"THE CREATION"

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2270, 2 October 1914, Page 8

"THE CREATION"

IN SIX DAYS, NOT SIX EPOCHS OF 7000 YEARS EACH.

(Published by Arrangement.)

Sir,—Hormuzd R-assam, Esquire, an Assyrian, who was at one time employed by th° Bntish Museum to exploro •Babylonia, told mo that he attended a scientific meeting, where a -Frenchman asked him )f he believed tlie earth was created m six days, when he replied, \\ e are not here to discuss the Scriptural account of Creation; • but if the Jsible had said that God created the" world in 6 minutes I should believe it', because He is almighty " ,

Creation. -vEitsus Preparation. There must be. a difference between these two events. "In the beginning od made Heaven and Earth." We may measure a million years, fifty milI 10116; or more to the "Beginning," for. the time is unlimited. "But tho earth i V . aS i JJ nsi shtly and unfurnished." Gen. 1: 1-2., Sept. To remove the unsightIrness and to. furnish it for the habitation of man required the six days of preparation week. The Town Hall phonograph and pictures exhibited, by the International Bible Students' Association," ha 7e been'setting forth the preposterous theory that the six days of Creation wore of 7000 years-each, making a total-of 42,000 years for the six days, or 49,000 years for the week of seven days. Let. us see-what a very miserable and foolish account'this six epochs makes of the preparation week; lhere are at least seven different- meanings to the word day in the Bible. Ist. It means an undefined period, an epoch of time, "Call upon me in .the day of trouble." " Ps; '50 15.'. "Now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor., 6: 2. . 2nd. It means 1000 years. "One day is with as 1000 ,years, and a ; - thousand.years .as one day. 1 ' 2 Peter 3 : 8. "For 1000 years in .Thy sight are as but yesterday when it is past." Ps. 90: 41 ; ~ 3rd. It means one year! "Forty days, each day for. a year." Numb.' 14: 34. ,Eze.'4: 6. 4th. It means from sunset to sunset. There was ail evening .to each of those six days, and there is no sense or propriety in saying "The evening of the year, or the morning of the year" ; or of that period l being ruled by the. moon for six months of a year, and then ruled by the sun for another half-day of six months. "God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day," and the darkness ho called night. But, these 'terms are not applied to the year. Did God mean an "epoch"? or a period of time not defined?. If so, then there is certainly a mistake-mado in using the word day, and expressly guarding that word ; , m so very many ways. The day which God meant us to understand was one of which there aro two parts, a dark part and»a light.part. The dark part is first ruled by the moon, the stars, and the .light part is ruled by the sun, which buds tho day, of. 24 hours. But the day of 7000''year'!, is mad'e up of many such dark parts, and light parts of the day. 1 On. the third . day of tho Creation week, wo have spring, summer, and harvest all in ono day; In an epoch of : 7000 years we

rave many .such seasons. If God meant six epochs lio. would have said six ;pochs, and not six days. . If ho said six. days and did l not mean it. who is :o;say what he did mean? The .TowSj .vko/ga've us the Biblo and for whom it vas first written, liave 1 always nnderitood that those , days. were, literal days >f 24 hours ' each. They were of the ;am© length 'of .time as the Sabbath Day, which they were told to keep holy. L'he expression,, evening and mSrning, ised six- times over, iis out of place, Then applied to 7000 years. What is ;lie evening and morning of 7000 years ? SVheii Gof said: ''Lot there be light, md there-was liglit,"did -it take 7000 pears'to... accomplish? God said, "Let ihero .be lights iu tho firmament of j leaven, to divide tho day from tho ] light," not to divide 7000 years into ;wo parts. No one supposed that thesa vas 3500, years of a continuous day, md '3500 years of continuous night. Ot lie., sun,- moon, and' stars God-' said, 'Let"them' be for- signs, and,for- seaions, and for days and years." This is ill out- of harniony with the 7C69-years-:or-a-day 'theory. There are many seaions- in 7000 years. If _ one day neans 7000 years, -what will a year nean? "And God ! prepared ■.' two ;reat luminaries, the great luminary, or the rule of the day, and tho. small uminary with tho'stars for the rule of lie' night. And'.Gqd appointed them in he expanse of the heavens to give ight upon the earth, and to rule over he 1 dajy and over the night, and to nako a separation between the light ind.the and God saw that it vas good." The application of these cords and terms, to a period of 7000 •ears for each day would' make the inspired narrative meaningless confusion; )u tho sixth day. (Friday), "God created lian in-his pwn imagp." If the first ive days wero.oMOOO years each, then ho sixth day would be 7000 years also. Suppose that- Adam was made about, tho iiiddle of the sixth day. At the close it' that day he would be .3500 years old. There are seven, days .to tho week of jreat-ion. So we must add 7000 years or tho Saturday, to Adam's life. This kvould make'; him 10,500 years old :at lie end of tlie week. ' AVhen Adam was .30 years old he became the father of lis third son Seth. During the halflay- of Friday, which was 3500 years ong,' according to the 7000 year for a lay theory, Adam became tho father >f Cain, Abel, and Sothj all of whom ivere born on' the first half-day of idam's life. This was. in the Garden if Eden, before their father and mother :ell into sin. Then none of their chiliren were partakers of the guilt of their parents, and they could not be born in sin, or shapen iniquity. If so, why ivere they driven out of the Garden? [n,Gen. 5: 3-5, we are told that "Tho lays after -Adam ha,d begotten Seth were-800 years, and he begat sons and laughters, and all the' days- that Adam lived were 930 vears, and he died." ADAM'S LlFfi IS DIVIDED INTO TWO PAItTS, 130 before tho birth of • Seth, and 800 years after, making 930 yoars altogether. • But if we are to take one day For 7000. years then we must admit that Adam was 3500 years old at the close rf tho first day of his life (Friday), and is ho only lived 930 years more, ho must have died beforo sunset of Friday, and have been buried in tho Galien of Eden. But if we allow that lie lived 930 years' after Creation week, and then add 10,500 years for the first two days of his life, then he must have been 11,430 years old when ho died. Wo are then compelled to tako tho days of the Creation week as periods of twenty-four hours each. Tho first thrc'o.days would bo of tho same length as the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh days. First, because tho day and night of the sun and moon's ruling is only a day of 24 hours: second, these wore the length of days described in tho Creation week; third, the Oreator is tho best likely to kiiow how long it took Him to prepare the heavens and tile earth. He says it was six days. Why not believe Him? Fourth: For a man to say that it took the Almighty 42,000 years, or 15,340,500 days, instead of six, most certainly makes tho Creator, into a liar, and belittles tho great work of Creation. The S.D. Sabbath must also be a period of 7000 years, to be of equal duration to tho other six. 'This was shown on the screen 49,000 years. It is stated, Gen. 2, 3: "That on the seventh day God rested from all His works." Hob, 4, 4: "God did rest on the seventh day from all His works." We should think that seven thousand years a very long rest indeed. When the Fourth word ol Gad-was spoko at Sinai, tho Creator said: "Six days slialfc thou labour and do all thy work. For in sis days the

I Lord made (prepared) heaven and earth, tho sea and all that in' them is, and rested tho seventh day. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it lioly. The seventh day is the Sabbath." Gen. 20: 8-11. , If God rested 7000 years for the Sabbath Day, we must do the same (which is impossible in this life), for we are told to imitate God, in order to bo God-liko or Godly. "Be yo therefore imitators of God as beloved children." R. V. Eph. 5: 1. It would be well for these students of the Bible, who oppose and make void the word of God, -to accept the Sabbath of twentyfour hours which occurs overy week, as the memorial of .Creation, and then they would not forget how long the days of Creation's week were. They should not continue to reject, and disobey the only Commandment which is prefaced by the word "Remember." When they accept the law of God, that or the word of God, from which not a jot or tittle shall pass away., then they will be better fitted, to teach the Bible to international students—l am, etc., DAVID NIELD.