SimiLir ohjections apply to an ingenious theory of Prof. S. 1). Hilhnan (in the Mtth. Quar. Rev. Oct. 1868), who, wliile adniiral)ly defending the "nebular hypoth- esis," proposes to idcntifj' the da>/s of creation with as- tronomical ajras. He leaves no room for the alterna- tions of '• evening and morning."
"The consistency or iiarmony of these two records of the creation — that of Jloses and tiiatof the geologist — lias, in conformity with the foregoing interpretation of til e word 'day,' lieen attempted to be traced and vindicated by tlie late Hugh ^Miller in a lecture deliv- ered hy him to the 'Young Men's Christian Associa- tion' in the year 1855, and afterwards republished in The Testimoti'j of the Jiocls, and also by Dr. M'Caus- land in his Sermons in Stones. The former sought to show the consistency between the facts of geology and the events recorded bj' Moses as having occurred on the third, fifth, and sixth days or periods of creation, stating that, as a geologist, lie was only called on to account for those three of the six daj's or periods, in- asmuch as geological systems and formations regard the remains of the three great periods of plants, rep- tiles, and mammals, and those onlj'; and 'that of the period during whicli light was created — of the period during which a firmament was made to separate the waters from the waters — or of the period during wliich the two gr3.)t lights of the earth, witli the other heav- enly bodi:'s, became visible from the earth's surface, we need expect to find no record in the rocks.' But the author of the latter work {Sermons in Stones') has undertaken further to show that geology confirms and establishes the truth of every statement in the record cf Moses, from the beginning down to the creation of man — the original state of the globe 'without form and void" — the first dawn of light — the formation of the firmament, and the separation of the waters below from the waters above it — and the first appearance of the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth daj^, intermedi- ate between the creation of the vegetable world on the third, and the creation of the creeping things and l)irds on the fifth day." But neither of these writers, how- ever acute and accurate in matters of natural science, was competent to appreciate the philological and exe- getical bearings of the subject, and hence both have palpabl}' warped the statements of the sacred text into a forcible conformit}' to their geological prepossessions. The many and striking discrepancies will appear in the following discussion of the facts of geology in de- tail. See section iv.
Tlie only objection which even these geologists have deemed surticient to set aside the above explanation of Dr. Chalmers is that geology (in their view) fur- nishes no evidence of such a sudden and total break in the order of creation immediately previous to the in- troduction of man. It is ditficult to see liow they can maintain this argument in the face of the two well- known facts, tliat no remains of the present races of an- imals or vegetables are to be found in the fossilifcrous rocks (at least none in those l)c!ow the "tertiary"), and that none of the fossil s])ecies are now extant upon the globe. The few exceptions claimed to these rules are too trifling and doulitful to affect their validity (these are strongly adduced by Lyell, Antiq. of jlfan, Lond. and N. Y. 1863 ; a careful synopsis may be found in Bruco's Races of the Old World, N. Y. 1863, di. xxxii; comp. Brit, and For. Evan. Rev. Oct. 18G1 ; Meth. Quar. liev. Jan. 1864), and the cases of striking resemblance may be referred to the maintenance of analogous ti/pes
] of being in each fresli creation, Indeed, the universal presence of "drift," and the slrice everywhere found upon rocks at the surface, seem to be conclusive evi- dence of sonic grand cataclysm closing tlie ]ire-Adain- ite period with universal wreck, which the flippant as- sertions of seme modern writers cannot gainsay. Sev» eralof the recently discovered cases of human remains \ or art, covered bj' deposits computed to be of immense I age, are examined l)y an expert in the Meth. Quarteritf Review for Oct. 1865, and tlie preposterous conclusions derived from them by Lyell and others fully exploded. The well-known rate of the growth of deltas at the al- luvial mouths of all great rivers proves that they be- gan their course not over six thousand years ago. Prof. Jewell, of Chicago, in the Meth. Quar. Revitic for Jan. 1869, carefullj^ examines all the most recent dis- coveries alleged in favor of the antiquity of man under the five heads: "1. Lacustrine habitations of Central and Southern Europe ; 2. ' Kjocken-middings' or Kitch- en rfjuse-heaps of the coasts of Denmark and Norway, and the Atlantic coast of North America ; 3. Deltas, as those of the Nile, Po, Ganges, and Mississippi ; 4. Cave deposits, in various parts of Europe ; 5. Remains [of human bones and other objects] found in the peat, clay, and gravel-beds and terrace-formations of vari- ous parts of the world." He then sums up the jirop- er scientific conclusions from these geological data thus :
(1 ) Man and the niamnioth in some parts of the globe were contemporaneous.