Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-11-22
CREATION.
The Fourth and Fifth Days of the Mosaic
Account Compared with Correspond
ing Periods OF the Geologic Account.

The Fourth and Fifth Days OF the Mosaic
Account Compared with Correspond
ing Periods OF the Geologic Account.
And God said. Let there be lights
in the heaven to divide the day from
and for seasons, and tol days. and
years: and let them be for lights in the
armament of the heaven 10 give light
upon the earth; and it was so. Ana
tod made two great lights; the greater
light to rule the day, and the lesser
light 70 rule the night he made the
stars also. And God set them in the
ornament of the heaven to give light
upon the earth, aud 90 rule over the
day and over the night, and 10 divide
the light from the dark ness; and God
saw that it was good Aud the even
ing and the morning We're the fourth
day Gen. /. ll-l9.
II may be asked why the sun, moon
and stars are mentioned rs part Of
the fourth days creation, when we
know IN Il they existed before. II viii
bc observed that light i mentioned rs
creation of the first day-thc iirc
mist period. The earth was separated
from the central solar mass during
this period, and the moon from the
earth; bat if one had been then sta.
TONED at the earth, neither the sun,
moon, nor stars could have been seen
during the time that the earth rolled on
i'm vast cloud envelope of the 2d and
Sd days or periods. During these
periods the greater portion OF liquids OF
the earth envelope had been prccipi-
tated to the earth; and the fourth day.
when the light OF the sun. moon and
stars began to penetrate 10 the earth's
surface, they are spoken of rs the rul
ers of day and night. But the scrip
ture does not say that they We're ere
ated at this time-mercly that God
made the two great lights and set them
in the armament to give light on the
earth. This fourth day of creation was
geOlogically the latter Archaean and
early Paleoloic times, and certainly
covered millions of years in time.
Only the primatiye forms Of life cOnld
exist either in the water or on the land.
"And God said let the waters bring
forth abundantly the moving creature
that hath life etc, Gen. |. 20.23.
This fifth daN of creation is that in
which animal life began 10 appear on
the continent. Gcologically, during
the later Archacan, only microscopic
forms ot lie appeared; during the ST.
lurian Age. shell fishes Were predomi-
naut; during the Devonian, fishes dur
the Cdrbonifcrous, great coal prOduc-
ing plants: during the Rept)ian, great
reptiles; the later Rcptilian and the Ter
tiary, birds and huge mammals, or
warm hlooded animals. The length of
time occupied by the work of The fifth
day has been variouSly estimated from
10 to 100 millions of years. II certain
ly extended over several millions OF
years.
II will doubtless be asked how any.
thing like an estimate of time can be
made for geologic periods There are
many data for calculation but exact
time cannot bee calculated. From the
thickness of various strata of rock, we
are led to conclude that their times Of
formation are approximately proper
tionate to their thickness. We know
how rapidly deposits are now made in
the sea, and can thus approximate
roughly the length of time required to
form the various strata. though many
allowances must be made for changes
i'm conditions in the sea, atmosphere
and the earth. Then we can estimate
the rapidty with which rivers cut their
way through the rocks in forming COR
gcs and conons. BY experiment the
rapidly of the earth's cooling may be
estimated and the time required To cool
from red hot liquid ball to its present
state. These many data do not lead to
the same results, but they AL teach us
that the time was long-eXtrcmely
long, running into many millions IF
years. Ii would ne safe generally to
take an average of these various eSti-
mates. bat we could hardly err in max
ing the time too long if we take the
lowest one of the estimates. The low.
est estimate we have seen by any scien-
fist is 10000. 600 years as covering the
age of the earth from is time OF scpa-
ration from the sun. This. by most
scientists. is regarded as much too low,
100. 200. 600 being nearer the truth.