A HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE ERRORS IN THE STORY OF CREATION.
As the Old Testament possesses no order, no arrangement, and no distinct
system of either morals or religion, and no regular connection in its
history, we have to treat it in the same unsystematic order in which we
find it, and to expose many foolish errors and stories which seem almost
beneath the dignity of any respectable writer to notice. But, as they
constitute a large portion of the Old Testament, we have got to deal
with _them_ or _nothing_. And, although trifling in _themselves_, they
have done much mischief. Hence we deem it of greater importance to
expose their evil influence than to trace them to their heathen origin,
as we originally designed doing.
1. The first text in the Bible is evidently an error. "In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1). No geologist and
philosopher at the present day believes in either a creation or a
creator. The assumption involves two impossibilities. First, a creation
could not take place without something to create from: "_Ex nihilo nihil
fit_,"--"Out of nothing nothing can come." Second, to account for the
origin of the earth, sun, moon, and stars, by assuming the existence of
a creator, is throwing no light on the subject. We have made no progress
towards solving the problem; for we are equally puzzled to account for
the origin of the creator himself. It is as easy to assume that matter
always existed as to assume that the creator always existed. Hence there
would be no creation possible, and none needed. This is now regarded as
a settled scientific problem.
2. It is a scientific error to assert that matter had a beginning,
as the Bible assumes. Many scientific facts have been developed to
establish the conclusion that all beings and objects on earth were
eliminated from its elements, and all the planets we can recognize
were an outgrowth from some other worlds. The proposition is not only
susceptible of much proof (which I have not space here to present), but
is very beautiful and satisfactory. It "composes our reason to peace."
All we lack of comprehending it is the capacity to grasp eternity and
infinity, which finite mortals cannot do.
3. If God "created the heavens" (Gen. i. 1), and heaven is his
"dwelling-place" (see 1 Kings viii. 30), then where did he dwell before
the heavens were made? Here is a very puzzling question, and involves an
absurdity equal to that of the Tonga-Islanders, who teach that the first
goose was hatched from an egg, and that the same goose laid the egg. An
idea equally ludicrous is involved in the assumption that God created
the heavens and the earth about six thousand years ago; so that,
previous to that era, there was nothing on which he could stand, sit, or
lie, but must have been suspended in mid-air from all eternity.
4. If nothing existed prior to six thousand years ago, then there was
nothing for God to do, and nothing for him to do it with. Hence he
must have spent an eternity in idleness, a solitary monarch without a
kingdom.
5. As we are told God created the light (Gen. i. 3), the conclusion is
forced upon us, that, prior to that period, he had spent an eternity in
darkness. And it has been discovered that all beings originating in
a state of darkness, or living in that condition, were formed without
eyes, as is proved by blind fishes being found in dark caves. Hence
the thought is suggested, that God, prior to the era of creation (six
thousand years ago), was perfectly blind.
6. "God saw the light that it was good" (Gen. i. 4). Hence we must
infer that God had just got his eyes open, and that he had never before
discovered that light is good. Of course it was good to be delivered
from eternal darkness.
7. "And God divided the light from the darkness" (Gen. i. 4). Hence,
previous to that period, they must have been mixed together. Philosophy
teaches that light and darkness never can be separated, any more than
heat and cold, as one is only a different degree of the other.
8. "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night"
(Gen. i. 5). And to whom did he call them? as no living being was in
existence until several days afterwards.
Hence there was no need of calling them any thing, and, as we are told
Adam named every thing, he could as easily have found names for these as
for other things.
9. The Bible teaches us that day and night were created three days
before the sun. Every school-boy now knows that it is the revolution
of the earth upon its axis that causes day and night; and, but for the
existence of the sun, there could be no day and night. If Moses' God
was so ignorant, he had better never have wakened out of his eternity of
darkness.
10. The Bible teaches that the earth came into existence three days
before the sun; but science teaches us that the earth is a child or
offshoot of the sun. Hence it could be equally true to say a son was
born three days before his father.
11. "And the earth was without form, and void" (Gen. i. 2); but
philosophy teaches that nothing can exist without form, or when
void. The declaration brings to mind the Scotchman's definition of
"nothing,"--"a footless stocking without a leg." We have an idea of a
thing which does not exist.
12. "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. i.
2). Here we are taught that the original state of the earth was that of
water. But geology teaches its original constituents was fire or fusion;
that water did not exist, and could not exist, in it, or on it, for
millions of ages. Professor Agassiz says our earth was once in a state
of igneous fusion, without water, without rain, and even without
an atmosphere ("Geological Sketches," i. 2). And even the pious,
God-fearing Hugh Miller says that "the solid earth was at one time, from
center to circumference, a mass of molten matter" ("Lectures on Geology,"
256). Here we have geology against theology.
13. God spent a day making a firmament, by which he "divided the waters
from the waters." If it had then stated that he spent a day in making
moonshine, or one day in making breath for Adam, it would have been
as sensible; for the firmament is as truly a part of the earth (being
eliminated from it) as our breath is a part of our bodies.
14. "Divided the waters from the waters." Here is disclosed a belief
which prevailed in various Oriental and heathen nations, that the
earth exists between two large lakes, or sheets of water; and that the
firmament is a solid floor, which holds the water up, and prevents it
from falling, and inundating the earth; and, being supplied with doors
and windows, when God wants it to rain he opens the windows (the Bible
says "the windows of heaven were opened," see Gen. vii. 11). He pours
it down by opening the windows, and stops it by shutting them up. "The
windows of heaven were stopped" (Gen. viii. 2). How fully is the heathen
tradition disclosed here!
15. We are told that God gathered "the waters under heaven together unto
one place" (Gen. i. 9). How ignorant he must have been of geography! He
evidently had not studied the science, or had not traveled much, or
he would have known the waters under heaven never have been "gathered
together unto one place," but exist in many places, as the two hundred
large lakes prove.
16. The Bible tells us, that, when God created the vegetable kingdom, he
ordered each species of vegetation to "bring forth after its kind" (Gen.
i. 11). Can we suppose that apple-trees would have borne buckeyes, or
mullein-stalks produced pumpkins, or any thing foreign to their nature,
if the command had not been given for each to bring forth after its
kind?
17. According to the Bible, the vegetable kingdom was created before
the animal; but the learned geologist Hitchcock, although a Christian
by profession, in his "Elements of Geology" says, "An examination of the
rocks shows us that animals were created as early as vegetables" (and
he might have said much earlier). And yet the Bible says vegetables were
created on the third day, and animals on the fifth (see Gen. i.).
18. The Bible represents vegetables as coming into existence before the
sun, but philosophy teaches that they could neither germinate nor grow
without the warming and vivifying influence of the sun.
19. The Bible tells us that "God made two great lights, the greater
light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and God
set them in the firmament to give light to the earth" (Gen. i. 16,
17). That is, he made two round balls, and then stuck them into a hole
scooped out of the firmament for the purpose. This seems to be the idea.
Here is disclosed the most egregious ignorance of astronomy. Think of
that stupendous solar luminary, as much larger than this pygmy planet as
a man is larger than a mouse, being hung up or stuck up above us for our
sole accommodation! How sublimely ridiculous!
20. The Bible represents the great world-builder, the almighty-,
architect, as spending five days in plodding and toiling at this little
mole-hill of ours before he got it finished up to his notion, and then
made such a bad job of it that he repented for having undertaken it.
21. But when he came to make the countless worlds, the vast suns, and
systems of suns, which roll their massive forms in every direction
around the earth, these were all made in a few hours. "And he made
the stars also." This text tells the whole story of the origin of the
boundless planetary system, comprising millions of worlds larger
than our planet. What superlative ignorance of astronomy Moses' God
manifests!
22. Moses is awarded great credit by Bible believers for opposing
polytheism, and teaching the existence of but one God: but it would have
been more to his credit if he had stuck to a belief in a plurality of
Gods; for it would take a million of such Gods as his imagination has
created a thousand years to make such a universe as astronomers have
brought to light since he wrote.
23. The language, "Let us make man in our own image" (Gen. 1. 26), seems
to imply that there was an association of gods,--a company of almighty
mechanics, who had formed a copartnership to do up a big job.
24. If man was made in the image of God, why was he cursed for eating
the fruit of the tree of knowledge in order to be like God?
25. According to the Bible, God became so tired in the business of
world-making that he had to take a rest of a whole day (and perhaps took
a nap also) when the job was completed; but geology and philosophy both
teach that creation never was begun, and never will be finished, but is
going on all the time. Hence new species of animals and vegetables are
constantly coming into existence.
26. The Bible represents the entire universe as being created less
than six thousand years ago; but science teaches us that it has been in
existence for millions of years.
27. A large volume of scientific facts has been accumulated by
scientists, showing that even our earth, one of the youngest of the
planets, is at least several hundred thousand years old. Look at a
few of the facts which go to prove it. The coral reefs of Florida
are estimated by Professor Agassiz to be one hundred and thirty-five
thousand years old. Charles Lyell estimates the delta of the Mississippi
Valley to be at least one hundred thousand years old. Four growths of
cypress-trees far below the surface of the ground, and situated one
above another, have been discovered near New Orleans, whose successive
growths must have occupied a period of at least one hundred and
fifty thousand years. So much for the agreement of geology and Bible
chronology.
28. But we are told that a day in the Bible means a thousand years.
Then, as the sabbath day constitutes one of the days spoken of in the
Bible, and was provided as a day of rest, Christians and Bible believers
should rest a thousand years at a time; and, as God rested a whole day
(a thousand years), he must have been as tired of resting as he was of
world-making. Why do the figures "4004 B.C." stand at the top of the
first page of the Bible, if a thousand years mean one day?
29. The Bible teaches that whales, fishes, and birds were made on the
same day; but geology assures us that fishes came into existence long
before fowls.
30. The Bible teaches that beasts and creeping, things were all made
on the fifth day of creation; but geology tells us that reptiles and
creeping things crawled upon the earth millions of years before beasts
came into existence.
31. The Bible represents man as coming into existence about six thousand
years ago; but human bones have recently been discovered in the vicinity
of New Orleans which Dr. Dowler estimates to be at least fifty thousand
years old.
32. A deity who becomes so tired and physically exhausted with six days'
labor as to be compelled to stop and rest, physiology teaches would
be liable to physical disease; and, if physically diseased, it might
terminate in death, and thus leave the world without a God (Godless).
33. The Bible tells us "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground" (Gen. ii. 7); but philosophy teaches that dust possesses no
vital properties, and that it would have been less difficult to make
man of a stone or a stump, owing to their possessing more adhesive
properties. One writer suggests that the negro must have been made of
coal-dust.
34. According to the Bible, a serious blunder was made by Jehovah in
the work of creation, by exhausting all the materials in the process
of world-making and man-making, so that nothing was left to make
a "helpmeet" for Adam; and this blunder caused the necessity of
robbing Adam of one of his ribs.
35. But common sense teaches us that a small crooked bone but a few
ounces in weight could not furnish half the material necessary to
constitute a woman. The Parsees, with a little more show of sense, tell
us that the rib was used merely as a back-bone, around which the woman
was constructed; which revives in memory Erin's mode of making cannon,
which consisted in "taking a round hole, and pouring melted metal around
it." The Tonga-Islanders have a tradition about as sensible as that of
Moses with respect to the origin of the first woman. Their God made the
first man with three legs, and amputated one of them to make a "helpmeet
for him?" This is an improvement, as a leg can be better spared when
there are three than a rib: it also possesses more material than a rib.
36. The Bible teaches that man was created upright, but fell. If it
means physically, it can be easily accounted for, and must be ascribed
to his creator; for depriving him of one of his ribs would leave him in
an unbalanced condition, so that he would be liable to fall.
37. The Bible imparts to us the strange intelligence that "the Lord God
brought all the beasts and birds to Adam to see what he would call them"
(Gen. ii. 19). What an idea for Omniscience or Infinite Wisdom to engage
in the business of chasing bears, lions, tigers, elephants, and hyenas,
and all manner of beasts great and small, and all manner of birds, also
hissing, crawling, biting reptiles, and every living thing which he had
created, and taking them to Adam "to see what he would call them"! Not
having sufficient intelligence to find names for them himself (pardon
the thought), his curiosity was no doubt aroused to see what an ignorant
being of his own creation, who had not sufficient intelligence to clothe
himself, would call the innumerable host of beasts, birds, &c., before
any language was known, or even a single letter was invented to spell
names with. (We are very far from desiring to wound the feelings or
encroach upon the reverence that any man or woman may cherish for "a God
of infinite love, wisdom, and goodness;" but let it be kept constantly
in mind we are not presenting the history of such a being here, but the
mere imaginary God of Moses and the Bible.)
38. As the Bible teaches that Adam named all the beasts, animals, and
birds, it must have occupied a great number of years for the Lord God of
Moses to have caught and taken the several hundred thousand species
to Adam to receive names in all the three thousand languages, and then
convey them back to their respective climates.
39. The question naturally arises, Why should Adam give them names by
saying, "This is a horse, that is an ass, the animal yonder shall be
called a hippopotamus," &c., when there was nobody present to hear it
and be benefited by it? And nobody could have remembered half the names
had they been present. Here we wish to call the attention of the reader
specially to the fact that all the thoughts and language we have so far
cited as being either that of God or Moses sounds like the utterance
of ignorant children, and unworthy the dignity of an intelligent and
sensible man much less that of a God.
40. The Bible teaches that "God made man in his own image." The reverse
statement would have been true, "Man made God in his own image;" for
this is true of all nations who believe in a God.
41. Here let it be noted the Bible contains two contradictory accounts
of creation; one found in the first chapter of Genesis, the other in
the second. In the first, animals are created before man; in the second,
after man.
42. The first chapter of Genesis says, "Let the earth bring forth
plants" (Gen. i. 11): the second says, "God created every plant...
before it was in the earth" (Gen. ii. 9). A contradiction; and neither
statement is true, there being no creation.
43. The first chapter has the earth created several days before the
firmament, or heaven: the second chapter has it created on the same day
(Gen. ii. 4).
44. The first represents fowls as originating in the water (Gen. i. 20):
the second has them created out of the water.
45. After the first chapter says "God created man in his own image"
(Gen. i. 27), the second says "there was not a man to till the ground"
(Gen. ii. 4).
46. The first chapter represents man and woman as being created at the
same time (Gen. i. 27): the second represents the woman as being created
after the man.
47. The first implies that man has dominion over the whole earth: the
second restricts his dominion to a garden. Which is the inspired story
of creation?
48. The Mexicans claim that the first man and woman were created in
their country. The Hindoos aver that the original progenitors of the
race (Adimo and Iva) first made their appearance amongst them. The
Chinese claim a similar honor. The Persians contend that God landed the
first human pair in the land of Iran. And, finally, the Jews affirm that
Jehovah created the first pair in Eden.
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE TREE OF LIFE.
Moses tells us God planted two trees in Eden, one of which he called
"the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." This tree bore fruit which
nobody was allowed to taste (Gen. ii. 9).
49. Why the tree was planted, or why its fruit was forbidden to be used,
are problems which the Bible does not solve, and which set reason at
defiance.
50. And then it looks like a senseless act to create a tree for the
purpose of bearing fruit (as we can conceive of no other purpose for
which it could have been created), and then decree that it should all go
to waste.
51. It was worse still to create human beings with an appetite for this
fruit, and place it in their sight, and then forbid them to taste it on
penalty of death. Nothing could be more opposed to our ideas of reason
and justice.
52. Did God create beings in his own image, and then treat them as if he
wished to tantalize them and render them unhappy?
53. It would seem that he created man for no other purpose than to tease
and torment him, and quarrel with him.
54. Common sense would suggest it to be the act of an ignoramus or a
tyrant to implant in man the desire to eat fruit which he did not allow
him to eat.
55. And would it not be unjust to punish Adam and Eve for doing what he
himself had implanted in them the desire to do?
56. God must have known they would eat the fruit, if he were omniscient.
57. If he were not omniscient, he was not a God in a supreme or divine
sense.
58. God must have had the power without the will to prevent the act of
disobedience, which would make him an unjust and unmerciful tyrant.
59. Or else the will without the power, which would make him a weak and
frail being, and not a God. (For a full elucidation of these points, see
chapter sixty-nine.)
We will notice a few other points.
60. As God declared eating the fruit would make Adam "like one of us,"
that is, Godlike (and all men are enjoined to become Godlike), was
not Adam, therefore, justified in eating the fruit in order to become
Godlike?
61. In chapter sixty-nine it is shown, that, as Adam and Eve got their
eyes open by eating the inhibited fruit, the act of disobedience turned
out to be a great blessing, inasmuch as it saved the earth from being
filled with a race of blind human beings.
62. And, as this blessing was obtained through the agency of the
serpent-devil, we must admit "the father of lies" was a great benefactor
of the human race, as shown in chapter sixty-nine.
63. As Adam could not very well exercise "dominion over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth" (Gen. i. 26) while shut up in a little
eight-by-ten garden, we can observe here another practical benefit of
the act of disobedience which drove him from the garden.
64. Is it not a strange piece of moral incongruity to set Adam to
tilling the soil in the garden as a _blessing_, and then doom him to
till it _outside_ as a curse? (Gen. iii. 23.) He first embarked in the
business as a blessing, and then as a curse. How the same act could be
both a blessing and a curse is a "mystery of godliness" which swamps us.
65. The Jews tell us the original tempter was a serpent (Gen. iii.
1); The Mexicans say it was a demon; the Hindoos call him a snake; the
Greeks declare it was a dragon; Josephus supposes it was an ape; some of
the East-India sects speak of him as a fish; but the Persian revelations
make it a lizard. Which is right?
66. The Mosaic or Hebrew cosmogony represents the serpent as dealing out
the fruit to the _genus homo_; while the Mexicans, the Egyptians, and
the Persians set the serpent or "evil genius" to guarding the tree to
protect the fruit. Which is right?
67. When God Jehovah announced to the trinity of Gods, "Behold, the man
has become as one of us to know good and evil" (Gen. iii. 22), exactly
as the serpent had predicted, instead of dying as Jehovah had predicted,
does it not prove that the serpent was the best and most reliable
prophet?
68. As Adam and Eve could know nothing of the nature of right and wrong
until they attained that knowledge by eating the fruit, does not this
fact prove it to be a justifiable if not a righteous act?
69. How could Adam and Eve know that any act was sinful before an act of
any kind had been committed by which they could learn the character or
consequences of human conduct?
69. Is it not a logical conclusion, that, if God created every thing,
he can control every thing, and hence, strictly speaking, is alone
responsible for the right performance of every thing?
70. The Christian Bible tells us the first pair of human beings sewed
fig-leaves together for clothing; but the Chinese revelation say
palm-leaves. Which is right? Who can tell?
71. As it is declared the voice of God was heard "walking in the garden"
(Gen. iii. 8), we beg leave to ask, what kind of a thing is a "walking
voice"?
72. We also beg leave to ask, who took charge of "the house of many
mansions" while Jehovah was down among the bushes hunting and hallooing
for Adam?
72. And who took charge of creation, and kept the machinery of the
universe running during the thousand years' rest of God Almighty, if the
one day he rested means a thousand years?
73. Was it necessary for an omnipresent God to come down from heaven
to find Adam when he hid among the bushes? And what would have been the
result if he had not been found?
74. Must we not conclude that the command to "multiply and replenish the
earth" was rather superfluous, inasmuch as nations who never heard of
the command perform the duty faithfully?
75. If the River Gihon, one of the four rivers of Paradise, "encompassed
the whole land of Ethiopia" (Gen. ii. 13), which is in Africa, how did
it manage to cross the Red Sea, so as to get into Eden, which is in
Asia?
111. As Bishop Colenso shows the territory lying between the four rivers
in Eden, as mentioned in Gen. ii. comprised an area of several hundred
miles, we would suggest that father Adam, while in Eden, had rather a
large garden to cultivate.
112. How could fig-leaves be sewed together for clothing before needles
were invented? (see Gen. iii. 7.)
113. How did Eve see the tree as stated in Genesis ("she saw the tree")
before she ate the fruit which caused her eyes to be opened?
114. Is it not calculated to destroy all ideas of justice in the minds
of man and woman to believe that God cursed and ruined the happiness
of the whole human race merely for one simple act prompted by a being
destitute of moral perception or moral accountability?
115. And what should we think of a being who would suffer a grand
scheme, on which is predicated the happiness of his innumerable family
for untold ages, to be defeated by the wily machinations of a brainless
creature of his own creation?
116. Why should Adam hide from God because he was naked, when, if
God made him, he must have become accustomed to seeing him in that
condition?
117. If God in the morning pronounced every thing good, and in the
evening every thing bad, does it not imply not only a serious blunder in
the job, but a serious mistake in his views either in the morning or in
the evening?
118. As we are told "the Lord God made clothing for Adam out of
goat-skins," the question naturally arises, Who caught and killed the
animals, and dressed the skins? Does it not imply that God was both a
butcher and a tanner? Rather plebeian employment for a God.
119. And the statement that "the Lord God planted a garden eastward in
Eden" (Gen. ii. 8) seems to imply that he was a horticulturist also.
120. It is pretty hard to believe that Adam could sleep while God
Almighty (Moses' God) was digging amongst his ribs, as stated in Gen.
ii. 21.
121. How could Adam know what the word "die" meant before there had been
any deaths in the world, when the Lord told him he should _die_ if he
ate the forbidden fruit?
122. As Eve was pronounced "the mother of all living" when there were
no human beings in existence but she and Adam, the inference seems to
be that she was the mother of herself, her husband, and all the animal
tribes.
123. "In the image of God created he them" (Adam and Eve, see Gen. i.
27). If Adam and Eve were both created in the image of God, it would
seem to follow that he was constituted of two genders, male and female.
In concluding this section, we ask the reader to think of an infinitely
wise God being defeated in his grand scheme of creation or salvation by
a crawling serpent, and a frightful hell and all its horrors originating
from this act. How sublimely ridiculous is the thought!
II. THE SCIENTISTS ACCOUNT OF CREATION.
1. Millions of years ago the sun in its revolution threw off, as it
had done on previous occasions, a sort of fire-mist, or nebulous
scintillations, which floated and rolled through space for countless
ages, gradually accumulating from the atmosphere in its revolution,
thus swelling in size until it became a conglomeration of gas; and,
continuing to grow and progress, it ripened into a fiery, liquid mass
possessing the most intense heat.
2. After innumerable ages this fiery liquid mass began to cool, and
finally formed a crust upon its surface.
3. As its interior elements began to evolve or emanate from its bosom,
it formed a dense, heavy, murky atmosphere, almost as heavy as water, in
which no living thing could have breathed or lived for a moment.
4. This atmosphere contained moisture, which in the course of time
became condensed into globules forming drops, which descended to the
earth in the shape of rain.
5. This rain, descending to the earth, cooled its surface, and
eventually filled its vast cavities with water, and thus formed lakes,
seas, and oceans. The boiling, heaving mass in the bowels of the earth
made it very irregular in shape.
6. As soon as the surface of the earth became sufficiently cool, small
swellings began to appear upon its surface, presenting the appearance of
blisters, or boils. These outgrowths finally began to exhibit vegetable
life; but for a long period of time they presented the appearance of
rocks or stones.
7. In the mean time the washings from the surface of the earth were
deposited in the seas and oceans, and, sinking to the bottom, in the
course of time formed rocks.
8. These rocks, as they hardened, gave off an element of life, which in
the course of time supplied the waters with various forms of animal or
finny life, and thus originated mollusks, fishes, &c.
9. As the surface of the earth cooled and grew thicker, the elements of
life diffused through the liquid mass finally made their appearance on
the surface in the character of the lowest forms of vegetable life? such
as mosses, lichens, ferns, &c.
10. As the surface of the earth thickened, and consequently accumulated
the elements of vitality gave forth higher and still higher forms
of vegetable life, finally the most matured forms of matter began to
exhibit animal life.
11. The first species was the zoophite, a compound of vegetable and
animal life, but possessing scarcely any of the functions of animal life
except those of absorption and respiration, and these functions were but
slightly manifested.
12. Succeeding the zoophite came the mollusks and various hard-shelled
animal forms, which at first clung to the rocks, then fed on seaweeds
and other vegetable substances, absorbing also from the atmosphere.
13. In this way various species of animals and birds and reptiles sprang
up, ran their course, and then perished, to give place to higher forms.
14. And finally, when all the elements of life became sufficiently
matured, they formed a combination, and turned loose upon the earth the
animal man, who at first was nearly as ugly, clumsy, and awkward as a
baboon, possessed of but little more sense or intelligence.
15. Each one of these changes and outgrowths of the new forms of
vegetable and animal life constituted an epoch of innumerable ages, thus
showing the age of our planet to be beyond computation. We submit to the
reader whether this is not a more rational, beautiful, and satisfactory
solution of the great problem of mineral, vegetable, animal, and human
existence, than the jumbled-up medley presented by Moses.