have taken place in the anticreation world? Is it not, on the contrary, reasonable to suppose that, since miraculous agency fitted the present world for the residence of its inhabitants, it conferred the same benefit upon the former world? And, if the supposition of miraculous interposition be once admitted, all the calculations of geologists are baseless. The immense ages of which they speak may have never existed. And who shall be able to say that the marvellous changes which, as they tell us, the world has undergone, may not have all happened in the interval between the creation and the deluge? Finally, we have seen that Dr. Smith restricts the term earth, in the second verse, to that portion of the surface of the earth which was to become the abode of man. Now I would ask, is there any geological proof that this part of its surface had sunk into a state of ruin? This new science supplies no evidence, as Dr. Smith prac tically admits, that "our planet" had been brought into a state of disorganization; and therefore his former conception of the comprehensive meaning of the term earth has been abandoned. Does the science, then, furnish stronger reason to think that the destined residence of the human family had been thus temporarily destroyed? The Doctor, indeed, says "that this region was first, by atmospheric and geological causes,' s," "brought into some kind of general disorder;" but he produces no proof of this. And the following statement, instead of professedly exhibiting a geological fact, is given as a mere supposition, viz. that this disorder was caused by the subsidence of the region, resulting from some vast movement of the igneous fluid mass below. Now is there no reason to fear that professor Baden Powell will again remind him that he sets philology against geological evidence,-at all events, that his philology is unsupported by such evidence? And may not we respectfully ask him whether he has accomplished the object so near to his heart? The book was written to effect a reconciliation between revelation and geology. But has any thing more been done in regard to the point we are now considering at least, than to reconcile revelation with conjecture? Geology does not teach us that a considerable portion of the surface of Asia, having sunk down, was submersed in the manner described. At all events, Dr. Smith furnishes no geological proof of this. Conjecture, however, steps in to its aid. With reverence, says our author, I propose the supposition, &c. Now this supposition may be a very ingenious one, but it is only supposition. It would seem, therefore, that the amount of Dr. Smith's gains in this part of the field is to harmonize a conjectural interpretation of a portion of divine revelation with a conjectural geological fact. I am, Sir, yours, &c. PHILOLOGY. REVIEW. On the Relation between the Holy Scriptures and some parts of Geological Science. By John Pye Smith, D.D., F.G.S., Divinity Tutor in the Protestant Dissenting College at Homerton. The Congregational Lecture. Sixth Series. London : Jackson and Walford. 8vo. pp. 440. 1839. ENDOWED as we are by the great Author of our being with the organ of vision; with physical capabilities for observing the sensible objects around us; with intellectual powers also to analyse the materials of which they are composed, determine the laws by which they are governed, and ascertain the purposes to which they may be applied; it is obviously a violation of the intention for which these faculties have been given, to be listless and incurious with reference to the visual glories which invite our notice. We can find no apology for indifference in the character of those scenes in the midst of which we are placed; the visible creation is not so tame, monotonous, or repulsive in its features as to justify inattention; every part of it supplies us with materials worthy of the most careful scrutiny; and vast as is the field of existence through which we may roam, it teems in every nook and corner of its amplitude, with objects of interest, delight, and profit. The range of the material universe is replete with phenomena calculated to please the eye, to expand the mind, and to improve the heart of the intelligent observer; besides the bulk of its existences, and the grace of its configurations, there are proofs of wise contrivance and bountiful design in its structure, which confirm the faith of the religious man in the constant superintendence of one regulating Being, and exalt to the highest pitch his conceptions of the skill which He possesses and the potency He wields. "My heart is awed within me, when I think Among the useful and interesting branches of study which, apart from the word of God, claim and deserve our notice, the Physical Sciences are of the first importance; and by this phrase is meant, those pursuits which have for their object the investigation of the material world, the examination of the diversified appearances which the universe presents, of the causes which have operated in producing those appearances, of the laws by which they are regulated, and the modifications of which they are susceptible. In the widest acceptation, therefore, Physical Science casts an excursive glance over every department of nature, the animal, vegetable, and mineral; the "heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land" are the books it reads; matter in every form of organization, in all the endlessly varied conditions and combinations in which it exists, comes under its inspection; the entire visible universe is its field of observation; and the secret processes by which that universe is governed, it is the grand end of all its enquiries to discover. But Physics may be compared to a volume in which there are many separate chapters, though but one main subject. Hence, when science deals with the functions of life, and the beautiful, delicate, and complicated organization of living bodies, it is Physiology; when it analyses the elementary substances which enter into the composition of material objects, it is Chemistry; when it notes the features of the earth's sur face, with its varying climate and temperature, it is Geography; when it contemplates the solar system and the sidereal heavens, measuring the extent and distance of the magnificent worlds that adorn the firmament, and marking the law of mutual dependance to which they are subject, it is Astronomy; when it investigates the interior structure of the globe, with its stratified formations, and unstratified rocks, from the snowy summits of Andes or of Alps down to their giant roots, it is Geology. These are different departments of one stupendous whole, remarkable for the interest and magnitude of the objects they disclose, the beneficial results that have followed their investigation, and the signal success with which they have been stu died by the awakened mental energy of modern times. Into each of them the reasoning faculty has now fairly gone forth upon an eager and anxious pilgrimage; and the finest mathematical minds are busily engaged in pursuing fresh views and discovering new relations, improving upon the acquirements of the past, enlarging the bounds of our knowledge, and giving us a farther and clearer insight into the wonderful economy of the universe. Astronomy claims to wear the garb of hoar antiquity; the "world's gray fathers" sought to be upon friendly terms with the "stars in their courses;" and hence, in the earliest poetry with which we are acquainted," Arcturus with his sons," the "Pleiades," and the "bands of Orion," are mentioned among other references to the brilliancy of the oriental heavens. Still, but a few generations ago, the astronomer and the astrologer were almost synonymous. The genius of Newton, Kepler, Herschel, and others, has, however, made us acquainted with the physical constitution of many of those distant worlds, which before their day were scarcely the subject of optical observation. The sounding line has been thrown far onward into the mighty extent of space, and the vastness of its volume, with the relative position of its existences, has in some degree been ascertained. The pathway of the erratic comet has been tracked, and the time calculated from the disappearance of his "flag of fire," to its again being unfurled to our gaze. Those filmy appearances in the firmament, like flakes of snow, have been examined, and resolved, with probability, into material substances, advancing by condensation, from nebulosity into spherical forms. In short, the regions which the eye can only reach by the aid of powerful instruments are daily be coming familiar to us, and are already more so than was "ultima Thule" to the Roman bard. While science has thus been busy with the remoter objects of the universe, the home phenomena of our world have not been overlooked; but from the frost and ice of the polar circle to the sultry clime of the tropics, there is scarcely a mountain whose elevation has not been scaled or measured, an island whose extent has not been ascertained, an inlet of the ocean whose sinuosities have not been tracked; and with equal accuracy and intentness is science now marking those formations which are gradually proceeding along the coasts, and at the mouths of the larger rivers, with those changes of the surface in which the agency of rains, with the tremendous powers of the earthquake and volcano operate. An extended acquaintance has also been formed by the geologist, though by no means complete and perfect, with the structure of the crust of the globe, the rocky beds of which it is composed, the order of their deposition, the agencies that have been at work in their production and the fossilised organic remains with which they abound. Should the question be proposed, as it was by the confident ignorance of a former age, "cui bono?" we have only space here to observe in reply, and we deem the reply sufficient,"circumspice." We would offer, however, a few remarks to that class of well meaning though certainly very mistaken individuals, who deprecate physical enquiries as tending to infidelise the mind, and to produce or foster an atheistic spirit in those who conduct them. It is imagined by these persons that the habit of tracing up natural effects to their appropriate natural causes, necessarily leads to an oversight of the Original Agent, and to an assignment of his attributes to the physical operations which are only secondary causes under his superintendence and controul. Some unhappy instances, perhaps, where philosophical investigations have been allied with infidel sentiments, have excited the imagination of timid pietists, and led them to look with suspicion and alarm upon the examination of nature as though the parent of these cases of error and irreligion. But we do not hesitate to meet at once with a denial, the allegation that makes scientific pursuits answerable for such instances of moral delinquency; we would advance in opposition to it, numerous examples of profound attainments in science, associated with sound theological views, and enlightened religious feeling; in fact, there cannot be a greater misconception than to suppose, that an aptitude to connect effects and canses should necessarily cease, and be converted into a dissevering power, when we come to join the first link in the chain of being with the hand of God. He must be either a superficial observer, or his moral perceptions must previously have been grossly obscured, who does not see evidences of mind, gleams of intelligence, in every department of the material creation: the credentials of the creative Deity, splendid proofs of Divine contrivance and power, meet our gaze in the expanded heaven, the subtle atmosphere, the flinty rock, and the verdant surface; and surely he is in as fair a way reverently to own the hand of the Almighty architect of all the varied forms of existence, who is acquainted with his works, as he who turns upon them an indifferent or a scornful eye. That many N. S. VOL. IV. Rr observers and experimentalists upon the arrangements and relations of organised and unorganised matter, have rejected the truths of natural and revealed religion, we are disposed to grant without feeling any special difficulty or surprise at the admission, because it is a truism which applies equally to those who have never for a moment come into collision with any of the great provinces of scientific knowledge, and which, therefore, clearly acquits them of being the cause of such deeply to be deplored opinions. Of the real cause, "the depth saith, It is not in me, and the sea saith, It is not in me:" it is to be found in the individual mind, and not in the natural universe; the infidelity of scientific men is to be accounted for upon principles to the operation of which the unwise as well as the learned are exposed. The truth is, that the physical world is a scroll "written within and without" with a demonstration of the wisdom and power of God, and with instructions for the benefit of his intelligent creatures: the "heavens declare his glory," and the same record has been graven as with "an iron pen upon the rock," and may be read indens and in caves of the earth ;" and he who takes the record in hand, and endeavours to interpret the characters with which it is inscribed, is acting far more like a rational, moral, and accountable being, than he who suffers it to remain unstudied and neglected. So far, then, from discouraging the application of the mind to scientific pursuits, we are anxious to commend, and to profit by the labours of the physiologist, the chemist, the astronomer, and the geologist: we believe all truth to be valuable, and that when Physical and Revealed Truth are legitimately pursued, they will be found to be the offspring of one adorable Being "dwelling together in unity;" both bear the same relation to the Infinite, the Eternal, the Supreme, as the gates of the temple that "erst on Sion stood❞ to the cloud of glory between the cherubims, though the latter we may have peculiar and sufficient reasons for regarding as "the gate that is called Beautiful." We are happy to find that these views coincide with the sentiments expressed by Dr. Smith, in one of the most important, interesting, and delightful volumes that it has ever been our lot to read, or that has appeared in the present day. "The sciences and all their investigations for which we are pleading, are not the philosophy and vain deceit' against which the Apostle gives a solemn warning. That was no other than a compound of Oriental and Grecian doctrines, referring to the mind of man and to invisible beings, founded, not upon observation and experiment, but on the play of imagination and the dictates of assumed authority; it was an impostress under the name of philosophy, entangling men in a web of idle and visionary speculations, destitute of evidence, having no practical applications, and opposing itself to that purest reason which is displayed in the authority and grace of the Gospel. The natural philosophy of our times is of the opposite character, as to both its constitution and its tendency. It consists in the honest searching out of the works of Jehovah; in obtaining the facts of sensible nature; in admitting nothing as data without adequate evidence; and in receiving no conclusions till they have been substantiated by the most cautious reasoning and if its proper effects be not counteracted by our own perverse depravity, it leads to a devout veneration of God, and to practical benefits without number to ourselves and our fellow-creatures. This philosophy may be abused, |