LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. GIFT OF THE BANCROFT Class LIGHT. A period of universal light resulted from the condensation of matter. Every sun and nebula was luminous. No night; no dark- ness ; no opaque bodies ; no shadows. " And God willed that light exist : and light existed." PLATE i. ( See page 235.) LIGHT SEPARATED FROM DARKNESS. Light and darkness were separated by the smaller bodies becom- ing opaque, and casting shadows. The shadows being darkness and night. The light being day. The axial revolutions produc- ing evening and morning. " And God separated the light from the darkness : and God called the light day; and the darkness he called night : and there was evening and there was morning." PLATE 2. ( See page 236.) "And divided the waters which are under the expanse from the waters which are above the expanse." PLATE 3. ( See page 238.) THE LAN OF CREATION, BY K. M. WIDNEY. 1! Los ANGELES, CAL..: 1881. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, BY R. M. WIDNEY, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. John H. Carmany & Co., Printer*, M. Weiss, Hebrew Compositor, fiaa Francisco, Cal. PREFACE. The tendency of recent thought has been toward a belief in the existence of one general, uniform plan of creation, of which every existing thing and law is a con- sistent part. So far as tested by the discoveries of science, it is found that law and order reign supreme. There is no chance within the exterior boundaries of matter in space. If this be true, then all things, single or aggregated, must be under a general law. If such law exists, then there is a general plan co-extensive and co -existent with that law. The following pages are designed to present, in gen- eral outline, what appears to the writer, to be that plan. Only the most general sketch is intended or attempted. The thoughts set forth are submitted to the reader, and it is for him to accept, reject, or modify them to what- ever extent his own knowledge, reason, and judgment may dictate. Los ANGELES, CAL , April, 1881. 235145 ERRATA. Page 31, line 8 from bottom, word 7, read "leave" instead of "have." Page 104, line 2 from bottom, wore 7 >, read " the" in- stead of "its." CONTENTS. PAGE. INTRODUCTION 13 CHAPTER I. THAT THERE is SOME GENERAL PLAN OF CREATION 18 CHAPTER II. THAT MATTER WAS CREATED FROM NOTHING . . 23 CHAPTER III. THAT THERE is A GOD, OMNIPOTENT, ETERNAL, UN- CHANGING, INFINITE, AND OF FREE WILL . . 43 CHAPTER IV. THE PLAN OF CREATION AND ITS GENERAL CHARAC- TERISTICS 49 CHAPTER V. WHAT KIND OF BEINGS WOULD BE CREATED, AND THEIR NUMBER 54 CHAPTER VI. THE LAWS ACCORDING TO WHICH ENJOYMENT is AT- TAINED 59 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. THE CREATION OF MATTER, AND THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH IT WAS CREATED 65 CHAPTER VIII. THE CREATION OF BEINGS WHEREIN LIFE AND MAT- TER ARE UNITED. THE. EXTREMES OF THE CRE- ATION OF BEINGS CAPABLE OF ENJOYMENT . . 69 CHAPTER IX. THE LOWER ORDER OF ANIMALS ARE MORTAL. WHY THE ANIMAL KINGDOM WOULD BE CREATED, AND THE ORDER IN WHICH THE ANIMALS WOULD BE CREATED 73 CHAPTER X. THE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF CREATION . . 80 CHAPTER XL THE ORDER OF MAN, AND ITS SOURCES OF ENJOY- MENT 88 CHAPTER XII. THE FIRST MAN 97 CHAPTER XIII. THE LAW OF ENJOYMENT AS APPLIED TO MAN . . 105 CHAPTER XIV. WHAT WOULD BE REVEALED TO THE RACE OF MAN, AND HOW IT WOUL E AUTHENTICATED . . 109 CONTENTS. VI 1 CHAPTER XV. SUMMARY OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND LAWS . .118 CHAPTER XVI. EVIDENCE TO SHOW THE CREATION OF SPIRITUAL BE- INGS OF DIFFERENT ORDERS 124 CHAPTER XVII. THE EXTENT OF THE CREATION OF MATTER . . 130 CHAPTER XVIII. EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT MAN WAS CREATED AN OR- DER OF BEINGS LOWER THAN THE ANGELS, WHERE- IN MIND AND MATTER ARE UNITED; AND THAT HL HAS BEEN SPECIALLY CARED FOR BY THE CRE- ATOR 136 CHAPTER XIX. EVIDENCE OF A GENERAL REVELATION FOR THE BEN- EFIT OF THE ORDER OF MAN .... 149 CHAPTER XX. EVIDENCE THAT AUTHENTICATES THIS REVELATION . 173 CHAPTER XXI. ANALYSIS AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE HE- BREW TEXT OF THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS. 186 CHAPTER XXII. THE IDEAS CONTAINED IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS 224 Vlli CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. DO THE STATEMENTS IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GEN- ESIS CORRESPOND WITH THE FACTS IN NATURE? . 23! CHAPTER XXIV. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE REVEALED FACTS TO THE MORAL REVELATION. THE CONCLUSIVE CHARAC- TER OF THE EVIDENCE WHICH AUTHENTICATES THIS REVELATION 253 CHAPTER XXV. C^Q'OT 'O OvpavoS,. HEAVEN .... 264 CHAPTER XXVI. CONCLUSION 272 THE PLAN OF CREATION. INTRODUCTION. THE truth of a proposition frequently appears by first assuming it as true, and then showing that it is the simplest that will account for all the known facts to which it relates. In this way it was first demonstrated that the law of gravitation applied to all bodies in the universe. Kepler made over seventy different suppositions as to the shape of the orbits of the planets. Finally, assuming that the orbits were nearly elliptical, with the sun near one of the foci, he demonstrated that it would account for all the facts in the case. The demonstration rests upon this principle that the hypothesis is the sim- plest that will account for all the facts. Assumed propositions may, for the purpose OF CREATION. of argument, be divided into four classes, as follows : First. Comprehensible. Second.. Incomprehensible. Third. Contradictory. Fourth. Absurd. A proposition of the first class is one which the mind comprehends or understands e. g., that the earth is round, or that the moon is in- habited. The proposition may, or may not, be true; but in either case the mind comprehends or grasps it. It is not contradictory it is com- prehensible. A proposition of the second class the in- comprehensible is one concerning which the mind does not understand how it can be true. It possesses elements of which the mind has no knowledge. It is beyond the present grasp of the mind. It does not, however, contain with- in it any contradiction. To assume that at a giv- en instant of time a thing both did and did not exist, is a contradiction. To assume that at one instant it did not exist, and at the next instant it did exist, is incomprehensible ; but it is not THE PLAN OF CREATION. 15 contradictory. The soul of a child at one time did not exist, at a subsequent time it did exist. How this occurs is incomprehensible, but it is not contradictory. A proposition of this sec- ond class may, or may not, be true. Proof may establish it, or may refute it, or may leave it in doubt. A contradictory proposition is one which contains an affirmative and negative. The mind, therefore, clearly comprehends or understands how or why the proposition is not true. To assume that a thing is round and square at the same time, or is entirely black and entirely white at the same time, embraces a contradic- tion. Also, there is a contradiction in the prop- osition that matter, subject to attraction, re- mained diffused throughout space, in a state of rest, for any period of time, with nothing to prevent the attractive force from drawing it to- gether at certain points. It is a contradiction to suppose that attraction, a power which draws together, did not draw together. All proposi- tions of this third class are false are self-de- structive. 16 THE PLAN OF CREATION. An absurd proposition as herein used is one wherein there is nothing incomprehensible or contradictory ; yet it is so at variance with reason that the mind rejects it at once as false. It will be observed that of these propositions the third and fourth classes are always false, viz : the contradictory and absurd. If a hy- pothesis belongs to either the first or second class, we adopt as true that which is the simplest or least complicated, and which will harmonize with all the facts. Of the first class this illus- tration may be given : either the earth revolves on its axis every twenty -four hours, or the heavens revolve around the earth. The first is the simpler hypothesis and is received as true. To illustrate the second class of propositions the incomprehensible we offer this: that some being created matter from nothing, or that it came into existence without such a being It is incomprehensible how any being could create something from nothing. But it is a less simple proposition to suppose that nothing from nothing created matter, or that matter created itself from nothing. Of the above propositions it is THE PLAN OP CREATION. 17 simpler to suppose that some being created matter from nothing; and, in a choice from those propositions alone, it is to be selected. If, therefore, all the propositions or hypothe- ses on a subject are reduced to the third and fourth classes, i. y be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers ; all things were created by him, and for him. Colossians, 1:16. "Who maketh his angels spirits : his ministers a flaming fire. Ps., 104:4. Praise ye him all his angels . . . Let them praise the name of the Lord ; for he commanded, and they were created. Ps., 148: 2, 5. They were created before man. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? declare if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest ? or who hath stretched the line upon it ? Whereupon are the founda- tions thereof fastened? or who laid the corner-stone thereof ; when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Job, 38: 4-7. The angels are of different orders. Above it stood the seraphims. Zsa., 6:2. 128 THE PLAN OF CREATION. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. 1 Thes., 4:16. Who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God ; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. 1 Pet., 3:22 ; Jade, 9. And there was war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. Rev., 12:7. They are innumerable. Is there any number of his armies ? and upon whom doth not his light arise ? Job, 25 : 3. And to an innumerable company of angels. Neb. , 12:22; Dan., 7:10. Angels were seen by different persons. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. Gen., 16:7. And there came two angels to Sodom at even. Gen., 19:1. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way. Num., 22:31. And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a ma.n. Dan., 8:15. Yea, while I locus speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. Dan., 9: 21. And behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips. Dan., 10: 16. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 129 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Luke, 1:11. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth. Luke, 1:26. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying. Luke, 2:13. See also Matth., 28 ; Mark, 16 ; Acts, 12: 7; Rev., 19: 10; Rev., 22:8. Many other instances occur where the Bible refers to them. The evidence in possession of the race tends to establish the existence of angels. We have no evidence to the contrary. In the plan of creation this is probably one of the things for us to know more fully in the future. It is a subject for the exercise of the intellect, and is only revealed incidentally and in connection with other matters. There exists all the proof we could expect under the plan of creation. CHAPTER XVII. THE EXTENT OF THE CREATION OF MATTER. One of the important parts of the plan of creation was shown to be the creation of mat- ter, subject to such laws as would produce the grandest, most complicated, and most beautiful phenomena for the instruction and enjoyment of intelligent beings. It would be impossible in any book to exhaust this branch of the sub- ject, or to set it out in all its detail. That would be an attempt by one individual to com- pass a universe which has for millions of years been evolving phenomena. It is the destiny of the race, and of created intelligences, to herein find subjects for study during eternity to come. We shall, therefore, limit this chapter to a few of the prominent facts in connection with this part of our sub- ject. An idea of the grand extent of this creation THE PLAN OF CREATION. 131 of matter in space may be approximated, if the finite can be said to approximate the infinite, from the following facts. The unassisted eye can behold about five thousand stars in the heavens. The most pow- erful telescopes reveal from thirty to fifty mill- ion distinct stars. The stars of the first magni- tude are at such a distance that it would take their light sixteen years to reach the earth. Now when the reader remembers that light travels more than 182,000 miles per second, or nearly 16,000,000,000 miles per day, he will faintly conceive the great distance of these stars. Let us take this distance as unity, as our meas- uring rod. The distance between the farthest stars visible with the telescope, in opposite parts of space, is estimated to be 850 lengths of our assumed rod ; that is, light traveling nearly sixteen billions of miles per day, would take 13,600 years to wing its weary flight across this vast expanse. Within this area of space are floating from thirty to fifty millions of brill- iant suns, called by us stars. Each one is moving on a line known in science as the re- 132 THE PLAN OF CREATION. sultan t of the force of attraction, exerted by each atom of matter on each other atom. Some of these bodies are moving with a velocity of over tiuo hundred miles per second. This vast procession of celestial torches suspended in space, and circling around the central point of attraction of the whole mass, is called the stel- lar system. It is the system to which our little earth belongs. The known extent of matter is not limited to these vast boundaries. Take now a new meas- uring line of such length that it reaches from side to side of this system. Along this line light speeds for 13,600 years ere it has gone its length. Now permit the imagination to fly on swiftest wings of thought so far beyond the limits of this system, that it gradually becomes smaller and smaller, until the distance is so great that the whole system is a dim star of the fifth magnitude. The measuring line across our system spans but the fraction of a second of an arc as seen from the end of this journey. Will matter be found to exist there? Yes ! In Centauri is a sstem called a star-nebula, THE PLAN OF CREATION. 133 equally great in its extent as the one we have described, and so distant that the aggregate light from its extreme limits reaches us as the light from a star of the fifth magnitude. The distance between this star-nebula and our stel- lar system is so great that light flying through space at the rate of nearly 6,000,000,000,000 (six trillion} miles per year would require many millions of years to pass over the distance. Vast, inconceivably and immeasurably vast as is this space, it only measures one -half of the known distance. For in the opposite part of the heavens are other star -nebulae, forming other systems equally great. In addition to all this, there come to us, from objects in the depths of space, rays of light of such a fugitive char- acter, that science can not yet interpret the message they bring. Many of them undoubt- edly are from systems so far beyond the ones we have referred to, that our most powerful telescopes fail to gather a sufficient number of rays of light to produce an effect that can be distinguished. The spectroscope equally fails to tell us the tidings from these distant objects. 134 THE PLAN OF CREATION. These facts show that the extent of the crea- tion of matter in space is in harmony with the plan of creation. It is on a scale of such magni- tude that it will produce the grandest phenom- ena for the enjoyment of created intelligences. Law and order extend throughout the whole. The atoms under the laws of crystallization are building forms of exquisite beauty. Life in the vegetable and animal kingdoms springs forth clothed in mysterious garments of matter. The complication and beauty evolved, in this material universe, from the single atom to the aggregate of all atoms, are but further evidences of the great plan of creation. No man can even formulate an expression to designate the period of time in the future, when these phenomena shall cease to be evolved. It must, however, lead the mind to the conclusion, that matter has been created throughout space, subject to such laws as will produce the grand- est, most complicated, and most beautiful phe- nomena for instruction and enjoyment. All these are but the words of the Creator to his created intelligent beings. They show forth the THE PLAN OF CREATION. 135 omnipotence, eternity, wisdom, and other attri- butes of God. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handi- work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech, nor language, their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." CHAPTER XVIII. EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT MAN WAS CREATED AN OR- DER OF BEINGS LOWER THAN THE ANGELS, WHEREIN MIND AND MATTER ARE UNITED ; AND THAT HE HAS BEEN SPECIALLY CARED FOR BY THE CREATOR. The plan of creation involves the existence of an order, below the angels, of immortal beings, spirit connected with matter. That man is this order is confirmed by Psa., 8: 5. "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels." Man is spirit and matter united. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen., 2:7. Man is immortal. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Dan., 12: 2. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteous- ness, as the stars forever and ever. Dan., 12: 3. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? Eccl, 3: 21. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 137 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was : and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. EccL, 12:7. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matt., 10: 28. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living ; for all live unto him. Luke, 20: 37, 38. And I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John, 10: 28. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Cor., 15: 52. But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 2 Tim ,1:10 The evidence on these points agrees with the plan of creation, as hereinbefore set out. Another requirement of this plan is that man, on account of his ignorance, resulting from the low order to which he belonged, would have re- vealed to him such facts and laws as were neces- sary in the plan of creation to cause his proper part of enjoyment ; and that this revelation 138 THE PLAN OF CREATION. would be properly authenticated by miracles, prophecy, and internal evidence. We shall now undertake to show that man's creation and history have been in accordance with these requirements. This will more fully appear from a chronological examination of the subject. From our oldest history, the Bible, we learn that the body of the first man was formed out of the earth, and his soul was placed therein by the Creator. The first account of him is as a full grown man, not a child, but as a man. He was not a spontaneous generation, neither was he a developed descendant of a lower order of animals. He was created a new and distinct order, a man from the first. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them. Gen., 1:27. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen., 2:7. The first woman was likewise created of full growth, and not a child. The pair were destined to produce a vast number of descendants, no THE PLAN OF CREATION. 139 two of whom would be duplicates, each varying in some respect from the others. The order of man, presumably, will riot be full until the entire number of individuals is produced, each somewhat different from the other ; and when the process of duplicating would be entered upon the order will be full, and man's destiny as a race on earth probably ended. Man was created in a place where he had plenty of fruit for food, and water to drink. And the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden : and from thence it was parted and became into four heads. Gen., 2:8, 9, 10. He was informed what he should eat. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which i upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for meat. Gen., 1: 29. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden them mayest freely eat. Gen., 2: 1G. Man was then informed that it was the des- 140 THE PLAN OF CREATION. tiny of the race to multiply and to subdue the earth and cultivate it. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and sub- due it : and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gem., 1: 28. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it. Gen. , 2: 15. His uncultivated and undeveloped intellect was given a lesson, a very simple lesson at first, and the intellectual machinery was started in motion. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them ; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field ; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him. Gen., 2: 19, 20. With that simple start, God left that ma- chinery, man's intellect, to its own efforts, to have the pleasure of progressing on, and through all the discoveries and advancement of knowl- edge, until it has reached the astonishing de- velopment and accumulated knowledge of the THE PLAN OF CREATION. 141 nineteenth century. To what this intellectual development will attain can only be dimly in- ferred by comparing man's present intellectual condition with that of the first man. The first man, being wholly ignorant of the law of cause and effect in the moral, intellectual, and physical world, would be more liable to violate that law according to which he must at- tain enjoyment than he would be to obey it. In fact the reader should bear in mind that there is only one right or proper way of doing anything, all other are wrong ways. Left to his own ignorance, he would have many chances to choose the wrong, against one chance to choose the right. Since the Creator knew all these laws, it was proper that he should reveal them as occasion required, espe- cially those laws relating to the proper develop- ment of man's moral nature. It was a first principle in this plan that man should learn to obey whatever God communicated to him. One source of enjoyment for the human race was for the intellect to bave the pleasure of in- vestigating and learning, as scientific facts, the 142 THE PLAN OF CREATION. philosophy of the moral laws, as well as the facts in the purely intellectual world. The in- tellect was to have the pleasure of discovering and learning every created fact or established law. This was to be the work of centuries of patient labor. But in the meantime man would be violating laws that were daily applicable to the growth of his moral faculties. Hence, as it became the duty of a benevolent Creator to re- veal these laws to man, it became a matter of first importance that man should learn to obey, whether he understood the reason or philosophy of the law or not. We find the historical facts to be in harmony with these views. The Creator not only started the intellectual machinery with a very simple lesson, but preceded it. or accompanied it, with a lesson in obedience, and said: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat." Gen., 2: 17. This was a very simple lesson. So much so that it has been ridiculed as absurd, as false on its face, and improbable. Be not hasty in judging. Remember that at THE PLAN OF CREATION. 143 the time this command was given man was in- tellectually a child an ignorant child. A com- mand on some important law relating to his moral nature could not, at that time, have been comprehended by the first man. Does a parent now try to teach a child, one or two years old, or younger, a lesson in obedi- ence by announcing to it a prohibition relating to some abstract subject, requiring great learn- ing and experience to understand? Rather does not the parent prohibit some little thing a flower, a fruit, a spool of thread, or piece of paper. Such a lesson the infant under- stands, and learns obedience. It is hard to conceive of a more appropriate and efficient manner of teaching the first lesson in obedience to the first man, in his mental in- fancy, than the manner set forth in the Bible. Such a lesson would not be appropriate to a man of the nineteenth century, with the usual knowledge of men in this age. It would not do for a permanent and only lesson to man, and it was not so intended. It was a first lesson. It was to be followed up by other lessons of 144 THE PLAN OF CREATION. obedience in the proper time. It was only the first letter of the alphabet of lessons in obedi- ence, in due time to be passed by and other les- sons taken up. Had man learned this lesson, and obeyed, and continued to obey each revealed command of the Creator, no doubt the succes- sive revelations of God would have led the hu- man race in a very different road from that in which it has wandered for the last few thousand years. Undoubtedly God would have so led and di- rected the human race that it would have traversed a pathway free from many or all of what we call evils. Under His leadership man would never have transgressed a single law of his intellectual or moral nature, nor any part of the law whereby enjoyment is attained. Just where and how he would have led man we can not tell. But he would have led him aright, ac- cording to the laws which he has established in his plan from the beginning. Having given this first lesson in obedience, he also warned man as to what would be the result of not obeying. That is, God announced THE PLAN OF CREATION. 145 to man, that if he attempted to guide himself under the unknown moral laws, which his in- tellect had not yet discovered, he would fail ; that he would transgress these laws instead of obeying them. Therefore, God said, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen., 2: 17. We do not understand that God intended to kill the man for disobeying, but that if he commenced to substitute his own will for God's guidance, he would, through igno- rance, violate the laws according to which he was to develop, and thereby would bring upon himself the natural consequences flowing there- from. Death probably was a natural consequence of violating these laws ; just as death now results under the law of gravitation from a person fall- ing over a precipice. Death in this latter case is not a penalty inflicted. It is the result of cause and effect. So death probably is the re- sult, the natural result, of violating the laws above referred to, and is not a superadded pen- alty. When man has sufficiently extended his knowledge and discovers the laws, yet but dim- 146 THE PLAN OF CREATION. ly seen, he may fully understand the philosophy of death as a result of a violation of such laws. Man may yet so far progress in knowledge, that he will see how the pathway in which God would have led him, if he had obeyed, not only the first, but all subsequent commands, would have conducted him to his future life through a way other than through the valley of the shadow of death. It will be observed that God only reveals facts. He does not reveal the philosophy or law of the facts. These are subjects for the in- tellect to investigate, that man may experience the pleasure of learning, as heretofore shown. Man did not learn the lesson of obedience. Exercising his free will, he, in his ignorance, made a mistake and disobeyed. Having dis- obeyed once in his mental infancy, he would see no reason to obey any other command, if he did not at once feel the effects of disobedience, just as parents now punish the child to deter it from further disobedience. The necessity arises from the character or mental characteristics of the race. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 147 The account shows that man was immediately made to realize that a penalty followed disobe- dience. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Gen., 3: 19. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Gen., 3: 23, 24. During the early history of the first man he was made aware of the existence of God. God conversed with him frequently, and thus taught him language. See Genesis, chapters 1 and 2. The fact that the soul was immortal was un- doubtedly revealed, arid distinctly understood. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thou shalt surely die. Gen., 2: 17. If he did not eat, he would not die ; he would continue to live. The destiny of the race to people and possess and use the whole earth was made known. 148 . THE PLAN OF CREATION. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and sub- due it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that inoveth upon the earth. Gen., 1: 28. He was kept under the special care and in- struction of the Creator during his whole life on earth. See Genesis, chapters 1 to 5. The foregoing constitutes all we have that purports to be testimony or history on this part of the subject. The testimony, therefore, shows the facts, so far as ascertained, to be in harmony with the plan of creation, as heretofore pointed out. We have no evidence of a contradictory character on the subject. CHAPTER XIX. EVIDENCE OF A GENERAL REVELATION FOR THE BENE- FIT OF THE ORDER OF MAN. What evidence is there that a revelation has been made to the human race of the law of en- joyment, or of the law by which, and in accord- ance with which, enjoyment is attained? Has any revelation been made of the leading facts in the plan of creation, such as would properly be revealed? Reserving the authenticity of the Bible for a subsequent chapter, we call attention to its con- tents. In Genesis it appears that during the early history of the race revelations to man were frequent, and were generally direct conver- sations between God and man. These conversa- tions were of course more or less handed down as traditions,, and were fully believed for a long time, and by many even to the present day. Later, and as man's intellect developed, and 150 THE PLAN OF CREATION. as writing was invented, not only the important parts of these would be made matter of record, but additional revelations, suited to the ad- vanced condition of the intellect, would also be written and preserved. We thus find from the record referred to (Genesis) that the follow- ing facts were known : The existence of God ; the immortality of the soul ; the destiny of the human race to people the earth and subdue it, and hold dominion over it. and the things there- in ; the disobedience of the first man ; also that God would in some way assist the human race to overcome the injury resulting from the igno- rance of man, and his failure to obey the teach- ing of God in the garden. A knowledge of these things seems to have been handed down among all the descendants of the first pair. In some cases it is dim, in others vivid. According to the plan of creation, no two of the human race would be duplicates, or exactly alike. While all belonged to the same order of man yet no two would be alike, and no two would have descendants exactly alike. In THE PLAN OF CREATION. 151 characteristics they would vary. God, knowing the end from the beginning, saw that in the or- der of man, Abraham and his descendants would most accurately keep the law which he revealed, and would most carefully preserve the record of his revelation, until the time when the human intellect was sufficiently developed, so that the race could and would effectively receive and re- tain the revelations. Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment ; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Gen., 18: 18, 19. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. Gen., 22: 18. Hence, Abraham and his descendants were especially chosen to bear God's revelations, down to the future generations of man. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless tbee, and make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing. Gen., 12: 2. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them ; and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be Gen., 15:5. 152 THE PLAN OF CREATION. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful ; and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. Gen., 17:2,6, 7. The first written enunciation of the funda- mental principles that were to be obeyed in letter and in spirit occurred when the race was some two thousand years old. It is found in Exodus, 20: 1-17. And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth : Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me ; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain : for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 153 Eemember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is- the sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallow- ed it. Honor thy father and thy mother : that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. At that time the intellect of the human race was comparatively little developed, and the rev- elation was proportionately clear and simple. The Jewish ritual, established in connection with this revelation, and the historical facts re- cited in Exodus, were well calculated to keep alive in the minds of the people, and leaders, the great facts revealed and historically re- counted. As the intellect of this people be- 154 THE PLAN OF CREATION. came more developed, we find farther and more minute revelations made as to how man should act. This more prominently appears in Leviti- cus, wherein the purity of God's nature and his requirements of purity in man, are more fully stated. All this requirement of purity, and this revelation, tend to show that man, in order to attain the greatest enjoyment, for the greatest time, to the greatest number, with the least in- jury to the few, must be pure ; that is, must avoid the known violation of the law of en- joyment. It is revealed that love must be the sole motive of man's actions to God, to man, and to beast. Throughout Numbers the same ideas are im- pressed, and further elaborated. From the his- torical facts therein recited, in chapter 16, it was further established that the plan of creation, as applicable to man, could not, and should not, be thwarted by man's acts. Deuteronomy comes later in the history of the race, and at a time when the intellect was much more developed. The accumulated ex- perience and knowledge of the race, and espe- THE PLAN OF CREATION. 155 ciully of this tribe, fitted it to receive more fully this revelation. The social relations had be- come more complicated. In pursuance of the plan of creation, that no two persons should be alike or duplicates, there had arisen a greater variety of mental and moral faculties. The members of the race had also vastly increased, forming many other nations. The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you as he hath promised you. Deuteronomy, 1: 10, 11. In accordance with this changed and advanced condition of the human race, we find a more complete revelation of the law of enjoyment, or the law by which the greatest enjoyment would be attained by the greatest number, for the greatest length of time, with the least in- jury to the fewest individuals. Deuteronomy contains a revelation applicable to all these new and complicated social relations. It lays down laws and principles that have never been improved upon by any nation or people in any code of laws. In chapter 28 is announced, 156 THE PLAN OF CREATION. in unmistakable terms, the result of obedience and disobedience to the laws of man's existence and development. The whole book of Deuter- onomy is a most remarkable enunciation of the laws referred to, and of the necessity of obedi- ence, as exemplified by the preceding history of the tribe. See Deut., chapters 29 to 32. In these chapters is recounted to the people their past history, and the past care of them by God. They are warned as to the future, and charged to keep the revealed law. They are further informed that if they do not that they will be punished, or that they will bring suffer- ing upon themselves. In all the foregoing books of the Bible is revealed the fact that God will forgive the transgression of man, if man repents. This is especially set forth in Ezek., 18:20-32; 33: 12-19, as follows: The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed., and keep all my statutes, and do that THE PLAN OF CREATION. 157 which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die ? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live ? But when the righteous turneth away from his right- eousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live ? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. Yet, ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel. Is not my way equal ? are not your ways unequal ? When a righteous man turneth away from his right- eousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them ; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal ; are not your ways unequal ? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Kepent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions ; so in- iquity shall not be your ruin. 158 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed : and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God : wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression : as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness ; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right ; If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without commit- ting iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be men- tioned unto him : he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal : but as for them, their way is not qual. When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. TIIE PLAN OF CREATION. 159 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. It is further revealed that by prayer man will be facilitated in attaining enjoyment. That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there ; that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. 1 Kings, 8: 29. See also, 45 to 52. O thou that nearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Psa., 65: 2. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This shall be written for the gen- eration to come : and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. Psa., 102:17, 18. See also, Prov.y 15: 8. The Lord is far from the wicked : but He heareth the prayer of the righteous. Prov., 15: 29. Love as the motive of all acts is set forth as the whole law. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good ? Deut. , 6: 5; 10: 12. See also Deal., 30: 6. The disciples proclaimed the same divine law. 160 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.- .Rom., 13: 10. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Gal., 5: 14. If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. Jas., 2: 8. By this law the greatest enjoyment, for the greatest time, to the greatest number, with the least suffering to the fewest individuals, is at- tained. It is clearly set forth that this life is but the beginning, and is preparatory to future exist- ence; and that it shall be well with those in the future state who live according to this law. It is with equal clearness announced that it will not be well with those who do not so live. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil a hun- dred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know- that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him : But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God. EccL, 8: 11, 12, 13. In other words, it is set forth clear as the sun at noonday, that those who live according to this law, will attain to the greatest enjoyment, THE PLAN OF CREATION. 161 and that those who live in violation of this law, will not attain that enjoyment. Transgression of the law is called sin, and is always described .as attended with suffering, to a great or less ex- tent. The intention with which an act is done in all cases constitutes the moral offense. The fact is revealed that where man transgresses the law intentionally, and upon reflection sees that it is wrong, and regrets it, with a desire to do it no more, and resolves not again to commit the act, and asks God to forgive him, that God will forgive, and thereby save the man from the suffering consequent upon his transgression of the law. The connection between cause and effect, ac- cording to a fixed law, would not in many of the matters revealed be known by man at the time of the revelation. Hence they would have to be accepted as a matter of faith. The knowl- edge of the connection between cause and effect is a matter of apprehension by the intellect. The plan of creation contemplates that all such matters shall be left for the intellect to discover. 162 THE PLAN OF CREATION. As the intellectual development of the race progresses, it will gradually discover this con- nection between cause and effect in the matter revealed. When sufficient had been revealed, and made matter of record, then revelation ceased. As the years passed by, and the authentication of the records became matter of history, and of memorials, doubts arose in the human mind. Man constantly transgressed the law. He asked, Is it possible, even if assisted by God, to live as required by this revelation? Can God cause the dead to live? And is the soul immortal? Are the things revealed true? Does God care for these atoms of humanity? These doubts grew until they possessed nearly the whole race. Even the Jews, who had been from the first as a tribe witnesses of the evi- dence of these revelations, had begun seriously to doubt on these points. The book of Job shows the doubt existing in his day. When the proper time arrived, the great demonstration of these things was given, and the law announced anew, and illustrated in the life and teachings of Christ. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 163 It is recorded that God took upon himself the form and body of a man, lived and talked with man, was tempted and afflicted as men usually are, and that His human nature, strengthened by His divinity, was sufficiently strong to live without transgressing the law, thus demonstrating to man that human nature, aided by God, could live in accordance with the revealed law. This Being also raised the dead to life. He passed through what we call death and arose again, thus demonstrating that death was neither annihilation, nor all powerful over life. He also re-announced that love was the fulfilling of the law. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these hang all the laws and the prophets. Matt., 22: 37-40; Mark, 12:30-33. These clear enunciations of the law, by which the greatest enjoyment to the greatest number is attained, were by Christ repeatedly announced, as applicable to special circumstances and times, and illustrated by many sayings and parables. 164 THE PLAN OF CREATION.' He also clearly announced that transgressions of the law when repented of would be forgiven by God ; that living according to the revealed law would result in the greatest enjoyment. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Coine, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matt., 25:34. That transgressing the law would result in suffering. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matt., 25: 41. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Malt. , 25 : 46. It is revealed that transgressing the law of development, or the law of enjoyment, is sin. Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John, 3: 4. The revelations herein referred to constitute only a part, being limited to the revelation of the more general and essential principles. Space will not admit of a reference to all the minor and specific revelations in harmony with the general ones. It is to be observed that these revelations THE PLAN OF CREATION. 165 were peculiarly adapted to the times and cir- cumstances when they were given, and were specially adapted, or suited, to the intellectual development of the race at the time they oc- curred. Christ's life and teachings would have been out of place in Adam's day ; but they were well suited to the developed intellect, mature expe- rience, and social condition of the age when they occurred. The simple command to Adam not to eat the fruit from a certain tree would have been out of place and absurd in Christ's day. But it was just such a command, to de- velop obedience, as was needed for Adam in his intellectual infancy. A beautiful, highly- colored, luscious apple was a thing he would first want, and daily want, and desire to have ; hence it was the thing appropriate in his early days to develop his obedience. A command to him not to kill, not to steal, not to bear false witness, etc., would have been out of place, for he would have no occasion to do any of those things. The foregoing matters relate to the moral 166 THE PLAN OF CREATION. nature directly. In addition to them there have been revealed a class of facts that more properly relate to the intellect. That is, they are facts of intellectual apprehension, but are collaterally important to the moral questions revealed. In the preceding part of this chapter we have considered the revelation of the law by which enjoyment is to be attained, with incidental notice of some subjects closely connected therewith. They embrace a class of subjects which the intellect could not discover, and for the want of such knowledge the race would be constantly and forever violating those laws, and incurring the suffering naturally resulting therefrom. In addition to and closely con- nected with them is a certain class of facts of a scientific character which are apprehended by the intellect as facts in nature. They are of such a character that the intellect does not, and can not, readily discover their existence. As primary causes they existed far back in the past, and can only be discovered by a long scientific investigation of the chain of effects THE PLAN OF CREATION. 167 # from that time down to the present. In point of time they existed long before man was on the earth, and he has no history thereof, except such as is recorded in the great book of God to his created intelligences the material universe and its laws. To read this book to such an ex- tent requires vast experience, accumulated ob- servations, and high intellectual 'development. The following facts belonging to this class have been revealed: The existence of a God and that he is eternal. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deut., 33: 27. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from ever- lasting to everlasting, thou art God. . . . For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Psa., 0: 2, 4. See Rev., 4:8-11. That He is omnipotent. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God ; walk before me and be thou perfect. Gen., 17:1. See Exodus, 6: 3. Unchanging. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old, like a garment ; as a vesture shalt 168 THE PLAN OF CREATION. thou change them, and they shall be changed: But them art the same, and thy years shall have no end. Psa. t 102: 26, 27. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. Heb., 6: 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and corneth down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James, 1:17. Omniscient. O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down- sitting and mine up-rising, thou un~ derstandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I can not attain unto it. Psa., 139: 1-6. See Prov., 5: 21 Omnipresent. Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord. Jer. t 23:24. Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there, ffl take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ; even there shall thy hand lead ma, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me ; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from.thee ; but the night shineth as the day: the dark- THE PLAN OF CREATION. 169 ness and the light are both alike to thee. Psa., 139: 7-12. See Jer., 23:23, 24. The only God. Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God: there is none else beside him. Deut., 4: 35. Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his Re- deemer the Lord of hosts ; I am the first, and I am the last ; and beside me there i^ no God. ... Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. Isa., 44: 6, 8. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. Isa., 43: 10. Of free and irresistible will. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Dan., 4: 35. See Job, 38: 33. That He controls nature. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar ; the Lord of hosts is his name. Jer., 31:35. Thus saith the Lord ; if my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth. Jer., 33: 25. That He created the heavens and the earth, and all things therein. 170 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Thou, even them, art Lord alone ; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all ; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. Ntth. ,9:6. Gen., 1 : 1. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made ; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. Psa., 33: 6, 9. Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out ; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it. Isa., 42: 5. See Eeb., 3:4; Rev., 4: 11. That God is the source of life. For with thee is the fountain of life : in thy light shall we see light. Psa., 36: 9. Isa., 42: 5. That the soul is immortal. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? EccL, 3: 21. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Eccl. t 12:7. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matt., 10: 28. Neither can they die any more : for they are equal unto the angels ; and are the children of God, being the chil- dren of the resurrection. Luke, 20 : 36. And I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. John, 10:28. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 171 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 1 Cor. t 15: 53. See also 2 Tim. t 1: 10. That the future existence is one of enjoyment or of suffering. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying", neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Rev., 21: 4. And there shall be no night there ; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun ; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. Rev., 22:5. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. Matt., 25: 46. An outline history of the facts or order of creation is given. See Gen., 1: 1-31 ; 2: 1-4. It is also revealed that the present order of the universe is not stable, but that it shall pass away and be changed. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment. Isa. t 51:6. And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll : and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the Tine, and as a falling jfigr from the fig-tree. Isa., 34: 4. It is further revealed what shall come after 172 THE PLAN OF CREATION. this change ; and that there shall be evolved new heavens and new earths. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth : and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Isa., 65: 17. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me. Isa., 66: 22. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. Rev. , 21 : 1. In addition to the foregoing, many other facts are either expressly or impliedly revealed. These accounts, therefore, show that the human race is in possession of a knowledge of such laws and facts as would in pursuance of the plan of creation be revealed. CHAPTER XX. EVIDENCE THAT AUTHENTICATES THIS REVELATION. A revelation, such as we have referred to, would not only be properly authenticated at the time it was given, to convince those who received it, but evidence would be given of such a character that it would be a perpetual proof to all generations. Such evidence we find in this case, and it is adapted in every instance to the intellectual development of the race at the time it was given. Direct revelation from God, miracles, prophecy, and the character of the facts revealed, constitute the evidence. During the early history of the race revela- tion was by direct conversation with God. And God said unto them (Adam). Gen., 1: 28, 29. And the Lord God commanded the man. Gen., 2:16-18. And they heard the voice of the Lord God, etc. Gen., 3: 8-19. And the Lord said unto Cain. Gen., 4: 6, 9. 174 THE PLAN OF CREATION. And God said unto Noah. Gen., 6: 13. And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said. Gen., 12 : 17. Yery many other instances occur, as recorded in the Bible. This was the most appropriate evidence for man in his early history, while the intellect was yet undeveloped. Neither miracle nor prophecy could have been understood at that time. The rising and the setting of the sun would be as great a miracle to Adam, during the first days of his life, as it would be for him to see a river of water burn up. To see an animal in deep sleep, and then awaken, would to him at first be as miraculous as to see a dead animal brought to life. A miracle is an event that occurs contrary to, or not in accordance with, any known law of nature. For a miracle to be evidence, implies in the beholder a knowledge of the laws of nature on that subject. This knowledge is a matter of experience, observation, and of in- tellectual acquirement. What did Adam know of the laws of nature at first? How could he distinguish a miracle, THE PLAN OF CREATION. 175 or that any event was, or was not, in accord- ance with some law of nature? Of course he and his descendants, by daily ex- perience and observations, soon saw that some things occurred in succession or rotation, but the changing of the seasons, growth and decay of fruits, flowers, and animals, soon showed that all was marked with change. What change would occur next they could not tell. Hence a miracle could not have been distinguished by them from any one of the changing, mysterious phenomena that were daily occurring. A mira- cle would, therefore, be to them no evidence to support a revelation. Prophecy would to them equally fail as evi- dence. The proof of prophecy is a thing oc- curring in the future, and requires knowledge and experience to distinguish it from ordinary affairs. The statement to Adam the first day he lived, that on the next day he would be hungry, would be to him a prophecy; so would the statement that the sun would continue to rise and set, or that the fruit- and flowers would re -appear in season. Prophecies not fulfilled 176 THE PLAN OF CREATION. in his day would be no evidence to him. Prophecies fulfilled in the lifetime of the first members of the race would be of little weight, owing to the changing nature of all that was surrounding them. For want of knowledge they were unable to determine between the ful- fillment of a prophecy and any regular event occurring in longer or shorter periods of time. They could not distinguish the foretelling of an eclipse from a prophecy. To test this state- ment let the reader take a child who has never seen an eclipse, and tell it that on a given day and hour one year thereafter the sun will ap- pear black, and darkness will come over the earth at noonday. Also, tell the child that on a given day and hour, at a given place, a train of cars will run off the track, and that a man, giving his name, will be killed by the accident, and that no one else will be injured. Let both of the above events occur in the presence of the child. Which would be by it considered a prophecy? If not both, would not the eclipse be the more impressive event? Would it not to the child be more satisfactory proof of some- THE PLAN OF CREATION. 177 thing supernatural, than restoring sight to the blind, or hearing to the deaf? Therefore miracles and prophecies would not be satisfactory proof of a revelation to the first members of the human race. A direct commu- nication from God would be the best. God, who created man with all his mental faculties and organs for receiving communications, could so communicate with man that he would know that God spoke. His fellow man might doubt that a communication had been received, but the one receiving it could not doubt. This plan of direct communication com- menced with Adam, and continued without miracles about 2,200 years down to the time of Jacob. God spoke to Adam. See Gen., 1 : 25, 29 ; 2: 16-18; 3: 8, 19. To Cain. Gen., 4: 6, 7, 9. To Enoch. Gen., 5: 24. To Noah.- Gen., 6: 13-17; 7: 1. To Abraham. Gen., 12:1, 7. To Isaac. Gen., 26:2, 24. To Jacob. Gen., 28: 13-15 ; 31: 3 ; 35: 1, 10. Nearly every nation and race has legends that far back in the dim and early history of its ori- gin God and angels conversed with their ances- 178 THE PLAN OF CREATION. tors, and gave instructions and advice. The character of the communication has in most instances been perverted or lost. The Jews have best preserved that which was communi- cated to them. Presumably instructions were given to all the early members of the race until through wickedness the communications failed to produce any benefits, then they ceased. During the period of over 2,200 years men became acquainted, to some extent, with the laws of nature, and man was prepared to receive miracles as evidence. Man was also prepared \to record this evidence in writing for future generations. Miracles commence with the call of Moses. See Ex., 3: 2. They are of frequent occurrence for a period of about 1,800 years down to the time of Christ. Miracles properly witnessed and recorded in writing, and commemorated by institutions, and a perpetuation of ceremonies, are a very valua- ble class of evidence for all time and all people. This class of evidence, and the evidence of prophecy, are fully discussed in such writings as "Watson's Institutes," "Paley's Evidences," THE PLAN OF CREATION. 179 and other works. We will, therefore, pass them without further comment. The foregoing evidence is not of such a char- acter as to produce conviction in the minds of the greatest number of men. To all, except those present, it is but hearsay. The people of the present day, of their own knowledge, do not know but that all these books and recorded miracles and prophecies are fabrications. We know not of our own knowledge but that all the histories of the ancients are fabrications. It is not reasonable to believe that they are such, but we do not know of our own knowl- edge that they are not. This evidence was at the time it occurred the best and most appro- priate, and is corroborative of, and corroborated by, other evidence. Without it the list of evi- dence would not be complete. There is another class of evidence which to the people of the present day, with their ad- vanced intellectual development, and vast accu- mulated knowledge of scientific facts, is as conclusive in this age of the truth of this reve- lation as were miracles or direct conversation 180 THE PLAN OF CREATION. with God ill the former ages. It is a class of evidence which must become stronger and clearer as the intellect more fully develops, and as science accumulates more facts. It is evi- dence internal and inherent in the subject mat- ter revealed, and is of such a character that it could not have been known to the human race as scientific facts at the time the race came into possession of the knowledge. It is evidence that can not be fabricated. Several thousand years ago it was positively announced, not as a hypothesis, but as a fact, that there is a God, who had created the uni- verse and everything that has life. "In the beginning God created the heavens and earth." -Gen., 1: 1, 25. See also Neh., 9:6; Psa., 33: 6 ; Isa., 42: 5 ; Heb., 3: 4. Without fixing the date at which this fact was first announced to man, it is sufficient that it be referred to a period several thousand years ago. Certainly not less than 3,000 years. From that time down to the present that fact has been contro- verted, so far as evidence is concerned. Those who do not accept revelation have constantly THE PLAN OF CREATION. 181 affirmed that there is no proof yet discovered which established the fact, while many of the very learned claim that science directly contra- dicts the proposition. But for these thousands of years the intellect has been pushing its investigations, through science, far out into the depths of the universe, and far back into the ages of the past, and has been reaching out into the dim future. The laws of cause and effect have been ex- amined. From all these sources vast numbers of facts have been discovered. The scientific world is rapidly reaching, if it has not already reached, the conclusion that a being, intelli- gent and eternal, has created the universe and all that is therein. We refer the reader at this time to Chapters II and III, where the argu- ments set out apparently establish this propo- sition beyond reasonable controversy. It also there appears as a corollary that He is an omni- potent, eternal, unchanging being, of free will. Many of the facts of science which constitute this evidence were unknown even a century ago. At the time man was first informed that God 9 182 THE PLAN OF CREATION. created all things these truths were all unknown. At that time man, by searching nature, could not have found out God. This evidence was a matter for the intellect to discover. According to the plan of creation it would be left for man to discover, being only collateral to the main subject of revelation, thereby adding to the en- joyment of the members of the race. As the intellect develops, and accumulates knowledge in science, this evidence will increase until the fact becomes as well established as any of the laws or facts in nature. There are some other very remarkable state- ments relating to the future in the Bible, as follows: Lift up your eyes to tho heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for tho heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment. Isa., 51:0. And all the host of heaven shall bo dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll : and all their host shall fall down, as tho leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig- tree. Isa., 34: 4. And tho heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together ; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Rev., G: 14. Heaven and earth shall pass away. Matt., 24: 35. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 183 Not only is there set forth the fact, that the earth and the heavens shall be changed from their present form, but there is a remarkable detail set forth. "The heavens shall vanish away like smoke.' 1 "They shall be rolled to- gether as a scroll. 1 ' A. scroll is rolled in a spiral. The motion of matter in a nebula toward the centre is in a spiral. The motion of the planets is in a spiral toward the sun. The motion of all the hosts of heaven is also in spiral courses toward a centre ; and it is merely a question of time until they all arc thus rolled together as a scroll when it is rotted together. When the heavens, or parts of the universe, are thus rolled together as a scroll the collision, will produce such a degree of heat that "the earth shall melt with fervent heat," and the various planets and suns will "vanish away like smoke." They will be dissolved into smoke or vaporized matter. This matter will continue its spiral motion, rolling up as a scroll, from its nebulous form into new forms. New heavens and new earths will thus be produced. ^ And all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth 184 THE PLAN OF CREATION. off from the vine, and as a falling^ from the fig-tree. 7sa.,34:4. The leaf and the fig fall by the attraction of gravitation. By the same force all the hosts of heaven are falling together to the common centre. The falling showers of meteors only indicate coming events ; and they fall as the leaf falleth from the vine, silently, numerously, by attraction. Sir Isaac Newton, observing the falling apple, announced the law of gravitation, and that it extended to the heavenly bodies. Isaiah an- nounced the same fact twenty -five hundred years before, with the further statement that this force would cause all the hosts of heaven to vanish away like smoke, and to be rolled up as a scroll. These facts, set forth many thou- sands of years ago, have been established by scientific research within the last few years. At the time they were first announced no in- vestigation had demonstrated them to be true. For centuries thereafter the voice of science was against them. The stability of the uni- verse, and of the earth, were supposed to be THE PLAN OF CREATION. 185 fixed beyond question. The announcement, therefore, of the facts referred to, at a time when the race was not possessed of sufficient knowledge to have discovered them, furnishes evidence to present generations that they were revealed to man by a being who knew them. They authenticate the moral revelation with which they are connected, and which is based in many of its declarations upon these things as true. The first chapter of Genesis has been assailed by the opponents of revelation as being in con- flict with the facts of science ; and the conclu- sion is reached that the whole purported reve- lation is the work of man. Without fear of successful contradiction it may be safely asserted that the ideas conveyed by the original Hebrew text are in harmony with the truths in nature. A. more accurate scientific description can not to-day be written by any one, in an equal number of Hebrew words, than is written in the original text of the first chapter of Genesis. An analy- sis and literal rendering of the original text will be given in the next chapter. CHAPTER XXI. ANALYSIS AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE HEBREW TEXT OF THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS. Is the Mosaic account of the creation correct? Does the first chapter of Genesis correctly de- scribe events relating to the origin of mat- ter and the changes through which it passed down to the creation of man? If it does not, we must treat that part of it as a fraud on the human race. But to ascertain the ideas con- veyed in that chapter, we must examine it in the language in which it was first written, and must attach to the words and idiom the mean- ing belonging to them at the time the chapter was written. Words and sentences are but symbols of the ideas existing in the mind of the person using them. The person hearing or reading the words may not receive the same ideas intended to be conveyed by the person using them. The truth, therefore, expressed by THE PLAN OF CREATION. 187 the first person is not to be determined by what the hearer or reader understood, but by the ideas intended to be embodied in the words. The correctness, therefore, of the Mosaic ac- count is to be determined by ascertaining the ideas embodied in the original Hebrew text at the time Moses put the words together as sym- bols of those ideas. As Moses wrote in an early age, not very remote from the time when the Hebrew words were first reduced to writing, and before the words had been by usage varied from their root meaning, we must give great weight to the root or primary meaning. Es- pecially must this be done where that meaning differs from the later meaning. It must be borne in mind as very important that Moses used the words with the meanings attached t;) them at the time he wrote, and not with the meaning that was attached to them centuries after that date, or given to them by translators. The Hebrew language is very limited in scien- tific nomenclature. At the time Moses wrote there were few or no scientific words in it re- lating to natural science. He would, therefore. 188 THE PLAN OF CREATION. be compelled to select such words from common use as would best embody such ideas on scien- tific subjects as would be expressed collaterally, while treating on moral, theological, or histori cal subjects. A fair examination, under the foregoing prin- ciples, will show that a general description or outline history of the earth, from the creation of matter to the creation of man, would be the same as the one given by Moses in the first chapter of Genesis in the original Hebrew. A minute description or history of the earth, from the creation of matter to the creation of man, would fill a great many large volumes. One volume could contain only a very general de- scription j while one page or one short chapter could contain only the most general outline of the prominent changes. In the following pages, in the second column, are given the Hebrew words. The prefixes are separated from the word, and are indicated by a hyphen to the left. This is done so that the definition of the prefix may be given by itself. In the third column is given the definition of THE PLAN OF CREATION. 189 the word taken from the standard Hebrew lex- icons. These definitions are made complete, so that the reader may clearly see the fullness of the idea embraced in the original. Words in brackets in this column are by the author, and are submitted as additional definitions of the Hebrew. . In the fourth column are the words in English most nearly conveying the meaning of the text, as embodied in the aggregate of words in the middle column. The reader is at liberty to make his own selection of words from the definitions for this third column, if he prefers so to do. The words in parenthesis in the fourth column are not in the original, but are implied, and nre inserted to complete the sense. To avoid repetitions, the words are all num- bered, and when the same word occurs, refer- ence by number is made to the full definition. Unimportant words, that is words concerning the meaning of which no question arises, are not referred back for definitions. 0* 190 THE PLAN OF CREATION. TRANSLATION OF THE HEBREW TEXT OF THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS. text O -n T Definition. In, at, in respect to, concerning. Used with verbs of motion. The beginning, first, commence- ment. Hoot, to be moved, to be shaken. Created, to form out of nothing. Gods. This same, the thing itself, in its entirety, totally; [both also. The first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This word is translated in Sanscrit, "sum and substance ; or elementary particles." Atoms of matter. ] This, the. Heavens, denotes extension or parts. Root, to bo high. And. Also. (See No. 5, idem.) The. Earth, ground, elements of the eavth, earthy p^rt. [In Hebrew the phrase*" the heavens and the earth, "means the Universe. From the verbs to bo high, and to be low.] Translation IN the beginnliv created God both the heavens and also the earth. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 191 Hebrew text Definition. Translation. -] And. And -h The. the T n? Earth. (See No. 11, idem.) earth nrvn Was. was T :T inn Wastcness, emptiness, nothing, abyss, chaos. [Not formed.] without form _^ And. and T (in) inn Emptiness, voidness, confusion. (Seo Jcr. 4:23; Isa. 34:11.) confusion; -1 And. and "nctfri Darkness. Hoot, to bo dark, *) V obscure. darkness . (was) ;>y Over, impending, upon. Root, to be high, over [throughout]. throughout (the) *)j?) The surface, face, condition, state, " : [mass]. Root, to tarn ; a noun implying parts or extension. [Motion is indicated.] mass (of) -n The. tho dn Abyss, gulf, emptiness, wastencss, tb.3 deep, ocean, wave, billow, a gren tquantity of water i n commo- tion ;ue/'&, toputinmotioUjtodis- turb, to be in commotion, to im- pel, todrive. [Matter in motion.] matter, -i And. and nri Spirit, breath, air in motion, vital principle, vital spirit, will, intel- lect, divine po\ver. Spirit of God. Divine or miraculous power, by whica inanimate things are moved. [Force, attraction of a power gravitation.] (of) 192 THE PLAN OF CREATION Hebrew text V,! 'IT T - Definition. God. Moving, trembling, vivifying, brooding over, impregnating ; verb, to shake, to tremble. Throughout. (No. 21, idem.) Mass. (See No. 22, idem.) The. Tottering, shaking. Hoot, to flow, tobefluid,toflowdown,tobedis- solved, to be moved, to be agitat- ed. [Matter in motion having the appearance of a fluid, as flowing currents of clouds or matter. ] And. Said, willed; verb, to say to one-self, to will, to command, to order. God. That there exist ; verb, to become, to bo made, to exist. Light, light everywhere, diffused, lucid region, brightness of fire, flame [ligt.t and heat in general diffused throughout matter] ; verb, to become light, to shine. And. There existed. (Sec No. 36, idem.) Light. (See No. 37, idem.) And. Saw. God. Translation. God (was) throughout (the) mass (of) the matter. And willed God that there exist light; and there existed light. And saw- God THE PLAN OF CREATION. 193 Hebrew text -n -n -i Definition. This same. (See No. 5, idem.) The. Light. (See No. 37, idem.) That. Good, beautiful, pleasant, agree- able ; verb, to confer a benefit, to make cheerful. And. Divided, separated, disjoined, things previously mixed, des- tined for a use. God. Between, space, interval. The. Light. (See No. 37, idem.) And. Between. (See No. 52, idem.) The. Darkness. (See No. 20, idem.) And. Called, named, proclaimed tho name of. God. As to, concerning, of a space of time after which a tLing is to be. Light. (See No. 37, idem.) Translation, this same, the light that (it was) good, and separated God between the light and between the darkness. And named God of light 194 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text -1 Dl IT V s Definition. Day. (See No. 76, idem.) And. A space of. (See No. 62, idem.) Darkness. (See No. 20, idem.) Called, named. Night. And. There was. Evening, closing ; verb, to be dark, to mix, intermingle, to be arid, to be sterile. And. There was. Morning, dawn. Day, time, duration, period, space of time. One, first ; denotes the beginning of a series, others to follow. And. Said, willed. (See No. 34, idem.) God. Let there be, exist, come to pass, be made, bo done. (See No. c.6, idem.) An expanse, thinness, spread out, attenuated ; verb, spread out, to stretch out, made thin, us beating out a thin plate. [Thin space.] Translation. and a space of darkness he named night ; and there was evening and there was morning period one. And willed God, let there be an expanse THE PLAN OF CREATION. 105 Hebrew text Definition. . Truusliitii n. -3 In, in the. [Motion to a placo.] in ""rin Between, midst, out of, middle ; i verb, to cut up, to divide. between -n The. the Q^ft Waters, fluid. (See No. 32, idem.) V,T [Matter in a fluid or watery form.] waters, - 1 ] And. and If] Let it be. let it bo b^Q Dividing ; verb, to separate, to disjoin. (See No. 50, idem.) dividing r Between. (See No. 52, idem.) between OT3 Waters. (See No. 32, idem.) waters -5 To, from. ^See No. G2, idem.) from T * LT} Waters. (See No. 32, idem.) waters. 'IT -"1 And. And fry Made, produced, prepared, made ready, completed, effected. mado D^ri^s God. God "HK This same, sum and substance, V in ils entirety, totality. (See No. 5, idem.) in its entirety -n The. the IT y n p"3 Expanse. (See No. 82, idem.) expanse, -fi And. and blD Divided. (See No. 50, idem.) divided p3 Between. (See No. 5 % J, idem.) between 196 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text nn pa -n -b "Tl : P Definition. The. Waters. (See No. 32, idem.) Which. From. Under, beneath. To, from, (See No. 62, idem.) from the. Expanse. (See No. 82, idem.) And. Between. (See No. 52, idem.) The. Waters. (See No. 32, idem.) Which. From. Above, on high ; verb, to go up, au smoko, to cause unyth iig to go up us smoke, impending, suspended owr anythiu.,, \vkh- out toucbiug it. From the, to the. (See No. 02, idem.) Expanse. (See No. 82, idem.) And. It was. So, so constituted, established. [Demoting a, nnishe.l or ux- it condition.} Translation, the waters, which (are) from beneath from (the) expanse and between the waters which (are) from above from (the) and it was tij constituted. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 197 Hebrew text Definition. Translation. -;1 And. And *9i? Called, named. (See No. GO, idem.) named D^n /& IT God. To the. (See No. 62, ideaa.) Expanse, thin space. (See No. 82, idem.) God to the expanse D'TCtf AT T Heaven. (See No. 7, idem.) And. heaven ; and "T 1 There was. there was :ny Evening. (See No. 72, idem.) evening -?i And. and -vi There was. there was n| > Morning. Day, time, period. (See No. 76, idem.) morning period D :^ Second ; verb, to double, repeat. second. -1 And. And TJK Said, commanded, willed. (See No. 34, idem.) willed Q^N God. God, TIjT Let there be gathered together. Hoot, to twist, to wind, to be strong. let there be gathered to- gether -n The. the D:S Waters. (See No. 32, idem.) waters 198 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text Definition. Translation. -D From. from nnn Under, beneath. (See No. 107, idem.) beneath ~u The. the D?OE; Heavens. (See No. 7, idem,) heavens ~?N Unto, into, including mo! ion, di- '* rection to any place ; used with verbs of turning. into DIDO Place, where waters flow together. place ! T "in?? One. one r -i And. and n&nn Shall be seen. shall be seen V Tf -n The. the nEto* Dry land, hot dry land ; verb, to AT T~ become dry. dry land ~^1 And. and "Yi It was. it was * P So, so established. (See No. 121, 4 Ir idem.) so established. -?1 And. And JOp Named, called. (See No. .60, T!: idem.) named D^K God. God -? To the. (See No. 62, idem.) to the n^D^ 1 Dry land, hot dry land. (See T T- No. 152, idem.) dry land V"1^ Earth, land. earth, THE PLAN 0V CREATION. t l JJ No. | II. brew text IG3 1C 3 -} ici -Q 10 ^ ~!p ic; _n 1?.T ICO 170 171 17J 173 17-1 175 17G 177 178 170 180 181 183 sehri -n Definition. And. To. The. Gathering together ; verb, to twist, The. Waters. (Sec No. 32, Ucrii.; Called, named. (See No. 60, idem.) Sea:;. Hoot, to rage, to roar. And. Saw. (Seo No. 42, idem.) God. That. Good. (See No, 43, idem.) And. Said, willed. (See No. 3-1, i.:e:u.) God. Let sprout forth ; verb, to sprout, to be green, to bring forth herb- age, to send fori.li. The. Earth. (See No. 11, idem.) Ground, Gr iss, tender grass, first f-pronts of the earth, tender herb; itia differ- ent from mature or ripe grass, [new, fresh, green young grass.] Green herb, Tra: nUti^n. ami to the gathering to- Aether (>!) the \v;>'e:vj (lu) im^ictl ocas ; and saw God that (it was) good. And willed God, let sprout forth the earth young g.-as green hcr'i 200 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text Definition . Producing seed, scattering seed. Seed. Tree. Fruit, to bear, to produce. Producing. Fruit. (See No. 183, idem.) To. Kind, species ; verb, to bear an appearance. Which, whose. Seed. In it. Upon. (See No. 21, idem.) The. Earth, land. And. It was. So, so established. (See No. 121, idem.) And. Brought forth. Hoot, to go out. The. Earth. Tender grass. (See No. 181, idem.) Young grass. Translation, producing seed, treo (of) fruit producing fruit to (its) species which seed (fe) in it upon the earth and it was so established And brought forth the earth young, tender grass, THE PLAN OP CREATION. 201 Hebrew text Definition. Translation. Sfrj? Green herb. green herb, ynio Producing. (See No. 183, idem.) producing o Seed. seed -3 To its. to its "JD Species, kind. (See No. 190, idem.) species, -1 And. and yy Tree. tree ngty Producing. prducing pjg Fruit. fruit, "^8 Which, whose. whose 13 Seed. In it. seed (is) in it -h To its. to its wo A" * Species, kind. (See No. 190, idem.) species ; -!1 And. and SO Saw. saw o^si God. God :4 That. Good. (See No. 48, idem.) that (it was) good. ~^ And. And -Tl There was. there was a "3? Evening. evening 202 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text Definition. Translation. "^1 And. and -V! There was. there was npD Morning. morning D r Day, time, period. (See No. 76, idem.) period D: 1 ^^ Three. three. -H And. And -ION' Said, commanded. (See No. 34, idem.) said D'flbs God. God,- VP Let there be, to serve for. let there be ms? Luminaries ; verb, to become light, to shine, to give light. luminaries -3 In the. in the -d Expanse of. (See No. 82, idem.) The. expanse (of) the D:D| Heaven. (See No. 7, idem.) To. heavens, to ^?b Divide, separate, distinguish. (See No. 50, idem.) divide r? Between. (f>ee No. 32, idem.) between -n The. the Dl' Day. (Sci- No. 73, idem ) day -1 And. and rs Between. (See No. 5-', idem.) between THE PLAN OF CREATION. 203 H.'brcw ti x; Definition. Translation. -n The. the rb*b Night. night ; -i And. and rrj They shall bo. they shall be -h To:-. (Sec No. 03, idem.) for nriK Signs, a sign of something past, a si^u of sor.iethiug future, ft sign of that which can not be set'ii ; verb, to make, to designate. signs -i And. and Jp For. for o^ato Set time, fixed times, space of lime, year, perpetuity of time. set times, -?) And. and -^> For. for HT?^ T Days. days, -1 And. and r r Repetitions ; verb, to repeat, to double, years. repetitions. -1 And. And rri They shall be. they sha'l bo -5 For. for mixo Luminaries. (See No. 23G, idem.) luminaries -3 In. in STTI Expanse. (See No. 82, idem.) (the) expanse (of) 204 Hebrew text -n Jp TNT! -S -n T -i n : P -n -n THE PLAN OF CREATION. Definition. The. Heaven. (See No. 7, idem.) To. Give light ; verb, to be light. Upon. (See No. 21, idem.) The. Earth. And. It was. So established. (See No. 121, idem.) And. Made, appointed. (See No. 95, idem.) God. Both, each. (See No. 5, idem.) Two. The. Luminaries. (See No. 236, idem.) The. Great. Both. (See No. 5, idem.) The Luminary. (See No. 236, idem.) Translation, the heaven, to give light upon the earth , and it was so established. And appointed God each two (of) the luminaries, the great, both the luminary, THE PLAN OF CREATION. 205 Hebrew text Definition. Translation. -n The. the big Great. great J). For. for -n The ruling ; verb, to make like, to rule. The. the ruling (of) the DV Day. day, -1 And. and "HK Also. (See No. 5, idem.) also -6 The. the nix*3 'T -n Luminary. The. luminary the top Small. small -| For. for -p The. the nbgto ' -n njj T '-i Ruling. (See No. 293, idem.) The. Night. And. ruling (of) the night ; and HK Also. (Se& No. 5, idem.) also -n The. the :a??i? Stars ; verb, root, torollup as in a ball. And. stars. And 1C Set, put, place, to place over. set 206 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text Definition. Translation. DfiK Them. them DM^K God. God -3 In the. in the srpi Expanse. (See No. 82, idem.) expanse (of) -n The. the D^iO^ Heaven. heaven, ATT -J To. to T^H Give light. give light -Sy Upon. (See No. 21, idem.) upon -n The. the T 1 VHN Earth. earth. "1 And. And _y To. to ^b Kule . ( See No. 293, idem . ) rule _2 In the. in the DV Day. day -1 And. and -3 In the. in the r6^? Night. night, T :- And. and Jji To. to y-..:. Divide, distinguish. (See No. 50, : L idem.) divide p3 Between. (See No. 52, idem.) between THE PLAN OF CREATION. 207 Hebrew text Definition. Translation. -n ^T The. Light. the light -1 And. and P3 Between. between -n The. the ntfn }V A Darkness. (See No. 20, idem.) And. darkness ; and XI Saw. saw D^B God. God :sto That. Good, (see No. 48, idem,) beauti- ful, pleasant [suitable]. that (it was) good. -n And. And -TI There was. there was 2"W Evening. evening ~-r And. and -V! There was. there was ^pp Morning. morning DV Day, time, period. (See No. 76, idem.) period * p * : Fourth, repeated the fourth time. And. fourth. And -!?tf Said, willed. (See No. 34, idem.) willed ' o-'ri^ God. God, 208 Hebrew text -n -n ITT THE PLAN OF CREATION. Definition. Let bring forth abundantly ; verb, to creep, to crawl, to abound, to multiply, to be multiplied. The. Waters. (See No. 32, idem.) Creeping or crawling things, rep- tiles, small aquatic animals, winged reptiles. Breathing creatures, soul ; verb, to take breath. Living creature, beast; verb, to live, with the idea of breathing. And. A wing, birds, fowl, flying thing ; verb, to fly. Let fly. Upon, in. (See No. 21, idem.) The. Earth. Upon, in. (See No. 21, idem.) The face of. (See No. 22, idem.) The expanse. (See No. 82, idem.) The. Heaven. (See No. 7, idem.) And. Created. (See No. 3, idem.) God. Translation. let bring forth abundantly the waters creeping things breathing creatures living, and fowl let fly upon the earth upon the face of the expanse (of) the heaven. And created God THE PLAN OF CREATION. 209 Hebrew text -n -p injn -n -n era Definition. All. (See No. 5, idem.) The Sea monsters, serpents, crocodiles, great serpents ; verb, to extend, to stretch out. The. Great. And. Also. (See No. 5, idem.) Every, all, all kinds, denotes, totality. Breathing creature. (See No. 362, idem.) The. Living. (See No. 363, idem.) The. Creeping ; verb, to creep, to crawl, the proper term for the motion of smaller animals which creep upon the ground, those that have four feet or more or none, an crabs, aquatic animals, birds and fishes. Which. Brought forth abundantly. (See No. 338, idem.) The. Waters. (See No. 32, idem.) Translation. all the sea monsters the great, and also every breathing creatures the living the creeping, which brought forth abundantly the waters 210 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text Definition. Translatic O^P TV) their. Kind, species. (See No. 190, idem.) to (their} species, -1 And. and nN Also. (See No. 5, idem.) also T Every, all, etc. (See No. 385, idem.) every ^ Fowl, flying thing. (See No. 365, idem.) Wing; To. fowl (of) wing to inrp Its kind. its kind ; -a! And. and &n Saw. saw D^VIS God. God * i That. Good. (See No. 48, idem.) And. that (it was) good. And oS Blessed, caused to prosper. Them. God. blessed them God ios6' Saying. saying, V Be fruitful. bo fruitful -i And. and IT) Multiply. multiply THE PLAN OF 'CREATION. 211 Hebrew text Definition. Translation. ~Z) And. and ^0 Fill, with the idea of abundance, overflowing. till "HN Also. (See No. 5, idem.) also -6 The. the D:D Waters. (See No. 32, idem.) waters -3 In the. in thfl Q^P Seas. seas , -1 And. and -ri The. the rjiy Fowl, flying thing. (See 365, idem.; fowl HT Let multiply. let multiply -J In the. in the I VIT Earth. And. earth. And -VI There was. there was 3"!5? Evening. evening ~?i And. and npa There was. Morning. there was morning Di 1 Day, time, period. period DPETpn Fifth. fifth. -*i And. And n^^ Said, willed. (See No. 34, idem.) willed 212 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text Definition. Translation. DTlbtt God. God, *". Let bring forth. (See No. 201, idem.) let bring forth -n n? The. Earth, land. Breathing creatures. (See No. 362, idem.) the earth breathing creatures rrn Living. (See No. 363, idem.) living T * To. Its hind, species. (See No. 190. idem.) to (its) species, T : Beasts, large land quadrupeds, domestic animals, cattle, beasts of the field, wild beasts. beasts -T And. Creeping things, reptiles, whatever creeps upon the ground, all land animals. and creeping things -1 And. and "inp Wild animals, as opposed to tame cattle, in its widest sense beasts of all kinds. Earth, land. (See No. 11, idem.) beasts (of) earth y To. to nrb AT Its kind. (See No. 190, idem.) And. its kind ; and vi It was. it was :p So, so established, constituted. so established. THE PLAN OP CREATION. 213 Hebrew text Definition. Translation. T?l And. And &y Made. (See No. 95, idem.) made DT^N God. God -nja All. (See No. 5, idem.) all rrn Beasts. (See No. 448, idem.) beasts (of) .-n The. the T yn^ Earth, land. earth -5 To. to (its) nra Its kind, species. species T * -1 And. and TIN All. all -n The. the nans T : Cattle, animals. (See No. 448, idem.) cattle -b To. to nra Its kind, species. its kind, T ' ~] And. and HN Also. (See No. 5, idem.) also -Vs Every. (See No. 385, idem.) every T B7!D"1 Crcoping thing. (See 450, idem.) creeping thing (of) -PI The. the IT na*iK Ground, land. ground T TT: U To. to : (its) inj^o Its kind, species. kind ; A" * 214 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text Definition. Translation. -n And. and *H Saw. saw D^N God. God i -"1 That. Good. (See No. 48, idem,) And. that (it was) good. And- "sptf Said, willed. (See No. 34, idem.) said crri^ God. God, n&u TT Let us make, fabricate. Man ; verb, to be ruddy. let us make man -3 U!?? In. Shadow, image, likeness. in (our) image, A" ; According to, like, as. Likeness, similitude, image, mod- el, pattern, appearance, resem- blance. according to (our) likeness ; **l And. and rn Let them rule over ; verb, subdue, take possession of, rule over. let them rule over -3 The. the -n Fish. The. fish (of) the T Sea. sea, THE PLAN OF CREATION. 215 Hebrew text - nan? -i T -n T VT 3 "^ -n -n IT -n Definition. And. Over the. Fowl, birds. (See No. 365, idem.) The. Heaven, space above the earth. And. Over the. Cattle, animals. (Sec 448, idem.) And. Over. All. (See No. 385, idem.) The. Earth. And. Over. All. The. Creeping things. (See No. 450, idem.) Which. Creeping. (See No. 450, idem.} Upon. The. Earth, land. Translation. end over the fowl (of) the heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creeping things which (are) creeping upon the earth. 216 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text -n IT DIN TT 403 Definition. And. Created. (See No. 3, idem.) God. Also. (See No. 5, idem.) The. Man. In. Image. (See No. 493, idem.) In The. Image. (See No. 4.93, idem.) God. He created. (See No. 3, idem.) Him. Male, to remember, keep in mem- ory, meditate. And. Female. Created He. (See No. 3, idem.) Them. And. Blessed, caused to prosper. Them. God. Translation. And created God also the man in (his) image, in the image (of) God He created him ; male and female created He them. And blessed them God, THE PLAN OP CREATION. 217 Hebrew text -4 n -n n? rn -? an Definition. And. Said. (See No. 34, idem.) To them. God. Be fruitful, bear young. And. Be multiplied, multitude, vast. And. Fill. (See No. 418, idem.) Also. (See No. 5, idem.") The. Earth, land. And. Subdue, subject it. And. Kule over. (See No. 497, idem.) The. Fish. The. Sea. And. Over the. Fowl. Translation. and said to them od, be fruitful and be multiplied, and fill also the earth and subdue it ; and rule over the fish (of) the sea, and over the fowl (of) 218 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text Definition. Translation. -n The. the ~ T Heaven. And. heaven, and -D Over. over T Every, all, etc. (See No. 385, idem.) every nn T~ -n !T ni^!Di Beast. (See No. 363, idem.) Which. Creeping. (^See No. 450, idem.) beast which (is) creeping ~^y Upon. upon -n IT The. Earth. the earth. Ivj And. And -^ Said. (See No. 34, idem.) said D^n^ God. God, n Behold. behold, TIPG I have given. I have given TT To yon. Also. (See No. 5, idem.; to you also . T Every, all. (See No. 385, idem.) Grass. all grass IHi Seeding, producing seed. producing jnt Seed. seed, 1^ Which. which (fc) THE PLAN OF CREATION. 219 Hebrew text Definition. Translation. "by Upon. upon T -n The face of, surface of. (See No. 22, idem.) All. The. the surface (of) all the n? Earth, land. And. earth, and "HN Also. (See No. 5, idem.) also T -n Every. (See No. 385, idem.) The. Tree. every the tree, IEJN Which. which la In it. in it ""1? vy Fruit. Tree. fruit (of) tree y*il Seeding, producing. (See 590 idem) producing y}T T Seed seed ; THI To you. It shall be. to you it shall be '-$ For. for : rfe& IT : T Food ; verb, to eat. And. food. And - 1 ? To. to ^? Every, all. (See No, 385, idem.) every 220 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Hebrew text Definition. Translation. nri Beast. (See No. 363, idem.) beast (of) -n The. the T n* Earth. earth, -!j And. and -b To. to "^D Every every T nil? Fowl. f6wl i (of) -n The. the D'ttEJ Heaven. heaven, ~ T -1 And. and - To. to I^D Every. every 27Dll Creeping thing. (See No. 450, idem.) creeping thing J ?y Upon. upon -n The. the T VHK Earth. earth, -T^N Which. which ii Iii it. in it '* (is) ^^3 Breathing creatures. (See No. 362, breathing vv idem.) creatures n--n Living. (See No. 363, idem. living, T~ "H^s Also. (See No. 5, idem.) also "^? Every. every THE PLAN OF CREATION. 221 Hebrew text Definition. Translation. P? Greenness. Green herbage. (See 205, idem.) greenness (of) green herbage l For. for n/^x AT^T :i~ Ti Food And. It was. food ; and it was : P So, so established. (See No. 121, idem.) so established. -3 And. And an Saw. saw tirfcH God. God " n ^ Also. (See No. 5, idem.) also T All, every. Which. all which nby T T ~] He made, (See No. 95, idem.) And. He made, and, "nyi 3l!D Behold. Good, beautiful, etc. (See No, 48, idem.) behold, (it was) good A : Very, exceedingly. And. very ; and ~n There was. there was 3> $ Evening. evening 999 THE PLAN OF CREATION. No. Hebrew text Definition. Translation. G50 -1 And. and 6GO "Tl There was. there was GG1 "ICQ Morning. morning GG2 DV 1 Day, period, time. (See No. 76, idem.) period CG3 -n The. the 6G4 B P$$ Sixth. sixth. r The First Verse of the Second Chapter of Genesis, is as follows : No. Hebrew text Definition. Translation. 665 -^ And. And 666 fe Were completed, made ready, pre- pared, finished, accomplished, fulfilled, to be past, gone by, of a space of time? were finished 667 -n The. the 668 669 T -1 Heaven. (See No. 7, idem.) And. heaven and 670 G71 G7J -ri r The. Earth. And. the earth, and G73 T All, totality, the whole, every one. (See No. 385, idem.) all (their) 674 ITT : Army, host, whatever fills the heaven and earth; verb, to cause, to go forth. host. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 223 The following is the Fourth Verse of the Second Chapter of Genesis. Hibrew text Definition. | Translation. *1 S V These, this, refers to what has This gone before. (is) nrfan : i Genealogy, pedigree, the origin, history. Root, to create, to be born, to bring forth. the origin (of) -n The. the OW' Heaven. (See No. 7, idem,) heaven -1 And. and -ri The. the T rt Earth. [The Universe, See Nos. 7-11, idem.] earth ~'^3 In their. in their DfcTQ Being created. (See No. 3, idem.) being created, AT :IT -3 In the. in the DV Day, time, period. (See 7G, idem.) period t (of) nii^y Making ; verb, to labor upon or . about a thing, to fabricate, to create [embodies the idea to create and afterwards form the material into something]. making nirp Jehovah. Jehovah D^N God. God V1X Earth. (See No. 11, idem.) earth j And. and iD^d Heaven. [The Universe, See Nos. ITT 7-11, idem."! heaven. CHAPTER XXII. THE IDEAS CONTAINED IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS. The foregoing translation, being a literal one, of necessity follows the Hebrew idiom, and, therefore, fails to fully and clearly convey the ideas contained in the Hebrew. We, therefore, take the liberty of wording in the English lan- guage the ideas embodied within the original text. Many of the Hebrew words convey a mean- ing that can be expressed only by the use of several English words. Most of the sentences in the original also require several sentences in English to express fully the meaning of the text. In the first sentence of the following translation we have twenty-six words. In the 'original text there are but seven compound words, or eleven simple words. Yet it takes the twenty-six English words to fully convey the meaning of the eleven Hebrew words. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 225 Translation. In the beginning God created, out of noth- ing, the atoms of matter, now forming the heavens and the earth ; agitation and motion existed contemporaneous with matter. And the earth at that time was not formed or shaped; it was a part of the confused mass of matter. And darkness existed throughout the mass of matter which was in motion ; and at- traction of gravitation was moving throughout the mass of agitated matter, which was assum- ing the appearance of a fluid in motion. And God willed that light should exist, and it existed. And God saw the light that it was adapted to cause enjoyment and God separated the light from the darkness. And God named a space of light day, and a space of the darkness he named night; and there was evening, and there was morning. The pe- riod of time during which the foregoing events occurred is the first of a series to follow. And God willed that there should be an ex- panse or attenuated space between the waters 226 THE PLAN OF CREATION. or fluid matter. And God completed this ex- panse or thin space between the waters or fluids, which arc above the expanse. And it was so established (as a permanent thing). This expanse God called Heaven. And there was evening, and there was morning. The period of time in which this occurred is the second in the series. And God willed that the waters, or fluid sur- rounding the earth and enveloping it, should be gathered together into one place, and that the hot, dry land should appear. And it was so established (as a permanent thing). The dry land God called earth; the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was adapted to cause enjoyment. And God willed that the earth should sprout forth young grass, and green herb producing seed, and trees producing fruit to its species, having seed in it. And it was so established (as a permanent thing). And the earth brought forth young grass and green herb producing seed of its own species. And God saw that it was adapted to cause en- joyment. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 227 And there was evening, and there was morn- ing. The period in which this occurred was the third in the series. And God said let the luminaries in the ex- panse above be to divide between the day and night, and they shall be for signs, and for fixed spaces of time, and for days, and for repetition of them. And they shall be for luminaries in the ex- panse above, to give light upon the earth. And it was so established (as a permanent thing). And God designed the two great luminaries, the great for the ruling of the day, and the small luminary and the stars for the ruling of the night. And God set them in the expanse above, to give light upon the earth, and to rule in the day, and in the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was adapted to cause enjoyment. And there was evening, and there was morn- ing. The period in which this occurred was the fourth in the scries. And God willed that the waters should bring 228 THE PLAN OF CREATION. forth abundantly aquatic animals, and air- breathing creatures, and living things ; and that fowls should fly upon the earth in the air. And God created the great sea monsters, and every breathing, living, creeping creature, which the waters brought forth abundantly, each ac- cording to its species. And God saw that it was adapted to produce enjoyment. And God caused them to flourish, establish- ing it as a law that they should be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and that the fowl should multiply in the earth. And there was evening, and there was morn- ing. The period of time in which this occurred was the fifth in the series. And God willed that the earth should bring forth living creatures that breathe, producing each its own species. All kinds of land ani- mals, wild animals, domestic animals, and every- thing that crawls or creeps, each producing its own species. And it was so established (as a permanent thing). And God made all the animals of the earth, each according to its species ; the cattle to its THE PLAN OF CREATION. 229 species ; everything creeping on the ground, each to its species. And God saw that it was adapt- ed to produce enjoyment. And God said let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the moving things which move upon the earth. And God created the man in his image, in the image of God he created him, male and fe- male. And God caused them to prosper, and God established it as a law that they should be fruitful and be multiplied, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every animal which is moving upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given to you all grass producing seed which is upon the sur- face of the earth, and every fruit tree produc- ing seed, to you it shall be for food; and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every living, moving thing upon u 230 THE PLAN OF CREATION. the earth (/ have given) every green herb for food. And it was so established (as a perma- nent thing). And God saw all that lie had made, and, be- hold, it was very well adapted to produce en- joyment. And there was evening, and there was morning. The period in which this occur- red was the sixth in the series. In Genesis, chapter 2. verse 1 and 4, is the following: "Thus were finished the heavens and earth and all their hosts. * * * * "The foregoing is the origin of the heavens and earth in their being created during the period in which Jehovah God, created and formed the universe." CHAPTER XXIII. DO THE STATEMENTS IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENE- SIS CORRESPOND WITH THE FACTS IN NATURE? Iii the preceding chapter we have endeavored to place in English words and idiom the ideas embodied in the original Hebrew text. The question now arises: Are these ideas in har- mony with the facts in nature? In this chapter we will give a brief outline of the facts as ascertained by science, each group of facts fol- lowed by tho words used by Moses to describe them. The period of time extends from the creation of matter to the creation of man. It embraces a period of many millions of years. If the history of the facts occurring each year were written it would fill a multitude of volumes If we limit a writer to the use of one volume he could not enter in it the prominent occur rences of each acre of a million vears. Where- 232 THE PLAN OF CREATION. as, if he is limited to the use of less than seven hundred words, as the first chapter of Genesis is, he could but refer in the most general terms to a few prominent events. The class of events would be limited to such as were pertinent to the general objects of the writer. With Moses the general objects were of a moral nature, and the. facts in creation recorded by him would be relative to that subject. The reader must not, therefore, look upon the first chapter of Genesis as a work on astronomy, or geology, but as a brief statement of some facts in nature, bearing on the great moral and religious subjects which were the leading ob- jects of the writer. With these preliminary remarks, we pass to the subject in hand. In Chapter II herein it is shown that God created the matter, which forms the material universe in a gaseous or dif fused state, scattered throughout space. That act was the beginning of the present order of things with which man is connected. Moses wrote: "In the beginning God created, out of nothing, the substance of the heavens and the THE PLAN OF CREATION. 233 earth," that is the universe. At that period the earth was not formed. The matter now constituting the earth was diffused in space, mixed with the confused mass of all matter. Of this fact Moses wrote: "And the earth was without form and m confusion." Darkness at first prevailed throughout the boundless abyss or expanse of space and matter. Light is a vibration of the atoms of matter, generally caused by condensation or contraction, accompanied by chemical action. Darkness, therefore, was the predecessor and accompani- ment of the creation of matter. Moses records this fact as follows : " And darkness was through- out the mass of matter." Instantly on the ex- istence of matter it was agitated and put in motion by attraction of gravitation. The law of gravitation, as announced by science, is this: "Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force directly as their masses, and inversely as the square of the distance which separates them." Motion was contemporaneous with the beginning of the existence of matter. The 234 THE PLAN OF CREATION. word rPEttrn, translated "in the beginning/' used by Moses, the first word in the chapter, is from the root to be moved, to le shaken. (See words Nos. 1 and 2, page 190). There are six words in the Hebrew language translated begin- ning. Only one of the six. indicates motion. That one is selected by Moses, evidently indi- cating that motion was contemporaneous with the existence of matter. The words ^D and Cinn (Nos. 22 and 24, page 191), also indicate the same idea of motion. Matter was not only put in motion, but at- traction of gravitation drew it together at cer- tain points or centres, forming nebulce of various densities. Matter would thus assume the ap- pearance of a fluid as it was drawn together. This power of gravitation producing motion was throughout the whole mass of matter in space. Moses describes these facts as follows: "A power of God was moving and trembling throughout the turning mass of tottering, shak- ing, moving, agitated flowing fluid." (See words Nos. 25, 32, pages 191 and 192.) The vast distances over which matter moved, THE PLAN OF CREATION. 235 with ever accelerating velocity, would give great momentum to the atoms. These rushing into the various centres would produce conden- sation, thus causing light. Dim as the gray dawn of the morning it would be at first, imperceptibly lessening the universal night. As condensation of matter in- creased, the vibrations of light became more numerous. Here and there shot out one ray of light after another in quick succession, until the whole universe would be filled with light. This fact Moses records as follows: "And God willed that light exist, and light existed." During this light period there was no dark- ness in the universe. Every nebula was emit- ting light. Further condensation changed every body of matter into a brilliant sun. All the bodies in the universe were luminous. It was a great universal day, throughout matter in space, following the preceding universal dark- ness. There was no separation of light from darkness. There were no opaque bodies to cast a shadow. It was a blazing universe of fire. (See Plate 1.) 236 THE PLAN OF CREATION. But as ages rolled on the smaller bodies cooled off and ceased to be luminous. Then they cast shado.ws. Light and darkness were thus separated, one from the other, for the first time. (See Plate 2.) A space of light would be day. A space of darkness would be night. The words day and night are names applicable only to these spaces of light and darkness. The revolution of these non-luminous bodies, these planets, on their axes, caused evening and morning, day and night. Moses records these events in appro- priate words: "And God separated between the light and between the darkness. A space of light God called the day, a space of darkness He called night. And there was evening, and there was morning. The period in which the foregoing occurred is the first of a series." The scientific facts recorded by Moses in the first day or period of creation are: The creation of matter from nothing ; its contemporaneous motion or agitation, and the general effects of gravitation ; the existence of darkness through- out matter, followed by the existence of light ; THE PLAN OF CREATION. 237 the separation of light from darkness by bodies of matter ceasing to be luminous and thus cast- ing shadows ; a space of light constituting day, and a space of darkness constituting night ; the existence of evening and morning caused by the revolution of the planets on their axes. The period of time during which the foregoing oc- curred is the first of the series. For ages after the earth ceased to be lumi- nous it was a globe of molten lava, during which period all the water in the oceans and rivers was in the space above and around the earth. The carbon, now in the vegetation and coal Gelds of the earth, as well as all the easily vaporized substances, were floating in the air. As this vast body of steam and vapor passed up into the higher altitudes of the air, into the cold regions of space, it would be condensed, and, forming a fluid, would fall toward the earth as a deluging rain.' The intense heat of the molten earth would vaporize the descending torrent, projecting it in vast volumes of steam and vapor again into the cold region above, to repeat the process of 11* 238 THE PLAN OF CREATION. condensation and rain. Similar phenomena are now occurring in the planet Jupiter. The earth would thus be a globe of molten lava within a sphere of water and steam. There would exist a space between the earth's surface and this overhanging body of water a number of miles in height, which would be filled with various vaporized substances. (See Plate 3.) As the earth cooled by radiation of heat this vast body of water would settle upon the earth, thus leaving an expanse or space between the waters which were on the earth's surface and the waters in the clouds. Similar spaces would occur between the different systems of the uni- verse. Moses enters in the record : " And God willed that there be an expanse, a thin space, between the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters. And Gocl completed the expanse, and divided between the waters which arc be- neath the expanse, and between the waters which are above the expanse. And it was so established as a permanent thing. God named this expanse heaven. And there was evening, THE PLAN OF CREATION. 239 and there was morning. This was the second period in the series." As the earth was cooling it would be a smooth, round, or nearly round, globe, with a thick crust of hardened hot lava. When the water settled down upon the earth it would be one vast, ocean. Fissures and cracks would occur in the crust through which the water would reach the internal molten matter. Chemical forces would be released ; the land would be upheaved, or depressions occur, form- ing mountains, islands, and continents. The waters would rush down into the depressions, forming the seas and oceans. The final result of these changes is recorded by Moses: "And God willed that the waters beneath the heavens be gathered together into one place, and the dry land shall be seen. And it was so established as a permanent thing. The hot, dry land God named earth, and the gathering together of the waters he named seas." For ages terrific storms and deluging rains swept over these barren continents of hot, hard 240 THE PLAN OF CREATION. lava. The waters were undoubtedly filled with various chemicals, making the oceans and rivers great bodies of acids and corrosive compounds. The foregoing events occurred some time prior to the Carboniferous periods. They began at a time when the earth was too hot to sustain life of any kind. The waters, as before stated, were oceans and rivers of acids and corrosive compounds of such a character that neither animal nor vegetable germs of life could exist. But as the various atoms united to the other atoms for which they had the strongest chemical affinity, a comparative equilibrium would be es- tablished. Chemical action would abate. The waters would become pure and fit to sustain life. The 4* h first pure water would be fro| Main, and would be found in the springs and rivers and on the land. Vegetable life on land would be the first pos- sible life. Owing to the vast quantity of chem- ical substances held in solution in the oceans, and injected therein from submarine fissures and volcanoes, and washed down from the land, THE PLAN OF CREATION, 241 life would not be possible in the ocean, even in a vegetable form, until ages after vegetable life had existed on the land. By the prior chemical action and disintegra- tion of rocks, soil would be formed and be washed down into the valleys and depressions until it had accumulated in vast quantities. Out of this soil young grass would first sprout, and as the soil became enriched by the decay of vege- tation, and as the earth became cooler, larger trees would spring up. God having planted, as it were, in the ground the life-giving principle instead of creating full grown vegetation. Moses records the concluding facts in the foregoing series: " And God willed, let the earth sprout forth young grass, green herbage pro- ducing seed, and fruit tree producing fruit," etc. "And the earth brought forth young grass, green herbs, producing seed of its species, and tree producing fruit, having seed in it to ils species. And there was evening, and there was morning.* This was the third period." This third period, closed probably during the Pale- ozoic age. 242 THE PLAN OF CREATION. Down to the close of the foregoing period, arid long thereafter, the earth was surrounded by a dense volume of smoke and vapor. All the carbon now existing in the coal fields and in the vegetable kingdom, and a vast quantity of gases now united with various minerals, were in the air. During the day there might be a dim and glimmering light, lessening the gloom. In the night a deeper and more horrid darkness would settle upon the earth. N"o sunlight or light from the moon or stars could have reached the surface of the earth through these clouds of thick darkness. The growth of vegetable matter, and the forming of chemical compounds, gradually cleared the atmosphere. The sun, moon, and stars appeared in the expanse above in all their splendor. Then it was that they first poured their efful- gent rays upon the earth, gilding the hills and valleys. For the first time mountain streams and ocean waves leaped and sparkled in the sun- light ; and as the sun sank behind the western hills, or dipped into the ocean waves, the mountains, the clouds, and the ocean were THE PLAN OF CREATION. 243 tinged and painted with all the beauties of u gorgeous sunset. While the deepening shades of night were chasing twilight from the western sky the moon and stars came forth one by one, until the crystal vault above was filled with sparkling gems. Their soft, silvery light falling upon the peaceful earth made it like a phan- tom land. The scenes of that age were beauti- ful, were beautiful beyond description, compared with those of the preceding ages, extending long, dreary, and forbidding, back to the crea- tion of matter. This is the first period in which it can be said the sun ruled by day, and the moon by night. Never before did the sun and moon give light to the earth ; never before did they di- vide the light from the darkness, so far as the earth is concerned. Now it is seen that they arc appointed to give light and heat to the earth, without which the earth would long since have lost its heat, and become too cold to sus- tain the present forms of life. For the first time they now become visible signs to the earth for set times, for days and years, arid 244 THE PLAN OF CREATION. repetition of the same. Moses gives a substan- tial account of the foregoing events as follows: "And God said let the luminaries in the ex- panse above bo to divide between the clay and between the night, and they shall be for signs, and for set times, and for days and repetitions, they shall be for luminaries in the expanse of heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so established as a permanent thing." [The phrase, u it icas so established^ seems to be used in the first chapter of Genesis to denote the fin- ishing of a matter, so that it remained in the con- dition that we now find it. Since the time in- dicated by the phrase, "it was so established" no change has occurred in the thing referred to in its general character. Prior to that time it was in a transition period.] "And God made (or provided) two great luminaries. The great for ruling the day, the small luminary and the stars for ruling the night. And God set them in the expanse of heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule in the clay and in the night, and to divide be- tween the light and between the darkness. And THE PLAN OF CREATION. 245 God saw that it was adapted to produce enjoy- ment. And there was evening, and there was morning. This was the fourth period in the scries." The Hebrew text docs not intimate that the sun, moon, or stars were created during this period. It indicates the contrary. The Hebrew word create is (i ba-ra" and this word is not used in the account of the fourth day. Words are used which have no reference to creation, as will be seen by examining the translation in Chapter XIX. Vegetable life commenced in the third period, and was the first life possible on the earth. During subsequent ages the growth of vegeta- tion continued to increase. The earth became cooler, the water of the ocean became purer, by reason of matter forming chemical com- pounds of various kinds. This great laboratory of the earth was reaching an equilibrium. When sufficiently pure to sustain animal life, then life appeared in the waters. Geological researches show that in the earliest ages in which animal life appeared, or was ere- 246 THE PLAN OF CREATION. ated, it consisted of small aquatic and creeping reptiles. About the same time, or a little later, great numbers of gregarious and aquatic birds made their appearance. They lived along the shores of the great oceans. Their tracks vary in size from two to twenty-five inches ; their steps were sometimes a distance of six feet. There were reptiles so large that we of the present day can hardly believe in their exist- ence. Some batrachians, of the frog tribe, were as large as an ox ; another must have been as large as an elephant. Still later the oceans were filled with great sea monsters. Among these were the Plesiosaurus, seventeen feet long ; the Ichthyosaurus, whose jaws were so long that the opening of the mouth must have exceeded seven feet ; the Megalosaurus, thirty feet long ; the Cetiosaurus, sixty feet long. The Pliosaurus rivaled in size the largest whales. Later in the Mesozoic period appeared the Iguanodon, from twenty-five to fifty feet in length. In addition to these were monsters resembling the croco- diles of the present day. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 247 There were also many creeping amphibious and creeping land animals. The seas and oceans were densely inhabited by these reptiles during the whole of the Mesozoic period. Moses describes the occurrences of this peri- od as follows: "And God willed, let the waters bring forth abundantly creeping things, aquatic animals, winged reptiles, living, breathing creat- ures, and let fowl or flying things fly upon the earth, in the expanse of heaven. And God created great sea monsters, and every breathing, living, creeping creature, which the waters brought forth abundantly, each according to its species. And God blessed (caused to prosper) them, saying: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl let multiply in the earth. And there was evening, and there was morning. This was the fifth period." The beginning and ending of the fifth period does not appear to be definitely marked by any geological event. It embraces the period wherein animals first appeared in the oceans and along rivers, lakes, gulfs, bays, and swamps. Aquatic and amphibious animals are the kinds 248 THE PLAN OF CREATION. described as created in this period. As ages passed by the earth became cooler, the waters lost their acid compounds, and the air became freed from noxious impurities, so that earth, sea, and air became about as they are now. The preceding race of animals died out. Then fol- lowed a new and distinct race of animals, aquat- ic, terrestrial, and amphibious. They appear in what is known as the Tertiary and Quarternary periods, the latter of which includes the pres- ent. These two periods differ widely from any of the preceding geological ages in the forms of life. The animals were such as had never before made their appearance on the earth. Among them are found deer, antelope, species of the dog, otter, beaver, hare, water-rat, glutton, and horses. At the same time there lived the Sivatherium, similar to, but larger, than the 'Rhinoceros; the Anoplotherium and Paleotheri- um were animals of the pachydermatous species. The Diuotheriutn, eighteen feet in length; Ele- phas Primogenius, nine feet high, sixteen feet long, not including the tusks, which were nine THE PLAN OF CREATION. 249 feet around the curve ; the Megatherium, eigh- teen feet long, six feet across the pelvis, tail two feet wide, legs three times as thick as the largest elephant. These were only a few of the large mammalia, which during these periods inhabited the earth. In the rocks of these ages are found the remains of all the present orders of mam- malia, except man. which is the only one not appearing until the close of these periods. These remains are found in none but the recent deposits. Man was not created, as shown by geological records, until after the other animals. No in- stance has been discovered wherein any animal appeared for the first time subsequent to man. When man came, he came as ruler over all the animal kingdom, and he is now subduing the whole earth. Moses describes the events above referred to as follows: "And God willed, let the earth bring forth (root, let go forth) living, breathing creat- ures, each to its species, beasts, large land quadrupeds, domestic animals, cattle, beasts of the field, wild beasts, and reptiles. Whatever 250 THE PLAN OF CREATION. creeps or crawls upon the earth, and wild ani- mals, each to its species, and it was so estab- lished as a permanent thing. And God made all the animals on the earth, each to its species, and the cattle to its species, and every creeping thing of the ground, each to its species. And God saw that it was adapted to cause enjoy- ment (or suitable for His plan) ; and God said, Let us make man in our own image, accord- ing to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the animals, and over all the earth, and over all the creeping things that creep (or move) upon the earth. And God created the man in his image, in the likeness of God he created him, male and female. And God caused them to prosper (blessed them), and God said to them (established it as a law), be fruitful and be multiplied, and fill the earth and subdue (or control) it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every beast which is moving upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given to you every grass producing seed which is upon THE PLAN OF CREATION. 251 the lace of all the earth, and every fruit tree that has seed, to you it shall be for food. And to every animal of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every moving thing upon the earth, living creatures, I have given every green herb for food. And it was so established as a permanent thing. And God saw all that ho had made, and behold, it was very good (or very well adapted to his plan). And there was evening, and there was morning. The period in which this occurred was the sixth in the series. Thus were formed the heavens and the earth and all their host." " These are the origin of the heavens and the earth (the uni- verse) in their being created, during the period in which Jehovah, God, created and formed the heavens and the earth (the universe). Genesis, 2:1,4. Thus close these remarkable accounts, one from nature, as revealed by science after mor* than 4,000 years of study and investigation ; the other purporting to have been dictated by the Creator of the universe and written by some man. The question is not whether Moses 252 THE PLAN OF CREATION. has written an account of the early ages of cre- ation as you would write it ; but whether the facts recorded by Moses actually occurred in nature and can be identified. CHAPTER XXIV. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE REVEALED FACTS TO THE MORAL REVELATION. THE CONCLUSIVE CHARACTER OF THE EVIDENCE WHICH AUTHENTICATES THIS REVELATION. It is to be observed that the six Mosaic peri- ods do not purport to be geological divisions. They arc six creative, or formative, periods, during each of which transpired prominent events in the history of the universe and of the earth under the will or power of God in caus- ing them. Those events are mentioned which arc most suitable to form the basis of correct and important moral and theological proposi- tions, or which refuted popular errors or belief either of that age or that should occur in future times. These facts taught that Elohim, the God revealed to the Jews, created the substance of the universe out of nothing; that matter was not eternal ; that God was eternal and omnipo- 12 254 THE PLAN OF CREATION. tent, thus overthrowing all the erroneous beliefs founded on the contrary of these propositions. This revelation showed that God established (or willed) the power of gravitation, and the laws governing matter; as well those laws producing light out of darkness, as those moulding the earth into its present shape ; willing that vege- table and animal life should exist ; willing into existence from the confused mass the expanse of heaven ; causing by the forces established by Him the continents and islands to appear, and the seas to be formed ; appointing the sun, moon, and stars for the purpose of giving light to the earth, and for the purpose of set times, days, and for years, and recurrences of them, thus refuting all assumptions that they were divine beings, or objects of worship. The revelation showed that the animals in the ocean, in the air, and on the earth, were brought into existence by Him, and that they were sub- jects of man; that man had dominion over them. Therefore they were not to be worshipped, as they were powerless over man, being his sub- jects and not his superior. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 255 The facts revealed show that while the ani- mal and vegetable creations seemed to spring into existence as being born out of the earth or water by spontaneous generation, }^et as a fact, however, it appeared to occur, God " willed" or caused that they should so come forth. Unless He had so " willed" the events to occur, the earth, air, and water were power- less to bring forth. Whether God put forth the creative power or will at each distinct period, or established the law of life from the beginning, in connec- tion with matter, so that when the circumstan- ces were adapted, life sprung forth in vegetables or animals, is not material. In cither case it was God who "willed" or who was the cause. The Hebrew word nsmo (No. 2$ page 192), in Genesis, 1: 2, translated " hovering" in the English version, also means "vivifying" or "impregnating." It is possible that the orig- inal means that when matter was created and was still in darkness and scattered in space God vivified it and established the law of life in it, so that when circumstances arose, or were prop- 256 THE PLAN OF CREATION. erly combined by such vivifying force, life forms resulted. The whole chapter, however, when strictly construed, favors the theory that God put forth the creative or producing "will" at different periods, and those periods consti- tute the six periods of Genesis. The doctrine of spontaneous generation, or uncreated life, is certainly and clearly denied in the Mosaic account. It is also stated that it was an established fact that each species was created distinct, and the law established that each species should beget or produce its own kind. That horses should beget elephants, or that apes should beget men, or vice versa, is also denied; and it is asserted as the law that each should produce its own species. The distinctive forming of man's body out of the ground, and the creation of his soul, are as- serted in terms clear and unambiguous. He is not the descendant of any prior being. The Hebrew word N"n (create) is used in speak- ing of him. This word is used in the text with reference to the creation of matter, and the creation of animal life and man's soul, but is THE PLAN OF CREATION. 257 not used in reference to vegetable life. It may be that vegetable life is a property of matter in a limited sense, subject to the direct "will" or permission of God, and that animal life is a di- rect act of creative power. The text would be in harmony with this theory. One thing stands out clear and unmistakable. The events described in the text find a counter- part in nature in all their leading points, and in the detail where attempted. In the age of the human race when this account was written the race was not in possession of the knowledge of the scientific facts described. The words in any language show the knowl- edge possessed by the nation using the language. The words telegraph, telegram, steamboat, rail- road, steam printing-press, and scores of other words, arc not to be found in the Chaldean, He- brew, Greek, or Latin languages, nor in the languages of any of the extinct nations of an- tiquity. Nor arc any equivalent words or ex- pressions found. This proves that such things were unknown to those nations. These words do not occur in the literature of modern Ian- 258 THE PLAN OF CREATION. guages until within the last century. Why? Because these inventions were unknown until within that time. The words telephone and phonograph do not occur in any language until about the year 1877. The existence of a name indicates a knowledge of the existence of the thing named. If every human being were to suddenly die, and if ten thousand years from now a new race of beings should come upon the earth, who should find our books or dictionaries, they would know that we had knowledge of these inventions. They would know it simply from finding the names of those things in our lan- guage. We find in the ancient languages such words as knife, sword, bow, and ax. We, therefore, know that those nations had knowl- edge of such instruments. A list of words in a language is all we need. In the ancient lan- guages, in use at the time Genesis was written, there are no scientific terms relating to the sub- ject matter in the first chapter of Genesis. We, therefore, know that the human race at that time was ignorant of all such scientific knowl- edge, THE PLAN OF CREATION. 259 Will any one maintain that the account by Moses was a guess by him accidentally right? Such a thing is not possible. There arc too many coincidences. The only reasonable con- clusion is that the Hebrew text was dictated in some way by some one who knew the facts re- corded. No human being knew the facts at that time. Some more than human being, there- fore, revealed them or dictated the account. It must be, therefore, the revelation of God. This first chapter of Genesis is a standing proof to all generations of a divine revelation. The only question is as to the extent of that revela- tion. The conclusion of the writer is this. In the Bible is much that is known to be true. There is in connection with it much of which we can only assert that we are not in possession of knowledge sufficient to affirm that it is either true or false. On account of its intimate blending with that which is known to be true, we should accept it until such time as the human race has acquired knowledge sufficient to pass a positive opinion against it. Because we do not know it to be 260 THE PLAN OP CREATION. true, or a fact, is no ground for asserting it to be false. As well might the early Jews have rejected as false the first chapter of Genesis, be- cause their scientific knowledge could neither test nor understand it. Miracles attested it to them, and satisfied them in accepting it. Those miracles are not proof to our senses of sight or hearing, but the scientific facts revealed are a proof to us of as great a certainty as miracles were to those be- holding them. As the human mind is consti- tuted no one of these classes of evidence could have been used exclusively. For that which occurs constantly and without interruption is soon regarded as purely natural, and not as supernatural. The moment it was regarded as belonging only to the natural, that moment it would cease to be evidence to prove the super- natural character of revelation. If God had continued either by direct act, or by angels, to converse with man, it would now and for ages past have been regarded as a natu- ral thing, and man would have been ready to totally disregard it. In fact, toward the close THE PLAN OF CREATION. 261 of the period during which God conversed with man, the race was corning to look upon it as having no weight. The manifestations of God at Sinai were ac- companied by the idolatry and wickedness of the people at the foot of the mountain. So if miracles had continued down to the present they would have been regarded as natural events produced more or less by men having some pe- culiar knowledge. At the close of the period of miracles they had almost lost their effect as evidence. The people were more and more regarding them as mere matters of magic or witchcraft. Hence vast multitudes beheld the miracles of the clos- ing period in Christ's time and were not con- vinced by the evidence. Prophecy comes under the same rule and entirely loses its effect as evidence whenever the events foretold become a permanent series. But the fact that these different classes of evidence come in succession, appear for a while, and then cease entirety, fixes them as conclusive evidence. They are not a continuing series. 12* 262 THE PLAN OF CREATION. They are not natural events running along in the ordinary course of nature according to a fixed law of cause and effect. The fact that they begin, continue for a given period, and then cease entirely, shows that they exist, con- tinue, and cease as the act of a being with a free will. They were designed mainly as evi- dence for the race during the ages of its in- fancy, and while ignorant of the laws of nature and of the facts of the universe. They were the evidence that produced belief during the time wherein man could not by scientific dis- coveries test the facts revealed. The highest evidence of the divine character of the revelation is that the matters collaterally revealed, which arc called facts in science, are true. It required, however, over four thousand years of study, investigation, and intellectual development to bring the race to sufficient knowledge to enable it to understand and re- ceive this class of evidence. It is evidence which must accumulate from age to age as the race progresses in learning. The former classes of evidence, direct conversation, rnira- THE PLAN OF CREATION. 203 oles, and prophcc} r , carried the revelation through the first four thousand years or more. The other class of evidence will carry it through to the end of time. The time may be nearer than most anticipate when science will proclaim that the contents of the Bible arc such that no human being possessed the knowledge neces- sary to write it at the time it was written. Therefore, as a conclusion, we arc fully justi- fied by our reason in accepting the Bible as a revelation from God. Its statements as to the PLAN OF CREATION become legitimate and suffi- cient evidence, as hereinbefore used. We claim that the evidence contained in the Bible sustains the plan of creation, as discussed in this work. CHAPTER XXY. D ** /O ^ H ( Ovpavo?. HEAVEN. The Being who created all things, and who established all laws, and who is carrying out his plan of creation, has in his communication to the human race spoken of a place where the righteous shall dwell during eternity. This place is called by us heaven. What and where is it? God, the omniscient one, who formed this heaven, knows what and where it is. He es- tablished the exterior boundary lines within which is, and outside of which is not, heaven. When he spoke of it to man he knew what word in the language would most accurately describe it, and that word he would use. The first word used is the Hebrew C'BOT. This is the only word in that language which God either used, or caused to be used, by his in- spired writers to designate heaven. We must, THE PLAN OF CREATION. 265 therefore, conclude that it does not, in any re- spect, inaccurately convey to the human race the idea of heaven which God intended to con- vey, either as to where or what heaven is. In the first chapter of Genesis occur these words: "In the beginning God created the heavens (C^DUM) and the earth." Prior to this act of creation there was no heaven. Space, was a vacuum. C^^n in its broadest and fullest use means the expanse extending from the earth in all directions to such a distance that it will include all that has been created and all that exists. It is co-extensive with the existence of matter in space. If the existence of what God has created is co- extensive with space then heaven is likewise co-extensive. If what God has created is only in a limited, though incon- ceivably vast portion of space, outside of which is a vacuum, then outside of the place desig- nated by C'-oun there is nothing. It is a void. God in the person of Christ again spoke to man of heaven. This second time he used the Greek language a language prolific in words rich to express ideas in any form. Christ knew 26 G THE PLAN OF CREATION. what words, or combination of words, in that fertile language would most accurately and ful- ly convey to the mind of man an idea of heaven which would not be incorrect. Christ used the word f o ovpavo?. Like the Hebrew word it also means in its fullness the expanse extending from the earth in all directions to such a dist- ,ance that it will include all that has been cre- ated, or all that exists. It is co-extensive with the existence of matter in space. Heaven, the place where the righteous shall exist during eternity, as indicated by God in his revelation, is that portion of infinite space occupied by the created works of God. This heaven is the tabernacle of God. It is a nousc not built with hands eternal in the heavens, in which are many mansions wherein dwellcth righteousness. The glories of this heaven eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, nor hath the heart of man conceived. The eye, aided by the most powerful telescopes, has failed to see but a small part of the things contained therein. No imagination can picture or con- ceive of the wonderful phenomena occurring in THE PLAN OF CREATION. 267 distant or near portions of the universe. The ear has not heard, and docs not hear, the sounds emanating from the myriad suns and aggregates of matter in space. All that has occurred, all that is now occurring, all that will evolve in the future in this created universe, and which in- telligent beings will behold, are but symbols in the book of God, conveying ideas to finite minds. Heaven is a system of object lessons. This indescribably grand and majestic struct- ure, the whole material universe with all its laws and form of matter, is the university of God. This earth is but a preparatory depart- ment wherein we study 'the laws of nature with little experiments, and a few instruments. In the university of God we will study astronomy by beholding the motions of planets, suns, stars, and systems in space. There we will study chemistry by beholding all forms of chemical composition and decomposition in the blazing worlds and suns in space. These are laboratories in God's university. There God is the President and Instructor of all sciences, while angels, arch-angels, and the immortal souls of men will 268 THE PLAN OF CREATION. be fellow students forever. Was it some such vision as this that passed before the inspired writer when he said " Eye hath not seen, neither hath the ear heard, nor hath it entered the heart of man, what God hath prepared for them that love him?' 5 This heaven is the university of God where- in forever he will educate those who shall dwell with him. There, through the eternity to come, the ever-expanding intellectual and moral nat- ure of his children will find unexplored regions filled with objects teaching truths and lessons ever new and of astonishing beauty. When the universe shall wax old the soul of man, still in its immortal youth, will look upon the crash of matter and the wreck of worlds. The soul will witness the creation of new heavens, and when they have grown old and give place to other new ones, the soul will not be- aged, but on it will rest the imperishable vigor of youth. In this vast universe, this dwelling place of God, are many separate systems or constella- tions, each a vast system by itself each, as it were, a stopping place for beings to tarry at for THE PLAN OF CREATION. 269 u time in their progressing course of investiga- tion and study. Was it to this that Christ re- ferred when he said, "In my Father's house are many mansions?" In the original Greek the sentence rends, "In my Father's dwelling (Trj Dim'a) are many tarrying places (jLiovai)" The word j^orai denotes a place apart from other places where one may tarry, abide, or dwell for a time, with the idea that the person will pass on to other places. There is no limit to the willing power of the Omnipotent One. And when the present order of things has run its course, and under the op- eration of present laws, an equilibrium is reached, then we may believe that responsive to the creative WILL new phenomena will occur, manifesting ideas of God not shown forth in any previous creation. Thus, by the creation of new heavens, God will, through the endless ages of eternity, lead and educate the created intelligences. There shall thus result the great- est enjoyment, for the greatest length of time, to the greatest number. This will be the evolu- tion of the intelligent beings who live according to the laws which God has established. 270 THE PLAN OF CREATION. But the wicked, those who refuse to live ac- cording to this law, what of them? Christ says they shall be cast into outer darkness Matt., 22 : 13 into a bottomless pit or place away from the presence of God. There is such a place of outer darkness, fathomless, and in it no knowledge of God. Light is a vibration of the atoms of matter. Where there are no atoms of matter there can be no vibration. No light can penetrate into an absolute vacuum. Heat and sound are also vibrations among the atoms of matter. The waves of light, heat, and sound in vain will strike upon the walls of that eternal, dark, cold, soundless, formless void. To these vibrations, those walls of nihility are walls of annihilation. These waves will beat and break in vain upon that silent shoreless ocean, limitless, bottomless. In it is not a thing to operate upon or call into exercise the faculties of souls. In heaven every created object, every law, every phenom- enon, is but an enunciation of the divine thought, and of the omnipotent existence. Heaven has within it the objects which are the actual mani- THE PLAN OF CREATION. 271 festations of the Holy One. In the outer dark- ness, the space exterior to this heaven, there is not a thing. It is a desolate void, a black, cold, silent vacuum. In it not a single mani- festation of God. Those who may go there will have nothing exterior to themselves to ever suggest a thought of God. There is no con- ceivable place in space where the soul that hates God could flee to and find less manifesta- tion of him than into this outer darkness. The stores of memory are all that it may there have. Is this the grave of those who suffer the sec- ond death? L)o the wicked eventually by inac- tion in this outer void dwindle into eternal an- nihilation and thus satisfy the last condition of the plan of creation, i. e., "the least suffering to the fewest individuals?" Or do the predomi- nating activities of the soul, as they existed in this life, continue forever fed by the uncon- sumed and (inconsumable fuel of memory? The condition of each soul would thus be neither more nor less, but exactly what resulted from the former life. CHAPTER XXVI. CONCLUSION. In the foregoing pages we have endeavored to present the general outline of the PLAN OF CREATION. First, by process of a priori reason- ing. Second, by presenting a general view of the known facts, which substantiate the theory developed by the process of reasoning. We do not claim to have exhausted either branch of the subject. In its nature it is in- exhaustible. The object of the plan of crea- tion is to furnish enjoyment for duration with- out end, to an innumerable company of beings, whose capacity for acquiring and enjoying shall forever increase, and shall never reach any limit beyond which it can not pass. In its very nat- ure, therefore, the subject is unlimited in extent and duration. The object of the present work has been to present only the most general outline of, and THE PLAN OF CREATION. 273 principles and facts in, the subject. If we are mistaken in the theory presented then we have written enough. If the general theory is cor- rect, as herein presented, then we leave it for others to enter more fully into the details of the subject. The evidence of the plan of creation, as set out, is certainly of too great weight to be neg- lected by any one. If there is an intelligent Being, who has created all things according to some plan, and if all created things are moving on according to fixed laws to the great final ob- jects of the plan, then it behooves every one, as a matter of ordinary discretion, to become ac- quainted with those laws and that final destiny. The intellectual development and accumu- lated knowledge of the race are utterly at vari- ance with the hypothesis that man is an acci- dental existence, or a mechanical result of force and matter, that will sooner or later pass into annihilation. If man had not been created and circum- stanced as he is then the place in the plan of creation now occupied by man would be vacant, and the plan would not be perfect. 274 THE PLAN OF CREATION. If we could balance the aggregate enjoyment to all created beings, caused by the creation of man, against the aggregate suffering that hap- pens to the race, we would undoubtedly per- ceive that the existence of man contributes to the greatest enjoyment, for the greatest length of time, to the greatest number, with the least suffering to the fewest individuals. A careful examination of history will show that the Creator was aware of the weakness and ignorance of the race, that He expected and re- quired very little of it, and that He exhausted creative intelligence in assisting the race to live aright. The history, as recorded in the Bible, shows communication after communication, re- ward after reward, punishment after punish- ment, promise after promise, and forgiveness after forgiveness to man. Even the Creator at last exclaimed, "What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?" Isa., 5: 4. The Creator has performed on his part all that was necessary. Any human being desiring to do right, and to live right, had placed before THE PLAN OF CREATION. 275 him all the information necessary. Those who refused to live according to the revealed law did so not for want of proper knowledge, but be- cause they so willed and so preferred. Further information and knowledge would be of no ben- efit to them. If one were to rise from the dead and tell them the secrets of the spirit world it would do no good. And he said, Nay, father Abraham ; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Luke, 1G: 30, 31. If man will carefully and honestly use his in- tellect in investigating the evidence that exists in support of the revelations to man, he will find sufficient to fully justify him in obeying the law to the best of his ability. Too many limit their examination to the evidence arrayed by sceptics against revelation, and rest there. "Were they to fully consider the evidence on the other side they would be convinced thereby, except those who would not believe " though one rose from the dead." We, therefore, submit to the impartial judg- 276 THE PLAN OF CREATION. merit of the reader that the facts and laws of nature and the history of the race establish the leading propositions of this work. First. That matter was created from nothing, that the laws governing it and the phenomena of life, were established in some deQnite period in the past. Second. That there is a Being, omnipotent, eternal, infinite, unchanging, and of free will, who created matter And established the laws above referred to. Third. That He is a being of perfect benev- olence. Fourth. That He established a plan of crea- tion according to which all things have been created, and according to which, in pursuance of law, everything created is moving on to its final destiny, and is accomplishing its proper object in the plan. Fifth. That the object of .the plan of crea- tion was to confer the greatest enjoyment, for the greatest length of time, on the greatest number, with the least suffering to the fewest individuals. THE PLAN OF CREATION. 277 Sixth. That in pursuance of this plan there were created different orders of beings regular- ly graduated in the descending scale, from the order capable of the greatest enjoyment for eternity, down to the order capable of but a single agreeable sensation for a short space of time. Seventh. That the individuals in each order of the immortal beings vary, one from another, in mental characteristics, so that no duplicates occur, and are created with faculties for enjoy-' uient, so that the capacity shall forever increase. Eighth. That matter was created throughout space, subject to such laws that there will be evolved the greatest variety of phenomena as sources of enjoyment. That after the present order ends new creations will appear, and thus continue in succession through eternity. Ninth. -God is the cause and source of all enjoyment. That which has been created is but the expression or manifestation of God's thoughts on that subject, and constitutes the word of God to created intelligences. Tenth. That cause and effect have been es- 13 278 THE PLAN OF CREATION. tablished by a- fixed law, so that the same cause of enjoyment shall always produce the same ef- fect. Present and future enjoyment and suffer- ing are the effects of fixed causes, and are the result of natural laws not yet fully understood. Eleventh. If the created beings act or live according to this law they will constantly at- tain enjoyment. If they neglect it, or live con- trary to it, want of enjoyment or suffering will result as a fixed effect. Obeying this law is righteousness, transgressing it is sin. Where man transgresses this law, it is provided that by repentance he may escape the penalty, and be restored to his former opportunity under the law. Twelfth. Man having been created the low- est in the scale of immortal beings, and wholly ignorant of all law, has been under the special guidance of the Creator. He has been instruct- ed, and the law has been revealed to him, until he is now possessed of sufficient knowledge of the law so that he can live according to it and attain enjoyment. Thirteenth. The Bible contains a revelation THE PLAN OF CREATION. 279 of a two-fold character : first, of the law of en- joyment, or the law according to which man must live, called also the moral law ; second, of facts which are important for man to know, and collateral to the main subject of revelation. Fourteenth. That the facts of a scientific character thus revealed were not substantiated by any evidence in the revelation. This evi- dence was left for the intellect to discover, thus giving it the enjojanent of the effort and of the discovery. Fifteenth Each part of this plan of creation is presumptive proof of the whole, and the whole is presumptive proof of each part by rea- son of the relative fitness and adaptability of each to the other, forming a perfect whole with perfect parts. It has been the tendency of man in his igno- rance to bury the grand and simple law of Grod beneath a mass of traditions, creeds, dogmas, and rituals, so complicated that many have turned away from the truth. Early in the his- tory of the race the Creator swept these aside and announced the duty of man as He required it. 280 THE PLAN OF CREATION. And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him and to servo the Lord thy God with all thy heart ani wito. all thy soul. To keep tlio commandments of tho Lor. I, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good. Duul., 10: 12, 13. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. * * * Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all tha lav/ and the prophets. Malt., 22: 37-40. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. -Matt., 5: IS. Before each one lie two ways j one leads to enjoyment, the other to suffering. Man's free will enables him to choose either one. But go thou thy way till the end be : for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. Dan., 12: 13. END. VB 7Z/79 235145