The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-11-21

ton OF the earth, before water could rest
upon its surface, on account of extreme
heat p How does such II statement
necessarily conflict with the Mosaic Rec.
ord if Prof. Wipchel's AMI Agassiz's the.
ory, as above alluded to, be correct. The
"Irreconciablc Records" indeed Spirit
lists may feel themselves irreconciled to
Genesical authority. but they have no
right to put their guilty consciousness in
the place and name of science. Sceinc0
aud faith have no conflict, if with the
lattcr, they wage puny and inglorious
warfare.
But to proceed and take up tho next
point, in the Mosaic account these Bible
haters attack. And that is found in
verse sixth: "And God said. Let there
be armament in the midst of the waters
and let it divide the waters from the
waters.
The objection is from Voltaire and has
often been repeated by sceptics. Gesenius
a rationalstic, German scholar is quoted
as if his definition settled the matter
against Moses. But ale that is first in
his cause secmeth just but his neighbor
cometh and searcheth him. Hitchcock
is also brought in seemingly to reinforce
the position on the otherdox or evangel-
ical side and thus turn our own batteries
against us. But We shall see with what
results. He says, at was the opinion Of
the ancients that the earth, at cer-
tain height, was surrounded by trans.
parent, hollow sphere of solid matter,
which they called the armament. Where
rain descended, they supposed it was
through windows or holes, made in this
crystalline curtain suspended in mid
heaven. To these notions the language
of the Bible is frequently conformed."
To this the snecring infdels, under review
add; because its writer's knew no bet.
ter; but in the light of Astronomy, how
absurd is all this. There is, as we know,
no solid vault, no stars SET in it, therefore
no throne of God placed on it, there
can be no shaking Of the armament, for
there is none to shake; and the stars
could no more fall upon the erath, than
a thousand haystacks could fall upon the
point Of needle Very well, both
witty and wise no doubt We don't
claim that the Hebrew people were as
well vcrsed in science and philosophy as
some of the moderns. But we enter our
protest against attempts to make the Bi.
bic teach what it was not designed tc
teach. God has given us the stars tc
teach astronomy, the earth to teach Us
geology, and the Bible to teach us Re.
ligion, and neither contradcts the other
But what about this rakia-frmament
which is represented as supporting ar
ocean Of water above it. According tc
Moses the waters are divided, so that
some are below, some above the vault
Now how the "ancients" or the Hebrew.
understood it is one thing and wha
Moses said of it may be another. With
the Hebrews it may have had pillars,
foundations" "doors.' and "wndows.
With them as with some moderns rakic
in his root-form may be generally ap
piled to express the hammcring or beating
out of metal plates hence something
beaten or spread out" But docs thu
Mosaic record convey any such idea
Did the Hebrews, even, understand tht
sky or armament, or heaven to be per
manent solid vault as sceptics Aippantly
aver? Do their sacred writings teach
any such things? Why, in this very
chapter, (Gen. l: 2S), birds are calec
the fowl of the hearens"-not "air," says
McCaul, to whom we are indebted, fol-
his searching and mastery criticism OF
this subject-and how could they fly il
the heaven or armament lift were solic
as granite? No, why not read 18th,
fowl of the solid vault ?" Would tina
be more nonscnsical than is much of tha
we are reviewing? But why did Nose
call them birds fowl Of the heaven, if j
was not because they fly in the heavens
The same writer in Deut. 4 IL say
ANY winged fowl that fieth in the air
heavens. Solomon in Prov. 80 :: l!
(Lange's translation) 1.-The way of tn
eagle in the heavens" Jer. ST. 9TH
stork 10 the heavens" In all these pas
sages "heavens' mean the place wher
birds fly. These passages" says tn
same eminent critic, "also give the tru
meaning Of the words in Genesis | 80
where the authorized version has, "Il
open armament Of heaven" LITERAL,
"upon the face of the armament of heav
en-" II also means in Psalm 7S :36 tn
place where the winds blow. He caus
eth wind to blow in the heavens. il
both cases the region of the atmosphere
But again. In the Prophet Isaiah W
read, &" My right hand hath spread ou
the heavens" That stretcheth out tn
heavens as n curtain literally, like fine
ness), and spreadeth them out as ten
to dwell in." The poetic Psalms say
Who stretchest out the heavens like
curtain" that is, rs something trcmulous
or as having II iremuous motion. Is
Gesenius.) Now does this language con
vey to us any thing like Il solid vault? |
it not only appropriate for ethereal ex
panse? But what will you do with s1ch q
expression as this? "Ilast thou not sprca
out the sky which is firm like molte
looking glass ?" Must it not therefore
in the Hebrew apprehension be firm like
metal plate ? We turn you over to Lu
ther, who will not be accused of constru
ing it as he did by any scientific pressure
since he wrote, before it was put OF
The expanse," he says, is rarer an
finer than the atmosphere in which W
live, and yet, through the power of tn
Divine word, strong as if it we're metal
When, therefore, it is remembered tina
the Hebrews regarded the heavens o. fir
manent where the birds fly, where tn
winds ow-that they ikcned it TO fine
ness or foe cloth, that they regarded j
as tremulous, like tremulous curtain
and thought that it was of the nature o
the clouds and that the clouds were o
the nature Of cloud Of fine dust, ant
mi hit be called by the same word, it viii