The next process in the organization of the earth was the forming of an atmosphere: "And God said, let there be a firmament" (literally, expanse) "in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters, which are under the firmament: and it was so." (Gen. i, 6-7).
Now let us turn to the book of nature and see how science corroborates these facts. Geologists tell us that the motion of the particles of matter which form the earth, in course of condensation became very hot; for heat and motion are only different names for the same thing. Heat is easily convertible into motion, as every one knows who has a steam engine, and motion can easily be changed into heat, as everybody knows, by friction, that is by rubbing two substances together.
M. Mangin, in his "Mysteries of the Ocean," thus graphically describes the first formation of the universal ocean: "As the earth continued to cool, a time arrived when its temperature became insufficient to maintain in a state of vapor the vast masses of water which floated in the atmosphere. These vapors would pass into a liquid state, and then the first rain fell upon the earth. This water would in turn be quickly evaporated and again ascend into the colder regions of space, where it would again condense and fall upon the earth. This might take place many times; but each time much heat would be withdrawn from the surface of the globe, and at last the waters would settle down and form a universal ocean. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Further we are told: "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He seas." (Gen. i, 9,10).
Mark the phrase, unto one place. The oceans and seas are all connected; they are only names for parts of one place or basin. In the 104th Psalm we are told that God covered the earth "With the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains." Concerning the early condition of the earth, science declares, that the waters encased the whole globe, and were above the early mountains, which were afterwards formed by the contortions caused by the shrinking of the crust of the earth as it cooled.
Helmholtz has calculated that the shrinking of the earth one ten-thousandth of its diameter would generate an amount of heat equal to that which the earth receives from the sun during two thousand years. From this fact we may easily perceive the causes of that internal heat which, after the lapse of unknown ages, still manifests itself in geysers, earthquakes and volcanoes. Here, also, we may perceive that mighty force by which the Divine chemist prepared the materials for the earth's ultimate condition.
When God created light. He pronounced it good; when He divided the dry land from the waters. He pronounced it good; but when He created the firmament, or expanse. He did not declare it good. Why? Possibly because, until vegetation began, it was loaded with carbonic acid and other poisonous gases, and totally unfit to support animal life. Science teaches us that this was the period when those strata known as the primary rocks were formed. No remains of animal life can be found in them. It is a well-known fact that most substances shrink as they cool. This is the principle that holds the tires upon wagon wheels. In the same manner the earth also shrank, in proportion, as it cooled. As the various parts might give out heat in an unequal manner, so irregularities would appear on its surface, forming the earliest mountain chains, valleys, rents and ravines. Gradually as these early mountains and table-lands rose above the surface of the primeval ocean, the waves would dash against them and the rains fall, slowly wearing away the rocks and thus forming the earliest soil on the new-made world.
Continuing our investigations, let us turn to another chapter of the book of nature and see how closely the teachings of science agree with the record given by Moses: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass" (literally, sproutage), "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." (Gen. i, 11.)
Mark the order: First, the sproutage; second, seed-bearing herbs; and thirdly, fruit-bearing trees. Now what does science say on this subject? It tells us that the exact geological period, when plants first appeared upon the earth, cannot be told; for their delicate structure was such that their earliest forms have been entirely destroyed, unless they are those which are still preserved in the strata of the coal measures. The earliest forms of which we have any knowledge were flowerless plants, which produced minute spores instead of seeds. Among these may be classed fungi, mosses and ferns. Thus we see how correctly Moses has described the first form of vegetable life by simply speaking of it as sproutage, without mentioning any seed.
