The threatenings of God's word are invested with a mantle of terrible literality by the facts we have been contemplating.
CHAPTER XI.
MOSES AND MODERN SCIENCE.
SCIENCE AGREES WITH RELIGION—NEBULAR THEORY—SUN A DARK BODY—SUN SPOTS—VARIOUS SOURCES OF LIGHT—PRIMEVAL OCEAN—DENSITY OF EARLY ATMOSPHERE—VEGETATION OF COAL PERIOD EVERYWHERE IDENTICAL—UNIFORMITY OF CLIMATE.
There is a class of aspirants to gentility who refuse to recognize any person not dressed in the style which they suppose fashionable among the higher classes. A story is told of a wealthy Glasgow brewer's wife, who, attired in all the magnificence of her satins, laces and jewelry, was driving out in her carriage one day in the vicinity of Balmoral. A quiet lady, clad in a plain, gingham dress and gray shawl, was gathering a bouquet of wild flowers in the hedge, and as the carriage passed by, wished the occupant a pleasant "good morning," to which the brewer's wife answered by a contemptuous nod, but afterwards learned to her great mortification, that she had thus lost an opportunity of forming an acquaintance with Queen Victoria. So a large class of pretenders to science refuse to become acquainted with Bible truth, because it is not shrouded in the technicalities of science, but displays itself in the plain speech of the common people to whom it was given.
Of late years the first chapter of Genesis has been assailed by scientists in such a manner that even some professing Christians and other devout believers in the Old Testament have come to doubt the authenticity of that chapter; while the efforts of some modern divines to interpret its sayings so as to conform to the declarations of so-called science, have in some cases been pitiful to behold. We do not claim that what is called science is infallible. True science is indisputable. But much that is called science is only theory. In the writings of learned men, concerning the formation of the world, and geologic processes and periods, there is a large mixture of theory and guess-work along with some demonstrated facts and principles. We believe, however, that there is no real conflict between the Mosaic account of the creation and the nebular theory, which is the most widely accepted among the most prominent scientists.
The Bible declares, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Science admits that there was a "Great First Cause." The world-famous scientist, Herbert Spencer, says, "The universe had its origin in the unknown source of things." The Bible declares, "The earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Science teaches us that matter primarily existed without any form, in a highly attenuated and invisible condition, but containing all the elements which now compose the solid and fluid portions of the earth, and while it was in this condition it was non-luminous. Before motion there was no light. The Bible says the "Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (The original word mayhim means literally a flowing, non-solid, fluid substance.) Scientists admit that motion as well as matter demands a cause, and that the earth was then a flowing or movable substance or fluid. Thus we see that the description given by Moses of that far, far off period is not only correct but likewise has a depth of meaning that is perfectly sublime.
Let us now turn to another chapter in nature's volume and compare it with the second event mentioned by Moses. "And God said. Let there be light: and there was light." Scientists admit that the first visible effect of motion in the fluid mass was the giving out of light. And here it may not be out of place to give a concise description of the nebular theory:
"La Place conceived the sun to be at one period the nucleus of a vast nebula or star-cloud, the matter of which extended beyond what is now the orbit of the remotest planet of the solar system. This mass of matter in process of condensation, and probably by the agency of electricity, was endued with a circulating motion around its center of gravity. The tendency which all revolving bodies possess to fly off from the center, caused portions of this nebula in process of condensation, to detach themselves from the parent mass, and form themselves into concentric rings, which afterwards, by condensation and electrical action, separated themselves into distinct bodies. These masses, which hence constituted the various planets, in their turn condensing after the manner of the parent mass and abandoning their outlying matter, became surrounded by similar concentric rings, which in turn formed satellites or moons surrounding the various planetary masses. In proof of this, the case of the planet Saturn has been cited to show that the work of creation is still in progress. As is well known, this planet is surrounded by a revolving belt, consisting of several distinct rings still unbroken."
While infidels are scoffing at the idea of light without the sun, modern science has discovered the astonishing fact, that even at this moment the globe of the sun is not a source of light to itself much less to us; that, in fact light is no more connected with the sun than with a candlestick. The sun consists mainly of a dark nucleus, like the body of the earth and other planetary globes, surrounded by two atmospheres of enormous depths, the one nearest to him being cloudy and dense like our atmosphere, while the loftier stratum consists of dazzling electric and phosphorescent zephyrs that, bestow light on so many surrounding spheres. This phosphorescent atmosphere, or photosphere, as it is called, is by no means inseparably attached to the surface of the nucleus or dark body beneath. Nor is it in any degree stable, but is subject to extensive fluctuations and the most violent commotions, being frequently swayed and whirled aside, laying bare the surface of the dark globe beneath for thousands of miles to the observation of astronomers, and even to the naked eye.