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from the Palæozoic period of creation, which reaches its climax in the luxuriant vegetation of the Carboniferous age, to the Mezozoic period; it is marked by the strata of the so-called Permian system, and by the Triassic group, and shows its transitional character mainly by including among the still predominating water animals the first land animals belonging to the classes of the higher Crustacea and Amphibia. But the principal importance of this day of creation consists in the astronomical events with which it deals, and which the Mosaic record describes as its sole work. The great advance made on this day is shown in the establishment of the relation between the stars and the earth, and in the revelation of the sun, with the other heavenly lights, which had been hitherto hidden behind a dull, vaporous, clouded atmosphere. From henceforth the sun begins to operate in its full unveiled strength upon the earth in order to prepare it to be the abode of highly developed organic life, and to call into being a more beautiful and useful kind of vegetation, richer in form and colour than the cryptogamic flora which with its hothouse luxuriance, and absence of fresh soft green leaves, had vegetated up to this time partly under, partly above the surface of the sea; and at the same time to bring forth an increasing variety of more and more highly organized land animals.'

I am afraid that this theory will hardly hold good against palæontologists. They will not admit that the sun first began to give light and warmth on the earth after the Carboniferous age, and that up to that 1 Die Urgeschichte, p. 59.

time the earth was only "warmed by its own heat," and was surrounded by such a thick atmosphere that the sun was quite hidden by it. Nor is it correct to assume that up to this time "a flora without fresh green leaves had vegetated, partly under and partly above the surface of the sea;" and if it were correct it would only strengthen an objection previously raised against the ordinary interpretation of the Concordistic theory, viz. that whereas according to the account in Genesis all kinds of plants came into being on the third day, the geological period corresponding to this day only produces the more imperfect kinds, while, on the other hand, the same period produces water animals, that is, organisms which belong to the creations of the fifth day; and the period which corresponds to the fourth day trenches on the creations of the sixth day in that it produces land animals.

I think that after the explanations I have given to-day, we must admit that if we compare the six days of Genesis with the geological periods, it cannot be denied that there is a certain harmony in some of the main features, but that a parallel in detail between the separate six days and six successive geological periods, which is the most important part of the Concordistic theory, cannot be carried out without constraint.

XIX.

GEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE ACCORDING TO THE IDEAL INTERPRETATION OF THE SIX DAYS.

ON a former occasion' I numbered myself among the supporters of the Concordistic theory, not, indeed, according to its ordinary interpretation, but in a modified form of the same, which, I thought, was not affected by the objections brought against the ordinary interpretation. I wish to-day first to sketch this modification of the Concordistic theory, although I must, at the same time, confess that a more careful examination has convinced me that it is untenable.

The history of the earth, as traced out by geology, may be divided into two great parts, of which the second begins with the first appearance of organic life. The first part comprises the transformation of the earth from a gaseous, fiery, or watery mass to a solid spheroid, or to a spheroid surrounded by a solid crust; the formation of the primitive rocks, and of the older Azoic strata, and the appearance of the first islands and continents. The narrative in Genesis up to the middle of the third day may be brought into harmony with this portion of the earth's history. The Mosaic record begins at ver. 2 with the period in which the earth was covered with water and shrouded in darkness; on the first day follows the appearance of light, on the second In the 2nd ed. of Bibel und Natur, p. 288, cf. p. 260.

1

the setting aside of part of the waters for the formation of an atmosphere, on the first half of the third the appearance of dry land. The only difficulty here is caused by the existence of light, and of the alternation of day and night without the sun; but it is not inconceivable that in some manner not to be clearly defined, but different from the present conditions, light, with warmth and other imponderable fluids, existed and operated on the earth. We need not fear any substantial objections to this view from geologists, simply because they themselves can give us no more trustworthy information concerning this portion of the earth's history than can historians about the mythical period in the history of an ancient people.'

The second part of the earth's history begins in Genesis, as in geology, with the appearance of vegetation. According to Genesis, vegetation appeared on the second half of the third day, and perhaps existed for some time before the earth stood in its present relation to the sun. Genesis does not say how long this condition lasted, but it makes the beginning of the present relation between the earth and the sun follow immediately on the appearance of vegetation. We may therefore assume quite unhesitatingly that vegetation need only have existed a short time-perhaps for a few hours-under other than the present sidereal, atmospheric, and climatic conditions. After these had set in, the animals were created; first (on the fifth day) the water and air animals, and then (on the sixth day) the land animals.

For the reasons given in the last lecture, it is 1 See above, p. 247.

impossible to identify the second half of the third day and the three following days of the Hexameron with the separate periods of the second part of the geological history of the earth, that is, with the separate palæontological periods; the second part of the Mosaic and the second part of the geological history of the earth only correspond generally. In detail, the history of the earth and its organisms given by palæontology seems very different from that given by Genesis, which I have just quoted. For in the paleontological history, the organic beings do not appear in the same order and grouping as they do in the Hexameron; geological events occur in the separate palæontological periods, which entirely or partially changed their fauna and flora, and considerably changed the surface of the earth. In reference to the difference between the Mosaic and the geological records, I added on a former occasion' the following remarks to some observations of Delitzsch's: 2

Although it is said that land and sea were separated from one another on the third day, this does not mean that from thenceforth the boundaries of both were unchangeably fixed, and that the raising of the sea-level and the inundations of the land, which, according to the teaching of geologists, affected the formation of the earth's crust even after the creation of organic beings, that is, after the third day, could not have taken place. The separation of land and sea, and God's decree that from thenceforth both

1 In the 2nd ed. of Bibel und Natur, p. 248 seq.

p. 40.

Genesis, 3rd ed. p. 118 (4th ed. p. 98). Cf. Stutz, Schöpfungsgeschichte,

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