The Mosaic account of the creation affirmed, and silent monitors of the past described and illustrated

Front matter

THE

MOSAIC ACCOUNT

OF THE

Preface

In presenting this work to the public, the author realizes the fact that he has commenced a great undertaking.

So varied are the opinions of men regarding the creation, or bringing into existence of this world, that we should endeavor to make a careful study of its component parts, and analyze and compare them with the scriptural account given by Moses, in Genesis, and unite science with his description.

We are painfully aware, that we have some of the besteducated minds of the civilized world against us, but by carefully reading and studying their works, we discover their errors and profit by them.

The science of geology as taught to-day may be looked upon as extremely dangerous to the youthful mind. Through its teachings the student is led to disbeheve the account given by Moses, which came from God himself, and to substitute an imaginary theory, which, when studied, proves to be a tissue of theories presumed to suit, to base a

4 PREFACE.

science upon, known in our institutions of learning as the science of geology.

We think, however, the time is not far distant when that science shall be replaced by information which may be more easily understood, thereby profiting the reader for the time he consumes in reading it.

Jesse King.

Introduction

The Creation — The Firmament — Like Causes produce Like Effects.

" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

Here we at once introduce the Author of the Creation, God himself.

I need not write it " in the nervous language of Scripture," as my learned contemporary, J. Dorman Steele, A.M., chooses to term it, in his " Fourteen Weeks' Course in Geology," page 19. No ! I have the best of evidence for its authenticity. Were it not as Moses describes it, we might have just reason for trying to advance some theory on which to base a visionary science.

We raise our eyes heavenward, and see the blue firmament extending to a height of forty-five miles from the earth's surface, which Moses tells us was created the second day. The modern geologist gives us no account of its creation whatever.

We examine the earth on which we tread, covered with its mountains, lakes, and oceans, and find it corresponds exactly with the description given of it by Moses.

On the third day, Moses says, the earth was clothed with verdure, — as we now see it. The modern geologist

6 INTRODUCTION.

presents but little information to the botanist. Just how the sturdy oak came into existence without the primitive acorn is not expla:ined by them, although they allow that like causes are produced by like effects, in which we agree, and we make that maxim a strong point in our work.

In order that the reader may clearly understand the matter which we are introducing, we will make a brief analysis of the subject.

Geology, as taught at the present day, declares that " in that far-off beginning" the earth was in an igneous condition, and, while in that igneous or molten condition, it shone as does now the sun and lighted other heavenly bodies, and in process of time it cooled off and became a dark body, and has now to be lighted by other bodies.

While in that igneous or burning condition it was in a state of volcanic disturbance, causing immense volcanic action, thereby forming mountains and valleys. Through what source they trace their theory is not clearly understood. They claim that all unstratified rocks which have no veins or cleavage are igneous rocks, and were once in a melted state, — such as granite, quartz, etc., — and consequently were the first to crystallize after the earth's surface began to cool ; and they have very ingeniously adopted certain names marking supposed periods suitable to the unsettled condition of that imaginative form of creation, and occasionally give God credit with being in some unknown manner a party connected therewith.

They entirely ignore the description given by Moses, forgetting that, if Moses had not written, they probably

INTRODUCTION. 7

would not have been aware of the true God existing to-day. Others have subsequently declared his existence, but Moses was the first. He says that, while engaged in the capacity of a shepherd in the green valleys of Sinai, God appeared to him in a burning bush, saying, " I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And when Moses heard that, he hid his face, " for he was afraid to look upon God," or even the burning symbol of his glory.

Geology, as taught in our schools to-day, names the Azoic system as the first or oldest condition of the earth, when the granite or unstratified rocks were formed, down to the beginning of the period in which plants and animals were created. They say, " That the Azoic age was long is shown by the great thickness of rocks which represent it, and that it closed by a grand upturning, bending, folding, and faulting of its rock accumulations."

The second system they name as the Silurian, after the ancient Silurians which once inhabited that part of England and Wales where this system was well studied. That system they have divided into the upper and lower systems, and it comprises the first rocks which have fossils of the lowest order of animal life.

The third system they class as the Devonian system, which is merely a fossil-bearing rock which is found near Devonshire, England. It is claimed to be like the Silurian or second system, but known under another name.

The fourth system is termed the " Carboniferous system, or period," following next in order after the Old Red Sand-

8 INTRODUCTION.

stone, in which special vegetation grew to form our large deposits of coal that are found at the present day.

The fifth system is the so-called " Triassic system," and is merely a fossil-bearing rock found above the Carboniferous rock, and, as they chose to name it, is a rock of a later date.

The "Jurassic system" is the sixth system in their order of invention. It comprises fossil-bearing rocks, also. It derives its name from the Jura Mountains, where it is said to be well developed.

The " Cretaceous or chalk system" is the seventh system in their order of invention.

The " Tertiary" is the eighth system adopted by them.

The " Post-Tertiary system" is the ninth order named by them.

'^ The present or recent system, and the age of man," is the last of their invention, which embraces a retrospective view of the last-named nine divisions of the observations, which are marked by fossil-bearing stratified rocks. All, as they allow, except the igneous or molten rocks, have been deposited by water, and have since crystallized into sand-rocks, limestone rocks, etc.

They teach that mollusks, or the lowest animal life, first came into existence during the Silurian period, and that a gradual development was made thereafter with each succeeding period of time named in their different systems, because the remains of mollusks, reptiles, mammals, etc., are now found in those stratified rocks which have been formed by sand deposited by water.

INTRODUCTION. 9

The science of geology, as taught at the present day in our institutes of education, is calculated more to confound the student than to assist him in his studies. If the Mosaic account of the creation, and the " destruction of all living" by the cataclysm which God sent, together with the period of time which has passed since that deluge, were strictly taught, the whole matter could be easily understood.

There should be but three distinct periods of time named, — the Ante-Diluvian, the Diluvian, and the Post- Diluvian periods, or, in other words, the period of time before the flood, the time during the flood, and the time since the flood; which could be easily understood and will serve to cover the whole ground. It can be readily seen that some mineral substances which now compose the body of the earth, such as granite, quartz, etc., possessed the property of crystaUizing sooner than others, and such formations now found on the surface of the earth give evidence of water having once passed rapidly over them and wearing them partly away by erosion, and the careful observer will notice but little difference between granite and quartz in that respect.

Limestone and sandstone of various varieties are fossil-bearing rocks which were formed by the waters of the flood carrying detritus which enveloped mollusks, reptiles, and mammals, the bones of which are to-day found in a fossilized condition, and all prove beyond a doubt the existence of the deluge which Moses has described in Genesis.

It did not require those ages which our geologic conlO INTRODUCTION.

temporaries claim, to cause those deposits in those fossihferous rocks. The flood before mentioned would have destroyed all living, and their remains must of necessity have found a place of sepulture somewhere, and, if buried in sand hermetically sealed from the atmosphere, and that sand crystallizing as it has, would furnish all the fossil-bearing rocks now found.

Noah was commanded to build an ark, and to take into that ark for the future propagation of animals, as described by God, of clean animals by sevens and unclean animals by twos, which proves that God had a higher regard for the clean animals of his creation than he had for the unclean.

Palaeontologists inform us that many animals existed before the flood that are now entirely extinct, notable among which was the mastodon, which at full size was sixty feet long, twenty-five feet high, eleven feet over his hips, and his tusks extended to the enormous length of fourteen feet.

The author returns thanks to the following gentlemen of high standing for valuable information: His excellency R. E. Pattison, Governor of Pennsylvania ; David Day, United States Geological Survey ; Aimaro Lato, Secretary of Legation of Japan, Washington, D. C. ; Ario, Minister of the German Empire; Frank Iszard, of New Jersey; Colonel N. M. Ellis, of Pennsylvania ; Gomar Walters Johnston, of Pennsylvania; Dr. John H. Mullen, of Pennsylvania; Hon. George N.Corson, of Norristown, Pennsylvania ; Dr. E. M. Furey; Daniel H. Streeper, and others.

Contents

INTRODUCTION.

PAGE

The Creation — The Firmament — Like Causes produce Like Effects . . 5

II 12 Contents

CHAPTER V.

PAGB

Science and Religion are alike God's Offspring — Igneous Condition of the Earth would have caused all Properties to Amalgamate — Different Gases — The Day not considered of Twenty-four Hours 41

CHAPTER VI.

Let the Waters bring forth, etc. — Let the Earth bring forth the Living Creature, etc. — He created Man, etc. — Adam Named the Animals . 47

CHAPTER VII.

Fire in the Centre of the Earth — The Diamond the Product of Crystallized Carbon — The Earth not in an Entire Molten Condition at its Centre — Volcanoes — Earthquakes • 54

CHAPTER VIIL

The Genealogy and Age of the Patriarchs from the Creation to the Flood — The Garden of Eden — Giants were upon the Earth — Stump of Tree in Cincinnati — Land Connection between the two Continents ()■})

CHAPTER IX.

Other Land Connections, Islands of which yet Remain — Man Supposed to have Crossed from Asia to America — ^Noah Commanded to Build the Ark — Drifts of Tropical Animals and Vegetation to Siberia . . 75

CHAPTER X.

Description of Mount Ararat — The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel .... 85

CHAPTER XI.

The Formation of Rocks — Description of " Ringing Rocks" in Pennsylvania — Prints of Hoofs and Paws of Animals in those Rocks . . 90

CHAPTER XII.

The Glacial Period — Glaciers carrying Boulders — The Johnstown Flood . 102

CONTENTS. 1 3

CHAPTER XII I.

PAGE

Soapstone and Asbestos — Conshohocken Stone — Scale for Measming Depth of the Deluge left in Limestone Rocks below Norristown — The Origin of Limestone as our Geologists Assert 112

CHAPTER XIV.

Port Kennedy Bone Cave 123

CHAPTER XV.

Speculative Opinions regarding the Deposit of Fossils in the Port Kennedy Cave — A Live Toad found in the Marble in Henderson's Quarry — Fossils found in Digging a Well Four Hundred and J'ifty Miles west of Omaha 134

CHAPTER XVI.

Glacial Striae — Corrugations in the Vertical Rocks along the Hughes River in West Virginia — Of Clean and Unclean Beasts — Animals Locked in the Polar Regions from the Equator — Rock found in Flat Rock Tunnel — Strata of Deposit in Bridgeport, Pa. ....... 147

CHAPTER XVII.

The Age of Mollusks — The Period of Reptiles according to Geology — ■ The German Mussel-Chalk and Keuper — The Ichthyosaurus, or Fish- Lizard of Antediluvian Origin — The Plesiosaurus — The Pterodactyl, a Flying Monster — The Dinosaurs (Terrible Lizards) — The Labyrinthodon — The Ramphorhyncus 158

CHAPTER XVIII.

Age of Mammals, or those that Suckle their Young — Mammoths — Six Sketches of Mastodons found by a Farmer in a Bog in New Jersey — Brownstone — Bird-tracks in Brownstone — Greenstone 164

CHAPTER XIX.

Formation of Coal — The Mythical Ferns — Trees Rooted in the Soil

forming Coal-beds 172

14 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XX.

PAGE

The Mythical Ideas of Geologists regarding the Advent of the Carboniferous Period — Lecture Delivered in West Chester i8o

CHAPTER XXI.

Developments of the Anthracite Coal-fields of Pennsylvania by State Geologist Lesley — Professor Lesley's Observations near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania — Composition of Anthracite Coal — The Manner of its Deposit — Wyoming Valley — Massacre at Forty Fort .... 187

CHAPTER XXII.

Volney's Opinion of Lakes once having existed in the West — Breaking of Reservoir above Girard College Grounds 203

CHAPTER XXIII.

Trip over the Catawissa Railroad — Letter from Minister of Japan — Letter from Minister Ario of the German Empire — Bituminous Coal — Secret of Burning Coal vi^ith Economy — Petroleum — Slate Formation — Graphite 210

CHAPTER XXIV.

Iron-ore — Marl — Deposits in New Jersey — The Remains of a Sea-serpent found in a Marl Bed near " MuUica Hill" 221

CHAPTER XXV.

The Enchanted Mountain of Tennessee — Large Tracks of Human Beings and Horses in the Rocks — Tracks in Limestone Rock along the Mississippi and St. Louis 227

THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT

OF THE

CREATION AFFIRMED

Chapter I

The Creation — Biography of Moses — His Marriage — His Death — A New Earth — The Creation of Light — The Earth set in Motion, Revolving on its Axis.

The origin of God is unknown to man. That gifted poet, Alexander Pope, beautifully conveys the subject to the imagination of man in the following lines :

" Thou Great First Cause, least understood, Who all my sense confined, To know but this, tliat thou art good, And that myself am blind."

I will here introduce a short biography of the author of the account of the creation as recorded in Genesis.

Moses, the great Prophet and Lawgiver of the children of Israel, was born in the year 1571 B.C., and in the second chapter of Exodus you will find an account of his parentage, birth, and infancy. His father's name was Amram, and his mother was of the house of Levi. He died in the year 145 1 B.C., aged one hundred and twenty years; his eyes were not dim, nor was his natural force abated. At the age of forty years, he slew an Egyptian whom he saw contending with a Hebrew, and fled into Midian, where he married Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel, or Jethro, a priest, and hved with him forty years.

Whilst Moses was keeping his father-in-law's sheep, God appeared to him in a burning bush, and sent him to deliver the children of Israel, who were in bondage under Pharaoh in Egypt.

At the age of eighty-three years, Moses wrote the book of Genesis, which was fourteen hundred and eighty-eight years before Christ, or about two thousand five hundred and twelve years after the creation. The writings of Moses stand pre-eminent above all others.

Sixteen hundred and fifty-six years had passed from the creation to the flood, during which time the progeny of Adam had peopled various parts of the earth, and their lives extended over a period of about nine hundred years each, which may have had much to do with their wickedness, knowing that each one living on an average to near that age no doubt was in their imagination nearly equal to an immunity from death, and if death did not intervene, eternal judgment would be deferred.

This opinion may be sustained by verse 3 of Chapter VI. of Genesis, in which God, having seen the wickedness of man, shortened his days to one hundred and twenty years ; thus, " And the Lord said. My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh : yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years."

They have subsequently been reduced to " threescore years and ten."

But one person who lived among them, named Noah, who feared God and lived a just and righteous life, preached to them for about one hundred and twenty years, exhorting them to repentance. He was instructed to build an ark during that time, for God, seeing their wickedness, told Noah that it " repented him that he had made man," and that he would bring on a flood and destroy all living.

Mute witnesses of that flood stand out in bold relief, by the presence of granite boulders being worn round by erosion from the passing waters of the flood while those boulders were in an embryotic state of crystallization, and of rocks formed since the flood, many of them being largely fossil-bearing, which fossils were deposited by the waters of the flood and have since crystallized, all being *' silent monitors of the past."

Although Moses wrote his book of Genesis eight hundred and fifty-six years after the flood, or two thousand five hundred and twelve years after the creation, and all the foregoing had transpired, yet there was nothing whatever to inform us of that fact until his pen placed it on parchment. His four other books — Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — were all written within a period of forty years after his book of Genesis. Nor is this all : the Decalogue, comprising the Ten Commandments which he received on Mount Sinai, is to-day the fundamental law on which all the laws for the government of every civilized nation on earth are based. The commandments which he has given us are the underlying principles on which all

subsequent writings are based. " Thou shalt not kill," b 2*

" Thou shalt not steal," " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," are among the most important elements of a just and perfect government.

When a witness is asked to give testimony in court, he is reminded of that fact by the clerk of said court handing him the Bible, to impress on his mind the solemnity of the occasion, and the fact that he is about to speak in the presence of God, whose words are contained in that volume. That book has a broad base, it is written for all, it is nonsectarian, and its teachings should be venerated by every one. We have no knowledge of any writings whatever existing prior to the book of Genesis, and Moses appears to have been chosen to deliver that information to us, so that we might have a knowledge of the true God, who created, governs, and sustains the entire universe.

The reader will carefully peruse the introduction on page 5, so that he may become the better acquainted with the subject.

We can gather no information on the subject through any source whatever except what Moses tells us in Genesis.

He says, *' In the beginning God created heaven and earth ; and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep ; and the Spirit of God moved over the waters.

" And God said. Let there be light ; and there was light.

"And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

" And God called the light Day, and the darkness Night ; and the evening and the morning were the first day."

We will here introduce our first object-lesson, so that the reader may more easily understand the creation of the first day.

It will be observed that the earth was entirely enveloped with water ; but we think that there was no water as a part of its internal composition until after the firmament was created, which was on the second day. Quoting from the Douay Bible, Moses says in Genesis, Chapter II., verse 6, " But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all of the earth's surface."

That occurred on the second day, after the firmament had been created and applied, the pressure of which shattered, or fractured, the earth, so that the water entered the interior of the earth, and commenced and has continued to pour through it to. the present day.

We are aware that the earth is composed of different materials, known in geology as clay, or earthy substances, and minerals of various kinds ; and we believe that all the. earthy substances and minerals which now exist in the earth and form its component parts (except coal) were created the first day, but in a more plastic condition than we now find them, because it was a "new earth," and crystallization had not yet taken place. (This fact we will prove, as we advance farther with our work.) It is a matter well known to engineers, architects, and scientific minds, that water is a prime factor in settling or solidifying the earth : that for every cubic foot of water there is a weight or pressure of sixty-two pounds, and a body of water one inch deep covering an acre of ground is equal to one hundred tons' weight. In contemplating the mighty mass of water surrounding the earth on that day, we can readily perceive the forming of the material of the earth into a globe or round body.

THE EARTH.

Illustrating the Creation of the first day ; showing the water around it, the weight of which no doubt moulded it into "form;" the upper or top surface illustrating " Let there be light" at the command of God.

This explains those words, " And the earth was without form, and void," because the substance which now composes the earth was just brought into existence, and had not as yet taken any form, or shape, known in the science of mathematics, until it was surrounded by the "great deep," which may have been created separate and apart from the earth, the weight of which moulded, or shaped, the shapeless mass of material into a globular or smooth, round body ; and on the second day, when the firmament was created, the mountains *' were brought forth," and the valleys were formed, which will be explained in the creation of the second day.

It must be remembered, also, that all bodies or properties composing this earth "and the furniture thereof" have a dual meaning. For instance, water is composed of two gases, — namely, oxygen eight parts, and hydrogen one part ; and many persons assert that the water which Moses describes as the " great deep" was a body of gases surrounding the earth. But we are willing to accept the rendering of Moses, who was inspired by God himself, who says it was water, and a scientific application of it as water would have served the better purpose, as above stated.

We have as yet spoken only of the .earth and water of the first day's part of the creation. But God said, '' Let there be light, and there was light."

From that moment time commenced. That mighty luminary known as the sun in the heavens was then created. Our earth was set in motion revolving on its axis from west to east, and it has continued to do so ever since, and will do so until it ceases and time shall be no more ; " and the evening and the morning were the first day."

CHAPTER 11.

The Creation of the Firmament — Pressure of the Atmosphere — Miniature

Earth.

We will now introduce our second object-lesson, illustrating the work or creation of the second day.

We will here state that there is a difference between creating and making. To create is to form, or bring into existence, out of nothing. To make is to build, or make out of material furnished for the purpose.

The reader will please pay particular attention to the creation of this the second day.

" And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

" And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under, the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament : and it was so.

" And God called the firmament Heaven ; and the evening and the morning were the second day."

What is heaven, or this firmament which God has created this second day ? Webster says it is the atmosphere we breathe, the sky, the air ; and is the abode of the blest.

It is composed of oxygen and nitrogen in the following

THE CREA TION AFFIRMED.

proportions : about four gallons of nitrogen and one of oxygen will make five gallons of common air. But it always has some other properties mixed with it.

THE EARTH.

Illustrating the Creation of the second day ; showing the division of the waters by the creation of the "Firmament," the pressure of which towards its centre caused the " mountains to be brought forth."

It will be observed, also, that our earth has made one revolution, recording the first day of the year one, and is now making its second revolution, performing its second day's journey, at the rate of one thousand miles per hour at the equator, sufficient to dash it to atoms, were it not for this firmament or atmosphere which is being created this second day, which presses on the outside towards the centre of the earth with a pressure of about fourteen pounds per square inch, or about one ton per square foot; on a surface of two feet square there is a constant atmospheric pressure of four tons.

That superincumbent pressure, when first apphed to the surface of the earth, while in its plastic, uncrystallized condition, had the effect of depressing the softer portions of the earth's surface, and raising or forming mountains of the mineral portions, which can be proved by examining into the formation of mountains. None of them on the face of the earth are of earth formation ; all are composed of rocks and mineral substances in their interior formation, thus forming our mountains and valleys. Agreeable to natural laws, by that pressure the waters of the great deep were forced into the low depressions, thus forming seas and oceans, immediately, on the second day, when the pressure was applied.

At some places the ocean records a depth of five miles, while an equal displacement took place at other places, causing mountains to rise five miles in height ; or, to give a more extended idea, such portion of the earth's composition as was formed of earthy substance sunk until it was sustained by a harder substance, and such portions of the earth's composition as were of harder mineral formation rose and formed our mountains, which, singularly enough, generally extend from northeast to southwest.

We are indebted to Sir Isaac Newton for his discovery of the laws of gravitation, by the apple falling ; but he has left us ignorant of the true cause of its gravitating to the centre of the earth. That cause may be explained in the following manner :

We see that the earth, when it was first created, was entirely enveloped with water, and this firmament when applied could not penetrate the earth, thus leaving the earth a vacuum as far as the atmosphere is concerned; which may be proved by a man descending in the water with a diving-bell, — he must be supplied with air by an air-duct from above the surface of the water.

To further illustrate the foregoing, we will make a miniature earth of material suitable for the purpose. We will get a gum ball two feet in diameter, with an aperture in one place, the walls of which ball may be one-eighth of an inch thick. We will fill it with material of soft and hard substances suitable for the purpose. Having now got it filled, we will apply an air-pump to our opening in the ball, which air-pump must be accurately fitted to pump the air out of the ball, or embryotic miniature earth, because that same atmosphere, with its outside pressure, is inside also, pressing as much outward as inward, thereby forming no vacuum whatever. But, as soon as our air-pump exhausts the air, or firmament, from inside, you will see the outside of our globe, or miniature earth, changing its surface : where the surface is supported by soft substance, such as clay or earthy substance, it will sink ; where it is supported by hard mineral substance, such as rock, it will rise, thereby forming mountains and valleys. It will also be observed that the pressure is equal on all sides of our miniature earth, pressing exactly towards the centre, because we B 3

26 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT OT