372 On the Mosaic account of the Creation. 



ed advocates assert that their doctrines are not only not op- 

 posed to Holy Writ, but actually display in a greater degree 

 the goodness and wisdom of the Creator ; for the point is sim- 

 ply enough decided by an answer to the following question : 

 " Do their doctrines and theories agree with the statements of 

 Holy Writ ? " The answer is clearly in the negative ; for where- 

 as Moses teaches us that the operations of the first creative 

 period were completed in the space of six days j the mineral 

 geology takes upon itself to declare that thousands of thou- 

 sands of years were necessary to effect the same ends. 



And why does it do so ? Solely because finding the 

 exuviae of particular animals apparently confined to particular 

 consecutive strata, it immediately concludes that successive 

 and frequent revolutions at long intervals must have been the 

 agents from which such phenomena were derived. Moreover, 

 although the Scripture teaches that man was contemporane- 

 ous with the animals and vegetables of the period prior to the 

 Fall, and that those animals received their generic names from 

 him, the mineralists have declared that he was not an inhabi- 

 tant of our earth until posterior to the deposition of the 

 chalk, by which time, as we shall presently see, the two 

 scriptural revolutions had been fulfilled, and multitudes of 

 animals and plants had become extinct. 



The erroneousness of such doctrines will be more apparent 

 as we proceed with the history of the changes which have 

 taken place upon the surface of the earth. 



On the other hand, the Mosaic geologists, as the term im- 

 plies, are strenuous advocates for a close adherence to the 

 outline furnished by the sacred historian ; but although they 

 have wisely seized upon the only sure ground on which a 

 geological system can be based, they have nevertheless unfor- 

 tunately been the means, in a great measure, of retarding a 

 knowledge of the truth, and thereby adding strength to the 

 position of their opponents, by the unaccountable contradic- 

 tions and misapplications of the Scripture into which their 



