, 1880-05-30

weight i'll the financial world Of Galata.
GENESIS.
THE STORY OF THE FIRST CHAPTER,
DR.. @. B. Earring, tn the Alliance.
VI all the theories ever advanced to get rid
OF trouble, the Chasm theory, as Mr., perrcn1
styles 1t, is the most unsatisfactory. It meets
the needs neither of geology nor of the
Bible. As to the former, Mr.. Perren SAYS:
1t is, believe, 4 fact that there has never
been found single fossil Of any Of the now
existing species which could possibly COLI
meet our period witt! the Tertiaryr' Why,
the very names Of the divisions of the Ter
tiary nre founded upon the proportion of liy-
ing species whose remains they contain! I'll
the last, the Pliocene, more than one-half the
mo1lusks are Of existing species, according
to Niclolson's 81 Ancient Life History" page
1873, 10 to 95 per cent. Of plants there were,
in abundance, oaks, poplars, NAPLES, mug
nolias. cinnamon, figs, palms, etc, etc.,
Dana's " Manual Geology" page 497. There
were deer, foxes, wolves, bears, elephants,
tigers etc, etc.. certainly enough "possibly
to connect our period with the Tertiary"
even though the species in case Of the vcrtc-
brates were different.
Nor does the Chasrl theory get along any
hetter with the Bible. Mr. Pcrren says the
heavens, and earth, and sea, with all the ami
1nals and plants whose remains in the rocks
are the reason why that theory was devised,
were made before the six days. How, then,
doc%it help matters to say that God recon-
strueted our earth's surface, brought order
out OF chaos, and made new races Of Great
ures? For the commandment expressly
says, "God made the heavens, and earth, and
sea, nnd all that there is (th!S Includes GER
tainly the fossilsl in the six days" l don't
see how Mr.. perren's theory helps us one
iota.
Perhaps, however, you will asl! how get
along with the statement "for III six days
the Lord made,' etc. Well, one way would
be to deny that the commandment says so.
Mr; Perren doubtless is neRreW Scl,o3ilar, ,3i,
and there he will find the word IS placed IN
italics, both i'll Exodus, XXX, IL, and III Exodus.
xxNi, II, which, as everybody knows, denotes
that the word does not occur in the Hebrew.
ss na III e4eczs S N il yaas 5f
4 hexad OF day was the Lord creating the
heayells,'' etc., i, e., III some rn,ncntloned
relation to set Of six days. Contrast tlle in
detinitness Of this with the detit1less Of GeIl.,
XII, l.: Day there, Of Necessity, means an ln-
dcfinit period, and the writer expressly says
that it was hi that day the Lord made heaven
and earth. The proposition lin " Is found Ill
the Hebrew.
cupy too much tiulc. l. give the above from
its breyity, not because l think 1t Is the Dcst
answer that / could give.
Besides the days, there are, as already inti-
mated, many other curious things III TINS ac-
count. Why Is light pronounced good be-
fore God divided the light from the dark
ness , and before day and night? And why
is the eXpanse (tirnlament) not pronounced
good: And why does Moses say There
%1>1H1 mn
the the Second da''y?'' That expression occurs
nowhere else i'll the Hebrew. Why does the
writer speak Of signs and seasons, ;llld days
a,d years, and say nothing about months,
which to Jew We're most fnportnnt: fheSe e.
and other questions lead to results OF tile
highest interest. So,
Fl this story be an epitome Of our worlds
history, it WIS impossible i'll the days before
anything was known Of ggology and astroli,
only for lncn to understand it. It's no small
argument in its favor that it never would
sQuare with SCIENCE. Science was too fu!l OF
error. To-day believe there Is an entire
agreement, So far. us science Is herself i'll tue
rgt Nor need fsixee es aa on m a1s, nftn u
shifted her ground to overaWe us by any
claim to omnisciencc. LII the department Of
! physics, including astronomy aud geology,
the agreement is simply amazing. In Biology
too little is yet known to warrant any uots-
matte statements.
llud intended to speak of certain matters
in the editorial column, but must continr N.Y.
self to one. It is gratifying to see that the
tone Of apology is dropped ana tat me ne M
| suits Of this Book III the world Is insisted
| upon. ! Am sorry, however, that you say,
| 1.-The impeachment Of the BIBLICAL geology Is
OF no account whatever and ny Bio!lcal
| geology understand you to mean the story
| Ut Creation III Genesis.
| 1t does not seem to llle of SO small account.
| Il friend should tell us soberly Of certain
transactions, and his statements, OIL fnvestl-
| in lis knowledge would be shaken. Ills
honesty could be yindcateu only at the
expense OF his knowledge. The most
charitable t5ttng would be t. t. impate ute !, li$
absolute Knowledge that, at the time
he made the false. statements. he knew
| the exact truth. but chose to tell US sUMe-
thing else, our Judgment would be far more
severe. So i'll regard to this story; II It be
from God, then it becomes those who can to
give some reasonable explanation why the
All-Wise should have given us 4 narrative
wholly false, or Of truth and falsehGood
| mingled III some unknown proportion, Wllc1,
Lie knew perfectly well the whole tr4th' anu
served Ills purpose just as well. But, oil the
other na1ld, if the story be exactly, literally,
and wholly true, science by and by Will get
into position where she cali and must see T..
And, then, what All argument for the truth
of revelation, how specially fitted to meet the
requirements Of 4 scientific age!
| Nouucstion could arise US to revelation, or
miracles, or the reliability Of testimony. Here
would be all everything miracle tllat TRENT
and foe alike could examine in the quiet OF
his own study.
So far as | can judge, we are far enough
advanced to test the matter, say through the
work Of the third peri0tl,-i. G., to- the com.
plction Of the dry land and the productlon 4 q
The higher vegetation, and its pronounced
completion. These two great transactions y
we're completed IL what geologists call the
PIiocclle After that scientists have us yet
but little that they can agree upon: Try eye
experiment so far. Take Genesis, Ill It's
simplest, most literal meaning, and see WhaI
an agreement there is. I give you little
sample of what | mean.
| Moses says the earth was once WITHOUT
form and void. And science says 1t was
t once part Of Il gas-lkc, nebulous mass; !;
Moses says, before motion was .iinpartet, VI
| was in darkness, and science says that light
| is a motie or result OF motion. Moses Ut.
| tributes matter and motion to tho one Great
| First Cause. Philosophy does the same:
| Moses put light next after motion, and phl.
losophy suys light was the first visible result
of motion. . o,
Moses says the light was good before God
| divided between the light and the darkness
and science says that the poor, weak light Of
| fhp nnhulOus matter became good light, such