Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-10-07
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
PART TWO.

soma of my orthodox brethren OF the
six days theory will reply that God
spake the word All it rained. I want
to remark ri gh5 here that I believe in
God and trust 10 the merits of risen
Saviour, and have the deepest rever
ence for Holy Writ. But my under
standing of some of its teachings may
differ from that of my honored breth-
rem. SIN the beginning God created
the heaven and the EARTH" All, yes,
but who shall number the uncounted
cons of time that age covered by this
first brief declaration of the sacred
historian? 1t was the only thing he
could say on this point. The myster-
les of the unfathomable past were as
dark to him as they are to us, and
more so.
'sThe evening and the morning
were the first day." What kind Of a
day was it? In all reason and with
profound reverence for the laws of
nature, of which God is author, not
one of twenty-four hours FAt the
present time we use the word day not
only to denote the twenty four hour
day but also with perfect freedom to
denote an age or an indefinite time.
If this is proper for us why not accord
the same liberty to the sacred writer?
If we accept the marginal rendering
the word day is omitted altogether:
"the evening was and the morning
III n
indefinite time, and very long one
too, as may readily be seen when we
contemplate the amount of business
accomplished in it. And so Of the re-
naming days of the week. This, dear
fellow passengers, is as I understand
these things from my point Of view.
Pardon the DEPRESSION.
The waters of the Noachian flood
were the last downfall Of the earth's
vaporous canopies, the final collapse
of it's former magnificent Annular-
System. Why was the (rain) bow Sc
lected as token that Jehovah would
no more destroy the earth with a
flood? It was at once the most beau
tiful and most natural object that
could be selected as token or seal
for such a covenant. Because up to
this time the rainbow had been impos-
sible; from this time on it was to be
an eternal fixture in the clouds. It
requires sun rays and vapor or
water laden atmosphere to produce
rainbow. But up to Noah's flood the
sun had not shone directly upon the
earth; the rays had been intercepted
by the vapor canopy. The earth with
its teeming millions had received only
such portion of the suns light and
heat as passed through this canopy;
an amount, however, amply suffi Gent
for all purposes. The conditions
which obtained in those days (there
it goes again, should 1 say times?)
were more favorable to life and
growth than are the present condi-
tions. An earth enveloped by vapor
light and heat must have been
a veritable green house earth, a real
Garden of Eden with a climate as
warm and tropical at the poles as at
the equator. BY the way there is a
long line of evidence that this was
once the case. And this fact once es-
tablished explains many hitherto in
phenomena. Under such
earth conditions everything in the
animal and vegetable kingdom must
i
seem like enormous proportions.
"There were giants in those days"
The sun, while life giver, is also
life destroyer.
And SO it appears that historic man
was witness to the last downfall of the
earth's Annular Systemic the final
breaking up of the last canopy-when |
the windows of heaven were opened
and the floods came. AS to the num-
Der and magnitude of the pre- historic |
the world will never
know, only this, from the way marks |
and the nature of things there must |
have been many. Each succeeding |
one with it's after effects tended to |
bring the earth more and more into
4 fit condition for the habitation of |
man. From one downfall to another !
may have been period many times
onger than from Adams day to ours;
and may it not be possible, yea is it
not plausible, that, during the latter
Of these interdiluvian periods the
earth may have come into condition
10 support and did support animal life,
md perhaps man, very much, if not
ust as he exists to-day?
Rut have spun this ont AFT much