Iceland, a thousand years ago, according to Icelandic histories, was covered with forests of birch and fir; and at that time Greenland was fertile in the south. Men generally agreeing as to the four classes of facts which we have enumerated; 1st, the antiquity of the earth; 2nd, its progressive formation; 3rd, earlier occupation by mankind than is given by the common date; 4th, the orderly continuous and progressive operation of nature; are met by assertions of this kind—“It is not likely that God should have inspired Moses to write a history of creation to be believed by all people, in language the meaning of which it were hard to find, and yet harder to believe."1 Timid souls, rendered more timid by the reckless unbelief of godless men, cling almost superstitiously to the old ways of explanation, and say— "There is indeed a measure of difficulty, and a kind of unnaturalness, in giving a different sense to the words than that which has been generally accepted; and which, unless required by science, no one would think of giving." Students of science, provoked by this obstructiveness of ignorance and of fear, reply with some scorn-"We know, even as a matter of common sense, that God did not make the world in six days, and no man of science believes that He did. Cannot you divines, while contenting our emotions, satisfy also our intelligence?" They have been answered by an explanation of the manner in which it is conceived the world was created in six days— That heaven and earth were created in the beginning, and that the six days' work was the restoration rather than the creation of the earth. In that beginning, angels were made, and in some way or other connected with the earth; animals and plants, in great variety and beauty, lived, passed away, and were succeeded by others. It was a golden age: no sin, no sorrow, everything good and very beautiful. In process of time, some of the angels sinned, and their evil courses cast the earth into chaotic confusion. Then, Divine power reformed the world, as we now see it, with man as chief; who, after due probation, is to occupy those places in heaven from which the evil angels fell. In commemoration of the work, and as a 1 Suarez: “Tractatus De Opere Sex Dierum,” lib. I. cap. xi. 42. Remonstrance of the Thoughtful. 143 measure of the days, Holy Sabbath was instituted. In that primitive period are to be found all those crises and periods required by geologists, and to those ancient ages must be attributed the fossils and animals of astonishing form, preserved in the rocky pages of the earth as a revelation of the mysteries of former existence. This statement about angels, happy eras, chaotic relapse, does not content thoughtful men who require a substratum of fact on which intelligence may faithfully erect a house of piety. They reply-" There is no great break of continuity, or universal chasm, separating the former good time from the later evil time; go back far as we may, dig deep as we can, death reigned in the world even as now; the stony leaves of ancient history bear no record of angelic life, the legend is alway of the destroyer and of the destroyed. On these leaves are impressed and printed likenesses and relics of vegetable, fish, reptile, bird, mammal, and human organisms. Life following life, with hundreds and thousands of feet of slowly deposited rock intervening; but no record of peace, no footprints of angel anywhere. There are different ages of life, various stages of growth, some are young, others old. Their history states that they devoured their fellows and propagated their kind. Worn teeth and aged structure prove a long duration of individual existence, and many relics are token of continuance as to species. Would you have us believe that within six days the firmament was spread out, land raised from the sea, and dried; that trees grew up bearing on their bark, and in the rings of their structure, record of centuries; that river channels were worn and excavated through thousands of feet of solid rock, leaving in the different stages of depth countless generations of creatures which grew, performed all the natural functions, and at length died of full age? Are all these marks of progress and tokens of age mere freaks of construction? did vegetables grow up instantaneously for full-grown animals to feed on; and fruit, already ripe on the trees, delight the sight and taste of man; and, in the latter end of the sixth day, was Eden planted, were beasts named, did Adam sleep, was Eve formed? Are we as geologists, naturalists, farmers, men of general observa tion, to credit all this? That old world, moreover, was not an existence wholly good: it is hard to conceive that the monster forms were suitable companions for holy, happy angels, or that the bone-breaking and fierce devouring by these creatures belonged to a pure and peaceful existence. Nor was it separated from the present world by utterly destructive catastrophes: it contained all those plants, animals, men, whose remains, strangely revealed to us, are brought from one common grave. Extinct species are so mingled with those now in existence that the two worlds overlap each other, indeed are not two worlds, but one; there is no trace of any chasm, deep and wide, engulfing that first or former creation in utter destruction; no universal break found in which the old world passed away and the new began." These statements, of honest and wise opponents, are very strong proofs that the Day theory is inadequate, unscriptural, unscientific. Some further consideration may lead such as hold the theory gladly to abandon it for one that contents piety and satisfies intelligence: one that unites the view of the prophets with the requirements of modern science: "That mind and soul, according well, May make one music as before." In Memoriam. In an apparent vision, or narrative, or dream, or by whatever means we possess the memorial of creation-whether as picture for the seer to look on, or as history for the prophet to write--it is certain that the whole representation, if Divine, would in its very nature transcend physical science. It must be borne in mind that the Hebrew language has no scientific terms; so that, whether dealing with science or prophecy, symbols must be used. It also seems natural that the word "Day" should be used: a word which includes the work of man for containing and describing the work of God, and for a symbolical measure of time. Fitness and simplicity, moreover, would take evenings and mornings for divisions and changes; darkness and light for pauses and operations in the sublime scene. Nor is that all-as past, present, future, are distinctions for man's use only, and can have no real meaning in reference to Deity, they are often ignored in Holy Scripture. Prophets not know their Prophecies. 145 The prophet not unfrequently speaks of the future as actually present, apparently, perhaps really, unconscious that centuries have passed away, or will pass away before the prediction can be fulfilled (Isai. ix. 13; Jer. xlix. 28-30; Isai. xxxiv. 5, X. 34, xi. I). The prophets did not always understand their own writings (Dan. xii. 4; Ephes. iii. 5; 2 Pet. i. 19-21). In many holy reflections, Divine realities are clad in garments of imagery (Ps. xix. 1-6). The Tabernacle was a figure of good things to come (Heb. ix. 8, 9). The sacrifice of Isaac had a deeper meaning than Abraham knew (Heb. xi. 17-19). The child promised to Ahaz (Isai. vii. 14); the man of sorrow, in whose hand the pleasure of the Lord was to prosper; and who, though dying, was to prolong his days (Isai. liii. 10); are examples and proofs that the Word of God is high and deep, full of mystery to feed the curiosity, exercise the powers, encourage the hope, augment the wisdom of men and angels. They may help us to understand the true meaning of the language in which the Mosaic account of the creation was revealed. Further there is a correspondence traceable between the first three and second three of the days in which God created the heaven and the earth. The first, second, and third days answer, severally, to the fourth, fifth, and sixth days. On the first-there is light, on the fourth-light-bearers; on the second-the waters are separated and the firmament is constituted, on the fifth-the waters and firmament are occupied by fishes and birds; on the third-dry land appears, on the sixth-it is replenished. The work and the days are a parable. A comparison of one part of Scripture with another also suggests that the idea of completeness and perfection is presented by use of the number seven in the Mosaic record. The seventh day, or Sabbath, is the key-note in every Hebrew observance; the factor in all sacred times and things; ruling days, months, years, jubilees. It is part of the civil and of the ecclesiastic law. It concerns master and servant, the home-born and stranger, the harvest and the beast of the field. There are seven spirits, seven stars, seven angels, seven L churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials. It is the representative symbolic number, the subject for precept, the rule and measure of observances, possessing internal properties and external associations. Internal-as the symbol of Divine and human labour and rest. External-as to periods and numbers, impressing times and seasons with a seal of sanctity. The seventh month ushered in the Feast of Trumpets. Seven weeks were the interval between Passover and Pentecost. The seventh year was sabbatical. Seven days were the measure of feasts, of the time occupied by priestly consecration, and removal of legal uncleanness. The sprinkling of purification was seven-whether with water or blood. The arms of the golden candlestick were seven; the chief vessels of the Tabernacle were seven; and there are sacred sevens for forgiveness, for perfection, for interpretation of prophecy. Through God's creation, sevens express the arrangements of nature, the laws of labour, the sanctification and division of time, and form part of God's commandments (Gen. ii. 3; Ex. xx. 9-11, xxxi. 12–17). It may then be inferred that the Scriptural account of creation was intended to be regarded as pictorial, symbolical, mystical. The wise son of Sirach said—“ All things are double, one against another." Consider the various uses of the word "day." Fuerst observes, in his Lexicon, that Day only exists in derivative senses, and is used to signify a period. Eating the forbidden fruit, and the consequent liability to death, are called one day-the day of death (Gen. ii. 17). Day of the Lord is a period of mercy, or a time for the acting of Godpower. Day of vengeance is time of punishment. Day of judgment is the crisis of doom. Day of rest is a figure of repose after the creative act, and a symbol of the great duration of our own rest in heaven (Heb. iv. 9). Origen says "a whole age is a day."1 Day is time of life, one who has a hard time, heavy time, Dip? (Job xxx. 25). Day is time of light, D, in the sense of light being day (Gen. i. 5). Day is present time (Ps. ii. 7); "This day," now, Day is before now, הַיּוֹם יְלִדְתִּיךְ ",have I begotten thee » |