MOSES AND MODERN SCIENCE.
SCIENCE AGREES WITH RELIGION--NEBULAR THEORY--SUN A DARK BODY--SUN
SPOTS--VARIOUS SOURCES OF LIGHT--PRIMEVAL OCEAN--DENSITY OF EARLY
ATMOSPHERE--VEGETATION OF COAL PERIOD EVERYWHERE IDENTICAL--UNIFORMITY
OF CLIMATE.
There is a class of aspirants to gentility who refuse to recognize any
person not dressed in the style which they suppose fashionable among
the higher classes. A story is told of a wealthy Glasgow brewer's wife,
who, attired in all the magnificence of her satins, laces and jewelry,
was driving out in her carriage one day in the vicinity of Balmoral.
A quiet lady, clad in a plain, gingham dress and gray shawl, was
gathering a bouquet of wild flowers in the hedge, and as the carriage
passed by, wished the occupant a pleasant "good morning," to which the
brewer's wife answered by a contemptuous nod, but afterwards learned
to her great mortification, that she had thus lost an opportunity
of forming an acquaintance with Queen Victoria. So a large class of
pretenders to science refuse to become acquainted with Bible {170}
truth, because it is not shrouded in the technicalities of science, but
displays itself in the plain speech of the common people to whom it was
given.
Of late years the first chapter of Genesis has been assailed by
scientists in such a manner that even some professing Christians and
other devout believers in the Old Testament have come to doubt the
authenticity of that chapter; while the efforts of some modern divines
to interpret its sayings so as to conform to the declarations of
so-called science, have in some cases been pitiful to behold. We do
not claim that what is called science is infallible. True science is
indisputable. But much that is called science is only theory. In the
writings of learned men, concerning the formation of the world, and
geologic processes and periods, there is a large mixture of theory
and guess-work along with some demonstrated facts and principles. We
believe, however, that there is no real conflict between the Mosaic
account of the creation and the nebular theory, which is the most
widely accepted among the most prominent scientists.
The Bible declares, "In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth." Science admits that there was a "Great First Cause." The
world-famous scientist, Herbert Spencer, says, "The universe had its
origin in the unknown source of things." The Bible declares, "The
earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of
the deep." Science teaches us that matter primarily existed without
any form, in a highly {171} attenuated and invisible condition, but
containing all the elements which now compose the solid and fluid
portions of the earth, and while it was in this condition it was
non-luminous. Before motion there was no light. The Bible says the
"Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (The original word
_mayhim_ means literally a flowing, non-solid, fluid substance.)
Scientists admit that motion as well as matter demands a cause, and
that the earth was then a flowing or movable substance or fluid.
Thus we see that the description given by Moses of that far, far off
period is not only correct but likewise has a depth of meaning that is
perfectly sublime.
Let us now turn to another chapter in nature's volume and compare it
with the second event mentioned by Moses. "And God said. Let there be
light: and there was light." Scientists admit that the first visible
effect of motion in the fluid mass was the giving out of light. And
here it may not be out of place to give a concise description of the
nebular theory:
"La Place conceived the sun to be at one period the nucleus of a vast
nebula or star-cloud, the matter of which extended beyond what is
now the orbit of the remotest planet of the solar system. This mass
of matter in process of condensation, and probably by the agency of
electricity, was endued with a circulating motion around its center
of gravity. The tendency which all revolving bodies possess to fly
off from the center, caused portions of this nebula in process of
condensation, {172} to detach themselves from the parent mass, and form
themselves into concentric rings, which afterwards, by condensation and
electrical action, separated themselves into distinct bodies. These
masses, which hence constituted the various planets, in their turn
condensing after the manner of the parent mass and abandoning their
outlying matter, became surrounded by similar concentric rings, which
in turn formed satellites or moons surrounding the various planetary
masses. In proof of this, the case of the planet Saturn has been cited
to show that the work of creation is still in progress. As is well
known, this planet is surrounded by a revolving belt, consisting of
several distinct rings still unbroken."
While infidels are scoffing at the idea of light without the sun,
modern science has discovered the astonishing fact, that even at this
moment the globe of the sun is not a source of light to itself much
less to us; that, in fact light is no more connected with the sun than
with a candlestick. The sun consists mainly of a dark nucleus, like
the body of the earth and other planetary globes, surrounded by two
atmospheres of enormous depths, the one nearest to him being cloudy
and dense like our atmosphere, while the loftier stratum consists
of dazzling electric and phosphorescent zephyrs that, bestow light
on so many surrounding spheres. This phosphorescent atmosphere, or
_photosphere_, as it is called, is by no means inseparably attached
to the surface of the nucleus or dark body beneath. Nor is it in any
degree stable, but is subject to {173} extensive fluctuations and the
most violent commotions, being frequently swayed and whirled aside,
laying bare the surface of the dark globe beneath for thousands of
miles to the observation of astronomers, and even to the naked eye.
[ILLUSTRATION: THE SUN AS SEEN BY MR. PROCTOR SEPTEMBER 25TH, 1870.]
In the month of June, 1843, a spot was visible which, according to the
measurements of Schwabe, the astronomer, had a length of no less than
74,816 miles. On March 15th, 1858, observers of the great solar eclipse
had an opportunity of seeing a spot which had a breadth of 107,520
miles. But {174} the most remarkable view of the sun was that exhibited
September 25th, 1870. One of the openings was so vast that it was
calculated that eighteen of our worlds, placed side by side, would have
scarcely filled the chasm.
The latest discoveries in science tend rather to demonstrate that the
sun's light is but very faintly visible on his globe; and that there is
no such thing as solar heat. What is popularly called so is only the
heat caused by the friction of the waves of light passing through the
atmosphere, or striking against the earth. "We approach the question of
the sun's inhabitability," says Sir David Brewster, "with the certain
knowledge that the sun is not a red hot globe, but that its nucleus is
a solid, opaque mass, receiving very little light from its luminous
atmosphere." "For ought we know the dark, solid nucleus of the sun may
have existed for millions of years and given out no light whatever.
It is quite possible that variations of the sun's light may have been
caused through electrical action. The telescope has shown us that the
fixed stars are also luminous bodies similar to our sun, only very far
distant from us. Some of these have suddenly flashed into existence,
where none were previously visible. The appearance of twenty-one such
stars is on record. Others have greatly increased in brightness; and,
still further, many familiar suns have ceased to shine. On a careful
re-examination of the heavens, many stars are found to be missing."
(_Herschel's Outlines, Sec_. 832.)
{175} The variation of our supply of light from the sun is the only
explanation we have of the great alternations of heat and cold which
have been so extensive as, at one period, to have clothed high northern
latitudes, such as Greenland and Siberia, with a more than tropical
luxuriance of vegetation, and, at another time, to have buried vast
tracts of Europe and America, now enjoying a genial climate, under vast
glaciers and mountains of ice.
Again, light, so far from being solely derived from the sun, exists
in, and can be educed from almost any known substance. The metallic
bases of most earths and alkalies are capable of emitting light in
suitable electrical conditions, and a brilliant flame can be produced
by the combustion even of water. All the metals can be made to flash
forth lightnings under suitable electric and magnetic excitements; and
the crystals of several rocks give out light during the process of
crystallization. Thousands of miles of the earth's surface must once
have presented the lurid glow of a vast furnace of melted granite.
Even at a far later period of its history, it may have shone with a
luster little inferior to that of the sun; for lime, of which unknown
thousands of miles of its strata consist, when subject to a heat much
less than that produced by contact with melted granite or lava, emits
a brilliant, white light of such intensity that the eye cannot support
its luster. (_See Turner's Chemistry, Sec_. 160.)
As is well known, the moon is a dark, opaque body, therefore the copper
color of the moon, {176} during a total eclipse, when the dark side
of the earth is turned towards the moon, shows us that the earth,
even now, is a source of light. That God could command the light to
shine out of darkness, and convert the very ocean into a magnificent
illumination, the following fact clearly proves:
"Captain Bonnycastle coming up the gulf of St. Lawrence, on the 7th of
September, 1826, was roused by the mate of the vessel in great alarm
from an unusual appearance. It was a starlight night, when suddenly
the sky became overcast in the direction of the highland of Cornwallis
County, and an instantaneous and intensely vivid light, resembling the
aurora, or northern lights, shot out from the hitherto dark and gloomy
sea, on the lee bow, which was so brilliant that it lighted every
thing distinctly, even to the mast-head. The light spread over the sea
between the two shores, and the waves, which before had been tranquil,
now began to be agitated. Captain Bonnycastle describes the scene as
that of a blazing sheet of awful and most brilliant light. A long and
vivid line of light, superior in brightness to the parts of the sea not
immediately near the vessel, showed the base of the high, frowning and
dark land abreast; the sky became lowering and more intensely obscure.
Long, tortuous lines of light showed immense numbers of large fish
darting about as if in consternation. The top-sail yard and mizen boom
were lighted by the glare, as if gas-lights had been burning directly
below them; and until just before daybreak, at four o'clock, the {177}
most minute objects were distinctly visible." (_Connection of Physical
Sciences, p_. 288.)
In the fourth and fifth verses of the first chapter of Genesis we are
told, "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the
light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness
He called night. And the evening and morning were the first day."
In spite of all the sneers of infidels, the candid reader finds the
divine record sublime in its simplicity. The good effect of light
upon our planet was immediately apparent. The earth having now become
sufficiently condensed to cast a shadow, there was, of course, one side
enjoying the light of the sun while the other was in shadow. Thus the
dark body of the earth was the means by which God divided the light
from the darkness, as at the present; and the first rotation of the
earth upon its axis causing the shadow and the light to be alternately
on every part of the earth, produced the evening and the morning of the
first day. How long the first day was, we know not. From observations
of phenomena going on in the Spiral Nebula at the present time, it is
reasonable to suppose that the first revolution of the earth upon its
axis occupied a vast epoch of time.
The next process in the organization of the earth was the forming of
an atmosphere: "And God said, let there be a firmament" (literally,
_expanse_) "in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters
from the waters. And God made the firmament, {178} and divided the
waters, which are under the firmament: and it was so." (_Gen. i_, 6-7).
Now let us turn to the book of nature and see how science corroborates
these facts. Geologists tell us that the motion of the particles of
matter which form the earth, in course of condensation became very hot;
for heat and motion are only different names for the same thing. Heat
is easily convertible into motion, as every one knows who has a steam
engine, and motion can easily be changed into heat, as everybody knows,
by friction, that is by rubbing two substances together.
M. Mangin, in his "Mysteries of the Ocean," thus graphically describes
the first formation of the universal ocean: "As the earth continued
to cool, a time arrived when its temperature became insufficient to
maintain in a state of vapor the vast masses of water which floated
in the atmosphere. These vapors would pass into a liquid state, and
then the first rain fell upon the earth. This water would in turn be
quickly evaporated and again ascend into the colder regions of space,
where it would again condense and fall upon the earth. This might take
place many times; but each time much heat would be withdrawn from the
surface of the globe, and at last the waters would settle down and form
a universal ocean. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Further we are told: "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be
gathered together unto {179} one place, and let the dry land appear:
and it was so. And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering
together of the waters called He seas." (_Gen. i_, 9,10).
Mark the phrase, _unto one place_. The oceans and seas are all
connected; they are only names for parts of one place or basin. In
the 104th Psalm we are told that God covered the earth "With the deep
as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains." Concerning
the early condition of the earth, science declares, that the waters
encased the whole globe, and were above the early mountains, which were
afterwards formed by the contortions caused by the shrinking of the
crust of the earth as it cooled.
Helmholtz has calculated that the shrinking of the earth one
ten-thousandth of its diameter would generate an amount of heat equal
to that which the earth receives from the sun during two thousand
years. From this fact we may easily perceive the causes of that
internal heat which, after the lapse of unknown ages, still manifests
itself in geysers, earthquakes and volcanoes. Here, also, we may
perceive that mighty force by which the Divine chemist prepared the
materials for the earth's ultimate condition.
When God created light. He pronounced it good; when He divided the
dry land from the waters. He pronounced it good; but when He created
the firmament, or expanse. He did not declare it good. Why? Possibly
because, until vegetation began, it was loaded with carbonic acid and
{180} other poisonous gases, and totally unfit to support animal life.
Science teaches us that this was the period when those strata known
as the _primary rocks_ were formed. No remains of animal life can be
found in them. It is a well-known fact that most substances shrink
as they cool. This is the principle that holds the tires upon wagon
wheels. In the same manner the earth also shrank, in proportion, as it
cooled. As the various parts might give out heat in an unequal manner,
so irregularities would appear on its surface, forming the earliest
mountain chains, valleys, rents and ravines. Gradually as these early
mountains and table-lands rose above the surface of the primeval ocean,
the waves would dash against them and the rains fall, slowly wearing
away the rocks and thus forming the earliest soil on the new-made world.
Continuing our investigations, let us turn to another chapter of the
book of nature and see how closely the teachings of science agree with
the record given by Moses: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth
grass" (literally, sproutage), "the herb yielding seed, and the fruit
tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the
earth; and it was so." (_Gen. i_, 11.)
Mark the order: First, the sproutage; second, seed-bearing herbs;
and thirdly, fruit-bearing trees. Now what does science say on this
subject? It tells us that the exact geological period, when plants
first appeared upon the earth, cannot be told; for their delicate
structure was such that their earliest forms have been entirely
destroyed, unless {181} they are those which are still preserved in the
strata of the coal measures. The earliest forms of which we have any
knowledge were flowerless plants, which produced minute spores instead
of seeds. Among these may be classed fungi, mosses and ferns. Thus we
see how correctly Moses has described the first form of vegetable life
by simply speaking of it as _sproutage_, without mentioning any seed.
[ILLUSTRATIONS: SPECIMENS OF EARLY VEGETATION. FERNS. CALAMITES.]
{182} [ILLUSTRATION: SPECIMEN OF BARK FROM A NOVA SCOTIA COAL MINE.]
With regard to this vegetation, it would imply the existence of
sunlight, though some of the lower orders would require but little. The
atmosphere was still dense and loaded with vapor. The lower orders of
flowerless plants were succeeded by tree-like ferns, some of which grew
to the enormous hight of forty or fifty feet. The careful observer will
frequently find traces of this early vegetation in the lumps of common
coal. Sometimes the galleries of coal mines are overhung with beautiful
proportions of extinct vegetable forms. Thus a wise Providence has
preserved the remains of primeval vegetation for perhaps millions of
years, to tell us the story of those ancient forests, and reveal to
us the various steps of creation. "The vegetation of the coal period
presents a remarkable character, being composed almost entirely of
{183} the highest class of flowerless plants, along with a few of the
lowest class of those that flower." (_Dawson's Chain of Life, p_. 96.)
Concerning the climatic condition of the earth during the coal-forming,
(carboniferous) period, as it is called, the description given by Hugh
Miller, the eminent geologist, may not be out of place: "From the
circumstance that no dew is deposited in our Summer evenings, save
under a clear sky, it is now ascertained that even a thin covering of
cloud--serving as a robe to keep the earth warm--prevents the surface
heat of the planet from radiating into the space beyond. And such a
cloud, thick and continuous, as must have wrapped round the earth,
as with a mantle, during the earlier geologic periods, would have
served to retard, for many ages, the radiation, and consequently the
reduction, of that internal heat of which it was itself a consequence.
Nor would a planet, covered over for ages with a thick screen of vapor,
be a novelty yet in the universe. It is doubtful whether astronomers
have ever yet looked on the face of Mercury. It is, at least, very
generally held that, hitherto, only his clouds have been seen. Even
Jupiter, though it is thought his mountains have been occasionally
detected raising their peaks through openings in his cloudy atmosphere,
is known chiefly by the dark, shifting bands that, flecking his
surface in the line of his trade-winds, belong not to his body, but
to his thick, dark covering. Nor, yet further, would a warm, steaming
atmosphere, muffled in clouds, have been {184} unfavorable to a rank,
flowerless vegetation like that of the coal measures.
"There are moist, mild, cloudy days of Spring and early Summer, that
rejoice the heart of the farmer, for he knows how conducive they are
to the young growth on his fields. The coal measure climate would
have consisted of an unbroken series of these, with, mayhap, a little
more of cloud and moisture and a great deal more of heat. The earth
would have been a vast greenhouse covered with smoked glass, and
a vigorous, though, perhaps, a loosely-knit and faintly-colored,
vegetation would have luxuriated under its shade. That the vegetable
growth must have been great we can easily imagine when we consider the
immense quantities of coal throughout the world. It is a remarkable
circumstance that, from the equatorial regions up to Melville Island
in the Arctic Ocean, where continual frost now prevails; and from
Spitzbergen to the center of Africa, the remains of the plants of
the coal measures are identically the same. There seems to have been
then only one climate over the whole globe, caused, no doubt, by the
internal heat of the earth. We should not forget that Moses puts the
elevating of the land and the production of vegetation in the same
geological period, viz., between the second and third day."
"And the evening and the morning were the third day." (_Gen. i_, 13.)
Before this time there seems to have been no seasons; but, after that,
God appointed the sun, moon and stars "to give light upon the
earth, and to be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and for
years." That the sun and stars had been created long before this, we
have no reason to doubt. We may, therefore, correctly infer that they
were then, for the first time, visible from the surface of the earth.
{185} [TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Here is an artist's rendition of a
primordial forest]
{186}