No reason can be assigned for all this, as the law or order of events, except the appointment of Him who made and continues the constitution of nature as it is. No adequate cause of creation can ever be conceived but that of the Divine Goodness; and while we never can expect fully to comprehend the wisdom that planned, and the power that carried into effect, the purposes of that wisdom, still the very effort to attain knowledge concerning them, fulfills one great object for which man is made curious about the works of his Maker. In contemplating the wonders of those days, the variety, adaptation and perfection of everything in itself as then constructed, he will always refer to that Infinite Intelligence through whose goodness he is permitted to enjoy knowledge. In becoming wiser he will become better. His increasing knowledge will be made subservient to a more exalted faith in that everlasting “Word” who framed the worlds; and in proportion as the vail becomes thinner through which he sees the origin and course of things, he will admire all the more the brightness of Him who was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. [Illustration: Holoptychius Noblissimus.] CHAPTER V. YELLOW SANDSTONE. Dura Den, whither the scene of our explorations now shifts, occupies a central position in Fifeshire, and lies equidistant betwixt St. Andrews and Cupar, the county town. This classic field of geology is therefore of the easiest access. The railway traverses the opening to the ravine, a lovely valley of choice archæological as well as fossil remains, where parliaments have assembled and a scepter was contended for, the retreat of learned churchmen, and a refuge in the caverns of its rock for persecuted saints. A day’s excursion to such a place cannot fail to be a profitable as well as agreeable one, where the students of geology, or of botany, or of history, will severally meet with objects suitable to their taste; and, if lovers of the tragic, a short detour to the left will furnish a sight of Magus Muir, of cruel memory and most indefensible policy.