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Show NOTE ~ONCLUBORY. tures, ho'v different new philosophic doctrines .a~e ap( to appear after we have beco~e ~ome~hat far~ultar With them. Geology at first seems Inconstsent wtt~ the ~uthority of the Mosai-c record. A stonn ~f un~easoning indicrnation rises against its teachers. .In time, Its trut.hs, bein~.,. found quite irresistible, are admitted, and manlnnd continue to regard the Scriptures with .the same respect as before. So also with severJ.l othe.r sciences. . Now tl~e only objection that can be rnade on such a ground t~ this book is that it brings forward some new hypot~es1s, at first ;igl{t, like geology, not in p~rfect harmony w?th that record and arranges all the rest Into a system wh1ch partakes ~f the same character. But ~ay not the sacred text on a liberal interpretation, or with. the benefit of a new' light reflected from nat.ure, or denve.d (rom learning, be shown to be as. much 1n harl?ony with the novelties of this volume as 1t has been w1th geology and nat~ral nhilosophy? What is there in. the laws .of organ~c creation more startling to the candid theol?gtaiJ than l~ the Copernican system. or the nat~ral formation of strata. And if the whole senes of facts 1s true, why sho~ld we shrink from inferences legitimatel.Y. fl~wing from 1t ~ Is • it not a wiser course, since reconclltat10n has com~ In so many instance~, still to hope for it, st~ll ~o g? on w1th our new truths, trusting that they also Will In ~Ime be found harmonious with all others? Thus we av?I_d the damage which the very appearance of an oppos1bon to natural truth is calculated to inflict on any system. presumed to require such ~up port. T.hus V't"e give, as 1s meet, a. respectful reception to what IS revealed through the med1um C\f nature at the same time that we fully reserve our reverence f~r all we have been accustomed to hold sacred, not one title of ·which it may ultimately be found neces-sary to alter. I • EXPLANATIONS. WHEN the \Vork to which this may be regard~d as a suv-plement was published, my design was not only to be per<A sonally removed .frorn all praise or censur~ which it mig-ht evoke, but to wnte no more upon the subJect. I said to myself, Let this book go forth to be recdved as truth, or to pr~vo~{e others to a cot;ttrov~rsy which may result in e~tabltsh1ng. or overthrowmg It; but be my task now ended. I d1d not then reflect that, even thou(Yh V\Titten by one better informed or n1ore skilled in arg~ment than I ca~ l?retend to be, it might leave the subject in such a ?Onchhon that the aut~or should have to regret seeing it, In a great measure, misapprehended in its general scope, and also so 1nuch excepted to, justly and unjustly, on particular points, that ordinary readers might be ready to suppose its whole indications disproved. Had I bethought me of such possible results. I might have announced from the beginning, my readiness to enter upon such ex~ planations of points objected to, and such re-enforcements of the general argument, as might promise to be service~ ble. And _this would have seemed th~ more necessary. ~n as far as 1t may be expected that there are many points tn a new and startling hypothesis which no one can be so · well qualified to clear up and strengthen a~ its author. 1 might have felt at the same time that a new adventure for whatever purpose, in the same field was hazardous' with regard to any favorable impression previously pro: duced; yet such an objection would, again, have been at ~nee overruled, seeing that public favor -and disfavor were alike beyond the regard of an author who bore no bodily s?ape in the . eyes of his fellow-countrymen, and vras llkel;r to remain forever unknown. Such reflections novo; occur to me, and I am consequently induced to take up !he pen. for the purpose ~f endeavoring to make good-what 1s defici~nt, and re.asserhn~ and confirming whatever has been unJustly challenged 1n my book. In doing so I shall study to direct attention solely to fact and argume~t. or what appear as such, overlooking the uncivil expres 16 |