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

earth that was then without form and void. The
human mind is unable to conceive OF the great
cosmic nebula as in such a condition. The col
~lections of matter always had some form but
while the earth was an integral part OF one, 1t
the earth-was absolutely without any shape
The water which fills my cistern has definite
form, but it had none while it was an integral
part of the clouds from which it fell.
The Observation-Disclosures have proved that
light is but a mode, or effect, of motion, and
consequently before motion was impaired, the
nebulous mass Was, of necessity, involved IN
darkness.
Moses, continuing his description of the pri-
mordial condition of our globe, says, first, that
g darkness was upon the face of the Deep and
thenI speaks of the importation of motion. Ii
would be a serious matter for physical science II
it could be shown that Moses errs thus far,
either as to his description or his order. There
would be left neither the nebular hypothesis, nor
the undulatory theory of light, nor the correla-
ton of forces.
Scientists place the origin of force or motion
near, or at, the beginning, and attribute 1t to
the same first cause that created matter.
Moses does the same. He places motion close
TO the beginning, and attributes 1t to God, Tor 1t
was " the Spirit of God that moved upon the
face of the flowing, mobile mass, Translated 10
our version : waters" The word so rendered is
derived from a root signifying to flow, and,
therefore, radically, the exact counterpart OF our
word, '' fluid
The Origin of L,ght.-Motion having been
impaired, light, as physicists have proved, was
the first visible effect, and the great mass began
to grow luminous-a result exempliied IN many
present nebule. .
In Genesis we read, also, as the next physical
step, after God impaired motion "And there
was light"
The spectroscope has shown that the Light of a
nebula is of a very inferior quality, its spectrum
presenting only three narrow bands OF green and
blue light. Such light was utterly unable to
paint the landscape, or to afford the chemical
rays necessary for vegetation. That wonderful
instrument has also shown that as soon as the
gaseous matter of our system passed into a liquid
condition, its light had all the properties OF pres
ent solar light. Hence we easily arrive at the
conclusion that that the light was perfected, or
in other words was good, " as soon as the
planets had become liquid globes, and long
before they had ceased to be self-lumInous, and
consequently before the Opaque earth formed a
division, on one side of which was light, and on
the other darkness. Not till after this was there
any day, In the sense of alienation of light and
darkness.
This is the story of science, and Moses observes
the same order, for he tells us that God pro-
nounced the light good - before he "dlvided
between the light and the darkness ;" and to
make his meaning more evident, adds that the
light, after this division, was called day, and the
darkness night.
This is the more remarkable because it is SO
contrary to the beliefs which prevailed almost to
the present day. 1t would apparently have been
far nearer the true order had Moses arranged his
statements thus
And God said, let there be light and there was
light;
And God divided the light from the darkness
And God saw the light that it was good;
And God called the light day and the darkness
he called night.
The spectroscopist needs not to be told that
such an order would have been a fiat contradic-
ton of the laws Of light.
Astronomers tell us that during it's self-lumin-
Gus condition the globe revolVed on its axis, yet
that there was no alienation of day and night,
any more than now in the sun hence, when it's
surface had become covered with an opaque
crust, and it began to be dependent on the sun
for light, the first evening and morning there
after, /. e., after the complete division by the
Opaque earth between the light and the darkness,
were really " the first day" If Moses errs in
his order, he does not err alone; he has the
company of all who accept the nebula hypothesis.
Here | stop to remark that between the ap-
OF light and the first evening and morn
ing, astronomers place the Unreasonable ages
during which our globe was in an igneous con-
dition, and that this 50 first day - sharply divides,
as a birthday, the close of the embryonic, or
preparatory stage, from the beginning of true
planet existence.
This division is a philosophical one, founded
in the nature of things. The work of the pre-
vious period was wholly finished for, since that,
if scientists are right in their views as to the
conservation of force, nothing has been added to
the amount of matter or of force, and no i'm
made in the quality of the light.
This statement, and the reasons which justify
it, science has made known only within the last
lew decades. The fact OF such a division was
recorded by Moses. In this, as in all other cases,
he offers no explanations, and makes no attempt
to CO. ordinate his facts. In this respect, his
short, clear sentences resemble so many photo
graphs, each giving the actual position at the
moment, but leaving the student to do his own
philosophizing.
OF the immense interval between the time
when light appeared and that at which day and
hight began, Moses says absolutely nothing.
Our Earth a Pdnet.-Before that first day
'ur globe was a miniature sun revolving in its
present orbit around the grand central body. 1t
entered upon a true planet existence, i. e.,
IN existence dependent upon the sun for light
nd heat. What was its condition? What was
he order of it's development?
The Firm0mert.-Geologists tell us that for a
ong time after our world ceased to emit light,
nd consequently after the first day, its crust
etained heat enough to continue to hold the
waters in a state of yapor. Dense masses of
LIQUIDS, hundreds of miles in thickness, formed
n envelope covering the globe, and excluding
rom its surface the life-sustaining rays of the
un. 1t is clear that while this continued neither
liant nor animal could exist. The next step.
before further progress was possible,
Eas such a reduction of temperature that the
'aters could descend, the atmosphere be cleared
f clouds, and living organisms exist. This,
~oubtIess, was a very long process. but at last it
anne to an end, and, thanks to modern science,
re are able tosdetermine the phenomena which
larked the close of the period, to wit the
ceans had become filled, and the thick, dense
Iouds had gone. A clear open space separated
he waters below it from those which still foated
s clouds in the upper air, and through their
penings one could see the heavens. During its
rogress this must have been a period of Incon-
sivable uproar and vIolence-when ten millions
f Niagaras were pouring down upon the yet
most glowing crust.
Turning now to Genesis, there also we find, as
lie next great step, the formation of an open
,ace.-a thinning out of the dense clouds,-with
proar and tumultuous violence, a process well
9scribed by the Hebrew word "rakia," mis-
ansIated armament "Expanse" is a
UGH better rendering, but it does not exhaust
lie wealth of meaning. The word is derived
$500 - =