceedings of the Protestant Inquisition, as often as a new Galileo demonstrates a truth which accords not with some received interpretation. Let God be true, and every man a liar ;' but we are not to lie for God, or, what comes nearly to the same, to refuse to open our eyes to truth, because we are apprehensive, as the Roman Catholics are in regard to transubstantiation, that our senses and our faith will contradict each other. We may feel quite easy on that score; for the more we know of God's works, the more clearly shall we see their accordance with his word; though not, it may be, with some popular comments on it."*

* Baconianus Christianus; in the Christian Obs. March, 1839; p. 147.

LECTURE VII.

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

THE Connexion of this passage shews that, by "the words of the Lord" here mentioned, we are to understand his promises of mercy and protection to his faithful servants, when they are exposed to sufferings from the treachery of false-hearted men, and when their hopes of aid from their friends are diminished by the death or oppression of the "godly" and "faithful." In opposition to the flatteries and deceitful actions of an unprincipled party, the author of this psalm exults in the fidelity of God, and the assurance that the fullest reliance might be placed on every authenticated declaration of the divine will. This is illustrated by the metaphor of metallic purity. Silver and gold occur native, in the proper metallic state; yet, even in that case, they cannot be got free from the stony substances which inclose or penetrate them, without the art of the refiner: but, when the processes of the hammer, the crucible, and the furnace have been duly performed, the precious metal is obtained in a state of high purity, and fit for completely answering every purpose in the arts of life, for which it is adapted.

That which is thus declared concerning the "exceeding great and precious promises" of divine grace, is equally true of every other part of what God has been pleased to reveal, for the purposes of his wisdom and benevolence to mankind; "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.' The most scrupulous student of the Bible will not accuse me of making an arbitrary application of Scripture, because from this particular instance, upon the principle of evident analogy, I deduce a universal truth. That truth is, that every declaration contained in the writings of the prophets and apostles, which has a respect to the faith, the obedience, the consolation, and