The Mosaic account of creation, the miracle of to-day; or, New witnesses to the oneness of Genesis and science. To which are added an inquiry as to the cause and epoch of the present inclination of the earth's axis, and an essay upon cosmology

Front matter

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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.*

Preface

PAGE

Purpose of this Essay .- iii

Geological Record since the Tertiary iv

Thoroughness needed iv

Some of the more important points vi

The " Days " vi

About an Unknowable Power vii

The Prayer Test viii

Evolution, by Natural Selection ix

INTRODUCTORY.

Religious question of to-day 9

Mosaic Account of Creation the key to the position 10

The Witnesses. 11

Commentator's Notions 14

The only tenable ground 16

Plan of study. '. 16

The key to the mystery 17

Plan of this book 18

Difficulties outside 20

Character of the Narrative ... 21

The hardest thing to believe 22

Xll CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Objections Considered

PAGE

A Revelation not intrinsically improbable 26

The question one of evidence 27

Kind of evidence needed 28

A PRESENT MIRACLE 29

Revelation not to be rejected because we fail fully to

comprehend it 30

The character of a revealed Cosmog-ony 31

Extraneous matter to be thrown one side 31

Authority of little weight 32

Not to be condemned for the theories of others 33

Science just come nearly abreast of Genesis 34

Its rejection fatal to Science 34

Peculiar Character of this Account. . .' 35

Its obvious purpose 35

Fifteen creative acts 36

Another purpose, viz., to authenticate a revelation 36

The question of dignity does not concern us 37

Not a just objection that the Narrative is not clothed in

scientific language , 37

The value of phenomenal statements 37

Genesis is more than Science 40

The six days 40

No creative act mentioned in any of the days 41

" Firmament " 42

What Genesis says, and what it does not say 43

" In conclusion " 46

Chapter II

the unity of genesis and science.

Historical perspective * 49

This the most literal prose 52

CONTENTS. Xlll

" In tlie beginning " 53

Theophobia 54

Indications of a beginning , 55

Of forces 57

First effects of 59

During the formative process 60

" The light, day " 61

Thorough mastery of his subject 62

The firmament 65

Why called heaven 66

Why not pronounced " good " 66

Let the dry land appear 68

Completion of the continents 68

" Not of course " 69

Meaning of " let appear " 70

Later Hebrew Science 70

The Geological account 71

Ancient life 72

Grasses, herbs, and fruit trees 73

Angiosperms 73

Why these are placed in the same period as the appearance of the dry land 74

Why speak of these and remain silent as to earlier

flora 75

A Biological date 76

Uniformity of law 76

No seasons then 77

• Let there be lights " 77

Plants may have been created afterwards also 81

Biological date, a later one 82

" He made the Stars also " 82

After the Glaciers 85

Fifth creative period 85

Sixth creative period 88

The Sabbath 90

XIV CONTENTS.

Chapter III. The Days

PAGE

Former explanations of their meaning 92

First use of " day " 93

" One day " , 94

Days, as epochal 95-97

Day, as an indefinite period 97

ON THE PECULIAR PHRASEOLOGY OP THE DAY CLAUSES.

" One" not " first " 99

A peculiar expression 99

The Author knew all modern Science 100

The axis perpendicular . . . . 101

The true key to the " days " 102

The completions were world-wide 104

Sabbath 105

Chapter IV. The Evidence Further Considered

A law of development 107

The order of development 108

A controlling Intelligence 109

Mosaic view of God's part in development 112

If Genesis is a myth, so is all physical science 115

Comparison in detail of the two records 120

Sir John Leslie 126

Resume of facts in Genesis 129

The philosophical division into six periods 131

Chapter V. On The Second Chapter Of Genesis

The connection with the first 136

A paraphrase 139

Formation of Man 139

CONTENTS. XV

PAQB

Garden of Eden formed 140

Centres of creation 141

Tree of life 141

Tree of knowledge of good and evil 141

Formation of Eve 143

Part II. Studies In Genesis

A HARMONY OF THE FIKST TWO CHAPTERS 147

THE PERSONALITY OP THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT OP CREATION.

An impersonal Genesis ' 155

Impossibility of 156

Elohim 157

GOD'S VERDICT OF APPROVAL.

Why some acts are pronounced "good " and others not. 157

The Divine Monologue 161

The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters . . 163

on the " six days " of the fourth commandment.. . 165

On the plants and animals of Eden 168

Conjectures as to the physical facts underlying the Mosaic Account of the Creation of Animals 175

XVI CONTENTS.

Introduction

PAGB

What was the work of the Fourth day ? 187

Opinions as to 187

Geological difficulties of former explanations 188

If true, what must have been done 189

The field is open 190

Where this work is placed 191

Four lines of proof 192

THE CAUSE AND EPOCH OF THE INCLINATION OF EARTH'S AXIS.

SECTION I. Axis has changed its position 195

The present question 197

Conclusions based on Uniformity of law 198

And on polar fossils 199

Geological evidence, 199

Importance of light to plants, etc 200

Answer to Lyell 205

SECTION II. Possible causes. 210

A miraculous interposition 210

Magnetic influence of the Sun 212

Effects of Meteors 213

Centrifugal forces 214

Attraction of Sun and Moon upon upheavals 218

Polar upheavals, existence of 222

Glaciers 222

Upheavals normal 225

Magnitude of a needed Circumpolar upheaval 227

Lyell's map .228

CONTENTS. XV11

PAGE

Sources of polar upheavals 230

Ice-caps • 231

Difference in inclination of Moon's orbit and Earth's

equator, not largely due to movement of the Moon. 233

Conclusion 236

Resume 237

Another theory as to the work of the fourth day 241

COSMOLOGY.

What it is proposed to show 244

What is assumed 245

Primordial condition 245

Cause of motion 246

First important conclusion 247

Effect of upheavals 248

Results of a Nebulous Condition 250

A series of planets 252

Orbital and axial movements normally in same direction. 252

Axial motions all normally in same direction 253

Orbits eccentric. . .• 255

Planes inclined 256

Planes of the equators inclined from 0° to 180° 250

Retrograde motion of Satellites 263

Direction of Satellites may differ from axial motion of

primaries 264

Saturn's eighth Satellite , . . . ; 265

Inclination of Moon's orbit 269

Sun's axis inclined, cause of 274

THE ROTATION OF THE MOON.

Moon once revolved more rapidly than now 275

Lunar tides 270

Lunar ridges 277

Earth once revolved more rapidly 278

XV111 CONTENTS.

PAGK

Why tlie exterior planets revolve more rapidly than

the inner ones 279

Mars 279

Conclusion

Nebulous mass would generate a system similar to the

Solar 280

The plastic force was heat 281

Back to Genesis 282

THE ASTEROIDS.

Three theories 283

Another theory 284

A not unreasonable explanation 286

No anomaly .- 287

RINGS OF SATURN.

Its rings and satellites 288

General opinion of 288

A theory in reference to 288

Temperature of 289

On the densities of planets 290

Effects of rings 291

INTRODUCTORY.

TO THOSE WHO RECEIVE THE BIBLE AS A REVELATION FROM GOD.

^T^HE great religious question of to-day resolves -*- itself into three : Is there a God % Is he a personal God ? Has he given us a revelation ?

An affirmative answer to the last, if sustained, is an answer to all. In reference to the sufficiency of the reply, it is a matter of no consequence, whether that revelation be .long or short, whether it is contained in one chapter or fifty. It is the fact that any revelation has been made, that conclusively answers the questions.

Still, if it could be shown beyond cavil, that one chapter of a book claiming to be a revelation, was really such, the probability of a like authority for the other portions would be infinitely increased, and the burden ^>f proving a negative would be thrown upon those who deny it.

The reality of such a revelation is earnestly asserted on the one side, and denied upon the other. The controversy has been long, each party claims the victory thus far, and each professes to be confident of the final result.

But to one who studies the history of the last hundred years, it is evident that the real success has been with the defenders of a revelation, at least in the departments of History, Archaeology, Philology, and Geography, although these were, not long ago, loudly proclaimed as the witnesses that, when fully heard, should destroy the credibility of the Bible ; for, whatever men may say as to other revelations, the Bible is the only book that is seriously considered by those who have engaged in this conflict.

So overwhelmingly corroborative is the result of these investigations, that we shall probably hear no more against the historical verity of the Bible. The same class of opponents are now weaving theories on which the facts, recorded may be strung as facts, but with a purely natural explanation.

The conflict at the present day is more intense than ever, perhaps because it is limited to the one field of Natural Science, perhaps from a consciousness that no other strong line of attack is left.

The assaults more or less directly centre on the Mosaic Account of Creation. In fact, that is the key to the whole position. It| assailants must show its falsity or admit the reality of a revelation. If they fail in that, all is lost. There is not left them even a safe line of retreat. To admit the truth of the Mosaic account, annihilates disbelief in the personality of God, in his personal interference in the affairs of men, and in miracles, for it is itself, if true, a personal interference and a miracle, the very things as to whose existence there was debate.

Into this conflict I propose to enter, not to explain and soften down the words of Moses, but to take them, verba ipsissima, just as written, abating not one iota.

This narrative deals with events that occurred, if they occurred at all, before man appeared upon the earth. It cannot therefore, like many other parts of the Bible, be collated with ancient manuscripts or monumental inscriptions.

But we have other means of testing it, unknown till within the last few decades. These are found in the positive knowledge of very many important facts in our world's ante-human history.

I turn therefore to the marvelous results obtained by astronomers, geologists, and philosophers, and summon. the sciences they have called into existence. By these I propose to show the literal truth of the first two chapters of Genesis, not only as to the things said to have been done, but, what is, if possible, more extraordinary, as to the very order of their occurrence.

No scientist can challenge these Witnesses. Indeed, his rejection of them would be suicide, while their admission is fatal to the whole array of infidelity based upon a supposed contradiction between Moses and the history of our world as recorded by Nature herself.

Nor can they be charged with a bias toward the supernatural. Indeed, by a strange but providential misapprehension, it has been, and is even now, the loudly proclaimed belief of the opponents of the Bible, that the evidence of these Witnesses, if fairly and impartially received, would result in the consignment of the Book to the myths of an effete mythology, by the side of Hindu and other absurd Cosmogonies.

While no believer in the Bible shared such expectations, having grounds for his belief independent of all theories, it must be admitted that many have felt great fears of Science, and have watched its progress with jealous eyes. Anticipating a conflict of statements, they have taken refuge in the assertion that the Bible is a No- Science Book ; as if the God of all science could indite an account of creation, and give no information about it !

The evidence that will be presented in this essay will be drawn from the following Sciences :

Astronomy ; including" the Nebular Hypothesis, Cosmic changes from the Nebula to the Planet, the present condition of the Sun and larger planets, the Stellar Universe, and also the attraction of gravitation and the laws of motion.

Optics ; embracing the Undulatory Theory of Light, and the results of Spectroscopic observations.

Geology ; including Paleontology, and espeeially the Glacial Period, in reference to its Biological Epoch, as well as Climatic position.

Geography, Physical and Descriptive.

Botany, and Zoology, and Meteorology. The last at least as far as the laws regulating the capacity of the atmosphere for water.

In addition to these, evidence derived from the following generalizations reached only of late by modern thought :

The Correlation of Forces.

Uniformity of Law.

A Law of Development.

As to a portion of the testimony there will be more or less questioning ; but as to the great mass, it will so clearly corroborate the story in Genesis, that its very completeness will render the reader incredulous at first, as when one has unexpectedly fallen upon some great vein of gold, he stands dazed and refuses to believe his own eyes.

I am aware also of the peculiar parentage of some of these Witnesses, and do not wonder that the simple-hearted believer, who has in his own consciousness a Witness that no Science can give or comprehend, should start back and exclaim, " Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes." *

My argument is not for such, but for that

large class to whom Science is the only revelation.

It would be outside of my plan to attempt to

establish for others the truthfulness of my Wit-

* I fear the Greeks even bringing gifts.

d esses. Those who doubt it, will find excellent works specially on these subjects. If, however, for reasons satisfactory to themselves, they believe the Mosaic narrative to be true, I do not see how they can avoid accepting the results of Science, so far at least, as they are employed in this essay. In fact, the two corroborate each other.

Should any one who reads this book find in it statements as to what Moses says, or does not say, which run counter to his belief, I beg him to see for himself whether they are sustained by the words of the writer.

It has been apologetically said that this account is phenomenal, and that of course its statements were not intended to be taken literally.

They are indeed "phenomenal," and so is the coming transit of Venus, so are the photographs of that " phenomenon," which Scientists will soon be studying with micrometer and microscope. " Phenomenal " ! indeed they are, and hence their realism, their photographic truth.

I trust no one will so misunderstand me as to suppose I intend this assertion of positive literalism to embrace the whole Bible. No book more abounds in poetical imagery, none would lead to greater absurdities, if received without that common sense which we apply to all others.

It was the lack of this, and the substitution of the Commentators' notions derived from figurative portions of the Bible, and largely from false Science, for the simple words of Moses, that produced the strange vagaries which have been charged to, and attacked or defended, as parts of the Biblical account ' of Creation. Where in the first two chapters of Genesis (or elsewhere) did Cosmas find authority for believing the world was modelled after the tabernacle ? Where learn that the earth is just twice as long as it is wide ? or that there are no antipodes? Yet defending these, and other equally groundless absurdities, is even now claimed to be the necessary result of receiving these chapters as literally true ! *

The truth is, this account of creation, like the fifty-third of Isaiah, is utterly incomprehensible until the true explanation is found. The account of our Saviour's sufferings and triumphs seemed a strange and touching medley, that could never be aught else than poetical metaphors ; but when the prophecies became # history, it was seen to be the simple, touching story of the Man of Sorrows, so literal that it reads like the words of an eye-witness. Its strange and apparently contradictory statements meant just exactly what they said.

Why add to the text our suppositions ? Why

* In spite of all that has been said about the folly of believing the literal truth of the Mosaic account, no writer or speaker, as far as I know, has ever taken it to be literally true. Paradoxical as this seems, I believe an examination of writings upon Genesis will sustain this assertion.

take anything from it ? We have no right to do so. Moreover, we thus only raise structures for its opponents to batter down. From one such to another, the defenders of this account have been driven, until it is no wonder that Scientists, forgetful of their own greater vagaries, sneer at the abortive efforts to make— not the words of Moses — but Commentators' explanations square with their (the Scientists') theories.

It will be found, I think, that the only tenable ground is based upon the assumption that in this narrative we have the carefully worded and arranged account of an Eye- Witness who could say of the things he relates, as did the Son of Anchises, but in an infinitely higher sense, " Quorum fui magna pars." *

At the commencement of the study of this Narrative I assumed, as a proposition self-evident in itself, that there could be no modern discovery of any ante-human fact, whether an event, or a law, or an order of occurrence, that was not infinitely better known to God at the time he is said to have given this account to Moses, than it can be, to-day, to the wisest Scientist.

Hence, if there should be any error found in it, either the Narrative is from a being of limited intelligence or the reader has misunderstood it. Clearly, then, the questions to which I ought first to apply myself were these : What does the Ac-

* Of which I was a great part.

INTROD [JCTOE Y. 1 7

count say? and what meaning is intended to be conveyed 1

In general there is but little difficulty in answering the first question.* Our common Version is in the main sufficiently exact, although I would in some things go closer to the original, as in the use of " expanse " for firmament, and in the translation of certain clauses in reference to the " days," as will be fully set forth hereafter.

As to the second inquiry, " What meaning is intended to be conveyed % " I found most abundant room for study. I turned first to those writers who had made Genesis a special study, but did not find that harmony between their assertions and the facts of our world's history which the high claims of the Narrative appeared to demand.

There remained the story itself. To it I turned, seeking in every direction for a solution of its difficulties, groping in the dark, feeling my way passage by passage, testing now this theory and now that, only to throw away one after another, as I came to insurmountable obstacles or flat contradictions between the proposed solution and what I knew to be facts. At last, after many days, flashed upon me, in all the sublimity of its divine simplicity, the key to the mystery.

* There is a rich mine of precious metal yet to be worked by some Hebrew scholar who shall thoroughly search the original with all the light of physical science.

Teie narrative means exactly what it says ; NO more, no less ; AND the order there given is

THE EXACT ORDER IN WHICH OCCURRED THE EVENTS IT RECORDS.

This I did not start with as an a priori principle : it came to me after an exhaustive examination of everything else. Now, I can see that it is only a corollary of the proposition 1 started with, and it is wonderful to note how the two Records, seen through this, like the two pictures of a stereoscope, visibly glide into one and stand out from the page in their true perspective. Every line, although, in one when seen by itself, apparently useless, yet viewed with its other part, helps the marvelous truthfulness of the resultant view.

PLAN OF THIS BOOK.

In the first chapter, after showing the intrinsic possibility and desirableness of a Revelation, I consider the different methods of establishing its authenticity. I then take up the Mosaic Account as claiming to be a revelation, and endeavor, by removing the accretions of- the ages, to narrow the discussion to the text. I inquire as to the purposes of the Author in making this particular Revelation, and examine the objections which have been made to the credibility of it, on scientific grounds.

In the next chapter, after seeking to cultivate in the reader a sense of historical perspective, I collate the statements of Moses with those of the " Witnesses."

This is followed by a disquisition upon the " days."

In the fourth chapter is considered the Law of Development and its relation to this Narrative ; which is followed by a further comparison of Science and " Revelation."

The Account found in the second chapter of Genesis is examined in the fifth of this.

In Part III. is a full discussion of the work of the fourth day, inquiring as to the time and cause of the present inclination of the earth's axis. This inquiry is conducted solely as a physical question, in the light of astronomy and the geological developments of organic life considered with strict reference to Uniformity of Law. The Inquiry reaches beyond our earth, and in " Cosmology," the Nebular Hypothesis is shown to account for a great variety of facts in the Solar System.

Whatever doubt there may be as to the correctness of my exposition of the work of the fourth day, and whether my positions in reference to it can be maintained or not, the reader will note that it is an independent portion of the argument for the truth of Genesis, and may be rejected without affecting the remainder.

I have often regretted while studying this Narrative, that some one who was master of the subject and gifted with fitting command of language, had not given, in plain Anglo-Saxon, and with a brevity approaching that of Moses,* an authoritative statement from a purely scientific stand-point, of the world's ante-human history, taking up the same topics.

Will not Tyndall, or Spencer, or Huxley yet do it % It is difficult to conceive of a work of greater interest.

In a second Part are discussed various matters more or less intimately connected with the account in Genesis. In this the literal truth of that history is assumed as proved, and reference is made to it as in Geometry one refers to a previous proposition.

Probably, this intensity of belief will, at first, be shared by few, but the very clearness of my convictions, compels me to regard the acceptance of the same by others as only a question of time.

As to difficulties outside of these two chapters, it does not fall within my plan to discuss them. It may be, that in the present state of knowledge, it is impossible to satisfactorily remove them ; but the lesson of the past should teach us to wait in patience, believing that He who could give the ante-human history of the world, can in due time vindicate his truth.

I will add, as the result of some careful study, that this Narrative grows broader and deeper the

* The Mosaic account, omitting repetitions and words of approval, contains only some three hundred and fifty words.

INTRODUCTORY.

more it is exploredrShd trie more the full light of Science is turned upon it. Instead of a purling brook sweetly singing a "hymn of Creation" as it rolls over its pebbly bed, it expands to an ocean unfathomable and shoreless. It is not a history of our world merely, but an epitome of the Universe.

I trust the time is not distant when the true importance of this Account, as the highest possible objective evidence of the reality of a Revelation, will be recognized, and a professorship of Biblical Cosmogony be an acknowledged necessity in every theological seminary.

The light which shone in the face of Moses as he came down from the Mount, has always shone in this Narrative, but our eyes have been holden till now. Science, at last, has stripped off the bandages of ignorance and misapprehension, and revealed, not the vacuity too often fondly hoped for, but the insupportable glory of God the Creator, the Jehovah-Elohim.

In the conflict between truth and error now raging around us, if those who ought to lead in the battle, are to come down from their retreats in the " no-science" of the Bible, and, with a full and muscular belief which takes God's Book to be from the Fountain of all knowledge, assume the offensive, they must be shown that the first chapter of Genesis is the vital centre, the locus vitce, of all Science. They must be made to comprehend that God's two Records are indissolubly one. Both

Yi2i INTRODUCTORY.

are true or both are false. When this belief shall have penetrated the marrow of their being, " their trumpet will give no uncertain sound."

" I am wear j of hearing those who claim to believe the Bible is from God, explain (?) away passage after passage, till the strongest words melt into a dim cloudiness, and there seems to be nothing so certain, nothing so fixed that it may not be shifted to meet our logical exigencies.

So thoroughly ingrained has this habit become that I fear the hardest thing to believe in this Essay will be, that the Author of G-enesis intended to say exactly what he has said, and to be responsible for just that and nothing more, and that the most objectionable thing will be the rigidness with which this principle is adhered to.

To some good men the adherence to the very words of the text will, in their opinion, be the rejection, not of their beliefs, but of the account itself !

Will not the reader hold himself so far open to conviction as to test this method of exegesis, and judge of its correctness by the results ?