Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1851-12-25
T)e famiIp Gtrrlr.
Epochs of Creation"

Rev. DR.. Anderson, Of E inburgh, has recent
ly published work on Geology, In which it Is
pronounced by competent judges. he has sue
ceeded in reconcIllng the facts in Geology with
the teachings Of Revel ,tlon, better than any
one before him has done. The following is an
extract
Compare the epochs of Geology with the
days of Scripture, and there will be observed at
least a remarkable coincidence between them.
The fossillferous systems Of the one are nearly
the same in number with the descriptive para
graphs IN the other. The order in the creation
oi organized bodies, the pr gress of life upon
the earth are also wonderfully striking in The
records tf both. The lowest Of our fOsslIerous
deposits contl the impression OF plants - these
stand at the beginning of the Mosaic list. The
same groups, aud the whole OF the next in sue
cesSion, are characterized by the prevailing
abundance Of marine tribes,-the waters accor-
ding to the s1cred narrative, then received their
Command, and multiplied abundantly the moving
creatures that have life. Vegetables and ami
mails, still OF the waters, continue to increase
during the cdrboniferous era, when new sys.
TEN succeeds, and in this the foot prints of birds
are distinctly traced so it was in the same o.
der of succession that the winged fowl is sent
torih into the firmaInent of heaven. The Lias
and Oone formations Immediately follow, filled
with monsters of the deep, saurans and flying
lizard. The text speaks OF he great whales"
Of the period, as distinguished among the pro-
ductons of the waters. The Wenden Chalk
and Tertiaries are reploe with all kinds Of rep
tiles, manuals, and quadrupeds- horse, urus,
and other forms OF cate-and SO 10 like man
ner, the last in the Mosaic list, as the highes!
in the geological strata, are the types of every
beast, cattle and creeping thing.
Now, can this running parallel be accidental
or intended? Did the writer of one record
know anything Of the contents Of the other
Does the c,mse Of Creation, as Detailed il
the strata of the earth, follow as necessary
consequence trorl the nature of things, or AT
the arbitrary appointment of Him who made
them? Would fishes, reptiles, fowls, mammals
emerge in this precise order of succession, BY
any known law of organic structure Or coult
not the first and last, or any of the intermediate
kinds. have been at once, and as adaptively
brought together in one ard the same period 0
time? Was the writer of the Genesis acquaint
ell with the rich cxuberant cora of the carbonif
erous age and was 1t meant as true exposl
ton OF Its history, that there were as yet IL
beasts or quadruped upon the earth to enjoy it
And knowing of it, as well as of all the othe
superficial arrangement,-th upheval of thu
crust, the rise of mountains, the alternate shit
ing Of sea aud land, d,-does he not describe th
progress OF organic creation precisely as it oc
CURED, and as the changes of the planet becam
adaptive?
The series Of creative acts terminates il
the introduction Of Man upon the Stage of ter
restriaI beings And God said, Let US max
man in our image, after our likeness; and lie
them have dominion over the fish Of the sea, an
over all the earth, and every creeping thing tbo
creepeth upon the earth"
Here both narratives are completely at on
as to mans place in the course as well as ord(
of creation. M fragment Of his history can b
detected in any of the rocky organizations
the EARTH 1t is certain, one thing, oI ever
class, and order, and tribe has its representa-,
in one or another Of the geological epochs-
Man stands apart and alone in the geology
in the history. N } mere link in the chain
organic existence, not being of mere earth
mould, but fashioned in the image Of his Make
and fitled to explore, to understand, and to exc
cise dominion over the works OF his creation
How much, again, in all this last and hlghe
evolution OF creative might, is the concusic
confirmed, and arrived at from 50 many conver
ing lines, that the sacred record was Intend
to embody an actual account of the creation
the terrestrial Globe, in all its variou5 primo
dial arrangements, as well as in all lis consec
tive events. until lts mujeslic close in the cpocl
For, looking back and comparing the Whole NJ
rave with facts OF geology, Is 1t not high
probabI, that we have in that account distinct
shaduwed forth the progressive researches
the science, the great physical truths Of creailc
us symbolzed in the rocks' The brilliant vi;
through millions of untold ages, and upon seen
supposed to be unnotlced and unrecorded, va
lyiies indeed ut the admission of this princil
Of the worlds histoy--of the comparative lc
gevty of its successive tribes, Of the varic
changes and al erations which its surface i
uRdergone-and u less VIOLENCE far to the OBJ