Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1882-05-09

| has been common belief anon,
Christians, that the globe was made in 81,
natural days, and the time elapsed is abou
six thousand years. Scientific iLvestlga
tions prove beyond doubt, that the eartl
in its progress through the different stage
of its formation has required millions, in
stead Of thousands Of years. The discrep
ancy between authenticated facts anC
the Mosaic chronology is answered by
theologians In the denunciation Of learned
scientists, Darwin, Huxley, Pascal, Owen
and others, as infldels and atheists. so
luton OF the question In this manner, Is
unworthy OF our age, and fosters disbe
lief in Divine revelation.
The stratihed rocks of the globe, in
some places are ten miles thick. Wher
we consider they are the result OF disinte
grafton and were formed by sediment de-
posted at the bottom Of oceans, only a few
inches in n century, the time elapsed from
the commencement Is almost beyond com
prehension. The igneons, below the stra
titled rocks, are Of unknown thickness,
and required myriads OF years, in transi'
tion from an incandescent, plastic mass,
into its present solid form. Even the cool
ing of the earth has required untold ages,
for bed of lava three hundred years after
an eruption, has been found hot enough TO
! har fptA
rivers in the eastern and western contin-
ents denote great age, for they have worn
channels through the hardest materials,
more than one hundred miles long, and
from one thousand TO three thousand feet
deep.
According to the present rate of retro
gression, 1t Is estimated by Sir Charles
Lyell, that at least thirty-lve thousand
years We're required to excayate the chan
mel of the Niagara river from queenstown,
seven miles below the falls. The period
elapsed since the Niagara commenced the
work of erosion is only point OF time
compared 10 the ages required TO cut
through the hard rocks the enormous
gorses and canons thousands of feet deep
along the Colorado river aud about the
Rocky mountains.
Even the vegetable growth denotes re-
mote antiquity. There was a tree cut in
California three hundred feet high and thir-
ty-two feet in diameter, and 2,i96 years
old sapling when Nebudchednezzar was
a boy, aud two hundred years old when
Socrates was born. A yew tree in Scot
land was 1900 years DID, and great bao
bab tree in Africa was estimated by its
concentric rings TO be J, $50 years DID, and
grew upon soil which in past ages had
been eroded from the solid rocks OF our
globe.
1t is proved by historical researches and
archaeological investigations that man has
existed on the earth a much longer period
than is assigned by the Mosaic chronology.
| The fossil remains of man found In many
parts of the world indicate that the race
lived ages before Adam made his appear
ance upon the stage OF action. The Bible
incidentally sustains the same theory. IL
is claimed by scientific men, that skull
exhumed in 1870 in California, has greater
antiquity than any human remains hereto
fore discovered in Europe or America.
This skull was found lj0 feet deep, and
lay below five beds OF lava and four depos-
its of gravel. This would put the date OF
the remains before the age of volcanic
eruptons, and also before the mastodon
and other extinct mammals on our earth.
The owner mast have lived before the
mighty peaks OF the Sierra Nevada were
upheaved, or before the cataracts of the
Colorado and the Yellowstone began co
how. Ethnologists must set back the ori-
gin Of our race to a more remote period in
the cycles OF time; for the Californian re-
mains oblige US to assign an earlier period
than has yet been done TO the primitive in"
habitants of our globe.
Without rejecting the Hebrew chronolo-
gy, We may assume that several nations,
more especially the Negro and Mongolian
races, existed on this planet long before
the creation of Adam, who was the last
finished work OF our Great Creator. The
Mongolian race may be computed at 5OO,-
900. 0O0 There is evidence that the Chi
nese nation existed in the 2ith century
before Christ, and one hundred years be-
fore the flood, and have been an unbrokeu
people ever since. They have maintained
all the peculiar characteristics OF the race
down to the present day. The Negro race,
now about l00, ,000, ,000 seems to have been
created in Africa, for he has been found
in savage tribes throughout the explored
portions Of that vast uncivilized country.
Many learned naturalists contend that eX-
isting savages are not the descendants OF
civilized ancestors, and that their prime
val condition was one of barbarism hence
the inference that they did not originate
from Adam, for his offspring were civilized
at very early period in the progress of
the Caucasian race. "When men began
to multiply upon the earth and daughters
were born unto them, the sons Of God saw
they were fair and took them wives Of all
which they chose" The daughters ofmen
the offspring of Adam, while the sons Of
God were the servants OF the false gods
worshipped by the surrounding idolatrous
nations. The inter-marriages Of these two
races was the cause Of that great wicked
ness, which occasioned the flood and the
Adamic race.
The Bible narrative of deluge is sus.