Geologists, therefore, when they undertake to explain the existence of Stratified Rocks, not by the immediate action of the Creator, but by the intervention of natural causes, are not on that account to be accused of impiety. They do not disparage, but rather magnify His glory, when they expatiate upon the endless variety of agents which, according to their theory, He has employed in the structure of the material world. If the honeycomb, as a work of contrivance and design, excites the wonder and admiration of the philosopher, what must we think of the contrivance and design exhibited by Him who has made, not the honeycomb only, but the bee that builds the honeycomb? And so, too, we get novel and unexpected views of God’s Omnipotence, when, through the science of Geology, we come to understand the vast and harmonious series of secondary causes by which he has brought the Crust of the Earth into its present form and shape. The impress of His hand is stamped upon His works; and all that is wonderful and attractive in Nature is but the token of His power and the shadow of His beauty. And so our national poet has sung: “Thou art, O GOD, the life and light Of all this wondrous world we see; Its glow by day, its smile by night, Are but reflections caught from Thee. Where’er we turn, Thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are Thine.” [Illustration] _CHAPTER X._ FOSSIL REMAINS--THE MUSEUM. _Recapitulation--Scope of our argument--Theory of stratified rocks the framework of geological science--The theory brings geology into contact with revelation--the line of reasoning hitherto pursued confirmed by the testimony of fossil remains--Meaning of the word fossil--Inexhaustible abundance of fossils--Various states of preservation--Petrifaction--Experiments of Professor Göppert--Organic rocks afford some insight into the fossil world--The reality and significance of fossil remains must be learned from observation--The British Museum--Colossal skeletons--Bones and shells of animals--Fossil plants and trees._ Reader, you are beginning to suspect us. ‘How long do we propose to detain people?’ For anything that appears we may be designing to write on to the twentieth century. ‘And _whither_ are we going?’ Toward what object? which is as urgent a quære as, _how far_? Perhaps we may be leading you into treason. You feel symptoms of doubt and restiveness; and like Hamlet with his father’s ghost, “you will follow us no further unless we explain what it is that we are in quest of.”