520 Science and (he Bible. [July,
over
the middle and lower strata, or VI over the uppermost. It ascertains,
from the rocks, a series of events or consecutive facts in the history
of creation. And, in view of its enunciations, it is a natural
question, with the student interested in the Bible, whether the order
is the same with that in the Mosaic account ? or whether there is an
irreconcilable discrepancy ? Should not theology ask these questions
? Is it a perversion of exegesis to study out the parallelism, and
attempt to reconcile seeming difficulties ?
We give, concisely, the order of events in the two records, that the degree of discrepancy and doubt may be fairly seen.
Genesis :
i. creation of light ; n. firmament, separating waters above and below
it ; in. dry land ; vegetation created ; iv. sun, moon, and stars ; v.
marine and amphibian animals, and birds created; vi. quadrupeds
created; man created.
Geology :
the earth in igneous fusion; its oceans, in vapors, over it ; partly
cooled and covered with its oceans, but the atmosphere, above, still
dense with vapors; lands rising above the waters, becoming dry land
(the azoic, of geology); traces of vegetation, in the rocks of this
age, uncertain ; cooling continued, and finally a clear sky, with the
sun, moon, and stars no longer obscured ; marine and amphibian
animals, and birds (making up the ages of molluscs, of fishes, of coal
plants, and of reptiles) ; quadrupeds created ; man. (The
details of geological history fill out this mere list of epochs, and
thus supply what the Bible does not undertake to give.)
In these accounts, the Bible says that man was the last creation. Geology says the same.
The Bible says that quadrupeds next preceded man. Geology says the same.
The Bible says, that inferior animal species, up to reptiles, were created before quadrupeds. Geology says the same.
The Bible says that there was, earlier, an age without animal life. Geology does the same.
The Bible says that, after the world had been long in formation (for its three days), the sun, moon, and stars ap-
Flickr
Stumbleupon
Scribd
