"thousands of beings which were never his con

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temporaries1?"

It is totally needless to inquire, what degree of glory might attend the success of this heroic effort; because, we are perfectly certain that the effort could never be successful. Imagination might be satisfied, and enthusiasm might be gratified, by the schemes of apparent concinnity which those efforts might produce; but, stern reason, which only looks to truth and evidence, sees beforehand, that physical induction can never produce" a true "history of the series of events which preceded the "birth of the human race." How is it possible, that such a genius should blind its intellect against so plain and obvious a truth! The certainty of history, must be derived from a source very different in its nature from physical speculation or induction.

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"The human mind (it is said) has a natural tendency to explore what has passed in distant ages, in scenes with which it is familiar; hence the taste for national and local antiquities. Geology, gratifies a larger taste of this kind; "it inquires into what may appropriately be termed, the Antiquities of the globe itself; and collects, and deciphers, what may be considered as the monuments and medals of its remoter eras." But, what could we make of monuments and medals, if it were not for the auxiliary references of

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1

CUVIER, Disc. Prél. p. 2 and 140.-Th. § 1 and the end of § 34. 2 Vindic. Geol. p. 6.

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history? The mineral geology has indeed a strong tendency to explore, inquire, and collect these relics of the globe's antiquity, in rich abundance; but, to decipher them when collected, far exceeds the bounds of its capacity, unless it associates to itself another and a more authoritative geology. It was wisely observed by Mr. Kirwan; that "past "geological facts being of an historical nature, all attempts to deduce a complete knowledge of "them merely from their still subsisting consequences, to the exclusion of unexceptionable testimony, must be deemed as absurd, as that "of deducing the history of Ancient Rome solely "from the medals or other monuments of antiquity "it still exhibits, or the scattered ruins of its empire, to the exclusion of a Livy, a Sallust, or a "Tacitus1."

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To add the consummation of certainty to the highest probability respecting the first formation and revolutions, that is, the "ANTIQUITIES" of this globe, is the exclusive pretension of the Mosaical Geology; and we are now to try the root or fundamental principle of this geology, by the same test we employed for trying the root or fundamental principle of the Mineral Geology.

It is evident to reason, that certainty concerning a past fact,—such as is, the mode by which all material existences were really first formed, or were really afterwards altered-must be historical

1 KIRWAN, p. 5.

certainty: the subject, therefore, is no longer a subject for philosophical or scientific induction, but for historical evidence; and, like all other subjects for evidence, it demands a voucher competent to establish its truth. Now, the voucher that could establish the fact respecting the true mode of first formations, must have been a witness of that mode; but, the only witness of the mode of first formations or creations, was the Creator Himself.

But, how may we presume to hope; that we can obtain the positive testimony of that awful Actor, and sole Witness, of the operation of First Formation or Creation, from whom alone we can derive the consummation of positive certainty?

AS NEWTON has conducted us to the eminence of the highest probability, and therefore to the verge of certainty, so BACON, to whom the mineral geology equally appeals, shall be our guide to lead us on to that sacred testimony in which alone the evidence of certainty can subsist; for, the foundation-stone which he laid for that system of science which produced "the happy "revolution effected by himself, and afterwards by "NEWTON, in the studies of the natural sciences,” was no other than this:

"Let us FIRST seek for the dignity of science "in its ARCHETYPE, or EXEMPLAR; that is, in "the attributes and acts of GOD, so far as they are "revealed to man, and may be discreetly investigated by him. In which inquiry, we are not "to speak of doctrine, since all doctrine is acquired

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knowledge; but no knowledge in GoD is acquired, but original. We must therefore seek "another name; that of WISDOM,' by which "name the sacred Scriptures denominate it."

It is evident that Bacon here particularly adverts to that article of those sacred Scriptures, in which "WISDOM" is sublimely personified, as having been present with, and attendant on the Creator, at the first formation of his creation.

"The Lord by WISDOM hath founded the earth, ' by INTELLIGENCE hath He established the "heavens.-Doth not WISDOM cry, and INTEL

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LIGENCE put forth her voice, saying: 'The 'Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before ever THE 6 EARTH was. When there was no depths I was 'brought forth; when there were no fountains ' abounding with water. Before the mountains "were settled, before the hills, was I brought

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forth: while as yet He had not made THE EARTH, neither the plains, nor the heights of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a compass upon the face of the depth: when He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the FOUNTAINS OF THE DEEP: When He gave to THE SEA His decree, that the waters should not pass His com'mandment: when He appointed the FOUNDATIONS of THE EARTH. Then I was by him as one

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brought up with Him; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. Rejoicing also in the inhabited part of His earth, My delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for, blessed are they that keep My ways.

Hear my instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not1!'"

It is this "WISDOM," vouchsafed to man as a positive and competent voucher of the MODE of the first formation of this earth, that Bacon here propounds; and upon the authority of whose testimony, he thus proceeds:

Thus, then, the FACT stands: In the works "of the Creation, we behold a twofold emanation "of the divine virtue; of which the one relates 66 to its power, the other to its wisdom. The former, "is especially observed, in the creating the ma"terial mass; the latter, in the disposing the

2

beauty of its form. This being established, it is "to be remarked, that there is nothing in the History of the Creation,' to invalidate the FACT, "that the mass and substance of heaven and earth was created-confusa — undistinguishable, in ONE MOMENT of time; but that SIX DAYS were assigned for disposing and adjusting it in so signal a manner did God distinguish, between the works of His Power, and of His Wisdom. "We may further observe; that in the creation

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:

1 Prov. iii. 19; viii. 1, 22-33.

2 See after, ch. iii.