“No man acquainted with the general outlines of Palaeontology, or the true succession of the sedimentary formations, has been able to believe, during the last half century, that any proof of a general deluge can be derived from the older geologic systems, — Palaeozoic, Secondary [Mesozoic], or Tertiary.”
            –Hugh Miller, 1857, “The Testimony of the Rocks”, p.324. 
 
“And be it remembered, that the expedient of having recourse to supposititious miracle in order to get over a difficulty insurmountable on every natural principle, is not of the nature of argument, but simply an evidence of the want of it. Argument is at an end when supposititious miracle is introduced.”
            –Hugh Miller, 1857, “The Testimony of the Rocks”, p.344.

• Introduction
• Excerpts from “The Testimony of the Rocks”
• Notes
• References

Perhaps of particular interest to present-day creationists, however, is the way that Miller also discusses the theological issues.  Many of the points Miller raises will be completely familiar to anyone who has followed the newsgroup talk.origins for a while, no matter what their perspective on the issues discussed there.  Also, Miller’s “The Testimony of the Rocks” book, published in 1857, provides useful historical documentation of the state of geology and the “global flood” model a few years prior to the publication of Darwin’s theory of evolution in “The Origin of Species” in 1859.  A common claim of some modern “young Earth global flood” creationists is that the geologic time scale and fossil succession is somehow “circular” or otherwise dependent upon evolutionary theory.  A simple reading of Miller’s discussion, prior to the proposal of evolutionary theory, makes it obvious that before Darwin’s theory was published, the basic fossil succession and geologic time scale was well-established by completely independent means, even in the opinion of creationist geologists of that time.  Likewise, the theory of a global flood as an explanation for the Earth’s geology had been completely abandoned by almost all scientists familiar with geology, including the creationist ones.  It was not consistent with the evidence known even then.

The story of Miller ends on a tragic note.  He died at his own hands in 1856, after a long but episodic period of “illness of the brain”, apparently aggravated by the stress of writing his final work.  “The Testimony of the Rocks” was published posthumously.  The edition I have has 32 pages of memorials at the front, mostly reprinted from contemporary newspaper articles.
 

I have chosen the chapters that deal with the “Noachian Deluge” as representative because they really represent the centre of his book, and show what makes Miller’s writings fairly unique these days — a balance of theological and scientific discussion.  I think his writings, while dated in some matters of data, provide an interesting perspective for anyone interested in the subject of “origins”.  Miller’s 19th-century arguments put an intriguing historical spin on the same old arguments that turn up in talk.origins all the time.  Most people will not realize just how old these arguments really are!  His refutations of “global flood” geology are, in many cases, still applicable today to some types of “modern” creationism.
 

Notes

References

Miller, Hugh, 1857.  The Testimony of the Rocks.  Or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed.  American Edition.  Gould and Lincoln: Boston, 502pp.

Milton, Richard, 1993.  The Facts of Life: Shattering the Myths of Darwinism.  Corgi Books: London, 334pp.

Mykura, W., 1991.  Old Red Sandstone.  IN: Craig, G.Y. (ed.), Geology of Scotland.  Geological Society: London, p.297-344.

Velikovsky, Immanuel, 1968.  Earth in Upheaval.  Dell Publishing: New York, 288pp.
 

home

table of contents

essays

origins

email