l ye works
of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise Him and magnify Him for ever."
On that one hymn I take my stand. That is my charter as a student of
Natural Science. As long as that is sung in an English church, I
have a right to investigate Nature boldly without stint or stay, and
to call on all who have the will, to investigate her boldly likewise,
and with Socrates of old, to follow the Logos whithersoever it leads.

The Logos. I must pause on that word. It meant at first, no doubt,
simply speech, argument, reason. In the mind of Socrates it had a
deeper meaning, at which he only dimly guessed; which was seen more
clearly by Philo and the Alexandrian Jews; which was revealed in all
its fulness to the beloved Apostle St. John, till he gathered speech
to tell men of a Logos, a Word, who was in the beginning with God,
and was God; by whom all things were made, and without Him was not
anything made that was made; and how in Him was Life, and the Life
was the light of men; and that He was none other than Jesus Christ
our Lord.

Yes, that is the truth. And to that truth no man can add, and from
it no man can take away. And as long as we believe that as long as
we believe that in His light alone can we see light--as long as we
believe that the light around us, whether physical or spiritual, is
given by Him without whom nothing is made--so long we shall not fear
to meet Light, so long we shall not fear to investigate Life; for we
shall know, however strange or novel, beautiful or awful, the
discoveries we make may be, we are only following the Word
whithersoever He may lead us; and that He can never lead us amiss

I. THE SOIL OF THE FIELD {2}

My dear readers, let me, before touching on the special subject of
this paper, say a few words on that of the whole series.

It is geology: that is, the science which explains to us the RIND of
the earth; of what it is made; how it has been made. It tells us
nothing of the mass of the earth. That is, properly speaking, an
astronomical question. If I may be allowed to liken this earth to a
fruit, then astronomy will tell us--when it knows--how the fruit
grew, and what is inside the fruit. Geology can only tell us at most
how its rind, its outer covering, grew, and of what it is composed; a
very small part, doubtless, of all that is to be known about this
planet.

But as it happens, the mere rind of this earth-fruit which has,