The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-12-12
MONUMENTAL EVIDENCES or
CaRTsTIASICY.
Science and Religion Hand in Hand.


gulshed IN their several branches for in.
tellect and research, but we never lis.
tened with as much attention and pleas.
urs to any of them as We dill to
the discourse on the Monumental
Evidences of Christianity" which was
given by Bishop Bowman, las! night, 81
the Zane Street Methodist Church. The
Bishop is 8 man of broad and liberal
views, who has studied his subject thor
| oughIy, and loves TO talk about 1t, not as
a lecturer, but as man DESTROYS oil CIV
ing only such information as shall do
the nearer good. The style Of delivery
was in the happiest colloqGial vein, and
rs much trouble was taken IN the e.ucl-
dation of obscure points as If the audi
eGce was very large one, instead OF be-
| ing one of moderate size.
We give in the following the Chief
points OF the lecture;
a vast number OF volumes have been
written on the evidences OF Christianity,
so many, indeed, thst but few save
theologlsns sre aware OF their extent. |
call the evidences monumental, because
men cannot belittle or destroy them.
| They exist on the wslls OF ruined pal
aces; they are craven on imperishabe
rocks, or marble slabs that cannot
be charged with lying. Geol.
ogy is the great science OF
q knowledge of the formation of the
earth, and it has had much to do with
| confirming our Biblical history. AL
though some think that science and re-
ligion are naturally opposed TO escn
other, II is not the case. AL sciences
are constantly changing TIER base Of Dc
lief and improving. When the Bible
wss translated, in King james time, the
sceace OF language WAS In IL infancy
anG YET what p wonderfully cOrge-! piece
OF work II is. Still 1t Is opea
to criticism Ia regard 70 some points.
The VI sale account of the creation OF
/ the world is verified IN almost every par
ticulsr by science. Moses desired that
hi. people should not be materaHsis or
atheists. rs were many nations OF ms
day, so he SAID that God Greeted all
things. The Hebrew word meaning
'created out of nothing" is only used IN
speaking of the formation OF the earth,
OF light, and of spiritual light. Diner
things were merely fashioned
out of something that already
was in existence. There are three points
where science and religion apparently
contradict each other, but such Is not the
truth. The first one is this, many people
think that the Bible says the world WIS
made Ia six literal days OF the same
length AS our own. In the first chapter
0: Genesis the word "day" Is used in
three senses. "The Lord called the
light day and the darkness night" TINS
seems 70 relate to the perIJd OF twelve
hours between the rising and setting OF
J the sun. In the second mentor
! it means twenty-iour hours and In
tae third, ain the day that God created
the heaven and earth," it applies 20 the
whole length of time during which they
were created. Even in our own Ian
guage the word day" has many sIgnlt-
cations My father was sixty years old
when he dei, out in his "day' there was
no such thing as a telegraph. In the
| "day' of Abraham there was none
either. Here the word covers in one case
sixty, and in the other thousands OF years
| In the Mosaic account al indefinite
! length of time IS meant and not an or
| binary day, fer the sun and moon were
not made until the fourth day" Origen,
| a famous author of the fourth century,
suggestes this idea. Moses wrote OF
something that he never saw, without the
aid of previous works N the subject, (ss
| fsr IA we know but his description l.
wonderfully correct. There are many
wonderful points OF correspondence b =
tween his writings and the developments
OF science. Moses says that the world
had beginning, and that beginning was
a creation OF something out Of
! nothing, of the visible from
the invisible, and this is agreed
to by scientists of all countries. The
latter say that the world is matter,
matter is an aggregation OF force which
may be in the form of electricity, chemi-
col affinity magnetism &c. but they are
all units of one force, and the govern.
ing one is W / power, TIE will power #
| God is the force which inside the earth
and all it contains. When the world
was first made according, to Moses it was
iormless and empty. ScientIs agree with
him. They say that when VIA. Is called
''star dust" began to gather IN a
mass 1t was without shape and
was VI rDut lie o! any kind
| ave my elf seen q chcmls. create
earth IN tue manner in which they state
it was done by God. The Mosaic account
relates that light was the first creation
after the world was formed. Scientists
side with him in this too They think
that this formless earth Of which | have
spoken would naturally produce light.
! The forces at work would be certain 20
| cause light to eliminate from it. Per-
hsp4 it was electric light, but 1t would
be of great power and bri!lHnCy,
whatever it might be. Besides
that the thick masses of heavy smoke
and clouds which they suppose surround
ed, 1t would of course keep the greater
| portion OF the radiance between them,
and the body from whence it was elmi-
mated. The description of the separation
of the waters, which Moses gives has
been laughed at, but scientific men an
swer hist the waters above the earth
| are the Thlu ClOuus, Utb"CcIL hLl|A t-'' -
the waters below is comparatively pure
atmosphere. The separation Of land and
water is attributed to the csving in otsome
parts and rising of other portions OF the
esrth's surface when it began to cool, and
| naturally the oceans and sess were
formed, and the dry land after q while
became covered with vegetation. On the
fifth day, Moses says, the animals OF the
sea were formed and fowls that may ~
above the earth" The latter statement.
is contrsdicted by men Of scientific re-
search, who say that according to gColo-
gy, bircs were not made until the sixth
day. The word fowl" l think,
is incorrectly translated, and go
do hundreds of others who
think that the passage refers to the great
winged creatures now extinct, but o.
which we have remains. On the sixth
dsv land animals were formed. This is
agreed to by scientists. On the seventh
the Lord blessed MS creation, and ceased
from further labor. This, too, is cor
robo-stad bv ra,logi.4s who say thzt