E. H. ADDINGTON

158 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GRAND LODGE
date when God made the earth at 4000 B. C. At that period these dates
were perhaps considered sacred. Eollins followed these figures, but not
rigidly. He deviated from Usher's chronology on several occasions
when it became necessary to preserve Ms facts and preserve Ms history.
This is what a few distinguished writers have done as to the age of
man on earth. They deal with Bishop Usher as did Eollins. It is
proper to state that 'Bishop Usher made no pretence of speaking by
Divine Authority.
Having made this diversion that my hearers may see how the doors
of creation broadens out into the clearer light, I now go back—and what
is unfolded to our eyes?
From a study of earliest discoveries and following down to written
history, there appears a long period of time, and improvement is
apparent—a steady growth and betterment in the use of materials for
man's comfort and for his convenience, all gained by his own endeavors.
Although man's advent is without date, he left the footprints of
his onward march as he came down the ages, and which such savants
as Mr. McCurdy, are revealing to the people of our day. From a story
of earth's history it is apparent that when the soil was prepared for
man, he came.
Scientists have discovered that the earth's crust is divided into
series of strata, located one over the other in successive layers. The
last, and uppermost, is denominated the quarternary epoch. Here animal
life is largely developed. The time required to prepare the earth for
this period was perhaps after countless aeons. How far back of the
quarternary man made his appearance is yet without date; but in the
fulfillment of time, God spake and man made his appearance. In knowledge,
he was a child; in capacity, how like a God! If he labored for
food, he was yet a student and along the road he traveled he necessarily
left his footprints in strata where he lived and died.
However far back in the ages it may be claimed man had his beginning
there is one fact that appears as the germ of history. He was
born to an inheritance and to impress his name on the pages of history,
and mark the period of ancestral life. Here we begin with primordial
life, a marking of the beginning of man as an inhabitant of the earth;
the period of his development preparatory to going forth to develop the
earth and subdue it. The years of this period are unnumbered. With
the Supreme Architect of the Universe, a thousand years is as a day.
To him, therefore, this period of man on earth may have been as a
morning hour!
It is well to keep in mind that geologists have divided the crust
of the earth into layers. Over the entire earth, each of these divisions
or layers, occupy a uniform position, at least, so far as man has been
able to discover. The tertiary is divided into the Eocene, the Miocene
and Pliocene, and occupies a place just over the cretaceous. Following