f our
planet. Had geology made such revelations as these, the consequences
in relation to natural theology and the credibility of Scripture would
have been momentous. The Mosaic narrative could scarcely, in that
case, have been interpreted in such a manner as to accord with
geological conclusions. The questions would have arisen--Are there
more creative Powers than one? If one, is He an imperfect or
capricious being who changes his plans of operation? The divine
authority of the Scriptures, as well as the unity and perfections of
God, might thus have been involved in serious doubts. Happily for us,
there is nothing of this kind in the geological history of the earth;
as there is manifestly nothing of it in that which is revealed in
Scripture.

In the Scripture narrative each act of creation prepares for the
others, and in its consequences extends to them all. The inspired
writer announces the introduction of each new part of creation, and
then leaves it without any reference to the various phases which it
assumed as the work advanced. In the grand general view which he
takes, the land and seas first made represent those of all the
following periods. So do the first plants, the first invertebrate
animals, the first fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals. He thus
assures us that, however long the periods represented by days of
creation, the system of nature was one from the beginning. In like
manner in the geological record each of the successive conditions of
the earth is related to those which precede and those which follow, as
part of a series. So also a uniform plan of construction pervades
organic nature, and uniform laws the inorganic world in all periods.
We can thus include in one system of natural history all animals and
plants, fossil as well as recent, and can resolve all inorganic
changes into the operation of existing laws. The former of these facts
is in its nature so remarkable as almost to warrant the belief of
special design. Naturalists had arranged the existing animals and
plants, without any reference to fossil species, in kingdoms,
sub-kingdoms, classes, orders, families, and genera. Geological
research has added a vast number of species not now existing in a
living state; yet all these fossils can be inserted within the limits
of recognized groups. We do not require to add a new kingdom,
sub-kingdom, or class; but, on the contrary, all the fossil genera and
species go into the existing divisions, in