Theism - 1855 Author:John Tulloch Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. Special (geological) Evidence Of A Creator The doctrine of an Intelligent First Cause, which it has been the aim of the foregoing chap... more »ter to establish, has been supposed to derive a special testimony and confirmation from the facts of Geological science. It has been maintained that these facts not only enable the Natural Theologian—as in the case of existing organic products—to infer a supreme Creative Mind, although this, too, they eminently do ; but moreover conduct us directly backwards to the presence and agency of such a Mind. In a word, they are said to take us out of the region of natural cause and effect, and to bring us face to face with the great Creative Cause. Lord Brougham, in his review of the memorable labours of Cuvier in the department of Fossil Osteology, was among the first to draw attention to the distinctive character and cogency of this branch of the theistic evidence. Dr Chalmers was disposed to place great stress upon it, especially as serving in a direct and tangible way to extricate the Natural Theologian from the meshes of Hume's sophistry. The question it involves, the reader will at once recognise as one which has recently assumed a peculiar prominence and importance in scientific discussions. The character of the evidence treated of in this chapter sufficiently separates it from the general range of merely illustrative evidence. This, upon the whole, seemed to bo the proper position for it. Interesting, however, as this question is to the Natural Theologian, it is right to observe that we do not hold it to involve the essential interests of Theism. The theistic argument no doubt receives a striking illumination from the idea of successive creative interpositions, manifest in the very structure of the earth and its org...« less