The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-05-13
THE MOSAIC cosMoGoNY.

THE MOSAIC .COSMOGONY
To EDITOR OF THE HERALD
Will you kindly permit me 10 offer In your columns
a few suggestions uron the modcstiy expressed, but
excessively ancfu Suggestions OF your cnt
.Guesswho7" His letter supplies internal evidence
from which one may guess whether not no is a be-
lever in the Christian revelation IT no is not what
! shall urge will lose, to HIM, some, although by no
means all, OF It's persuasiycncss
Does he NOS see, does tho fact not trouble him
that tho plea which he would reconcile an alleged
discrepancy between human science and canon,cal
Scripture would De fatal 10 tho belief that the latter
was written under the direct inspiration OF the Holy
Ghost? In the very Improbable not 10 say imposs-
bic, contingency of an rrcfutubie scientific demon
straton making the order OF creation narrated In the
Book OF Genesis untcuabie We should have bctake
ourselves TO the obvious explanation that the Bible
not scientific treatise, aud that for Divine Being
anticipate bv thousands OF years tho discoveries OF
SCIENCE, tho toll OF which part Of the penance
inflicted His fnon creature alter no had forfeited
tho intuitive knowledge OF his state OF innocence,
would have boon TO thwart His own designs. Yet, IT,
As Christians and Jews alike believe, Moses wrote
under the direct Inspiration OF the spirit Of God no
have missatcd anything Of importance In the
order or law OF creation. In the absence OF y ref
ragabe proof TO the contrary must suppose TIA.
the order OF tho several stages OF creation is OF sum-
Client Importance to have been stated accurately In
such case. that the Divine Providence should permit
an accidental fold of sheet Of paper TO tasify His
narrative from the first until the advent OF your
correspondent Guesswho," Is far greater difficulty
than any human science can conJure up.
But this ingenious gentleman Is CHUNG a windmill.
There has been enough, aud more than enough, God
knows, OF scientific conjecture of,!ate years; but any
thing deserving tho tho Of scientific demonstrators
contradcte the order Of the successive Ut
ton related in tho Book OF Genesis does not cxisI
sophca mind. the circumstance OF light being
first created, and the celestial Spheres whicn
be the recipients aud dispensers OF that light being
created after the vegetable and animal lite. which II
was TO quicken aud support. But there Is difficulty
TO the mind uncnightoncd BY the Christian iath 10
the circumstance that day Of croation devoted
to the creation OF the smallest Of the spheres while
only similar stage IN the order OF creation appar
emily devoted TO tho creation all rest OF that
stupcndous OF worlds OF which all the d,scov-
cries OF modern science have only revealed a corner
Tho Christian revelation supplies US think w,th
solution OF the difficulty. II is sign OF pho-
sophie spirit to allow the MIND 70 be awed by
,cral than BY spiritual greatness. There is something
OF chiidshncss In thinking more OF that infinite
verse OF worlds reaching ~ distances beyond the
power Of tho human mind to conceive OF It's mere
aspect OF material grandeur than Of human being
What wouln " all amount TO without It's meaning
IL not unsedom urged tnat ts moaning the cxa-
inon OF our idea OF inc greatness anu goodness OF
God. But this is not enough Any vastness or cxten-
sion or 1ondcrosity, or even beauty does add 10
our idea OF omn'poicnce That surpasses all As tothe
goodness OF the Creator we require something ia
proof oil that than nero show, however vast s!o.
rious The God mantle u IS wfIs Is tho mean
ting or tho whole creation. he Is the archetypal
dca mp to which tho groat ArtIhccr worked
We have the authority OF Kiug David for concluding
that as tho only bcgot.on Son generated all
eternity was Il OF tho eternal counscls that "a
body should be prepared Tor him. That body is the
human nature which He was 10 assume Ia order IN
TO make peie satisfaction divine justice tor the
transgrcsson Of HIS fallen creature then crown
IT, rs tho prodigni whom tho lated calf was Killed
with glory ana honor. Tho Incarnation was no after.
thought .! God. IL the idea OF the universe.
According TO It all the universe eliminates man,
who lis us sum and end as he eliminates in the
WORD mado fcsh, who is his sum and end. An else
consequently subsidiary creation man. having
Ills purpose IN him. II was to giorify It's Creator, but
in and through man There - thus nothing even 10
surprise in The TACT OF Goi's dcvoting i've distinct
operations to tho creation OF mans home himself
and only ono to the rest OF tue vast universe OF
spheres. II is as easy 20 Omuipotcncc To create
universe OF suns and stars millions OF times greater
than that which now occupies extension In moment
as In n millennium There issno time to Him.
there any limits, and as all was created II
only that we might have expected that all the OF
the universe should have been created in y spaco OF
similar duration those He devoted creation
OF the planet Terra OF whose very substance tho
human body was formed, and tnat body itself
Tho order OF creation IN tho Mosaic narrative pre-
senis less difficulty stil, nor has my discovery Of
III odern science produced any. 1t Is exactly what m
! ordinary intelligence might have expected, bearing
in mind the foregoing explanation. FIRST the primal
nrchctype OF Christ--ligntis created whose sub.
stance science Is ignorant when some three
thousand years aeo and moro God demanded OF his
servant JOB, "Indica miht. noste. lua lar
Aabtet ct tencbraruns qas Lc1 at2' Next, the drst
| step was taken toward making aqueous '.void,r
covering abysses OF molten ERE, htc-bearng sphere.
! Its superintendent moisture Withdrawn BY the
creation OF ornament separating tho above
/ II from those bciow ~. about which ornament and
thc waters II modern give
account than could Job when It's Creator demanded Of
hiin-"Numqutd tngrsSsm - ft>suuros Virts ant
NeSduros grdndints nspcstshs Tuts drdu
r>ter>ntssfmo ,io,t cursuR ut pucret super
dbsYne hoatrc IN d>sero, ubtn n mortdiup
tur. at fnptep>f rfon RI d,soidtoD, pfod.ccret
heybds vtpeLcsp Scxt, the creation OF vegetable and
animal lite in It's forms prepared
tor by tho withdrawal OF tho from the appear
| ing dry land followed the same day by the crea.
veg ctablc lite Is II natural ~ may en-
pIoy such .orj with the contest. that tho creation
Immediately following that OF tho most cicmonl
form oil lie should have been that OF those receivers
and dispensers OF light which He made indispensable
for tho support OF every OF life the earhs
Then the creation OF animal lie ending with
that Of man.
Il IS noteworthy that, IN the OF the creation
that God breatbed into his lace tho breath or HE.
until after the day which God represented TO
as resting IRON His creative work. as II To imply that
this highest creation was unhD shci and was go
Tor Tho rest with the cooperation OF man himself,
rctrogajiDg nrst through an era OF deprivation In
preparation OF stupcndous manifestation OF divine
power ADD love, which rcgeneratcd tho fallen crea,nrc
10 the unimag Unable exaltation OF UNION with tho
Divine Being, to he consummated when the mystical
body OF Christ Triumphant is onthroncd IN The excel
lent glory, when time shall be more, the ipa
bath shall dawn and man shall rest In God from all
his work. Yours respectfully. 5. d. A. HARPER.
IA GaAMgRcY PARK, May !, 1877.