The independent press. (Abbeville C.H., S.C.) 1853-1860, 1858-07-09
FOR THE INDEPENDENT PREss.1
Observation, versus, Speculation.

| and much esteemed Friend "H." of the Due
West Telescope, an article captioned, "Geolo-
gical Speculations" We presume this was
sent for our special notice. flour friend had
based his speculations, upon deep scrutinlsipg
explorations of the strata Of the earth's crust,
and from patient investigation of what is there
| recorded in stony tables we should have no
| objections to breaking lance or two with
nun. The 'speculations, gives quietus to all
geological Investigations, solves the problem of
'he age of fossiliferous rocks, and claims for all
rocks the condition Of original creation W it'll
some small qualification of chances of being
| changed by Earthquakes, Floods, and volca.
| nc, or internal fires" Preadamic creation of
ANIMALS and plants, is secuted away and the
| Time OF creation, OF man, animals, plants, and
| the world set in duo chronological order as
having occurred Five Thousand Eight hundred
and s'xty-tw years. and six days ago. This
knocks small fry-geologists, like ourself into
what printers call "pye." But knock dew n
specuations based upon neither postulate, hv.
pothesls or theory, have hardly weight enough
to keep US down. small as we are; SO we are
up again, making n stand point. on the two
great Books Of nature and revelation We hnyc
an abiding Faith in both, believing both ema.
mated from the same Almighty author. What we
mean by the Book of nature, is the Universe,
"s revealed to our senses, embracing the fal-
thcst stellar orb, and the mnutest molecule
that comes under our observation on this Globe.
10 understand the laws that govern matter
inorganic. and organic, whether in particles or
in masses, living being, plant and animal, con-
stitutes natural science, or in other words nat.
ural history. Cuvier has said Natural his.
tory, has principle on which to reason" But
not 30 with Revelation. 1t demands our faith.
and is above our reason. or ut least, this is a
conclusion we have long since arrived at
Revelation, tells us, That in the beginning,
God created the Heavens and the Earth" But
when that beginning was, is beyond the finite
mind to calculate, should we apply tho utmost
powers of reason, every figure of thought, and
the incest guage ofmathematical science. reason,
thought, mathematics and all earthly kuowl-
edge would fail to solve the problem, Of when.
the scheme of creation began. Biologists are
satisfied with revelation, and accept the fact
that the whole cosmos, had "beginning."
They arc satisfied too that serial creation, and
destruction have followed each other, repeated
ly, before man, and the contempory fauna, ap-
peared on the earth.
Science in her researches has clearly unfold.
ed the fact. that anima s. and plants peopled
the earth, for an indefinite period, aud then
perished by some sudden catastrophe this
was followed by another creation, differing in
form but mainta ning the same general types /;
these two disappeared, under some mighty con-
Vulsive force. and were replaced, by another
creation Of new forms. Thus We have Primary,
Secondary, and Tertiary, Periods, the remains
of which, lie buried in the crust of the earth.
from the mountain pile. or lie scattered over
the surface. In all, man. or his works are no.
where to be found.
These things are chisseled deep in the rocks,
stand cut in bold relief in the mountain, and
emboss oceans, deep caverns claiming an an
tiquity, for their existence, far back in the
night of tmc. If our esteemed Friend H., would
examine those medals of creation, he would,
there read the fact, that the fauna, and fora
EMBEDDED in fossiliferous rocks, or strata, are
different, from the faunal, and floral forms, now
in existence were these rocks Post Adamic
this would not be 80 all human chronology
falls before the fossil skeleton of that huge,
saunian, or the teeth and vertebra of the gigan-
tic squalidae. (ancient fish, The rocks, and
the coal, and the borings Of thousand feet,
are all in league, with revelation, to point to
creation, as an eternal scheme, which commen
ced at the far back mysterious "Begnning"
But when that "bcginning" was when the hea-
vens and the earth, with the stel lar orbs, that
I'LL eternal space, (millions of them go distant
that their light hes never reached the human
eye,) were created arc mysteries TINT belong to
the wondrous Creation nor can man, with his
reasoning, calculating brain, fashioned by the
hand Of God. and breathcd into by his soul
giving breath,ever unravel the mysteries, OF
when, Creation began or how, it was achieved ;
science is impotent to enter into tho hidden
counsels of Jehovah. Our friends "specula.
, tons about the age of fossiliferous rocks crum-
bic into airy nothings in presence of that rock,
L from the Cumberland Mountains, or the stone
forest that lies but few feet under the sur
face OF Barnwell District. The fossil forms
, here presented slaughter all theor les in favor
of Post Adamic formation these forms are no.
where to be found in the fauna, and flora Of
the present would, of living being. We readi.
ly admit the forces spoken Of, producing chan.
ges on the surface of the earth moving waters
are doing their work, but it is comparatively
slow. 1twould take millions of years to die.
place one: continent, by carrying the materials
into the depths of the ocean. We have DO
evidence of volcanic forces being of such mag.
nitude as to submerge continent, and elevate
, the oceans deep bed into the cloud towering
, mountain range, since the advent of man. on
the earth. Yet our observation tells us, this
state of things, has occurred and that to such
an extent. as to cause the destruction of all life
on the surface of the Globe. This is what
geology means when it declares that periods
of creotan succeeded each other, in slow and
: solemn majesty; each successive period, usher
; ing in higher, aud yet higher scene of exis-