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ſºaken, 2.04%22rt,
THE
HISTORY OF THE CREATION,
Últ first ſlaptºr of 6tmºsis,
EX IPI, AIN E D AND PROVE I) TO BE IN COM pſ, RTF HARMONY WITH
THE DISCOVERIES OF GEO LOGY;
WITH SOME RE MARKS UPON
THE GEOLOGICAL THEoRIES OF THE DAY, THE SUpposed
ERRORS AND DISCRE PANCIES IN THE SACRED TEXT, THE
sABBATH OF CREATION, AND THE DISTINCTION
BETWEEN IT AND THE LORD'S DAY.
LONDON :
PR IN T E D F O R T H E W R IT E R.
1853.
oxPop D PRINTING PREss, PADDINGTON.
- A/ &Za.c49 B S
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3. @ 5 /
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Štriptural jistory of Urtation,
IN HARMONY WITH G E () LOGY.
In the Beginning—The signification of these the first three words
in the Sacred Volume can be easily ascertained by comparing Scrip-
ture with Scripture. It is the commencement of the Creation, the
progress of which is subsequently detailed. Thus the Apostle Paul,
in Hebrews i. 10, writes, “And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast
laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of
thy hands:” See also Proverbs viii. 22, 23: “The Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set
up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.”
God—The same Divine Being who afterwards assumed the human
nature. This great truth is several times plainly declared in the
Scriptures. Hebrews i. 1, 2: “God, who at Sundry times and in
divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;” the
Word worlds meaning the various orders of beings in the universe.
John i.10: “He (the Lord) was in the world, and the world was
made by him, and the world knew him not.” The word world here
means the human race, and the Lord being in the world signifies
that he had assumed the human nature, see verse 14.; Ephesians
iii. 9: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the
mystery, which from the beginning of the world (that is from the com-
mencement of the creation of the human race) hath been hid in God,
who created all things by Jesus Christ:” Colos. i. 12 to 17: “Giving
B 2
4 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his
dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the
forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the first-
born of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they
be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things
were created by him, and for him: and he Is (not was, compare with
John viii. 58) before all things, and by him all things consist.” Verse
19: “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness
dwell;” John i. 3: “All things were made by him; (the word, verse
1, which, verse 14, was made flesh) and without him was not any-
thing made that was made.”
The meaning of the expression, the “firstborn of every creature”
(Colossians i. 15) is the same as the firstborn from the dead in verse 18,
and the “firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians xv. 20),
namely, that the Lord was the first man who reached that glorified
state of existence termed by the angel (Luke i. 19), standing in the
presence of God. In the same sense the church is prophetically
termed, with reference to the remainder of the human race, “the
general assembly and church of the firstborn” (Hebrews xii. 23), and
“ the firstfruits” (Revelations xiv. 4; James i. 18), as the members
will, at the first resurrection, reach the same exalted position.
1 Corinthians xv. 22, 23 : “For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order:
Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming.” The expression under consideration has no reference to
the pre-existence of the Lord, but relates exclusively to his ascension
to the Father, which is an entirely different state of existence to
that styled Paradise, and being in Abraham's bosom, the present
state of the departed Saints, though they are in one sense “present
with the Lord.”
Created—the full meaning of this word in the Scripture lan-
guage, is to bring into existence from nothing. It is rarely used in
any other sense, and even when so used, is adopted as the strongest
expression to be found. Thus in the second or full meaning of
Psalm li. verse 10, the work of the Holy Spirit is termed creation,
and again, Ephesians ii. 10, “For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works.”
IN HARMONY WITII GEOLOGY. 5
The heaven—all that is above the earth, in other words, the whole
of the globes which constitute the present universe. The word
heaven is frequently used in the Scriptures in a smaller sense, to
denote the atmosphere of this little planet; but such cannot be the
meaning here, inasmuch as the atmosphere was not formed until
afterwards, see verse 8. It is true that apparently new stars have
been known to appear, but this by no means proves a new creation.
This diminutive orb will, at the Lord's coming in glory, in like
manner appear as a new star, to the worlds inhabiting surrounding
globes. The Scriptures also reveal, that as the material universe
was simultaneously created, so in like manner will all be changed
together, Revelation xx. 11, “And I saw a great white throne, and
him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled
away; and there was found no place for them.” The symbols in
this description, are the great white throne,—the face of him that
sat upon it, which means the glory of the Lord, called by the
Lord his face (Exodus xxxiii. 18, 20), and the fleeing away, which
is the total destruction of the globes forming the present universe,
2 Peter iii. 7 (second fulfilment): “But the heavens and the earth,
which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
The ungodly men foretold in the second sense of this narrative
prophecy, are those who will fall away during the little season
mentioned Rev. xx. 3, Hebrews i. 11, 12, “They (the earth and
the heavens) shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall
wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them
up, and they shall be changed.”
And the earth.—The matter which now constitutes the globe and
its atmosphere.
And the earth was without form, The earth has now the shape of
a flattened sphere, somewhat similar to an orange, the diameter
from pole to pole being known to be less than the equatorial dia-
meter; but it is revealed that the mass of matter as originally created,
had not this regular form or shape, it therefore necessarily follows
that the present spherical form was subsequently imparted to it,
and the manner in which this was effected is revealed, as will be
shown hereafter.
And void;—This is an old English word, equivalent to the present
word, empty. It is, therefore, revealed that at the original creation
there was an empty, hollow space within the mass of newly created
6 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
matter. This is also declared in various other passages of the Bible,
some of which will be presently mentioned.
And darkness was upon the face of the deep.–The word face, as
here used, is equivalent to the modern word, surface. The word is
frequently used in this sense in the sacred volume. See Job
xxxviii. 30; 2 Samuel xviii. 8; Daniel viii. 5. The mention of
water in the conclusion of the verse under consideration shows the
meaning of the expression, the deep, to be a vast collection of water,
which covered the whole mass of matter. This is also revealed by
verse 9, as the first appearance of dry land at the surface, is there
expressly mentioned. The surface of the primitive universal ocean
was, it is declared, entirely dark. This shows that the sun was not
then luminous.
And the Spirit of God—The King eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;
HE whom no man hath seen, nor can see, has through his beloved
Son revealed himself to the human race, so far as they are at present
capable of understanding infinite and absolute perfection. The Lord
has in the written Word ascribed to his Father the great title of
the Holy Spirit, meaning that Spirit which alone is completely holy.
In the same sense the Lord has declared his Father only worthy to
be called good (Matt. xix. 17); “Why callest thou me good? There
is none good but one, that is, God.” The Lord has also revealed that
the same All-perfect Spirit is his Father, Luke i. 35, “And the
angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: there-
fore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God.” John xx. 17: “I ascend unto my Father, and
your Father; and to my God, and your God.” John iv. 23, 24: “But
the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh
such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Matthew i. 20: “Fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost.” Psalm ii. 7: “Thou art my Son;
this day have I begotten thee.”
Moved upon the face of the waters.-That is upon the surface of the
waters. The sense in which the Omnipresent Spirit is said to have
moved upon the surface of the waters may be seen from other pas-
sages in the little book open : John i. 1, 2, “In the beginning (that
IN BIARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 7
is, of the creation, as before shown) was the word, and the word was
with God (the Holy Spirit), and the word was God,” (the creating
God who afterwards, when in the flesh, was called the Lord Jesus).
“The same (the Lord) was in the beginning (that is, of the creation)
with God,” (the Holy Spirit). Compare also Rev. i. 13, “and in the
midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man,”—with
Rev. ii. 7, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches;” showing that the Holy Spirit was present with
the Lord when he was in the midst of the seven candlesticks: John
iii. 34, “For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for
God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him.”—The meaning of
the expression under consideration is shown by these texts to be that
the Lord, in whom the Eternal Spirit, His Father, dwells, and in
which sense the Lord declares that He and His Father are one, in
some form moved on the surface of the waters. This declaration
that the Holy, Omnipotent, Omnipresent Spirit participated in the
work of creation is several times repeated in the written word:
—Rev. iv. 11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour
and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure
they are and were created.” This is addressed to the Supreme, be-
cause the Lord Jesus is subsequently mentioned as a Lamb and as
taking the symbolic book from the right hand of Him that sat upon
the throne, v. 6, 7–Rev. xiv. 7, “saying with a loud voice, Fear
God, (the Father of the Lord Jesus, verse 1–4,) and give glory to
him; for the hour of his judgment is come : and worship him that
made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
1 Cor. viii. 6, “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom
are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
are all things, and we by him.”
And God said, let there be light :-This command shows that the
Lord Jesus, and in him the Holy Spirit, moved upon the face of the
waters before the light was manifested, and therefore that they are
distinct from the excellent glory, the light, which no man can
approach unto, in which the Father dwells, 1 Tim. vi. 16, and the
Lord also, John xvii. 5.
And there was light.—The excellent glory was declared or revealed
in heaven, Psalm xix. 1, whereby possession was visibly taken by
the Supreme of his new habitation consisting of “many mansions” in
the second sense of those words, John xiv. 2. This manifestation of
God is frequently in the Scriptures called “God” and “The Father.”
8 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
Some light from this source penetrated to the face of the waters, but
the sun, moon, and stars, were not visible from the surface of the
earth until long afterwards, as will be presently shown.
The first three verses in the written word, therefore, reveal the
Creating God, the Holy Spirit, and the Excellent Glory. When the
Creating God appeared to Moses, the whole Trinity were there
manifested, the Holy Spirit being present in the Lord, and the Lord
appeared in Glory; hence the great declaration, Isaiah xliv. 8, “Is
there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.”
In this sense, to be baptized into the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost—and to be baptized into Christ, are
treated as synonymous; compare Matt. xxviii. 19, with Acts ii. 38,
and Gal. iii. 27. In the same sense the Lord when he appeared
unto Abraham declared himself to be the Almighty God; compare
Genesis xvii. 1, “I am the Almighty God,” with 1 Tim. iii. 16,
“God was manifest in the flesh,” and Rev. i. 8, “I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the ending, Saith the Lord, which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. -
And God saw the light, that it was good:—This expression, which
is several times repeated, is worthy of attention, as, properly under-
stood, it affords a key to unlock many of the apparent difficulties in
the written word. The Lord is speaking of himself, after the man-
ner of men. He is represented as a workman engaged in an
important and intricate work, and approving the effect of each ope-
ration before he commences the next. This peculiar idiom, of
speaking of the attributes, works, and motives of God after the
manner of men, runs through the whole Bible. The account of the
Creation is itself written after the same manner. It is such a his-
tory as would have been written by a human being had one been
present from the beginning to the termination of the work.
And God divided the light from the darkness.—The light is now
divided from the darkness by the diurnal revolution of the earth
upon its axis. It therefore follows that this rotatory motion was
then first given by the Lord to the shapeless mass.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Wight.
This confirms what has just been stated as to the mode of the
division of the light from the darkncss, because the Lord terms the
division day and night, which shows the original division to be the
same as the present. This also appears from other passages,
Genesis viii, 22, “While the earth remaineth—day and night shall
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 9
not cease;” Psalm Bºxiv. 16, “The day is thine, the night also is
thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.”
And the evening and the morning were the first day.—The meaning
of the expressions “the evening” and “the morning,” as here used,
may be ascertained from other passages in the sacred volume,
Daniel viii. 26: “And the vision of the evening and the morning
which was told is true:” the evening and the morning here mentioned,
can have no reference whatever to a natural day, because Daniel is
further told to shut up the vision, for it shall be (that is, continue)
for many days. This is further shown by verse 14, where Daniel
is told that the vision shall be for 2,300 prophetic days, that is
2,300 years of 360 days each. The word evening in the Scriptures
is frequently used in the sense of preparation, thus in John xix.
31, 42, the eve of the Sabbath is called the preparation; see also
Mark xv. 42 : “And now when the even was come, because it was
the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath.” The evening
or preparation is the foundation from which the result is to spring,
and it is in this sense that the first woman was called Eve, because
she was the mother of all living, and this is stated to be the reason
why Adam gave his wife that name. (Gen. iii. 20.) The morning
s the very commencement and imperfect development of the day,
and when connected with the word evening used in the sense of
preparation, it means the commencement and imperfect development
of the result of the previous preparation. Thus in the prophecy of
Daniel before mentioned, which relates to the Eastern apostacy, the
period of 2,300 years included in the vision, is the time occupied in
the preparation for, and rise and progress of, the false religion of
Mahomet, and the termination of that period was the commence-
ment of its decline, or in the words of the prophecy, of the cleans-
ing of the Sanctuary.
The word, day, is frequently used in the sacred volume in the sense
of a period; thus in Gen. ii. 4, the whole time occupied in the creation
is called a day. “These are the generations of the heavens and of
the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God
made the earth and the heavens,” the word day as used in this
passage, can only mean the whole period of creation; see also 2 Cor.
vi. 2: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day
of Salvation.”—Meaning the period appointed for obtaining salvation
which time extends from the first to the second Advent of the Lord.
Deuteronomy ix. 1 : “Bear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan
10 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
this day,”—meaning that the period had arrived for the passage of
the river. The children of Israel did not pass over the Jordan for
many natural days afterwards, as Moses first died, and they after-
wards mourned him thirty days before they crossed the river. The
meaning of the expression, the first day, as used in connection with
evening and morning, is therefore the first period, meaning the first
period of creation.
It follows from what has been stated that the true meaning of the
words, and the evening and the morning were the first day, is that
the preparation for, and partial development of, the work mentioned,
occupied the first period of creation, and it will be observed that the
evening, or preparation for the separate work of each of the six
periods of creation, is stated apart from its fulfilment. The Scrip-
tures do not expressly state the time occupied in the work of crea-
tion, but there is reason to conclude that the length of each of the
six periods was 6,000 years of 360 days each.
It will be advisable, before proceeding to the second period, to
form a definite idea of the state of the earth at the termination of
the first. No atmosphere yet existed; and the heat now latent in
that invisible sea being then in an active form, the matter forming
the present dry land was necessarily in a state of fusion, and the
surface being wholly covered to a considerable depth with water,
the appearance of the earth to a spectator, would have been a boiling
ocean sending forth vast volumes of steam sufficiently thick to shut
out the bodies of the sun, moon, and stars from his view, but yet
sufficiently pellucid to allow some light to reach the surface of the
deep. The revolution of the matter now forming the earth, for
6,000 years upon its own axis, daily, would necessarily have caused
it to assume the form or regular shape of a flattened sphere.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide the waters from the waters.-The evening or prepa-
ration of the work of the second period of creation, namely, the
formation of the atmosphere.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were
wnder the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament:
and it was so.-It will be observed that the firmament is not said to
have been created, but simply made. The matter was in existence
previously, and some change or event now took place, which caused
the production of invisible uncondensing gases. If steam be
confined in a vessel heated to redness, decomposition takes place and
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 11
gases are formed, but the vapour suffered to expand freely on the
surface of the primitive deep, would not form gas. It is, therefore,
very possible, that the first step in the formation of the atmosphere,
was the admission of a portion of the surface water into the cavity
within the earth, and the nature of the gaseous products of the
intense action thereby caused, would depend upon the substance
of the earth as well as upon the water. This origin of the
atmosphere is rendered probable by a fact which will be pre-
sently noticed. As the formation of the atmosphere progressed,
it would encircle the globe, and the vapours, theretofore, a chaotic
mass on the surface of the boiling ocean, be lifted up, and so
cause a division between the waters below and the waters or
vapours above. Another result would be the rapid absorption
of a vast quantity of caloric theretofore in an active form,
causing the crystallization, under the intense pressure of the
great deep, of a thick bed of the substance of the earth, con-
stituting the bulk of the granitic formation. But although the
vapours were lifted up, yet was there no rain; as the Scriptures
declare, that the only moisture which descended was in the form of
dew or mist, until the windows of heaven were opened in the time
of Noah, many thousands of years afterwards. Genesis ii. 5: “For
the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth.” Verse 6:
“But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole
face of the ground.” vii. 4: “For yet seven days, and I will cause
it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” Verse 11 :
“The same day—the windows of heaven were opened.” Verse 12:
“And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”
The word heaven here is used to signify the firmament, or atmos-
phere, and the opening of the windows denotes that the waters
above descended with great violence. That this was the first time
it rained upon the earth is also shown by ix. 13: “I do set my bow
in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me
and the earth.” This is a plain declaration that the bow was then first
set in the cloud; but if rain had before descended, the bow would
previously have appeared, it therefore necessarily follows that it had
not previously rained. It was because rain was a new thing that a
sign was necessary to assure Noah and his family that the next rain
they experienced was not the commencement of another deluge,
and the bow in the cloud was an apt sign, because its very ap-
pearance proved that part of the heaven was unclouded, and, there-
12 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
fore, that the rain was only partial. The bow could not have
appeared when the windows of heaven were previously opened,
because the first rain was doubtless universal on the face of the
earth.
And God called the firmament heaven.—The word heaven has here
a second meaning attached to it, by God himself; and this is worthy
of notice, because the idiom is of frequent occurrence in the sacred
volume. It has already been shown that the word day is used in
two senses, and so are many other words. The word, everlasting,
as applied to the Eternal, is used in a very different sense than when
applied to the earth; see Isaiah lxiii. 16, “Thy name is from ever-
lasting.” The word is here used in its large sense. And, again, in
Genesis xxi. 33, “the everlasting God” and other similar passages;
but in Genesis xvii. 8, “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed
after thee, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.”
And, again, in xlix, 26, “the everlasting hills” and similar texts,
it is obvious that the word is used in a limited sense. The word
heaven is generally used in its large Sense of all above the earth,
namely, the whole universe, when the original creation is alluded
to, but in other passages it is commonly employed in its limited
sense of all belonging to the earth above its surface. Before pro-
ceeding further with the inspired history of the work of creation, it
will be advantageous to consider the present state of the globe, and
its numerous underground beds.
The surface of the earth presents the appearance of a solid mass,
having vast cavities, which are filled to a certain level with water.
Above the land and water there is a material, although to mortal
sight invisible, Sea of gas, and the upper surface of this atmospheric
Sea is an ocean as yet unbroken by land. Upon digging into the
earth, a series of beds meet the eye, some bearing testimony of having
been deposited by water, others as clearly the result of the action of
fire, and a third class apparently first deposited by water and after-
wards acted upon by great heat. The lowest beds hitherto acces-
sible to the human race consist of the granites, which by their
structure show that at some former period they were in a state of
fusion, and were cooled under great pressure; but the presence of
volcanoes, either extinct or active, in almost every region of the
globe, proves that, under the granites, there still exists in abundance
matter still liquid with heat. Above the granites occur the trans-
formed beds before mentioned, and above them the beds clearly de-
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 13
posited by water. It further appears from the earth, that at all
periods of its existence, the beds have been from time to time
upheaved, and, in many places, penetrated by fiery products from
beneath, which, in some instances, have even reached the surface.
It is also clear from the testimony of the globe itself, that the action
of both agents has been equally universal, the fire from below and
the water on the surface, in ages past.
The Lord has revealed that, at the original creation, and before
the earth had been reduced to a regular form, the mass of water was
sufficient in quantity to cover the other material to a considerable
depth. The surface was the deep, that is, an universal sea (Genesis
i. 2); and again, in the time of Noah, the waters prevailed exceed-
ingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the
whole heaven, were covered. (vii. 19). The earth itself also bears
witness that, in ages past, these floods were of frequent occurrence,
the beds produced by the action of water being universal, varied
according to the local circumstances; but it cannot be learnt from
the earth, from whence came and went a mass of water sufficient to
surround the globe to a depth exceeding the height of the most lofty
mountains. This information must come from the Divine Revelation,
if at all; and the sacred volume, rightly understood, furnishes the
information which the earth does not afford.
Genesis i. 2: “And the earth was without form, and void;” that
is, empty. The waters were at that time on the surface of the
newly created mass, but the mass itself was empty, that is, the hol-
low or cavity within was empty. The same truth is declared in
Job xxvi. 7: “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place,
and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” This cavity within the
globe is the present receptacle of the mass of water which so fre-
quently overwhelmed its surface during the six periods of Creation;
and a careful examination of the inspired narrative of the one flood
that has since taken place will prove the fact—Genesis vii. 11: “The
same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up,” the
consequences of this were two-fold; the atmosphere became com-
pletely saturated with moisture from the escaped vapours, and hence,
combined with the waters already above, the great rain; and
secondly, the mass of the waters ejected from the fountains or
apertures of the central abyss gradually rose until the mountains
were covered; and this gradual rising of the waters is clearly marked
in the divine narration, verse 17, “And the flood was forty days
14 - SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and
it was lift up above the earth.” That is, it floated. The next verse
marks an increase of the water—verse 18, “And the waters pre-
vailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went
upon the face of the waters.” Meaning that it moved freely about,
clear of the ground. Another increase is marked in the verse fol-
lowing, verse 19, “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the
earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven,
were covered.” The next verse marks the highest point the waters
reached—verse 20, “Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail;
and the mountains were covered.” The sacred narrative then details
the effects of the visitation. The cessation of the flood is marked
as having occurred in the same gradual manner. (Genesis viii. 1 to 14.)
It is this central hollow in the globe which will be the hell or
place of torment of the damned and of Satan and his angels during
the Lord's Kingdom—Matthew xxv. 41 : “Depart from me, ye
cursed, into overlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
The word “everlasting” is here used in the limited sense of the .
period the earth will last; the fire is the symbolical fire or furnace
of affliction mentioned Isaiah xlviii. 10; Ezekiel xxii. 18 to 22, and
other places, meaning intense suffering which ultimately purifies,
and that this suffering will be incurred in the central abyss is proved
by the damned being confined with the devil and his angels, because,
Rev. xx. 1, 2, 3, shows that, during the 1,000 prophetic years, the
devil will be confined in a pit opened in the earth, and called the
bottomless pit, that is, a pit without a bottom, a description strictly
applicable to the central abyss, as the bottom or centre of gravity
would be the middle. That this is the true meaning is further shown
from verses 11, 12, and 13 of the same chapter: upon the de-
struction of the earth, described symbolically by its fleeing away and
no place being found for it, hell delivers up the dead which were
in it, so that the confinement of the damned ends with the
destruction of the globe. The expression following, in verse 13,
“And they were judged every man according to their works,”
means that they had been judged, that is, governed or ruled
according to their works. This form of expression is several times
used in the sacred volume in the same sense, see John xvii. 6,
“Thine they were, and thou gavest them me;” meaning that they
had previously been the Father's, and that he had given them to the
Lord; John xviii. 30, “They answered and said unto him, If he
HN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 15
were not a malefactor,” meaning, if he had not been a malefactor;
Romans ix. 25, “I will call them my people, which were not my
people;” that is, which previously had not been his people.
The future hell or prison of the damned is very frequently stated
in the Scriptures to be under or beneath the earth, showing it to be
the central cavity of the globe, because the central abyss alone is
equally under or beneath all parts of the surface of the earth: Deuter-
onomy xxxii. 22, “For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall
burn unto the lowest hell;” Job xi. 8, “It is as high as heaven;
deeper than hell;” Psalm lv. 15, “Let death seize upon them, and
let them go down quick into hell;” Proverbs is. 18, “Her guests
are in the depths of hell.” Isaiah xiv. 9: “Hell from beneath is
moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming;” verse 15: “Yet thou
shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” Amos ix. 2:
“Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them;
though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:”
the damned are frequently said to be cast, that is, to be thrown into
hell as into a pit, see Matthew v. 29, 30; xviii. 9; Mark ix. 45–47.
It is obvious from the great difference between the volume of
water forming the present ocean, and the quantity revealed as
existing at the original creation, and developed at the deluge of
Noah, that a great collection of water now exists in the central
hollow of the globe. Indeed this is almost expressly stated in
Genesis viii. 3: “And the waters returned from off the earth con-
tinually:” this could not have been into the bed of the present sea,
because even the tops of the mountains were not uncovered until
afterwards. The return of the waters from off the earth must
therefore have been to the great or central deep from whence they
C81D162.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.—The meaning
of this, it follows from what has been already stated, is that the
preparation for, and partial formation of the atmosphere occupied the
second period of creation. -
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together
wnto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was 80. And God
called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters
called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.—The first appearance
of dry land on the surface of the globe is here revealed, and it is
declared by Him who cannot err, that such appearance was contem-
poraneous with the formation of the seas or surface oceans. The
16 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
same power which yet slumbers in the earth, doubtless caused the
upheaving of vast tracts of the then hardened bed of granite under
the waters, which tracts formed the basis of the present continents
and large islands. The dry land is named earth, thus giving to that
word a second and limited meaning as was previously done to the
word heaven.
Although the dry land which first appeared at the surface was
probably small in extent compared with the present continents and
islands, yet it is highly improbable that the bed of the primitive
deep was sufficiently thick to be thrown up high enough to reach the
surface of the waters, if the whole mass of waters revealed at the
deluge of Noah, had been on the circumference of the globe. It is
also clear that the present oceans do not contain more than a small
proportion of the water which would be required to cover the moun-
tains; and it would therefore seem to be probable that before the
appearance of the dry land on the surface a considerable portion of
the water originally created had descended to the central abyss.
This seems to be intimated in the sacred text by the change of
expression. The waters are no longer called the deep, but simply
the waters under the heaven, or atmosphere, in other words, the
waters remaining on the surface. The effect produced by the
admission of the waters to the bottomless pit, after the first violent
action was over, is unknown to man, as revelation is silent, and
nothing equivalent to it could ever take place on the surface of the
globe, as the water would not be in actual contact with the sides of
the pit.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed,
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself,
upon the earth; and it was so-The preparation for the production
of the first specimens of the vegetable kingdom; the preparation
consisting in the exposure of the newly raised surface to the dense
and warm vapours of the imperfectly developed atmosphere whereby
decomposition was speedily effected.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his
kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind:
and God saw that it was good.—The vegetable kingdom is not said to
have been created; the earth, at the command of the Lord, itself
brought forth the grass, herbs, and trees. This passage of the word
intimates that vegetable life is inherent in the carth itself, and will
be developed wherever suitable combinations exist. The same truth
IN HARMONY WITH GEOI,OGY. 17
is also declared in Gen. ii. 4, 5: “These are the generations of the
heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that
the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of
the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before
it grew :” the experience of mankind also proves the fact; as it is
impossible to extirpate the vegetable kingdom even in an island in
mid-ocean, if soil, moisture, and heat be present.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.—The preparation
for and the imperfect development of the dry land, surface seas, and
vegetable kingdom occupied the third period of creation. Although
traces of the vegetable kingdom exist in the earliest formed beds of
the earth which clearly contain organic remains, yet these are not
the remains of the primitive vegetation. All distinct traces of the
latter were destroyed or nearly so, by reason of the beds containing
them being afterwards greatly acted upon by subterranean heat.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days, and years: Andlet them be for lights in the firma-
ment of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.-The
evening or preparation for the work of the fourth period of creation,
namely, the partial unveiling of the orbs of heaven by a considerable
diminution of the vapours or waters above, probably the result of
a great increase to the atmosphere. The meaning of the words, let.
there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, is let them appear
there. Thus verse 3, the command let there be light, means let it
appear. The word firmament has now a second meaning attached
to it, equivalent to expanse or expansion, the firmament of the
heaven meaning the expansion of the heaven. The word is several
times used in the sacred volume in this sense. Psalm cl. 1 : “Praise
God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.”
That is, in the expansion or greatness of his power. Ezekiel i. 22:
“And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living
creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth
over their heads above.” In other words, the appearance of the
expansion upon the heads of the living creatures was like the terrible
crystal. The word, firmament, is used in the same sense in verses
23, 25, 26; and in Daniel xii. 3, “And they that be wise shall
shine as the brightness of the firmament;” and Psalm xix. 1, “The
firmament showeth his handy work.” The word evidently means the
expansion of the universe.
C
18 scriptub AI, HIStory of CREATION,
The lights are to divide the day from the night, to be the visible,
as previously the sun was the invisible, cause of the alternations of
light and darkness, and to be for signs, seasons, days, and years,
and to give light upon the earth, that is to be the manifested causes of
the change of seasons, succession of days and years, and the sources
of the light the earth enjoys, in addition to their primary uses
to the worlds which inhabit them.
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night : he made the stars also. And God
set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and
to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness: and God saw that it was good.—The lights and stars are not
said to be created, because they existed previously. The sense in
which they are stated to be made may be seen from verse 7, where
God is said to have made the atmosphere. The bases, caloric and
light, all existed previously, but they were then first developed in
the state of uncondensing gases; and in the latter part of the
passage under consideration, the expression, to “set them in the
firmament of the heaven,” is used as the equivalent of making the
lights. The manifestation of the lights is first stated, and then the
objects are enumerated which they were designed to effect. The
meaning of the whole passage may be stated in other words, as
follows:—God caused two great lights to appear in the expansion of
the universe, the greater to govern the day, and the lesser the night;
he also caused the stars to appear; and the object of making the
lights, was, that they should give light upon the earth, rule over
the day and over the night, and divide the light from the dark-
ness. That this is the meaning of the sacred text, is clear from
Psalm czxxvi. 7, 8, 9: “To him that made great lights: for his
mercy endureth for ever: The sun to rule by day: for his mercy
endureth for ever: The moon and stars to rule by night: for his
mercy endureth for ever.” Here the Sun, moon, and stars are said to
be made only, but as they could not give light and govern the day
and the night, unless they were set in the heaven, it follows that
to set them in the heaven, is included in the term, he made them.
The heavenly bodies became gradually, not suddenly, visible from
the earth. This is shown by the making of the two great lights to
rule the day and the night being mentioned before, and separately
from, the making of the stars.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.—The pre-
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 19
paration for, and partial manifestation of, the heavenly bodies
occupied the fourth period of creation. The vegetable kingdom had
been enabled to exist in the thick, humid atmosphere of the previous
period, but, before the foundation of the world could be laid, it was
necessary that the air should be clearer and additional light supplied
to the earth, and this was by the end of the fourth period sufficiently
effected to allow of the existence of animal life. But the mani-
festation of the heavenly bodies, doubtless, became less and less
imperfect until the time of the creation of man, and was, probably,
not perfected until the atmosphere was cleared by the opening of the
windows of heaven at the deluge.
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the
open firmament of heaven.—The evening, or preparation for the
existence of the world. In what this preparation consisted is un-
known to man. The sacred narrative is silent, and animal life is
a mystery which passeth human knowledge. The direction that the
waters are to bring forth the moving creature and the fowl, means
that the first forms of animal life were to be manifested in the
waters, and the denizens of the air were to rise from the waters;
but not that the waters originated the life, because in the next
chapter (verse 19), it is expressly revealed that the fowl of the air
were formed by the Lord himself out of the ground; so that by one
mysterious operation at the bottom of the sea, was animal life
formed, and the creatures, fitted to live in the air, rose from the
waters. In this sense the beasts of the field were also formed out
of the ground, as will be presently shown. The word heaven is
used in its limited sense of the atmosphere, and the meaning of the
fowl that may fly above the earth, in the open firmament of heaven,
is above the earth in the open expanse of the atmosphere. This
appears from other passages in the living Word. Verse 28, the
fowls are styled the fowl of the air, and in chapter vii. 23, they
are called the fowl of the heaven, showing that the words, heaven
and air, are synonymous, as applied to the fowl.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth,
which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every
winged fowl after his kind ; and God saw that it was good.—The Lord
created, that is, originated the existence of the world. No animal
life, of any form or kind, ever previously existed upon the globe.
The word create, is used in the same sense as in verse 1 : “In the
C 2
20 SCRIPTURAI, IIISTORY OF CREATION,
beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” That is, the
Lord then first caused the existence of the many mansions of the
present universe; but it is nowhere stated that the Lord created
at the same time the worlds, or races of angelic and other beings,
and the contrary is expressly revealed; Job xxxviii. 4, 7: “Where
wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare if thou
hast understanding. When the morning stars sang together, and all
the sons of God shouted for joy " In like manner will the human
race have pre-existed, when the new creation shall take place, at
the time the present universe shall have waxed old and be changed.
The Lord has revealed in the passage under consideration that the
earliest forms of animal life upon the earth were creatures that
moved in the waters, and fowl of the air, and the testimony of the
earth is the same. It has been discovered by searching the founda-
tion of the world, that the earliest creatures did live, and move, and
have their being, in the waters, and although the remains of primi-
tive birds have not been so clearly found, because the bones of aerial
creatures are peculiarly liable to decomposition, yet traces of the
existence of birds have been discovered in the ancient beds of the
earth, containing organic remains. The only creatures mentioned
by name are great whales, and the fact that whales have existed
from the foundation of the world has not been recorded without
design. Whales are warm-blooded animals, and bring forth alive
and suckle their young, and, therefore, are of the highest order of
animal existence. The theory that the animal world has
gradually progressed from the lower and simpler forms of existence
to the higher and more complex is, therefore, as directly opposed to
the Word of God, as it is to the testimony of the earth; and the
revelation that whales were among the primary forms of life upon
the globe, combined with the fact that their almost indestructible
remains are very sparingly found embedded in the earth, proves that
the position of the ocean has not been materially changed since the
first formation of its bed, or the skeletons of whales would have
been found in masses; but instead of this, the skeletons or bones of
isolated individuals only are found, doubtless, stranded upon the
subsidence into the bottomless pit, or as it is styled in Job xxxviii. 8,
the womb, of the additional water, by which the globe has been so
repeatedly submerged.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the
waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.-The result of
IN ITARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 21
this blessing is amply testified by the organic remains in the crusts
of the earth. The globe has teemed with life ever since. For
thousands of years before Adam was, the waters, the air, and the
land afforded a happy existence to countless races of aquatic, and
aërial, and subsequently of amphibious and land creatures, as their
remains abundantly prove. The aquatic races were only to fill the
waters in the seas, the waters under the earth were not given for
their habitation.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.—The prepa-
ration for and creation of the roots of animal life upon the globe
occupied the fifth period of creation. The living creatures first
created were only the primitive parents of the world, which was
afterwards developed into myriads of races, varied from age to age
by cross-breeding, to fit them for the ever-changing aspects of the
globe. This is proved from the use of the word morning in the
Divine Revelation, and from the beds of the earth itself.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his
kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind;
and it was so.-The preparation for the production of the dry-land
animals. This probably consisted in lessening the forces by which
the waters had previously been, at intervals, expelled from the cavity
of the earth; because, after the production of animals only fitted to
live on dry land, the floods must have been partial, not universal,
or the land-animals would have been exterminated. It is true that
the deluge of Noah was, like the earlier eruptions, universal; but,
upon that occasion, human agency was employed for the preservation
of the various species. --
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after
their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his
kind': and God saw that it was good.—The beasts of the earth, cattle,
and creeping-things are not said to have been created, but simply
made. The animal life was already in existence, but the forms of
the progeny of previous living creatures were, by cross-breeding and
the influence of outward circumstances gradually changed, thus pro-
ducing races first amphibious and subsequently animals fitted to live
entirely on the dry land. The organic remains in the earth bear
indisputable testimony to the gradual modification of the outward
forms of animal existence. When a form of existence, or particular
animal, once becomes extinct, it is never found reproduced in beds
subsequently deposited; and the reason is obvious: the particular
22 SCRIPTURAL IIISTORY OF CREATION,
species could only spring, either from parents identical in species, or
from the original combination of individuals of different species and
outward circumstances which first produced it. The amphibious
races are still represented on the globe, and some creatures, even at
the present day, pass part of their existence in the water, and after-
wards, by a subsequent change, or development in their outward
form, are enabled to live on the land. That the land-animals de-
scended from the previous forms of life and were not a fresh creation,
is also shown by the absence of the blessing to increase and multiply,
which was given to the first creation, and afterwards to man.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness :
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creep-
*ng thing that creepeth upon the earth.—The preparation for the exist-
ence of man. The Lord has shadowed forth the future exalted .
position of the race, of which he himself subsequently became one, t
by the figure of an express consultation with His God, the Holy
Spirit, before commencing the work.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them.—The word, created, is three
times used, marking emphatically that man was an entirely new
creature. It has been shown that the land animals were the progeny
of previously existing forms of life, not so man: his animal body,
although in many respects bearing a resemblance to the other spe-
cies, so as to fit him to live under the same outward influences, was
as completely a new creation as the living creatures first formed.
This is also shown in ii. 7: “And the Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground,” that is from and upon the dry ground; but the
living creatures first created were formed, as has been already
shown, out of the ground beneath the waters. Besides the creation
of a new species of animal body, the Lord has revealed in ii. 7, that
there is another principle in man which also distinguishes him from
the progeny of the first animal creation; a principle not formed
from the ground, but coming from the Lord himself; the body of
man, that is the living animal, was first formed, and then the spirit
was given. This is shown by verse 19: “And out of the ground
the Lord God formed every beast of the field,”—the word, formed,
therefore includes the giving of the animal life, and, consequently,
the body of man was a living animal before his spirit was imparted.
The earth bears clear testimony to the fact that the animal body of
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 23
man had a different origin to that of the other creatures. Had the
remains of the Pre-adamite world been equally indestructible, and
the beds of the earth completely searched, a complete and perfect
chain from the first living creatures to the present animal races
would have been found; and even with the present imperfect
researches, combined with the certainty that races of animals
have existed upon the earth, no traces of which are known to
remain, marks by no means faint of a connected chain of animal
existence have been discovered; but no remains or traces of any
animal which would connect the body of man with the great
chain have been found. The earth also shows that plants, aquatic
creatures, fishes, birds, amphibious and dry land animals, all existed
before man lived upon the earth.
The meaning of the expression, in his own image, is usually taken
to be that Adam was created in the moral likeness of God, and it will
be advisable to refute the common notion before proceeding to ex-
plain the passage. The opinion currently entertained of the state of
Adam before he eat of the tree, is a mere fancy entirely unsupported
by the Word of God—so far from being a man in a state of perfect
holiness, with an understanding entirely unclouded, and a will in
complete unison with the commands of his Creator, the living Word
represents him as an innocent child of full stature, with no possibility
of sinning save in one way, because only one command was given to
him, namely, to abstain from the outward act of eating of the fruit
of a particular tree. A command suitable enough as a test of the
obedience of a child; and the training him to think, and to form
language, by leading him to watch the peculiarities of the lower
animals brought to him by the Lord for the purpose, also shows that
Adam was in understanding comparatively a child. Adam could
not become a moral likeness of his Creator until he became righteous,
which is to make a right choice between Good and Evil; but to
choose rightly, a man must know the things upon which his choice is
to be exercised, and, therefore, until Adam ate of the forbidden tree,
or in other words, acquired a knowledge of good and evil, he could
not become a moral image of his Creator, and this is expressly de-
clared, Gen. iii. 22 : “And the Lord God (the Lord Jesus) said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:”—
meaning the man having acquired a knowledge of good and evil,
would have to elect between them like the Lord and the Holy Spirit,
and in this respect, was entirely different from the lower animals, who
24 SCIR, PTUltAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
are not called upon to make any such choice. See also Job i. 1,
where Job is also declared perfect and upright, because he eschewed
evil, that is made a right choice between good and evil, and to the same
effect is Hebrews v. 14: “But strong meat belongeth to them, that
are of full age, 6ven those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil.” With reference to the
doctrine of the fall of man, usually explained to mean that upon
Adam disobeying the command given to him, his understanding
became darkened, his heart corrupted, his will perverted, his dis-
position earthly, sensual, and devilish, his whole soul the seat of
fleshly appetites and irregular passions, and that of this character
all his posterity partake by natural descent; that they are not
only guilty, but depraved, not only under the wrath of God, but
despoiled of his image; not only condemned by God, but alienated
from Him, it will be sufficient to remark that the expression, the
fall of man, is nowhere applied in the sacred volume to the sin of
Adam ; and that whatever supposed taint fell upon Adam's posterity
the Lord partook of, as he was of the seed of the woman, and the
woman eat of the tree as well as the man; and further, not only
does the Apostle John declare (John i. 14), that the Word was made
flesh, but the Apostle Paul, or rather the Holy Spirit speaking
through the Apostle, also declares (Romans viii. 3), that the Son
was sent “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” that is, he had the very
nature of man, whether corrupt or not, including all the fleshly
lusts that war against the soul; the only difference being that the
Lord perfectly conquered the flesh, whereas all other men are, more
or less, conquered by the flesh. Gen. iii. 15—“It shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel”—also shows that the Lord took
the human nature in its ordinary state. The personal pronoun, his,
marks the human nature of the promised seed which Satan would
bruise, and the neuter pronoun, it, marks the divine nature which
would bruise the head of the evil one. The same mode of expres-
sion is repeated in Luke i. 31, 35: The angel first marks the human
nature of the Lord by the words to the mother: “thou shalt con-
ceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus.” And afterwards the divine nature by saying: “therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God.
It is true that the sin of Adam is the cause of the death of his
posterity and also the cause of their sinning. This is expressly de-
IN HARMONY WITH GE()I,()(; Y. 25
clared by the Apostle Paul, Romans v. 12, but the mode in which the
sin of Adam brought death upon his children was, exclusion from the
Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, which was evidently a material
tree, the eating of which had, by the appointment of God, the effect
of regenerating the animal body : and the same exclusion has also
caused the desires of the animal nature or flesh to lead to sin, because
instead of being innocently gratified as they would have been if man
had continued an innocentlife in Paradise, without any law forbidding
animal gratification, to indulge them now when the law of God for-
bids, is sin. The ultimate end being to train men to righteousness
after knowing good and evil, and this is effected in the children of
the kingdom by the dispensation of the Spirit and the law of God
on the one hand, and the desires of the flesh and the temptations of
Satan and his angels on the other. The word of God is express upon
the point, Romans vii. 8: “For without the law sin was dead.” That
is, would not exist: the animal desires are, therefore, notin themselves
sinful, but yet are the root of sin, as they are constantly seeking
gratification which under the present dispensation is forbidden by
the divine law, but when the law does not apply, the flesh ceases to
cause sin. The animal desires, therefore, existed in Adam before
he sinned, and nothing was said in the sentence pronounced upon
him about his nature or his posterity being tainted. Such a taint
would have been by far the most fearful of all the consequences of
his sin, and would necessarily have been mentioned in the sentence.
What would be thought of a human judge, who, in passing sentence,
should mention only a small part of the punishment he meant to in-
flict? The thing is contrary to common sense, and the Lord's not
having mentioned in his sentence anything about Adam's nature
becoming tainted or corrupted, is conclusive that no such taint or
corruption took place. It is quite true that almost all the human
race have in times past been, and continue to be, Vilely corrupt; this,
however, is owing not to a tainted nature, but from Satan and his
angels misusing the power given to them over the human race and
leading men to break the divine law by inflaming and warping the
natural desires of the flesh, and this corruption will speedily dis-
appear from the earth when the kingdom to come shall be set up, and
the Lord and his royal priesthood reign in the stead of the devil and
his angels. The advocates of the common doctrine of the tainted
nature are in this dilemma. The Lord had either the ordinary na-
ture of men or he had not. If he had the ordinary nature, he was,
26 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
if the doctrine be true, born in sin, and under the curse and wrath
of God, utterly corrupt, disinclined to all that is good, and naturally
inclined to all that is evil and that continually: but if the Lord had
not the ordinary human nature, and was free from the natural in-
clination to evil with which all other men are supposed to be infected
from their birth, then the Lord was not subjected to the very trial
which is alleged to be the sole cause of the sin of mankind. The
declarations in the divine volume, that the Lord was the beloved Son
in whom the Father was well pleased, and that he is a Lamb without
blemish, are conclusive against the first alternative, and the declara-
tions that he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and that he
was in all things made like unto his brethren, and in all things
tempted as we are, are equally clear against the second alternative.
It necessarily follows that the doctrine that the human nature is
itself tainted, corrupted, and under the curse of God, is simply not
true.
The common doctrine as to the human nature being inherently
corrupt and under the curse of God, can also be shown in another
way to be an error. When a lawgiver attaches beforehand a parti-
cular penalty to the breach of the law, it amounts to a declaration,
on his part, that if the law be broken the specified penalty will be
inflicted, and no more; but the penalty for the breach of the divine
law given to Adam and Eve was death; and, as they subsequently
broke the law, they accordingly died. But nothing being said before-
hand about their nature becoming depraved and under the curse of
God, it would have been inconsistent with the divine attributes to
have inflicted such a terrible addition to the original penalty. It
will be found, on a careful examination of the divine narrative, that
all the apparent additions to the original sentence were, so far as
Adam and Eve were concerned, blessings in disguise, and necessary
for their well-being in the change their offence had wrought in their
condition. The original command (Genesis ii. 17) is, “But of the
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” The punish-
ment was inflicted to the very letter. On the very day Adam and
Eve ate of the tree, they were excluded from access to the tree of
life; and, according to the Scripture idiom, they then died, that is
to say, they then began to die, as the decay of their animal bodies,
terminating in death, began the instant they were excluded from the
tree of life. The apparent additions to the punishment originally
IN IIARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 27
attached to a breach of the law were, the curse upon the ground, and
increased pain in child-bearing and the subjection of the woman to
the man. With respect to the curse upon the ground, it is clear that
no change in the then state of the earth was effected. The words of
the Lord declare the state in which it was at the time. Cursed is
the ground. It is true the Garden of Eden was highly fruitful; but
this was an exceptional spot, which is clearly shown by the express
declaration in chapter ii. 8, that it was planted by the Lord. The
remainder of the earth was little better than a barren wilderness,
without rain, and so remained until the deluge of Noah, when it was
rendered fruitful; and the mode in which the waters altered its
previous condition, will readily be understood, when it is considered
from whence the waters came, the quantity of matter they must
have held in suspension, and the extraordinary fertilizing power
which the ashes from volcanoes have often exhibited. That the
. i d ceased to be barren at the flood, appears from Genesis v. 28, 29:
Sºl Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a
Son: and he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort
us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground
which the Lord hath cursed.” And also from chapter viii. verse 21 :
“And the Lord smelled a sweet Savour; and the Lord said in his
heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake;
for (although) the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth;
neither will I again Smite any more everything living, as I have
done.” The expression, everything living, is used in a limited
idiomatic sense, so nearly signifying the whole, that those not included
are as nothing in comparison. Noah and his family were of the
living, and they were not smitten ; and the words, “is evil,” are used
in the sense of, be evil, that is, shall become evil, which is shown
both by the use of the same form of expression in other passages of
the sacred volume, and by the fact that Noah and his family had
just been saved by reason of their righteousness. Genesis vi. 8, 9,
and see also Ezekiel xiv. 14: “Though these three men, Noah,
Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own
souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.” The object
of leaving the earth in a barren condition was, for man's sake,
namely, to check the development of that fearful state of corruption
to which Satan and his angels, by the time of Noah, succeeded in
reducing the human race; and which would have been effected
much carlier, had not mankind been kept at hard labour for their

28 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
food by the unfruitful state of the ground. The increased pain in
child-bearing was, in like manner, necessary for the preservation of
the human race, while under Satanic dominion, as that pain is one of
the main causes of the peculiar and extraordinary love of a mother
to her helpless offspring, and, if this had not been produced, the race
would be, in times of trouble and scarcity, in danger of extinction
by the destruction of new-born children to save the labour and
care necessary to rear and supply them with food : but at the
restoration of all things this will doubtless be greatly mitigated,
because the present species of overwhelming love will not be necessary
during the Lord's kingdom. The Lord has been pleased to intimate
that this species of love in him towards the race was one of the
results of his intense suffering. (Hebrews ii. 9—18; iv. 14, 15.
Isaiah liii. 11; xlix, 15. Matt. xviii. 12–14.) The declaration
of the subjection of the woman to the man, instead of leaving her
inferiority in intellectual and bodily strength to be subsequently
discovered, was also a blessing, because it tended to prevent those
domestic struggles for superiority in which some women, even at the
present day, are apt, notwithstanding, to engage; but this inferiority
was really from the beginning, it was not originated, but merely
declared by the Lord in his sentence. This is shown by the reason
given for prohibiting the woman from teaching. 1 Tim. ii. 11–14:
“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer
not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over the man, but to
be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam
was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the trans-
gression.” That is, Adam was not only superior by reason of his
prior formation, but also in his reasoning powers. The devil beguiled
Eve; Adam ate, not because he was deceived, but from the tempta-
tion of his wife, which temptation Job, at a subsequent period, was
happy enough to overcome. The woman will, doubtless, be intel-
lectually equal in training to the man during the Lord's kingdom;
but this will result in her paying to her husband the same species of
obedience which the Church will then pay to her Lord, namely,–
absolute, implicit, and universal. Eph. v. 24: “As the Church is
subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in
everything.” It, therefore, follows that the only real punishment
inflicted on Adam and Eve for their offence, was the penalty before-
hand attached to it, namely, death.
A great deal of the mystery usually supposed to exist with reference
IN HARMONY WITII GEOLOGY. 29
to the effects of the sin of Adam, arises from the fact, that results which
are the joint production of that sin, and of the misuse by Satan and
his angels of the power given to them, are attributed solely to the
sin of Adam. It is very common at the present day to consider
Satan an usurper, but this is directly opposed to the plain declara-
tions of the Word of God. The Lord himself when upon earth,
frequently styled Satan, the Prince of this world, and the Prince of
the power of the air, he is also called the God of this world, and in
Rev. xiii. 2, the power of the papacy is stated to be the gift of the
dragon, which is explained (xx. 2.) to be Satan. The offer on the
part of Satan to give up to the Lord all the power over the kingdoms
of this world and the glory of them, which Satan declared had been
delivered to him, is called a temptation; but unless the statement
of Satan had been true to the knowledge of the Lord, it would have
amounted to nothing, it therefore necessarily follows that Satan had
received the power as he alleged, and being possessed of it, the
temptation was the strongest that can be conceived. The offer
amounted to this, to relieve the Lord from the life and death of
suffering that was before him—to spare his nation the misery that
would befal it for ages, of which the Lord was so acutely sensible
that he afterwards wept over Jerusalem at the prospect of a small
portion of the trouble to come, and lastly to prevent the mass of sin,
acute anguish and poverty, which the rest of mankind has for nearly
2000 years committed and suffered: and the only condition was,
that the Lord should worship him. The refusal of the Lord shows
that it is not lawful to do the least evil, whatever amount of appa-
rent good may be the result. (Luke iv. 6.) The exclamation of the
devils, Matthew viii. 29, “Art thou come hither to torment us
before the time : " shows that a time is fixed for the commencement
of their torment, which doubtless marks the period of the termina-
tion of their lease of power. This is also shown in the book of
Revelation: whenever the Lord is represented in that book by the
symbol of an angel, the symbolic angel is always marked by some
adjunct peculiar to the Lord. Thus the angel in viii. 3. who came
and stood at the altar, is a symbol of the Lord, because the angel
acts as a mediator, by offering the prayers of all Saints; again in
x. 1, the angel there is a symbol of the Lord, as the angel of the
Covenant, shown by the rainbow, which is the token of the Covenant
with Noah. In like manner the angel mentioned xx. 1, is a symbol
of the Lord, shown by the key of the bottomless pit or hell, the
30 - SCRIPTURAL IIISTORY OF CREATION,
possession of the key of which belongs to the Lord (Rev. i. 18, “and
have the keys of hell and death”), that chapter therefore plainly
declares that a time will come when Satan will be imprisoned for a
1000 prophetic years, (called by the Apostle Paul “the ages to
come,” Ephesians ii. 7.) and deceive the nations no more during that
period. It may perhaps be objected that Jude (verse 6) shows the
devils are now in chains and darkness—“And the angels which
kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of
the great day.” But the word, in, has here the sense of the modern
unto, the words in, into, and unto, being frequently used in the
Bible language as synonymous, thus Mark xvi. 15: “Go ye into all
the world,” means, Go ye unto all the human race, or all nations,
Luke xxiv. 47, and not as before, to the lost sheep of Israel only,
Matthew x. 6, see also Matthew xxviii. 19, “Baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost—”
meaning to baptize them unto the attributes of the three manifesta-
tions of the Eternal Spirit, which in Galatians iii. 27, is expressed
as putting on Christ, that is, His attributes or perfections, as a
garment, the Lord being the image of the invisible Eternal Spirit.
(Col. i. 15.)
The power of Satan doubtless did not commence until the creation
had been completed, and the office seems to have been then assigned
to him of training the human race for a term certain, and although
he endeavoured for some reasons, yet unknown to man, to bring his
task to a speedy end by causing the death of Adam and Eve, yet it
is impossible for any creature, however exalted, to baffle the will of
his Creator. Satan with his angels were appointed to train the
human race to glory, and he and they continue by their very efforts
to the contrary to fulfil their mission, and even in hell itself they
will train the damned, until the end cometh, when hell shall give
up its dead, and Satan's office being then terminated, he will suffer
the fate he sought to bring on his helpless charge, namely, ultimate
destruction, expressed in the book of Genesis by the bruising or
crushing of his head, and in the book of Revelation, by the symbolic
lake of fire; and further, all through his existence he is to eat dust,
that is to be baffled in the midst of each apparent triumph. A
memorable instance is recorded in Daniel V., at the time of great
triumph to the invisible king and his nobles, when the golden vessels
consecrated to the service of the God of Israel, were used for the
IN HARMONY WITH GEOI,0GY. 31
purpose of idolatry, the hand-writing on the wall, and the inter-
pretation appropriately announcing, at the end of the first of his
four great empires, the approaching termination of his reign, doubt-
less produced in him feelings akin to those shown by the insignificant
effeminate human king, the visible head of the assembly.
It follows that the very common expression of man recovering the
image he has lost, is simple nonsense. Man can never again become
innocent, because he has knowledge of good and evil; he will
become righteous sooner or later, but this is to acquire something
never yet reached, not a restoration or recovery of what he once
possessed. And further, that he will not be a moral likeness of his
Creator, unless and until this state of righteousness be reached, and,
therefore, that no man, the Lord in the flesh excepted, has yet been
such moral likeness. There is, perhaps, humanly speaking, no
source more fruitful of doctrinal error than the habit of denoting
particular Scriptural events by the use of fixed phrases not found
in the sacred volume. The common expression, “the fall of man,”
is a startling instance. To the habitual use of this unscriptural phrase
to denote the sin of Adam is to be attributed the almost universal
prevalence of the common error as to the effect of that sin. The
phrases, “the atoning sacrifice of Christ,” and “the Triune God,”
neither of which are in the Bible, have had the same effect in spread-
ing and perpetuating error.
Having seen what the making of man in the image of God does
not mean, the truth, so far as it at present can be understood, will
become apparent on looking carefully at the sacred text: “And God
(the Lord Jesus) said, Let us (Himself and the Holy Spirit) make
man in our image, after our likeness” (in resemblance of ourselves):
but the Lord is afterwards said to create man in His own image,
so that man is the image of the Lord and the Holy Spirit jointly,
as manifested in the Lord.- The meaning of this has been shown
from the first three verses of the written Word, namely: the
Lord as manifested at creation, clothed with the excellent glory, and
himself also the Grand Temple of the Holy Spirit. Adam as at first
created was a faint resemblance or image of his God. He had an
outward manifestation, the complete animal body containing also
within itself the female principle afterwards separated, and two
spirits, his own and the woman's. This further appears by what
follows, male and female created he them, that is, at the original
creation Adam was in himself male, and contained also the female;
*
2
32 SCRIPTURAL HIStory of CREATION,
and the same fact is also shown by the circumstance that the
separation and formation of the female did not take place until after
the commencement of the seventh day, or period, when the Lord
rested from creation, the female was necessarily, therefore, in a sense,
created before she was separately formed. Again, when she was
formed, no spirit was created, so that her spirit was taken with the
rib from the man. The same truth is declared Genesis v. 1, 2:
“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that
God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and
female created He them ; and blessed them, and called their name
Adam, in the day when they were created.”
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it : and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth.—It is all instructive fact, that the
first sound which seems to have reached the ears of Adam, imme-
diately upon his creation, and while yet upon the face of the desert
(a sight of which was necessary to enable him to appreciate the
Garden of Eden, when subsequently placed in it), was the blessing
from his Creator, here recorded. “Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth.” The earth has not yet been in a state at all
approaching to repletion; the fulfiment will take place in the next
dispensation; but even up to the present dawn of what the numbers
of the human race will ultimately reach, this blessing has produced
results, which can Scarcely be comprehended. The present popula-
tion of the globe considerably exceeds 800,000,000, and though this
number has probably not been attained for more than a century or
two, yet it will be far under the truth, to assume that the numbers
who lived prior to the last thousand years, are simply sufficient to
make up, during that period, a population of the present amount;
but even taking that basis, and allowing twenty-five years for a
generation, npwards of 32,000,000,000 (thirty-two thousand mil-
lions) of beings, not one of whom can ever go out of existence, have
already descended from Adam, and this is only an insignificant frac-
tion of the number which will spring into life, from the same source
in the ages to come. The dominion over the fish, fowl, and beasts,
will also be perfected in the Lord's reign, when even a little child
shall have control over the lion, the leopard, and the wolf.
(Isaiah xi. 6.)
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is
IN HARMONY WITH G EOLOGY. 33
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.—The original gift
to man for his food consisted of seeds, that is, corn, and fruits. Flesh
was not eaten until after the flood, when God gave it to Noah and
his sons. Genesis iz. 3: “Every moving thing that liveth shall
be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all
things.” The state of mankind between the creation and the deluge
was entirely different from the present condition of the race, so that
what would have been injurious to them, may well be now benefi-
cial. It is true that Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Jabal had
cattle, but these were, doubtless, used as sacrifices, and those so
used are called (viii. 20) clean beasts, and to furnish clothing,
which the Lord himself, in the first instance, formed of skins for
Adam and his wife.
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 80.—It is plain from this
text that between Adam and Noah at least, the lower land and
aerial animals, as well as man, had no flesh meat, and this is also
shown from vi. 21, where Noah is commanded to take unto him of
all food that was eaten, for food for himself, and for the living crea-
tures that should come unto him; it, therefore, necessarily, follows,
that the food was something entirely distinguishable from the living
creatures. Flesh was probably given after the flood to man, and
the lower animals simultaneously. At the restoration of all things,
the lower animals will be again restricted to vegetable food. (Isaiah
xi. 6–8.) The text under consideration does not extend to the
inhabitants of the waters. .
And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.—The pre-
paration for, and production of, various orders of dry-land animals,
which were afterwards developed into the various races, some extinct,
and the others those now on the earth; and also the preparation for,
and the creation of, the human race, as yet imperfectly developed,
because the woman was not yet taken from the man, occupied the
sixth period of creation.,
There is “science, falsely so called,” so says the Divine Reve-
lation; and the experience of mankind amply proves the truth of
the statement. The atoms of Descartes, and the theories of modern
astronomers, by which they have pretended to show how the hea-
D
34 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
venly bodies were formed by and out of an imaginary self-luminous
fluid, are examples, but among all the follies of this kind, the schemes
of the geologists stand pre-eminent. Descartes had no Divine Reve-
lation of the mode in which the Supreme originally formed the great
masses of matter. The astronomers, it is true, might have learned
that all the host of the heavens were finished in the six periods of
creation (Genesis ii. 1), and so have spared themselves the silent yet
eloquent rebuke administered by a telescope of unusual power, which
showed their imaginary self-luminous fluid and half-formed stars and
systems, to really consist of perfect stars fully formed, and in no need
of the care of even the Edinburgh astronomers: but the astronomers
cannot be charged with wilfully neglecting a divine revelation of the
mode in which the Lord formed the universe, and setting up theories
of their own in its place; but this is exactly what the geologists
have done. They have gone about to form theories of the work of
creation as to the earth, wilfully ignoring the Divine history of the
great transaction in their hands. The Lord has revealed that he
worked during the six periods, but rested on the seventh. The
geologists say the Lord has made a mistake in this statement, as they
know he has worked equally at all times. The Lord has further
revealed that at the original creation, he brought into existence
water in sufficient quantity to cover the whole globe to a depth ex-
ceeding the height of the most lofty mountains, subsequently formed.
The geologists say this is entirely untrue; because, as they cannot
tell where the waters have gone to, therefore the waters do not exist;
but lest it should be said this is a misrepresentation of their assertions,
one of them shall speak for the class.
“Land has been raised, not the sea lowered.
“It has been already stated that the aqueous rocks containing
marine fossils extend over wide continental tracts, and are seen in
mountain chains, rising to great heights above the level of the sea.
Hence it follows, that what is now dry land was once under water :
but, if we admit this conclusion, we must imagine, either that there
has been a general lowering of the waters of the ocean, or that the
solid rocks, once covered by water, have been raised up bodily out
of the sea, and have thus become dry land. The earlier geologists,
finding themselves reduced to this alternative, embraced the former
opinion, assuming that the ocean was originally universal, and had
gradually sunk down to its actual level, so that the present islands
and continents were left dry. It seemed to them far easier to con-
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 35
ceive that the water had gone down, than that solid land had risen
upwards into its present position. It was, however, impossible to
invent any satisfactory hypothesis to explain the disappearance of so
enormous a body of water throughout the globe, it being necessary to
infer that the ocean had once stood at whatever height marine shells
might be detected. It moreover appeared clear, as the science of
geology advanced, that certain spaces on the globe had been alter-
nately sea, then land, then estuary, then sea again, and lastly, once
more habitable land, having remained in each of these states for
considerable periods. In order to account for such phenomena,
without admitting any movement of the land itself, we are required
to imagine several retreats and returns of the ocean; and even then
our theory applies merely to cases where the marine strata composing
the dry land are horizontal, leaving unexplained those more common
instances where strata are inclined, curved, or placed on their cdges,
and evidently not in the position in which they were first deposited.”
“Geologists, therefore, were at last compelled to have recourse to
the other alternative, namely, the doctrine that the solid land has
been repeatedly moved upwards or downwards, so as permanently to
change its position relatively to the sea.”
This is an amusing specimen of “science,” and one that has not
often been equalled for absurdity. These “philosophers” being,
poor men, unable to “invent any satisfactory hypothesis,” to account
for “the disappearance of so enormous a body of water,” forthwith
take the liberty of moving “the solid land” upwards and downwards in
a most extraordinary manner, although to ordinary mortals it would
seem to be, at least, as difficult “to invent a satisfactory hypothesis” .
to account for this motion, as for the disappearance of the water;
indeed, none of these very great “philosophers” have yet ventured
to “invent’ either “a satisfactory,” or any “hypothesis” to
account for this imaginary motion, and upon the existence of this
imaginary motion all the schemes of the “scientific” geologists, are
entirely built like houses of cards.
With respect to the dislocation of the aqueous beds, the merest
tyro in geology can have no difficulty in tracing the cause. The same
power, which, in its present comparatively quiescent state, is sufficient
to force the liquid lava to the surface through the overlying beds, or
even to overcome the pressure of the ocean was, when more active, the
subterranean agent of those gigantic convulsions which from time to
time formerly occurred on the globe.
D 2
36 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
47
Another of these “philosophers,” to wit, a “Christian philosopher,”
has favoured mankind with the information, that the dislocations of
the aqueous deposits present “a scene of disruption and derange-
ment” “incompatible with that order, harmony, and beauty which
are apparent in the other departments of nature;” and he forthwith
proceeds to connect these appearances with the sin of Adam, by a
style of reasoning which certainly proves one thing, namely, that
the true definition of a “philosopher” is, a man sufficiently learned
to have lost his common sense. His reasoning is, shortly, as follows:
this disruption of the crusts of the earth is a blot on the creation;
but it could not have occurred against the will of the Creator; and
the conclusion from these remarkably sensible assumptions is, that a
moral cause must therefore have existed, and this cause is no other
than the sins of mankind. But this is not all. The “philosopher.”
admits, that all the dislocations of the aqueous deposits are not to be
attributed to this source; indeed, the earth itself, by the very
frequent occurrence of undisturbed horizontal ancient deposits
resting upon others upheaved and irregular, clearly proves that the
dislocation of the lower beds took place before the undisturbed over-
lying beds were deposited, and therefore that dislocations of the
aqueous beds took place thousands of years before the creation of
Adam ; but the “philosopher” has assumed that the dislocations
of the aqueous beds are a blot on the creation, and it, therefore,
necessarily follows, according to the “philosopher,” that the Lord
was quite wrong when he pronounced his work to be “very good,”
at the end of the creation. The “philosopher,” perhaps, like the
king of old, wishes he had been present at the creation, in order that
he might have advised the Lord, and so have prevented the error
which, in the opinion of the “philosopher,” the Lord has inad-
vertently committed.
The same “philosophy” has been applied to the future state,
and of course, with remarkable results. The Apostle Paul, in
2 Cor. xii. 4, intimates that it was not lawful for him to reveal even
what he heard in Paradise, but this would really seem to have
been unnecessary fastidiousness, inasmuch as the “philosopher” can
inform the world the employments of the third heaven itself. One
of these employments, “the philosopher” has “every reason to con-
clude,” consists “in estimating the distances and magnitudes of the
great bodies of the universe,” and it seems that in the next state
“the truths,” that the square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled
IN IIARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 37.
triangle is equal to the squares of the other two sides; that the three
angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles; and, that the sides
of a plain triangle are, to one another, as the sines of the angles
opposite to them, which “may appear to a superficial thinker as
extremely trivial,” are to be applied on a grand scale, as “angels and
other superior intelligences” “may be enabled to form triangles of
inconceivable extent on base lines of several thousands of millions of
miles in length.” The “philosopher” considerately informs the
world, that “angels and other superior intelligences,” “may not,
indeed require to resort to the same tedious calculations, nor to the
Same instruments and geometrical schemes which we are obliged to
use.” He has, however, left the world yet ignorant whether the
laws of political economy prevail in the celestial regions; but if the
law of no demand, no supply, prevails there as below, it would seem
that as there is no demand for celestial optical, and mathematical
instruments, there are probably no opticians' shops in heaven; and,
at any rate, it appears that the “angels and other superior intelli-
gences” have no need of slate and pencil, but, that like perfected
Jedidiah Buxtons, they work out their gigantic sums by mental
arithmetic. Verily the caution of the great Apostle of the Gentiles,
to “beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit,” is not superfluous at the present day.
Attempts have from time to time been made to reconcile the Scrip-
tures misunderstood with the appearance of the globe imperfectly
investigated; and the result has been a series of theories cast aside
one after another, as the increase of knowledge showed their defects.
These successive theories have not been unattended with good : many
have, humanly speaking, been saved from infidelity by these efforts,
which have successively, for a time, reconciled their erroneous
interpretation of the Word of God with their imperfect knowledge of
the earth. The last of these thcories, namely, that the Bible does
not give a history of the creation, but merely of the last arrange-
ment of the globe, and that a vast interval occurred between “the
beginning,” mentioned verse 1, and the state of chaos mentioned
in verse 2, during which supposed interval the various beds, forming
the crust of the earth were deposited, and the animals, whose re-
mains are there found, had their being, has in this respect been very
beneficial; but it may be shown to be utterly wrong, both from the
Word of God and the testimony of the earth itself. Exodus xx. 11:
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all
38 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
that in them is, and rested the seventh day:” the words, heaven
and earth, are here necessarily used in their full sense, because the
text refers to the creation, and, therefore, this was a declaration
from Mount Sinai, that the heaven and earth were first brought into
existence during the six periods. It is true that the word, created,
is not used, nor could it have been used, save in the small sense in
which it is sometimes employed in the language of the present day;
because all things were not created in the full meaning of that word;
some were only made, but everything created is, in one sense,
made, and this is the reason for the use of the word, made, in Gen.
ii. 2, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had
made,” which, in the next verse, is expressed as all the work which
God created and made ; so that the word, made, in Exodus xx. 11,
includes all the work done, and, consequently, it includes the origi-
nal creation of the heavenly bodies, and of the matter forming the
earth; but this is put beyond doubt by Gen. ii. 4: “These are the
generations of the heavens and of the earth.” Here the word
heavens being plural, must, necessarily, include both meanings of
the word, heaven, or rather both the heavens previously mentioned,
namely, the heavenly bodies and the atmosphere. In Exodus xxxi.
17, the same truth is declared: “For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth,” the word, made, it is true, is again used, but
necessarily so, because the word earth is evidently employed as a
collective term to include, not only the matter forming the earth,
but also all things upon it, many of which were, as before mentioned,
only made, not created. It is impossible to attach the lesser meaning
to the words, heaven and earth, as here used, because such a con-
struction would make the passage litter nonsense. It would have
been idle to give to the children of Israel as a reason for their
keeping the seventh day, that the Lord in six days performed a very
small portion of his work, namely, that he made the atmosphere and
the dry land, the lesser meanings of the words, heaven and earth;
it is obvious that the Lord did, not a small portion, but all his work
in the six periods; and the command to the children of Israel was
to the same effect, namely, that in the six days they were to do all
their work. That the whole work of creation was continuous, and
without the supposed vast interval, is also shown by the time occu-
pied being called one period or day. (Gen. ii. 4.)
The testimony of the earth is also decisive against the theory.
The formation of the atmosphere was part of the six days' work;
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. - 39
this is not only stated in Genesis i. 6, 7, but must also be conceded
from Exodus xx. 11, and xxxi. 17; because the supporters of the
theory would be obliged to contend that the word heaven in those
texts is used in its second meaning of the atmosphere. But it is
clear from the organic remains in the earth, that the animals and
plants, whose remains are there entombed, required, and, therefore,
had, for their existence an atmosphere somewhat similar to the pre-
sent; the supporters of the theory must, therefore, also contend that
although an atmosphere, having considerable resemblance to the
present, formerly existed, yet that it was decomposed, and afterwards
reformed. Now, if the present atmosphere were decomposed, and
the heat known to be there latent, thereby rendered active, it would
destroy all the aqueous deposits, by fusing them; and even sup-
posing the original atmosphere to have been much less in extent,
still its decomposition would, necessarily, have at least left above the
previous aqueous beds an universal deposit of igneous origin, which
would have been everywhere discoverable. It is hardly necessary
to say that from the lowest to the uppermost of the aqueous beds,
there is no trace of the action of fire simultaneously over the surface
of the earth; the geological evidence is, that the igneous products
have always come from below upwards, therefore no decomposition
of a former atmosphere can have occurred; but as there has been no
decomposition of the atmosphere, since the formation of the earliest
aqueous bed, it follows that all the aqueous beds have been de-
posited since the formation of the present atmosphere, and, therefore,
no such supposed interval occurred between the original creation and
the chaos mentioned in the second verse, and the theory is unsound.
The same result can be shown from the evidence of the organic
remains in the beds of the earth. It would be contrary to all expe-
rience and idea of Infinite Wisdom, to suppose that the Supreme
would decompose the atmosphere, and in so doing necessarily destroy
all animal and vegetable life, and afterwards recreate another atmos-
phere and other races of animals and forms of vegetation, precisely
similar to those just destroyed. It therefore follows that if the
atmosphere had been decomposed, and with it necessarily all then
existing forms of animal and vegetable life must have perished, a
complete break or change would be apparent between the old and the
new creation. Now nothing is more certain from geology, than
that no such sudden break or change has occurred. The number of
animals of the same species as those now existing, is found gradually
40 scripTURAL HISTORY of CREATION,
to diminish from the surface downwards; and the extinct races also
show, that there has been no sudden change. It follows, that there
has never been, since the first aqueous bed was deposited, any decom-
position of the atmosphere; and, therefore, all have been deposited
during the six periods of creation, because the atmosphere itself was
then first formed; and, consequently, the theory is unsound. The
fact is, that the Divine history is what it purports to be, namely,
a narrative of the great events of the creation of the universe, of
the formation of the earth, and of the creation of the world.
But although the science of Geology, truly so called, that is to
say, the actual discoveries which have been made in the earth, not
the childish theories framed upon those discoveries, agree in all
respects with the narrative, in the commencement of the Anglo-
Saxon Bible; yet the account there given cannot be relied upon,
unless that version of the Divine Word be accurate; and as scarcely
a sermon is preached, or a professedly religious book published, in
which the text of the Anglo Saxon Bible is not, as the phrase is,
corrected, by reference to some supposed original, it would seem to be
exceedingly inaccurate. Indeed, if all the alterations suggested by
the Unitarians, Tractarians, Calvinists, Baptists, and others, were
real corrections, the Anglo-Saxon Bible would so teem with errors,
that it would be dangerous to place upon it any reliance; and to
devote time to its careful study, with the view of obtaining infor-
mation upon any difficult doctrine, or upon such an abstruse point
as the original creation, would be futile. It is obvious, that a correct
Bible is, for such purposes, indispensable; and the Anglo-Saxon
Bible seems to admit of no certain mode of correction: because,
although every sect seems to agree that it contains errors, yet they
all disagree as to what these are, the alterations suggested by any one
of the bodies being rejected by the others with wonderful unanimity.
Supposing, however, this impracticable version, apparently so much
in need of a correction, which nobody can make to the satisfaction
of any one else, be laid aside, and the supposed original, which is so
universally appealed to, be sought, it cannot be found. None of the
printed editions of the Hebrew and Greek text will satisfy the
Unitarians; and, indeed, it would be unreasonable to expect them to
accept any particular edition of that text, seeing that editions exist
by scores, each differing in some respects from the others; and, there-
fore, to find with certainty the particular edition which contains the
real Word of God, even supposing any such edition to exist, is difficult,
*
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 41
practically impossible. But no such edition of the Hebrew and
Greek text can exist, because to produce one entirely free from the
least inaccuracy, the superintending influence of the Holy Spirit
would be necessary, and if such aid had been given, the edition so
aided would have swallowed up the others, like the rod of Moses. The
only conceivable object in the bestowal of such aid would be the
gift to mankind of a perfect Bible, and had such a gift been made,
it scarcely would have been permitted by the Great Giver to have
remained undistinguished among the multitude of other versions of
the Hebrew and Greek texts. The Unitarians, therefore, are right
in refusing to accept any particular edition of the printed Hebrew
and Greek Bible, and they appeal to the contents of the manuscripts
which preceded the printed Bibles. But if the true Word of God,
be sought for in the old manuscripts, it still eludes the search. The
manuscripts now in existence, are comparatively few, and the oldest
of them are but copies many times removed; and indeed the readings
chiefly relied on by the Unitarians, are based not upon the existing
ancient manuscripts; but upon the supposed contents of particular
manuscripts long since destroyed or perished, and evidenced by
citations in the works of old writers. It cannot however be said
that this evidence is not worthy of credence, if there be no divinely
inspired, absolutely perfect Bible in existence, because upon the
common supposition that there is no such Bible, it necessarily follows
that the more ancient the manuscript, the greater its authority, and as
the manuscripts practically relied on by the Unitarians are older
than those now in existence, the readings of those manuscripts ought
to be preferred; but then a difficulty arises, the evidence as to the
former existence of those readings, or at any rate as to some of them,
is not conclusive; so that the whole matter stands thus, the printed
Hebrew and Greek text is of itself of less authority than the extant
manuscripts. The manuscripts are of less authority than the more
ancient ones; but there is some evidence that readings existed in the
more ancient manuscripts which cannot now be found, therefore
neither the manuscripts extant, or what is of less authority, the
printed Hebrew and Greek text, can be implicitly relied on, and a
perfect copy of the Word of God does not, it would appear, exist.
It seems somewhat inconsistent with the infinite power, goodness,
and wisdom of the Supreme, that he should have given a revelation
to man, of such incalculable importance, and yet omit to preserve it
for the use of His creatures; and it is not preserved unless it some-
42 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
where exists, free from the slightest admixture of error; and this
applies especially to modern times, when all believers profess to
appeal to revelation, as the authority by which ultimately every
doctrine must be tested. It seems natural to suppose that the great
revelation, meaning by that term the whole written Word of God,
would be, when completed, preserved in some perfect form, the best
adapted to the use of the children of the kingdom, and at the same
time to keep its meaning unchanged and unchangeable. The
Hebrew and Greek text is not at all adapted to accomplish these
ends. In the first place those languages are entirely sealed to the
vast majority of the members of the churches of the Lord, and the
remainder have but a slight acquaintance with the Greek, and if
possible still less with the Hebrew. Secondly, the very circumstance
of two languages being used renders it an unsuitable mode of
keeping its sense unchanged. It is true that both are dead, and
therefore fixed in meaning, but the presence of two dead languages,
neither of which is, or can be perfectly learnt, renders it little more
than guess work to attempt to elucidate the meaning of a passage in
the New Testament by reference to the Old Testament, or of the Old
Testament by comparing it with the New, and practically the
Hebrew and Greek text is never so made use of. They are neces-
sarily looked upon as distinct works; the Hebrew Old Testament
one, and the Greek text of the New another, and studied apart; but
the Word of God is one great whole, beginning with the creation of
the universe, and of the world, and the great promise in Paradise,
and terminating with the heavenly Canaan and the second resurrec-
tion; and the perfect Bible, if it exist, is necessarily in one language
throughout, fixing the sense of the whole revelation, and admitting
of a comparison between its different parts. That the power of
making such comparison is indispensable, is shown by the express
declaration of the written word, Isaiah, xxviii. 9, 10, 11 : “Whom
shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand
doctrine them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the
breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line
upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little : for with
stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.”
Those unto whom the Lord here declares he will teach knowledge, and
make to understand doctrine, are those who have ceased to live on
milk and can bear strong meat; and this knowledge is to be sought
from the whole word, here a little and there a little, that is, by a
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 43
careful comparison of line with line, and precept with precept; and
it, therefore, necessarily follows that the perfect Bible, if it exist, is
not the Hebrew and Greek Text. There is a further objection to
that text. It is usually, but erroneously, supposed, that the Hebrew
text of the Old Testament, was the original common language em-
ployed by the human instruments engaged in writing the various
books. In the course of the centuries which elapsed between the
time of Moses and the completion of the canon of the Old Testament,
the Hebrew language materially altered; and this change, which is
slowly but constantly taking place in all living languages, was much
aided by the numerous occasions in which the children of Israel were
subjected by neighbouring nations; and after the great captivity, the
language had become so altered, that the books of Moses were sub-
sequently very imperfectly understood by the bulk of the nation,
and this appears from the Word of God, Nehemiah viii. 8: “So
they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the
sense, and caused them (that is, the people,) to understand the read-
ing.” And in verse 12, the people are represented to have rejoiced,
because they had understood the words that were declared (that is
explained) unto them. It is therefore clear, that by the time of
Ezra, the Hebrew language had materially altered; because the
books of Moses, though read slowly to the people, were not under-
stood by them, until Ezra, and those with him, explained the mean-
ing. But a material addition to the written word was made by
Ezra himself, and therefore, his writings, naturally using, as he
would do, the language of the day, were originally written, in what
may with propriety be called a different language from that employed
by Moses, seeing that the unlearned people who spoke the language
of Ezra, were unable to understand, without assistance, the language
of Moses. This, however, is not all: the book of Daniel was not
originally written in Hebrew, and this can be proved from internal
evidence (Daniel i. 3, 4). By the command of the king, Daniel and
his companions were taught the language of the Chaldeans, and
as Daniel was subsequently (ii. 48) made ruler over the province of
Babylon, and in constant intercourse with the king, he would neces-
sarily be led to the habitual use of that language, and especially to
use it in a book, so much of which related to the Babylonians them-
selves; and that he did so use it in writing his book, is shown by
the circumstance, that when the names of his companions are men-
tioned, the Chaldean names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and
44 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
not their Hebrew names, are given, ii. 49; iii. 12, 13, 16, 19, 20, 22,
23, 26, 28, 29, 30; and that these were the Chaldean names, is
shewn by i. 7, where it is stated, that the prince of the eunuchs
gave those names. It is true that Daniel himself seems to give his
own Hebrew name throughout; but it is apparent, that the Chal-
deans themselves were accustomed to call him by his Hebrew name,
because when the Queen suggested that Daniel should be sent for to
interpret the handwriting on the wall (v. 12), she called him
Daniel, as the name by which he was commonly known, giving also
the Chaldean name of Belteshazzar. The book of Daniel was doubt-
less, soon after Daniel's death, translated by the scribes into Hebrew,
and added in that form to the sacred books, and the original version
in the Chaldean language, thereupon dropped into oblivion; but it
is a striking fact, that of the important book of Daniel, nothing but
translations exist, and therefore, the perfect Word of God, if in
being, must, as to part at least of the sacred writings, be a transla-
tion.
The same thing occurs with the New Testament. The four gos-
pels cannot all have been originally written in Greek, as can be
shown from internal evidence. The inscription on the cross was in
three languages, the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; but a record of a
written inscription would be imperfect unless it gave a perfect copy,
if in the same language, or a perfect translation, if in another lan-
guage; but there can be only one absolutely perfect translation of
any written document, and as the inspired writings are perfect, it
follows that two or more inspired writers translating the same writ-
ing into one and the same language would render it by exactly the
same words. Now the inscriptions on the cross are rendered differ-
ently in each of the four gospels, and this proves that one of them
was originally written in a different language to the others, doubtless
the Hebrew; and the four versions of the inscription on the cross
are accounted for. The gospel originally written in Hebrew con-
tained a copy of the Hebrew inscription, and the three other gospels
written in Greek contained the three inscriptions, one a copy of the
Greek, and the others translations of the Hebrew and Latin. The
fourth gospel could not have been originally written in the Greek
language, because, if so, one of them must have contained either an
imperfect copy, or an imperfect translation, of one of the inscriptions;
but, being all inspired writings, this is impossible. It was the gos-
pel of Matthew that was originally written in Hebrew, because it
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 45
is evidently written for those conversant with the Jewish rites, and
it commences with the genealogy of Joseph, the husband of the
Lord's mother, to prove that the Lord was the son of David. The
Lord could, in the estimation of a Jew, only have been both the Son
of David and the Son of a virgin by being born of a virgin, the
wife of a man who was a direct descendant of David. Had the
mother been unmarried, the Lord would not have been reckoned by a
Jew the Son of David merely on account of his mother being of that
family, so that the genealogy of Joseph was, to the Jew, of more
importance than the genealogy of Mary. But a gospel meant for
the Jews was necessarily written in the Hebrew tongue, or they
would never have made use of it. This is shown pretty clearly by
Acts xxii. 2: “And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew
tongue to them, they kept the more silence.” The Apostle Paul
speaking to them in that language, knowing it would produce a
readiness in them to listen to him. But, as the gospel of Matthew
was originally written in Hebrew, it follows that even of the New
Testament, only a translation exists of a very important part.
The same discrepancy also exists in the New Testament to some
extent, between the language used in some of the books, as compared
with those previously written, even among those originally written
in Greek, which has been shown to have occurred, in the books of
the Old Testament. The book of Revelation and the Gospel of John
were written many years after the other books of the New Testa-
ment, and the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Jewish Polity,
in the interval, had produced an effect even upon the Greek dialect
used in Judea. The various accounts of the crucifixion show this,
and so plainly does the difference appear that it is sometimes sup-
posed there is a real discrepancy between the Gospel-narratives.
Thus Mark xv. 25, writes: “And it was the third honr, and they
crucified him.” Matthew and Iuke both show that the crucifixion
was long before the sixth hour, because they relate that the darkness
took place at the commencment of the sixth hour, and the Lord had
then been some time on the cross, the division of the garments and
reviling by the priests and passers-by, and the salvation of the thief
having all occured previously to the darkness. John in his Gospel
as clearly shows that the crucifixion itself did not take place, until
long after the sixth hour, because it was about the sixth hour, as he
expressly states, when the Lord was before Pilate (John xix. 14),
and the Lord could not have been nailed to the cross for sometime
46 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY of CREATION,
after that period. The fact is, that Matthew, Mark, and Luke use
the Jewish mode of reckoning, namely, twelve hours from sunrise to
sunset, and as the length of the days in Judea differed far less than
in high north or south latitudes, the main divisions of the day,
namely, sunrise, the sixth hour, or noon-day, the third hour, or half
time between sunrise and noon, the ninth hour, or half time between
noon and sunset, and the eleventh hour, the twelfth portion of the
day immediately preceeding sunset, did not very much differ at the
various seasons. But in the Gospel of John, the current mode of
reckoning time in use, when it was written, is adopted, namely,
from midnight to midnight. In the first three Gospels, the times
mentioned are always either early in the morning or sunrise, the
third hour averaging about nine o'clock in the morning, but changing
with the seasons, it being half way to noon, the sixth hour, noon-
day, the ninth hour, and the eleventh hour; see Matthew xx. 1.
Early in the morning, that is about sunrise; ver. 3, the third hour,
about nine o'clock in the morning, or in strictness, half way to noon;
ver. 5, the sixth and ninth hour, noon day and half time between
noon and sunset; ver. 6, about the eleventh hour; see also Acts
ii. 15; iii. 1,–the Jews used the term day and night to denote what
is now called a day, that is twenty-four hours; see Jonah i. 17,
and other texts, and the Sabbath day was a day and night, because
it was from even to even. (Leviticus xxiii. 32.) In the Gospel of
John, other hours are mentioned clearly showing the difference in
the mode of reckoning time. Thus John i. 39, for it was about the
tenth hour, ten o’clock in the morning—iv. 6, and it was the sixth
hour, six o'clock in the morning, or sunrise, the Lord having
journeyed by night, and at sunrise His disciples went to buy meat,
and the woman to draw water—ver. 52, yesterday at the seventh
hour, seven o’clock. The sixth hour mentioned in xix. 14, as the
time when the Lord was before Pilate, was, therefore, six o'clock
in the morning. This is also shown by other portions of the narra-
tive. The crowing of the cock, mentioned xviii. 27, which took
place at no great interval after the Lord had been arrested in the
garden, whence the Lord went from the Mount of Olives, and the
supper chamber, marks, that it was not then day, and in ver. 28,
when the Lord was led unto the hall of judgment, it is expressly
stated to have been early. Between the hearing before Pilate in
the judgment seat at about six o'clock, the sixth hour of John, to
the actual crucifixion at about nine o’clock, the third hour of Mark,
IN HARMONY WITH GEOI,OGY. 47
three hours intervened, about the space of time that the events
which occurred, including the going to the place of crucifixion, would
naturally occupy. But the intense suffering of this mode of death,
did not commence until some time after the body was affixed to the
cross. This is shown by the collected manner, in which the thieves
talked for sometime afterwards, and the calm way in which the Lord
spoke to one of them, and also to John about Mary; but at the
sixth hour, or noon, all was changed. The face of the Father was
withdrawn, and from that time until the Lord died, His sufferings
were too great to allow of His speaking save in the interjectional
language of deep affliction. The Hebrew and Greek text is in fact,
therefore, composed not of two languages, but really of several, and,
secondly, it is, in some material particulars, not the “original,” as
it is commonly termed, but a translation. It is a complete jumble,
doubtless containing all the sacred books meant to form the perma-
nent work, but its contents are clearly not in the perfect form, in
which the Supreme, judging even from the slight notions his little
creature man can form of infinite wisdom, might be expected ulti-
mately to present the Revelation to man, when completed.
The word of God itself strongly leads to the conclusion that there
is in existence in some collected form, the infallible Word of God.
The symbolic prophecy of the book of Revelation ends with verse
17 of the last chapter, in which verse is mentioned the symbolical
water of life, and the great prophecy there terminates. In verse 18
and 19 the Lord testifies “unto every man that heareth the words
of the prophecy of this book,” that if any man adds thereto, to him
shall be added the plagues of hell, and if any man shall take away
therefrom, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and
out of the holy city. This passage being not symbolical but narrative,
has necessarily two applications. The first undoubtedly is to the
book of Revelation itself. That book is a prophecy, and in days
gone by, when its meaning was little if at all understood, there was
great danger that men might attempt to correct it, so as to make
their imaginary interpretations the better to fit. But the word pro-
phecy has in the New Testament a second meaning. The prophets,
mentioned Ephesians iv. 11, 1 Cor. xii. 28, and other places, who
stood next in rank to the apostles in the early Christian churches,
were persons who taught in the churches and elsewhere, not like
other teachers from their previous knowledge, but from what the
Holy Spirit from time to time gave them to communicate, and the
48 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
race of inspired teachers, like the office of the apostles, was confined
to those times, so that the prophecy of this book in the second sense
of the passage, means the teaching of God through the medium of,
or, in other words, as contained in, this book. The Second sense of,
“ the book,” is evidently the whole word of God, and to take from
or add to it, is to change it in any way. It necessarily follows
that there is in some one book the infallible word of God, because,
if not, it would be lawful to alter to some extent each and every
version by removing the errors peculiar to each.
The same truth may be seen from another passage, Rev. x. 1–3:
“And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed
with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as
it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his
hand a little book open : and he set his right foot upon the sea, and
his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion
roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their
voices.” This is a symbolic prophecy and therefore has but one ap-
plication. The symbolic angel represents the Lord; which is shown
by the cloud or the excellent glory, and the rainbow, the symbol of
the Covenant, and further by his face being as the face of the sun,
compared with Rev. i. 16, where the Lord's countenance is described
as being as the sun shining with its greatest power; and his feet are
as pillars of fire, which in Rev. i. 15, are described as fine brass as
if they burned in a furnace. The little book open is the perfect form
of the Word of God, in which it is to be heard all over the earth and
the sea. This is shown, by the Lord himself bringing the Book from
heaven, so that the Word has been rewritten, in some new form, and
his placing his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the
earth, shows that the Word will be mainly spread by the sea; and
he crieth with a loud voice to denote that, when his Word is uttered
through the medium of this little book, it will be heard throughout
the earth, and not, as before, be hardly audible. The Book is open,
which denotes it is in a form easy to be read. The seven thunders
which shortly after uttered their voices, are identical with the seven
vials of chapter xv.; the apostle was directed to seal up the voices of
the thunders, that is, they were to remain unrevealed for a time,
namely, until he prophesied again (verse 11), by writing the further
prophecy relating to the church; and although the voices of the
thunders were afterwards unsealed, yet the apostle never wrote them,
because, instead of the voices, the same seven series of events are
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 49
revealed in the vials. The mention of the voices of the seven
thunders is to mark the period of time when the little Book open was
given, namely before the vials; and as the commencement of the
period of the vials marked the termination of the 1260 years of the
Papacy, or, in otherwords, the small commencement of the first French
* Revolution, it follows, that the perfect Word of God was given no
great time previous to that event: but yet not immediately before,
as the stop in the text is a colon, denoting an interval. The direction
to the apostle to eat the Book, shows that it contains every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God, by which man is to live
(Matthew iv. 4); in other words, that it is the perfect Word. The
book being sweet to the palate, denotes the many promises contained
in it; and its bitterness in the belly, the tribulation occasioned by the
contest its real reception creates with the animal nature. It is obvious
that the little Book open cannot be the Hebrew and Greek text,
because that was not communicated at any one time; secondly, it is
not an open but a sealed Bible to the vast majority of the Lord's
children, and very imperfectly open to the remainder, and in no one
particular does it agree with the little Book.
Satan has, through the medium of the Council of Trent, promul-
gated the doctrine that the Vulgate is the perfect word of God; and
it has several of the distinguishing marks which necessarily must
characterize the perfect Bible. It is in one uniform language, ad-
mitting of easy comparison between the various portions. Secondly,
it is in a fixed language, which is indispensable to the authoritative
Word; because, as it would be the ultimate standard of the Divine
Revelation, there would be nothing to correct it by, and therefore,
if a changing, living language were employed, the Truth would
speedily be changed in parts into error. Thirdly, although the lan-
guage of the Vulgate be dead, yet it has a species of galvanic life,
as it is used pretty freely in the various professions, and a consi-
derable knowledge of it can be acquired; and, not to mention other
particulars, the Vulgate was produced in a greatly improved state,
about the time which the prophecy indicates, namely, towards the ter-
mination of the 1260 years. This doctrine has been attended with
extraordinary advantage to its real author. It has effectually kept
the Roman Catholics, as a body, from any real study of the Word of
God; because the people, not understanding the language, and
hearing it constantly used by the priests, naturally fell into the habit
of receiving the supposed contents of the Bible through the priests,
E
50 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
and the Douay version is held to be amere translation, which, though
free from the gross errors imputed to the Protestant versions, is yet
to be interpreted by reference to the Vulgate. But the Satanic
doctrine has had another effect. The Christians have been misled by
rejecting it altogether; for directly the doctrine was promulgated, it
was attacked by the Christians on the ground that it was absurd to
suppose a translation could equal the authority of an original; and
they have thus been led into the fathomless bog of comparison of manu-
scripts, old editions, and old readings, contained in the writings of
uninspired men. It cannot be too carefully borne in mind, that the
Roman Catholic religion is Christianity altered and adapted to idol-
atry, by the Devil; and therefore, differs, very materially from the
sister-apostacy, which is pure error propagated by the sword, and
sustained by promises of animal happiness, exactly adapted to the
races for which that system was prepared. The Roman Catholic
religion, on the contrary, contains a great deal of truth, each doc-
trine being separately poisoned, and the whole so fitted together that
the truth and error appear harmonious. The doctrinal errors of the
Christians have arisen, mainly, from their antagonism to Rome leading
them, in many cases, to throw away truth, because it was wrapped
up in deadly error. The doctrine under consideration is made up
of two propositions. First, that there is an authoritative, Divine
version of the whole word of God in one language; secondly, that
the Vulgate is that Divine version. The first of these propositions,
it has been shown, has the sanction both of the Word of God itself,
and of the natural reason of man. The second proposition contains
the error, as can readily be proved. The first objection to the Vul-
gate is, that the Latin language never was used for any portion of
the inspired writings, although in the time of the Apostles it was a
living tongue. The Apostle Paul, when writing to the Christian
Church which anciently existed at Rome, abstained from using the
Latin language in his letter, although the poorer members forming
the majority of the Church probably understood no other; and this
must have been with design, not from want of knowledge, as the
great Apostle of the Gentiles had, by revelation, a knowledge of
languages beyond all the brethren. (1 Cor. xiv. 18.) But there is
another objection to the language of the Vulgate: the Latin lan-
guage is twice symbolically marked in the book of Revelation as a
badge of the Apostacy. First, in the number of the Beast, which
was centuries ago revealed to mean Lateinos, the Latin beast; and
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 51
secondly, in ch. xiii. 11, 15, the two-horned beast, the Papal
hierarchy, had power to make the image of the great beast (which
image is a resemblance or likeness of the power formerly exercised
by the Pagan empire over the whole territory afterwards divided
into separate kingdoms), speak, that is, the general power in all the
kingdoms speaks one common language, which symbolically repre-
sents the use by the Romish priests, in all the kingdoms of the
divided old Roman empire, of one common language in their public
idolatries.
The next objection to the Vulgate is, that it cannot be supposed
that the Supreme would bestow his word in the form least suitable
to his children, and only used by his enemies.
The next objection is, that the Vulgate has not been universally
spread over the earth, and chiefly by the sea, as the prophecy inti-
mates; on the contrary, it has scarcely been spread at all, being
almost exclusively confined to the priests of Rome.
The next objection is, that the Vulgate is not a little book open,
because, being in a dead language, it is closed to the great majority
of the children of God, although it is true that the language is open
to some, and partially to many more.
The next objection is, that the Vulgate, although materially cor-
rected, and published anew about the time indicated by the vision, was
not a new work. The Council of Trent itself decreed that the Wul-
gate was divine before the production of the corrected work, so that
it was merely an old book furbished up, not a new work. And to
mention but one more objection—if a book be divine it cannot re-
quire alteration; but, subsequently to the Council of Trent, three
different editions of the Vulgate were published one after another,
each materially differing from the others, and each of the three, at
the time of publication, declared to be divine by the authority of
the Pope.
But if there be, as the Scriptures, common sense, and the devil
alike declare, a divine version of the Word of God absolutely per-
fect, and the Vulgate be not that version, which is it? It is the
Bible in the hands of the Anglo-Saxon people, which exactly agrees
with every one of the particulars mentioned. It was produced at
the time a perfect Bible had first been really necessary. It was not
a new edition of an old work, but an entirely new work which has
never been altered. The other translations into the language were
speedily superseded, and it has spread over the earth chiefly by the
E 2
52 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
sea. It is the only Bible used by the inhabitants of the Isles
(Isaiah lx. 8, 9), and the dominant race in America and Australia.
It is in a fixed language peculiar to itself, and can therefore never
change in meaning, and yet it is sufficiently near to the present
spoken language to be readily understood by those who will carefully
study it, and to a great extent by all, and is therefore an open book;
and in every other particular it exactly fits the predictions, and also
satisfies all the requirements which human wisdom can suggest as
necessary to such a work. The Apocryphal books were, it is true,
printed in the Bible as originally published; but it was essential to
do so, for the very circumstance of those human corruptions of former
days being collected together under that head, at once stamped them
as counterfeits, and therefore they have very properly been cast out
of the copics of the divine word in use at the present day. The fact
is, the Word of God is contained within the four corners of the
Anglo-Saxon Bible, rewritten in a fixed living language, under the
direct superintending influence of the Holy Spirit, and therefore
entirely free from the least taint of error, from the beginning to the
end. It is the true “original,” and any other Bible, whether
Hebrew and Greek, or Latin, or French, or German, is of authority
just so far, and no further, as it agrees with the divine Word, the
real circulation of which far exceeds, and has far exceeded, that of all
other Bibles put together; and before any one again talks of “improv-
ing” or “correcting” it, he had better consider whether the Lord is
likely, at His approaching advent, to forget what He has promised
to him who adds to, or takes from, the inspired teaching of this
book. There are several passages in the Old Testament, which, ad-
dressed as they were to a typical people, have also a present appli-
cation, which the wise can easily make. Deut. iv. 2: “Ye shall
not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye
diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the
Lord your God which I command you.” Deut. xii. 32: “What thing
soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto,
nor diminish from it.” Prov. xxx. 5, 6: “Every word of God is
pure : he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add
thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found
a liar.” The text alone, of the Bible, is of authority, not the
titles of the books, or the headings of the chapters, or the division
into chapters and verses; but the stops and paragraphs in the text
are of authority. This is so, for an obvious reason. The alteration
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 53
of stops and paragraphs affects the meaning of the text itself; but
the divisions into chapters, and verses, and titles, were not in the
various books as originally written, and therefore are human addi-
tions, which are rightly retained as useful for reference; but the
sense of the passage looked for, must, when found by means of the
divisions, be sought in the text alone. The headings of the chapters
are valuable, because they conclusively show that the human instru-
ments employed by the Supreme, and the Lord, in the production of
the divine work, were entirely unconscious of the real meaning
of a considerable portion of what they were themselves writing.
The “corrections” which are so freely suggested on all hands, of
the Anglo-Saxon Bible, mainly arise from three causes: the first is,
that each of the Christian churches having some favourite doctrinal
error to defend, each wishes to “correct” the Bible, in those parti-
culars in which it disagreeably rubs against their opinions, but as the
eyes of each are very keen in discovering the motes in the eyes
of the rest, these “corrections” are, of course, most religiously
Scouted by all except by the particular makers of each. The only
thing that can be said on this head is, that the sooner Christians
leave off “correcting” the Bible, the sooner it will “correct” their
individual errors.
The second cause of these “corrections” is, that some people ima-
gine an acquaintance with the Greek Lexicon to be the same thing
as a knowledge of the Greek language, and this is a great mistake.
One of the first Greek scholars England ever produced, is re-
ported to have said, that an Athenian cookmaid would have beaten
him in Greek, and the remark showed his penetration. No one has
a real knowledge of a language unless he can freely think in the
language. The Greek text of the New Testament as commonly
printed, is, probably, pretty near the original text of those portions
of the sacred volume originally written in that language, but if a
native of Judea, who lived some 1850 years ago, and spoke and
thought in the Greek dialect, then and there used, were to revive,
he would be not a little amused at some of the imaginary “cor-
rections” made on the authority of lexicons, and frequently on the
assumption, that because a word is used in a particular sense in one
passage, therefore it necessarily has the same sense in another.
But the value of the “corrections” arising from this source can be
readily tested by any one who has an average knowledge of the
sacred volume. It will be invariably found that any passage, when
54 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
so “corrected” will clash with some other portion of the sacred text.
A couple of examples will make this clear. Thus writes a “learned”
commentator, on Rev. i. 18, “And have the keys of hell and of
death.” “To have the keys of anything, is to have the power
over it; so that the meaning is, that Christ hath power to kill and
to make alive, to inflict death or to prevent it; nay, more, to call to
life those that are in a state of death, here signified by having the
keys of hell; which ought rather to be rendered the keys of
hades; that is, of the state of the dead.” The value of this
“correction” can easily be made to appear. The passage ought, it
seems, to stand thus, “and have the keys of the state of the dead
and of death,” and so altered the meaning is, that the Lord can
either let out or let in ; but the Lord has “keys,” not one key,
there are, therefore, two doors; and, there being two doors, two
separate places are meant, whereas, according to the text, as “im-
proved,” or “corrected,” there is only one door and one place, and
two keys would not be required; and in Rev. xx. 1, when the
symbolic angel, who represents the Lord, comes down at the first
resurrection and opens the bottomless pit or hell, he brings only one
key with him, and it therefore follows, that the keys mentioned in
Rev. i. 18, mean one, the key of hell or future abode of the damned,
and the other the key of temporal death. And the result of the
whole is, that the “learned ” commentator has missed the sense of
the whole passage by altering a single word on the authority of his
lexicon; although the alteration would probably be concurred in by
eleven out of twelve, who fancy they understand the Greek language.
Another text, sometimes altered, is Matthew xxviii. 19, 20:-“Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I
am with you, alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” It has
been objected that the Greek word rendered in the first part of the text
by the word teach, more properly means to disciple, and that it is incor-
rect to use the word teach twice in the same passage to express different
meanings, and, therefore, that the passage ought to be translated: “Go
ye therefore, and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
With respect to the objection to the text, as it stands in the divine
IN EIARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 55
volume, namely, that it is improper to use the same word, teach, to
convey different meanings in the same passage, if there were any weight
in it, the Bible would require to be almost re-written as it is done
very frequently in the sacred text. Thus, Genesis i. 5: “And God
called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And the
evening and the morning were the first day.” Here, in the same
passage, the word, day, is used to express two totally different
meanings. The day first mentioned, means a period of twelve hours,
and the day secondly mentioned, means, as has been previously
shown, a period certainly extending to several thousand years, so
that, unless the Bible is to be very materially altered, the objection
to the text on account of the repetition of the word, teach, to convey
a second meaning, falls to the ground. But further, the substitu-
tion of the word, disciple, totally alters the passage, and the sense
of it as altered, is diametrically opposed to many plain declara-
tions in other portions of the sacred volume. The Lord would not
command His disciples to “disciple,” that is, convert, all nations,
unless He meant His command to be accomplished, and consequently
the text, as altered, amounts to this, that all nations will be dis-
cipled, that is, converted, before the commission will expire: but
the commission only lasts until the end of the world, and, therefore,
the altered text imports that all nations will be converted before the
end of the world. Now the meaning of the expression, the end of
the world, can be found by comparing Scripture with Scripture,
Daniel, xii. 13: “But go thou thy way until the end be : for thou
shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” The
word, end, is here used in two different senses; the first, end,
means the result or object, But go thou thy way until the result
be or arrives; but the second, end, is used in the sense of ter-
mination, meaning the termination of the days. The word, end,
is used in the first sense, ver. 8: “then said I, O my Lord, what
shall be the end of these things 2" meaning the result of the great
vision. In the expression, the end of the world, the word, end,
is used in the same sense of result or object. The word, world,
means the human race; see 2 Peter iii. 5, 6: “And the earth
standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world
that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:”—here, the
world, that perished, evidently means the human race then living.
In this sense, the Lord's kingdom is not of this world, that is, His
kingdom does not yet extend to the world, but only to the first
56 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
fruits, the Church, who, in a small sense, are now in His kingdom,
because they submit to His authority. Dut Matthew xxiv. 3, shows
clearly that the Lord's coming precedes the ultimate result or object
of the present dispensation. In the first sense of that narrative
prophecy, the Lord's coming was the signal vengeance He took
upon the unbelieving Jews who obeyed not the Gospel; and the
destruction of the Jewish Polity was a material help, or deliverance,
to the Christians, because the Jews had previously been every-
where the most active opponents of the Gospel; but the second and
full sense of the prophecy relates to the actual second coming of the
Lord; and the end of the world, or ultimate result or object of the
present dispensation to the human race, therefore, in its full sense,
means, the Lord's kingdom, which will be set up at His second
coming. The text as altered, therefore, imports that the world is
to be discipled, that is, converted, before the Lord's second coming;
but this is so utterly at variance with the plain teaching of the
Word of God, that it is exceedingly difficult to imagine how the
error which is very general in the Church, could have so long
maintained its ground. So far from the world being converted at
the Lord's coming, the very church itself is wretchedly defective,
and requires the cry or voice of the forerunner:—“Behold, the
bridegroom cometh”—to get the dim lights brightened, and themission
of the forerunner or morning-star shining with reflected, not
native light (Rev. xxii. 16), is so necessary to the Church that,
unless He were sent, there would be danger of the whole earth
being smitten by the Lord at His coming (Malachi iv. 6); and the
same truth is declared in Rev. xix. 7, 8, the bride, or Church, is
first made meet to receive her Lord after the destruction of Rome;
and if all this be, as it undoubtedly is, true of the Church, what will
be the state of the world? The two great Scriptural types of the
flood and the destruction of the Jews by Titus show pretty clearly
to those who can read. The tares grow with the wheat until the
harvest, and the harvest is the end or final result of the whole
world, including the Church, which to the tares will be the fire.
(Matt. xiii. 30, 39.) It, therefore, necessarily follows that the
alteration of the text by substituting the word, disciple, for the
word, teach, is a corruption, not an amendment of the text. The
divine reading is the true one : “Go ye, therefore, and teach all
nations,” that is, preach the good Word of the Kingdom to all, and
such as are converted through your teaching, baptize, and after-
IN HARMONY WIT II (? EOI,0G Y. 57
wards teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have com-
manded you, namely build them up in the faith: and lo, though
invisible, yet am I really always with you, until I come in glory.
This will be found to harmonize with the whole written Word.
But the third cause of the “corrections” so freely suggested of
the Bible, is by far more prolific than both the others put together,
and it is the assumption that the fixed language of the Word of
God, is identical with the Anglo-Saxon language of the day. Now
the Bible was from its origin, in a fixed language, which indeed
was, as has been shown, indispensable to its being absolutely perfect.
The machinery by which it pleased the Holy Spirit and the Lord to
effect this, unknown to their unconscious human instruments, was
by leading them to employ in its preparation all the previous human
translations made for the English people, using the old words
wherever the sense was not entirely obsolete, and especially all the
old ecclesiastical terms; and yet making changes and alterations
without number. But how very materially the tongue of the
English people changed, between the time of the earlier of the old
translations and the date of the Word of God, may be easily ascer-
tained. Wickliffe's translation is older than the Canterbury tales,
and therefore any one may satisfy themselves of the extent of the
change, by perusing, or to speak correctly of most at the present
day, by attempting to peruse, the original text of Chaucer without
assistance; and that the old language was far from being extinct in
the time of James, the “Faery Queen” of Spenser, which was
written but a few years before the present Bible, sufficiently proves;
and therefore the writers of the Bible left very many old words and
expressions, which although not then in use they comprehended. So
that the present Bible is in a language peculiar to itself, which is
not identical with the spoken tongue of any particular period, and is
therefore entirely unlike some old book, for example the work of
Chaucer, written at a given period in the language of the day, and
gradually become obscure, by the change incident to all living lan-
guages. This curious mixture, of what are really distinct languages,
taken at the extremes, and also of every imaginable shade between
them, existing in the translations of different dates, which unaided
would have produced confusion, has under the divine guidance,
resulted in a perfect unchangeable work, the meaning of every
separate portion of which, together with the rules for its construc-
tion, must all be obtained from the book itself; there being no
58 SCRIPTURAL IIISTORY OF CREATION,
source of extraneous help whatever, the very writers of it often
using words in one sense, which afterwards when the book is treated
as a whole, prove to mean something very different.
The “corrections” from this third source are very numerous, but
space will only permit a couple of examples. Not a few of the Bible
critics take the meaning of the end of the world, to be the termina-
tion of the existence of the globe, and they set to work most learn-
edly to prove that meaning to be incorrect. Another objection which
takes various forms, is that the Lord (Matthew xxv. 32) tries all
nations by a test, namely whether they loved his disciples, which is
entirely inapplicable to the great majority of the human race, who
never heard either of him or his disciples; but the Lord is not
speaking of the condemnation of the world, but of the purging of
his floor, and the word “nations” is used in the same symbolic sense,
as in Rev. xvi. 19, “the cities of the nations fell:” namely the
various churches of the Lord's followers. This meaning was doubt-
less unknown to the writers employed in the production of the great
work, but that it is the true one is obvious, on comparing Scripture
with Scripture. The Lord has commanded his disciples to love one
another, and therefore will rightly condemn those who disobey his
command; but the world has not been commanded to love the dis-
ciples, and therefore cannot be justly condemned for not doing that
which they have not been ordered to do. They will be condemned,
but it will be for disobedience to commands addressed to them.
To put in a clear light the great difference between the fixed
Bible language and the spoken Anglo-Saxon, one or two of the
obsolete words, and also of the words used in very peculiar senses,
may be advantageously pointed out. The word “earing” (Genesis
xlv. 6, and Exodus xxxiv. 21), the word “let,” in the sense of
“hinder” (Exodus v. 4; 2 Thess. ii. 7), and the word “prevent,” in
the sense of to go before (Psalm lxxix. 8; 1 Thess. iv. 15), are exam-
ples of obsolete words. The following words are used, besides their
ordinary meaning in other passages, in peculiar senses, in the fol-
lowing and other texts. The word “for,” is used in the sense of
“although,” or “notwithstanding.” (Genesis vi. 3; viii. 21 ;
Exodus xxxiv. 9.) The word “saved,” is repeatedly used in the
limited sense of “saved at that time,” or, “brought into a state of
safety which may afterwards be lost.” Genesis xlvii. 25: “And they
said, thou has saved our lives:” but notwithstanding this salvation,
they aſterwards died. See also Nehemiah ix. 27: “Thou gavest
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 59
them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their cnemies.—”
Yet the people afterwards again fell into the hands of their enemies.
Luke vii. 50: “Thy faith hath saved thee;—” meaning that the many
previous sins of the wofflan were forgiven, see verse 47; and she,
was therefore, in a present state of safety or salvation; but she
might, notwithstanding, afterwards sin, and so lose it. The word
is used in the same sense in Mark xvi. 16: “He that believeth, and
is baptized, shall be saved;—” that is, brought into a present state of
safety, by the forgiveness of his prior sins, which baptismal salvation
John ealls simply a remission of the prior sins (John xx. 23). Ana-
nias and Sapphira were, in this sense, at one time saved, but yet
afterwards perished (Acts v.); and so was Simon, who (Acts viii. 13)
is expressly stated to have believed and been baptized. This limited
sense of the word “saved,” often occurs in the sacred text: and,
indeed, is in use at the present day. If a mother were suddenly to
catch her child, which had lost its balance on the edge of a precipice,
she would be said to have saved her child; but it might notwith-
standing fall over on another occasion and perish. And if a vessel
runs on a dangerous sand, but is afterwards, with assistance, got off
and proceeds on her voyage, the men who assist are called “ salvors,”
the payment they receive is “ salvage,” and the result of their work
is said to be the “salvation” of the ship : but, notwithstanding this
Salvation, the ship may be subsequently lost before reaching her
destined port. The next word which may be mentioned is, “king,”
which, sometimes, is used in the sense of a dynasty, or government.
Thus, in Daniel vii. 17, the four successive empires are called four
“kings,” that is, four dynasties or successions; and verse 24, the ten
kingdoms of the divided Roman empire are called ten “kings,” mean-
ing ten separate dynasties or governments. That this is the true
meaning, is shown by the duplicate vision in chapter ii., where the
successive empires are called “kingdoms” (verse 39, 40). In verse 41,
the actual division of the Roman empire is expressly stated, “the
kingdom shall be divided;” and yet, in verse 44, the governments of
these divided portions are again called “kings,” clearly showing the
meaning of the word to be ten “governments.” But the ten horns being
separate dynasties, it necessarily follows that the little horn, men-
tioned vii. 8, 11, 20, 21, 24, 25, is also a dynasty, or line having suc-
cession, not a single individual; and the great Apostle of the Gen-
tiles uses, in the same sense, the expression, “that man of sin,” to
denote, not a single man, but a line of men, like a line of kings; this
60 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
is shown in verse 8 (2 Thess. ii.), by the omission of the word “one :”
“And then shall that wicked be revealed,—” meaning thatwicked line.
The word “king,” is also used in the same sense in Exodus i. 8: “Now
there arose up a new king over Egypt, whºh knew not Joseph, "
meaning a new dynasty, which would not recognise the services of
Joseph; the word “knew” being used in the same sense as in 1 Thess.
v. 12: “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour
among you, -" meaning to recognise them as worthy to be esteemed.
There is another peculiarity of the fixed Bible language, which
much contributes to sever it from the language of the present, time,
and yet, when thoroughly understood, greatly helps towards the true
understanding of the sacred Book, and this is, the use of peculiar
idiomatic expressions or idioms, not traceable in the language of the
day. Three examples of these idioms will be sufficient to show their
nature, and also the nature of the errors to which a want of know-
ledge of them gives rise. The first idiom which shall be mentioned
is, that in the Bible language times and numbers are always reckoned
inclusively. Thus, John iv. 40: “He abode there two days.” This
means, that the Lord abode there until the following day; the day
of his arrival and day of his departure being both counted according to
the Scripture idiom. The same period is, in verse 43, called, after
two days. The three days and three nights meaning, as before men-
tioned, three days of twenty-four hours each, during which Jonah
was in the belly of the whale, are, for the same reason, counted
inclusively, both of the day on which he was swallowed by the fish,
and of the day on which it vomited him on the dry land. In John
xx. 26, the lapse of time from the first day of one week to the first
day sº the week following is called, and after eight days, both first
days being counted. In like manner, the Lord predicted that he
should be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,
Matt. xii. 40; which was exactly fulfilled, according to the true
sense of the prediction, namely, inclusive of the day on which the
Lord entered the heart of the earth, and of the day of the resurrec-
tion. Thus the Lord died on the Friday, and first went to Paradise
according to His gracious promise to the penitent thief, Luke
xxiii. 43; and from thence, immediately before the termination of
the same day, the Lord, doubtless gloriously attended by His saints,
descended to the heart of the earth, that is, the bottomless pit, or
hell; see Acts ii. 31 : “His soul was not left in hell, neither his
flesh did see corruption.” Immediately upon the Lord's arrival

IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 61
there, which would be the commencement of the Jewish Sabbath,
the Lord preached unto the spirits there imprisoned, for their dis-
obedience in the time of Noah (1 Peter iii. 18, 19, 20); and upon
returning from thence with the released prisoners, having seen of
the travail of his soul and been satisfied (Isaiah liii. 11), and led
captivity captive (Ephesians iv. 8), the Lord resumed his animal
body as the resurrection occurred early in the morning of the first
day of the week. This body was at the ascension changed, in like
manner as the bodies of the true Christians, living at the Lord's
approaching advent, will also be changed, namely, the outer body
dissipated, and the excellent glory thereupon become visible. Acts
i. 9: “A cloud received him out of their sight.” The same truth
as to the body is stated, Job xix. 26: “And though after my skin
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:” the
second, or full sense of this prediction, shows an outer body called
the skin, which would become food for worms; and an inner body,
which worms could not touch, in which he would see his Creator.
The second idiom that may be mentioned, is the speaking of, or
describing things in their nature, as yet incomprehensible to man, in
language borrowed from earthly things, having some analogy to the
matters so spoken of or described. Thus the creation of Adam's
spirit is related by the earthly figure of breathing into the nostrils of
the living human animal the breath of life, and to denote that the
animal body of the Lord was formed by the Holy Spirit, from the
seed of the woman's body, who had not known man, as the body of
Eve was formed by the Lord from Adam's body, without the inter-
vention of a woman, the mother of the Lord is said to be with child
of, that is by, the Holy Ghost (Matthew i. 18, 20); and to describe
the obtaining by a disciple the indwelling of the Holy . Spirit,
through the death, resurrection, and prevailing mediation of the
Lord, the disciple is said to eat the Lord's body, and drink His
blood.
The third specimen of the Scripture idioms is, that where several
persons in the same category or class, are together, and one speaks, all
are said to speak until one or more dissent from the sentiments of the
first speaker. Genesis xlvii. 15: “All the Egyptians came unto Moses,
and said—”; Verse 18: “When that year was ended they came unto
him the second year, and said unto him—”; Genesis 1. 18: “And his
brethren also went and fell down beforehis face; and they said—. ” In
all these instances it is obvious tha tone or more spoke, the rest present
62 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
remaining silent. To the same effect is Matt. ix. 11 : “And when
the Pharisees saw it, they said"—. And also xiii. 10: “And the
disciples came, and said unto him”—. When the persons assembled
are not in the same category or class, then that portion only of those
present, of whom the speaker is one, are said to speak. Thus in
Luke xx. 39: “Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master,
thou hast well said.” Certain only of the scribes are here said to
speak; as there were others present of the Sadducees, of whom the
speaker was, evidently, not one. Matthew xxvii. 44, is another
instance of this idiom : “The thieves also, which were crucified with
him, cast the same into his teeth.” Both are said to speak the words
of one, and Mark’s Gospel, also, contains the same idiomatic expres-
sion; but as in Luke's Gospel the salvation of one of them had to be
narrated, the idiom could not be followed, and, therefore, only one
of the thieves is said to speak. (Luke xxiii. 39 to 43.) Another
instance of the idiom will be seen on comparing Matthew xxvi. 8,
with John xii. 4.
Enough has been said to show that the Bible is an exceedingly
difficult book, and, indeed, the divided state of the Church sufficiently
shows that without deep and long-continued study, with an un-
feigned desire to find out, not arguments to sustain pre-conceived
opinions, but the real teaching of the living Word, no one can be-
come mighty in the Scriptures, save by direct revelation. If any
one doubts this, it can easily be tested. There is no real incon-
sistency in the Bible rightly understood, and bearing this in mind
let those who fancy the Bible is easy to be understood, reconcile, if
they can, these two declarations—2 Kings viii. 26: “Two and
twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he
reigned one year in Jerusalem.” 2 Chron. xxii. 2: “Forty and
two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned
one year in Jerusalem.” Both these declarations are true, and can
be reconciled. But the difficulty of understanding the Bible is not
left to be discovered by man; the fact is expressly declared in the
divine book itself—2 Peter iii. 15, 16: “Even as our beloved brother
Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written
unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things;
in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that
are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures,
unto their own destruction.” Acts viii. 30, 31 : “And Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said,
IN HARMONY WITII GEOLOGY. 63
Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I,
except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him.”
But if this be true, as it undoubtedly is, an objection will perhaps
occur to some, which may be thus stated—I am a plain man, with-
out learning, obliged to work long and hard to obtain a subsistence,
and if the Bible be the difficult book represented, I certainly have
not either the time or the ability required to obtain even a partial
right understanding of its contents, and therefore as far as I am
concerned, it might as well have been left in Hebrew and Greek.
The answer to this objection is supplied by the sacred text, Matthew
xxviii. 19, 20, the disciples are not only directed to preach the word
for the purpose of conversion, and to baptize converts, but they are
also to continue to teach them to observe all things that the Lord had
commanded, meaning to continue to instruct them as to what the Lord
had commanded, or in other words to build them up in the faith, so that
the Lord here expressly directs, that there shall be until the end of the
world, that is until he comes again, a body of teachers to instruct
his people in his commands, as contained in the written word. The
Lord has emphatically shown how absolutely necessary pastors and
teachers are, to the spiritual welfare, nay even to the spiritual life of
His people; for the Lord describes their office as that of giving the
people their meat in due season, and as rulers over his household,
Matthew xxiv. 45; and in 1 Thes. v. 12, 13, they are declared by
the Holy Spirit, speaking through the great Apostle of the Gentiles,
to be over the brethren in the Lord, that is the Lord himself con-
siders them the rulers of his flocks, the officers of his army; and the
brethren are to esteem them very highly in love for their works
sake: again in Hebrews xiii. 17 it is written, “Obey them that have
the rule over you, and submit yourselves:” and those who faithfully
do their duty in the ministry, will in the Lords kingdom form even
the aristocracy of the Holy City, a relative distinction compared to
which the differences in the ranks of this world are fleeting
shadows and empty bubbles. The Lord has used language as strong
as can well be conceived, “Verily I say unto you, that he shall make
him ruler over all his goods.” And again in Rev. i. 20, the over-
seers of the churches are styled the angels, that is the messengers of
the divine word to the churches, and the Lord holds them as stars,
like glittering jewels in his own right hand. But this office has a
reverse side. The poor ignorant savage can attain no great height
64 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
in the Lord's kingdom, neither can he fall far, his utmost punish-
ment is a few stripes. The professing Christian may reach the Angelic
state at the Lord's coming, but he can also fall into hell. And in
like manner a man who is in the ministry, as he can rise far higher, so
he may fall to a depth of misery and degradation in hell itself, which
will make the condition of the remainder of the damned appear to
him to be tolerable in comparison; and this is declared by the Lord
himself, Matt. xxiv. 51, and shall cut him asunder—that is, separate
him from the body of the saved, and appoint him his portion with
the hypocrites: and the body here spoken of may be known to those
who can read the word, death, in Rev. ii. 23. The especial distinc-
tion reserved by the Lord for his faithful ministers, is also very
easily lost, for if a minister, either to conform to the teaching or prac-
tice of the particular division of the church in which he may happen to
be, or from any other motive knowingly breaks one of the least of the
Lord's commands, and teaches men so against his own private judg-
ment, he will be least in the kingdom of heaven, however faithful he
may be in other respects: he will be saved, but his great prize is
lost. (Matthew v. 19; 1 Cor. iii. 13—15.) The ministry are, however,
only stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. iv. 1). It is no
part, nay, it is a gross breach of their duty to find fault with the
things committed to them; they are to dispense in a suitable form,
the provision the Lord has given them for his household, not to con-
demn the provision wrongfully, and seek other elsewhere. The
whole truth as to the difficulty of the Bible, and the necessity of a
ministry to teach the people, is to be found in the doctrine of the
Church of Rome; but Satan has there mingled with the truth a
deadly error, and so complete is the combination, that to sever the
truth from the error, requires great care. Satan reasons thus: the
Bible is a very difficult book, and easily wrested; the Lord has ap-
pointed a ministry to explain His commands therein contained to
the people; therefore the people ought to take the minister's inter-
pretation of the word of God. The premises are true, the conclu-
sion is false. It is one thing to find out the meaning of a difficult
passage, and quite another thing to judge of the truth of an expla-
nation when given. When Ezra and those with him read in the
book, in the law of God distinctly, and gave the meaning, he caused
the people to understand the sense, that is, the people exercising
their own judgment in the matter, saw that the explanation was the
true one. This is universally the case in the common matters of
IN HARMONY WITH GEOI,06Y. 65
life. A person, in a difficulty about a matter he is studying, say for
example, a difficult mathematical problem, although unable to solve
it himself, yet, when an explanation of it is given, he is very well
able to judge of the soundness of the explanation; and if unsound,
may detect the fallacy of the pretended solution, although still un-
able himself to solve the difficulty. Now this watching by each
member of the flock the explanations of the divine Word by the
minister, and exercising, with proper humility, their own individual
judgments on the accuracy of the explanation, of the difficult but
infallible book in their hands, is a duty the Lord has cast upon them
as necessary to their training. This has been done by leaving the
teachers fallible, and liable to err, even when the minister has given
his best and earnest attention to the study of the Word, and has
taken his doctrines from such study, and not from creeds or other
human sources. The Lord could readily have given the Church
prophets instead of fallible pastors and teachers, but he has not done
so; and indeed, He himself, and the infallible apostles, when upon
earth, constantly urged the disciples to search the Scriptures, and
judge for themselves. It is always to be borne in mind, that salva-
tion is, in each and every case, the work of the Holy Spirit, through
the Word. The bishop is to the flock merely an elder brother, a
faithful and wise steward, appointed to give them their portion of
meat in due season, Luke xii. 42; and it must also always be recol-
lected, that his teaching may, without any fault in him, be in part
incorrect, for even he who has most knowledge of any in the flesh
upon the earth, knows less than the least in the kingdom to come.
(Matthew xi. 11.)
In construing the Word of God, it should be considered that the
whole and every partis equally infallible; and, therefore, no doctrine
is true, and no practice right, which cannot be reconciled with every
part of the Word rightly understood. It has the remarkable property
of itself correcting any false interpretation. There are few portions
of the Word of God which cannot be wrested, or falsely interpreted;
but all such false interpretations will always be found to be directly
opposed to other passages. The rule of construction is “line upon
hine, precept upon precept, here a little there a little.” But above
all things, traditional interpretations of particular portions of the
Sacred volume, such interpretations being known to be at least appa-
rently inconsistent with other passages, therefore treated as obscure
and left unexamined, are especially dangerous. The ancient people
F
66 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
are emphatic examples. They rejected the Lord at his first coming,
mainly because they had attached a fixed interpretation to certain of
the prophecies relating to the Messiah, paying little or no attention
to those which clashed with their views. In vain did apostles, pro-
phets, and eloquent teachers explain that, though the Word of God
contained in the ancient prophecies, was indeed infallible, and there-
fore must necessarily be fulfilled, yet that the common interpretation
of it might very well be, and in fact was, wrong; the traditional
interpretation was so firmly bound up in the mind of the mass of the
nation with the Word itself, that with them to deny one was to con-
tradict the other; and the result was, the misery of the people for
many generations. Now the Word declares that these things are
written for the example of those upon whom the ends of the world
have come. No man should be certain that he rightly interprets
Matthew xxv. 41 : “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels;” Mark iii. 29: “But
he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never for-
giveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation;” and Matthew
vii. 13: “Broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat :” unless he can, without wresting
the Scriptures, also consistently interpret the following—Genesis
xii. 3: “And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed;”
xviii. 18: “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him;”
xxii. 18: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed;” Acts iii. 25: “Ye are the children of the prophets, and
of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abra-
ham, and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed;”
John xii. 32: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me;” and 1 John ii. 2: “And he is the propitiation for
our sins; and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole
world.” Neither can any interpretation of the latter and similar
passages be correct, which cannot be fully reconciled with those first
mentioned, construed, not according to the fancy of men determined
to wrest them, but according to the real meaning of the texts to be
collected from other portions of the Word of God, “here a little and
there a little.” Many instances might be given of apparently
opposing but really correcting passages, at first difficult, but, when
rightly understood, admirably harmonious and helping to the right
interpretation of the whole sacred volume. Even the knowledge
that men have of the Divine attributes is to give way to the Word,
IN IIARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 67
when its teaching is clearly and demonstrably ascertained. See
Psalm crxxviii. 2: “For thou hast magnified thy word above all
thy name,”—meaning thou hast exalted thy Word above all thy attri-
butes. Not that the living Word is, in the slightest particular,
really inconsistent with the Divine perfection; but its teachings,
rightly understood, even to the extent those who are really mighty
in the Scriptures now can understand them, are not easily recon-
cileable, with the imperfect ideas so relatively insignificant a creature
as man can form of the Supreme; and when this is the case, the
perfect written word of the Divine Revelation, must necessarily have
precedence of the light derived from an imperfect knowledge of Him
who is past man's finding out.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And
God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it : because that in it he had
rested from all his work which God created and made.—The Lord has
here revealed the great origin of the rest of the seventh day, which
was subsequently observed by the children of Israel. The first re-
velation of the day of rest or Sabbath day (the meaning of the word,
sabbath, being a rest) was made to Moses, and through him to the
children of Israel in the wilderness, as recorded in the sixteenth
chapter of Exodus. This was appropriately done when the Lord
first gave them their bread from heaven, and it will be observed that
with reference to this bread the Israelites lived in common, be-
cause although some gathered more than others, yet it was all
brought into a common stock and meted out, an omer for every man,
according to the number of them which were in his tents. In verse
5, it is recorded the Lord informed Moses that on the sixth day the
people should prepare that which they brought in, and that it should
be twice as much as they gathered on other days; but it is not said
that Moses communicated this information to the people, at that
time, and when in the morning (verse 11) the Lord spoke to Moses
from the excellent glory, in the sight of the people (verse 7), nothing
was said about the double supply on the sixth day. When the food,
which the people (verse 31) called manna, after the name of the
natural substance, for which (verse 15) they at first mistook it, was
given, nothing appears to have been said to the people about the
observance of the rest, or Sabbath day, but on the sixth day the
people found, on measuring the food for distribution, that they had
F 2
68 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
twice the usual quantity. Now, that this was an unexpected oc-
currence, and, therefore, that the people previously knew nothing of
the Sabbath day, is plain from the fact that the rulers of the con-
gregation immediately went to report the fact to Moses (verse 22),
and, through them, the people, while newly impressed with this
bountiful provision, appear to have been for the first time in-
formed by Moses of the object for which it was given, namely,
that they might for the future keep holy the seventh day (verse 23),
“And he said unto them (the rulers of the congregation), This is that
which the Lord hath said,”—meaning that the Lord had previously
predicted the double supply on the sixth day, as stated in the fifth
verse. Moses then communicated to them the Lord's command:
“To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord:”—
meaning the rest of to-morrow is no ordinary institution, it is holy
unto the Lord. The very day was marked by the Lord himself,
who could not err; and it was clearly the seventh day, because the
Lord previously declared that he would mark the sixth day by the
double supply of food. The very day was, week by week, during
the remainder of the sojourn in the wilderness, marked by a three-
fold miracle. First, the double supply on the sixth day; secondly,
the preservation from corruption of the portion left over for the food
of the people on the seventh day (verse 24), and the food corrupted
if left over on any other day (verse 20), and, thirdly, the total
absence of supply on the seventh day (verse 26, 27). The disobe-
dience of some among the people, in going out on the seventh day
(verse 27), to gather, proved the truth of the divine prediction, that
none should then be found; and, in like manner, the disobedience
of some, in leaving of it until the morning, on a previous occasion
(verse 20), proved the truth of another prediction, that it should
corrupt if so kept. The attempt on the part of some of the people
to gather food on the seventh day, produced a declaration from the
Lord, which seems to be from its terms decisive, that the keeping of
the rest day had not been previously enjoined. Verse 28, 29: “And
the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my command-
ments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the
Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two
days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his
place on the seventh day.”" The giving of the Sabbath and of the
double food on the sixth day, are here expressly connected together;
and Moses adds (verse 30), “So the people rested on the seventh day.”
IN EIARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 69
The particular day of the week thus divinely marked was
observed by the children of Israel, before any reason was
given to them for the ordinance; they were told that it was holy
unto the Lord, nothing more : but when the Commandments were
given from Mount Sinai with great majesty, the keeping of the Sab-
bath was further enforced by the revelation of its origin and of its
commemorative character. The word, remember, with which the
command, as stated in Exodus xx., commences, refers to the previous
, command, which had been given through Moses to the children of
Israel to keep the day. This is clear from the written command
recorded Deuteronomy v. 12–15; the words there being, “Keep
the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded
thee.” The remainder or obligatory part of the command is, “Six
days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is
the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy
maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor
thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy
maid-servant may rest as well as thou.” The people also heard from
the Mount that the seventh day was blessed and hallowed by the
Lord at the termination of the great work of creation in commemora-
tion of that event (Exodus xx. 11.) A different reason appears to be
given in Deuteronomy v. 15, but the explanation of this apparent
discrepancy would occupy too much space to be given here, as it
would be necessary in order to do so first to explain and prove two
Scripture idioms, and it is not material to the subject under consi-
deration. The command is to keep holy, not one day in seven, but
a particular day in seven, namely, the seventh day, and there was no
possibility of the Israelites mistaking the day, because the Lord him-
self, as before mentioned, pointed out and marked each seventh day
for upwards of thirty years by miracle. There could not be a com-
mand more entirely free from doubt or ambiguity. The people were
told to keep the seventh day: a reason is given applicable to that
day only, and the day was always miraculously pointed out. The
people so perfectly understood it, that there never was the slightest
doubt about the matter, and in the mind of the Jew the rest was so in-
dissolubly fixed that the seventh day was rarely called by any name
than the Sabbath, that is the rest day, and throughout the Jewish
law the word Sabbath, when applied to the weekly rest day, always
means the seventh day. -
70 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
The Commandments given at Mount Sinai are not of themselves
binding upon Christians, having been given to a different people.
The church is bound only by the commands, precepts, and example
of the Lord and the inspired apostles as recorded in the New Testa-
ment; and there being no injunction or precept in the New Testa-
ment to keep the seventh day, it follows that the fourth commandment
is not in any way binding upon Christians. It is true that the Lord
himself observed it, but he in like manner obeyed the whole law he
had given through Moses, and, as if to intimate that the time was
at hand when the fourth commandment would for a period be in-
operative, the Lord was pleased to declare that he was Lord of the
Sabbath even while himself keeping it, Luke vi. 5, “And he said
unto them, That the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” And
in Mark ii. 27, a reason is given why he should be Lord of the Sab-
bath, namely, that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for
the Sabbath—meaning that if the welfare of man should require
that the fourth commandment be rendered inoperative, he the Lord
had full power over it. These preliminary hints, as they may be
termed, of an intention to deal with the Sabbath day were subse-
quently expanded into an express injunction not to keep it, Colos-
sians ii. 16, 17: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,
or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath
days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of
Christ.” The meaning of the word judge, in this text, is equivalent
to the modern rule, or govern; the word has very frequently this
meaning in the Scriptures, particularly in the book of Judges, which
is an account of successive rulers of Israel. The expression Sabbath
days denotes the succession of seventh days, and is frequently used
in the New Testament in this sense. See Matthew xii. 5, 10, 12;
Mark iii. 4; Luke iv. 31, vi. 2–9 ; Acts xvii. 2. So that the text
in Colossians was and is an express direction to Christians not to be
ruled by any man who should attempt to induce them to keep the
seventh days. The observance of the seventh day was however so
strongly impressed on the minds of the Jewish converts, that out of
consideration to them, the apostle left it open to those who were
weak to observe it if they thought fit. See Romans xiv. 1: “Him
that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.”
Verse 5, 6: “One man esteemeth one day above another: another
esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the
IN BIARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 7ſ
Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not
regard it.”
The meaning of the declaration in Colossians ii, 17, that the
Jewish ordinances are a shadow of things to come, will, in some
degree, be understood by looking at one of the symbolic prophecies
of the Holy City which hath foundations, and will be built by the
Lord at his second coming—Ezekiel xlvi, 1, 2, 3. “Thus saith the
Lord God; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the
east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall
be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. And
the Prince (the Lord Jesus, who is the Prince of the kings of the
earth, Rev. i. 5, meaning the royal priesthood, 1 Peter, ii. 9, who
will reign on the earth, Rev. v. 10, with the Lord, xx. 4, 6) shall
enter by the way of the porch of that gate without (compare with
Ezekiel, xliii. 2, 4), and shall stand by the post of the gate, and
the priests (the royal priesthood) shall prepare his (symbolic) burnt
offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the thres-
hold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be
shut until the evening (“From even unto even, shall ye celebrate
your Sabbath.” Levit. xxiii. 32). Likewise the people of the land
(the unconverted portion of the children of the circumcision who will
not be allowed to come near to do the office of a priest, Ezekiel xliv.
13, but yet are included in the seed of Abraham, to whom the land
is promised for an everlasting possession, Genesis xvii. 8, and will
be keepers of the charge of the house, Ezekiel xliv. 14, door-
keepers in the house of God, Psalm lxxxiv. 10, the antitypes of the
Levites in the old temple) shall worship at the door of this gate
before the Lord (the God and Father of our Lord Jesus), in the Sab-
baths and in the new moons.” This prophecy shows clearly that in
the world to come the great rest day, sanctified at the end of creation,
and revealed in the law, namely the seventh day, will be observed
with a solemnity of which no conception can now be formed; and
the prophecy follows the very words of the fourth commandment in
the plain distinction it draws between the six working days and the
Sabbath.
The result of the whole teaching of the word of God as to the
seventh day, therefore, is, that, at the end of the original creation,
the Lord set it apart and sanctified it, and afterwards revealed the
fact of its having been so set apart to the Children of Israel, when
they had become a typical people : and that, in the New Testament,
72 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
Christians are told not to observe it, as it is a shadow of something
to come, and lastly, that, in the Lord's kingdom, it will be very
solemnly observed. It therefore necessarily follows that the great
rest is irrevocably fixed to the seventh day, and that the fourth com-
mandment, being an express injunction to keep the Seventh day,
and for a reason which applies solely and exclusively to that day, it
is not, and cannot be, obeyed, unless by keeping that particular day,
but that Christians are not under any obligation, nay, are expressly
told not to keep that commandment. The observance of the great
Sabbath is simply for a little season suspended, in like manner as it
was suspended from the end of creation until Moses; and it
is not the only command suspended. The first part of the second
command, not to make “any graven image, or any likeness of any-,
thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth—” that is, not to make any
statue or picture of anything in heaven, earth, or hell, is also for
the present suspended. But commands spoken from the thunders
of Mount Sinai, and written by the finger of God himself on the
rock, can never pass away or be changed; they must necessarily be
everlasting and unchangeable, until the creation itself shall wax old
and be changed. The fact is, that the ten commandments form, as
could be shown from the Bible if space permitted, the short, simple,
yet comprehensive code of laws for the human race in the flesh
during the Lord's kingdom. The fourth commandment is simply, as
to them, a direction to abstain from work on the seventh day, which
will greatly tend to promote their animal happiness, and the direc-
tion to make no statue or picture is, besides other objects, intended
to prevent the inroad of idolatry.
In the early Christian churches the disciples, without any express
command, were accustomed to assemble themselves together, not on
the great rest day, but on the first day of the week, the day following
the Sabbath of the law; and this very rapidly extended itself to all
the churches, with the knowledge and sanction of the Apostles.
This custom was not from the beginning of the church, because in
Acts ii. 46, it is written, “And they, (the body of the disciples)
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking
bread from house to house,” that is, celebrating the Lord's Supper;
but, that the custom of meeting on the first day soon became uni-
versal in the churches is very clear; Acts xx. 7: “And upon the
first day of the weck, when the disciples came together to break
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. 73
bread (meaning to celebrate the Lord's Supper), Paul preached unto
them, ready to depart on the morrow;” it will be seen from the
previous verse that Paul waited six days in Troas for this meeting
of the disciples, the seven days being reckoned inclusive both of the
day of his arrival and of the day of his departure, so that the disci-
ples were then well known to meet on the first day of the week,
because Paul, although anxious to depart, shown by his being ready
to depart on the morrow, yet waited six days for the usual meeting.
The Apostle Paul also expressly recognised the custom in his first
letter to the Church at Corinth, wherein he gave directions that each
member should on the first day of the week lay by him in store as
God had prospered him, that there might be no gatherings when he
came, meaning that each disciple should, when they met as usual at
the Lord's table, store in a common fund his contribution towards
the relief of the suffering brethren in Jerusalem. The Apostle
further states that he had given the like order to the churches at
Galatia, so that they also met on the first day of the week. That
the Lord meant his disciples to assemble together is plain from many
express declarations; Matthew xviii. 20: “Where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
verse 17: “And if he (an offending member) shall neglect to hear
them, tell it unto the church:” meaning the general assembly of the
brethren. It therefore necessarily follows that there must be an
assembly to whom the communication could be made. Hebrews x.
25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the
more, as ye see the day approaching.” Luke xii. 42: “Who then
is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler
over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?”
It follows that there is a due season when the spiritual food is to be
given; and not only the early Christian churches, in the time and
with the Sanction and authority of the Apostles, and especially of
the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who had an especial zeal against
Judaizing, set apart the first day of the week for the purpose, but
the real disciples in all succeeding ages have uniformly set apart the
same day. The Lord himself has also most distinctly set his seal
upon the first day of the week. He rose from the dead on that
day; and from some passages in the sacred volume there is reason to
conclude that the approaching resurrection will also take place on
that day, reckoned from midnight to midnight in Judea. The pre-
74 SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
diction of the Lord, that of that day and hour knoweth no man,
means the year and month, the words day and hour being used in
their prophetic sense. On the first day of the week the Lord was
pleased to appear to Mary Magdalene (Mark xvi. 9); and on the
same day to walk with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus
(Luke xxiv. 13, 15); and to appear to the disciples, save Thomas
(John xx. 19); And on the first day of the week following the
Lord again appeared unto the eleven (verse 26). It was on the
first day of the week that the cloven tongues like as of fire, the
emblems of the great teaching dispensation of the Spirit, descended
on the Apostles. It was on the first day of the week that the great
symbolic prophecy, extending even to the final result of the great
scheme of Salvation, was delivered to the beloved Apostle, and the
Lord then finally gave the day his own name—the Lord's day.
(Revelation i. 10.) The fact is that the whole truth, but poisoned,
is taught by Satan, through the Church of Rome. The Lord's day
is observed solely by the authority of the Church. But “the
Church” consists of the Apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and
the suffering disciples with whose blood, to use the symbolic language
of the book of Revelation, the great whore has for centuries been
drunken, together with the disciples among the people who are beyond
her power, and the strangers who join themselves to the Lord, the
Lord Jesus himself being the corner stone of the building. The
“Church’’ is not the great Apostacy of the West.
That a time would occur when the Lord's people should observe
a different day from the great Sabbath, is clearly indicated in the
old Prophecies. It has been shown that in the Law and the sym-
bolic prophecy of the future city, the Sabbath is expressly tied
down to the seventh day. But, when the prophecies in the narrative
form are examined, it will uniformly be found that, in no instance,
is the particular day marked, the expression is, the Sabbath day,
which simply means the rest day, and those prophecies having
always a double application, two different days must necessarily
be included in the term Sabbath, or rest-day. One of the applica-
tions of these prophecies is always to the great Sabbath, or rest-day,
that is the seventh day; but the second application is to the Sab-
bath or rest of the first day of the week, as will appear on compar-
ing Scripture with Scripture. Isaiah lviii. 13: “If thou turn away
thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day;
and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable;
IN BIARMONY WITH G TOLOGY. 75
and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine
own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou
delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the
high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob
thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” The first
or small application of this prophecy was to the people to whom
the prophet spoke, namely, the ancient Jews. To ascertain the
second meaning of a narrative prophecy, the whole must be read
in a higher sense, carefully avoiding the dropping down, as it were,
to portions of the first application. In the full sense, it will
be found, that the speaker is a different person from the Lord
to be honoured; and the holy day spoken of, is the day of the
speaker, it is “my holy day.” The speaker is the Lord Jesus, and
His holy day is the first day of the week, called by Himself after
His own name, the Iord's day; the Lord Jesus is the mouth of His
Heavenly Father, or the word of God (John i. 1; Rev xix. 13).
The heritage of Jacob is the kingdom of God. (Luke xiii. 28.) The
interpretation of the second application of the prophecy is, therefore,
as follows:—If thou turn away thy foot from the rest-day, from
doing thy pleasure on that holy day, which I, the Lord Jesus, have
called by my own name; and if that rest-day be to thee a delight,
and made holy by being sanctified to the worship and service of my
Heavenly Father, and thou shalt treat the observance of the day
as an honour, in being an open confession to the world that thou art
a disciple of mine, and shalt honour thy heavenly father, by exclu-
sively devoting the day to His service, not doing any secular work,
nor seeking pleasure, nor engaging in conversation about the matters
of the world: Then shalt thou delight thyself in His service, and I,
the Lord, will give thee a part in the Holy City, even in the king-
domof God; for I, the Lord, have spoken it.—It is unnecessary to
go through the other prophecies as those conversant with the
Scriptures can, with care, sever the two meanings or applications
for themselves See Isaiah lvi. 2–7; i. 13–15; Ezek. xx. 12, 20;
Amos viii. 5; Psalm crviii. 24, and other prophecies. The Lord's
day is greatly polluted by the vast majority of the Church at the
present day: and not a few would be benefited by studying the full
meaning of Luke xi. 46: “And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers!
for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves
touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.” The great object of
keeping the Lord's day is, that a disciple may delight himself in the
76 schIPTURAL HISTORY OF CREATION,
Lord, and for this purpose he is entirely to abstain from work, seeking
pleasure, or even engaging in conversation on the affairs of the world.
But God is a spirit and must be obeyed if at all in spirit and in truth.
Now a disciple may just as well work himself as use the labour of
others on the Lord’s-day. If he buys he may as well sell, and if he
has so invested his money that he profits by the pleasure traffic on
the Lord’s-day, he may as well follow his own business, nay, far
better, for he would not then be chargeable with hypocrisy. Again,
a wife's work consists of her household duties: is every care taken
to confine this within the narrowest possible limits on the Lord's-
day? and especially are the richer disciples very careful that their
servants are only employed on that day on works of absolute neces-
sity ? IJo unto others as ye would have others do unto you.
The example of the Lord is the true preservative against fanaticism
and error of every description in carrying out his commands; and
had the perfect pattern been kept in view, the Church would not
have become infested with that subtle form of self-righteousness,
teetotalism. The Lord’s-day may, sometimes, be most properly
observed by a man working hard, on an occasion, throughout the
day, when his so doing would be the means of relieving any one in
pain, difficulty, or distress. (Matthew xii. 11, 12.) All necessary
work connected with the public assemblies of the disciples is right
and proper. (Matthew xii. 5.) It is right to heal, and, therefore,
lawful to receive assistance towards being healed in case of sickness.
(John ix.) And the necessary preparation of food is lawful.
(Matthew xii. 1.) But the example of the Lord authorizes nothing
beyond these exceptions; everything else is to the Christian unlawful.
The strict, consistent, and conscientious observance of the Lord’s-day
will not only benefit the Christians, but their so doing will, to a
great extent, produce that open severance between the Church and
the world, which is, of all things, the best calculated to lead many,
without the pale, to reflect and perhaps take the alarm. The Lord’s
disciples have no authority to impose the keeping of the Lord's-day
upon the world as a religious duty. The fourth commandment is
suspended, as has been shown, and there is no command whatever
to keep the first day of the week, which is binding on the world.
But the obligation on the Church to keep it, is about the most
stringent that can be conceived : their own spiritual welfare is ex-
pressly made dependant upon its due observance, and by the complete
and open severance of the Church from the world many may be led
IN HARMONY WITH GEOLOGY. - 77
to the light, and so be among the saved in the great and terrible day
now at hand.
But there is another aspect, in which, the keeping of one day in
seven, by abstaining from ordinary work on that day, may be viewed,
namely, its effect upon the temporal happiness of the human race.
The main object of the fourth commandment is to increase the
temporal happiness of the human race in the kingdom coming, so
true is it that the Sabbath was made for man. The observance of
one day in the week has, to a considerable extent, the same effect on
the temporal comfort of the present world; but this increase of
temporal comfort should be carefully distinguished, as it is a totally
different thing from spiritual improvement, and has no connection
whatever with religion. A man, after keeping shop in Cheapside,
for six consecutive days, finds his temporal comfort greatly increased
by spending his Sunday at Brighton, rather than in his busi-
ness. He really enjoys his rest from his usual occupation, and
looks forward with satisfaction to each return of the day, occa-
sionally spending a portion of it in a miscellaneous crowd to
hear certain ecclesiastical forms read or sung, as the case may
be. Now the temporal comfort of the nation is the proper object
of human legislation, and, as such temporal comfort is greatly
promoted by abstinence from the usual worldly employments on
one day in seven, it is a fit subject upon which Queen, Lords,
and Commons may exercise their united wisdom, by endeavouring
to secure the temporal benefit of the rest day to the people at
large. But if a person opens his shop or follows his usual employ-
ment on that day, his so acting, directly tends to deprive others of
the benefit of the day, because if his example be followed to any
extent, those who do so lose the rest, and those who abstain lose
their share of the profits of the day's trading; and therefore legis-
lation to be consistent, ought to be obligatory on all save such
employments as are of necessity, for example the medical profession.
But to confound the temporal advantage of keeping Sunday as the
world keepsit, with the observance of the Lord's day by an heir of sal-
vation, is so utterly absurd, that it is not easy to understand how it
could ever have been done, and yet it is done by myriads. The two
things are as opposed as darkness and light, and neither class can from
the nature of things partake of the delight of the other. A disciple of
the Lord might indeed put himself into a train on the Brighton
Railway on the Lord's Day, and a man of the world might go into
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