NO. 645 "IN THE BEGINNING" - PART ONE

Many are Yahweh’s agents, and innum­erable His agencies, connected with one or more features of His creation; but back of them all are His own creative wisdom and power. He alone is the Creator and as the Scriptures affirm, “All His work is perfect.” He may permit evil angels and men to pervert and misuse His perfect work; but he assures us that evil shall not for long be per­mit­­ted to blight and injury. Eventually He shall restrain and destroy evil, and we shall discern that he permitted it only to test, prove refine, polish and make His own holiness, gra­cious character and plan the more resplendent in the sight of all of His intelligent creatures.

When in Genesis we read, “In a beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” we are to remember that this beginning relates not to the universe, but only to our planet. Then it was that “the morning stars sang together” and all the angelic sons of God “shouted for joy” when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth and “made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness its swaddling band.” (Job 38:4‑11) But a still earlier beginning is men­tion­ed in the Bible; a beginning before the creation of those angelic sons of God. We read: “In a beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Logos was with the God and the Logos was a God: the same was in the begin­ning with the God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:1‑3) Since Yahweh Him­self is from everlasting to everlasting, He had no begin­­ning: the “Only Begotten” has the high dis­­­tinc­tion above all others of being “The be­ginning of the creation of God”, “firstborn of every creature.” (Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15) Other begin­nings came in turn as the various angelic orders were one by one created; and these beginnings were in the past, so that their hosts could shout for joy when our earth’s creations, related in Genesis, had their beginning.

Examining the Genesis expressions cri­tical­ly, we see that a distinction is made between creation of the heaven and the earth (v. 1) and the subsequent regulations, or order­ing of these, and the further creations of vegetable and animal life. It is these subsequent operations that are describ­ed as the Divine work of six epochal days. V. 2 tells us that in the very beginning of the first day of that creative week the earth was, though with­out form (order), and void (empty), waste, empty and dark. This im­portant item should be distinctly noted. If recognized, it at once cor­rob­orates the testi­mony of geology thus far; and, as we shall be obliged to dispute the deductions of geologists on some points, it is well that we promptly acknowl­edge and dis­miss whatever does not need to be con­tended for in defense of the Bible. The Bible does not say how long a period elapsed between the beginning when God creat­ed the heaven and the earth, and the beginning of the creative week used in perfecting it for man: nor do geologists agree amongst themselves as to the per­iod of this interval; a few extremists indulge in specula­tions of millions of years.

Coming then to the creative period: the ordering of affairs in our heaven and earth in preparation of the Paradise of God for man’s everlasting home; we note that these “days” are nowhere declared to be twenty‑four‑hour days. Hence, we are not obliged thus to limit them. We find in the Bible that the word day stands for an epoch, or period. The fact that it is most fre­quently used in reference to a 24-hour period matters nothing, so long as we have the record of the forty years day of temptation in the wil­derness.(Ps. 95:8‑10),  and some­times a “day” or “time” represents a year period (Num. 14:33, 34; Ezek. 4:1‑8), and also the Apostle’s statement, “A day with the Lord is as a thousand years.” (2 Pet. 3:8) Most assuredly these epoch‑days were not sun days; for the record is that the sun was not visible until the fourth day, the fourth epoch.

We believe that although the length of these epoch‑days is not indicated, we will be justified to assume they were uniform periods, because of close identity as members of the one creative week. Hence, if we can gain reasonable proof of the length of one of these days, we will be fully justified in assuming that the others were of the same duration. We do then; find satisfactory evi­dence that one of these creative “days” was a period of seven thousand years and hence, that the entire creative week would be 7,000 x 7 = 49,000 years. And although this period is infini­tesimal when compared with some geological guesses, it is we believe, quite reasonably ample for the work represented as being accomplished there­in, the ordering and filling of the earth which already “was” in existence, but “without form (order), and void (empty).”

Professor James Dwight Dana (1813-1895), commenting on the date from which scien­tists draws their conjectures, and the method of rec­koning employed by them, says:

 “In calculations of elapsed time from the thickness of formations there is always great uncer­tainty, arising from the dependence of this thickness on a progressing subsidence [reg­ular sinking of the land]. In estimates made from al­luvial deposits [soil depos­ited from water], when the data are based on the thickness of the ac­cumulations in a given number of years – say the last 2,000 years, this source of doubt affects the whole calculation from its foundation and renders it almost, if not quite, worthless... When the estimate... is based on the amount of detritus [fine scouring] discharged by a stream it is of more value; but even here there is a source of great doubt.”

Let us examine the matter from the stand­point of the Bible, as we believe it to be the Divine revelation, and are fully persuaded that whatever discrepancies may be found between the Bible testi­mony and the guesses of geologists are the errors of the latter, whose philo­sophies have not yet reached a thorough­ly scientific basis or develop­ment.

Nor is it necessary to suppose that the writer of Genesis knew all about the matter he recorded, the length of those days and their pre­­cise results. We accept the Genesis account as a part of the great Divine Revelation – The Bible – and we find its sublime statement in few sen­tences most remarkably corrob­orated by the most critical scientific researches. Con­trarily, none of the “religious books” of the heathen contain any­thing but absurd statements on this subject.

There is grandeur of simplicity in that opening statement of revelation, “In the begin­ning God created.” It answers the first inquiry of reason, from whence came I, and to whom am I responsible? It is unfortunate indeed that some of the bright­est minds of our bright day have been turned from this thought of an intelligent Creator to the recognition of a blind force operating under a law of evolution and survival of the fittest. And, alas; this theory has not only found general acceptance in the highest institu­tions of learning, but is gradually being in­corporated into the text­books of our common schools. God’s in­spired Word is the only true science we have and the Bible says God created the first man on earth, but the Bible is not al­lowed to be taught in the schools.

There now are growing numbers of intel­ligent Creator and Bible deniers. Best­selling books on the subject are blatantly and gleefully flaunted. Science so-called is now the religion du jour. Even the devout, are undermining the fabric of their own faith, as well as that of others, when they claim that creation is merely the reign of Natural Law. Not to go further back, they surmise that our sun ejected immense volumes of gases which finally became consol­­idated, forming our earth.

By and by protoplasm formed, a small maggot, a microbe, got a start they know not how. They must concede a Divine power necessary to give even this small start of life; but they are industriously looking for some Natural Law on this also, so as to have no need at all for a God‑Creator. It is claimed that this discovery is now almost accomplished. These “savants” think and talk about Nature as instead of God,  her works, her laws, her retributions, etc., a blind and deaf God indeed!

These so-called scientists claim that un­­der Nature’s regulations protoplasm evolv­­ed mi­crobe, or maggot, which squirm­ed and twisted and repro­duced its own species, and then finding use for a tail, developed one. Later on, one of its still more intelligent offspring concluded that oars, or fins, would be useful, and develop­ed them. An­other, later on, got chased by a hungry brother and, jumping clear out of the water, got the idea that the fins further developed would be wings, and liked the new style, so that he stayed out of the water, and then decided that legs and toes would be a convenience and developed them. Others of the family followed other “notions,” of which they seemingly had an inexhaust­ible sup­ply, as evidenced by the great variety of animals we see about us. However, in due time one of these des­cen­dants of the first maggot which had reached the monkey degree of develop­ment, got a noble ideal before his mind: he said to himself, I will discard my tail, and cease using my hands as feet, and will shed my coat of hair, and will develop a nose and a forehead and a brain with moral and reflective organs. I will wear tailor made clothing and a high silk hat, and call myself Darwin, LL.D., and write a record of my evolution.

The devout child of God who has confidence in a personal Creator, and who is not ready hastily to discard the Bible as His revel­ation, will soon be able to see the sophistry of Darwin’s theory. It is not suf­ficient that Mr. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) conceived his “theory” of natural selection in 1838 and wrote it up in 1858; should note that amongst his pigeons he was able to develop certain breeds with peculiar fea­tures. Others have done the same with poultry, dogs, horses, etc., and florists have experi­mented upon flowers and shrubs, etc., with similar results. The new thing with Mr. Darwin was the theory that all forms of life were evolved from a common beginning.

But Mr. Darwin’s experiences with his pi­geons, like those of every other fancy breeder, must only have cor­rob­orated the Bible statement, that God created every creature after its kind. There are wonderful possibilities of variety in each kind; but kinds cannot be mixed nor new kinds formed. The nearest approach is called “mule‑in” and all know that new species thus formed lack ability to perpet­uate their kind. Mr. Dar­win must have noted, as others have done, that his “fancy” pigeons needed to be kept carefully separate from others of their kind, else they would speedily de­ter­i­o­rate to the common level. But in nature we see the various species, “each after its kind,” entirely separate from each other, and kept so without any artificial fencing, etc., – kept so by the law of their Creator. As believers in the personal Creator, we may rest assured that human speculation has missed the truth to the extent that it has ignored our God, His Wisdom and His Power, as outlined in Genesis.

Nothing, perhaps, has done more to becloud and undermine faith in God as the Creator and in the Genesis account as His revelation, than has the error of under­standing the epoch‑days of Genesis to be twenty‑four‑hour days. The various strati­fi­­cations of rock and clay prove beyond all controversy that long periods were con­­­sumed in the mighty changes they repre­­­­sent. And when we find that the Bible teaches an epoch‑day we are prepar­ed to hear the rocks giving testi­mony in exact accord with the Bible record, and our faith in the latter is greatly streng­thened; we feel that we are not trusting to our own or other men’s guesses, but to the Word of the Creator, abundantly attested by the facts of nature.

A THEORY OF COSMOGONY

For the benefit of some of our readers, we will briefly state one of the views of the creative period, known as “The Valian Theory,” or “Canopy Theory,” which specially appeals to the author; subsequently we will endeavor to trace a harmony between this view and the narrative of Genesis 1:1 – 2:3.

Starting with the condition men­tioned in Gen. 1:2, “Now the earth was,” waste and empty and dark, the wise will not attempt to guess that which God has not revealed respecting how He pre­viously gathered together earth’s atoms. Things unrevealed belong to God, and we do well to wait patiently for His further revelations in due time. Taking pick and shovel and a critical eye, man has found that the earth’s crust is composed of various layers, or strata, one over the other, all of which give evidence of having once been soft and moist, except the basic rocks upon which these layers, or strata, are with more or less regularity built. These basic rocks in­dicate clearly that they were once soft and fluid from intense heat; and scientists generally agree that not a great way below the “crust” the earth is still hot and molten.

Since these basic, igneous rocks – granite, basalt, etc. – must at one time have been so hot as to drive out of them all combustible elements, and since they are the bottom rocks, we are safe in concluding that there was a period when the whole earth was at a white heat. At that time, it is reasoned, water and minerals (now found in the upper layers, or strata, laid down in water) must have been driven off as gases; and must have constituted an impenetrable canopy ex­tend­ing for miles around the earth in every direction. The motion of the earth upon its axis would extend to these gases surrounding it, and the effect would be to concentrate them, more particularly over the earth’s equator. As the earth cooled these would cool, and thus be resolved from gases into solids and liquids, the weightier minerals grav­itating in strata toward the bottom. The earth at that period probably resembled the present appearance of Saturn with his “rings.”

As the cooling process advanced, these detached and distant rings would gradually acquire a different rotative motion from that of the earth, and thus gravitate closer and closer to her. One after another these were precipitated upon the earth’s surface. After the formation of the “firmament,” or “ex­panse,” or “atmos­phere,” these deluges from descending “rings” would naturally reach the earth from the direction of the two poles, where there would be least resistance, because farthest from the equator, the center of the centrifugal force of the earth’s motion. The breaking down of these “rings,” long periods apart, furnished numerous deluges, and piled strata upon strata over the earth’s surface. The rush of waters from the poles to­ward the equator would distribute variously the sand and mud and minerals, the water strongly mineralized thus covering the entire surface of the earth, just as described at the beginning of the narrative of Genesis.

During each of these long “days,” of seven thousand years each, a certain work progressed, as told in Genesis: each possibly ending with a deluge which worked radical changes and prepared the way for still further steps of creation and preparation for man. This Valian theory assumes that the last of these “rings” was freest from minerals and all im­purities, pure water; that it had not yet broken and come down in the day of Adam’s creation, but that it completely over­spread the earth as a translucent veil above the atmos­phere. It served, as does the whitened glass of a hot‑house, to equalize the temperature so that the cli­mate at the poles would be little, if any, different from that at the equator. Under such equable con­ditions, tropical plants would grow everywhere, as geol­ogy shows that they did; and storms which result from rapid changes of tem­perature must then have been un­known; and for similar reasons there could then have been no rain.

The Scriptural account agrees with this; declaring that there was no rain on the earth until the deluge; that vegetation was watered by a mist raising from the earth a moist, or humid, hot‑house‑like condition. (Gen. 2:5, 6) Following the deluge in Noah’s day there were great changes, accompanied by a great short­ening of the span of human life. With the breaking of the watery veil the hot‑house con­dition ceased: the equato­rial path of the sun became hotter, while at the poles the change must have been terrific; an almost instan­taneous transition from a hot‑house temp­erature to arctic coldness.

Corroboration of this sudden change of temperature has been found in the arctic region: Two complete mastodons have been found em­bedded in clear, solid ice which evidently froze them in quickly. Tons of ele­phant tusks have been found in the same frozen Siberia, too inhospitably cold within the range of history for elephants, mastodons, etc. An antelope was found similarly embedded in a huge block of ice in that arctic reg­­ion. That it was suddenly over­whelmed is clearly demon­strated by the fact that grass was found in its stomach undi­gested, indicating that the animal had eaten it only a few minutes before being frozen to death; and that in a location where no grass could now grow.

This sudden downpour of water, the sudden breaking of the envelope which held the warmth of the earth and sun equably produced the great ice‑fields and ice‑mountains of the arctic regions, from which every year hundreds of icebergs break loose and float southward toward the equator. So far as we can judge, this has been the procedure for centuries, but is continually growing less. Here we see the Ice Age, or Glacial Period, of the geologists, when great icebergs, borne by swift currents, cut deep crevasses throughout North America, distinctly traceable in the hills; north­western Europe, too, bears the same testimony in its hills. But this is not true in southeastern Europe, Armenia and vicinity, the cradle of our race. Where also the ark was built, and near which, on Mount Ararat, it finally rested. The testimony of Prof. Wright and Sir J. W. Dawson LL.D., FRS, is that in the vicinity of Arabia a general sinking of the earth and a subsequent rise occurred. The testimony in general would seem to imply that the ark floated in a comparatively quiet eddy, aside from the general rush of the waters. This is indicated by the exceedingly heavy alluvial deposit declared to be present in that entire region. Evidently the whole earth was deluged by waters from the North and South Poles, while the cradle of the race was specially dealt with by first depressing, and then at the proper time elevating it. On this, note the words of the celebrated geologist, Prof. G. F. Wright, of Oberlin, Ohio College, as reported in the New York Journal, March 30, 1901, as follows:—

THE FLOOD CORROBORATED

“Prof. George Frederick Wright, of Oberlin Col­lege, a distinguished geologist, has returned from Europe. He wrote ‘The Ice of North America’ and other geological works, studying and describing the glacial period. He has been on a scientific tour around the globe. He passed most of his time studying the geological formations and signs in Siberia, although his explorations took him to other parts of Asia and to Africa.

“Prof. Wright’s main object was to answer, if possible, a long‑disputed question among geologists: namely, whether Siberia had ever been covered with ice, as North America and parts of Europe had been, during the glacial period.

“A great many geologists, including many eminent Russian savants, believe Siberia was covered with ice.

“As the result of his present studies, Prof. Wright firmly believes that, at the remote time that North America was covered with ice, Siberia was covered with water [ice].

“And the water and the ice were practically phases of the Biblical flood.

“First read a description of the flood in Genesis, much abbreviated:

“‘And the flood was forty days upon the earth and the waters increased and bore up the ark and it was lifted up above the earth.

“‘And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth: and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered.

“‘Fifteen cubits upward did the waters pre­vail and the mountains were covered.

“‘All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died... And Noah only remained alive and those that were with him in the ark.

“‘And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.’ (Gen. 7:17-24)

“Now hear what Prof. Wright is quoted as saying:

“‘I found no sign of glacial phenomena south of the 56th degree. North of that I did not go, but from other things I am convinced that the land was covered with ice, as was our own, where signs of it are now found as far south as New York.

“‘We did not find indications of an extensive subsidence of that entire region, which puts a new light on everything here.

“‘At Trebizond, on the shore of the Black Sea, there was evidence of a depression of 700 feet. This was shown by gravel deposits on the hills.

“‘In the center of Turkestan the waters reached their greatest height, for there we found these deposits over 2,000 feet above the sea level.

“‘Southern Russia is covered with the same black earth deposit that we found in Turkestan.

“‘There were still other evidences of the waters having covered this portion of the globe. One of these is the presence yet of seals in Lake Baikal, in Siberia, 1,600 feet above sea level. The seals which we found are of the Arctic species, and are the same species as those found in the Caspian Sea.

“‘The only theory, therefore, is that they were caught there when the waters receded. Perhaps the most wonderful discovery of all was at the town of Kief, on the Nippur River, where stone implements were found fifty‑three feet below the black earth deposit, showing that the water came there after the age of man.

“‘This enabled us, therefore, to determine the age of this depression. It shows that since man came there, there has been a depression of 750 feet at Trebizond, and in Southern Turkestan the waters were over 2,000 feet deep. The imple­ments found were such as those made in North America before the glacial period, which gives good ground for believing that the depression was made there when the glacial avalanche occurred here.

“‘In fact, it was, practically, the flood.’”

Knowing the end from the beginning, Yahweh so timed the introduction of man upon the earth that the last of the rings came down in a deluge just at the proper time to destroy the corrupted race in Noah’s day, and thus to intro­duce the present dispensation, known in the Scriptures as “this present evil world.” The removal of the watery envelope not only gave changing seasons of summer and winter, and opened the way for violent storms, but it also made possible the rainbow, which was first seen after the flood, because previously the direct rays of the sun could not so penetrate the watery canopy as to give the rainbow effect. (Gen. 9:12‑17)

Since writing the foregoing, we clipped from the Scientific American the following suc­cinct statement from Prof. Vail’s own pen:

THAT FROZEN MAMMOTH

“To the Editor of the Scientific American:

“I have read with great interest in your issue of April 12 the note on the recent discovery of the body of a mammoth, in cold storage, by Dr. Herz, in the ice‑bound region of Eastern Siberia. This, it seems to me, is more than a ‘Rosetta Stone’ in the path of the geologist. It offers the strongest testimony in support of the claim that all the glacial epochs and all the deluges the earth ever saw were caused by the progressive and successive decline of primitive earth vapors, lingering about our planet as the cloud vapors of the planets Jupiter and Saturn linger about those bodies today.

“Allow me to suggest to my brother geol­ogists that remnants of the terrestrial watery vapors may have revolved about the earth as a Jupiter‑like canopy, even down to very recent geologic times. Such vapors must fall chiefly in polar lands, through the channel of least resist­ance and greatest attraction, and certainly as vast avalanches of tellurio‑cosmic snows. Then, too, such a canopy, or world‑roof, must have tem­pered the climate up to the poles, and thus af­forded pasturage to the mammoth and his con­geners of the Arctic world, which made a greenhouse earth under a greenhouse roof. If this be admitted, we can place no limits to the mag­nitude and efficiency of canopy avalanches to desolate a world of exuberant life. It seems that Dr. Herz’s mammoth, like many others found buried in glacier ice, with their food undigested in their stomachs, and proves that it was sud­denly overtaken with a crushing fall of snow. In this case, with grass in its mouth unmasticated, it tells an unerring tale of death in a snowy grave. If this be conceded, we have what may have been an all‑competent source of glacial snows, and we may gladly escape, the un-philosophical altern­ative that the earth grew cold in order to get its casement of snow, while, as I see it, it got its snows and grew cold.

“During the igneous age the oceans went to the skies, along with a measureless fund of mineral and metallic sublimations; and if we concede these vapors formed into an annular system, and returned during the ages in grand installments, some of them lingering even down to the age of man, we may explain many things that are dark and perplexing today.

“As far back as 1874 I published some of these thoughts in pamphlet form, and it is with the hope that the thinkers of this twentieth century will look after them that I again call up the ‘Canopy Theory.’ Isaac N. Vail”

THE CREATIVE WEEK

With this general view of creation before our minds, let us now turn to the Genesis account, and endeavor to harmonize these conjectures with its statements. First of all we notice that the Creative Week is divided into four parts: (1) Two days, or epochs (in our reckoning 2 x 7,000 = 14,000 years), were devoted to the ordering of the earth prep­aratory for animal life. (2) The next two days, or epochs (in our reckoning another 2 x 7,000 = 14,000 years additional), were devoted to bringing forward vege­tation and the lowest forms of life, shell‑fish, etc., and laying down lime­stone, coal and other minerals. (3) The next two epoch‑days (in our reckoning 2 x 7,000 = 14,000 years) brought forward living creatures that move in the sea and on the land, vegetation, etc., still progressing, and all preparing for the introduction of man, the earthly image of his Creator, “crowned with glory and honor,” to be the king of earth. (4) Man’s creation, the final work, came in the close of the sixth day, or epoch, and the beginning of the seventh: as it is written, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He made, and He rested.”

TWO LOYAL TESTIMONIES

Professor Silliman declares: “Every great feature in the structure of the planet corresponds with the order of events narrated in the sacred history... This history [the Bible] furnishes a record important alike to philosophy and religion; and we find in the planet itself the proof that the [Bible] record is true.”

Referring to the account of Creation in Genesis, Prof. Dana declares: “In this succession we observe not merely an order of events, like that deduced from science; but there is a system in the arrangement and a far‑reaching prophecy to which philosophy could not have attained, however instructed.” He adds further: “No human mind was witness of the events; and no such mind in the early age of the world, unless gifted with superhuman intelligence, could have contrived such a scheme, or would have placed the creation of the sun, the source of light to the earth, so long after the creation of light, even on the fourth day; and what is equally singular, between the creation of plants and that of animals, when so important to both; and none could have reached into the depths of philosophy exhibited in the whole plan.”

THE FIRST CREATIVE EPOCH‑DAY

“And the spirit of God was brooding over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light. And there was light.”

The nature and physical cause of light is as yet but imperfectly comprehended; no satis­factory solution of the query, what is light has yet to appear. We do know, however, that it is a prime essential throughout nature; and we are not surprised to find it first in the divine order when the time came for divine energy to operate upon the waste and empty earth to prepare it for man. The nature of the divine energy represented by “brooding” would seem to be vitalizing, possibly electrical energies and lights such as the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Or, possibly the energy brought down some of the heavy rings of aqueous and mineral matter, and thus the light and darkness, day and night, became disting­uishable, though neither stars nor moon nor sun were in the slightest degree dis­cernible through the heavy rings, or swaddling bands, which still enveloped the earth.

“Evening and morning of Day One” as with the Hebrew solar days, so also with these epoch‑days, the evening came first, gradually ac­complishing the divine purpose to its com­pletion, when another 7,000 year day, appor­tioned to another work, would begin darkly, and prog­ress to perfection. This period, or “day,” is scien­tifically described as Azoic, or lifeless

THE SECOND CREATIVE EPOCH‑DAY

“And God said, let there be an ‘expanse’ [firmament, atmosphere] in the midst [between] the waters; and let it divide waters from waters. Thus God divided the waters under the atmosphere from the waters above the atmosphere. And God called the firmament [expanse, or atmosphere] heaven.”

This second epoch‑day of 7,000 years was wholly devoted to the production of an atmos­phere. It was probably developed in a perfectly natural way, as are most of God’s wonderful works, though none the less of His devising, ordering, creating.

The fall of the “ring” of water and minerals, which enabled light to penetrate through to the earth during the first epoch‑day, reaching the still heated earth and its boiling and steaming surface waters, would produce various gases which, rising, would con­sti­­tute a cushion, or firma­ment, or atmos­phere, all around the earth, and tend to hold up the remaining waters of the “rings” off from the period; but geology objects to this, claiming earth. This “day,” so far as Scriptures show, would also belong to the Azoic, or lifeless, that the rocks appropriate to this time show worm trails and immense quan­tities of tiny shell‑fish, the remains of which are eviden­ced in the great beds of limestone. They denominate this the Paleozoic Age of first life the Silurian period. This is not at variance with the Biblical account, which mere­ly ignores these lowest forms of life.

Evening and morning – Day Two – ended with the full accomplishment of the divine intention respecting it; the separation of the clouds and vapors, etc., from the surface waters by an atmos­phere.

THE THIRD CREATIVE EPOCH‑DAY

“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place, and let dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas. And this being accomplished and approved of God, He said; Let the earth bring forth tender grass, and herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree bearing fruit after its kind, in which is its seed, upon the earth: and it was so.”

Geology fully corroborates this record. It points out to us that, as the earth’s crust cooled, the weight of the waters would tend to make it kink and buckle, some parts being de­pres­sed became the depths of the seas, other por­tions forced up constituted mountain ranges. This was not sudden, but gradual, one range following another. We are not to suppose that all these changes took place even in the seven thousand years of this third epoch‑day; but, rather, that it merely witnessed the begin­ning of the work necessary as preparatory to the beginning of vegetation; for evi­dently geolo­gy is correct in claim­­­ing that some great changes of this nature are of comparatively recent date. Even within a century we have had small examples of this power: and we shall not be surprised if the years to come shall give us further paroxysms of nature; for we are in another transition period, the opening of the Millennial Age, for which changed conditions are requisite.

As the waters drained off into the seas, vege­tation sprang forth each after its own class or kind, with seed in itself to reproduce its own kind only. This matter is so fixed by the laws of the Creator that although horticulture can and does do much to give variety in perfection, yet it cannot change the kind. The different families of vegetables will no more unite and blend than will the various animal families. This shows design, not a Creator only, but an intelligent one.

Geology agrees that vegetation preceded the higher forms of animal life. It agrees, too, that in this early period vegetation was extremely rank; that mosses and ferns and vines grew immensely larger and more rapidly then than now, because the atmosphere was extreme­ly full of carbonic and nitrogenous gases; so full of them that breathing animals could not then have flourished. Plants, which now grow only a few inches or a few feet high even at the equator, then, attained a growth of forty to eighty feet, and sometimes two or three feet in diameter, as is demon­strated by fos­sil remains. Under the conditions known to have then obtained, their growth would not only be immense, but must also have been very rapid.

At this period, geologists claim, our coal beds were formed: plants and mosses, having a great affinity for carbonic acid gas, stored up within themselves the carbon, forming coal, pre­par­ing thus our present coal deposits while purifying the atmosphere for the animal life of the later epoch‑days. These vast peat‑bogs and moss beds, in turn, were covered over by sand, clay, etc., washed over them by further up­heavals and depressions of the earth’s surface, by tidal waves and by other descending “rings” of the waters above the firm­­a­ment. Practically the same pro­cedure must have been oft re­peated, too; for we find coal‑beds one above another with various strata of clay, sand, limestone, etc., between.

Evening and morning, the third 7,000 year epoch‑day, accomplished its part in preparing the world, according to the divine design. In ge­o­logy it is styled the Carboniferous era, because of its deposits of coal, oil, etc.

 The Fourth Creative Epoch-Day - Continued to No. 646 “In The Beginning”

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the word of truth

The word of truth is like a stained-glass window rare

We stand outside and gaze, but see no beauty there,

No fair design, naught but confusion we behold,

“Tis only from within the glory will unfold

And all who fain would enter there the knee must bow

In deep humility, But one inside the light

Of day streams through and makes each color heavenly bright,

The Master’s great design we see, our hands we raise

In reverent ecstasy of wonder, love and praise!