The science of Geology in its early history is like all other sciences,
an infant. It was not a Hercules at its birth. On the contrary, it was
childlike and rather crooked in many of its ways; but chastisement and
criticism have brought it very far toward real manhood. Its early nurses
were standing continually on the dark line separating the comprehensible
from the incomprehensible, without any guides. They were out upon an
unexplored sea in the mere twilight of the morning. They were opposed at
every step by the combative tendencies of human nature, which are ever
seeking too much for their own gratification to admit any strange,
startling propositions as intruders among old and long cherished ideas.
In its history it appears before us, first as an enemy to religion, and
then as an unobjectionable science, a neutral. But since the publication
of "The Footprints of the Creator," by the lamented Hugh Miller, it
appears in front as a fast friend and abettor. And now, since it has
approached so near to its manhood, we do not see how we did without its
aid so long. Its first grand position touching the immense masses of the
rock formations as results of second causes, in operation away back
yonder before organic life appeared upon our planet, was looked upon by
intelligent Biblical scholars of those times with suspicion, as a
system at variance with the records of the Bible. This, along with
difference of sentiment among its friends, has been the means of a very
rapid growth towards perfection. Curiosity was aroused and observations
multiplied, errors corrected and the untenable removed, until the
science now stands before us with its bases settled in unquestionable
facts. Let us all learn from this circumstance the bearings of the times
in which we live, for a double process of elimination is now going on
under the providence of God, by means of which both Christianity and
science will have more beauty and strength of manhood to command the
respect of our children.
Geology is exercising a wonderful influence on the side of religion in
the minds of those who are acquainted with its facts. In the hands of
Miller it gives a very decisive answer against the evolution hypothesis,
which is by no means a new speculation. It was, in its general form, a
very prominent doctrine of the Epicurean philosophy. "The author of the
'Vestiges,' with Professor Oken, regarded the experiment of the
formation of cells in albumen by electric currents as the leading fact
of the system." They claimed that currents of electricity in the earth's
surface generated and vitalized the cells, and that all organic life
thus originated. There is nothing to save this speculation, when it is
undressed, from contempt. "The only patronage it ever received grew out
of the fact that there is a species of superstition which causes people
to take upon credit whatever assumes the name of science, and is opposed
to the old superstition of faith in witches and ghosts." With this
speculation before us, seemingly plausible, yet false, being fraught
with error, we are reminded of the fact that it has been eagerly
embraced by many who seem to think that it has a firm foundation in the
science of Geology, which they regard as presenting the order in which
created beings appeared. The author of the "Vestiges" claims that the
first step in the creation of life upon our earth was a
_chemico-electric_ operation, forming simple germinal vesicles. Page
155.
This is an item wholly unknown in the geological record and lies before
the beginning of any kind of similitude alluded to in this article. "The
idea which I form of the progress of organic life upon our earth," says
the author of the Vestiges, "is that the simplest and most primitive
type gave birth to the type next above it, and this again produced the
next higher, and so on to the very highest." Page 170.
On account of the mere similitude existing between the doctrine of
progressive creation, as it is set forth in the geological record, and
the idea of progressive evolutions, as claimed by the advocates of the
speculation, we deem it our duty to scrutinize severely the teachings of
geology. But in doing this we do not concede that there is no other
ground upon which such authors may be successfully met. There is no one
point in their system which is not hypothetical. It is a system of
_ifs_. There is no proof, in any single instance, that a higher has been
developed from a lower species; but the question, in proper shape, is
this: Has there been a succession of improvements from one geological
period to another in the several divisions of the animal and vegetable
kingdoms amounting to a change of species? Species are very similar in
structure and capable of some improvement, but this is no evidence of
the higher being developed from the lower. It is well known that the
lowest forms are those found lowest in the geological series. Commencing
at the bottom and running up we find, first, mollusks, then fishes,
reptiles, birds, quadrupeds, monkeys, and at last man. But this does
not, by any means, settle the issue. The question naturally arises
whether one of those divisions, on its first appearance, was of the
lowest organization of its class and reached the highest by a gradual
development through successive geological periods. The geological
testimony is this: First, there were no animals having any structural
resemblance to the fishes prior to their creation, and when they appear
they are already in possession of the highest organization and the
largest cerebral development.
During the long periods of geological history there has been no advance
in this class of animals. The science testifies to no successive steps
here. "They stood at the head of the icthyic division at the outset; but
there has been, during these periods, a progressive _degeneracy_, so
that though all possessed a high organization at first, there is found
in the after creations a _succession of lapses_ until the division of
fishes now contains species ranking little above the earth-worm." "A
single well defined placoid fossil in the Bala limestone as fully proves
the existence of placoid fishes, during the period of its deposition, as
if the rock were made up of placoid fossils, for it is not a question of
numbers, but of rank." The question, now, comes home to us with all its
force, how did fishes of this high order come to exist before any of the
inferior class? Let some of our evolution savans answer.
The same thing may be said of other organic divisions. It has gone to
record that the shell-fish of the Silurian system are the lowest
division of the molluscous animals. While the statement is received as
true, it must be remembered that there is some diversity of structure in
this lower division, and that the earliest molluscs are not the lowest,
but the highest in the division. The most important point, however, is,
that while Brachiopoda were most abundant, the highest molluscs existed
also, their remains being found in the Bala limestone, which is the
lowest bed of molluscous fossils. (See Silurian System, p. 308.) The
number of these higher species is not important. They existed, few or
many, as early as any other of the mollusca. If the lower had not an
anterior existence, the higher were not developed from them. It is also
a conclusive argument against the system, that while the intermediate
mollusca are very numerous, the cephalopoda, which were so early
introduced, and are the higher forms that were so numerous at certain
times, are now narrowed down to a few species.
Lyell was the first to drop a word of caution against "inferring too
hastily from the absence of mammalian fossils in the older rocks that
the higher class of vertebrata did not exist in those remote times."
"The remains of vertebrate animals are already found in the lowest
fossiliferous rocks, and, in addition to that, the highest forms of
each class appear first."
There is nothing so well evinced in all the realms of scientific
investigation as the utter impossibility of getting, by the light of
nature, away from the idea of the Christian's God. _Everywhere_ we trace
his footsteps. Traveling through the ages to the beginning, in thought,
our first view is that of "an unlimited expanse of unoccupied space,"
or, if aught exists, it lies hidden in the invisible state. But all at
once, as if by magic, and in obedience to the will of the Eternal
Intelligence, the invisible becomes visible, worlds exist and become
obedient to law. The divine perfections are to be displayed through
future ages. And now, if we look out upon the surging billows of the
ocean, our mind swells with the thought that God is there in all his
majesty. With our thoughts confined to our earth we pass from age to age
tracing the divine power from the laws of motion to chemical action and
crystallization, until we behold a wonderful change upon the face of
nature. And now, for the first time, a new principle is manifested, a
new order springs into being--it is vegetable life and being in all its
lovely grandeur. It matters not to us whether it came about gradually or
all at once, for wisdom is there. All nature seems to turn to this new
principle. "The elements of the inorganic world are subserving the
purposes of organic life." The Creator has bound them to organic life.
Every plant selects its food from the elements of earth by a chemistry
of its own. The atmosphere around us is no less to the vegetable kingdom
than a great pasture field. Every leaf is feasting, and every fiber is
touched by the light. What wonderful correlations meet us at every turn!
What adaptation of means to ends! Above all the beauty and grandeur of
the vegetable kingdom we find the glorious animal, with man at the head,
as lord over all below him. With man the moral government of God begins;
physical creation is over. The subsequent manifestations of the divine
glory are to be realized in the training and discipline of men and women
as moral beings; and their mutual association with him, in the eternal
world, is the ultimate.