The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-10
BRIEF NOTES ON THE FIRST
CHAPTER OF GENESIS.
BY Rev. W. E. MANLEY, d. d.
Denver, Colo.)
NO. VIII.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth
the living creature after its kind, cattle, and
creeping thing, and beast of the earth after
its kind; and 1t soas SO. Verse "a.
And God said, Let US make man in our
image, after our likeness; and let them haze
dominion orer the fish of the sea, and ouer
the foul of the air, and orer the cattle, and
ouer oil the earth, and orer every creeping
hing that creepeth on the earth. Verse 26.
1t is now the sixth day, on which
were created land animals and lastly
man, to crown the Creators work, and
to have dominion over all inferior and
subordinate creatures. 1t is conceded
by all that man was made last; and
strange as it may seem to some, our rec
ord agrees with this concession. The
animals that are contemporary with
man, and are assigned the same day of
creation, evidently required the same
or similar surroundings, though con-
siderable period must have interviewed
between the one and the other, during
which some important changes must
have occurred. Though neither could
have existed much before this period,
on account of the high temperature of
the earth and the impure air and water,
the improvement going on in these re-
spects might admit of animal life and
happiness with the beasts sooner than
with men.
Let us hear what the men of science
say on this subject. Blackwell: 1.-THE
co-existence of Ian animals at the pc
riod when most of the secondary series
were deposited, is proved by the occa-
sonal occurrence of terrestrial fossil
plants and the bones of fresh water and
amphibious reptiles" The next quo
tation is more to the point. Jameson :
''The bones of mammiferous land quad
rupeds are found only above the coarse
limestone, which is above the cbalk"-
that is, near the surface. Vegetables
and marine animals are found lower,
for they were created earlier but not
land animals, such as this author de-
scribes. 1t is the uniform testimony of
such authors that man and land ami
mails were created last, and are there
Zorro fr ha f01pJ ar, or mar tho o,,rfooa
and are never found imbedded in the
rocks as are the earlier and less perfect
animals.
Sir II. Davy. says: 1.-THE remains of
quadrupeds of extinct species occur
next above those of birds and oviparous
reptiles. It is only in the
loose and slightly consolidated strata OF
gravel and sand, and which are usually
called diluvial formations, that the re-
mains of animals such as now people
the globe are found" See Blackwell
PIP. Z, 562. This plain and explicit
statement is sufficient.
The following testimonies show that
man, the last of created beings, is
found nowhere on the earth except at
the surface. Jameson has these very
words: ''Man is found nowhere except
at the surface" Cuvier: cit is fact
that as yet no human bones have been
discovered among fossil remains" The
words ''as yet," in this passage from
the great French naturalist, though
never intended as an expression Of
doubt, has been used as peg on which
many skeptic has hung his hope that
sometime human relics will be found
among fossil remains and from time
to time the claim has been made that
such relics are found.
Cuvier wrote these words many years
ago and it is as true now as then that
las yet no human bones have been dis.
covered among fossil remains" We
find other animals imbedded in the
rocks; and there is no reason why men
should not be found if their creation
belongs as far back in the past. But
there is reason why this could not be
in the nature of things. To be buried
in the rocky strata of the earth, men
must have lived before those strata
were deposited. But at that period the
materials that were to form these
strata were held in solution in the
waters, and with such temperature as
must have then prevailed, neither the
climate, the air or the water would
have allowed of human life or that of
contemporary animals. Some sea mon
sters or other marine animals Of a low
type might have lived, and later, some
similar land animals; but not man, moi
other creatures of fine organization.
1t is not altogether improbable that
low race of savage men, like some
now found, may have been able to live
on the earth before the race to which
Adam belonged.
1t has been objected to the late origin
of man, that human bones have been
found in caves and dens with the re-
mains of other animals generally con-
sidered much more ancient. There is
nothing in this fact that proves the
great antiquity of our race. The bones
of other animals may have been in
those caves and dens before the bones