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MOSAIC GEOLOGY:

BEING A COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND CHAPTER OF GENESIS.

VERSE 2.-This verse should read thus: "And on the sixth day, God ended his work, which he had made; and he rested (or ceased) on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."

Verse 5. This reiteration of the generation of the earth, by not paying regard to the order of the different creations, has led some to suppose that Moses was not an inspired writer, but that he gave the two accounts as delivered to him by tradition.

Whereas, on the contrary, the account in this chapter is merely a summary of the first, but expressed in hasty words, as much as to say :-Thus God made every thing, the earth, the grass of the fields, the rain that watereth it, man, and all the rest of the creation; in the same manner that it is said, (verse 19.) "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air." This sentence is, however, the most obscure of the Mosaic account, it being uncertain which day of the creation it refers to the second or the sixth.

If we are guided by the seeming connection of this verse with verse 7. we shall refer it to the beginning of the sixth day, immediately before the creation of man. If this sense be correct it would afford another MAY, 1838.

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-proof, if necessary, of the literal translation of the Mosaic account being the true one, for if the days of creation signify years, thousands of years, or millions of years, how can it be supposed that plants which were created on the third day could continue alive without rain through three such periods of time.

But if we take the literal interpretation of the beginning of this verse, it would signify rather the second day; when there was not a plant in the field nor a herb in the earth, neither was there a man to till the ground: "And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament."

But it is almost impossible to affix any other time to the latter part of the verse than the sixth day— now the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth. So there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. "And the Lord God formed man of (clay from) the dust of the ground."

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them." Verse 1.1

1 In the note to page 323 it is asserted that numerous instances might be adduced to prove the rapid formation of rocks. When we speak of the hardening of rocks, it must be understood that the hardest rocks are comparatively soft when in the earth. Dr. McCulloch states that the sand-stone of Skye may be moulded like dough, but in a few days it becomes solid. The Lime-stone of Cumberland is also flexible. Granite and other rocks vary in their hardness, sometimes they are found quite soft. In Cornwall alternately hard and soft.(Boase Prim. Geol.)-Dr. McCulloch-Bakewell.

The fossil tree discovered in 1830, in the Craigleith quarry, in a slanting posture, and passing through a, dozen different strata of sand-stone is considered a proof that this rock did not take long in forming and hardening: For the tree,' says Mr. Fairholme, 'must have been there at the time of the first stratum;' but it is not probable that (if, as some assert, these rocks required thousands of years in forming,) the tree would be retained in this position by the strata con

The account of the Mosaic Geology is confined to the first chapter of Genesis, but as the repetition of

fining its roots. He therefore thinks that a few days during the deluge would be sufficient to form the whole.

The secondary strata, instead of being formed by slow operations, on the contrary, exhibit sudden and rapid changes; the hardest rocks having the impressions of fishes, without the least sign of change.(Sir Humphrey Davy.) The marks of tortoises are apparent on the variegated, or new red sand-stone of Scotland, particularly in Dumfrieshire. Laminated sand-stone often has the appearance of sand at the sea shore, being in little rills; this, as in the former case, must have been covered with a layer of earthy matter before they were obliterated.-(Quarterly Review, April 1836.) But it may be said these instances are of uncertain date: to prove, therefore, the rapid hardening which takes place in rocks, we must know from well authenticated sources, the period when these changes commenced.

The mole of the Oder was constructed 1722. It is three hundred and fifty feet long, the height is fifty-four, and the breadth fifty-four at top and 144 at bottom. It is composed of blocks of Granite fastened together by iron cramps, the chinks are stopped up with moss, the spaces were filled up with Granite-sand which, from the oozing of the water, (it being impregnated with iron) became so hard in seventy years time as to be impenetrable to water, and impossible to be distinguished from the Granite blocks.-Kirwan's Elem. Mineral. Hantz. In Oxfordshire there is a tumulus which has become a perfect mound of stone. Human skeletons, with British beads, rings, &c. were dug up in a quarry at Blankney, Lincolnshire, which was probably plain mould when they were buried. Some have also been found with Roman coins, fibulæ, &c. in a stone pit in Huxtonton Park, Norfolk.No. 4, Quarterly Journal, 1828.

The formation of coal is another circumstance which has puzzled the Geologist. Dr. Buckland asserts that the coal formations consist of the remains of plants of a former world, buried in former seas, lakes, &c. in beds of sand and mud, which, by pressure, heat, friction, and chemical combinations, acting during an immeasurable lapse of time, have been converted into sand-stone and shell.

Now when coal has been buried for some time in the earth, from the actions of water and air, it undergoes a change, being similar to pit coal. At Bovey, Devonshire, a whole forest is found so bedded in clay and gravel, being carbonaceous block, of a ligneous form, and between bitumen and resin. The same may be found in Sussex and Ireland. Coal may be formed by heat under pressure, as shown by Sir T. Hall, but in reality it is formed by decomposition and water. This is evident from its being covered with loose sand-stones and schist, which have been deposited by water. Coal first appears as peat, then like Bovey coal, lastly it becomes coal.-Sir Humphry Davy Timber has been found imbedded in the earth in many parts of Eng

it in the beginning of the second chapter has been considered by some to be at variance with the former, I thought it would be advisable to examine and endeavour to explain the first seven verses of this second chapter, in order, if possible, to refute such objections.

land, particularly the banks of the Humber and Thames. In the isle of Axholme, between Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, oaks, firs, &c. have been found in the moor. But these have been cut down, the roots being still attached to firm ground, under the moor; some of these firs were thirty-six yards long. During the 17th century many cartloads were taken away yearly. Trees have been found imbedded in Lough Neagh, in Ireland, and at Youle, twelve miles from York, in a bog of some depth, which is covered with sand, and this with soil. Those found on the Essex side of the Thames, in 1705, Dr. Derham supposed to have been levelled by inundations.-Hist. of Royal Soc. by Thomas Thompson, M.D. 1812.

Bovey coal is found thirteen miles S.W. of Exeter. The beds are seventy feet thick, being interspersed with beds of clay; the deepest beds are most like coal, the upper ones being like wood, and are picked up by the people as such. The beds incline 5 feet every 18. Mosses always occur on plains which have received the waters from higher grounds. They are chiefly found with the remains of large trees, oak, fir, &c. which have decayed through age, and fallen down, and become covered with green moss: at which time it is too weak to walk on, but in the course of about forty years it is turned into common peat moss. The Solway moss contains about 1300 acres of deep and tender moss.-(Do.) As to the period which elapsed before the total decomposition of a tree, Sharon Turner observes, that when a tree is once dead, nature soon hastens the decomposition. It becomes covered with lichens and mosses, which attract moisture, which on being received by the empty pores, causes petrifaction. Fungi then get attached to it. Beetles, caterpillars and woodpeckers resort to it, till it falls, crumbles and becomes mould.

From the instances above quoted, it will, I think, be apparent that the number of years that have elapsed since the deluge is amply sufficient for the coal formations. The different instances we have mentioned are only varieties on a small scale; but the fields of coal now being explored and used in different parts of the world all bear evidence of being formed at the same time, which time we have no hesitation in ascribing to the universal deluge, particularly as some varieties of coal are found to consist of species of the vegetable kingdom now extinct.

THE DELUGE UNIVERSAL.

Genesis vii.

In the preceding chapter Moses represents God as declaring that, in consequence of the corrupt wickedness of mankind, he would destroy them by an universal deluge.

"And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything in the earth shall die."-Verse 17.

"And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air: for it repenteth me that I have made them."Verse 7.

And again in this chapter, verse 4, "and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth."

Thus, though some (not being able to deny altogether the event of a deluge,) would have us suppose that it was limited to the east: yet here we have the Bible declaring to us, that the deluge was so universal, that God not only destroyed all mankind, but that the earth might be thoroughly purged; and that there should be no remembrance of the former generation, God not only destroyed man, but " everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life."

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord," and was allowed to take with him into the ark, together with his family, seven pair of every clean beast, and one pair of every unclean beast, "to keep them alive."

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