{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66153/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66153","id":"gutenberg_66153","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66153","summary":null,"tags":["Bible and science","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Science - Earth/Agricultural/Farming","Creation","Religion and science"],"text":"The Neptunian or Water Theory of Creation\n\n\n\n\n               The Neptunian or Water Theory of Creation.\n\n                                   By\n                          Rev. J. M. Woodman,\n           Professor in Natural Science, Chico Academy, Cal.\n\n   Author of \u201cGod in Nature and Revelation,\u201d \u201cThe Song of Cosmology,\u201d\n        \u201cStar Dates of Human History,\u201d \u201cThe Song of the Morning\n                   Stars in Creation\u2019s Grand March.\u201d\n\n        \u201c_If they speak not according to thy word it is because\n                      there is no truth in them._\u201d\n\n                             San Francisco:\n                Bacon & Company, Book and Job Printers,\n                  Corner of Clay and Sansome Streets.\n                                 1888.\n\n\n\n\n       Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year A. D. 1888,\n       BY J. M. WOODMAN,\n       In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.\n\n\n\n\n                           TABLE OF CONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHREE THEORIES OF CREATION REVIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF ADMITTED FACTS 9\n\nSECTION 1.\n\nThe Plutonic or fire theory stated 15\n\nCentro-centrifugal theory 16\n\nHeated Nebulous theory 17\n\nThe increase of heat in mining shafts no evidence of a hot center 19\n\nThe admitted sedimentary nature of primitive granite destroys the\nPlutonic theory 22\n\nThe theories of metamorphic rock not sustained 23\n\nMining shafts increase in heat according to chemical action 25\n\nCauses of volcanoes and geysers explained 26\n\nGeologists dissatisfied with the fire theory. Submarine volcanoes 28\n\nDiatoms found in the earliest stratified rock 31\n\nSECTION 2.\n\nThe Neptunian theory stated 32\n\nAll matter created at once in cold gas. God\u2019s power needed to move\nmatter. The first cosmological division 33\n\nProbable length of it. The first condition of our globe in form 35\n\nSECTION 3.\n\nThe facts of science support the Neptunian theory. In quantity, order\nand constituent elements of rock 36\n\nThe three ways that gases combine into rock 36\n\nHow rock can swim in water 38\n\nExplorations made of the Atlantic 39\n\nWe once had a hemisphere of land, and one of water 40\n\nThe climate was tropical, as attested by shells, coral, coal, and\nsaurians 41\n\nAlso by tropical animals, flowers, and tropical vegetation 42\n\nWater raised the mountains 45\n\nSea bottom seen there 46\n\nRise and depressions of earth. Cause of glacial epoch 48\n\nSECTION 4.\n\nSuch a world physically adapted to man 50\n\nThe accumulating evidence that our earth is essentially a ball of water\n53\n\nThe reasons the Antediluvians had no rainbow 54\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE NEPTUNIAN THEORY WAS FIRST BROUGHT TO LIGHT IN THE BOOK OF JOB,\nDATED IN THE STARS. EPIDRAMATIC ORATORIO 55\n\nOrient the place for such a poem 57\n\nFirst question established 58\n\nThe indictment against piety amended 59\n\nThe prologue ended with Satan confounded 59\n\nThese persons all representative characters 60\n\nStarting the drama of history. Piety endures the trials of all ages 61\n\nJob rewarded on the field. Flood passed 64\n\nSurrounded by universal idolatry 65\n\nCertain chapters Messianic 66\n\nResurrection reached 68\n\nThe enemies boast of the secular arm of law 69\n\nThe Reformation reached 70\n\nThe voice of space 72\n\nDead organic matter, as fossils, speaking 73\n\nAn explanation of the story of Joshua\u2019s miracle. The three friends\nsilenced. Secular education personified 75\n\nTrue loyal prayer, against unsupported illegal faith, and prayer without\nfaith 77\n\nThe Copernican system seen by Job, with the sedimentary nature of\ngranite 79\n\nThe rotundity of Earth with the inside water 81\n\nThe birth-place of ancient icebergs 83\n\nThe telegraph seen and dated 84\n\nDescription of certain fossils 85\n\nThe grand future of the church of the living God 86\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nALL THE SCRIPTURE REFERENCES TO COSMOLOGY ARE IN HARMONY WITH THE BOOK\nOF JOB. EARTH STANDING IN WATER. FLOOD CAUSED BY OVERFLOW OF THE SEA.\nONCE IN A RING OF GASES. ABOVE THE WATERS 87\n\nMoses gained his first ideas of Creation here 88\n\nPower born in the hand of God 88\n\nGravitation accounts only for centripetal power 89\n\nA steam world born but not yet swaddled 92\n\nIt is swaddled in gathering and condensing 93\n\nTracing gases into rock 95\n\nTo what days the Mosaic time is unadapted 96\n\nWhat the Mosaic days of creation do mean 96\n\nGeneral and Special Providence 99\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE SIX DAYS OF MOSES FULL OF SCIENTIFIC SUGGESTIONS SHOWING THE WORK OF\nGOD TO THE END OF TIME 100\n\nSECTION 1.\n\nThe work of the first day 101\n\nMeaning of deep 102\n\nFigures of speech. A ring of waters in fluid gases first called\nfirmament 103\n\nThese days are not literal 104\n\nSECTION 2.\n\nThe work of the second day 105\n\nMeaning of create. Must be read in the light of scientific facts 107\n\nMoses\u2019 point of observation. First firmament tangible 107\n\nMoses, in vision, confined to the history of our globe. The history of\nother planets not given 109\n\nSECTION 3.\n\nThe work of the third day. The steam world commences to liquify 110\n\nThe scientific problem of a probable pole-changing solved 112\n\nOne end only in sunshine 112\n\nWhy it did not rain on the earth 113\n\nThe cause of the first chilled climate. When it turned to torrid 115\n\nSECTION 4.\n\nThe account of the fourth day in figure of metonymy 116\n\nRecent coal periods 119\n\nSECTION 5.\n\nThe work of the fifth day. Contrasts are found in the sea, diatoms begin\nin the Gneiss rock 121\n\nThe whale of the Miocene is the contrasting animal, as morning 122\n\nThe order of the existence of animals by Moses agrees with facts 123\n\nScience and the Bible claim substantially the same thing in reference to\nSpecial Providence 125\n\nSECTION 6.\n\nThe work of the sixth day. Beasts are the evening. Man is the morning\n127\n\nOur race sprang from Adam 128\n\nThe cleansing of the air was essential to the introduction of man 129\n\nRecent volcanoes argue the correctness of the Mosaic account 130\n\nWe have not even yet reached the climax of good breathing 132\n\n\n\n\n                             INTRODUCTION.\n\n\nThe question as to what kind of reading shall yield us the most\nexquisite enjoyment, largely depends upon our ability for\nself-development. Taste in reading, as in eating, is often an educated\nfaculty. The relish that we now have for many kinds of food, we had to\nacquire. We all have faculties for intellectual, moral and spiritual\nenjoyment, in lines of thought corresponding. These must be developed by\nuse. Reader, you have the ability, if you will allow it to be developed,\nof enjoying a perusal of this sublime subject. Mere sensational reading\nlike emotional religion has its field of enjoyment, its rills of\nhappiness; but it is changeable and uncertain. Songs of praise and\ndevotional reading have a higher place in the human soul, lasting in\ntheir nature.\n\nObservation and historical research open another field of enjoyment.\nLanguage and location of places may become a passion in the mind. The\nstudy of causes in nature, at best but secondary, may hold the mind in a\nsweet revery of delight; but these are mere rills of comfort compared to\nan open sea, to the ability of reading and comprehending first causes,\nin the light of prophetic declarations.\n\nWe are thrilled in the presence of relics of ancient history. The sight\nof a mummy, known to be an ancient person of historic note thrills us\nwith admiration and agreeable wonder, as in the case of Rameses II.\nThree thousand years seems a long time; yet it is easy to obtain almost\nany where a fossil, fish or shell, representing as many million of\nyears. No where else are the \u201cFootprints\u201d of God so plain, measuring the\nlong ages of time, as seen in the Bible.\n\nThe fact that you have not been accustomed to read on this subject is no\nreason why you should not begin at once, and experience the increased\nreverence for God, the captivating engagement of thought, and the\nexquisite enjoyment of soul, as a result. Do you still ask what\npractical benefit will this knowledge be to you? Let us rather ask what\nharm will come from a general impression that the cosmological\nutterances of the Bible are so tangled up in a network of scientific\nsuppositions, as to cause even good men to drop them, as parts of God\u2019s\ninspiration to man. Such results are already produced all over the land.\n\nThe Bible has been assailed on its cosmological sayings. Shall it be\ndefended? If you are so fortunate as to be entrenched in the belief of\nthe inspiration of the Scriptures, while you are unable to give a reason\nfor the hope within, your friends may not be so fortunate. Your\nchildren, it may be, will return from school, intent upon showing you\nthe discrepancies with the established teachings of science. If these\nthings are, as they purport to be, given by inspiration of God, they can\nnever be made to harmonize with an illogical and untruthful cosmology.\nHow important, then, that we should have the right theory.\n\nThe disciples of Jesus were asked, \u201cHave any of the rulers of the Jews\nbelieved on him?\u201d Perhaps before you purchase you ask, Have any men of\nscientific notoriety endorsed these views? Of the many scores of good\nwords given by editors, lawyers, doctors, ministers, teachers, and\nprofessors in colleges, I have room only for a few. Prof. David Swing of\nChicago said: \u201cThe Neptunian theory of creation, as presented in Dr.\nWoodman\u2019s book, is the most logical presentation of cosmology that I\never read. He writes in a calm and truthful style.\u201d The late Prof.\nNorton of the Cal. State Normal said: \u201cYou have chosen an opportune time\nfor the presentation of your book, for the theories of cosmology are on\nthe eve of a mighty revolution, in which the water theory is likely to\ncome to the front.\u201d Prof. Reid, President of the State University, said:\n\u201cThe subject, as you present it, is wonderfully in accordance with what\nwe see in Nature; and it is still more wonderful that you should find it\nso beautifully set forth in the Bible.\u201d Prof. LeConte, of the same\nUniversity, said: \u201cYour theory is a wide departure from everything\nhitherto written upon the subject. I will say this of it; it accounts\nfor more unexplained phenomena than any theory before presented. I will\ngive you this item, which I know to be correct. The Magnolia tree in the\nTertiary period, grew and blossomed as far as 80 degrees north.\u201d\n\nNumerous bodies of clergymen have endorsed the theory as a just and\nbeautiful presentation of Scripture; many as the \u201conly theory with which\nMoses\u2019 Genesis of Creation can be reconciled.\u201d The say-so of others may\nsatisfy the indolent and careless, but to enjoy the subject you must\nread and digest these grand truths for yourself.\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n       Three Theories Reviewed in the Light Of Scientific Facts.\n\n\nIn the study of Nature, aided only by natural phenomena, effect,\nsuggesting cause, is everywhere apparent. These effects variously\ncompounded point with accuracy only to secondary causes. First causes\nare hidden far behind all existing appearances.\n\nUnaided nature leaves man to seek first causes only by hypotheses. As\nmight be expected, on the same subject scientists widely differ in\ntheory. Such reasoning must ever leave a large margin for opinion.\n\nNotwithstanding the uncertainty of all such modes of reasoning, still\nthat hypothesis must ever possess the greatest weight, that best accords\nwith the largest number of existing facts. Reasoning _a priori_, from\nthe providing care of nature\u2019s God, as seen in stores of coal, oil,\niron, copper, and various kinds of precious metals, we might reasonably\nconclude that he who created the intellectual as well as the religious\nnature in man would carefully provide for the full gratification of\nboth. Knowing God\u2019s nature, reason would suggest that what is wanting in\nnature must somewhere be supplied by special revelation of God.\n\nThe book of nature coupled with the Bible would be a necessity; not only\nfor a complete worship, but for a full cosmology. We should expect the\ntwo volumes, when rightly rendered, to correspond. A noted atheistical\nlecturer upon cosmical changes stated in a series of lectures in Chico,\nCal., that the \u201cBible theory of creation is decidedly watery. By the\nstatements of this book, we should conclude that the center itself is\none vast body of water, holding upon its bosom a crust of earth.\u201d As a\nbeliever in the Plutonic theory, and having no reverence for the Bible,\nhe added, \u201cWhat fool does not know better?\u201d What he gave as a \u201cBible\nTheory,\u201d we will assume as a scientific hypothesis; and rest the proof\nof the same upon the facts in nature which scientists, in advocating the\nPlutonic theory, have given us.\n\nIt will be the object of this chapter to show that the more recently\ndeveloped facts in geology point unmistakably to the Neptunian theory of\nCreation. This will be done by comparing the three theories, and each\nwith lines of facts which have been well established. It will be\nnecessary\n\n\n                               Section 1\n              To State the Plutonic Theory of the Schools.\n\n\n1. That all matter existed, or was created in a primeval state of heat.\nOne hypothesis is, that all matter of our system was concentrated in one\nheated ball as a central sun.\n\n2. That planets are portions of this matter, thrown off by a rapid\nrotary motion of the sun. Properly named, this theory was the\ncentro-centrifugal theory, now quite out of date. That this theory might\nbe true, the sun must have turned upon its axis with a velocity\nsufficient not only to destroy gravitation at its surface, now\ntwenty-seven times that of the Earth, but with a force capable of\nthrowing Jupiter, fourteen hundred times the size of the Earth, out into\nspace four hundred and seventy-five million of miles, and Neptune over\ntwo billion of miles. When we consider that our sun now turns on its\naxis only once in twenty-seven days, we conclude that a vivid\nimagination must have supplied the machinery necessary for such\nastounding results in the very face of forbidding facts. This theory\nmade no provision for the encircling waters, sufficient to wrap the\nentire surface of the globe three miles deep, nor for the enveloping\natmosphere. Gradually this ancient theory has been modulated into the\nNebulous Theory.\n\n3. The more popular teaching of today is, that matter existed in a\nhighly heated state in the form of a diffused cloud. Steel, in his\n\u201cFourteen Weeks in Geology,\u201d suggests that \u201cFrom unknown causes, this\ncloud-matter began to revolve about a center or sun. This nucleus drew\nmatter direct to itself from all parts of our system. Other portions\nrevolving were thrown off, and formed new centers for planetary\ngathering, as they respectively took up their orbicular march about the\nsun. This fiery mist is supposed to have come together in a heated\nstate. The planets, at least, have since been cooling, though as yet\nhaving but a thin crust.\u201d To this theory of primeval heat, in some form,\nall our text books conform. A theory so long and so universally accepted\nmight be supposed to have some solid facts upon which to rest. But\nreally it has less to sustain it than had the Ptolemaic theory of\nAstronomy: that, at least, had observation in its favor, but this fails\neven here. It is a curious circumstance in this guess work of results,\nthat whether heat is made to increase on an average one degree in fifty\nfeet, as given by many geologists, or one degree in one hundred feet, as\ngiven by others, precisely the same results are reached, viz., fifty\nmiles crust, and intensely heated matter beyond. This assumption is\nbased upon the supposed fact that the internal heat traverses the rock\nby conduction. If this were true, then the degree of heat gained in any\none hundred feet of rock, as you descend into the Earth\u2019s crust, would\nbe the approximate measurement of any other hundred feet in the same\nshaft; but the reverse of this is true. No two measurements seem to be\nalike. The miner, as a practical geologist, in this regard knows that\nthis heat is generally caused by chemical action of the rock upon which\nyou have let in air or water, or both. This heat is found to vary\naccording to nature of the rock which you expose. If the rock is rich in\npyrites of iron or lime, in any of its numerous forms, then\ndisintegration is abundant and much heat is generated; but, on the other\nhand, where all disintegrating elements are wanting, there is no\nperceptible increase of heat.\n\n4. The theory of the continued increase of heat, according to the ratio\nnoticed as you sink a shaft a few hundred feet into the Earth\u2019s crust,\nif it proves anything proves too much, and is therefore false.\nExperiments extensively made in the Virginia mines of Nevada, and\nparticularly in the Foreman Shaft, show the increase to be very uneven;\ndiffering from one degree in twelve feet to one in two hundred feet. It\neven grows colder as you descend some kind of rock, a degree in one\nhundred feet. The degree of heat is always regulated and gauged by the\nrock you pass. If the rock will disintegrate readily, it gives out more\nheat; but if the rock may lie exposed in the sun and rain without\ndisintegration, it throws out no heat in the shaft. Yet from experiments\nmade in the Foreman Shaft, notwithstanding these varieties of rock, yet\nat the 2,100 foot level it is found that the average increase is one\ndegree in twelve feet. At this rate, at twenty-five miles towards the\ncenter you would encounter heat above 4,300 deg. Fahr. Chemists will\nadmit that, after due allowance for pressure at such a depth, yet the\ngranite with all known substances would fuse at this heat. The Plutonic\nhypothesis makes the crust in Nevada less than twenty-five miles,\nperhaps the weakest on the continent.\n\nExperiments in Mexico, upon this line of reasoning, would make the crust\ntwice as thick. Now from a well established law in philosophy, a\npressure upon liquid on the inside of a cylinder imparts its pressure to\nevery part of the cylinder at the same time. A pressure capable of\nbreaking the crust in any place should, at least, cause all the openings\nto emit lava at the same time. But this is not the historic action of\nvolcanoes; one emits while another sleeps.\n\nIt is a historic fact observed within the present century, that a\nvolcanic mountain rose up from a comparatively level plane in Mexico, in\none night, to the height of 1,695 feet. On the assumption that lava\ncomes from the center of the earth, why should not the above pressure\nhave found the weaker crust, and Nevada have been the place of eruption\ninstead of Mexico? and why should not the three hundred open vents of\nEarth have emitted lava at the same time? The theory will not bear\nphilosophic tests.\n\nThe Russian report of the increase of heat is only one-fourth that given\nin Nevada. Who believes, therefore, that the crust there is four times\nas thick as in Nevada? The whole subject shows that the increase of heat\nin the shaft proves nothing as to the interior of Earth, and nothing as\nto the thickness of its crust.\n\n5. To establish the Plutonic theory, it is at least necessary to\ndemonstrate that the granite, which all hold to be the under rock, is\nthe unstratified Plutonic foundation of all stratified rock. Recent\nfacts have demonstrated that the granite is a sedimentary rock, or rock\ndeposited in water. This being admitted, although contradicting the\nteachings of all the older text books, some writers, among them is\nSteel, in order to harmonize the Plutonic theory with these stubborn\nfacts, have assumed that the primitive granite, which by the theory must\nhave been trap or lava, has all been worn away by disintegration of\nwater and ice, or both; and again, by water deposited as we now find it.\nBut what was a white-hot globe of lava doing, while water and ice were\ntearing and grinding its lower crust to powdered sand? We have secondary\ngranite, but its structure is very different from primitive granite.\nBesides containing hard pebbles and boulders of other stone, it is\nfriable, and easily disintegrated under exposure. It is a bad theory\nthat is driven to such unheard-of suppositions for its support. Nothing\nis more evident, if the granite is the under rock, and sedimentary, as\nrepresented and known to be, than that the Plutonic theory is completely\nwithout foundation.\n\n6. The modern theory of metamorphic rock, occasioned by internal heat,\nis also false. This theory maintains that the granite, slates, and\nmarble existed so near to the great body of internal heat that they must\nhave been metamorphosed. Facts demonstrate that these rocks, as a rule,\nwere never in heat equal to 700 deg. Fahr. Such a heat will readily\ndisintegrate any of these formations. Any one can demonstrate this by\nmelting a little lead upon a piece of slate, marble, or granite. The\nfurnace is found to be the best general test of the origin of rock.\nLava, having been in a melted state, will not disintegrate up to the\nmelting point, but, as a rule, will readily melt at the white heat.\nGranite, the slates, marble, and rock in general, of a sedimentary\nformation, will disintegrate at a comparatively low heat, but they will\nnot melt, except with alkaloids, or flux, and then only at a very high\ndegree of heat. This test shows all the primitive rock, including\ninjected seams, to have been formed in the sea, with no heat to change\ntheir structure since. There are a few exceptions to the rule of\ndisintegration, as clay rock.\n\n7. If the granite were not sedimentary, we could not account for the\ngreat quantity of sedimentary rock this side. Among the authors of our\ntext books there seems to be a general vagueness concerning the origin\nof stratified rock, except in regard to coal, which all admit came out\nof the air. If we should assume that the granite was lava, but all the\nstratified rock since, until you reach the region of conglomerate, came\nfrom the air, how shall we account for the close similarity in\nappearance and structure of the gneiss and granite? Theory has piled\nthirty or forty miles of this sedimentary, stratified rock above the\ngranite; whence did it come? Any openings in the granite would let up\nonly lava. Whence the material for sediment? We shall, farther on, show\nthat all primitive rock, like the coal, came from the gases of the\natmosphere once enveloping this globe.\n\n8. Our best scientists now readily unite with the keen sighted miner in\naccounting for this increase of heat as you pass down the shaft, on\nentirely different principles from those stated in the text books. Prof.\nJoseph Le Conte says that \u201cChemical action of air and water upon the\nrock, as you descend into the Earth\u2019s crust, is undoubtedly the cause of\nthe increase of heat.\u201d Again he says, \u201cThis heat is regulated and gauged\nby the constituents of the rock that you pass.\u201d Now admitting that the\nrock, as a rule, would show an average increase of heat down to the\nCarboniferous system, or even to the Devonian, yet there is rock enough\nbeyond that contains so much less carbon, as to show such a decrease of\nheat that must more than counteract all the increase above. Whether we\nfollow up the old hypothesis, with the laws regulating heat by\nconduction or chemical action, the theory is utterly without foundation.\nThe late Prof. Norton, of the California State Normal, said in a lecture\nat Pacific Grove, in 1883, \u201cEvery living geologist that I know of in the\nworld will admit, for he _knows_, that the granite was a sedimentary\nrock.\u201d This sentiment of his speech being reported to Le Conte, he\nreplied, \u201cIn this position Prof. Norton is undoubtedly right.\u201d It is\nthus seen that the Plutonic theory in our text books is at variance with\nmodern experiments, and is proved to be utterly false.\n\n9. Volcanoes and geysers were formerly supposed to settle the question\nin favor of the old theory. The phenomena of both are such as to\nstrongly argue against it. Most geysers are known to be caused by\nchemical action of rock. We instance those in Hot Spring Valley, Cal.,\nnear Lassen Buttes. No one, having noticed the various colored mud-pots\nand mounds of pulpy rock thrown up by these boiling cauldrons, can come\nto any other conclusion. A few geysers may be exceptions, having been\ncaused by water trickling over heated rock in proximity to volcanoes.\nThese prove nothing as to the center of the earth, until it can be\nestablished that this body of lava is in the center of the earth. A\nmultitude of facts in connection with volcanic action demonstrate that\nlava does not proceed from a common center.\n\nA few we will here give. (1.) Lava varies in color according to the\ncolor of the stratified rock found in the vicinity. Thus, between Reno\nand Wadsworth, Nevada, may be seen a red ledge of sedimentary rock.\nClose by are found quantities of red lava, being the same shade of red\nfound in the sedimentary. Pieces of rock may be seen, one side showing\nthe sedimentary strata, and the other partially melted. Lava everywhere,\nprobably, is only sedimentary rock melted. (2.) Volcanic disturbances\nare local, which they could not be if they proceeded from a common\ncenter. (3.) The existence of great quantities of ashes, so light as to\nfloat on the surface of water, argues the consumption of some burning\nmaterial, as of coal. Nothing of this would exist in matter that had\nprimarily been collected in liquid, and had ever been in a fused state.\nSomething must have been burning to produce the ashes. (4.) The fact of\nall the great upheavals of plateaus and mountains having been this side\nthe Carboniferous system of deposit, where the burning material,\nsufficient to produce volcanic effect, was extracted from the air and\nlaid down as rock, argues in favor of a power much nearer than force,\ngenerated from a primeval sea of lava. Burning coal as a source of heat,\nand steam as a power, are ample to account for every volcanic\ndisturbance, however it may have been modified by electric forces.\n\n10. Most geologists are dissatisfied with the fire theory, and are\nlooking about for a revolution in the teaching of the science. Professor\nNorton said, \u201cWe are upon the eve of a perfect revolution in the science\nof geology.\u201d Agassiz said, \u201cThe Plutonic theory loses ground as soon as\nbrought to scientific tests.\u201d Again he uttered with decided emphasis,\n\u201cIf the center of our earth were molten lava, as hot as represented, a\ncrust of rock fifty miles thick would melt, and, in the space of a few\nhours, fall into the great sea.\u201d\n\nA teacher of geology in one of our large colleges, who had just finished\na lecture upon the Plutonic theory, said, \u201cI have given that theory\nbecause it is the teaching of all our text-books; but I do not believe\nit. Many facts now coming to light show that the Water theory is\ndestined to come to the front.\u201d\n\n11. The fact that submarine volcanoes happen, without letting the ocean\ninto the great sea of lava, shows that no such sea is there. But for the\nmoney and reputation invested in school books upon this defunct theory,\nit would have been, before this, consigned to the Plutonic hell of the\nGreeks, from whence, it is more than probable, it originated.\n\n12. Many admitted facts are utterly inconsistent with this theory. We\nwill stop to notice but two.\n\n(1.) It is a generally admitted fact, that the entire land portions of\nthe explored earth, including Greenland to the 80th parallel, were\neither in a tropical or semi-tropical climate, from the beginning of\nsedimentary rock, up to and far into the so-called Alluvium deposit, and\neven to the historic age. \u201cThe climate of England was warmer than any\nnow known on the earth.\u201d Sir Chas. Lyell stated, that the only\nexceptions breaking in upon this uniformly warm climate were temporary\nchanges during the great glacial epochs. This uniform heat could not\nresult from the present auxiliary motion of the earth, nor with any good\nreason can we assert that the internal fires ever modulated the surface\nclimate so much as one degree. Scientists are a unit in affirming that,\nfor the last four thousand years, there has been no perceptible\ninfluence from this cause, upon our climate. A rupture of the earth\u2019s\ncrust, and a change of pole three thousand miles, and a complete change\nof pole-pointing, resulting in our present alternating seasons, has\nprobably happened within the \u201chistoric age,\u201d and probably within five\nthousand years. This could not be upon the Plutonic basis. Our earth\ncould not part, and swim off upon a globe of melted lava.\n\n(2.) Diatoms are now known to have existed, coequal with the deposit of\nall stratified rock. This is a well verified fact, but utterly\ninconsistent with the Plutonic theory. Upon this theory, the early crust\nof Earth must have remained at a white heat. Water could not lie upon it\nat all. Hence, both deposits in water and animal life would be out of\nthe question. The fact of both, to say nothing of the well established\nfact of the sedimentary nature of granite, must ever brand the theory as\ncontradicting the plain facts of nature. These facts equally refute the\nmore modern notion of metamorphism of rock. The very waves of the sea\nunite in a chorus with the rocks, \u201cThe Plutonic foundations of the\nearth\u2019s crust exist only in the imagination of man.\u201d\n\n\n                               Section 2.\n          We will State the Neptunian Theory as a Hypothesis.\n\n\n1. All matter was created at once, and is correlative.\n\n2. In its primary condition it was in cold gas; diffused in equilibrium\nin that portion of space now occupied with systems: it follows that\ngravitation, heat, form, motion and power would in this state be\nwanting.\n\n3. A power, outside of created matter, must transform this substance\nfrom the inertia of rest to that of motion. No sooner was a center of\nmatter gathered, than gravitation acted upon all parts of the universe.\nThe centers of all systems must commence at the same time, or one system\nwould tend to blend with another, and nature would be thrown out of\nequilibrium. The entire period of gathering must have been with relative\nexactness. It follows that, at the beginning of motion, all matter must\nbe put in motion. Such gases as were destined to constitute the sun\nwould move directly for it; and such gases as were destined for globes\nwould move in a circle around the center. Such order must have formed\nthe poetic choir of suns, \u201cWhen the morning stars sang together.\u201d\n\n4. The shaping of systems, sending forth light, heat, gravitation and\npower, may well be called the first cosmological division of matter.\nThis included the heavens, and prospective planets, as yet without form,\nand floating in a ring of chaotic gases.\n\n5. At the close of this division, our sun had been gathered out of a\nfield of space, extending each way more than twenty trillion of miles.\nIf these light gases had moved in a straight line at the rate of thirty\nmiles per hour, it would take ninety million of our years to reach the\ncenter. Poetically speaking, there existed a condition of matter when\nforce, light, gravitation, motion and form were sleeping in the inertia\nof rest. This was followed by a period of motion to and about a central\nsun. Geologically speaking, the earth, as yet, had no form. The matter\nthat would form planets was all floating in a revolving ring about the\nsun.\n\nThe objective view of this ring, with reference to the gathered center,\nwould be a solar firmament. The fluids above had not yet been separated\nfrom fluids below, hence the firmament was continuous. Earth, without\nform, was yet sleeping in chaos. It awoke in form when a second division\nof matter, with no measured duration as yet, had been accomplished.\n\n6. A vast field of hydrogen united with its equivalent of oxygen; and,\nin super-heated steam, evolved out into space, and took shape as a\nglobe. These divisions antedate geologic time. Geology must begin with\nsedimentary rock. The globe of steam must liquify and pass back to the\nring, and through it toward the sun. In doing so, it took an atmosphere\nwith it that shows the source of all our rock. When taking its true\norbit about the sun, it was a vast globe of cold water, holding, by\ngravitation, a dense atmosphere in its embrace, rich in material for\nsubmarine rock. For a while the deposits were very rapid, and a great\nquantity of pulp of rock was formed, before any hardening took place.\nThis accounts for the unstratified condition of granite. All the first\nrocks would be submarine, hidden deep in the sea. Nearly eighty miles\ndepth of deposits took place before dry land could appear.\n\n7. Contrasts marked the beginning and close of the first two divisions.\nIf we follow this order in this third division, we must wait until the\nDevonian forests showed the renewed touch of the creative hand, giving\nlife in contrast to inorganic matter, with which the globe started into\nform, and took its position as a planet of our system. Such is the\nNeptunian theory in part, touching first causes in cosmology.\n\n\n                               Section 3.\n   The well established Fact of Science look toward, and defend this\n                                Theory.\n\n\n1. In the relative quantities of sedimentary and lava rock. By far the\ngreater portion of rock of all lands is sedimentary. Lava is the\nexception. If the source of supply is an internal sea, 7,880 miles in\ndiameter, the reverse of this would most likely be true.\n\n2. In the relative order of the two kinds of rock. Except in very\nrestricted locations, sedimentary rock is at the bottom, in the middle,\nand at the top of the earth\u2019s crust. Lava has never been found as an\nintegral part of the supposed bottom rock.\n\n3. The constituents of all rock indicate the water theory. All rock is\nknown to be a combination of gases. The coal is admitted to have been\ngathered from the air, through the agency of vegetation. There are three\nways gases may be combined into rock:\n\n(1.) Through the agency of water alone. Such was the primitive granite;\nand such are the modern stalactites.\n\n(2.) Through the agency of diatoms living in the water. These creatures\nare absorbents. They absorb the minerals of the water, and form stone.\nSuch are lime, chalk and coral.\n\n(3.) They may be absorbed into vegetation, and then hidden away in the\nwaters, until changed into coal.\n\n(4.) Sandstone and conglomerate are formed from eroded material of other\nrocks.\n\n(5.) The melting of sedimentary rock in proximity to burning beds of\ncoal has formed the lava.\n\n(6.) Chimneys of rock crossing the lower strata, as of quartz and\ngranite, are now known to be of water deposit. The word dyke is\nimproperly applied to them. These circumstances all point to a center of\nwater.\n\n4. The question with many will arise, How can rock rest upon water? The\nanswer is, Upon the principle of the compressibility of liquids. Water\ncompresses a twentieth part in a thousand atmospheres. Thirty-three feet\nof water is equal to one atmosphere. Thirty-three thousand feet would\ncompress one-twentieth part. We have a geometrical series, with a ratio\nof 1.05. In 79-1/2 miles we have twelve and three-fourths terms. The sum\nof the series will equal 19.127, calling 33,000 feet _one_, without\ncompressibility. Now as the average rock, under salt water, weighs only\none and a half times as much as water, we have to multiply twelve and\nthree-fourths by one and a half to get its relative weight. This we find\nto be 19.125. At 79-1/2 miles in salt water, the weight of water equals\nrock of the same thickness. As rock displaces only its bulk of water, it\nwill swim like an egg in strong lye at this depth.\n\n5. The explorations which have been made of the Atlantic ocean go to\nsustain the Neptunian theory.\n\n(1.) They think that they have established the fact that we had a\nconnected land hemisphere, and a hemisphere of water. Lieutenant Maury\nmade such extensive explorations of its contour and bed, as to well nigh\ndemonstrate the above position. His report is, that the trough-like\nappearance of its bed, the corresponding walls on either side, being\nnearly perpendicular, showed that the continents were once together. On\neither side of the Atlantic the sounding line showed a gradual deepening\nof water for about two hundred miles from shore, when suddenly the depth\nbecame too great for measurement. This only confirms what Guizot wrote\nupon the same subject over fifty years ago.\n\nIn a small treatise he endeavored to prove that the continent showed a\nrent hemisphere of land, once altogether. That it had been rent asunder\nby some great convulsion of nature, and by water carried away from\nAfrica and Europe, with which North and South America were formerly\nconnected. His theory was, that continents and islands are but floating\nremnants of a once connected hemisphere.\n\n(2.) Such a rupture could only be maintained on the hypothesis of a\ncenter of water. Should the earth open its crust, letting the ocean into\nits interior of melted lava, it would resemble a bomb.\n\n6. We shall, therefore, assume that we had a land hemisphere, and that\nthe north pole was in the center, and pointed directly to the sun\nthroughout its entire orbit. This would involve the fact that the south\nhalf of the globe was in darkness, and locked in ice, as a great\nAntarctic sea.\n\n(1.) We argue this from the widely extended remains of the\npolyp-builders. This animalcule inhabits only warm waters. His remains\nare found widely distributed in every zone from the Lower Silurian up.\nIowa and Minnesota show as nice coral in their strata as is now found in\nthe torrid seas.\n\n(2.) From the widely scattered remains of tropical shells. They\nconclusively show that a warm ocean once covered the continents. Sir\nChas. Lyell mentions the tropical nature of the shells about England and\nLabrador, and that \u201cThey indicate a very warm climate, more uniformly\nwarm than any now existing on the Earth.\u201d\n\n(3.) From the remains of saurians; such as the icthyosaurus, which, like\nthe crocodile of the Ganges, is found only in warm waters. Darwin saw\none in the bank of the La Plata. No land is without their remains.\n\n(4.) From the widely spread coal beds of Earth. Nothing in geology is\nbetter established, than that this is the product of tropical forests.\nAll countries boast of their coal veins. Anthracite coal is often found\nin the frozen rocks of Greenland. A vein of the best coal, ten feet\nthick, was found in Nova Zembla, now covered with ice. Good coal is also\nfound in the northern part of Alaska. A genial climate once covered\nthese places.\n\n(5.) From the remains of tropical animals. The evidence is conclusive,\nthat gigantic elephants in countless herds once roamed the arctic\nregions of Siberia. His remains have been found in all lands, except the\nScandinavian peninsula. The mastodon was his near neighbor, and his\nbones are generally found in the same regions. These animals depended on\ngrass for subsistence. They could not endure a cold winter, nor live\nwhere snow lies on the ground for even a short time. We now find their\nremains where snow now lies from four to eight months in a year, and\nfrom two to twenty feet deep. From the region of Russian Siberia alone,\nmore than eighty thousand pounds of their ivory have been sold in a\nsingle year. Whence, then, this warm climate, so uniform and general? It\ncannot be accounted for on internal heat. Heat, sufficient to warm an\narctic atmosphere, if coming from the ground, would destroy all animal\nlife, either of water or land. Geologists agree that it has not been\naffected so much as one degree for the last four thousand years. But we\nhave positive proof that these animals existed down to the period of\nhuman existence. They probably have not been exterminated five thousand\nyears. Internal heat cuts no figure in their existence. Only one\nhypothesis accounts for these tropical phenomena, viz., a land\nhemisphere, with pole in the center, pointing directly to the sun.\n\n(6.) The sudden change of climate in some past time argues a rapid\nchange in the axillary motion of the earth, preceded by a general\nrupture of the earth\u2019s crust. It was so sudden, that animals were locked\nup in arctic ice, and have been preserved to our day, with flesh entire.\n(See the word Mammoth, W. Dictionary.) The change of pole must have been\nvery sudden, or animals, slain by the convulsion, would have decayed at\nonce.\n\n(7.) The widely spread tropical flowers and fruits sustain this theory.\nThe palm tree flourished in Europe and Central Asia; also in the\nnorthern part of North America. The magnolia blossomed at least 80\ndegrees north. Sir Charles Lyell claims that the earlier vegetation was\ngenerally tropical. Grass evidently flourished in all lands, the year\nround.\n\n7. The nature and condition of the early rock attest the water theory.\nHad the crust begun upon a ball of lava, at a white heat, the ocean,\nreadily boiling, would be thrown into the air, where it would be\ncondensed, and by gravitation thrown back upon the thin crust. This\nwould often give way, and the whole volume would enter the interior and\nexplode the entire crust into atoms. In such case we should expect to\nfind the under rock a broken mass of displaced lava. But we find the\ngranite to have been so calmly deposited in water, and it retains its\nplace so well, that we split it with the rift of sugar pine. Geologists\nestimate the earth\u2019s crust from fifty to one hundred miles thick. Upon\nthe Neptunian theory we at least have seventy-five miles without a\nparticle of lava, or so much as the scratch of an iceberg. The early\ngeologies spoke of dykes of lava, injected into granite. The furnace\nshows these to be water seams. No well attested lava has ever been found\nthere.\n\n8. The period of the great upheavals supports this theory. No grand\nmountains reared their lofty heads to the clouds, until this side the\nCarboniferous system of deposits. It is more probable that burning coal\nmust have been the cause of the heat, and the expansion of steam the\npower, that rent the Earth\u2019s crust; and the eighty miles pressure of\nwaters suddenly liberated would bring up the granite, with all under\nrock, to the surface. Lava then proceeds from local deposits of melted\nrock, that had been stratified. If it came from a common center of a\nprimary melted mass, there would be no occasion for ashes. The abundance\nof these ashes shows the consumption of some burning material, as of\ncoal. The very witnesses which the Plutonic believers have placed upon\nthe stand prove quite the reverse of their theory.\n\n9. Facts show that the substance of all mountain chains was once\ndeposited in the sea. Baron Von Humboldt remarked, \u201cUpon the tallest\nmountains yet reached by the footsteps of man you may witness the\nancient sea bottom.\u201d Conglomerate shells with sand, hardened into rock\nin the ancient seas, are now found in all lands thousands of feet above\nthe sea.\n\n10. The rise and depressions of the Earth\u2019s crust are proofs of the\nwater theory. Lands having large rivers, carrying more debris or silt\ninto the ocean than the weight of her vegetation, decaying, are rising;\nas has been demonstrated in North and South America, Europe, Asia and\nAfrica. The terraces left attest the truth of this position.\n\nLands having more vegetation or ice than the weight of the debris\ncarried into the sea are sinking. Witness Greenland and the Pacific\nIsles. But these islands could not well sink into a sea of burning lava,\nwithout letting in the surrounding ocean; in which case the entire crust\nwould be destroyed.\n\n11. The crowning reason for believing in the Neptunian theory is found\nin the great glacial drift period. The Neptunian hypothesis of the poles\nof the Earth is sufficient to account for the ice that constituted the\ndrift. The ancient equator would mark the bound between darkness and\nlight; and would be situated so as to manufacture icebergs the whole\nlength of this largest circle.\n\nThe depressions of the lowlands beneath the sea are accounted for in the\ngreat upheavals. On an average, rock weighed out of water is one and\ntwo-thirds times as much as when weighed under water. All the strata of\nmountains and plateaus lifted from beneath the waters weigh one and\ntwo-thirds times what they did before being disturbed.\n\nGeologists tell us that the Earth\u2019s crust was depressed six to seven\nthousand feet. This would enable the ice to flow over the surface, the\nbergs being of enormous depth. The lowlands of every continent have been\nthus plowed. The evidence exists in every valley and far up the sides of\nall mountains. This evidence is by no means confined to scratches on the\nrock, but the water-washed gravel and polished pebbles equally attest\nits action. You can hardly sink a shaft in valley or hill without\nencountering them. With the present inclination of the Earth\u2019s pole to\nthe elliptic no such quantity of ice can possibly occur. No iceberg has\never yet been seen in tropical waters. There never yet has been enough\nat one time within historic note, to counteract the influence of the\nGulf Stream about Norway and Iceland.\n\nHow different the ancient drift! Then the ice penetrated all open seas,\ncaused by submergence. It plowed alike the Brazilian mountains, the\nSierra Nevada, and the Appalachian. It chilled the seas to the very\ncenter of the submerged hemisphere; and England witnessed the dwelling\nof the reindeer in her borders, while it lasted. According to Sir Chas.\nLyell, the temperature sank from the uniformity of our intensely warm\nclimate to the chilliness of melting ice. The cold was now as uniform as\nthe heat had before been constant. The north pole, pointing directly to\nthe sun, would bring the whole land hemisphere within perpetual\nsunshine; and consequently, when above the sea, would be in a tropical\nor semi-tropical zone to the very edge. This climate would continue as\nlong as the land could hold back the ice, which had been accumulated at\nthe equator. But no sooner did the lowlands become submerged, than the\nice would change the climate, wherever it could in large quantities\naccumulate. As it plowed every river, plain, and gulch, the fauna,\nadapted to the former climate, would naturally lose their existence.\nSuch is the history of the drift. Ninety-seven per cent. of all land\nanimals died. By the slow process of disintegration of the mountains,\nthe hemisphere was again raised, and its former beautiful climate\nrestored.\n\n\n                               Section 4.\n       How was such a World adapted to Man or strictly speaking,\n                          Man to such a World?\n\n\n1. The even climate of such a world would tend to his longevity, and be\nmost genial to his feelings.\n\nMan\u2019s nature calls for an even climate. Now by art he tries to even up\nthe climate of the year.\n\n(1.) Less than two-thirds of the lighted hemisphere could have been\ncovered with dry land. Many bodies of water are known to have been\nincluded within the areas of land. The pole, pointing directly toward\nthe sun, must have been near Gibraltar. Allowing that land extended in\nevery direction, four thousand miles or more, we should then have an\nopen sea of from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles, intervening\nbetween the edge of the hemisphere of land, or perhaps more properly,\nthe quartosphere of land, and the region of perpetual ice.\n\n(2.) On the sunny side of such a globe, being at first entirely water, a\nrapid evaporation must have taken place; and most, nearest the north\npole. This would give rise to currents, both of air and water, to flow\ntoward it, as a source of supply. Counter currents of both would follow.\nCurrents of either starting near the equator would be cold and possess a\nmotion greater than the earth, a few degrees toward the pole. This would\nsend both towards the northeast, until meeting the return currents of\nwind, which would cause variable winds; but a most genial climate must\nhave surrounded the earth, at least forty degrees wide.\n\n(3.) Such a climate, with such facilities for evaporation, would provide\nthe way for perpetual harvest. The open sea to the edge must have been\nconstantly filled with floating ice. Cold breezes, often laden with\nthick fog, would float in over the edge of the land. This may account\nfor the long hair which covered the mammoth elephant of Siberia and\nCalifornia. No winds are more penetrating than those coming from large\nbodies of melting ice; yet under a perpetual sunshine the vegetation\nmust have been abundant.\n\n2. We add by way of recapitulation:\n\n(1.) That everywhere, and with each new discovery in science, the\nevidence is accumulating that our globe is essentially an immense ball\nof cold water, with a crust of earth covering the under waters as with a\nstone; while a portion of water above is held in the earth\u2019s lap.\n\n(2.) Until recently, the continents and islands were together in one\nvast body, with the axillary center pointing to the sun.\n\n(3.) That fragments of the broken hemisphere have been spread out upon\nthe seas, often standing with just their tops out of water as islands.\n\n(4.) Inasmuch as this Earth is a magnet, the deposit about the pole was\nof the nature of a load-stone. This existed as a mountain, which by the\nforce of the waters was bodily removed to the present north, nearly\nthree thousand miles. It was thus we had a change of times and seasons.\n\n(5.) That the alternation of day and night, heat and cold, summer and\nwinter, seed-time and harvest, are results following this great change\nin the Earth\u2019s polarity.\n\n(6.) That the existence of the rainbow, caused by the declination of the\nsun toward the horizon in the Earth\u2019s present motion, is a reminder of\nwhat is, and will remain to be, in contrast to what was, and would have\nbeen, until the end of time, had no cause occurred making it necessary\nfor this radical change.\n\nEarth\u2019s climate was changed,\n\n(_a_) By changing the magnetic currents of Earth, in removing the pole\nlocally three thousand miles away.\n\n(_b_) By withdrawing the attraction the former pole had for the sun, and\npointing it to an empty place in the north, now one degree and a half\nfrom Polaris.\n\n(_c_) By inclining the Earth\u2019s pole twenty-three and a half degrees to\nthe ecliptic. \u201cHe changeth times and seasons.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER II.\n      The Neptunian Theory of Creation was first brought to Light\n                          in the Book of Job.\n\n\n1. Like Homer, who dated his poem in the rising of the star Sirius, so\nJob dated his book in the Pleiades, while the sun was gaining his vernal\nequinox in the star Alcyone of this constellation. The Septuagint speaks\nof Job\u2019s age at the commencement of his trial as being one hundred\nyears. By the closing statement appended to his book, we learn that he\nlived after his restoration one hundred and forty years. This makes his\nage two hundred and forty at his death. Alcyone marks by precession of\nthe equinoxes 2100 years B. C. The great period of his longevity\nindicates a time antedating Abraham\u2019s day by more than two hundred\nyears.\n\n2. This book is an epi-dramatic Oratorio of human history. It is epic,\nin that it gives the history of a real life; dramatic, in that it\ndramatizes human history, by the inspirations of these actors, with the\nreligious intuitions of all ages. The poem as a whole shows the\ncontending forces that develop character; the struggle of man\u2019s redeemed\nnature against the tendencies of a series of degenerate ages, as far\ndown as the full triumph of Christ\u2019s reign; followed by the long\nprosperity that awaits the Church. It also sets forth the longings of\nthe human intellect for a knowledge of first causes; and its crowning\nsuccess when Nature is studied in connection with the revelations of\nGod\u2019s Word. The Book of Job was evidently the only Scripture that the\nworld had for at least eight hundred years. The introduction shows Job\nto have been a person adapted to great reverses of fortune, rich, pious,\nprosperous, happy, and respected. Two spirits, either of which may take\nform, but neither being dependent on form or locality, are present in\ntheir religious gatherings as they have ever been in ours. That\nobjective figures come before our imaginations in reading this part of\nthe poem, only shows the high character of the production.\n\n3. The first question between God and Satan is that hackneyed one of all\nhistory, viz: Is piety a selfish ebullition of the human heart or a\ndivinely planted principle? Satan takes the first statement, God the\nlatter. Satan affirms that a sudden reverse of fortune will change the\naspect of Job\u2019s piety, and he will then curse God to his face. Great\nprinciples are best tested by suffering. Nor is it necessary that every\none should suffer in the same direction to show forth the same. The\nworld is full of delegated suffering; the few for the many, and\nsometimes one for all. Job is the right man in wealth, station,\ninfluence, and habits of mind to personify piety in its relation to the\nworld\u2019s progress.\n\n4. The Orient is the place, and that period of the world the time, for\nthe rich figures of speech found in the two scenes of this unparalleled\nproduction. Of the two forces meeting us in life, inviting our attention\nand co-operation, one must and but one can, at the same time, receive\nour homage. The one inclines you to and gives you credit for all good;\nthe other inclines you from and gives you no credit for any good. The\nprincely man of the Orient is suddenly confronted with absolute\nbankruptcy and bereavement of all his children, without the chance of\nspeaking the parting good-bye. Satan expected the question settled in\nhis favor, by a sudden outburst of passion, in vindictive hate to God.\nBut listen! \u201cNaked came I out of my mother\u2019s womb (earth), and naked\nshall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;\nblessed be the name of the Lord.\u201d The first scene is ended with Satan\ncompletely foiled. But, some one might say, the question only covered\nJob\u2019s outward prosperity. True, his wife is left to him, but she is a\npart of himself.\n\n5. Again the sons of God are together in worship. Satan begs leave to\namend his indictment against piety. \u201cTouch his bone and his flesh and he\nwill curse thee.\u201d Job is smitten in a manner calculated to break down\nhis patience. The patience of his wife having become exhausted, she is\ninfluenced to give her vindictive advice in the line of Satan\u2019s desires,\n\u201cCurse God, and die.\u201d \u201cThou speakest as a foolish woman. What! shall we\nreceive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?\u201d\n\n6. The prologue of scene second ends with Satan confounded. The incoming\ncircumstances show God\u2019s present proposition to be that true piety will\nnot only endure, without tarnish, what Satan in his ill will has\nproposed, but it will survive and develop in strength in the ages to\ncome, until it shall triumph over every foe. To refute all satanic\ncharges to which history will give rise, God proposes to try it in this\nperson, under the leading intuitions governing the masses of all ages,\npast and to come. Three supposed but mistaken friends hear of Job\u2019s\ncalamity, and resolve to condole his misery. These are ranked within the\nfamily of God\u2019s sons. These men are kings in their time, and are\nsupposed to be entitled to a hearing. Their mistakes will make them\nreally Job\u2019s enemies. Such are the coadjutors that Satan is about to\nhave brought to his aid. They find Job in keen anguish of body,\nincapable of recognizing his friends.\n\n7. These persons are all representative characters, whose intuitions\nwill partake of the nature of the epochs of human history, through which\nthe prophet Job is about to be taken. Job personifies piety; Eliphaz,\nreverence in tradition; Bildad, special Providence as a rule of action;\nZophar, ignorance, the mother of devotion. Beginning with the fall of\nman, each epoch of human history is to stamp the prevailing religious\nintuitions of the masses upon these men.\n\n8. Piety must be tried under all. Until the enlightened age of the world\nis reached, piety will have little to cling to but faith in God, and\nthat in the face of appearances. Such is the drama about to be enacted.\nSix grand epochs of historic time must be passed to reach even the\npresent time. (1.) Deism of the antediluvian world. (2.) Special\nProvidence as a rule of action following the flood, and out of which\ngrew the building of the Tower of Babel. (3.) He was left alone through\nmaterialistic worship in idolatry, as in Abraham\u2019s time. (4.) He was\nconfronted by a superstitious looking-behind, as in Persia\u2019s time. (5.)\nTempted with an abnormal ambition, as in Alexander\u2019s time. (6.) He must\nbe surrounded by the ruling necessities of commercial selfishness\ninaugurated by Rome, and transmitted by circumstantial links in the\nprogress of civilization to our own time.\n\n9. Human history in the drama starts in with a wail. Job, with the\nintuitions of a deist, bewails his very existence. As he looks to the\nfuture there is not one ray of hope. \u201cThou (God) shalt search for me in\nthe morning but I shall not be. He that goeth down to the grave shall\ncome up no more.\u201d\n\nWhere now is that oft repeated declaration of Satan, that piety, at\nbest, is only a selfish looking forward to rewards in the future? The\npiety of Job survives this terrible ordeal. The blinding intellectual\nfog of deism could not lose his point of compass.\n\nCreeds may be good as sign-boards directing the traveler, but they go\nbut a little ways in determining the action of the truly pious. As he\napproaches the flood he beholds the \u201cnumbering of man\u2019s days on the\nearth.\u201d And, as the reality bursts upon his vision, he experiences a\nperfect revolution of intuition. All is special Providence now.\n\n10. The flood is passed in chapter eight, and \u201cman\u2019s days become as a\nshadow.\u201d The law of God\u2019s natural Providence, in cause and effect, is by\nJob and his friends completely ignored. His own condition will look him\nin the face with terrible effect, asking an explanation. To such an\nordeal, with Bildad framing an enthusiastic argument upon the evidences\nof special Providence in the affliction, was Job brought. He can\nlogically prove Job to be one of the worst of men. \u201cDoth God pervert\njudgment?\u201d To Job he saith, \u201cIf thou wast pure and upright, surely now\nhe would awake for thee.\u201d Job with his intuitions cannot see why the\nargument is not sound. \u201cI know it is so of a truth.\u201d To work thus upon\nthe nerves of a sick man, who has been shut off from comprehensive views\nof God\u2019s general Providence in law, is well calculated to break him down\nin impatience toward God. But Job replies, \u201cIf I say I am perfect it\nshall also prove me perverse. Though I were perfect, yet would I not\nknow my soul; neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that he should\nlay his hand upon us both.\u201d Zophar replied, \u201cKnow therefore that God\nexacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.\u201d Job replied, \u201cI\ncould speak as you do if I were in your stead.\u201d \u201cThough he slay me, yet\nwill I trust in him.\u201d Job claims an honest integrity of purpose, though\ndenying perfection in attainment.\n\n10. For this noble stand he is rewarded on the spot with a prophetic\nview of what forms the first chapter in the \u201cLittle Book\u201d of star-dates.\nTracing time back by the precession of the equinoxes to where the sun\ncrossed its spring equinox in Orion\u2019s belt, he saw the commencement of\nman. Tracing the same line forward to the end of our race, where indeed\ntime ends, he saw that it rested in Ash or the Great Bear (margin)\nincorrectly translated Arcturus; new version, Great Bear.\n\nLooking to the same kind of date of his own time, he saw the sun\ncrossing the Pleiades. Looking at the full inauguration of Christ\u2019s\nKingdom on earth, represented by the termination of Job\u2019s own\nsufferings, he saw the time measured in the Summer Solstitial colure\ngoing from under the Altar. \u201cThou madest Ash, Orion and the Pleiades,\nand the chambers of the south.\u201d Here commences the \u201cLittle Book,\u201d\nalluded to so often in prophecy, with four of the most important dates\nof history, but sealed upon the back part until the opening of the same\nby the \u201cLion of the Tribe of Judah\u201d to his servant John. Here, perhaps\nall unconscious of their bearings on future history, he is picturing in\nthe heavens, and dating by means of the precession of the equinoxes, the\nlong periods, revolutions, changes and triumphs his sufferings were to\ntake him, followed by the long prosperity of the Church of Christ in the\nlatter day.\n\n11. Representing the reign of universal idolatry, and consequent\nignorance of the masses, and preceding the anxious inquiries concerning\nimmortality by Confucius, Socrates and Plato, Zophar is prepared to fill\nin his part of the drama.\n\nThe question of the resurrection is discussed in the light of nature, in\nChap. 14. He is compelled to leave it as an open question, only wishing\nthat it might be true. \u201cOh that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that\nthou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me.\u201d He nears the time\nof the general expectation of Messiah\u2019s appearance on earth.\n\nHe closes to allow Zophar, the representative of those Scribes and\nPharisees in their tradition, to speak again. This is found in the\nfifteenth chapter.\n\n12. From the sixteenth to the nineteenth, inclusive, Job personifies\nChrist. Hence these chapters are Messianic. \u201cThey have gaped upon me\nwith their mouth, they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully. My\ndays are extinct, the graves are ready for me. God hath delivered me to\nthe ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. Are there\nnot mockers with me? For thou hast hid their heart from understanding.\u201d\nMany of these sentences are quoted into the twenty-second psalm,\nrecognized by all commentators to be Messianic. This Special Providence,\nas a rule to depend upon, watched Christ on the cross; it triumphed over\nthe fact that God did not deliver him.\n\nHere it is in prophecy: \u201cThe snare is laid for him in the ground. It\nshall devour the strength of his skin, even the firstborn of death, it\nshall devour his strength. His confidence shall be rooted out of his\ntabernacle. His remembrance shall perish from the earth. He shall be\ndriven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. He shall\nneither have son or nephew among his people.\u201d Isaiah, quoting the\nsentiment, asks, \u201cWho shall declare his generation, for his life was\ntaken from the earth?\u201d\n\nThe Messianic voice is personified from the grave. The grave speaks the\nfacts of history. \u201cHe hath put my brethren far from me, and my\nacquaintance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolks have failed, and\nmy familiar friends have forgotten me. They whom I loved are turned\nagainst me. Why do you persecute me as God?\u201d In the nineteenth chapter\nJob has reached the resurrection. How changed the voice! \u201cOh, that my\nwords were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book! That they\nwere graven with an iron pen, and lead in the rock forever.\u201d\n\n13. \u201cFor I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the\nlatter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this\nbody, yet in my flesh shall I see God.\u201d Ignorance is not satisfied with\nthe report \u201cthat he is risen from the dead.\u201d \u201cThe triumph of the wicked\nis short. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, yet he shall\nperish forever. He shall fly away as a dream.\u201d The days of apostolic\nteaching and suffering passed, Christianity debauched by a state\nreligion, ignorance again put forth as a dying gasp, a few platitudes in\ndefense of God and against piety. Chap. 20. Job answered by referring\nman\u2019s conduct in life to a future judgment. Chap. 21. Reverence in\ntradition exhorted Piety to speedy repentance. Chaps. 23 and 24. Piety\nis searching directly for the true God.\n\n14. Special Providence, ignoring law, boasteth of his secular strength.\n\u201cIs there any numbers of his armies?\u201d Here in the poem civilization\nreached the dawn of the Reformation. Chap. 26. It begins in the line of\nscience. The rocks begin to speak. \u201cDead things are formed from under\nthe waters.\u201d The orbicular motion and the present pole-pointing of the\nEarth, according to the Copernican system, is seen. \u201cHe stretcheth out\nthe north over the empty place, and hangeth the Earth upon nothing.\u201d How\nexactly in accordance with the history of scientific reform, that this\nknowledge should begin in small fragments of truth. A glimpse of the\nancient pole-pointing is seen. \u201cHe hath compassed the waters with\nbounds, until the day and night come to an end\u201d; or until the end of\nlight begins with darkness. He saw the great \u201cchange of times and\nseasons\u201d caused by the Noachian flood. \u201cHe divideth the sea with his\npower, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. Lo these\nare parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him! but the\nthunder of his power who can understand?\u201d\n\n15. Job enters upon the Reformation in science with a prophet\u2019s view of\nthe desperate efforts put forth, by scientists of our own period, to\nreach first causes by analytical deduction and hypothetical reasoning;\nand this unaided by any light claiming to come by inspiration of God.\nHis harp seemed attuned in the most exquisite niceness of poetic finish,\nto that class of modern pretenders who talk of the fullness of nature\u2019s\nlaws, while they disbelieve in the existence of nature\u2019s God. He opens\nthe twenty-eighth chapter with certain admissions, as to points of\nknowledge obtainable from phenomena of nature, followed by questions\nsuggestive of the paucity of all things seen to unfold a true and full\ncosmology. \u201cSurely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold\nwhere they fine it. Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten\nout of the stone.\u201d Now beholding the futile efforts of Naturalists to\nreach first causes he exclaims, \u201cThere is a path which no fowl knoweth,\nand which the vulture\u2019s eye hath not seen. The lion\u2019s whelps have not\ntrodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. He putteth forth his hand\nupon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out\nrivers among the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.\u201d This and\nmore is freely conceded as yielding a grand field for geological\nthought. \u201cBut where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of\nunderstanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in\nthe land of the living.\u201d Right here, beholding the observations through\nheaven-pointed lenses, that man may read first causes in the stars, he\ngives the poetic reply of space. \u201cThe depth saith it is not in me.\u201d Now\nbeholding the kindled expectations in the student of the seas, as he\ntraces her currents, measures her waves and tides, and reaches her\ndeepest deposits, the sea is made to report, \u201cIt is not with me.\u201d But\nmay not wealth and position gain it from the schools? He answers: \u201cIt\ncannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price\nthereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious\nonyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it; and the\nexchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be\nmade of coral or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The\ntopaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with\npure gold.\u201d\n\nDisappointed in reading first causes in all these resources man still\ninquires: \u201cWhence then cometh wisdom, and where is the place of\nunderstanding? Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept\nclose from the fowls of the air.\u201d Let now the dead fossil speak. May not\nthe entombed life of forty millions of years open up this subject to\nman?\n\n16. Destruction and death say, \u201cWe have heard the fame thereof with our\nears. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place\nthereof; for he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the\nwhole heavens, to make the weight of the winds, and he weigheth the\nwaters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the\nlightning of the thunder; then did he see it and declare it.\u201d But how\nshall man gain this true wisdom of causes? \u201cHe that cometh to God must\nbelieve that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently\nseek him.\u201d It is the voice of the Saviour, he who \u201cwalked in the\ngarden.\u201d Men must be drawn toward God before they can see him in his\nword. \u201cAnd unto man he said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is\nwisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.\u201d It cannot be doubted\nthat more reverence for God, and less egotistical trust in self, would\ngreatly aid the wisest thinker of the present day. We have had\naltogether too much of that feigned or real pity for the Bible, as\nunfortunate in its allusions to science, deserving to be ranked with the\nsuperstitions of the untutored masses of the unlettered ages. It is true\nthat prophetic allusions to scientific subjects are usually poetic, but\nnone the less specific and definite for this. These allusions embody a\ntrue objective view, leaving to science the task to subjectively work\nout the true condition of things presenting such phenomena. Thus\nprophecy poetized upon the \u201cPlace for light, and the home and house for\ndarkness; and the path leading to the bounds between them.\u201d\nScientifically explained, one pole of the Earth must have pointed\nsteadily to the sun, leaving half the globe in perpetual darkness.\n\n17. Joshua is said to have commanded the sun and the moon to stand\nstill, and they obeyed him. Subjectively rendered the sun went not down,\nduring one night, which could have been objectively accomplished by a\nmirage. As this would answer the purpose for which the phenomena is\nreported, it is highly probable that this is all that is meant. Again,\nGod made a firmament. But firmaments called heaven are not things made.\nSubjectively rendered, he made a globe, from which the visible expanse\nis seen. These figures of speech, and especially the one called\nmetonymy, run all through prophetic sayings. The heart\u2019s willingness to\naccept the truth is often necessary to the intellect\u2019s perceiving it.\n\n18. The Reformation has made some considerable progress, and Job\u2019s three\nmistaken friends begin to see their errors, and acknowledge themselves\nsilenced. Job\u2019s renewed ability to speak, and the readiness with which\nhe handles the subject of each passing event, shows that the darkness is\npassing away, and the teachings of these dismal ages are being\ncounteracted.\n\n19. A far more formidable enemy, in the person of Elihu, is about to\narise. He represents Secular Education, in unbelief of the inspiration\nof God, or the existence of true piety. He reasons that all men are\nessentially alike, imperfect; that heredity, inclination, education and\nsurrounding circumstances account for all the difference in men. That\nJob, having claimed upright intentions before God, has committed a grave\noffence. His God is one of cause. \u201cI will fetch my knowledge from afar:\nhe that is perfect in knowledge is with thee. My lips shall utter\nknowledge clearly. All flesh shall perish together.\u201d What is this but\ninfidel Deism? How different the expression of the wise man! \u201cWho\nknoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast\nthat goeth downward to the earth?\u201d The one is mortal, the other\nimmortal. For some cause Job is silent, though again and again\nchallenged to the combat. Let us apply a little history to the prophetic\ndrama. French Atheists, in a convention in 1808, put forth eighty-three\ncounts, any one of which was claimed sufficient to prove the Bible to be\nuninspired. Sir Charles Lyell, himself a Deist, wrote, \u201cOf these counts,\nnot one of them remains today. Science has laid them aside as\nuntenable.\u201d\n\n20. We have three distinct views of prayer, represented in Bildad, Elihu\nand Job. Bildad\u2019s view is, \u201cIf deserving, you can have all you ask for,\nwithout reference to law. All that you need is faith to perpetuate the\nline of miracles.\u201d Elihu\u2019s view was essentially expressed by the\nProfessor who threw down the challenge, called the prayer gauge. Its\nsubstance was, \u201cPrayer changes no effect following cause. It cannot\nmitigate the death rate in a hospital.\u201d Job\u2019s position is that prayer\nmay be beneficial when in harmony with God\u2019s laws. There are three\nrealms, viz, physics, mind and spirit. Mind is higher than physics, and,\nwithin bounds, rules it; spirit is higher than either, and within bounds\nrules both: that prayer to God, ever subject to \u201cThy will be done, not\nmine,\u201d may increase the power of the spirit in man over the lower realms\nof law, thus securing wonderful help from God, according to his\nexpressed will in law. This does not necessarily involve miracle in the\nanswer God gives. It is in harmony with the law of the spirit, that God\nwithin the spirit greatly increases its power over mind and matter. This\nwas the secret of Job\u2019s power over his contestants. This power Elihu\ndenied. Secular Education will readily admit that God, by his direct\npower (which is Special Providence), created matter, again set it in\nmotion, again gave life to portions of it, etc., and then deny that God\nwould listen to the cry of his children for spiritual or material help.\nThis modern Elihu has completely ignored the efforts of God to help the\nwould-be scientists to phenomena and principles, which would link his\nknowledge of nature in happy relation with first causes. Hence in the\nend, like Elihu, he is destined to be completely confounded.\n\n21. Two thousand years ago, science established the Ptolemaic theory of\nAstronomy. It taught it for eighteen hundred years, when the Copernican\ntheory forced its way to the front. And now, it is evident, the true\ntheory was clearly taught in God\u2019s first book of Inspiration, called\nScripture. A few years since, Elihu, as a learned professor, would take\na piece of granite in his hand, and learnedly talk of the crystals\nformed, as it slowly cooled, as the first crust formed upon the sea of\nlava.\n\n22. Now, the same professor talks to his class of the sedimentary nature\nof the rock, and the crystals formed under great pressure in the deep\nsea. Four thousand years ago, the Bible gave this knowledge to the\nworld. For some cause, Job is reticent while Elihu speaks. He speaks as\na \u201cbeast of power, rising up out of the earth.\u201d But God has something to\nsay as to who shall stand in the coming ages. Piety will stand up, and\nGod will answer as by the power of the whirlwind. Chap. 38. \u201cGird up now\nthy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.\nWhere wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if\nthou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou\nknowest, or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the\nfoundations thereof fastened, or who laid the cornerstone thereof?\u201d\nMarginal reading \u201cmade the cornerstone to sink.\u201d Balancing order, in\nexact equipose, is proclaimed in science. \u201cNot one star could be\nspared,\u201d say the Solons of Philosophy, \u201cwithout throwing all into the\ngreatest confusion.\u201d The balancing of the primary gases, as each sun\ngathered in the beginning, was seen by Job. \u201cWhen the morning stars sang\ntogether, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.\u201d\n\n23. The great under-waters were once imprisoned as though shut behind\ndoors. \u201cOr who shut up the sea with doors when it brake forth as if it\nhad issued out of the womb?\u201d Rotundity of the Earth is here given with\nthe inside water. He saw the young Earth first \u201cclothed in a garment of\nclouds,\u201d and \u201cthick darkness a swaddling band about it.\u201d He saw the\n\u201cfoundations of the earth breaking up,\u201d as the flood in Noah\u2019s day\npoured in over the earth. \u201cAnd brake up the decreed place for it,\u201d and\nset new \u201cbars and doors.\u201d A change of polarity, and when it took place,\nis seen. \u201cHast thou commanded the morning since thy days, and caused the\nday-spring to know his place, that it might take hold of the ends of the\nearth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?\u201d When have the wicked\nbeen shaken out of it, but when \u201call the fountains of the great deep\nwere broken up?\u201d The finishing touch is added to the Copernican system.\n\u201cIt is turned as clay to the seal.\u201d Allusion is made to the clay on the\npotter\u2019s wheel rotating to a fixed seal shaping the same. In contrast to\nits present motion, he saw a former condition with pole pointing to the\nsun. This was a motion that never exchanged the darkness for light, nor\nlight for darkness, but both remained stationary. \u201cWhere is the way\nwhere light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,\nthat thou shouldst take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldst\nknow the paths to the house thereof?\u201d He saw the contrasted appearance\nof the former earth to her present contour. \u201cThe waters are hid as with\na stone.\u201d Altogether, the land hemisphere covered the under-waters; \u201cand\nthe face of the deep is frozen.\u201d The face of the deep in the southern\nhemisphere of the ancient earth was locked in darkness and perpetual\nice. He had asked the question, \u201cOut of whose womb came the ice?\u201d Where\nwas it born? This is one of the most perplexing questions in science.\n\n24. Where was the ice born that once plowed such deep furrows over hill\nand dale, that climbed the rugged mountain, and filled ancient river\nbeds with three thousand feet of drift? In vain do you ask where the ice\ncame from that scooped out the Yosemite Valley, or laid the deep beds of\nwater-washed pebbles along the Sierra Nevada mountains. God has answered\nit in giving the ancient polarity, by which the mighty deep of one half\nthe globe was covered with ice. Again, \u201cWho hath divided a watercourse\nfor the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of the\nthunder?\u201d Our earth is a magnet. The way of the lightning produces\nspiral effects on plants and cyclones from the equator to each pole. The\nearth being divided, forming the Atlantic Ocean, and the pole being\nlocally changed on the globe, a new way for the lightning is formed.\nThis poem is wonderful for its flights of prophetic views. The vision,\nfrom comprehending the phenomena attending the globe in its antediluvian\nstate, now changes to a mode of communication by telegraph of our own\ntime. To identify the century in which it would appear, he resorted to\nthe third clock of the heavens, measured by precession. He noticed that\nbeautiful cluster of stars called the Pleiades at the usual time of\nZenith measurement, in the evening, standing over the January thaw,\nfollowed in a few days with Orion\u2019s belt in the same place. At the time\nof Job\u2019s captivity the Pleiades rose to the Zenith on the 10th day of\nNovember. By the slow action of precession they have moved eastward,\nuntil now they come to the Zenith on the second day of January. Only\neighteen days elapse before Orion\u2019s belt stands in the Zenith to look\ndown on sealed rivers, as the thaw is over.\n\n25. \u201cCanst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loose the\nbands of Orion?\u201d The time in this poetic allusion is our present\ncentury. The phenomena seen is employing lightning as a messenger.\n\u201cCanst thou send lightnings that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we\nare?\u201d Proceeding to give the habits and instincts of a few\nrepresentative animals in natural history, Job proposed to sit down and\nsay no more.\n\n26. But God proposed to gird him for the description of two\nrepresentative fossil animals of the Middle and Tertiary ages. For the\nruling king of saurians, he described Ichthyosaurus under the title of\nLeviathan. For the king of the Myocene period he described the\nMegathareum under the title of Behemoth. God opens the understanding of\nJob\u2019s three mistaken friends, and makes demands for repentance and\nreparation. Job becomes their intercessor. The captivity of Piety ends\nhere. The \u201ctimes of the gentiles are fulfilled.\u201d \u201cThe sanctuary is\ncleansed.\u201d \u201cBabylon is fallen.\u201d \u201cThe white horse appears, and Jesus\nreigns King of kings and Lord of lords.\u201d\n\n27. Now commences the grandest era of Job\u2019s life. It is double in\nprosperity to all going before. The time for its continuance is very\nlong. The universal respect that will be shown the church, the voluntary\ncontributions in liberal free-will offerings, the abundance of peace and\nprosperity, are well diagrammed and set forth in the closing events of\nJob\u2019s life.\n\nElihu will still talk of the \u201cTwilight of Christianity,\u201d but faith is\nlooking for the dawn of Christ\u2019s triumph, when the dragon, \u201clike\nlightning,\u201d must \u201cfall from the heavens,\u201d and nations will hail with joy\nthe reign of righteousness.\n\n\u201cLift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up ye everlasting\ndoors; and the King of glory shall come in.\n\n\u201cWho is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty\nin battle. The Lord of hosts; he is the King of glory.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER III.\n        All the Scripture References to Cosmology are in Harmony\n                         with the Book of Job.\n\n\n1. Peter must have understood the import of this divine poem, when he\nwrote, \u201cFor this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God\nthe heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in\nthe water.\u201d So also \u201cThe earth, that then was, being overflowed.\u201d\n\n2. So Solomon understood the poem. Personifying the eternity of wisdom,\nunder things timely, he wrote, \u201cBefore the mountains were settled,\nbefore the hills were brought forth.\u201d Notice the sedimentary character\nof the mountains! \u201cWhile as yet he had not made the earth (in form).\nWhen he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass\n(circle) upon the face of the depth (space).\u201d\n\n3. The spirit of this poem must have inspired the Psalmist, when he\nascribed thanks unto \u201cHim who stretcheth out the earth above the\nwaters.\u201d And again, \u201cHe hath founded it upon the seas, and established\nit upon the floods.\u201d\n\n4. Moses must have possessed this sublime poem in the wilderness. By an\neasy succession of steps, he could find his way back to where suns, in\ngathering, kept time to the marching forces of Jehovah, as a well\ntrained choir. \u201cWhen the morning stars sang together.\u201d Not content here,\nhe sought farther aid of God, and swung out into the voids of space,\nwhere heat, light, force, and gravitation slept in the embrace of chaos;\nyea, still farther back to when and where matter was not. He heard God\nspeak matter into existence. It was from this vision he wrote, \u201cIn the\nbeginning God created the heaven and the earth.\u201d As it came from the\nhand of God, \u201cIt was without form, and darkness was upon the face of the\ndeep.\u201d\n\nMatter without form is in gas; and to be in equilibrium, it must be\nequally diffused in all that portion of space now containing matter.\nInertia would incapacitate its moving. Without motion, light was\nimpossible; without centers, gravitation had not commenced. Such was\nmatter in the darkness of chaos without form, called night. A force from\nwithout must overcome inertia, and give birth to form, light, heat,\ngravitation, and power at the same time. This power is brought to our\nview in the following sublime sentence: \u201cAnd the Spirit of the Lord\nmoved upon the face of the waters\u201d (fluids). Gravitation acts\ninstantaneously throughout space. Therefore the gathering of any one\ncenter as a sun, would necessitate the gathering of every central sun in\nrelative accord.\n\n5. Gravitating centers account for centripetal motion only. Acted upon\nby gravitation alone, all matter within each system would start for the\ncenter direct. Hence, centrifugal force also must have been imparted to\nall that portion of gaseous chaos, destined to become planets. With\nthese two forces acting upon them, they would naturally assume the shape\nof an immense ring about the sun. Those gases destined to make our sun,\nmust have traversed a space of not less than twenty trillion of miles;\npossibly, in some directions thirty trillion of miles. The center would\nbe small at first; and should these gases float thirty miles per hour,\nit would take ninety million of our years to gather the sun complete. In\nsuch condition, from the voids of space Moses beheld our system, and\nnoticed that the \u201cwaters above the firmament were not separated from the\nwaters beneath.\u201d If from a tall mountain we behold a rainbow, when the\nsun is quite low we shall see a complete circle of prismatic colors. If\none should report that the colors above the firmament were not separate\nfrom the colors beneath the firmament, we should readily understand that\nthe bow was continuous as a circle. Now imagine these colors tangible\ngases, and a sun placed in the center, and you have some faint\nconception of the grand objective view of the prophet, as he beheld the\nfirst morning of creation. The condition in darkness, unmeasured by\ntime, he had called night. The condition in light, unmeasured by flight\nof years, he called morning. \u201cAnd the evening and the morning were day\nfirst.\u201d The vision, from contemplating matter as divided into systems,\nnow changes to prospective Earth, as yet without form. If the lack of\nform constituted its evening, then, when it gains a form, it will be its\nmorning. The gases that were to form earth, then lay diffused in the\nfirmament ring.\n\n6. A spark would unite a field of Hydrogen and Oxygen, and cause a\ndivision in the ring, as a new element much lighter, formed in space in\nthe condition of superheated steam. Its lightness would cause it to\nevolve outside the ring, and take the form of a globe. \u201cAnd God made the\nfirmament,\u201d and he called it \u201cheaven,\u201d which is the visible expanse of a\nhalf circle or sphere above our heads; \u201cand he divided the waters which\nwere under the firmament, (the first, which was a tangible circle) from\nthe waters which were above the firmament.\u201d The Earth is in form, but\nhas, as yet, but two gases; and these unite in steam. The second day of\ncreation ends without a \u201cfootprint\u201d for the unassisted geologists to\ntrace. Well may Job refer man to the voice of the Lord for the wisdom of\nfirst cause and the early changes of matter. This newly formed\nfirmament, or visible expanse, which, by figure of metonymy means a\nnewly formed globe, differs materially from the ring substance of the\nsun, which gave rise to the term firmament. This second firmament is not\nmade of tangible gases, nor is its appearance to dwellers on the earth\ncontinuous. Hence, the making of this firmament is the objective\ndescription of the formation of our Earth as a globe. With a world of\nsteam in globe form, the second age or day of creation ended. The\nmatter, that gathered would constitute Earth, while floating in chaos\nwas called evening. When the globe took its form, though only a world of\nsteam, it was called morning. \u201cAnd the evening and the morning were the\nsecond day.\u201d No measurement of twenty-four hour days had commenced yet.\nHaving followed our globe out into space, the prophet now confines his\nobservations to this single planet. He beholds the outside liquifying,\nand he follows it into its present orbit. He made no mention of the\n\u201cswaddling band,\u201d it took out of the ring as it passed back toward the\nsun. This had been well noticed by Job, as well as the manner of the\nfirst deposits. But he noticed the appearance of dry land; and the\nintroduction of terrestrial vegetation, and described them as cryptogam\n\u201chaving the seed in itself.\u201d He had followed the gathering together of\nthe waters as a grand sea, and the inorganic deposits as a long evening;\nand now, to bring out a grand contrast, as morning, he waited until the\nforests sung the praises of God\u2019s creative hand in bestowing life. \u201cAnd\nthe evening and the morning were the third day.\u201d But this vegetation\ngrows in the veiled light, much as the gray of twilight. This twilight\nis the evening of the fourth day. Contrasting with it is pure sunlight.\nThe Carboniferous age of the world cleared the air of these deadly\ngases, and let in the sunshine upon the earth. This was morning. In\nnoticing this, he is reminded that this globe is occupying his entire\nattention; and yet God made all the planets and suns of the heavens. So\nthe source of light is again noticed and its proper name given to it,\nand the relation it sustains to our own time noticed and recorded, \u201cThe\nsun to give light by day.\u201d In a similar manner the moon and the stars\nwere all noticed. As vegetation had now arrived at its climax, Moses\nclosed this age, making the cryptogram in the gray twilight the evening,\nand its contrast the gay flower basking in clear sunlight the morning.\n\u201cAnd the evening and the morning were the fourth day.\u201d\n\n7. Gases are combined into rock through the agency of air and water.\nThere are three methods of conveying or changing gas into rock. The\nfirst is by gases mingling directly with the water. This gave us the\nlarger portion of sedimentary rock. For aught that science has yet\ndiscovered, the entire bed of primary granite was made in this manner.\nThe second is by combining the gases by means of diatoms and polyps of\nthe seas. These animals do not depend upon vegetation, but draw their\nnourishment directly from the waters. Their remains constitute large\nportions of sedimentary rock. The marble and chalk are formed almost\nentirely of their remains, while all sedimentary rock this side the\ngranite contains more or less of their remains. A third way is by gases\ncombining in vegetation. Anthracite coal is ninety-six per cent. carbon,\ncombined through vegetation.\n\n8. It is evident that the days of creation were not given to mark an\norder of time. (1.) Creation commenced before time. (2.) Without motion\nthere could be no measure of duration. (3.) The fifth day includes all\nthe fourth and part of the third; and could therefore be no order of\ntime.\n\n9. They were not designed to mark an order in the deposit of rock. All\nstratified rock, from the Gneiss to the Myocene deposit, is included in\nthe fifth day. They do not, therefore, give a progressive order of\ndeposit.\n\n10. They were designed to give two mornings of inorganic changes of\nmatter, with two contrasting evenings; two organic changes, as mornings\nof vegetation, with contrasting evenings; two organic changes, as\nmornings of animals, with contrasting evenings. These days are all\nspoken of as noting a beginning, a middle, and a close. The beginning\nand close are contrasts. This mode of measurement may have been derived\nfrom Job 9:9\u2014\u201cWhich maketh the Bear, Orion, and Pleiades.\u201d Here is\nOrion, marking the colure line of the Spring equinox at the creation of\nman; the Bear, marking the same Spring equinox at the end of time; and\nPleiades, marking the date at which these visions came to the prophet.\nThus we have the beginning and ending of the human race in contrast, and\na middle date of passing events. Thus, with Moses the vision of creation\nopens with the creation of all matter, and the first day ends with the\nmorning of light. The inertia of rest in chaos intervened. The Earth,\nwithout form, and the Earth, in form, is contrasted, the second day,\nwith a separated firmament of the sun intervening. In the third day, we\nhave evening commencing with two gases in the form of a steam globe,\ncontrasted with the waving forests of the Devonian age of geology, with\nthe millions of years of deposits of inorganic substance intervening.\nThe language explaining the fourth day seems to be about the sun, moon,\nand stars. But that these might shine in on the Earth, there was\ninvolved the idea of removing the Earth\u2019s \u201cswaddling band,\u201d alluded to\nby Job. Hence the language involves an evening of twilight in which\nCryptogams, as the beginning of Earth\u2019s vegetation, would contrast with\nthe flowers basking in clear sun light, while the slow process of how\nGod caused the sun to shine in on the Earth, by working this dark band\nof gases into its crust, intervened. Nowhere is this rule seen so\nclearly as in the language pertaining to the fifth day. Here, the\ninfusoria of the sea is made to contrast with the whale; while birds\nintervene. These diatoms began in the deposit of the Gneiss rock. The\nwhale is found in the Myocene and since. The solitary reign of beasts is\nnoted as evening, contrasting with the reign of God\u2019s people as \u201cpriests\nand kings unto God,\u201d at the close of time. Intervening are the events of\nhuman history. Thus, every day of the six is shown by contrasts.\n\n11. A general providence runs in law, evolving progress as far as\nNature\u2019s law is adapted; but when Nature fails to meet any new want,\nspecial providence steps in, with additional forces to supply the\ndeficiency. Space was an empty nakedness, and God created matter\ntherein. Matter was without form and void, and God started it in motion.\nMatter was without life, and God created the life. The beasts of the\nfield were without a moral spirit. And God made man in his own image,\nblessed with immortality, and capable of attaining to eternal life. For\nfarther particulars, see Sec. 4.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IV.\n    The Phenomena to which allusions are so freely made in the \u201cSix\n    Days of Moses,\u201d suggest certain scientific necessities, replete\n     with geological information, which demonstrate the progressive\n       work of God, for matter, in matter, by and through matter,\n                 and above matter, to the end of time.\n\n\nTwo books give a revelation of God, Nature and the Bible. Except for\npurposes of intelligent connection, as a rule, the revelations of one\nare not repeated in the other. Revelation on the subject of cosmos is\nevidently intended to supply parts, which nature is not adapted to\nunfold. Each stands as a part of a great whole; that the true student of\nnature may be thoroughly furnished with proper text books, which, when\nrightly understood, are conjointly harmonious, connected, and\nexhaustive. If man would attain even the faintest ability to measure the\n\u201cfootprints of God\u201d in nature, or fathom the relation of first causes in\ncreation, he can ill afford unacquaintance with either book. The Bible\nis given as a supplement to God\u2019s voice in nature. Creation, shown in\nharmony with the testimony of the rocks, confirms the testimony of\nMoses. The unsupported hypotheses of men have led some to deplore the\n\u201cmistakes of Moses.\u201d A better acquaintance with both books will lead\nthem, it is thought, at least to respect his great prophetic knowledge,\nin outlining creation\u2019s origin and forces.\n\n\n                               Section 1.\n                       The Work of the First Day.\n\n\n1. The account, given in Genesis, of creation is in the form of an Epic\nPoem. As a treatise on any subject, it would be incomplete. Its design\nseems to be to give, in the form of poetic suggestions, the connecting\nlinks to unite creation with creation\u2019s God. For such a purpose, it is\nthe grandest and most complete of all productions of the pen. Six of\nthese days are marked by contrasts, \u201ccalled evening and morning\u201d but the\nseventh is peculiar, having neither. The sixth is said to close God\u2019s\nlabor with matter. Unmeasured duration is, doubtless, the seventh.\n\n2. The \u201cdeep,\u201d when used in reference to the heavens, means immensity of\nspace; as: \u201cdarkness was upon the face of the deep.\u201d Darkness is the\nnormal state of space. Not dependent on matter, it is eternal. Moses saw\nall matter created at once. God\u2019s work, as revealed here for matter, is\nin harmony with correlation of matter in science.\n\n3. By a beautiful figure of metonymy, poets speak of a part implying the\nwhole. Such is the word \u201cEarth,\u201d as first introduced in this production.\n\u201cAnd the earth (all matter) was without form.\u201d Inertia holds all in\nrest. An act, fiat, or work of God, above matter, is requisite, to set\nit in motion. \u201cAnd the Spirit of the Lord moved upon the face of the\ndeep.\u201d A system formed with a center of light is noted. All systems are\nmembers of this choir.\n\n4. Science would suggest, that, if a ponderous globe, as our sun, should\ngather in a field of gases, though trillions of miles in diameter, all\ngases, within its drawing sphere, must either go toward the sun, or be\nthrown around it in a circle. Such was the ring of waters, or fluids,\nfirst called a firmament. A most minute directing of Providence is here\nsuggested. It extended to each molecule of gas, and its appropriate\nplace was determined. Before that grand movement of the Spirit of God,\nthere was nothing with which to measure duration, and time had not\ncommenced. No centers\u2014no gravitation. No motion\u2014no light or force. All\nthis is suggested in matter \u201cwithout form.\u201d Suns only had form at the\nclose of the first day. As systems revolved, measured duration might\nhave commenced at the revolutions of suns about a grand center. One day\nat the sun would be twenty-seven of ours; one year, eighteen thousand of\nours. This first day of creation may have been one hundred million of\nyears. It included the length of these contrasts to a climax,\ndarkness\u2014light. The one reigning over all matter, the other forming from\nmatter, under the direction of God.\n\n5. If the first is a literal day, so are the seven. If the first is\npoetic, so are the seven. That the first was not literal, is evident in\nthat the \u201cEarth was without form\u201d as yet. Hence there was no twenty-four\nhour measurement. Day is also used to signify a nation\u2019s history. It is\nnot that. It is also used to signify the life of an individual. It could\nnot be that. \u201cA day with the Lord is as a thousand years.\u201d It is evident\nthat Peter was merely hinting at the indefiniteness, as to time, of the\nMosaic days. It remains, then, that it is a cosmological day, without\nexact measurement of time. It certainly includes all that period of\nchaotic darkness before time commenced. Should these gases move across\nthe radii of our system with the speed of light, it would take\nthirty-five days; but should the gases move like an atmosphere in space,\nit would take more than ninety million of years to gather the sun. The\ngreater probability is that these contrasted conditions of the first\nday, poetically described without any exact measurement, if measured,\nwould extend through more than one hundred million of our years.\n\n\n                               Section 2.\n                      The Work of the Second Day.\n\n\n1. Creation includes not only the bringing into existence of matter, but\nall its undeveloped forces and changes. Revelation, upon this subject,\nis suggestive, rather than exhaustive, of what we need above what Nature\nshows, to trace creation back to God. The greatest difficulty in reading\nthis poem understandingly, is in rightly rendering the phenomena noticed\nupon the second day. Figures of metonymy abound. As a rule, figures once\nused in prophecy are not changed when used by another prophet. Hence, we\nmay derive benefit by seeing how other prophets have used them. Job had\nmade the gathering of suns at the creation of light a morning in figure.\nMoses is about to use the same figure, and beholding the darkness of\nchaos preceding, he extended the figure to an evening preceding. This is\nthe only day that pertains to light and darkness. The second day will be\nanalogous in contrast. Whatever be the one, the other will contrast. The\nevening of Earth is given. \u201cAnd the Earth was without form.\u201d The\ncontrast will be the Earth in form, for morning.\n\n2. To read these allusions understandingly, every sentence must be\ncosmologically analyzed in the light of our present knowledge of\nastronomy, chemistry, philosophy, geology, and rhetoric. There is a\ngrand suggestion of progress, couched in the figure of morning\nsucceeding evening. The morning of each day is a complete contrast to\nits own evening; and yet the morning of that day is only the evening of\nthe day following. The morning of the sun, with hosts of God\u2019s angels\nrejoicing, is only the evening of the prospective globe, upon whose disk\nshall be perfected, in knowledge and true holiness, beings in God\u2019s own\nimage. The sun has perfected his day, in which Moses beholds the evening\nof the second.\n\n3. He is looking at our system, as from the voids of space, as a whole;\nwith its gathered sun and its immense ring of prospective planets. It is\nnow shown him that a change is to take place in the ring, which will\nresult in the form of a globe. To that part of the ring he draws near.\nThe first phenomenon noticed was a separation in the ring between the\n\u201cwaters above, and those below.\u201d The gases thus uniting in one\nsubstance, soon left this firmament ring of the sun, and had a firmament\nof its own, called heaven, or visible expanse. The Hebrew word\ntranslated \u201cfirmament\u201d implies something tangible, and yet it was used\nto denote the visible expanse.\n\n4. The first firmament was composed of tangible gases or waters, so\ncalled; the second is the expanse of heaven. The cause of the separated\nwaters is seen in what follows. These fluids that evolved out, leaving\nthe ring separated, are now in a condition that they only have to be\ngathered together into one place to be a sea. It was then steam. The\nsuggestion is that an immense field of oxygen and hydrogen had united by\nthe spark which separated the ring, and as the union was superheated\nsteam, it evolved out into the voids of space as a globe. It is plain\nthen \u201cAnd God made a firmament in the midst of the waters,\u201d means he\nmade a globe, from which the visible expanse is seen. The vision now\nplaces the prophet upon this globe, the changes of which will occupy his\nattention to the end.\n\n5. Whether any or all the planets were formed at the same time, we are\nnot told. No allusion is made to them except an incidental one, on the\nfourth day, so that all things should be traced back to God as their\nMaker. If the union of two gases took out a segment of the ring, leaving\nit \u201cseparated,\u201d it would only be temporary, as the ring would close up\nagain. Whether our planet was the first, third, or last formed, no\nmention is made. The vision is designed henceforth to unfold what we\nneed to know of Earth, not found in nature. Our globe in chaos of gases,\nsweeping around the sun in the form of a ring, is evening, being\n\u201cwithout form.\u201d Our globe in steam, having a firmament of its own, is in\nshape, and this is \u201cmorning.\u201d Solomon must have given such an\ninterpretation to the account of the second day. Prov. 8:27. Tracing the\nunmeasured age of wisdom, \u201cBefore the mountains were settled, before the\nhills, while as yet he had not made the Earth, when he prepared the\nheavens, I was there; when he set a compass (or circle) upon the face of\nthe depth.\u201d A globe of steam, possibly highly charged with electricity,\nrevolving in an orbit outside the ring of planetary gases, was all that\nconstituted Earth at this time. \u201cAnd the evening and the morning were\nthe second day.\u201d\n\n\n                               Section 3.\n                       The Work of the Third Day.\n\n\n1. A globe of vapor in contact with the cold voids of space must\ncondense or liquify. The beginning would be upon the outside; constantly\ngrowing heavier according to bulk, it would work its way nearer to the\nsun. Having become a center of attraction, and coming back to the now\nclosed-up ring, it would claim a portion of the same as an atmosphere.\nIncreasing now its centrifugal force, it gained an orbit inside the\nring, still drawing nearer the sun. Job\u2019s attention had been called to\nthe earth\u2019s appearance in this \u201cgathering\u201d process. \u201cWhen I made the\ncloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it.\u201d\nMoses began the third day as the globe began to condense. \u201cAnd he\ngathered the waters together into one place; and he called the gathering\ntogether of the waters, seas.\u201d While the globe was in a condition of\nvapor, the waters were firmament waters; and the word firmament answered\nvery well for both globe and visible expanse. Hence, \u201cGod made a\nfirmament\u201d by figure; covered both. But as soon as gathered, there was a\ndistinction. Now only the expanse, holding yet a cloudy vapor, could be\ncalled firmament, or heaven; and the gathered waters he called seas.\n\n2. Science claims that the present pointing of the pole of the Earth,\nand its inclination to the ecliptic, could not produce such a warm\nclimate as the Earth once enjoyed. This fact, in connection with the\nEarth covered with ice, at a remote period of the past, confounds the\nmere seeker of cause in nature\u2019s laws. The ancient pole-pointing is sung\nby Job. According to his description of light and darkness, one pole of\nthe Earth must have pointed directly to the sun throughout the year. And\nas that warm climate was uniform, it must have turned on its axis not\nonly daily, but as does our moon in reference to Earth, once over in its\nentire orbicular journey. Its enlightened hemisphere was never in\ndarkness; its dark hemisphere was never in light. According to Job\u2019s\nstatement, both light and darkness were stationary. \u201cWhere is the place\nwhere light dwelleth? And as for darkness, where is the place thereof,\nthat thou shouldst take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldst\nknow the paths to the house thereof?\u201d All our deposits then hung as\ngases in the air; one-half of which science proclaims to have been\noxygen. In the language of Solomon, the mountains before rising must\nhave first \u201csettled\u201d in the sea. The psalmist saw that God spread out\nthe earth upon the waters, that he founded it upon the sea, and\nestablished it upon the floods. Job saw that the very corner foundation\nstone was made to sink. Moses rushes the deposits all into the evening\nof the third day, to the appearance of dry land. \u201cAnd God said, Let the\nwaters under the heaven (the new firmament) be gathered together unto\none place, and let the dry land appear.\u201d Here are eighty miles deposit\nmade in the sea, all of which came out of the air and water. During this\ntime Moses says, \u201cThe Lord God had not caused it to rain on the Earth.\u201d\n\u201cThe plant and the herb of the field had not yet been made.\u201d\n\n3. With such a pole-pointing, only one end of the Earth could receive\ndeposits, and the sun could take hold only of that end. Job alludes to a\nconvulsion in which \u201cThe proud were shaken out of it, that the sun might\ntake hold of both ends of it.\u201d 38:13. Before this change, \u201cThe waters\nwere covered as with a stone, and the deep was frozen.\u201d Deposits are now\nmade from the air at the rate of four hundredths of an inch in a year.\nAt this rate it would take, possibly, eighty million of years to reach\nthe surface. Our globe was never a rain-less planet.\n\n4. The allusion to its not having rained on the earth, is an allusion\nthat the deposits were yet beneath the waters, until the \u201cdry land\nappeared.\u201d Following the changes of organic life up to the time of the\ndeposits of the \u201cOld Red Sand Stone,\u201d where God spread out the waving\nforests of the Devonian plain, he had found the fit contrast to the\ninorganic deposit of the evening.\n\n5. The climate of the first part of the third clay was chilled to the\ntemperature of melting ice. The latter part was torrid. The equator\nmarked the bound between perpetual sunlight and perpetual darkness.\nAlong this equator a line of open sea would beat against a line of\nperpetual ice. The spray and vapor from the open sea, going south, would\nbe rapidly converted into snow and ice, increasing the thickness and\ngravity of the ice. At length, breaking by its own weight, it would\ndrift into the open sea. During the first part of this day, there was\nnothing to prevent this drift-ice finding its way to the very north\npole. The sea, therefore, would be at a temperature of 32 degrees Fahr.\n\n6. After the deposits neared the top, and before dry land appeared, the\nlarger bergs were kept back, and tropical waters resulted, followed by\nthe same climate upon the dry land, as it appeared. At the close of this\nday there existed many kinds of water animals, but they did not form a\nsuitable contrast with what Moses had to start with, as evening. These\nwere inorganic deposits from the air. The organic deposits of the\nDevonian forests are the morning. \u201cAnd the earth brought forth the tree,\nyielding fruit, whose seed was in itself (cryptogams) after his kind.\u201d\n\u201cAnd the evening and the morning were the third day.\u201d\n\n\n                               Section 4.\n                      The Work of the Fourth Day.\n\n\nUp to the Carboniferous time of deposit, the air had never been\nsufficiently cleared of its dark clouds of deadly gases, to admit\nsunshine on the earth. Vegetation had not reached a climax. No mention\nis to be made of animals existing, until this climax is reached. It will\nbe reached when the sun shall have taken off the \u201cswaddling band\u201d of her\nchildhood, and depositing the same, as coal, in the earth, shall give\nthe earth a clothing of flowers. Non-flowering plants are evening, the\ncontrast will be the flowering plant in the sunshine.\n\n1. By figure of metonymy, again he traced the progress of deposits\nthrough the sun, which God had made, with the moon and stars. The labor\nof the sun to clear the atmosphere, calling for immediate help of God,\nwas long and persevering. Poetically, the narrative is enriched by this\nelegant figure, in putting cause for effect. As now from the earth for\nthe first time he beholds the clear sunlight, he doubtless is reminded,\nthat in mentioning the creation of this center of attraction in our\nsystem, he had given a name which indicated a specific property of the\nsun, viz, light; whereas it also had heat and force.\n\nNow, calling it by a generic name, and remembering also that in\ndescribing the origin of Earth no mention had been made of the rest of\nthe heavens, he incidentally mentions that God made them all, without\nattempting the individual history of either. His mission is to trace in\nprogress the contrasting changes of God\u2019s work in the Earth. And to his\ntext he adheres.\n\nSince the sun is the only source of permanent natural light within our\nsystem, and since Moses had made light to contrast with the darkness of\nchaos in the first day, it seems strange that any intelligent reader\nshould understand him to speak of the bringing into existence of the\ngreat orb of light the fourth day. Shining in on the earth is all that\nis noted.\n\n2. Sir Charles Lyell, the great English geologist, gives us the process\nby which sunlight was let in on the earth during the carboniferous age.\nThis age corresponds to the fourth day of Moses. The dark band of gases\nintercepted the clear rays of sunlight, so that a somber hue of gray\ncovered the earth, as in twilight. Vegetation must slowly do the work of\ndepositing these gases, until diminished so that fire, or flame, could\nbe supported. Such was the resinous and oily nature of all vegetation of\nthat period, that a stroke of lightning might set the world on fire, to\nburn for six months or a year. Some of the carbonated growth of the\nforests would be hidden away beyond the reach of flame. In this\ncondition it would ripen into coal. But enough carbonic acid would\nescape, to intercept the clear rays of the sun, and another period of\ndeposit would set in. In the Nova Scotia coal mines, alone, he had\nnoticed one hundred of these burnings, implying a long period of deposit\nbetween each. It is thus the long ages struggled, to enable the sun to\nkiss the vegetation into bloom. The widely scattered coal beds of this\nperiod show that the whole earth was covered with a tropical forest.\nLarge veins of this coal are found in Greenland, Nova Zembla Island,\nTasmania, and the Melville Islands.\n\n3. We have had subsequent periods of deposits of carbon in forests that\nproduced coal. But the coal formed since that age is generally soft. One\nshort coal period occurred this side the great upheavals of mountains.\nThis coal is found on the Pacific Coast, and yields only forty-four per\ncent. carbon. The best coal had its origin before the flowers. In Moses\u2019\nprophetic vision of the work of the sun, he grasped certain points in\nthe future of astronomy.\n\n4. He noticed the use an enlightened civilization would make of the\nmotions of the heavens. He noticed the Zodiac divided into signs, and\ntime measured by three clocks of nature, called \u201cdays, years, and\nseasons.\u201d The season clock is by the precession of the equinoxes,\nconsuming 25,000 years in a circle. Michael, the archangel, used this\nterm in explanation of the \u201clong time\u201d that would elapse before the\nfinal end. With the clear sunlight, the climax of vegetation was\nreached. Two inorganic mornings and two vegetable mornings have been\nnoted; two animal mornings remain to finish the work of God with matter.\n\n\u201cAnd the evening and the morning were the fourth day.\u201d\n\n\n                               Section 5.\n                       The Work of the Fifth Day.\n\n\n1. The contrasts of evening and morning of the fifth day are found in\nthe sea. The contrasts of the sixth upon the land. The evening of the\nfifth began with the \u201cmoving things of the sea,\u201d ending with the\n\u201cwhale.\u201d With the exception of the first day, the fifth must have\nextended through a much longer time than all the others put together.\nThe contrast between moving diatoms of the Gneiss rock, and the whale of\nthe Miocene in size, is apparent. But the contrast is in a higher sense.\nAll this long period to the Tertiary rock, gave only egg-producing\nanimals. This was not high enough in the scale of animal existence to\nhave the next evening, which must begin with the fifth morning, to form\na contrast with man. The type of the highest of mammals must be reached,\nand that in the sea. This was found in the whale. Beside, the whale is\nintimately connected with the great geological change caused by the\ndrift period. Here ninety-seven per cent of the previous animals of the\nearth became extinct. Following the drift, there came into existence\nnearly all the animals that now roam the Earth. This day, then, covers\nall the changes of the fourth, and most of the third; and of course has\nnothing to do with a measure of time, or order of deposits.\n\n2. For aught we now know, the starting of animal life was in the time of\nthe deposit of the Gneiss rock\u2014here we find shells. From here onward was\nheard the voice of God, \u201cLet the waters bring forth abundantly the\nmoving creature that hath life.\u201d This life, at first, was very simple;\nand small as simple. It required only the nourishment derived from water\nfor its support. No animals of any considerable size are found until\nvegetables were furnished for their food. Those of the earlier period\nhad to be protected from the carbonated waters by a bony covering or\nivory scales. Scorpions, spiders, lizards and frogs might breathe the\ncarbonic acid of the fourth day; but no warm-blooded animals are known\nto have existed until after the sun shone in upon the Earth, as a\nfixture.\n\n3. Here Moses noticed the existence of \u201cfowls of the air.\u201d In the\nichthyosaurus he might have found the contrast in size, but not in type.\n\n4. He passed on down to the \u201cwhale as morning.\u201d After the Carboniferous\ndeposits, the tracks of birds and reptiles are found in the ancient\nsands of the shores of the waters. Gigantic saurians and voracious fish\nruled the sea for untold ages; but as they all were oviparous, or\negg-producing, they are ranked in the evening. Reaching the type of the\nruling land animals of the next day, Moses pronounced the morning with\nthe whale.\n\n5. It remains a mystery, how any one knowing anything about geology can\nfind fault with the order of the Mosaic record. So far as Moses has\nmentioned order, it is: moving animals in the sea, air animals, mammals.\nThe order of science may be more explicit. Substantially it is\nprotozoans, mollusks, radiates, articulates, vertebrates, mammals. There\nis no conflict, nor even deficiency. The term used by Moses is\ndesignedly generic; covering all moving creatures of the waters. The\nhistory of the rocks is in exact accord with the testimony of Moses; and\nboth verify common observation, viz: each kind of animal produces its\nown kind.\n\n6. The poise of the Earth to the sun was such as to give an ice-flow,\nwhenever for any cause a great subsidence of the hemisphere took place.\n\nThe largest happened when the last and highest mountains were raised. As\na consequence, the period called the Drift followed, when the reindeer\nmade his home in the vicinity of England. Most tropical animals were\ndestroyed. A new race of placential mammals was to be introduced; the\ntype of which is found in the sea, able to endure the revolutions of the\nDrift. Hence the wisdom displayed in selecting this animal, as a\nrepresentative of morning.\n\n7. The Scripture claim of special providence is in harmony with the\ndefence of the same in science. Providence is general, when wrought out\nin due course of law; special, when it is a power added to nature.\nSpecial providence is not a rule of action, but the exception. Science\nclaims this much in nature. I refer to the admissions of such men as\nHuxley, Tyndal and Darwin. Prof. Huxley says: \u201cNo scientist of the\npresent day will venture the affirmation, that matter is eternal. Should\none be found, his brethren would rise up in court, and object to his\ntestimony, as he would be incompetent to testify.\u201d If not eternal, it\nwas created by God\u2019s special power. Prof. Darwin says: \u201cSome of our\nbrethren have tried by experiments, to prove spontaneous life from\ninorganic matter, but they have failed, and, from the nature of the\ncase, they must ever fail.\u201d \u201cThere must have been a first life, I think\nfive forms, I know there must have been one from which life could\nproceed.\u201d Special providence again is needed to start life. The same\nprinciple would apply as many times as the earth may have lost its\nliving forms. Sir Charles Lyell would assure you that the fires of the\nCarboniferous period alone deprived the earth of all land and fresh\nwater animals, plants and seeds, at least one hundred times. Yet it was\nsupplied between each. Prof. Tyndal says, \u201cDo you ask me 'May inert\nmatter rise up and live?\u2019 I answer directly, 'No, life must have been\ncreated.\u2019\u201d Here then in science are the Deists\u2019 endorsements of exactly\nwhat every enlightened Christian believes in reference to the covenant\nof salvation. This is the doctrine of the science of today, viz: that\n\u201cGod made all matter at one and the same time; that by special power he\nput all parts in motion at one and the same time; that his eye is over\nall, ready to supply what is needed above what the machinery of nature\ncan perform.\u201d Carry out this principle, and you have the manifestations\nof the true God in Jesus, and every Bible theory of the New Covenant.\n\n\n                               Section 6.\n                       The Work of the Sixth Day.\n\n\n1. Beasts, with a perishable spirit, are the evening of the sixth day.\nMan without an immortal spirit is the morning. Here we shall find the\ngrandest contrast of any of the six days. Historic man is the morning,\nextending to the end of God\u2019s work, in reference to matter.\n\nDuration ceases to be measured at the close of this day. Solomon alludes\nto the contrasts found in this day. \u201cWho knoweth the spirit of the\nbeast, that goeth downward; and the spirit of man, that goeth upward?\u201d\nFor a long time these animals, without a spirit to be preserved, ruled\nthe earth as kings, \u201cwithout any one to till the soil.\u201d Jungles and\nforests, mountains and dales, lakes and caves, alike afford no facts\ninconsistent with this statement of Moses. Should science ever confirm\nthe existence of a race prehistoric, resembling man, it will doubtless\nbe shown that they were not a contrast with beasts, and have no\nconnection with our race.\n\n2. Our race undoubtedly sprang from Adam less than six thousand years\nago. Prehistoric man, like evolution, rests upon the hypotheses of men,\nalways unsafe; but in this case unsupported by a well-attested fact. The\nformer may claim the intuitions of that class of persons ever looking up\nthe genealogy of Cain\u2019s wife; the latter has the common sense of the\naverage man against him. Upon this subject, as upon every other upon\nwhich the Bible pretends to speak, \u201cIf they speak not according to what\nis written, it is because there is no truth in them.\u201d By special\nrevelation man saw that by a special providence of God, he caused the\nground to become the mother of man; and from this creation proceeded, by\nthe same special providence, a help-meet for man. She has ever proved\nherself the great help in the march of civilization. Facts show that man\ngloriously contrasts with the highest types going before.\n\n3. It is not yet a settled question that the air, for any number of\nthousands of years before Adam, was sufficiently cleared of deadly gases\nas to admit of human breathing. On looking upon the coal veins of\nPennsylvania, we need no argument to show that man could not have\nbreathed the carbon that hung in the air of that period of deposit. The\nmute faces of the coal beds of Ohio forbid man\u2019s existence then,\nalthough these succeed the former by millions of years. Geologists agree\nthat the Pacific deposits of coal have been this side of the great\nupheavals of the large mountains. If man had been living then, the\ncarbonic acid of the air would have strangled the life out of him. When\nwe take into consideration how very slowly a continent rises out of the\nocean, and that both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts had to rise over\nfive thousand feet to expose their fruitful valleys; and also how very\nlong a period had to elapse after, before the air would be laid into the\nground by vegetation, we shall readily see the force of this\nproposition, viz: The very calculations which science has given us bring\nthe deadly gases very near to the time given in Genesis for the creation\nof our present race.\n\nThe volcanic periods of the world\u2019s history argue against the early\nhabitation of the Earth by man. Every volcano is a vent for the escape\nof deadly gases, caused by the consumption of oils and coal in the\nEarth\u2019s strata. The enormous quantity of coal consumed is but faintly\nindicated by the amount of ashes thrown out. The mountains give evidence\nof recent volcanic disturbance, greatly exceeding the present. Ancient\nriver beds are found into whose channels the debris of the mountains had\nbeen dragged by the great ice-flow, until leveled over to the height of\nseveral thousand feet; then the volcanic era covered, in places, this\ndrift fifty or sixty feet thick; thus preserving the silt from being\ndragged away, as the waters receded. The fact that we had a coal period\nfollowing, shows that man in the volcanic period, and for thousands of\nyears after, could not breathe the air. Our active volcanoes are reduced\nto about three hundred. Still the air is polluted in many ways. Smelting\nworks, forges and gas plants all pollute the air. Every cesspool, every\nwhiff of burning tobacco, adds its quota to air-corrupting. Each year\ncontributes to deposit a portion of the remaining carbon of the air.\nRich valleys of warm zones are not yet healthy. We still go to the\nmountains for invigorating air.\n\n5. Evidently, we have not yet reached the climax of good breathing air.\nNature discourages the thought, that man could have continued his race,\nin any time, much previous to that given for the creating of Adam. The\nmorning of the sixth day is in progress. Prophecy presents the coming\nman greatly improved over the present. \u201cMy Father worketh hitherto, and\nI work.\u201d\n\n6. This morning ends, when the angel stands one foot upon the land, his\nright hung over the sea, with his left hand pointing to heaven,\nproclaiming that time shall be no longer. \u201cAnd God rested from all his\nlabor.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n \u25cf Transcriber\u2019s Notes:\n    \u25cb Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only\n      when a predominant form was found in this book.\n    \u25cb Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).","title":"The Neptunian, or Water Theory of Creation","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":21489}