State of the Case.

But for those obstinate questionings
Of sense and outward things,

Which, be they what they may,

Are yet the dawning light of better day."

ix

For the sake of these and other truth-loving men, in danger of being beguiled by the sophisms of an imperfect science, this book is written, that, obtaining clearness and gathering strength, they may say

"Wherefore should we be silent, we who know

The trance of adoration, and behold

Upon our bended knees the Throne of Heaven,
And Him who sits thereon?"

In a scientific work no apology is needed for the statement in detail of scientific facts. They are needful for instruction of the unscientific, and useful to the scientific as exhibiting the basis of real argument; but the highest reason for their introduction is that the true discoveries of science are themselves revelations of the Divine Presence and Work — a psalmody of Wisdom and Power.

We do not deal with the controversies amongst believers, nor with Scepticism in some of its rationalistic doubts; but with those who deny Supernaturalism, who refuse to believe in a personal God-our Creator, our Preserver, our Father. We undertake a conflict the momentous nature of which involves our highest interests: nothing less, on the one hand than the loss of everything which can elevate man; and, on the other, his degradation to a brute-nature. Those who trifle with unbelief should well understand this ultimate issue, and draw back while there is time. It is well that the Materialist should undeceive himself as to the imaginary benefits delusively hoped to result from his philosophy; should see that to unfaith men takes from them everything which can preserve from evil and lead to good; well for him to be aware that without a sense of holiness, of devotion to a Higher Being degradation ensues.

While employing physical and metaphysical arguments against the Materialist, we contend for a Revelation in an Inspired Record as an essential bulwark against error, and the only infallible guide to truth; as the corrective of scientific generalizations which would banish God from the world;

b

and as the teacher of moral and spiritual laws which are coordinate with and analogous to those physical laws which a scientific generalization has revealed. Indeed, physical science is the sister and handmaid of Revelation: no lasting antagonism can exist between them. Science has not yet far enough advanced to establish perfect accord with Revelation, but it is tending thither; and, when attained, the generalizations of science will be no longer doubtful but assured. Our aim, in this book, is to promote that agreement by showing the correspondence between truly scientific conclusions and Holy Writ; by exposing hasty generalizations which appear contrary to Revelation; and by making it plain that scientific truths, like spiritual, have for ever been descending from heaven to men.

Materialists forget all this. By mistake and misfortune, astonished by unprepared emergence from comparative ignorance of physical science to wider information, they deny that there is any science or commanding intellect apart from their own; not knowing that all the sublimest achievements of our nature are spiritually scientific. To be great, they must not only use the miscroscope of observation, but the far-sighted telescope of imagination, and verify the vision. Then they will be aware that former insurrections against Divine Truth were sustained by men of brilliant parts, of dazzling wit, of refined culture, of fascinating manners; but, when the tumult had subsided, Sacred Verities were found more firmly established, having called forth in their defence the highest intellectual powers that human nature ever displays. The Greek, the Roman, the Celt, the Teuton, rebelled against the Revelation which God gave to one family of mankind; but the Divine Oracles, because they are Divine, prevailed all the more. We have now greater learning, and higher power of criticism, but the Sacred Documents will endure a far more searching test than any they have yet received. It will again be proved, that men are not happy until pure intelligence finds relief and solution for the perplexities of existence, by those acts of beneficence and high morality which are only intelligible and possible through the con

viction of direct relations between God and man; relations which bring into the horizon of earthly existence the lofty proportions of that celestial fane which God has built; wherein countless myriads of beings present glorious worship, and serve in splendid occupation :

"There's not a star,

But, in its orbit, like an angel sings;

Still quiring to the young-eyed Cherubim." Merchant Observation confirms this. Those acquainted with scientific progress must be struck with the fact that, of late, the more brilliant achievements have been made in dealing with the unseen. The microscopist, the chemist, dealing with the ultimate particles of matter; those who puzzle themselves with the mysteries of molecular vibration; bear the victorious wreaths of successful discovery, and show that every atom is a whirling world with wonders great as those in the splendid realms of gorgeous suns.

?

Living

This connection of all visible things with the invisible; and of life with germs that possibly are not organised in the sense of being eggs; possibly, in themselves, dead as the file inanimate matter and putrefiable substances out of which they creep as living things; are evidence, amounting to scientific proof, that there is a continual going forth from the unseen to the seen; evermore an awakening of life from the dead; which, whether called evolution, or creation, renders the universe a sort of enchanted valley; and adds a strange unlooked-for confirmation to expectation that the forms which matter assumes are not its real substance-not essentials, but accidents. Whether any piece of matter shall take the shape of solid, of liquid, or gas, seems a question of temperature and pressure. At last, oxygen, one of the three most stubborn gases, the ubiquitous supporter of life, has, under a pressure of three hundred atmospheres, been condensed into a liquid. Who can tell the fixed and unvarying elemental form of matter? Has it any such form? Ought we to regard it as endowed with the faculty of assuming every variety of shape according to the mere accidents of environment? Whether so endowed or not, the world we live in is one of marvels; and, if we regard it as a material manifesta

tion of the Divine Being, the mysteries are analogous to those of the written Revelation: profound and, as to essence, inscrutable.

As verification of the whole argument, on any extended scale, would be impracticable for one man, a portion of Holy Scripture has been selected for tentative positive criticism; a portion which, as the first Divine word, and as intimately related to physical science, presents, in connection with peculiar difficulties, strange facilities for that positive definite examination which can alone content our age. Should the investigation give reasonable satisfaction, it will afford ground for belief that the same process may be successfully applied to other parts of the Sacred Volume. The verification, carried along a hundred lines of research, will prove that there is meaning in the world's work and in our earthly discipline; a supreme and attainable good to strive after; and that life is worth living, because Intelligence is at the heart of things. To our Father we say

"Illi sunt veri fideles Tui qui totam vitam suam ad emendationem disponunt." Imitatio Christi.

To those who by various suggestions have given aid to this work hearty thanks are tendered: specially to him who, with patience and skill only surpassed by goodness, read the manuscript, and revised every proof as it passed through the press. The accurate Index was prepared by another friend, whose painstaking merits unfeigned praise. To our readers we say " Omnia cunctanti," everything to those who wait: for as splendour from galaxies of stars afar off, goes forth in different periods of time, and arrives at the earth in widely separated intervals; there are beams of truth travelling from the Great Source which have not yet shone upon our mind, but will surely gladden us. When the grass has withered and the flower faded, when the Scripture Record has a new setting in the light beyond the veil, we shall find, some to our glory, some to our shame, that "the Word of God abideth for ever."