cognizable by our senses. We find it to possess a natural inertness; yet it is in perpetual motion. That motion supposes an impulsive power, as its

cause.

We can trace the so called causes of motion, from one to another that is prior, and so continually; and we cannot rationally stop till we have ascended to the idea of a voluntary First Cause. To this originating principle we are compelled, by the manifest evidence of the case, to attribute the properties of being intelligent, underived, and independent; in other words, of being self-existent, spontaneously active, and possessed in an infinite degree of every property that is an excellence; the ONE NECESSARY BEING. We combine all other beings into one group, and we call it the dependent universe: but comparing this assemblage with that One Being, it becomes, in the comparison, a shadow of existence, "less than nothing and vanity;" mere emptiness. THAT BEING is GOD; not perceived by our organs of sense, but the Object of pure mental conception. He is MIND, in the highest sense; existing necessarily, and therefore having always existed and always to exist; a free-agent, of infinite intellectual and moral perfection; upon whom all other beings depend as their Originator, Preserver, and Benefactor, their Proprietor and Lawgiver, their Judge and Rewarder; the supremely wise, holy, and powerful Basis of the universe. Unbiassed reason, no less than the book of revelation, utters the voice of satisfaction and gladness; "Give unto Jehovah the glory DUE unto his name;

O, worship Jehovah in the beauty of holiness! For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things; to whom be glory for ever!"

Of the existence and perfections, the providence and efficient activity, of this glorious Being, we have every kind and degree of evidence that can warrant the reception of any moral truth whatever. If any honest-hearted inquirer entertain a doubt, it is sufficient to refer him to the volumes of Ray and Derham, Bentley, Clarke, Paley, and the authors of the Bridgewater Treatises.

Neither is this the place for adducing evidence that rational creatures are accountable, and that the Supreme Being exercises a moral government over them. The writings of Butler alone are sufficient for this purpose. We are convinced also, upon the most satisfactory grounds, that this Wise and Gracious Being has been pleased to give the elements of positive knowledge to mankind, sufficient to inform us upon subjects which it most highly concerns us to know, but of which, without such information, it would be utterly impossible for us to have any other than conjectures, vague and painfully uncertain. The proofs that God has thus made known those facts and truths, and the realities of an eternal futurity; and that the communication is contained in the series of ancient books called the Holy Scriptures; are also to be found in many easily accessible works.

It plainly follows, that a serious attention to those books is the most important duty, and the most

interesting occupation, to which we can apply ourselves.

Our great object is, to understand them in their true meaning; that is, to take them in the sense in which they were intended by the Spirit of truth from whose inspiration, mediately or immediately, they have proceeded. This true sense and meaning must be brought out by an impartial application of the same means which men use, from a conviction of their necessity and adequacy, in order to obtain a just understanding of any writings composed in long past times and in ancient languages.

The study of revealed religion, thus pursued, cannot but be in perfect harmony with all true science. The works and the word of God are streams from the same source, and, though they flow in different directions, they necessarily partake of the same qualities of truth, wisdom, and goodness. Geology, in an especial manner, possesses its place in this beneficent association. It holds also the most interesting connexions with every other branch of Natural Science. It attracts and renders subsidiary to itself, the entire domain of Natural History; it is indissolubly combined with Chemistry, with which it participates in reciprocal advantages of the most important kind; it has connexions, which to many have been unexpected, with the sublime science of Astronomy, but which the genius and attainments of Babbage, Herschel, and Hopkins, both anticipated and have demonstrated,-connexions of peculiar interest, and which go far to

vindicate for Geology a place among the exact sciences. The facts on which it rests have, since the beginning of the present century, and especially since the establishment of the Geological Societies of London, Dublin, and Paris, and kindred institutions in many parts of Europe, and in America, been collected by the assiduous labour of many men of the finest talents; and those facts have not only been brought together and freely exposed to examination, but they have been subjected to the most jealous scrutiny and the most rigorous tests that can be imagined. Philosophers, whose previous opinions were very discordant, but whose qualifications for the task were of the highest order, of different nations (and there was a time when national rivalry even violated the sacred ground of science and letters,) and who had been trained and raised to the first stations in all the other departments of physical knowledge and the liberal arts; have concurred, and have emulated each other, in sifting and scrutinizing to the utmost every announced discovery, and every theoretical deduction. Can it be then supposed that a scientific edifice thus framed, and in the fundamental doctrines of which all who have a claim upon our confidence, are agreed,* possesses not the elements of stability, and has no claims upon our confidence?

"I need not dwell upon the extreme danger of representing, as necessarily subversive of a faith in revelation, physical conclusions received, I believe, by all those who are generally considered as competent judges, as firmly established truths."-Rev. W. D. Conybeare, F.R.S. &c. in the Christian Observer for 1834, p. 307.

But we are compelled to make the unwelcome admission, that the rules of reason, with regard to evidence, have been not a little disregarded, in relation to the proposed subject of these Lectures. It would not, I am persuaded, be possible to point out any department of scientific investigation, in regard to which persons have rushed to the forming and proclaiming of strong opinions, with so scanty a portion of knowledge, yet at the same time so fearlessly, as in relation to Geology. There have been and perhaps still are persons who, not judging it necessary to use hard-working pains and long perseverance, to obtain a competent acquaintance with facts, have, with much dignity, framed their systems of the world: and have not shewn the most charitable dispositions towards those who decline to bow down to the idols thus set up. Let it, however, be recollected that the disposition to make these assumptions, and the facility of admitting them, have risen, in a great measure, from a cause which is entitled to our reverence and esteem, religious feeling; though mistaken in its application. The opinion, or suspicion, is roused to meet us, on almost every occasion, that Geology and a religious regard to the Scriptures are opposed to each other. This notion has been diligently held up to the christian public, and in a style well adapted to excite alarm. Hence, some have been led to propose and others to receive, for the overcoming of the apprehended difficulties, theories which, either, on the one hand, have grievously misrepresented