284 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS ANTAGONISMS. of ages; for it will never again be spoken of in the remainder of the narrative. What plants actually existed at this period geology has to find out. The possibility of infusorial plants living in warm, nay, in hot water, is proved by their being found in the geysers of Iceland, and in hot, acidulated springs. The latest geological investigations tell us that abundant traces of carbonaceous matter and old silicious deposits among the so-called azoic rocks, seem to indicate the presence of a large number of infusorial protophytes filling those early seas. Whether they furnished food for the primitive protozoans of a similar grade is still a matter of doubt; but the presence of limestone strata in the azoic age seems to speak in the affirmative. The striking fact that Moses, though fully recognizing the great difference between the two works of the third day, and the importance of the vegetable kingdom, did not assign to it a special day, but left it in the age of matter, is not less full of meaning. The plant is not yet life, but the bridge between matter and life-the link between the two ages. Placed within the material age of creation, it is the harbinger and promise of a more noble and better time to come. It is the root of the living tree planted in the inorganic globe, and destined to flourish in the age of life. | richness of the organic forms of plants and were, a reminiscence of the inorganic pe- The fifth and sixth days offer no difficulties, for they unfold the successive creation of the various tribes of animals which people the water, the air, and the land, in the precise order indicated by geology. This history is introduced by the solemn word bará, which occurs here for the second time, and gives us to understand that, with the creation of the animal, another great and entirely new order of existence begins. Matter, indeed, is in it, but controlled and shaped into new forms, foreign to its own nature, to suit the wants of the immaterial being within. Vegetative life is in it, but subservient to higher functions, which the plant could never perform by itself. A conscious perception of the outer world by sen→ sation, however, and a will to react upon it, are powers which place the animal on a higher platform, and make it a being which, by its nature and its functions, is entirely distinct from the lower grades of exist→ ence. Let us cast a glance at the geological hisThe fourth day opens the age of life, with tory of the life system, such as present scithe appearance of the sun, moon, and stars ence enables us to read it, and the admirain the heavens visible from the earth-able correctness of the Mosaic account will work which apparently still belongs to the be evident. physical order, but whose object is to bene- Geology informs us that the terrestrial fit life. “Let there be lights in the firmament | of the heaven, to give light upon the earth; and to divide the day from the night; and for seasons, and for days, and for years." crust, down to its lowest attainable depths, is composed of layers placed upon each other, different in mineralogical character and structure, and evidently deposited at the bottom of the ocean. The order of their superposition furnishes the great chronological table of the events which took place during their formation; the lowermost stratum-the first deposited-being the oldest : the surface layers-the last formed-being the most recent. These strata preserve in their folds the archives of the creation of organized beings, plants, and animals, whose remains innumerable fill these rocky shelves, and reveal to the geologist the mysteries of the by-gone ages. The sun and moon are not created, they existed before, but now enter into new relations with the earth. During the age of matter the intensity of chemical action. was a source of permanent light-the earth was selfluminous-the light of the sun, moon, and stars being merged in the stronger light of its photosphere, and therefore invisible to it. But after the disappearance of its luminous envelope, our glorious heavens, with sun, moon, and stars, become visible, and the earth depends upon this outside source for light and heat. Its spherical form causes the unequal distribution of both which establishes the differences of climate from the pole to the equator. Its rotation gives, for the first time, a succession of day and night, which breaks the permanent light of the preceding age. Its revolution round the sun brings, in their turn, the seasons and the years. Thus are prepared the physical conditions necessary to the existence of living beings, the periods of activity and rest, of summer and winter, and that variety of temperature and 4. The age of the reptiles, in the Mesozoic moisture which fosters the almost infinite rocks-triassic,jurassic, and cretaceous. Five great ages of life may be distinguished, each of them characterized by the predominance of a certain class of animals, and marking the great steps of gradual progress in the vast system of the living forms of the past: 1. The age of invertebrated animals, contained in the Silurian series of rocks. 2. The age of fishes, in the Devonian series. 3. The age of the first land plants, in the Carboniferous rocks. 5. The age of the mammals, in the Tertiary | the elephant and the powerful organization rocks. These are preceded, as a preface, by an age ef protophytes and protozoans in the so-called azoic or archaic rocks, and closed by the age of man, in the quaternary and present age. In the first, the primordial fauna makes its appearance in the lowermost Silurian strata, and is represented by marine forms of the three great archetypes of invertebrated animals-the radiates, mollusks, and the articulates. They appear all at once on the same level, and not successively. During untold ages, represented by successive deposits of rocks amounting to over 15,000 feet in thickness, corals and plant-like radiates, mollusks of all grades-some of gigantic size-numberless crustaceans of embryonic form, swarm in the tepid waters of the ocean; but not a fish is found, save a few at the very end of this long period of existence, as forerunners heralding the coming of higher forms. This is the reign of the lower animal life—the involuntary life-typified by the invertebrates. of the lordly lion, the king of the brute creation. The mammal-the typical vertebrate, the perfect animal-now reigns in his turn, but will soon also have to yield its sceptre to man. The facts just mentioned speak a strong language. They tell us that creation is a reality. The archetypes of the Silurian are not derived from one another, for they appear all simultaneously. Science fails to discover traces of a direct descent of the vertebrate from the invertebrate, whose plan of structure is entirely unlike; of the large fishes of the Devonian from any preceding animal form; of the huge reptiles of the middle ages of life from the fishes of the Devonian. The gigantic pachydermis, which appear suddenly at the tertiary epoch, are not the offspring of the reptiles of the age preceding. The bond which unites them is of an immaterial nature; the marvelous unity which we observe is in the plan of the Creator. We should then acknowledge a plan admirable in conception, admirable in exeIn the second age, the Devonian strata cution. There is a wisdom which devises, contain in abundance remains of the fish a free will, and a power, which executes and tribe, which is added to the riches of the creates in succession, at the appointed time, sea, and takes the lead among the tenants of when it is fitting, and not a single great unthe ocean; for, though the lowest grade in conscious whole which is developed by itself. the archetype of vertebrates, it belongs to In the order of time there is progress. The the higher level of animal life, in which sen- inferior being always precedes the superior; sation and will predominate. The strange the imperfect the perfect. Inorganic nature forms of these first fishes-their reptilian precedes organization. The watery element character, their powerful organization-reigns before terrestrial; the aquatic and inmake them the scavengers and the kings of ferior animals before the terrestrial and suthe seas. This is the reign of fishes. perior. In the series of the vertebrated animals, we see fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammifers appearing in the ages of the globe in the order of their perfection. The accordance of these results of geology with the Mosaic account is so evident that no further explanation is necessary. In the third-the Carboniferous age-the continents, which were slowly growing under the water, reach the surface. These newly emerged, still swampy lands, cover themselves with a mantle of verdure. In the warm and moist atmosphere of this day, charged with carbonic acid gas, humble cryptogams grow to stately forest trees, and a luxuriant growth of ferns and allied plants furnish the material for the vast beds of coal so precious to civilized man. This is the reign of the lower land plants, purifying the atmosphere of its noxious gases, and preparing it for air-er with the large amphibious, the great breathing animals. In the fourth age, monstrous reptiles, first amphibious, together with tall birds, then huge marine saurians and gigantic land reptiles, fill the oceans and inland seas, which teem with an extraordinary abundance of lower marine life. The reptiles are the kings of creation, they reign supreme. Fifth Day.-The work of this day is the creation of the lower animals, up to the birds. "And God created great whales, and every creature which moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, and every winged fowl." The order of their appearance is that discovered by geology: the water animals first, togeth whales (marine monsters), and other reptiles, and then the birds. This corresponds with the first geological ages, the paleozoic and the mesozoic, up to the tertiary epoch. Sixth Day.-The sixth day, which is the third of the era of life, contains two works, as did the third day of the era of matter: first, the creation of the higher animals espreced-pecially living on the dry land, or the mammalia-it corresponds with the tertiary age; and, second, the creation of man in the quarternary age. The fifth age was heralded, in the ing age, by a few small, mostly marsupial mammals. But now the Tertiary opens with a magnificent array of large mammals, which people the new-formed continents and the seas, from the huge whale to the portly form of The First Work.-"And God made the beast of the earth and cattle, after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth." For this of nature are in that admirable equilibrium which we now behold, and which is necessary to our existence. No more mount creation the word made is used, not create, for it is not the first introduction, but the continuation of the life system. The creeping animals of the sixth day are not rep-ains or continents are formed, no new spetiles, but, according to Gesenius, the smaller mammalia — rats, mice, etc. The greatest changes in the mineral and organic creation, according to geology, took place between the cretaceous and tertiary epochs. And there, also, Moses places the beginning of a new day. For not only are the land animals a new set of beings, they are also the highest, and the family to which man belongs as a member of the life-system of nature. | cies of plants or animals are created. Nature goes on steadily in its wonted path. All movement, all progress has passed into the realm of mankind, which is now accomplishing its task. The seventh day is, then, the present age of our globe; the age in which we live, and which was prepared for the development of mankind. The narrative of Moses seems to indicate this fact; for at the end of each of the six working days.of creation we find an evening. But the morning of the seventh is not followed by any evening. The day is still open. When the evening shall come the last hour of humanity will strike. The second work of the sixth day is of a vastly different nature. The creation of man is a fact of such great importance that it could not be mentioned otherwise than separately. Here again, and for the third time, the word bará announces not a simple con- This view of the Sabbath of creation has tinuation of the animal, but the creation of been objected to on account of the form of a new order of existence, the most exalted the command in the Decalogue relating to of all. Three times the sacramental word is the observance of the Sabbath. But those repeated: "So God created man in his own who object confound God's Sabbath with image, in the image of God created he him; man's Sabbath, and forget the word of male and female created he them." That be- Christ that our Sabbath was made for man, ing, made by the Creator in his own im- who needs it, and not for God. God rests as age, upon the creation of whom Moses put a Creator of the material world only to beso much stress, to enforce, as it were, the come active, nay, Creator, in the spiritual idea of his dignity, could not be confounded world. His Sabbath work is one of love to with the animals. But why does he place man-the redemption; his creation is that this creation, not in a separate day, but with of the new man, born anew of the Spirit, in So man is the mammalia in the sixth day? Man is the the heart of the natural man. crowning act of the Creator. He is the sum- commanded to imitate God in leaving once mary of all perfections scattered through the in seven days the work of this material animal kingdom, of which he is the key-world, to turn all his attention and devote stone. He is the end and aim of the whole his powers to the things of heaven. development of our planet, and as such belongs to this physical earth. But he is also a being of a new and superior order, and, therefore, must be kept distinct. The appearance of the physical man is the prophecy and the promise of a future and more perfect age of development which begins with himthe moral age, that of the historical world. This second work of the sixth day is thus the link between the age of the physical creation and that of the moral development of mankind, as the plant was the link between the material and the world of life. It is the moral world planted in the material world, in order to make it subservient to a higher and better aim. Here end the working days of the Creator. All his other works God had declared to be good; but on the sixth day "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was VERY GOOD." The work of the whole week is now finished, and perfect as God will have it for his purpose-the education of man. Now begins the seventh day, the day of rest, or the Sabbath of the earth, when the globe and its inhabitants are completed. Since the beginning of this day no new creation has taken place. God rests as the Creator of the visible universe. The forces The There are, therefore, three Sabbaths: first, God's Sabbath after the material creation; second, the Sabbath of humanity, the promised millennium, after the toil and struggle of the six working days of history; third, the Sabbath of the individual, short-lived man, the day of rest of twenty-four hours, made for him according to his measure. length of the days in each is of no account. The plan, in all, is the same, and contains the same idea-six days of work and struggle in the material world, followed by a day of peace, of rest from the daily toil, and of activity in the higher world of the spirit. For the Sabbath is not only a day of rest, it is the day of the Lord. Such is the grand cosmogonic week described by Moses. To a sincere and unprejudiced mind it must be evident that these grand outlines are the same as those which modern science enables us to trace, however imperfect and unsettled the details furnished by scientific inquiries may appear on many points. Whatever modifications in our present view of the development of the universe and of the globe may be expected from new discoveries, the prominent features of this vast picture will remain. And these only are delineated in this admirable account of Genesis. These outlines were sufficient for ance on earth. But the same divine hand the moral purposes of the book; the scien- which lifted up before the eyes of Daniel tific details are for us patiently to investi- and of Isaiah the veil which covered the tagate. They were, no doubt, unknown to bleau of the time to come, unveiled before Moses; as the details of the life and of the the eyes of the author of Genesis the earliest work of the Saviour were unknown to the ages of the creation And Moses was the great prophets who announced his coming, prophet of the past, as Daniel and Isaiah and traced out with master-hand his charac- and many others were the prophets of the ter and objects centuries before his appear- | future. The following diagram, which sums up the results of the preceding discussion, may be found of service in making clear the correspondence of the two records : THE GOSPEL AND PHILOSOPHY. BY PROF. ERNEST NAVILLE, OF GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, WHAT is Philosophy? What is the Gospel? What is the true relation between the Gospel and Philosophy? These are the three questions which are briefly examined in this paper. to serious reflection, is the question of questions. The use which each one is to make of his activity evidently depends upon the general object toward which the world in the midst of which he is placed is tending. The duty which each several being has to accomplish as its own share is settled by a general plan, and by a universal order of things. The personal question, What ought I to do? supposes, therefore, this general question, What ought to be done? or, in other words, What is the destination of the I. Philosophy.—Philosophy, in the etymological sense of the word, is the love of wisdom. This love manifests itself in the investigation of a good rule of life, and in the effort of the will to form the life in accordance with that rule. In this sense, philosophy is essentially practical; its object is to find the answer to this question, What ought universe?—the part, at least, of that destiI to do? nation which is to be accomplished by free agents. In another sense, philosophy is the most general, the most abstract, and, to all appearance, the least practical of all studies. It aspires to explain the universe-that is to say, to give a reasonable account of the nature, the origin, and the destination of all things. What is the first cause of the universe? What is the destination of the universe? What is the actual condition of the universe, in its relation to its first cause and to its destination? Such are the questions to which philosophy seeks an answer. a Between this question, What ought I to do? which every one puts to himself unavoidably, and this other question, How is the universe to be explained? which many find an idle one, because they consider it incapable of solution, the distance appears to be great. The practical and theoretical senses of the word philosophy have, however, close connection. Man is responsible for his conduct because he possesses an element of liberty, and because this liberty is found in presence of an obligation revealed by the conscience, and which constitutes duty. The determination of duty is the answer to the question, What ought I to do? The man who, without any scientific culture, follows in each particular case the dictates of his conscience, and honestly accepts all the means of knowledge which are offered to him, is assuredly in the right way. But if life develops according to its regular laws, if reason does its work, there comes a time when a man not only asks himself, What ought I to do under such and such circumstances? but, What ought I to do in the general? What direction ought I to give to my life? What use am I to make of my will? This, for every man who has awaked The destination of creatures is the object with a view to which they have been produced. To have a clear understanding of their legitimate end, we must go back to their principle. The question, What is the destination of the universe? involves, therefore, this further question, What is the first cause of the universe? The conscience does not, in order to make its voice heard, await the solution of these high problems. The conscience speaks, in the absence of all doctrine; it even continues to speak, in a certain degree, in those who profess doctrines which deny its existence. But, as reason develops, it rises to the conception of a general duty, and consequently of a plan which each free being is bound to realize in its own measure. This plan determines the destination of the universe, and carries the mind on toward the Author of the universe, who has settled that destination. To know what I am to do in a general manner, I must know what is the plan for the realization of which I have to work. And so are united the practical sense and the theoretical sense of the word philosophy. Every one has, more or less distinctly, the consciousness of these truths. The question of the final cause of the universe, or, in other words, of the existence of God; the question of the destination of rational beings, or, in other words, of an immortal future-these questions lie at the foundation of all moral doctrine. Has man neither lawgiver nor judge superior to himself, and is he the master of his own life and actions? or has he to pursue an end fixed by a higher will? Does man terminate his existence at death? or is |