466 CONSISTENCY OF GEOLOGY WITH SACRED HISTORY. 



sacred records ; it remains with the defenders of those records to say, 

 whether the purloined weapons shall be returned to the armory where 

 they properly belong, and from which they may be again at any time 

 drawn forth, for efficient use. 



Theologians who were trained before geology was understood, and 

 before it was possible to acquire, in our seminaries, an adequate knowl- 

 edge of its elementary truths, are not included in these remarks, and 

 we are happy to observe the increasing attention which is paid to the 

 subject by most of the students in theology who come within our 

 personal view. 



These suo-ffestions have been hazarded, xvith the sincere and earnest 

 hope of doing good, especially to those who greatly neglect a subject 

 of high interest, which it must concern them to know. But it will be 

 no new case, should a mediator between hostile armies fail to 

 conciliate either party, and only provoke the artillery of both ; nor 

 would it create either surprise or displeasure, should the writer 

 of these remarks be regarded as being too geological for the theolo- 

 gians, as he is certainly too theological for some of the geologists. 

 Among the latter are, however, not a few who regard moral truth 

 with quite as high interest as physical, and who are anxious to prove, 

 that where others discover only discord, there is a principle of harmo- 

 ny, which a skilful hand may draw forth, in tones delightful to every 

 discriminating ear. 



REMARK. 



Supposing that there are inhabitants at the poles of the earth, how 

 fnight they understand the days of the creation 1 to them a day of light 

 is six months long, and a night of darkness is six months long, and 

 the day, made up of night and day, covers a year, and it is a day too, 

 limited by morning and evening. 



Such persons, therefore, must suppose, upon the popular under- 

 standing of the days of the creation, that at least six years were em- 

 ployed on the work. So at the polar circles, there is, every year, 

 one day, that is one continued vision of the sun for 24 hours, and one 

 continued night of 24 hours ; while, every where within the polar cir- 

 cles, the days and the nights respectively are for six months, more 

 than 24 hours, extending even as we advance towards the poles, 

 through the time of many of our days and nights. How are these 

 people to understand the week of the creation, if limited to the popu- 

 lar view entertained in countries between the polar circles? 



