GEOLOGY. 



77 



year, a thousand years, or a million of years, 

 ust as geological phenomena seem to warrant, 

 without in the least invalidating the authority of 

 the sacred historian, who states nothing contra 

 ry to the truth of either supposition. 2. That 

 the materials of our globe, as then existing, were 

 in a chaotic state. Instead of that order and 

 beauty which we perceive on the face of nature, 

 the whole mass presented a scene of confusion 

 and disorder such a scene, perhaps, as would 

 be presented, were the earth stripped of its ver 

 dure, were its strata universally disrupted, its 

 mountains hurled into the plains, and its rivers 

 and seas, by some terrible convulsion, to forsake 

 their ancient channels. 3. The passage seems 

 to imply, that the whole, or the greater portion 

 of the earth, as it then existed, was covered with 

 a deluge of water : &quot; Darkness covered the face 

 of the deep,&quot; or the abyss. 



Such was the state of the terrestrial system at 

 the period when Moses commences his narra 

 tion ; no intimation being given of the period of 

 its duration in this condition ; and, consequently, 

 nothing asserted to militate against any geologi 

 cal system which is founded on the facts which 

 have been discovered respecting the organic re 

 mains which are found in the strata of our globe. 

 It is a mistake into which too many have been 

 apt to fall, to suppose, that Moses begins his 

 history at the period when the first portions of 

 material existence were created out of nothing ; 

 and that it was his design to mark the precise 

 epoch when the whole assemblage of created be 

 ings throughout the universe was brought into 

 existence. His primary, if not his sole inten 

 tion evidently was, to detail the progress of those 

 arrangements by which the earth was gradually 

 reduced to that form and order in which we now 

 behold it, from the chaotic materials which pre 

 viously existed. And, as an emphatic and ap 

 propriate introduction to his narration, he states 

 this important truth : &quot; In the beginning God 

 created the heaven and the earth.&quot; This pass 

 age, being of a general and comprehensive na 

 ture, decides nothing with regard to the period, 

 or precise epoch, at which the different bodies in 

 the universe were called into being ; but is evi 

 dently intended to convey the following import 

 ant truth, in opposition to all fanciful, chimeri 

 cal, and atheistical notions respecting the origin 

 of the world ; namely, &quot; That, at what period 

 soever, in the lapse of duration, any object was 

 brought into existence, it derived that existence 

 from the God of Israel, the self-existent and eter 

 nal Jehovah.&quot; &quot;In the beginning God created 

 the heaven and the earth.&quot; As the language of 

 the sacred historian, therefore, decides nothing 

 with regard to time to limit the creation of 

 every portion of the material system within the 

 period of six thousand years, is to make an un 

 necessary concession to the infidel philosopher, 

 which may afterwards be found inconsistent 



with certain facts which exist in the material 

 world. 



But, whatever may be said with respect to the 

 state and duration of the earth prior to the pe 

 riod at which Moses commences nis narration, 

 it is admitted by every geologist, that our globe, 

 os to its present form and arrangement, has been, 

 comparatively, of but short duration. Cuvier, 

 one of the most enlightened geologists of the 

 age, deduces, from certain progressive changes 

 on the earth s surface, as well as from the con 

 current traditions of many nations, that the first 

 appearance of man upon the face of the globe, 

 or, at least, the renewal of the human race after 

 some great catastrophe, cannot be referred to a 

 period farther back than 5000 or 6000 years 

 from the present time. Geologists, too, of every 

 description, however different the systems or 

 theories they have adopted, have all been con 

 strained, from the evidence of fact, to admit this 

 conclusion, &quot; That every part of the dry land 

 was once covered by the ocean;&quot; thus confirming 

 the scriptural account of that stupendous event, 

 the universal deluge. This event, from its very 

 nature, must have been accompanied with the 

 most terrible convulsions, both on the exterior 

 surface, and in the interior strata of the globe. 

 Accordingly we find, that traces of this awful 

 catastrophe exist in every region of the earth. 

 Mr. Parkinson describes the whole island of 

 Great Britain, as having, since its completion, 

 &quot; suffered considerable disturbance from some 

 prodigious and mysterious power. By this 

 power all the known strata, to the greatest depths 

 that have been explored, have been more or less 

 broken and displaced, and, in some places, have 

 been so lifted, that some of the lowest of them 

 have been raised to the surface ; while portions 

 of others, to a very considerable depth and ex 

 tent, have been entirely carried away.&quot; The 

 whole of the Alpine region in Switzerland, and 

 the north of Italy, considered as one mass, shows 

 the most evident marks of dislocation. At the 

 height of 3500 feet above the level of the sea, 

 M. Saussure met with a chasm a hundred feet 

 wide, and so deep that he saw no bottom. All 

 travellers on the Alps have regarded them with 

 horror. They mark the most evident convul 

 sions, but show no signs of having been occa 

 sioned by attrition. Mr. Townsend, speaking 

 of the Pyrenees, which he personally inspected, 

 says, &quot; What is most remarkable is, to see four 

 enormous chasms, almost perpendicular, which 

 divided both mountains and their valleys, and 

 which appear as if they had just been rent 

 asunder.&quot; Throughout the ranges of the Andes, 

 and in every other mountainous region, similar 

 chasms and disruptions, indicating the former 

 operation of some tremendous power, are fre 

 quently observed by those who visit such scenes 

 of grandeur. In some of the coal mines in our 

 country, the coal is in some places lifted up or 



