Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-10-06
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dOBes as a seieOIiat
In the last London Quarterly Re
view, and in an article on the prob
able age Of the world, we find the
following paragraphs upon the
biblical account Of creation:
Nowadays, all diyines, English
and foreign, agree that the word
employed by Moses, and translated
in our bible by the beginning ex-
presses duration or time previous
to creation. Reshith, the Hebrew
word for beginning, is in the origi-
nal used without the definite article.
The article was expressly omitted
in order to exclude the application
of the word to the ordero of creation,
and to make it signify previous du-
ration or previous to eternity. The
words of Moses, then, "In former
duration God created the heavens
and the earth," may mean millions
of years just as easily as one. A
few verses later, describing the
second day of creation, Moses de-
clares that God made the armament
and called it heaven. 1t is plain
from this that the heavens of the
first days creation are different
from the heavens of the second day;
the difference of time proves a diff
ference Of subject. The heavens
of the first verse were made in for
mer duration, before the moving Of
the Spirit, before the creation of
lightj the heavens of the second
day were made after the earth and
after light.
Another statement made by
Moses is an extraordinary anticipa-
ton of the most recent cosmologic-
al doctrines; "The earth was
desolation and emptiness and dark
ness upon the face OF the raging
deep, and the Spirit of God brood
ing upon the face Of the waters"
1t is now hardly doubtful that the
earth was a molten sphere, over
which hung, in a dense vapor, all
the water which now lies upon its
surface. AS the crust cooled, the
aqueous yapor that surrounded it
become condensed into water and
rested on the surface Of the land,
The conflicts between the waters
and the fiery heat, as the crust Of
the earth was broken, fell in or was
upheayed, are well described by the
words of Moses, the earth was desc
lation and emptiness. 1t is curious
that the great facts of the submer-
sion of the earth and its condition
Of emptiness should have been thus
exactly described by Moses.
W. are then told that God said,
"Let there be light, and there was
light" CELSIUS, Voltaire, and a
writer in "BssaYs and Reviews
have found it Strange that there
should have been light before the
creation Of the sun; but according
to the theory Of eosmogony now
almost universally received, the
earth did in fact exist before the
condensation of the sun. Light
there would be, from the gradually
condensing mass Of nebplQqs and
ineapdescenr matter which occu-
pied the whole space now circum-
scribed by the orbit Of the earth.
If Moses had wished to describe
the modern doctrine concerning
light, he could not have done so
more happily, The SIN i9 not
called d6r,h light, but Maor,
,,lscc lcc c. CT lit, liht ics ..ss what modern
science has discovered it to be. If
light be no matter, but vibration Of
luminilerous ether, no words could
more precisely explain what must
have occurred when God set in mo-
ton the undulations which pro
duced light, and said, "Let light
be-" The account given Of the
creation of the sun very closely
anticipated modern science: Let
there be lightholders in the Grma-
ment Of heaven, and let them be
for lightholders in the armament
of heaven to give light upon the
earth * 4 and the stars" When
the sur began to give his light,
then, for the first time, and earth's
fellow-planets, the stars, began to
reflect his brilliance, and became
luminaries also.
--ag.--e--p----
This byzantine empire.
The last London story told is