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Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
97
'I
may
refer
to
that
old,
but
never
uninteresting
subject
of
the
miracles
of
geology.
Physical
science
does
something
for
us
here.
St.
Peter
speaks
of
scoffers
who
said
that
"all
things
continue
as
they
were
from
the
beginning
of
the
creation;"
but
the
apostle
affirms
himself
that
"all
these
things
shall
be
dissolved."
It
seems
to
me
that
even
physical
science
absolutely
demonstrates
the
scientific
truth
of
these
words.
We
feel
that
there
is
no
possibility
of
things
going
on
for
ever
as
they
have
done
for
the
last
six
thousand
years.
In
science,
as
in
morals
and
politics,
there
is
absolutely
no
periodicity.
One
thing
we
may
prophesy
of
the
future
for
certain--it
will
be
unlike
the
past.
Everything
is
in
a
state
of
evolution
and
progress.
The
science
of
dead
matter,
which
has
been
the
principal
subject
of
my
thoughts
during
my
life,
is,
I
may
say,
strenuous
on
this
point,
that
THE
AGE
OF
THE
EARTH
IS
DEFINITE.
We
do
not
say
whether
it
is
twenty
million
years
or
more,
or
less,
but
me
say
it
is
NOT
INDEFINITE.
And
we
can
say
very
definitely
that
it
is
not
an
inconceivably
great
number
of
millions
of
years.
Here,
then,
we
are
brought
face
to
face
with
the
most
wonderful
of
all
miracles,
the
commencement
of
life
on
this
earth.
This
earth,
certainly
a
moderate
number
of
millions
of
years
ago,
was
a
red-hot
globe;
all
scientific
men
of
the
present
day
agree
that
life
came
upon
this
earth
somehow.
If
some
form
or
some
part
of
the
life
at
present
existing
came
to
this
earth,
carried
on
some
moss-grown
stone
perhaps
broken
away
from
mountains
in
other
worlds;
even
if
some
part
of
the
life
had
come
in
that
way--for
there
is
nothing
too
far-fetched
in
the
idea,
and
probably
some
such
action
as
that
did
take
place,
since
meteors
do
come
every
day
to
the
earth
from
other
parts
of
the
universe;--still,
that
does
not
in
the
slightest
degree
diminish
the
wonder,
the
tremendous
miracle,
we
have
in
the
commencement
of
life
in
this
world.'
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