conceptions of the world and its phenomena. His notions of things would be at first crude and wanting in accuracy. He would perceive that the day was divided between light and darkness, and this he would observe to be caused by the sun. Tracing that luminary from its rising to its time of setting, and noting that the same phenomenon was repeated from day to day, he would conclude that the sun moves in an orbit around the earth. Also observing the position of the fixed stars, he would infer from their apparent movement in the direction of the sun that the whole sidereal heavens revolves around the earth. Then following the bent of his inherent desire to know, he would extend his investigation to the planets and their movements. Successive observations of the phenomena of nature in her several departments would bring to his mind a considerable increment of facts. The classification and arrangements of these facts under various heads would form the first crude indications of the natural sciences. Succeeding generations of thinkers, while making use of the records of men who had gone before, and taking them as the basis of extended observations, would, although perpetuating some of the errors of previous observers, discern and correct many of their faults. Thus the sciences are the recorded experiences of thinking minds in dealing with nature. In their infancy the sciences are necessarily the repositories of much that is erroneous and fallacious. The conceptions of the Chaldæan astronomers cannot be compared with the discoveries of a Herschel or a Newton. The anatomical deductions of Hippocrates are extremely crude when placed side by side with the learned disquisitions of a Carpenter or a Huxley. Ideas which at one period seemed to bear the impress of truth are shown to be more or less unsound by thinkers of later times.

Subsequently to the investigations of Copernicus the world was considered as a plane, and the stars were conceived to be fixed in the revolving vault of the heavens. But that philosopher, about 1500 a.d., satisfied himself that the planets, including the earth, revolve around the sun. In 1610 this hypothesis was confirmed by Galileo by the aid of his newly invented telescope. This was the beginning of a new era in the science of astronomy. But it was also the signal for the commencement of a conflict between speculative minds and the dignitaries of the Romish Church. Galileo proved to a demonstration that the earth revolves around the sun, and that the sun has no orbital movement. Theologians, because of certain expressions in the Bible implying the contrary, discredited this discovery, and maintained that it had no foundation in fact. But the march of thought was irresistible, and the Church was powerless to arrest its onward progress. Theologians could not then conceive, nor are they willing to accept the conclusion to-day, that the Bible deals exclusively with man's spiritual nature, and does not lay down canons and laws of natural science. Instead of receiving the Bible and the laws of nature as each pointing upward to a Divine Author, instead of perceiving that there is no contradiction between the revealed Word and the truths of creation, because each has a distinct mission to fulfil, they opposed the apparent truths of

the Word to the rigid demonstrations of science. A similar conflict was engendered in recent times when geology first threw light upon the history of life upon the globe. That science made rapid strides. Deposited in the various strata which form the earth's crust were discovered fossil remains of forms of life which have long since become extinct. Numerons races of creatures it was seen had lived and died. Low forms of life had been succeeded by higher and more complicated organisms. Gigantic creatures had formed their homes on the land and in the ocean, whose skeletons, preserved in the strata of the earth's crust, enable the geologist to read in the pages of the Stone Book the history of periods long anterior to the existence of man; while fossilized remains of vegetable life indicate that vast areas of the earth's surface were once covered by plants which attained to enormous, proportions, which, subsequently disappearing, formed our coal-beds that lie far below the surface of the globe. Thus investigations and discoveries which geologists have made lead them to the conclusion that the earth and its life-forms have arrived at their present condition through countless ages. And the facts of astronomy also prove that the vast cycles of time during which the universe has been in existence surpass human powers of comprehension.

But how have these deductions been met by theologians? Instead of giving up the position of a literal interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis as untenable, they have endeavoured to harmonize the records of science with the higher truths of revelation by methods that have excited derision and contempt. Before geology gained a firm footing amongst thinking minds, it was generally believed that the universe had existed only 6000 years, and that its creation had occupied but six days. When it was rigidly shown that creation was an orderly development embracing myriads of ages, some other mode of explaining the narrative in Genesis was looked for, and at length those who professed to believe in a close literal conception of the word so far departed from their position as to call the days of creation not days, but ages-unfortunately, however, the Sabbath is mentioned as the seventh day, and therefore by that supposition the first Sabbath was not a period of twenty-four hours, but an age. Again, a difficulty was found in the Scripture narrative that light was created before the sun. It has been suggested that the difficulty may be overcome by supposing a subtle luminous vapour to have pervaded all space prior to the creation of the greater luminary of heaven. Such an hypothesis is altogether untenable in the face of the fact that the sun is the sole source of light to its planets. But in thus endeavouring to reconcile the Bible narrative with the facts of science, theologians have placed a construction upon the account in Genesis for which there is no justification; for if it is to be taken literally, its letter ought not to be departed from, nor must it be subjected to the gratuitous interpretation of every capricious mind. The facts of science have suffered nothing in this conflict of opinions; but the Bible, by the bigoted zeal of its professed expositors, has been brought into contempt.

But the reasonable aspect of the question is one which should not

be rejected without consideration. The facts of science are discoverable by man's powers of observation and reason. The book of nature is intimately connected with his mortal part; as such he may read and study it, and discover in its pages unmistakeable indications of the Divine author. But the Bible relates to his immortal part, and he may, if he will, discover in it those spiritual laws and truths which can reach us by revelation alone. Nature is the effect of God's creative power, the Bible is the expression of His infinite wisdom. The laws of nature and the revelations of the Word having the same Divine source, there can be no contradiction between them. When therefore theologians are met by facts which invalidate a literal interpretation of a certain portion of the Word, they should be prepared to look for the deeper and purer sense of its spirit. Dr. Whewell says, "The meaning which any generation puts upon the phases of Scripture depends more than is at first sight supposed upon the philosophy of the time. Hence, when men imagine that they are contending for revelation they are in fact contending for their own interpretation of revelation, unconsciously adapted to what they believe to be rationally probable. And the new interpretation which the new philosophy requires, and which appears to the older school to be a fatal violence done to the authority of religion, is accepted by their successors without the dangerous results which were apprehended. At the present day we can hardly conceive how reasonable men should have imagined that religious reflections on the stability of the earth, and the beauty and use of the luminaries which revolve around it, would be interfered with by its being seen that this rest and motion are apparent only. Those who adhere tenaciously to the traditionary or arbitrary mode of understanding Scriptural expressions of physical events are always strongly condemned by succeeding generations, and are looked upon with pity by the more serious and considerate, who know how weak and vain is the attempt to get rid of the difficulty by merely denouncing the new tenets as inconsistent with religious belief."1

Truly so. The Bible is the word of the Highest; and not in its letter, but in its spirit must we seek for evidences of its divinity and its power. And in the first chapter of Genesis, beneath the unscientific form of the letter, we trace the development of the spiritual side of our nature from the commencement of the re-creative work of regeneration until we attain the beauty and perfection of the heavenly state. The Bible is the Word of God, and He has told us that His words "are spirit and life." Let us then receive His revelation in this sense, and while we search for its spirit, grow strong by its lifegiving power.

In the learned disquisition recently given to the world by a profound philosopher this sentence appears :-" Abandoning all disguise, the confession that I feel bound to make before you is, that I prolong the vision backward across the boundary of the experimental evidence, and discern in that matter, which we in our ignorance, and notwithstanding our professed reverence for its Creator, have hitherto 1 Indications of the Creator, p. 52, 2d ed.

covered with opprobrium, the promise and potency of every form and quality of life."1 Does this conception land us in materialism? We think not. It is the statement of a belief which may be true or false. It contains no direct denial of a Creator, and as an hypothesis is exceedingly plausible. The transcendentalism of Kant annihilated matter and established a universe of ideas in the place of creation. But if, with Tyndall, we view matter as the repository of power, which gives "the promise of every form and quality of life," we have but "to prolong our vision backward" beyond the region of matter to see in the Divine the source of that power, by virtue of which matter is enabled to give the "promise of every form and quality of life.”

It is a generally received hypothesis that matter is formed of atoms. On the assumption of the truth of this theory it has been said that "they are the manufactured articles which, formed by the skill of the Highest, produce by subsequent interaction all the phenomena of the natural world." Dalton first established the atomic hypothesis in reference to chemical combinations. It is found that in a given compound the elements combine in a certain definite and invariable ratio. Take water as an example. It can be shown by experiment that two volumes of hydrogen always combine with one volume of oxygen. Assuming the existence of atoms, it is evident that two atoms of the hydrogen element combine with one atom of the oxygen element. That atoms by combining in various proportions form compounds differing from each other is plainly shown in the well-known nitrogen series. Whatever we touch or see in the three kingdoms of nature bears testimony to the fact that "atoms by their interaction produce all the phenomena of nature." But now the question arises : Do atoms contribute to these results by any inherent power of their own, independently of the Creator? Every natural phenomenon, we are told, rests on a cause, but atoms by their "interaction produce natural phenomena;" are atoms then the primary cause of their own effects? Atoms, we say, form by their interaction the endless variety of compounds and substances in nature under the rule of certain laws, from which it should seem they have no power to deviate. And it may be urged that new variations from established forms are continually being produced both in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. But evidently atoms produce these effects in obedience to certain conditions, or else if by their own free choice, why were not these results forthcoming earlier? When a plant strikes out into varieties it does so by the operation of agencies external to itself-a change in the conditions of soil or climate, or the forced impregnation of its ovaries by the pollen of another plant. A seed is placed in the ground, it germinates, develops, and assumes the exquisite symmetry and beauty of the lily. Atoms have here been built up, and have by their interaction produced leaves and flowers. But before this building operation could proceed, certain external conditions were necessary. A force exterior to the special atoms which formed the lily came into play. That force is heat. Heat produces

1 Professor Tyndall's Address in Nature.

motion, and motion causes interaction of atoms. Suppose the seed hermetically sealed in a glass tube, and, in absence of the necessary conditions of soil and moisture, and of the main condition heat, and no life movement would be observed. Given then soil, moisture, and light, still in the absence of heat a seed fails to germinate. Again, admitting for a moment that all life-forms originated in a monad, throw back your gaze into the bygone ages, and note that protoplasmic substance that combination of atoms lying on the solitary shore of the unpeopled world, where no sound arises but the surging of the waves upon the bare and solid granite, and the sweep of the wind across the desert of the world, yet lifeless as the tomb. This monad develops into a symmetrical form-it moves-there is the first trace of life-there is the first species-the progenitor of all future existences. But why did not that monad remain motionless as the rock upon which it lay? Undoubtedly its movement was produced by the agency of heat and light, forces external to itself. Here heat was evidently a necessary condition. Now the grand source of heat is the sun; if the heat of that body could be withheld-all other conditions remaining the same-we are justified in supposing that all life would cease, consequently that all "interaction of atoms" would be suspended. But the sun is composed of atoms. And it is maintained that heat is an effect of motion. If, as we have endeavoured to show, no interaction of special atoms can take place but by the agency of forces exterior to them, so cannot motion be maintained as a condition of heat in the atoms of the sun apart from external power or force. Here we reach the barrier which the physicist cannot pass. Are we to hesitate here? We think not. We conceive that we must transfer ourselves to a region of causes beyond the domain of experiment. Here we are aware the philosopher will be unwilling to follow. Still we cannot lose sight of the fact that the interaction of atoms-and the whole universe is the result of that interaction-is an effect, the cause of which cannot be sought in the atoms themselves. We therefore affirm that this cause is the power of the Divine operating through the medium of a world which we call spiritual. Truly the nature of this world cannot be demonstrated by experiment, but the evidences of revelation are powerful upon the characteristics of this spiritual region. The Bible is that revelation. The proof of its being a revealed book is found in the soundness of the chain of spiritual meaning which runs through its letter. This spiritual sense shows to a demonstration that the letter of the Word has been framed according to a law as rigid and plausible as the law of multiple proportions or the "interaction of atoms." Where then science ends we maintain that revelation steps in to fill up the void, to conduct us into the world of primary causes, and to usher us into the presence of the Creator.

Another question which has occupied the minds of scientific men in recent times, is the origin and development of life upon the globe. And in the pursuit of this subject some of the finest minds have been engaged. Theologians conclude that the positions which have been taken up by our great scientific thinkers upon this question, militate