Show SCIENCE AND lELI RELIGION iON the ninah chapter of a sr of arli ces by dr phillips tims time occupied in the creation of the world formation of the various planets divided into periods in ill the first chapter of genesis we find a brief account of the creation ot of the world until modern times it was the popular opinion that chii narrative taught that the earth and heavens were created during an interval of six literal days and that the work dates back lut but a few thousand years these views were entertained when our present aible was translated into english since that date several sciences sciences have sprung into existence which throw a vast amount of light on the history of creation and if 1 kin king jamess translators had bad their work to perform today they would I 1 see meanings in genesis which the world had never dreamed of two hundred years ago and they would make anake the translation read a little differently in order to make it t garee more exactly with the original tiei hebrew the thesa se sciences especially 1 geology and astronomy demonstrate that this creation though lot L ot eternal has stood millions mil liong of years jeara and that this world even required i i red millions of years for its formation in stating statina this I 1 am not questioning fionin the fact that the infinite and eternal energy is capable of forming such IL ola planet ar ap ours in six or even less literal days but it is infinitely better to learn how god really did proceed ed than to turu turn our backs upon evidence which no candid mind can resit resist and wrench our bible to in order to make it lit fit a gross misconception of facts the author of I 1 genesis has given us an account which when rightly understood and prop erly tr translated an slated conforms admirably to some of the very best indications of latest science at the same timo time we must not make the grand rand mistake of supposing Bup that he either cither intended or attempted to write a scientific history of the creation it los c ses a simple though eu sublime blime sty style le and is clothed in all the imagery of oriental poetry whilst a poem it is ia not an ain aimless iless reverie and whilst in a sense UN scientific it does not dot depart from the truth whilst ie i e have a right to interpret it in the light of modern science we should hardly bs be jusufi justified ed in rejecting it as aa an eastern myth of no more significance e than the legends of the ganges we can show ellow that it exemplifies emplit les it most impressive harmony between the utterances of trusting inspiration and the generalizations of rigorous science in proceeding to explain this harmony as far as it seems to me ino to lie he present I 1 must premise a few things bearing on the import of a few words employed by the author or authors of geneis gene is for it is doubtful to say the least of it whether moses ever wrote a word of what hag ha been ascribed to him 1 ahe word translated created in the first verse should have been formed creation or origination from nonexistence non existence is a mythological absurdity 2 there ere is a little par particle bicle em I 1 TH in the hebrew NOT translated IN OUR VERSION AT ALL this particle often means the substance of and r standing landin as it does in the ori original inal hebrew before such words as heavens and earth alters the real meaning very materially 3 instead of heaven our text tex t should read heavens 4 the word translated lay has reference to a period of indefinite I 1 length 5 0 the word translated made in n the i sixteenth erse should bs bb appointed now let us see what science indicates in reference to the order of creation FIRST A fiery mist all the matter of the F nin eun and stars existed at a temperature pera ture so high that it was not only aly fused but converted into a luminous vapor and blended in one mass its ils preeminent pre eminent characteristic act alas luminosity in tots this state no chemical affinities found play but the law of cooling and consequent contraction and also the laws of gravitation and inertia held sway accordingly it began to cool and through a long process wh which ell howe however ver interesting te would tire readers of tim THE JOURNAL because of the te technical ch terms necessarily involved it became divided up into a series of planets and satellites a vast central maes remaining the smaller masses cooled rapidly arid and attained a somewhat ome what solidified and darkened state while the central mass was so large that it cooled more slowly and continued as it till does to emit supplies of light and heat for the benefit of the planetary bodies PEn ioni descent of rains and accumulation of sediment confining our view to a single planet our own a n a time lime came in the process of cooling when the chill of the upper atmosphere condensed the vapor of water for the first time and clouds began to form over the whole planet so that it may be likened to P a sphere v within ith a B sphere phere now the light of the sun which had fallen upon the tha earth from the beginning of its sen separate arate existence was waa shut chut out arid and total darkness en shrouded the planet As these clouds held ALL the water belonging to our planet they poured forth the most abend and rains which by beating upon the semi solidified surface and by the wear of torrents produced vast amounts of sediments sediment which were spread over the bottom of the accumulated ocean Cheru chemical ical reactions also took place in these waters which threw down sheets of other sediments which mingled with those of mechanical od origin gin these sediments were the material from which the oldest beds of rocks were formed ey by such a precipitation of rains the clouds clouda were thinned twilight filtered through them and a separation was eff effected act between the waters which were above the earth and the waters which were upon the earth PERIOD uplift of continents appearance of marine plants the continued cooling and shrinking of the earth developed wrinkles in the crust or solid exterior eteri or enclosing the still heated interior and these grew from age ae to age until they became LANDS rising above tl e level of the ocean all the continents and islands of today have grown fron from these beginnings continent building commenced while yet the rainy period continued and as soon as sufficient light penetrated the W waters a of the ocean seaweeds sea weeds appeared courtn PERIOD dispersion Dis of the clouds appearance of the sun moon and stars plant growth at length 0 the cooled world ceased to convert the oceans waters into steam ete im to be returned in perpetual rains and so the clouds were dispersed now the sun shone again upon the earth the scene was chang changed e d when the clouds fira gathered the earth was partially self luminous and cast no shadow and consequently there was no ni night 7 ht now the darkened world cadt baat its shadow behind and on the unveiling of the sun the phenomena of day and night were for first time possible sunrise and sunset now alternated over the surface of the planet this was what is termed the abie period of geology irl ITO BE |