, 1891-10-13
SCIENTIFIC FACTS.
The Bible and Geological and
Other Matters.
Some OF tine Discoveries oil science
and. the Words OF a worthy


Book
Rev. Napoleon Hoagland spoke at tht
Unitarian services in Tacoma hall on 9th,
Question of Authority.n Sunday evening
he gave an address on 'EThe intellectual
Life, in the interest of Unity Club anG
kindred societies for reading and study
An abstract of the morning sermon which
was listened to by a large congregation, il
here given. He said: The question o1
right and truth is one of age-long inter
est. What am / todo? What am I te
think? What am l TO believe? are ques
lions that each sane mind must face as q
daily habit Of mental life. To dodge the
question or to shift the responsibility
works moral decay and mental degenera
ton. It is true that people have pinned
their faith to what they believed were in
fallible men or infallible books. The men
were called kings, priests, bishops or popes
The books were called the words of God
It's too late in the day of mans enlighten-
ment for any criticism Of the old notion oil
the
DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS
to be interesting. Even the claims of an
infailible pope have become badly shriy-
elled under the electric-Iight intelligence
OF the 10Th century. The only valid claim
for absolute authority is infallibiIity. But
are the Hebrew scriptures infallible? Are
they the only books that are entitled to be
called the Word of God? 1t is a signifi
can't fact that our distinguished students
of other religious literatures have no very
emphatic words to offer in support Of the
dogma that our Bible is Gods only word
to man. 1t is equally significant that the
men who nave won the greatest distinc-
tlon for their learning and discoveries in
the field Of natural science are not the ones
who believe most profoundly in the author
1ty OF the Bible. We have been told SO
often that the Bible agrees with the
RECOGNIZED SCIENTIFIC TEACHING
Of the day that no doubt many people
actually believe it upon no other evidence.
a glance at a few of the first chapters of
Genesis will be sufficient to show the sele-
CANT harmony" between the Bible and
science. First that may be mentioned is
the order of creation in which birds are
said to have been created the day before
land animals and creeping things. Were
this true the fossil remains Of birds ought
to be found lower down in the stratiffed
rocks than lizards. But any standard
work on geology is authority for the state
ment that fossil remains of lizards have
been found at depth below the discovered
fossils Of the most ancient birds, nearly
equal to half the entire layer of stratifed
rocks: Then again, if there were exactly
SIX days or six ages of creation the
rock strata ought to show some such diyi-
sion. The geological chart in Clodet's
story Of creation which merely aims to
present the most authoritative scientific
teachings from many sources, names four
BIOLOGISTS THEREFORE KNOW
nothing about anv six days or six periods
OF creation from their study of the rocks.
The statement that light was created the
1fsG day and the sun and moon not till the
fourth day, one day after the grass and
herbs and trees were created is not in ac-
cordance with the scientific order as laid
downin any recognized scientific text book.
The assertion that after having made the
great light and the lesser light(sun and
moOn) that God made the stars also
and set them in the armament to give
light upon the earth shows conception of
astronomy on level with that of the little
girl who thought the moon laid the stars
The person who wrote the ten command
ments as given in the Goth chapter of Exo-
dus evidently understood the six days of
creation to mean tWenty-four hours each,
but probably he was mistaken.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS KNOW
nothing about Adam having been formed
outright from the ground or Of Eve having
been made from Adams ribs. Geogra
pliers know nothing about the location Of
the Garden of Eden from the confused de-
scrlption given in Genesis, or any explora-
tlons outside, and philologists know moth
ing about a Tower OF Babel in connection
with the rise of languages.
When we remember that there are 5000
nnIaa aet#TN4 11|1 49,, Il
told that an ark or barge 500 feet long 90
feet wide and so feet high would be too
small to hold one pair of all unclean ami
mails and groups Of seven of all called
clean, with their necessary food for nearly
year.
EVERY ONE KNOWS
or may know that coney is the English
word for rabbit. Yet we are informed in
Leyiticus, 11-5 that the coney cheweth the
cud. That line about Arcturus and his
sons in the 38th chapter Of Job, which it
has been said was never understood until
the recent discovery that Arcturus is &C
cOmpanied by satellites, turns out in the
new revision the Bear and her train,' an
animal Of a somewhat different color.
Heber Newton, of the Episcopal church
Prof. g. FL. Toy, of the Baptist church AND
DR.. Sinclair, of the Presbyterian church
were quoted in support of the view that
the Bible is to be studied in the same way
as other books are to be studied and that /
mistakes are found we are not to ignore
thefaet; neither are we to let the mistakes
and crudities blind us to the real worth o
the book. These men affirm the doctrine
of Bible inspiration as voiced by Emerson
and the Unitarian prophets fifty year
ago, namely, that Gods word is not bound
or limited to any one book or to any ONT
age. Mans own enlightened reason is hi
most divine revelation and his best au
thority, the will of the Most High that i
overseeing to speak in every soul.