The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-11-07
For the l;egister.
~ TI'V ''Vh INV
spiriiualistic EIuyiae No. J.

acutencss an energy. "Thc children Of
this world are wiser in their generation
than the children of light" An objec-
tion rises to the surface. | am accused
of being biased in favor of these concu.
sions, by the hope of harmonizing
Scripture with geology; that had it not
been for the pressure of the latter science,
the view we have presented, would not
have been thought of. Not So. For this
view was thought of long before geology
began its Investigations. "The early
fathers" says principal Wiscman, "enter-
tanned precisely similar views; for St.
Gregory Nazianzen, after st. Justin
Martyr, supposes an indefinite period be-
tween the creation and the first orderings
Of all things St Basil, st. Caesariu's
and Origen are much more explicit,
To these, may be added Augustine,
Theodoret, Episcopius and others. "Tn
modern times" says DR.. Pye Smith,"
but long before geology became science,
the Independent character of the opening
sentence Of Genesis was affirmed By such
judicious and learned men rs Calvin,
Bishop Patrick, and DIR. David Jen.
nings." Thus, these conclusions were
arrived at on biblical grounds alone,
geology only illustrates and confirms
them. The works of God are thus shown
to be one with this prcconceived mean
ing Of His word.
But another shell from the Court
House most tells us, that the I'd verse of
Genesis, cannot be true, because, torsooth,
in the first place, there never was q
time when the world was without shape !;
for the law of gravitatiop which gives it
its present shape, must be as old as mat.
ter" But correct rendering Of the
words rendered "without form and void,"
upsetting this point, they say it cannot,
because, secondly, 1T is now all but
demonstrated that the original condition
of our planet was that ola fiery, fluid
mass" The italics are mine" All but
demonstraicaw And that is the rub in
in all this dogmatizing scientific talk.
There are so many "all butts" about it
that in reviewing it, it is much like beat
ing the air Especially is it 80 about
very much of geologic science, so called.
We have theories enough to freight a
Great Eastern; though we have reason
to believe very long voyage would
spoil most of them.
For one, shall wait till the "all butts"
are taken out of this demonstration, be-
fore swallow its chrysalis theory. 1t
may be true, but if so, how does that an.
initiate the statement of Gen. %?
That merely presents to us the earth be.
fore its habitation by man, covered with
water, and utterly devoid of inhabitants
or life. Was there never, according to
the now received geologic theories any
such state Of the earth iu the very earli.
est period? What though, as these fair
reasoning Spiritists aver, that "many
millions OF years, must have passed after
the formation Of the earth, before water
could rest upon its surface, on account
of the extreme heat ?" Don't Moses
according to our showing, and to his plain
statement in verse first, allow space for
these "millions ?" Most certainly he
does.
But here we may as well dispose of
a noisy fallacy in these theories of geolo.
gy, Il tallacy which some Of them are
ingenious enough to admit. "For," says
DR.. Patterson in his tract on Science,
or Faith" 81 know not one which is
based solely on facts and inductions from
facts. Every one of them has wooden
leg, and goes hobbling upon an If, THE
demonstration is spoiled with an "all
butt "Take for example, continues
. Patterson, "thc argument most common.
ly uscd-that which asserts the vast an.
tiquity of the carth-a thing in itself
every way likely, and not at all contrary
to Scripture if it be scientifically proved.
But how does our infdel goologist sci
about his work of proving that the earth
is any given age, say six hundred millions
Of years! y scientific demonstration
must rest upon facts. 1t admits of no
@ppoSiious. Now what are the facts
given to solve the problem of the earth s
age? The geologist finds great many
layers of rocks, one above another,
evidently formed below the water, some
Of them out of the fragments OF other
rocks, containing bones, shells and casts
Of fishes and tracks of the feet of birds,
made when these rocks were in the state
Of soft mud, and altogether several miles
thick. lie has II great multitude of such
facts before him, but they are all Of this
character. Not one OF them gives the
element of time. They announce to him
il succession of events, such as successive
generations of fishes and plants but not
one of them tells how long these genera
ton, lived. The condition of the world
was so utterly different then, from what
it is now, that no inference can be drawn
rom the lives Of existing races, which
are generally also different species. The
utmost any man eau say, in such a case,
is, ! suppose for there is no determinats
element Of time in the statement of the
problems, and so no certain time can
appear in the solution" For if it takes
years time nowadays to form an inch
of rock from deposit of mud in the bot.
tom of the ocean, how does any one know
that it took that length or half that
length Of time, to form so much rock out
Of mud in such place ten or even six
thousand years ago. They don't know
1t may be to somea very probable sup.
position but it would not be difficult te
show such a supposition to be extremely
i'm. 'robable'
But there are mnltitudes, the throa,
Of whose credulity is Of such amazing
! dimensions, and whose hatred Of Jesu,
aud his Gospel is so intense, that they
will swallow down masses of such theoriz
ings as these with astonishing facility.
But We will not for arguments sake
question that "all but demonstrated
fact of a state of original igneous fusion
os the earth. We will allow the Vulcan,