Cosmogony: the geological antiquity of the world

Front matter

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THE GEOLOGICAL ANTIQUITY OP THE WORLD,

Preface

forces inherent in matter " would, of " primordial necessity," exercise their action " according to periodical compulsion and at intervals," by the " progressive development of occult, permanent connection," in "obedience to the first impulse imparted." " These constitute nature."

According to his definition of nature, it is as follows : " In reflecting upon physical phenomena and events, and trying their causes by the process of reason, we became more and more convinced of the truth of the ancient doctrine, that the forces inherent in matter, and those which govern the world, would exercise their action under the control of primordial necessity and in accordance with movements occurring periodically, after longer or shorter intervals. It is this necessity — this oc-' cult but permanent connection in the progressive development of forms, phenomena and events — which constitutes nature, obedient to the first impulse imparted to it." " Cosmos," p. 30.

Now, if this learned and gifted author understood or believed that a being of intelligence created all the forms of matter, by endowing the atoms with chemical and electrical peculiarities, and that these constituted the occult forces they possess, he surely could have said so in so many words. The expression " occult " comes the nearest to it, and this means " concealed," as the unknown qualities of matter. The occult sciences in the middle ages were magic, alchemy, and necromancy. If he believed it, and did not wish to exalt matter above or equal to God, why did he not describe the properties of matter as they exist, and draw the logical sequence, which necessitates the prior existence of an intelligent being, by whose efforts alone the forms and qualities of matter, simple or compound, organic or inorganic, could have originated ? Why could he not have said that par-

Vlll PREFACE.

tides of matter exist, and are endowed with various qualities ? These particles have no intelligence, and yet they perform intelligent purposes ; therefore they must have received this endowment from a being capable of forming and executing purposes. He was therefore before and superior to nature. His was the mind that conceived, His the will that called into being, His the hand that shaped and gave motion and life to the vast system of nature called the universe.

Here the hand of God is as clearly manifest, and His power seen in their motions and effects, as are the genius, skill, and power of the mechanic in the invention, construction and movements of the machinery propelled by steam and electricity. Man knows that the greater machinery of suns and stellar systems, or that of the solar system, was no more capable of forming or developing themselves from particles of nebulous, vapory matter (as Humboldt affirms), than was the steam engine capable of forming and developing itself from the metals which compose it. If it is a severe tax on our mental powers to conceive and concede the existence of a Being equal to the task of creating the world, or nature, how infinitely greater is the tax imposed by that theory which claims that dumb, unintelligent matter — Nature — made herself ! How infinitely greater are the credulity and superstition of those who believe the latter ; and with what ill grace can these scientists (so called) taunt believers in God and the Bible with superstition !

Another Scientist Attempts a Definition.

" Nature," Schelling remarks, in his poetic discourse on art, is not an innate mass ; and to him who can comprehend her vast sublimity, she reveals herself as the creative force of the universe. Before all time,

PREFACE. IX

eternal, ever active, she calls to life all things, whether perishable or imperishable." Here is another sublime effort to sophisticate the reader by the use of words, not as " signs of ideas," but to cover their absence, or to conceal opinions which the fear of unpopularity prevents from being clearly expressed. " Nature is the creative force of the universe ; she was before all time.** He does not say, before all nature : this would have revealed the fact that by " creative force " he had the conception and meant to convey the idea that force was the creator of nature, and only modestly used the word Force for God. But as nature was the force itself, being eternal she never came into existence at all ; for an eternal thing never can begin to be ; or if she was not eternal, and began to be, she brought herself into being by self-action. The latter conclusion would necessitate the action of a thing before it existed ; while the former denies the origin of nature altogether, as an eternal thing never originated : and yet this nature was the force which brought herself into existence. This passage of Schelling may be good poetry, but it is poor philosophy and bad reasoning. " Nature called into life all things, whether perishable or imperishable ; " and she did this before she existed herself, or she does not now exist.

He says : " Nature is ever active." This expression shows that its author did not entertain the conception that it was a Being of mind and intelligence, and consequent volition, as such a being could rest as well as work ; could act as well as cease to act.

This " ever active force " was not a thing of life even as high as that of the lowest animal : for this has the power of volition, and may act or rest at pleasure ; but this lifeless thing, denominated " nature," called all living objects, whether perishable or imperishable, into life

X ^ PREFACE.

Here we have Schelling's poetic philosopky from which Humboldt takes his idea of " force." A thing having no life or volition itself, gives light and locomotion to all that lives and moves. Fundamental to the whole theories of atheism and evolution is the idea of progression and succession. Their language is, " Since something must be endless, an endless progression of causes and effects contains nothing intrinsically improbable." If the exact reverse of this position had been assumed, their conclusion might have been logical, thus : " Since there is no progression, retrogression, or succession — no coming into existence or going out — no one being born or dying — none beginning to live and none ceasing to live — nothing modified, changed, or changeable ; but on the contrary everything moving in circles and not in lines, then might things have been eternal — without beginning or end : but the fact that progress, succession, change, modification, is the order of nature, it is fatally irreconcilable with the hypothesis of atheism ; at the same time it confirms the position that nature, including all her phenomena, whether simple or complicated, had a begining, a creation, and an intelligent creator. Since, therefore, something must have been endless, it could not have been the changeable, but alone the " Infallible." To believe the contrary is the strangest credulity, the most marvelous science ! Who would not be a modern scientist ? And about all that is necessary to be one is, to be born in Germany and educated at the Leipsic University ; or to have one's birthplace in England, and graduate at Oxford ; as from these sources principally we import the godless materialism of the geological indefinite periods and the marvels of evolving before involving, unfolding before enfolding, unrolling before enrolling ; in a word, of bringing things from whence they do not exist.

PREFACE. XI

We are aware that we shall be complimented as " ingenious " in our manner of handling these vast subjects ; but we reciprocate the compliment by ascribing the merited genius alone to these skeptical scientists, as the only defense their side of the question admits. This book evades no point, shuns no investigation, and shrinks from no conclusion ; and we flatter ourselves that, though the discussion deals with the whole range of natural philosophy and science, from the grandest complication to the simplest molecules of nature, yet all may be comprehended, and that too by the common people.

That the author of these volumes has displayed an ingenuity which has put to silence all the genius and ■apparent reasonings of all the natural philosophers, scientists, atheists, deists, pantheists, and infidels of ancient and modern times — in a word, the whole school of materialists who have attempted to account for the origin of the universe by the principles inherent in matter — is too absurd to be entertained for a moment. But as the book produces this effect by presenting arguments from every department of natural existence, each of which demonstrates the priority of a personal God, possessed of a degree of intelligence and power equal to the Creator, and to whose direct interference the universe owes its origin and destiny, it leaves the alternative that they are correct both in premise and conclusion, and therefore true.

Genius may make error appear truth, and this is the sole foundation of materialism. What is demanded to demolish the whole lying superstructure is to place the truth by its side. Truth is ever simple and .evter^ while error is ever mysterious, confused and*xfenfipB^g'

Table Of Contents

PREFACE.

PAGE

Defect of Humboldt's Cosmos 1

His definition of physics too limited 6

Another scientist attempts definition 8

To whom belongs the genius ? 18

Introduction

To ascertain truth, prejudice must be laid aside 23

No antagonism between science and Scripture > 25

The necessity of controversy 27

CHAPTER I. Independence of mind necessary to arrive at truth 29

Ancient philosophy, science and libraries 82

Aristotle on morality — Plato on virtue 33

Wisdom and virtue contrasted 34

Difference between natural and moral virtue 37

xiii

XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

God tlie measure of everything good and grand 88

Library of Euclid — How tliey made books 40

Pythagoras, his learning, persecution and death 42

Socrates' manner of teaching 43

Discourse of Callias in Euclid's library 44

The ideas invented by men a real dearth 47

Euclid on astronomy, gravity — Earth a sphere 49

What Euclid knew of geography 52

All the natural science of the ancients 54

CHAPTER II. Bible statements of Creation the most advanced science 57

Truth a system — One department explains another 59

So-called science more contradictory than religion 60

Scientists must not ignore, but prove the Bible false 62

Radical changes of modern science 64

Scripture account of Creation going back of Genesis 70

Manner of Creation — Chemical endowment of atoms by mind 72

The Eden world destroyed by the deluge 78-

The geological appearances prove the flood ; 75

Volcanoes and earthquakes accounted for 76

Fossil and shell argument confirms the deluge 79

The glacial period never existed 79

Prof. Agassiz's cause unscientific 81

Lyell's attempt inadequate 83

The argument of uniformityisra exploded 87

TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV

CHAPTER HI.

PAGE

Reason, facts, science and Scripture opposed to evolution. . .

Why error in science gets tlie start of truth 89

Every fact has its science and philosophy 91

Was man created ? 94

Sophistry of geologists exposed 95

Absurdity of the theory that one vital organ produces another 97

The primordial form could not have been evolved 100

Conditions of life 103

Evolution reversed upon its own principles 105

If evolution exists, it is a rapid process 106

Creation first, evolution next 108

CHAPTER IV. If Genesis falls, so do the rest of the Scriptures Ill

The whole gospel is in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. 11§

The Bible standard of ethics too high to be improved 116

The standard of Atheism also thus contrasted 118

Monkey origin of man Darwin's main conclusion 130

Savage life not the normal condition of man 133

The present world designed only to be temporary 135

Without a knowledge of the end designed the world is an

enigma 136

Real progress must be physical, moral and mental 138

Mental impression physically deteriorates 130

The wisdom of the Creator in limiting its power 133

XVI TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter V. Page

Materialism exposed by the laws of matter and motion

What is materialism ? 133

An objection of mental philosophy removed 135

Mental organs formed of matter 138

Involuntary sleep death 140

To understand nature, you must understand the Bible 142

Skeptical materialism defined 144

The doctrine of immateriality — Annihilation 145

Substantial nature of God proved by His attributes 147

Jesus Christ a material being, but the Christian's God 148

Scripture argument proving the Lord Jesus the only God. . . 151

Christ is worthy of all honor 154

If man evolved in time, why not God in eternity ? 155

Scripture definition of the word " create ** 158

What was the nature of the original matter? 161

The Atomic Theory exposed 162

Changes of matter by the mind of God 164

CHAPTER VI. Mind, molecules, and the imponderable agents

How came the atoms to be endowed witli gravity ? 166

Majlis physiological superiority compared 168

Power mental — Its conditions and philosophy 170

The food of plants not in nature 172

The vegetable primordial a perfect plant 174

The formation of the first plant an effect 176

TABLE OF CONTENTS. XVll

PAGE

Plant absorption of carbonic acid makes the wind blow 179

Why skeptics and scientists are driven to absurdity 181

The progenitors of each species perfect at first 185

The mischief of attributing results to "the laws of nature." 189

Nothing imponderable : the proof test 192

Friction the law of heat and light : both matter 194

All organic bodies have atmospheres 198

Temperature the universal agent of nature 200

Heat the law of motion and gravity 203

CHAPTER VII. Electricity a created substance. 207

Electric attraction and repulsion of the Solar System 209

Electricity contains the elements of all bodies 211

Magnetism the agent of mind 213

Inanimate things perform intelligent locomotion 216

Experiments by Dr. Bell 218

A table moves without human contact 220

A reflection from such teaching 221

Nature does not reveal the moral character of God 224

Man the natural image of God 225

Personality of God revealed by that of man 228

CHAPTER Vni.

Six 24 hour days ample for the world's creation 230

XVIU TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

The evolution world-maker enslaved by his work 232

How much of the solar system it takes to clothe and feed

man 234

The carboniferous period never existed 236

The original soil a creation 238

' ' The world to come," solves the mystery of this 241

All appearances of the world prove its existence temporary. 243

Dr. Coan's calculations erroneous 247

When geologists began to be skeptical 250

Another theory of the age of Niagara 253

CHAPTER IX Darwin begs the question 259

There never was a natural atheist or evolutionist 261

The wonders of incubation 2G4

Extreme changes in organic things sudden 265

History of the coffee plant 268

If evolution were true, all plants would be produced in all

countries 270

Philosophy of peculiar human features 274

Animal variations caused by climate , 276

Darwin's defective reasoning 278

The most civilized w.ould not survive 280

Tlieir own arguments prove evolution impossible 284

TABLE OF CONTENTS. XIX

Chapter X

i PAGE

Defective geological data — Transparent collusion 288

Hard pressed for evidence 290

A clear case of collusion, or fraud 293

Lyell summoned to estimate tlie age of tlie skulls 296

The oil fountains proved to be creations 298

Tlie gravel and boulder deposits by tlie flood 301

Lyell's ignorance or arrogance 301

Rapid changes in short spaces 304

The contest for survival between the oak and the beach 306

Better testimony than that of Lyell 308

Rapid changes of deposit 310

The Loess proves the existence of the flood 313

The chalk argument stated 313

The argument unscientific 315

CHAPTER XI. Professors Huxley's and Tyndall's materialism false science 317

Huxley's definition of evolution 317

Conditions of life 318

The primordial a perfect creation 321

The wonderful structure of the lungs 324

Amount of the flow of blood 325

Philosophical necessities bringing the primordial into existence 327

Nature incapable of producing life 330

Similar appearance no proof of species 332

XX TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

Prof. Tyndall's Belfast speech reviewed 334

Tyndall abandons disguise and becomes atheistic 336

Modern scientists quote heathen philosophers as guides 338

Evolution degrades its defenders 340

Chapter XII

Prof. Proctor's Nebulous Fiery Origin of the Solar System

unscientific 345

The nebular hypothesis stated 347

Facts of natural science prove the nebular hypothesis false. 350

Nebular matter vapor — It could not burn 353

If homogeneous, could not bum 354

If liquid fire, the earth cooled first in the center 357

Laws governing magnetics 360

All power is mental 363

Relation of cause and effect demonstrate creation 365

CHAPTER XIII. Contiguity produces races 370

Comparative order of mind 373

Mr. Darwin's shallow reasoning 377

How the eyeless animals became such 379

The absurdity of natural selection 383

Mr. Darwin prophesies that all will be evolutionists 385

TABLE OF CONTENTS. Xxi

PAGE

Nature cannot be arrayed against herself 387

Man one of God's machines , 391

Tyndall's admiration of his ancestral matter 393

CHAPTER XIV. Deterioration, not progress, the order of nature 396

Diseased air and mental impression 398

An approaching crisis 410

Evolution atheistic science 413

CHAPTER XV. National degeneracy the voice of history

Darwin's assumptions refuted 414

Heathen philosophy corruptions of Scripture 419

Ly ell's inconsistency in ignoring the Bible record 423

National progress not the rule 426

Rome never equaled Greece in virtue or intelligence 429

A people never rise above their religion 433

Plato's doctrine of the divine essence, deism 435

Cook, of Boston, adopts Plato's doctrine of " life." 438

Cookism destroys moral responsibility 441

The lower animals depend upon man for subsistence and existence 444

The world with man extinct 447

INTRODUCTION.

If the searcher after truth succeeds in compassing his object, he must divest himself of every prejudice and preconceived opinion, whether they have been adopted on the principle of authority or have resulted from his own investigations. This must be done at least to an extent that will not bias his mind in reaching conclusions. Hence an author may differ with every previous writer upon the same subject as well as with what he himself has written. Instead, however, of such a course being in the least degree reprehensible, it deserves the highest praise ; and he who does not merit it is a mere unprogressive petrifaction in the world of mind. The only conception of truth commensurate with its native dignity is that it comprehends the facts, phenomena, and object of the universe ; at least those connected with our world.

One of the commonest errors into which scientists and theologians have fallen has been the practice of blindly following each other, not in the examination of the evidences or processes by which previous authors arrived at conclusions, but by the adoption of the conclusions themselves. In order to avoid such a course only one way is open, and that is independent and impartial investigation.

If the supposition were admissible, that the authors of the works on science, systems of philosophy, or the xxiii

XXIV INTRODUCTION.

theology of the past, were better qualified to form correct opinions than those of the present, then might there have been none but the first book on each subject written ; but if the thought of the world cannot afford to be thus hampered, then such opinions, from whatever source they may have originated, should not be considered as a feather's weight in defense of any theory. That which alone has importance to us is, What evidence do they give, and are their reasonings conclusive ? God has in vested every man with the prerogative of judging for himself, and holds him responsible for its judicious exercise. The concurrent opinions, therefore, of all the geological evolutionists of all time, to the effect that the world came into existence by what are called " the laws of nature," furnish not a particle of evidence in support of such a theory ; and yet Sir Charles Lyell fills a large portion of his " Principles of Geology" with quotations from ancient and modern writers on natural science, as authority for some of the most important principles he attempts to defend, even quoting from heathen deities. Take the following as an example : Vishnu, one of the persons in the Brahma or Hindoo deity, assumed the form of a fish, a tortoise, and a boar, of which Lyell says, " Extravagant as may be some of the conceits and fictions which disfigure these pretended revelations, we can by no means look upon them as a pure effort of the unassisted imagination, or believe them to have been composed without regard to opinions and theories on the observation of nature."

Of course this is not imagination, though mere nonsense, for it presents Darwin's theory of the evolution of the organic world, now adopted by Lyell. The boar was once a tortoise, the tortoise a fish, and the fish was the deity. While such has been the history of scientific dis-

INTRODUCTION. XXV

cussions, so provocative of opposition, and though theology has been equally narrow in its conceits — adopting many of its tenets from heathen authors — as well as intolerant in its spirit, it has this example as its apology. The above remark of Lyell pays more respect and expresses more confidence in this opinion of a scribe of a heathen deity than can be found in his whole book in regard to the revelations of Moses, or of the living God of Moses.

No Antagonism between Science and Scripture.

The unnatural warfare against real science and philosophy — which simply means the methods of God in the physical world — can have no justifiable defense except on the preposterous supposition of antagonism in revealed truth, or that the works and teachings of God are hostile to each other, and also to himself. Those who entertain such a supposition have been either too indolent to study the book of nature, or too superstitious to learn the written book of God. Hence for many of the opinions of the theologians the Bible is no more responsible than is nature for the great mass of the opinions relating to the so-called sciences of geology and evolution. As the result of a conflict of such vast dimensions, is it wonderful that the religious world should have been cursed with its thousand years of " dark ages," or the modern scientific world with Lyell's geology and Darwin's evolution ? The remedy for this evil is that such a knowledge of both the great books of Nature and the Bible shall be obtained as shall show them to be complements of each other, and therefore springing from a common source.

It is true that the theologians of our day have ostensibly repudiated the intolerance of the past ; but in their

XXVI INTRODUCTION.

new-born liberality they have adopted a sentiment still more pernicious and ruinous to the cause of Bible truth, namely, that it matters not what a man believes, if he is only sincere and honest in his faith.

If such is the fact, then it supercedes all further necessity of promulgating revealed truth, which comprehends the knowledge of God's designs with man and the world. So widely prevalent is this monstrous opinion, that when a discourse is to be delivered upon the revealed will of God, it is generally prefaced by an apology for preaching a doctrinal sermon. What would be thought of a teacher of science or philosophy who should be perpetually telling his pupils that it mattered not what were their scientific or philosophical views, or how widely those held by one might differ from those held by another, if they were only honest, sincere, charitable, and liberal minded ?

Prof. Max Muller says : *'The question of the descent of man may be called the question of the nineteenth century ; and it requires all the knowledge of the century to answer it adequately."

Prof. Tyndall says : " The religious sentiment is the problem of problems of the present day."

Notwithstanding the difficulty and danger here expressed, and which no reflecting mind can fail to comprehend, the flippant saying is as ostentatious as it is common, " We have no fears for the success of Christianity," when the lamentable and momentous fact is, that Christianity fails in every instance by the adoption of any sentiment hostile to the Bible, as the man who adopts it fails to answer the end for which he was made ; especially when he denies that God created him, and is not therefore the proprietor of his being, and he consequently owes Him no service. They seem to confound

INTRODUCTION. XXVU

Christianity with the systems and institutions of men, the very existence of which may be endangered by their organized opposition ; and because in some countries there is no such opposition, it is taken as evidence of its success ; while this very care of nations, giving it popularity, has been and is its most deadly enemy, corrupting it by the inculcation of the sentiment we have indicated, while on the other hand the fires of persecution have always proved the purification of its adherents.

The Necessity of Controversy.

Even the attempts to defend its truths by public controversy at the present day is supposed to injure them, while the example of its Founder, who provoked and engaged in controversy, stands out as one of the most conspicuous facts of his earthly history. He argued not merely with the learned Scribes, Pharisees, priests, and lawyers, but set forth his doctrines to so humble a listener as the " woman of Samaria ; " the subject, too, in this instance being upon the nature of God and that of his worship. Whoever received a letter from the great Apostle of the Gentiles, or heard one of his public discourses, but heard and saw a continual stream of doctrinal controversy ? Nor did he wait for the opposers of the gospel to begin the attack, but in obedience to the mandate of the Master, '' Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," he carried the war into the camps and citadels of the enemy, disputing with the Platonic philosophers, superstitious Jews, and Pagan idolators, and never failing to produce conviction of the truth of his doctrine and of the divine authority of his mission. Nothing is more erroneous than the notion that controversy was to be limited to the first age after Christ's ascension. If it had Jews to convince then, it

XXVIU INTRODUCTION.

has more Jews now. If the gospel had Pagan idolatry to meet then, it has more Pagans now ; for in addition it has to encounter Mohammedans and Spiritualists. If it successfully met Grecian philosophy with the preaching of "Jesus and the resurrection," it has a more subtle philosophy to encounter now in the shape of evolution and geology ; the first claiming to have found the origin of the animal and vegetable life of the world in the simplest form of inanimate matter, while the second sees the nebulae resolve itself into the solar system without the touch of an intelligent finger, thus presenting us with the most perfect form of materialistic skepticism.

" Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." — Paul.

COSMOGONY.

Chapter I. Independence Of Mind Necessary To Arrive At Truth

False Impressions of Human Knowledge and Learned

Men.

There is, perhaps, no sentiment or supposition entertained by mankind which has acted so fatally against the progress of human knowledge and its general acquisition as its supposed profundity and vast extent, and that those esteemed learned men have explored this great ocean and made its lore their own. We do not speak of the facts of history, which to any considerable extent no man lives long enough even to read, but a knowledge of nature — her inorganic structure, organic classification, her motions ; the laws by which they are governed ; the nature of those laws ; the extent of reciprocal dependence ; the grand object her combined machinery accomplishes, and how all became endowed with these forces and susceptibilities ; where is the limit between the natural (her capabilities) and the supernatural (that of which she is incapable) : in a word, the philosophy of science.

Nomenclature — the simple names of things, either similar or dissimilar — is no part of this knowledge. A man 29 might be able to memorize the name of every existing object, and yet not know the chemical relation of any two of them. Neither is mathematics a part of such knowledge. It is simply the art of using conventional signs whereby the comparative size, distance, and rapidity of the motion of the objects of nature may be ascertained and stated. A man may have in his memiory the figures representing the sizes, distances from each other, and the velocities of every one of the objects of nature, and yet not have a knowledge of the peculiar qualities of any of these objects or of the influence which it is capable of exerting upon another, affecting its phases and motions, or have the least conception of the necessities involved as to the time or manner of such endowment. Indeed, there have been men who by mental arithmetic could solve any problem in figures put to them, and yet were almost idiotic upon every other subject, and utterly incapable of forming an abstract idea.

Nor is the commitment to memory of historic facts, knowledge ; but this comes by thought, reflection, and investigation of the teaching of those facts by which the statesman learns by their repeated concurrence to depend upon them to produce substantially the same results. Hence we say " history repeats itself." Neither is language a part of such knowledge. It has been correctly said that " words are signs of ideas ; " but it must be remembered that they are only such by conventionality. A child may learn to repeat words, and read them ; and while others are able to comprehend the ideas thus conveyed, the speaker or reader may not apprehend a single one of the ideas himself. The art of language simply qualifies its possessor to obtain other men's ideas, spoken, written, or printed ; and if a single one of these ideas were only contained in a book written in a language foreign to every living man, then it would be lost unless some one so far mastered that language as to be able to translate it into another which was known. But even this might be purely mechanical, so far as the translator was concerned. Language, therefore, can be considered in no other light than as a means of acquiring knowledge.