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ments must always be viewed in connection
with the circumstances under which they were
made, and must receive sometimes the wide,
and sometimes the figurative, interpretation
demanded by their spirit and intent. But if
the physicist is not to be bound by the letter
of revelation, neither surely is the divine to be
chained by the facts of science. While each
pursues his legitimate way, there need be no
fear that they will come into collision. We
must not, indeed, expect that parallelism
between their ideas required by some servile
minds; but we may expect that, viewed from
an elevation, there will be such a general
harmony between their conclusions as hath
been demonstrated to exist between the moral
government of the world, as observed in nature,
and the divine government of the world, as ex-
hibited in revelation.

We fear we must accuse the physicists of
having shown most bigotry in the geological
controversies. They have not always been
content with their proper domain. They
have not been content to wait for that agree-
ment which time is tolerably sure to produce
when science and Scripture are brought toge-
ther. They have insisted on testing Scripture
by the facts of geology ; and because the literal
correspondence is not exact, they have most
imprudently and most. audaciously, not only
jumped to a conclusion within themselves
that the Mosaic record is totally destitute of
authority, but have not hesitated to publicly
stigmatise it as absurd.
In reviewing several months back Professor
Powell's " Unity of Worlds" (Pam% vol. iii., p.
356), we called attention to language used by
him which seemed to us indecorous and
uncalled for. He insisted that there was a
" palpable contradiction " between the facts of
geology and the record of the Bible ; and
advocated what is called the development
theory, as opposed to the Scriptural account
of the creation of man by a direct act of
Almighty will.
It becomes, therefore, a duty on the part of
competent investigators to show that such
" palpable contradiction " does not exist, and
to indicate such general principles of agree-
ment between the cosmogony of the Bible and
the cosmogony of Nature, as the candid in-
quirer would expect to find on the supposition
that the former was a divine revelation. It is
this useful work which Mr. Nl`Causland has
attempted to perform; and though his book is
but a small one, and it is less careful and
cautious than could be wished, yet we are sure
that he has proceeded on a right principle, and
that he has, as regards geology, marked out
those broad lines of agreement between science
and Scripture which the enlightened and
truly reverent Christian would most desire to
see established.

Tracing, in the first instance, the natural
history of the globe, as gathered from geologi-
cal facts, he proceeds to show how it was in
the beginning " without form or void;" how the
moving of the spirit of God upon the waters
may well be intended to convey the first
impregnation of inorganic matter with vitality ;
and how the several acts of creation recorded
in Genesis are perfectly reconcileable with the
epochs of the world's development disclosed
by geology. On the meaning of the word
" day " he argues that the term meant in
Hebrew a period of time, as well as a natural
day, and he quotes some instances of such
application :

In the Book of Job the period of man's life is termed
" his day." In other parts of Scripture we have similar
expressions, such as " the day of God's wrath ;" the day
of the Lord. . . . . Again, the Prophet Daniel
describes as " the vision of the evening and morning " a
period previously described to him as comprising " two
thousand and three hundred days."
The suggestion following appears to us singu-
larly ingenious, and, as far as we know, is per-
fectly original :

There is another view of this question which may tend
to elucidate the meaning and import of the Mosaic lan.
gunge. The history of the Creation was conveyed to Moses
either by direct inspiration, or, like the generality of diving
communications, through the medium of a vision or series

tions of years are often compressed in a dream into the
space of a few minutes, or even a less space of time ; on
the same principle, the operations of the Divine Author of
the Creation, which may have occupied a long series of
years, may have been presented to Moses as the events of
a single day.

We know nothing of the scientific acquire-
ments of Mr. M'Causland. We can only say
that he appears to possess strong common
sense, and that his work is in the right track
to be pursued by those who would endeavour
to harmonise the truths of Scripture with the
facts of science.
One question which the author has scarcely
touched upon would, we are well persuaded,
reward diligent inquiry.
It is in the nearness of God to man that the
essence, the strength, and the vitality of
religion consist. Without this conviction,
faith is ideality, and worship is formalism.
The discoveries in the vast sphere of
Cosmos have a tendency to weaken this
belief, and to remove God far from us. It is
by examining the earth itself, by attending to
the facts which God has given us for our
guidance, and as one mean of raising our
minds to him by the aid of physical sense,
that we must hope. in part at least, to correct
this tendency. The science which is our
bane must be our antidote. We must wrestle
with its mysteries till, yielding to our tens•
city, they resolve themselves into shape, and
stand in visible presence before us.
Geology has discovered to us many secrets
of the earth. It speaks to us of the world in
embryo, but it is silent, absolutely and wholly
silent, on that most eventful passage in crea-
tion when nature was truly animated and
glorified by the calling into being of man.
What is it to us, in comparison with this
sublime act of creative skill, which gave to
the world significance, and to animal life intel-
ligence and soul, that the earth was, in 'periods
too remote te be measured by human com-
putation, totally different in constitution from
what it is now? In our estimate of matter, how
gross an error would it be to overlook the
immeasurable superiority of mind. Not de-
spising the fossil-writing which records the
existence of Saurian birds and reptiles, those
strange monsters of the ante-human world,
let us reserve the grandest efforts of our
industry to know something of the birth of
man. Some kind of physical evidence there
must be as to the duration of man's exist-
ence on the earth. What is that evidence
worth ? What is its extent, and what its

We know that he is comparatively of mo-
dern date. Geologists will unanimously say
that, in comparison with the age which this
volume of the earth has inscribed in its outer
leaves, he is a being of yesterday Their assu-
rance so far is satisfactory, but it does not go far
enough. In matters which so nearly concern us,
we never can have too much evidence. " More
" light, more light." This is the natural crav-
ing of man, and will be till the desire is lost
in the full effulgence of the rays which are
denied to his spirit while walled in by the
flesh.

We can imagine that the evidence as to the
existence of man on the earth may be resolva-
ble into,-
1. The geological facts as to successive
species of animal life. Such evidence may
be extremely vague. Only conjecture may
perhaps be allowable on the most ancient
human remains discovered; but the conjec-
ture of skilful minds will be of some value.
2. The physical facts concerning human
configuration, and how far, if at all, it has
been modified by the time to which record
extends.

3. The facts of antiquity, as visible in the
oldest monuments and remains now existing
on the earth of human workmanship.
4. The facts of history, inclusive of all
kinds of inscriptions, of tradition, and of
trustworthy record.
5. The inferences to be drawn from the pro-
gress made by man within those periods of

preten, Lta for tl.e
inquiry which curious and reverent minds
would gladly see instigated. Not until the
whole subject is scientifically and compe-
tently discussed shall wo get rid of that
vagueness as to the direct creative operation
of Deity in calling man into being which
has been in all time a powerful ally of infide-
lity, and has proved a stumbling-block for
weak minds. For our own part we would
rather look upon Deity as a Divine architect,
as acting with positive manipulative skill, than
refine away his personal part in human crea-
tion by supposing that man was produced as
a single incident in the drama of Creation,
originating in atomic organisation too minute
for observation.

The presumptive evidence that the life of
man on earth does not exceed the data as-
signed to it by the Scriptural record, seems as
cogent as could be expected. It is an ob-
servation of Bossuet that in the patriarchal
life which appears to us in ancient his.
tory, conjoined as it was with the highest
intellectual faculties, we can view the fresh-
ness and newness of human existence. We
can observe the rapid, though not uniform,
social progress made by man during the last
three thousand years ; and being then as
highly endowed as he is now, can we conceive
it possible that his social state would not
have been more advanced than it was. had his
life on the earth been much longer than the
period commonly assigned to it?
The facts of geology disclose a time when
man did not exist on the earth. How then
was he produced? Could his birth have been
less than a miracle ? Must he not at first
have been an object of paternal care? To
what extent inquiry may elucidate a subject
so deeply interesting is beyond conjecture,
but we feel satisfied that each gleam of light
it casts upon our origin will tend to dissipate
that abstraction of an infidel philosophy,—the
development theory,—and show us God in the
Personality so dear to human needs and as-
pirations of a Maker and a Father.

Shakspere's England. • By G. W. Thornbury.
London : Longmans.

EVERY reader of these volumes must he struck with
the industry they display, and the immense amount
of information they embody. By the collection from
innumerable sources of every available particular
concerning the England of Shakspere's days, and by
most ingeniously combining them together in kind
of Mosaic tableaux, Mr. Thornbury restores, as far
as such sketches can, the forms of life, the habitudes,
the modes of thought, the amusements, the occupa-
tions, the classes, and the interiors of the close of the
sixteenth century. For better effect, much of the de-
scriptive narrative is thrown into the present tense, so
that we have well-known historical personages moving,
acting, and speaking initheir habits as they lived.
The author does not often refer to his authorities,
nor is this necessary, as historical correctness is not
pretended to ; but, as far as we can judge, nothing is
set down without due warrant. The volumes are
not of a kind to be read through at once. They are
too full of matter to be hastily digested. But they
are amusing throughout, and their multitudinous
details are conveniently divided into chapters, so
that reference is easy. In so brief a notice we can
only give the impression the work has made upon
us, but that impression is eminently favorable to the
author's skill and diligence, and induces us to think
that " Shakspere's England," in its chief social
phases, has been faithfully brought before us.

A Glimpse of the Wonders of Creation. By Leonora

C. Prince. London : Hatchard.
A PIOUS attempt to make the "Wonders of Creation "
and biblical record throw light on each other. The
authoress follows, in order, the Mosaic account of
the Creation, and endeavours to establish in all
instances the literal accuracy of what is written, as
for example in the description of the serpent :

Henry: What do serpents generally feed on ?
Mrs. B.: They eat flesh, birds, frogs, fish, fruits, grass,
&c. &e. But as they continually creep upon the earth, it
is impossible but that their food must often be defiled with
dust and dirt; some of them may really eat earth out of
necessity, or at least earthworms, which they cannot
swallow without a great deal of dirt with them. Part of
the curse which God pronounced on the serpent was, that

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570 THE PRESS. SATURDAY,
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in drawing inferences from them, has properly of visions; and comparing the expression " then evening time which are lit up by unquestionable and
no more connection with Scripture, or need to was, then morning was, one day," with the somewhat authentic record.
It is not pretended that all the elements on
interfere with it, than the electrical experi- similar expression in the Book of Daniel, " the vision of
the evening and the morning," we cannot but see that there
menter who draws lightning from the clouds. is strong ground for the suggestion that the whole scene which reasoning as to the age of man's being
The Bible is primarily not a physical but a was conveyed to the sacred historian in a succession of can be founded are here set down ; it is only
spiritual revelation, and its physical state- visions lt is well known that the transac• pretended to furnish some loose data for act
meats must always be viewed in connection lions of years are often compressed in a dream into the inquiry which curious and reverent minds

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