The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1871-05-18

Nosarsw.-I have the Bible itself. God
Adam and I'VE to "muitiply
and replehish the earth,o--Gen. 1i2s, and
the same c0lmmandwa given to Noah and
his sons after the iOod.--Gen. OIL. The
word "replenish" means to I'LL again, and
1t would have been impossible for either
Adam or Noah to have filled the earth
again, II 1t had not been filled before.
Marisee.-There'is no conflict, then, bel
tween Geology and the Biblee,
Ndsarene.--N0ne whatever. The Bible
clearly teaches that the earth was inhabit-
ed before the creation of Adam, and there
fore it may have existed for millions Of
years for anght we know to the contrary
Phdrisee:-lf that Ia SO, where arc those
pre-Adamic Inhabitants now?
Nasareae.-The Scriptures give no In
formation upon that point, SO tar as / have
been able to learn; hence I cannot answer
your question:.
Phdrisee.-But how are we to reconcile
the Mosaic history of the creation with
the theory that the earth has existed long
er than six thousand years?
Ndzarene.-Very easily. Read the first
chapter Of Genesis carefully, and you viii
see that Moses represents tile work of Gre
alton precisely as ii soould haze appeared TO
him had he been stationed upon some ele-
vated' point and an eyewitness OF all that
occurred. .He commences by saying, "In
the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth. And the earth was without
form and void; and darkness was upon the
face Of the deep. And the Spirit Of God
moved upon the face of the waters" The
earth. it seems. was completely enyeloped
- t-ufnr and sri nj ~, acc = trtNnr. thn funn
of the deep. Then "God said, Let there bs
light, and there was light" "And the
evening and the morning were the flrst
day" On the second day the ornament
was created, and God called the frma-
ment Heaven" On the third day the dry
land" appeared, "and the earth brought
forth grass, and herb yielding seed after
his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose
seed was in itself, after his kind.v On the
fourth day the clouds, fog, or mist, disap-
peared, and the sun, moon and stars burst
forth in all their %splendor. On tile fifth
day the fowlsSf the air and the fish of the
sea were created. And on the sixth day
God created "every thing that creepeth
upon the earth after his Kind"
Phdrtsee.-l suppose you mean that when
the waters were sgathered together unto
n place. and the earth came up out of
its watery grave, a cloud enyeloped IT, ana
rendered it impossible for the sun, moon
and stars to be seen from this planet until
the fourth day !; and therefore Moses speaks
OF their creation on the fourth day, simply
because that was the first day on which he
would have beheld them had he himself
been an eyewitness on this planet u the
work Of creation.
Nasarene.-That is exactly my meaning.
And as this Interpretation is in harmony
with the Scriptures, with Geology, and
with Reason, / do not hesitate to adopt 1t.
Phdrisee.-We are told that God created
the armament on the second day and called
it Heaven. Now, what is the Scriptural
meaning of armament?
Ndsarene.-ln Scripture the word firm
ament means "the great arch or expansc
over orr heads, in which are placed the
atmosphere and the clouds, and in which
the stars appear to be placed, and are really
SEEM Moses says that the ornament was
created on the second day, because the
clouds were lifted up from the earth on
that day for God had said, Let there be
q armament in the midst OF the waters,
and let it divide the waters from the wa
ters."
Pharisee.-What did the apostle Paul
mean by the term "third heayen?"
Ndzarene.--The Hebrews acknowledged
three heavens. The air, or aerial heavens;
the armament in which the stars are, sup
posed to be placed; and the heaven of
heavens, or third heaven. the residence OF
Jehovah. The atmosphere, or aerial heay-
en-, is supposed to extend about fifty miles
from the earth. Beyond the region Of air
is supposed to be u thin, unresisting medi-
um called ether, in which it would he i'm
possible for beings constituted as we are
to exist. When the apostle Paul used the
term third heaven" lie evidently referred
to the dWelling-plate of Jehovah.
Phdrisee.-llOw m the religious
world, with the Bible circulated SO freely
and hol,ored SO universally, to'be so much
astray concerning the nature and destiny
Of the human race?
Observation-Disclosures attempting to indi-
cate the process by which this result has
been arrived ut. | will simply call attcD-
ton to the fact that the truth of prophecy
requires that the ,oorld at the present time
should be in q state of almost uniuerSal apos-
tdcy.
The Savior said, 'As the days of Noah
WERE, so shall also the coming of the Son
of man be. For as in the DAYS that were
before the food they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in mar
rage, until the day that Noah entered into
the ark. and knew not until the flood came
and took them all away I; so shall also the
coming of the Son ofman be.'-Matt. Pa: SO.
On another occasion. He said. "When
the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith
(ten piStin, THE FArrH) on the earth :"-Lu.
1858.
When Christ comes, lie will find faith in
the abstract in great abundance, (for there
are many false faiths, religions and creeds
in the world), but he thinks, by his ques-
ton, that he will scarcely find THE FAITH.
viz. that to Which the Apostle alludes as
the zone faith,"-.Eph. 4:6; in other words,
THE FAITH comprehcndcd in "tlic things
concerning THE KINGDoM OF GoD and THE
NAME or JESUS CHRIsT."-Acts S: Il; q:
20, 81.
For further evidence | refer to the fol-
lowing texts: 2 Pc. 1913, 4; 2 Tim. as, a.;
! Tim. Al, 3; 2: 13; Acts 20: 80, 80; 2 Thes.
2:ll; 2:7, 8; Rev. 1875; lisa. 90: 2; Rev. Is:
2-24.
The New Orleans Picayune has an
able article showing that there Aas
been no incrpase in the colorcd nonu-