BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Guide to Science. 14TH EDITION. 3s. 6d. Same in French, German, Italian, Welsh, Swedish, and Spanish. Appendix of Miscellaneous Questions, with Antidotes for Poisons. 3RD EDITION. 18. Guide to English History. 19TH EDITION. 38. Guide to Roman History. 4TH EDITION. 38 6d. Guide to Grecian History & Literature. 2ND EDITION. 3s. 6d. Adapted for a Reading Book or a Catechism. Guide to Scripture History (Old Test.) 3RD EDITION, 3s. 6d. Guide to Scripture History (New Test.) 3s. 6d. Guide to French History. 3s. 6d. (Will be ready shortly.) Guide to English Composition. 4TH EDITION. 53. Sound and its Phenomena. 38. 6d. Guide to Book-Keeping (Single Entry.) 8TH EDITION. Key to ditto. 8TH EDITION, 28. Set of Ruled Books adapted to the System. 23. 58. Les Phénomènes de la Nature. 5TH EDITION. 38. 6d. Dedicated by authority to H.M. the Emperor of the French, and issued under the immediate sanction of the late Archbishop of Paris. PART I THE WORLD BEFORE MAN. GEOLOGY AND REVELATION RECONCILABLE. OBJECT OF REVELATION. the Bible The object of the Bible is to show forth the Object of character of God, especially as it is exhibited what. in the plan of salvation, through Jesus Christ. ters how Every thing else in Scripture is wholly inci- Other matdental, and would not be noticed except from treated. some indirect bearing on the main subject. guage is As no part of the sacred volume was written What lanfor the learned exclusively, the language em- used. ployed is the popular language of the day, even when it is inconsistent with science. example. Thus the Bible speaks of the sun rising and Give an setting; and makes Joshua command it to stand still. It speaks of the earth as stationary; and of the firmament as a solid roof sustaining an ocean of water, and furnished with windows to let the rain through. is done. As these were the popular notions, it was Why this necessary either to adopt them, or to make the Scriptures a text-book of science, as well as a revelation of far more important matters. B What was THE PRESENT NOT THE FIRST RACE OF THE Till very recently it was taken for granted once sup- that the earth was first created or called into existence, about 6000 years ago. posed. What geology shews What is the fact. How this is proved. Thickness of strata what. Depth oc cupied by Geology shews that this is not the case; that it existed many thousands of years before man was created; and that about 6000 years ago it was furnished with man, and the plants and animals which it now contains. This was not the first or second, but probably the sixth or seventh time that the general inhabitants of the earth had been changed for others of a superior organization. In the interior of the earth, about 8 miles below the surface, may still be found the remains of some of its first inhabitants. They are in a fossil state, and many specimens may be seen in any tolerable museum. Allowing some 33,000 feet for the thickness of strata containing these animals and plants, we come to the second group. These occupy a thickness of strata equal to these. about 9000 feet; above which comes the third race of inhabitants sent to occupy our earth, totally different from the other two. Depth of this race Its depth The plants and animals of this third group what. occupy some 2700 feet of strata, and then follows the fourth creation of organized beings. Allowing about the same depth of strata of strata for these fossils also, and we come to the fifth or last race of the ante-Adămite plants and animals, which occupy strata to the thickness of about 2000 feet. what. over these. Above all these, and occupying the mere What lie surface soil of the earth for about 200 feet in depth, come the sixth or present race. This last creation took place about 6000 years ago. None of its remains can be found in any of the previous strata; and but very few specimens of the ante-Adămite plants and animals co-exist with man. INFERENCE. These cre ated when. supplies This then supplies us with three or four What this facts which the most incredulous must allow, us with. and from which both the wise and unwise must draw the same conclusion: fact what. Firstly-There is a depth of strata below The first the mere surface of the earth for seven or eight miles in thickness, crowded with fragments of plants, corals, shells, fish, reptiles, birds, and beasts, without the slightest trace of man. is what Secondly-The surface soil for about 200 feet Second in depth, which overlies these strata, is quite full of human relics; bones, coins, implements of war and husbandry, fragments of buildings, and so on. the third Thirdly-The bones of man are composed of what is the same elements as those of other animals, and are equally capable of fossilization. If therefore man had been coeval with those extinct species, his skeleton would have been bequeathed to the same strata. Fourthly-As man in the rudest state is a working animal, and his works are more enduring than himself, we should surely have found in those strata fragments of tombs and houses, implements of war and husbandry, and other relics of man's work, if man had then existed. What the fourth. The inference what. As, however, no human bones, and no trace of human industry exists in any one of the strata referred to, only one conclusion can be formed: viz., that all those extinct plants and animals lived, died, and were buried, before the first man was called into being. Below these strata come the Azōic rocks, or rocks which contain no trace of organic life. The lowest rocks what What their character. What fol low these BASEMENT ROCKS OF THE EARTH. Some eight miles below the surface of the All these are wholly without organic remains; To these follows a series of rocks containing * Palæozoic, from maλaiós of the olden times, and wɩrós containing the animals. ( |