have in our day
combined their powers to give clear views of the manner in which the
fractured strata of the earth are wedged and arched together, and
supported by internal igneous masses upheaved from beneath, and
subsequently cooled and hardened. A general view of these facts which
we have learned from scientific inquiry, the Hebrews gleaned with
nearly as much precision from the short account of the elevation of
the land in Genesis, and from the later comments of their inspired
poets. From the same source our own great poet, Milton, learned these
cosmical facts, before the rise of geology, and expressed them in
unexceptionable terms:

"The mountains huge appear
Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky.
So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low
Down sunk a hollow bottom, broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters."

In further illustration of the opinions of the Scripture writers
respecting the nature of the earth, and the disturbances to which it
is liable, I quote the following passages. The first is from the
magnificent description of Jehovah descending to succor his people
amid the terrors of the earthquake, the volcano, and the
thunder-storm, in Psalm xviii.:

"Then shook and trembled the earth,
The foundations of the hills moved and were shaken,
Because he was angry.
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
Fire from his mouth devoured,
Coals were kindled by it.
Then were seen the channels of the waters,
And the foundations of the world were discovered,
At thy rebuke--O Jehovah--
At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils."

In another place in the Psalms we find volcanic action thus tersely
sketched:

"He looketh on the earth and it trembleth,
He toucheth the hills and they smoke."

--Psalm civ., 32.

Perhaps the most remarkable discourse on this subject in the whole
Bible is that in Job xxviii., in which mining operations are
introduced as an illustration of the difficulty of obtaining true
wisdom. This passage is interesting both from its extreme antiquity,
and the advancement in knowledge and practical skill which it
indicates. It presents, however, many difficulties; and its details
have almost entirely lost their true significance in our common
English version:

"Surely there is a vein for silver,
And a place for the gold which men refine;
Iron is taken from the earth,
And copper is molten from t