The third layer seems to show, from the limestone and the fresh-water sh.e.l.ls embedded in it, that the level land where the forest grew sank lower and lower until it formed a hollow which in time became a lake.
The fourth layer, which "ends this strange, eventful history," gives evidence of the whole land having been again covered by the ocean, and again raised above the waters!
If we were studying geology together, I should like to take you with me to the Museum, and we would first look at the fossils which are believed to belong to the most ancient time of life upon the earth; then we would pa.s.s on to those belonging to the second or "middle" stage, and then to the third, or "new" stage, letting these wonderful stones, taken from mountain height or deep sea bottom, or from the depths of the earth itself, tell their own eloquent story.
But what I should like you to remember is that geologists of our own time tell us that the lowest layer of the earth"s crust which has yet been explored appears to be made of vegetable remains, so crushed and altered by time and by the tremendous pressure of rocky layers lying above it, that though it is probably of the same material as that which forms the coal-measures, it resembles the blacklead of which pencils are made much more than the coal which you know is what has been formed by the decay of buried forests and jungles.
In this layer of "graphite," geologists with the help of their microscopes have searched in vain for any trace of what once was living, but they think it may have been formed from the "flowerless" plants, or even from those still more lowly, too minute when living to be seen by the naked eye, and consisting of one tiny bag or "cell."
They tell us that these "infant" plants were followed by those of larger growth, specimens of which are found in layers of rock and clay nearer the surface, and are followed by remains of the "herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind"--for mummies of seed vessels and fruits have been found in coal-fields in many parts of the world.
It is interesting, too, to see that as far as we can tell at present, in the case of fossil-fish and other living creatures, the lowest forms are found _first_ (that is, _farthest back_), and are followed by remains of creatures higher in the scale of life; that is to say, not so simple in structure. In using the words "higher" or "lower," we do not mean that there is anything imperfect about the humbler creatures; they are exactly suited to the life which has been given to them to live, but their form is very simple compared with that of "higher" animals, just as a three-legged stool is much more simple in its construction, and is made of fewer parts, than a watch. I may tell you a little about these lowly creatures when we speak of the FIFTH DAY of Creation, and then you will see that they were all made according to a "perfect goodly pattern" or plan, and each "after its kind"; for if we read the pages of the Stone Book aright, we shall see plainly written there that from the first beginnings of life, as far as it is given us to trace them, the goodness and wisdom and power of G.o.d are shown in the way in which the smallest creature of His hand is suited to the place appointed to it to fill, by Him who is "good to all," and whose "tender mercies are over all His works."
But there is a great difference between what we may thus glean from the study of the earth, and what is revealed to us by the clear teaching of the Word of G.o.d, as He tells us what He did in His wonderful work of Creation, and how He "saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good."
When G.o.d speaks, all is clear and simple and true; and is to be understood by believing His word: when we come to the thoughts of men about what happened in the far past, especially when they try to settle not only the _when_ but the _how_ of His mighty working, much is dark uncertainty.
Should we then _not_ study the letters of the Stone Book? I did not say so; "G.o.d has made everything beautiful in its time," and His handiwork in the past as well as the present is indeed worthy of our attention. But in reading books about geology, more perhaps than in any other study, you need to ask G.o.d to teach you to hold fast by His Word.
Then, if you read that many geologists now believe that there has been no special creation of fish or bird or beast of the earth, but that "all the many forms of plant and animal life have been unfolded out of a few simple forms, just as the stem, the leaf, and the flower are evolved out of a simple seed"--you will say at once, "That cannot be; for G.o.d has plainly told us of both plants and animals that they were made each "after its kind," and therefore there can never have been such a thing as a fish developing into a bird, or a bird into a lizard: nor, so far as I have seen, is any such creature to be found in a fossil state."
I heard some time ago that a young man who was studying to become a doctor, said to his father, "When I go to some of my lectures on biology" (that is the study of life), "the only thing that I can do when I hear things said that are quite contrary to the Bible, is to keep saying to myself, "It"s not _true_, it"s not _true_.""
I think this young man was right: he had settled it in his heart that whatever he might hear, he must think as G.o.d thinks. He was like one who when just starting in life, wrote these words on the flyleaf of his little Bible--"Man has faith in his compa.s.s, yet he cannot understand it. He takes it as his guide across the trackless ocean. He relies implicitly upon it, and well he may trust it. This Book is my compa.s.s. I have faith in it, thanks to G.o.d: it explains itself; I take it for my guide across the ocean of life--I rely upon it. Man may jeer at my faith, but my compa.s.s is vastly more reliable than his--still better may I trust mine."
"HIDDEN TREASURES.
"The gems of earth are still within Her silent unwrought mines; There hide they, all unknown, unseen, No sparkle upward shines.
"The stars of heaven, how few and wan Are all we see below Compared with what remain unseen Beyond all vision now!
"Who knows the untold brilliance there, The wealth, the beauty hid?
Like sparkle of a l.u.s.trous eye Beneath its veiling lid.
"So with the heaven of better stars Of which these are but signs: So with the stores of wisdom hid In everlasting mines."
H. BONAR.
THE FIFTH DAY.
"THE MOVING CREATURE THAT HATH LIFE."
"_This is the finger of G.o.d._"--EXODUS viii. 19.
"_The Lord ... in whose hand is the soul of every living thing._"--JOB xii.
10.
"_O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts._"--PSALM civ. 24, 25.
We now come to the time when the empty water, air, and land were filled.
The work of G.o.d on the FIFTH DAY is spoken of in verses 20 and 21 of our chapter. In reading them we noticed that in respect of the "great whales,"
or sea monsters, the word "created" is again used, as it was in the first verse; and then, as we read the twenty-third verse, we had a little talk about the words now used for the first time in the story of Creation, "and G.o.d blessed them."
How beautiful it is to see that as soon as G.o.d had caused the waters to "swarm with swarms of living souls" (look at the margin of your Bible as you read the twentieth verse)--as soon as we read of creatures to whom G.o.d gave a life different from that of a tree or a flower, a life that could enjoy itself in the home prepared for it--all these living things were blessed, that is, made happy, by Him who called them into being!
G.o.d"s world was a happy world for the humblest creature of His hand; and if it is now a sad world, where the groan of many a suffering animal goes up to Him who hears the ravens when they cry--whose fault is it?
Did you ever think how kind we ought to be to the creatures which, innocent themselves, have shared the sorrow brought into the world by man"s disobedience? I heard someone say the other day, "It is terrible to see animals suffer: to see cattle overdriven, and sheep dying for want of water, and defenceless creatures cruelly used. But when I see any of these things, I have to feel--_I_ am to blame for that."
When I asked my scholars, "What is the meaning of _abundantly_?" Sharley said, "It means enough and over."
Do you like her answer?
As the sea everywhere, even down in those depths where the sun"s light cannot pierce through the ma.s.ses of water, is peopled by millions of creatures--every drop of water, as we might say, _alive_ with life--I thought it a good one. A great poet has spoken of the "mult.i.tudinous seas,"
but whether this was in allusion to their wealth of life, or to their myriad waves, I do not know. Certainly in his time very little was known about the dwellers in the deep, deep sea, compared with what we may learn in the present day, when the sounding-line has reached the bottom of the Atlantic, and actually brought up some of the clay that forms its floor--clay which is made up of the skeletons of myriads of creatures. It was once thought that no life could exist in the ocean-depths, but we now know that life is everywhere--in air and water, upon the earth and within it, in the lowest depths of the sea, and on the highest mountain peaks, in hot and cold climates, and in the bodies of animals: all around us--earth, air, and water--teems with life.
Now let us read once more the simple words which tell us all we can really know about what is so wonderful: "And G.o.d said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life" (or, as it may be translated, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls").
We will not read farther to-day, as I want to tell you in this chapter something about life in what are called its lower forms, and we shall find that wherever we may look, every creature is perfect in itself, and perfectly suited to the life appointed to it by its Creator, and the home where He has placed it.
My children had learnt something about the two great divisions of animals, those which belong to the great Backboned Family and those which have no backbone. It is of the latter that we shall speak today. You know that a fish has a backbone, and that it is beautifully formed, for you have often seen it; but perhaps you have not noticed that a lobster, though called one of the sh.e.l.l-fish, is quite unlike the true Fishes: its skeleton is not inside, but outside; there are no bones within, but all the soft parts are inside, and the hard parts outside; while the body of a fish is formed on just the opposite plan. The fish is called a _Vertebrate_ animal, because it has a backbone, made up of numbers of separate bones called vertebras.
Some of us know that this word comes from the Latin, and means _that which turns_, because these many small bones are so beautifully jointed together as to be all perfectly moveable, so that the long bone which they form is very flexible. Some snakes have more than three hundred of these vertebrae, and you know how they can coil and twist their glittering length.
The marks of a Vertebrate animal are very easy to remember.
It must have this wonderfully jointed backbone, and also what is called the skeleton, which is a framework of bone.
A spinal cord (from which this division of animals is sometimes called the "Chordate").
Four limbs, and red blood.
In these respects all the animals which belong to this division are alike, though in general appearance they may be as unlike each other as a horse is unlike a bird, or a crocodile unlike a herring.
Few things in nature are more wonderful than the way in which this Vertebrate plan has been fitted to animals differing from each other in all other respects.
Now let us look at the marks of an Invertebrate or Inchordate animal.
It has _no backbone_, and instead of a bony framework _within_, to support the soft parts of its body, it generally has a hard sh.e.l.l, or thickened skin _outside_, to protect the softer inner parts.
It has _no red blood_.
Now, just as plants have been arranged in different cla.s.ses, so animals are cla.s.sified according to the various plans upon which they have been formed. So, besides the two great divisions of the Vertebrates and the Invertebrates, the latter have been cla.s.sed as--