The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-04-13


to melt, there must have been a long period
when the temperature of the waters was bul
little above the freezing point. By all analogy
and by that uniformity of law now SO much
insisted upon, the animals which next appeared
should have been similar to those now found
in ~circumpolar regions. Travellers tell us that
in these places there is an abundance OF fish and
other water creatures, and of fowl, surprising
anything known ~lsewhere.
These seem 10 be exactly the kind of creatures
spoken of in verses 20-22, where we read " Let
the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life, and fowl that may hy
above the earth in the open frmament of heaven.
And God created great whales+ and every
living creature that moveth, which the waters
brought forth abundantly after their kind, and
every winged fowl after his kind. And God
blessed them saying, Be fruitful, and multiply,
and I'LL the waters in the seas and let fowl null
tiply upon the land" Certainly, if such n
fauna followed the Glacial Period, it was in
harmony with that uniformity Of law of which
science boasts.
However it may be with the fish and fowl
of the period next after the glaciers, {" nearly
all the diana, page 563) are now
extinct. Hence the cattle, wild beasts, and
other mammals of to-day came into existence
near this end of the geological record. In
Genesis we are told near the close, that the
earth was commanded 4" to bring forth the
N-A6 NAScNNA NhNNA hho hAhA III ahd NID
ing things, and beast Of the earth after his
kind, and it was So" To what | have said
about animals, l will add only that since the
Glacial Period, immense numbers of new species
of insects and other inferior creatures have been
produced. These may be intended by " creep
ing things"
According to Lyell, Dana, and other best
geological authorities. the remains of man are
found only at the very end of the record of
the fossils. Whether his appearance occurred
six thousand years, or sixty thousand years ago,
nothing is said in this narrative.
IN CONCLUSION.
[ have stated certain facts as to our world
which present science has gwen us. The other
story, four thousand years old, | have sought
to cOllate with them. Omitting for the present,
all reference to the fourth period, and to any
matters subsequent to it, or, geologically speak
ing, emitting all reference to the entire Post
tertiary for as to that time scientists as vet
are far from being agreed among themselves
there remains so complete an identity of the
two records, not merely as to the events, but
as to the order of their occurrence, that it is
difficult to see how physical science can stand if
the account in the first twelve verses OF Genesis be
false. Were it possible to prove even their order
erroneous, the most disastrous results to science
itself would ensue. If, for example, it is not
true that motion preceded light, or that light
was {" good before day and night began, or
that the : expanse' was made before the present
land and vegetation appeared, then the most
advanced theories of light and heat, as well as
the correlation of forces, and the story of geo
logy, are all mere myths. 1t is important in
estimating the real value of this narrative, to
observe that Its statements are not of trivial
importance, mattering little whether true or
false, but each is the eliminating truth of some
department of physical knowledge, or rather,
it is also the foundation fact, which, like the
granite core of Mont Blanc, supports it's bulk
and crops out above it.
In view of these harmonies, | submit that
instead of new meanings being necessary to
make the beautiful stories of the Bible square
with SCIENCE" the necessity has always been
upon the other side, and science has but just
struggled into a position, unwittingly, | admit,
where, for the first time since her birth, she
has been able to approach the heights on which
the author of this narrative stood four thousand
years ago.
"THE DAYS"
| have ~purposely said little Of the " days"
nor do L propose now to discuss them. The
facts of astronomy and geology forbid us to
believe them consecutive periods OF twenty-four
hours, and the intensely literal character of the
narrative forbids the belief that they were in
definite periods; nor is there the slightest
ground for believing that days, at that time,
differed in length from present days. The true
solution must embrace all the facts, not only of
geology, but of the Mosaic account. The word
ing OF the DAY clauses is very peculiar IN the
original and is we'll reproduced in the Septua-
gint, but not at all in our English version. Our
Bible reads :. The evening and the morning
were the first day." or - the second day." In
the original the verb is repeated in the singular
after each thus I" And it was evening and it
was morning, the second day" etc. If the
account be, as it seems to me, as intensely real
and literal as a series Of photographs, then a
true solution Of the days must give the reason
for these peculiar phrases. 1t must show, also,
why Moses wrote 4" one day. instead of " the
first day. as our translators have it.
Such a solution can, | think, be given, but
the length which this article has already attained
forbids my pursuing the subject further.
No one can be more sensible than myself of
the present imperfect presentation of this subject
which my limits compel me to make, but If any
shall be led to study this marvellous chapter in a
judicial spirit, anxious only for the truth, and
to hold or give up previous opinions as
the account itself shall indicate, my labor has
not been in vain.
The word rendered " whale' may, as is well known, mean
any large water vertebrate.