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Essays on Creation and Geology.

we find things appearing under a different aspect.

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ture by the operation of which every vestige connecting them with their former state of existence will soon be absorbed and swallowed up in the latter.

Life is therefore evidently a principle to which we can give nothing but an arbitrary name; a principle communicated from one living animal to another throughout successive ages, which must be traced back to a First Cause ; which first cause must have this name

himself-entering his very nature and constitution, with a power to communicate it to whomsoever or whatsoever he will.

We discover on the one hand, no unnecessary lapse of time between the creation of vegetables and that of the solar powers, to render them productive; and on the other, no unnecessary period between this arrangement, the effect of which is the production of food for living creatures, and the creation of living creatures to subsist on them. Immediately after the production of the vegetable king-less principle essentially residing in dom, were the celestial lights ordained, and immediately after the celestial lights, which are the cause of the growth of vegetables,-were animals produced to subsist on them. Thus from the very beginning, was there a harmony established in the world of nature, between the heavens and the earth, and the beings which inhabit the earth. Nor must the divine wisdom and goodness manifested by such an arrangement escape our notice. Animals are not ushered into existence till there is provision made for their subsistence; which, with the transitions already noticed, shews the arrangement to be infinitely wise, and exactly what we should expect.

This is the best definition we can give of this subtile subject. What signifies it to consider life merely in the creature, who holds it not necessarily, but entirely at the will and pleasure of the Creator?

Since then it proceeds from God alone, he must be viewed in this part of the creation as imparting a principle, even the principle we call life, to some particles of dead matter which they did not possess before. And from this first emanation of the principle of life from the Creator himself, we see it continued down to the present moment by means of parent and offspring, through the successive generations through which the world has passed.

The operation of the fifth and sixth days of Creation, consisting of the production of living creatures, is calculated in its nature to lead to wonderful speculations. Of all the divine opera- Thus reckoning either backward or tions hitherto examined, this is the forward, we are necessarily brought to most astonishing. Life! What is life? the same conclusion; namely, that Who can define what it is? Observe mere matter has no life in itself, at its effects. See it in the horse, the least not that kind of life of which we dog, the fly,—in the largest and strong are speaking; and that all the life est animal, or in the most diminutive which exists in the world at the preand weakest insect. How they exer- sent moment, and in the present genecise their functions, put forth their ration, was, by a concatenation which strength, distinguish themselves every Almighty God from the beginning one after its kind,-in walking, flying, established, derived, first, from the eating, and in every thing else; having last moment,―(for it is to the last moevidently the gross matter of their ment of my existence that I owe, bodies so united to some principle under God, the present ;) and secondwithin, as to convert the whole into ly, from the former generation,-for it another sort of substance from that is to my parents, in like manner under which it possessed in the chemical or God, that I am indebted for my existvegetable state; and which principle ence at first. And so on we must proseems to have the entire control of ceed in our calculation backward, from the matter thus constituting their re- moment to moment, and from generaspective bodies. See these same bo- tion to generation, till we come to the dies when they are deprived of this fifth and sixth days of the Creation, principle; the exercise of all their and arrive at the precise and deterfunctions is at an end. Their body is minate point when the principle we now a carcase running to putrefaction; call life began to emanate from the they have undergone a transition from Eternal himself, and to be diffused the animal to the chemical laws of na-among so many short-lived creatures

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which have in successive moments and generations existed since.

And as God at first imparted life to creatures, and by a constitution he has formed still sustains it, so life may be considered, when the creature dies, as retiring to its original source again. Thus computing backward, all the living creatures which have ever existed may be considered as resembling a vast army on their march, when viewed through that wonderful optical instrument, the Kaleidoscope of Dr. Brewster; by which we observe, as they successively advance, they first come into notice at the circumference, thence pass along the angles, till at last they are absorbed in the centre, which may be considered as the object whence proceeded their life and motion; which life and motion in a manner lead them back to their original point, where they are all again swallowed up in Him, and are seen no more.

Thus we observe, that ever since this memorable epoch." One generation passeth away, and another genera- | tion cometh, but the earth abideth for ever;" still affording the same sustenance for the creatures, which not only preserves them in existence from moment to moment, but inspires them with powers to propagate their species, by which they shall continue, though not as individuals, yet as genera and species, as long as the earth endures.

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from the fact, that alligators and other amphibious animals, and fishes, have been found in the undermost of the strata containing fossil bones; yet it appears that the Mosaic system is founded upon principles very different from theirs. If Moses, for instance, says that fishes were created to-day, he assures us that land animals were not long in following, for that they were created to-morrow. The Mosiac account affords not the smallest ground for the romantic theory of the geologists; and it is but like a drowning man catching at a straw after all other hope is gone, for them to fix upon this incident of Moses to support a dying cause. Nor, let it be observed, of the aquatic tribe of animals, were they alligators and other amphibiæ only, and the particular kinds of fish which have been found in these strata, which are said by Moses to have been created first; but they were fishes of all descriptions, "great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly," together with the winged tribes which were to 'fly in the open firmament of heaven." All, all the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the air, were created on the selfsame day. Nor were these long alone, but were followed by the creation of all the other tribes of animals, on the following day.

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The creation, I say, of all the inferior Having thus arrived at the origin or tribes of terrestrial animals constituted source of life, and demonstrated the the first part of the operations of the fact, that the life of the creature must sixth day. And therefore, if fishes were be derived from a Being who possesses created only on the preceding day, life essentially in himself, and who where was the time for the formation has power to communicate or with- of the strata which contain the fishes, hold it as he chooses; we are now previous to the creation of the land prepared to attend briefly to the Crea- animals, provided the strata were tor's operations at the present period, formed in the manner which geologists when the universe for the first time suppose? This shews that it is a teemed with life and animated motion, mere delusion to quote the Mosaic and with every demonstration of hap-order of the creation of fishes before piness and enjoyment, which in a va- the land animals, in support of their riety of ways shewed forth the Creator's theory. praise.

Some Geologists seem to think they pay Moses a compliment, by remarking that the formation of fishes before land animals, is an interesting coinci- | dence between modern discovery and the ancient sacred account. But I ask, How is it so? Though they may imagine that Moses, in this particular, coincides with their inferences drawn

"Eccl. i. 4.

In regard to the creation of the terrestrial animals, it is said, Gen. i. 24, 25. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, after their kind; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind: and God saw that it was good."

Here the original of all kinds of

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terrestrial animals is declared: and though in regard to the individual it be true, that" one generation passeth away, and another generation cometh;" yet in regard to the species it is equally true, that they with the earth abide for ever,* or endure as long as it shall remain.

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The

opposite principles, clearly established by Moses, cannot be correct. consideration of this subject, however, we must reserve to the sequel.

To demonstrate at every step that the aions of Mr. Macnab are erroneous and absurd; and that no part of the Creation was ever designed to be independent of another for the immense period which he has assigned to his aions; are we not in effect expressly told, Gen. i. 29, 30, that, in regard to ve

formed purposely for the other?—that vegetables never existed for any length of time without animals to subsist upon them? and that animals were not created till there was provision made for their sustenance by the formation of vegetables? When, therefore, first the one was formed and then the other, we behold God himself uniting them together, by saying to the latter, "Be

The original formation of the different tribes of animals; the placing them on the earth after it was furnished with inexhaustible means of subsistence; and the subsequent preser-getables and animals, the one was vation of a due proportion between the sexes; seem clear indications, that the preservation of the different genera and species of animals as long as the earth was to endure, entered as a principal design with the original constitution of the globe. But the researches of learned men, it would appear, have demonstrated this not to be the case. They contend that they have discovered remains of animals of alto-hold, I have given you every herb beargether different species, and even genera, from any which now exist. On which account they conceive themselves justified in concluding that the earth must have had some other origin than that assigned to it by Moses; or if his account is to he admitted, it must be explained in a way to tally with their conjectures respecting the

said discoveries.

But how plausible soever their theories may appear, may not geologists after all be mistaken in the conclusion, that the bones and other relics of the animals in question, are really different from any thing which now exists? There are at any rate the strongest grounds to suspect the accuracy of their conclusion; for it appears from Buffon and other writers, that at times they admit them to be distinctly of the same species-demonstrating them to be like the bones of this and the other animal, only of gigantic size. And even Cuvier acknowledges, by three distinct and powerful reasons,* afterwards to be considered, the difficulties under which be laboured in determining this point. Which difficulty, is a circumstance quite sufficient to create the strongest suspicions, that a theory founded upon such doubtful principles, especially when it has to contend with a set of

* Eccl. i. 4.

ing seed, which is upon the face of all
the earth, and every tree, in the which
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to
you it shall be for meat." Which
words were addressed to Adam. But
the passage proceeds,
"And to every
beast of the earth, and to every fowl of
the air, and to every thing that creepeth
upon the earth, wherein there is life, I
have given every green herb for meat;
and it was so."

In all this, there is something rational and God-like, something to be admired by intelligent creatures; there is an object worthy of Infinite Intelligence to pursue. But upon the principle of these pretended wise men, rationality and wisdom seem to be out of the question; all their reasoning seems to be entirely in behalf of something they know not what.

But here comes a knotty question to them. To assert, as Moses does, that all animals were once herbaceous, or subsisted on vegetable productions, as God is said expressly to have given them" every green herb for meat;" is a position which will by no means suit the naturalists; whose very systems and arrangements in Zoology are founded very much on the different kinds of food on which animals are now observed to subsist. The Christian system, however, so far from opposing this idea of Moses' primitive state of the earth, opens a prospect of a more perfect state of things yet to take

* Cuvier's Theory of the Earth. pp. 111-113. | place, when even the "lion shall eat

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Man may be defined, according to the present mode of his instruction, as a being that acquires his knowledge by the circuitous method of written alphabetical language, and the tedious process of experiment and

straw like the ox."* Then will be mani- | as that which is done in the present fested the imperfection of all our pre- times respecting brutes. sent systems, which are founded upon such arbitrary distinctions; though now they are not without their use, but serve as stepping-stones by which we are enabled to cross and recross rivers, swamps, and marshes, which would be impassible without them. Then, doubt-induction. And as matters now go, less, will men be again restored to such a perfection of knowledge as Adam possessed, when, like him, they shall no longer require systems founded upon the results of reasoning and induction, and which, through the perversion of our nature, as often lead to error as to truth; but shall perceive objects by intuition, and call things by names expressive of their nature.

we could as easily conceive" the lion to graze with the or," as that man should ever have been capable of being instructed into the minutiae of things by any other method. Yet the fact of the contrary is certain in regard to the first man; and it prevailed in the antediluvian world, and even later; till men began to abuse it by multiplying images and representations for the purposes of superstition and idolatry, when they seem to have been deprived of such powers.

In like manner, the fact is equally certain in regard to animals, that they were once all herbaceous; though from present appearances we are unable to perceive how this could be. But our inability to comprehend the subject does not destroy a fact which seems to have existed during the whole of the antediluvian period; nor ought it to render the prediction incredible, that such shall be again the state of things with regard both to man and brutes, in the glory of the latter days. Violence or oppression of every kind, whether exercised by man or brutes, seems to be a perversion of nature's laws; which God now "winks at," or tolerates, as he did the ignorance of the ancient heathen; but there is a period which he has given us to expect, when matters shall be again reduced to their primitive simplicity, innocence, and order; when there shall be no

Much of this seems to have been the case in primitive times. On which account I conceive it to be owing, that those times do not furnish us with such satisfactory details of things as the present age requires. For in fact, the ancients acquired their knowledge of nature, not by studying the systems of man upon it; but nature herself was a book open to them all, and read by each according to his capacity; and they appear in general to have been too much masters of the systems with which they were conversant, to require the committing of them to writing :a slow, laborious, and circuitous method of instruction, which always implies imperfection! A more figurative and hieroglyphical representation of things, conveyed to them by the glance of the eye more instruction in a single moment, than men in the present day are able to carry away from a course of the most luminous lectures of the most celebrated professor. Hence, we are not to look to them for an historical account of things; perhaps they had nothing to hurt or destroy in all his holy idea that future generations would ever need to be instructed in a different manner from themselves. And hence, they seem to have considered a mere genealogical and chronological table of some few events, and the line of succession of their ancestors, all that was necessary in this way.†

Now, from all this, as false an inference may be drawn respecting man,

* Isa. xi. 7. It is admitted this passage is figurative; but it seems to be a figure founded upon a fact, and pointing to the literal as well as figurative restoration of the fact again. + Gen. chap. v.

mountain; when the ferocious nature of beasts shall be changed, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and lastly, when men shall again be endowed with instinctive powers of acquiring knowledge; and shall not require, as they now do," the teaching of every one his neighbour and his brother; but when all shall know the Lord, and his wonderful works, from the least even to the greatest."

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ence of their own species, have we removed in a clear and satisfactory manner, it is presumed, the objection which might be brought against the Mosaic account of all animals being once herbaceous. And as things in nature seem in general to be arranged in concentric circles, constantly bringing us back to the point whence they began; so this method here, as well as in almost every other thing, seems to bid the fairest for the most glorious results: and not that, which has been almost constantly pursued hitherto, which proceeds upon the straight line, and which, so far from leading to right conclusions, seems rather to be the grand source of all our darkness, stumblings, and errors, in all our systems of the present day.

Taking present appearances as the criterion by which to illustrate things that are past or future, is a fallacious principle. Every age is distinguished for something peculiar to itself; and this remark extends not merely to man, but to the earth itself, and every thing on it? yea, in some respects to the whole visible universe. Hence, though there be a general uniformity in the whole, yet no part will serve exactly by which to represent another part. To perceive the whole, we must take in the whole; and not from the consideration of any one part, whether it regards time, or space, or any other individual object, class, or classes of objects, make a criterion by which to explain the whole; for this will inevitably lead to error.*

For example, though the present, is the didactic age in reference to man, and the carnivorous in reference to some animals, and the age of rest or absence of all great or material revolutions in reference to the earth itself; yet it would be very incorrect to main

This seems to be the superlatively wise method of M. Cuvier!!! "When we endeavour," says he, "to estimate the quantity of effects produced in a given time by any causes still acting, by comparing them with the effects which these causes have produced since they began to operate, we may determine nearly the period at which their action commenced." Cavier's Theory, 133. Thus, in the first place, he evidently takes for granted the

existence of matter in a certain undefined con

dition when the "action commenced." And secondly, the equal uniformity of the action from that period to the present times. Both which positions, as they have no foundation in fact, so they can never be assumed as first principles on which to build a system of truth." No. 23.-VOL. III.

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tain, that it either was, or always will be, the same in these respects. Hence we can draw no correct conclusion respecting either the past or the future, from the present state of things. The present is only one part of a whole, as are also the past and future separate parts; but each part, strictly speaking, answers for itself alone, and not each for the other.

And

A mistake of this nature, of confounding the past and future with the present state of things, was foreseen by the Spirit of prophecy. The apostle Peter speaks of some scoffers who were to arise in the last days, speaking great swelling words of vanity. the principal objection respecting any future change (particularly of the nature of the change there described) in the mundane system, was to be grounded upon its present apparent unchangeable and unalterable condition. That is to say,Though it may be demonstrated by these scoffers, that the earth has undergone revolutions, yet they are not such revolutions as the apostle describes; but mere visionary affairs, according to a system of their own framing, which have occupied millions of ages to effect; and may continue performing similar revolutions for so long a period to come; yea, for ever, as their systems seem to admit neither of bounds nor limits. And thus, in effect, they ward of the judgment of the great day, as long as they please; and sap the foundation of the Scripture account equally of the origin and end of the world. And "if the foundations be thus destroyed, what can the righteous do?" PSA. XI. 3.

But the apostle answers these scoffers expressly in the same way which we have done; by referring them to the facts of changes and revolutions which the globe had undergone in past ages. Not such revolutions, however, as they would, by their deep researches, and pretended learning, palm upon an ignorant sottish world. But revolutions which are recorded in history, even in the volume of inspiration itself; of which he declares they were

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willingly ignorant." The revolutions too, of which he speaks, were not vague and indeterminate as to the period when they happened, like those of our visionary theorists; but they were those which happened at the deluge; at a determinate epoch fixed in the true, recorded, and carefully preF

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