The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1888-10-12
GENESIS AND GEOLOGY.

When we find that in nature and
Scripture that does not seem to CORE
spond, we must reconcile nature TO
Scripture. We must accept the Bible
as the Divine word, and in case we find
that which we cannot possibly reconcile
we must be satisfied to know that it is
beyond our comprehensions. 1t is not
proposed to explain the whole subject
of Genesis, but simply to show as well
as may be, the agreement between the
account of the creation, by Moses, aud
the testimony given by the rocks. God
created the heavens and the earth, and
all that therein is, in six days. We are
not to suppose that these days were
only twenty-four hours long. There
was then no division of time, and il
there had been, as there is now, where
are those days to be measured? =? At
the poles, where they are six months
long or at the equator where they are
but twelve hours in lengthi 1t is
generally held by scientific men that
the word day as used here, means
period, and judging from the forma-
tion of the different rocks and strata
that enter into the composition of the
earth, they hold that these periods
were from 1900 to 1000 years in length.
One of the strongest proofs of this
fact is, that many of the shells which
live on the sea coast, and not few of
the species of wild animals that still
roam over the land were in existence
many thousands of years before the
creation of man.
| DESCRIPTION OF THE GEOLOGICAL FOR
NATION OF EARTH.
Embedded In the crust of the earth
are frequently found animals belonging
to extinct species. Most of these ami
mails are remarkable for their immense
size. During this ancient time the
Northern Mammoth lived in great
abundance, also the hippopotamus, and
two species of rhinoceros, and though
they have all ceased to exist, we know
that the descendants of some of their
contemporaries, such as the badger, the
fox, wild cat, and red deer, still live
amid our hills and brakes. The trees
t o under which they roamed, and
whose remains we find buried in the
same crust were of species that still hold
their place as aboriginal trees of the
country. For many ages must the old
extinct elephant have roamed amid
these trees. From one limited tract of
sea-bottom on the coast of England,
the fisherman engaged in dredging
oysters, brought ashore in 13 years no
fewer than 2OOO elephants grinders,
besides great tusks, and portions of
skeletons. Remains of this ancient
elephant occur all around the globe, in
broad belt, about 80 degrees in width.
It must have taken ages to procure so
many of these mammoth animals. We
will speak of the animals of this period
again. Let us now glance at the
question as to whether the revelations
of the science of Geology may be
reconciled with the Scripture account
of the creation. 1t has been already
explained that the days referred to are
periods of long duration. There are
six of these periods, but Geology is
called upon to prove but three of them,
viz The period of plants, of great sea
monsters and creeping things, and the
period of cattle and beasts. Of the
period during which light was created,
of the period during which armament
was made to separate the waters from
the waters, or of the period during
which the two great lights with the
other head bodies became visible from
the earth, the rocks will give. us no in
formation. The principal geological
divisions are the first, or oldest fossil
bearing division, the secondary, or
middle, and the tertiary, or latest. In
the first we find corals, fishes, few
reptiles. But that which gives the
leading characteristic to this period ia
its vegetation. 1t was the period of
plants, "of herbs yielding seed, after
their kind In no other age was there
ever such fora. The youth of the
earth was peculiarly green and shady
youth. A youth of dark and tangled
forests, of huge pines, the tall tree-fern
and many others Every foot of the
dark and steaming soil was covered
with the most rank and luxuriant
herbage. OF this extraordinary age of
plants we have our cheerful witnesses
in the flames that was in our chimneys
when we fill mp the winter fire, in the
gas that lights our cities, in the glow
ing furnaces that smelt our metals, in
the long dusky trains that, with shrek
ard snort, speed rapidly across our
continent, and in the great vessels that
rush in foam over the ocean. This is
the period of the coal formation, the
geological evidence is complete as to
the fact that the first gnat period of
organized being was peculiarly, as de-
scribed in the Mosaic record, period
of plants and trees. The middle period
possessed, like the first one, its herbs
and plants, but not nearly of so luxur-
liant a growth. The grand existences
of the age were its huge creeping
things, its monsters of the deep, and
its gigantic birds, as shown by their
footprints in the sandstone. Its won
derful whales, its lizards and crocodiles
the teliosaurus and megalosaurus, ami
mails that more than riYalled the exist.
ing elephant in height, and greatly
rivalled it in bulk, must have crowded
the plains, and swarmed the rivers in
myriads, and we know that the foot
prints of one of its many birds is at
least twice the size of that of horse
or camel. Thus the second creation in
the Mosaic account correspond to the
second geological period, as it was
period in which God created the fowl
that flieth above the earth, with moving
creatures both in the waters and on
the land. The third period in its vege-
tation seems TO have been no more con.
spicuous than the present, its reptiles
occupy subordinate place, but its
beasts of the field were wonderfully de-
veloped. Its mammoths and mastodons
rhnoceros and hippopotamus, the
dinotherium, and megatherium greatly
exceeded in bulk and numbers the
largest animal of the present. In
speaking of England at that time, an
English naturalist says, "Grand indeed,