Science And Scripture.

" That this AA'as not the light of the sun is plain from the fact that it was the work of the fourth period to make ( or appoint ) the two great lights , ' the greater of which was to rule the day , and thc lesser to rule the ni g ht . ' " But further , to continue our argument negatively , it will appear evident that the light called forth into being in the third verse , having simply discharged the dut 3 ' for whicli it was

summoned—having merely served the object purposed by the Creator , ivould naturally again cease to be visible . The mechanical juxtaposition of the particles having taking place—the chemical combination having been accomplished—thc cause , that is to sa . i " , having ceased to act , the result ivould be no longer produced . But God ' saiv the light , that it was good , ' and darkness was not a second time to lie over ' the face of the deep . ' Again the

Almighty ivill AA-as published midst the spheres , and there were ' lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the da 3 ' from the night . ' But where , I may be hastily asked , where in all this is the proof ivhich j'ou proposed , that Moses's account of the creation is correct ?

" I hasten to it : —First , however , taking in passing our borroAved theory as a plausible basis for argument—whence , I would ask of its supporters , originated that liquid fiery plain ? AVhence originated the law that that plain in rapid circulation should become annular , and that that circulation still continuing , those rings should form globes ? AVhence originated the necessit 3 ' that , ivhen occasion served , there should be light produced from that

combination of elementary atoms ? AVhence ? but from him , the Great Architect of the universe , AA'hose fiat Avas the initiative of all the complications of the countless orbs of space , at whose will they are , and AA'ere created , and at whose command those complications are cither interrupted or cease entirety to be ? "But , secondly , and more immediately , regarding the superstructure Ave have erected upon this philosopher's theory , we

perceive that Moses , although he wrote so concisely , and , to a great extent popularly *—( I had almost said imphilosophically ) ; 3 ct has propounded a natural and satisfactory order for creation's work ; not placing , as it is so extremely probable an uninformed or uninspired annalist ivould have done , the creation , or appointment , of the two great li ghts at the very commencement of the seven days' labour . "Now , whence originated this natural order ? AVhence ori ginated too the circumstance that the sun should shed forth his brilliant and genial beams upon a world requiring their warmth

and vivifying power , after it had been property prepared to receii-e them , and after tbe light it had before enjoyed had been" withdrawn ? AVhence but from him , ' at the words of whoso month the heavens were made , ' and ' at the voice of whose thunder the waters hasted away ? ' And how , think 3 'ou , for two thousand six hundred 3 'ears could this without doubt seemingly contradictory order of creation have been handed down from father

to son , unless God had protected it , so that it should not be changed ? Let us suppose , for example , that without any divine interposition it hael been written during that period ivith tlie pen of iron on tho imperishable face of the solid roch , would not some transcriber , fancying that be perceived the mistake , have rearranged it ! Or , let us suppose that it was taught in the cavern temples of Luxor , or unfolded in the Ilicrophant ' s

discourse beneath tbe pyramids of Ghizelr , yet , there , I can believe , that fostered only by the spurious sons of tlie ' sublime science' it would have been—11113 ' , i' must have been—as every other similar doctrine has been by them , either perverted or entirely destroj * ed . AVhence , then , did Moses succeed in transmittiug it to all future generations without au error ? AVhence ? but by the guidance of him through whose inspiration all

scripture has been given us , and under whose direction ' tlie hoty men of old spake as they were moved b 3 ' the Hoty Ghost ?' "Brothers , as our Chaldean forefathers in Masonry mounted their lonely starlit watch towers , *) - they sought , as they gazed

* There can be no greater mistake than that so frequently made , of imagining that airy objection lies against the authenticity , or rather inspiration of tlie Bible , from the unscientific statements occurring iu it . Is Avhat we call science at all times found unerring ? AA'ill another age receive all our scientific facts' ! The Bible was Avritten for man ' s moral guidance through earth to heaven ; nofc to he a text book to natural philosophy . Intended for all , in every age and clime , phenomena in hysics are proposed iu itas they rather to the

p , appear uneducated than to tfrose learned in the phraseology of philosophy , AVIIO then—and they a very feAv—alone could have understood or appreciated it . + Alost probably the Toiver of Babel was intended to be , and uo doubt was used as , a temple for symbolical worship , and that other similar buildings were raised in eA-ery direction around it . This is the only possible , as well as probable , explanation of the existence of the iamous round towers of Ireland . ' '

upwards toivards the silent guardians of the night , in those countless orbs the light ivhich the 3 ' too well knew that man bad lost , but still thc 3 ' felt not lost for ever . It was the quest of light that drew the ' Father of the Faithful' out of his native country , and from amongst his friends ; for when Abraham wandered forth upon his strange journey into a land ivhich the ' great Geometrician' was to measure out for him , and into ivhich

he promised he would lead him , he left Ur Chasdim , * the light of the Chaldees , for so his native toivn was called , to have vouchsafed to him in a vision a manifestation of the true light , ' and it came to pass when the sun went down , and it was dark , behold a smoking furnace , and a burning lamp that passeel between those pieces . 't And Moses , taught as he had been in all the wisdom oi Egyptinitiated into the spurious mysteries ofthe chambers ofthe

, Nile , yet guided aright by the watchful care of the Shepherd Priest , his father-in-law Jethro , longed to behold his gloi * 3 ' , to whose people he belonged . Disregarding , therefore , the affection and the interest of the Pharoah's daughter , he chose rather to follow , whithersoever it led , the pillar of fire , that s 3 'mbol of glory , in which was Israel ' s salvation . The ancient people , also , of God's heritage and favour showed how anxiously they awaited

the bestowal of the one great g ift , as thej' knelt before the most sacred of all the temple ' s sacred recesses , and gazed in awe and wonder at the brief glimpse they caught of Shechinah ' s bri ghtness , ere the curtain fell upon the receding figure of Israel ' s High Priest . " But enough . The time to be allotted to my discourse would not suffice for me to attempt to point out how every nation has had the same great expectations- —how all have clothed their chief

deity in light 'unimaginably' brilliant—how all have , more or less , bowed before the lambent flames of Baal ' s fire , or prostrated themselves in adoration ofthe rays of the great natural orb and source of li g ht . Even in onr own country , but more especially in thc sister isle , "f the remains of this idolatry IIOAV exist , a present proof that the moral proposition is well founded—that man , in every age and eveiy clime , has longed for the lig ht of life and

truth , whilst , without doubt , he only symbolized at the first ( although , indeed , it ended in perfect worship at thc last ) , by his reverence for nature ' s gifts , his expectation that the " day-spring from on high should visit him , " and his heart-felt desire that the " sun of righteousness should speedil y arise with healing on his wings . " I use the words " only symbolized , " for at the first , undoubtedly , this worship was regarded by its chief promoters as symbolical ,

or , at the most , as a worship in se to be confined to the external or unenlig htened world . Classes there were of favoured ones , who , in a greater or less degree , AA'ere taught what was actually symbolized ; anebjthese , while they were but few , preserved thc real design intact , and strove amongst themselves to promote it . Yet , as time sped on , and the numbers of the initiated were increased , sight was gradually lost of the great aim and object of and

their banding together ; corruption followed upon error , Baal ' s image received positive , not simulated , reverence , and they worshipped verily and truly all the host of heaven . ' Men loved darkness rather than lig ht because their deeds were evil' But a time came when ' Bel bowed down and ' Nebo stooped '—when that little number who had retained a just knowledge of those things , whereon the majority had so grievously erred , were again able to make their voices heard in the lands , and again were able

to reduce symbols to their proper position m the language ol nature . They became , therefore , the guardians of science , the assnagers of misery , the guides to that daystar in tlie cast , who should bring salvation by his advent , and lead the just and uprig ht man to the desired , land of glory and of lig ht . They held opinions , and bound themselves to obey laws , ivhich , indeed , entitled them to the honourable appellation that they assumed

— 'men standing in the centre beneath the eye of the Great Geometrician . ' § " Yes , brothers , you know that your predominant wish is for ' light . ' You know 3-011 stand where your limits are only the space from cast to west , from north to south ; from the surface to the centre ; from the universal plain to the blue vault of heaven . You should know that the ' seven sciences' should be your

study ; you should knoiv that the three ladder staves should be your moral virtues ; you should knoiv that your noble art desires * " A name ivhich implies a reference to the Persian Light religion , or worship of Fire . "—Riddle . •| - Genesis xv . 17 . J- The fires lighted upon Atay clay eve , upon the eve of St . Johns day , and Hallowe ' en , are remnants , and are still knoivn as the Beltain . Velynny .- ) or Belenus was an ancient name of Britain . § I am supported by Bro . Dr . Oliver in "both my vieAi's of the Avell known symbol , the point within the centre .