DAWN OF CREATION AND OF WORSHIP. 



871 



thing apparently agreed on being that his 

 interpretation is wholly excluded. Upon a 

 disputed original, and a disputed interpreta- 

 tion of the disputed original, he founds a 

 signification in flat contradiction to the 

 whole of the former narrative, to Elohist 

 and Jehovist alike; which narrative, if it 

 represents anything, represents a continuity 

 of active reciprocal relation between God 

 and man both before and after the trans- 

 gression. Not to mention differences of 

 translation, which essentially change the 

 meaning of the words, the text itself is 

 given by the double authority of the Samari- 

 tan Pentateuch * and of the Septungint in 

 the singular number, which of itself wholly 

 destroys the construction of Dr. Reville. I 

 do not enter upon the difficult question of 

 conflicting authorities, but I urge that it is 

 imsafe to build an important conclusion upon 

 a seriously controverted reading.f 



There is nothing, then, in the criticisms 

 of Dr. Reville but what rather tends to con- 

 firm than to impair the old-fashioned belief 

 that there is a revelation in the Book of 

 Genesis. With his argument outside this 

 proposition I have not dealt. I make no 

 assumption as to what is termed a verbal 

 inspiration, and, of course, in admitting the 

 variety, I give up the absolute integrity of 

 the text. Upon the presumable age of the 

 book and its compilation I do not enter — 

 not even to contest the opinion which brings 

 it down below the age of Solomon — beyond 

 observing that in every page it appears from 

 internal evidence to belong to a remote an- 

 tiquity. There is here no question of the 

 chronology or of the date of man, or of 

 knowledge or ignorance in the primitive 

 man; or whether the element of parable 

 enters into any portion of the narrative ; or 

 whether every statement of fact contained 

 in the text of the Book can now be made 

 good. It is enough for my present purpose 

 to point to the cosmogony, and the fourfold 

 succession of the living organisms, as en- 

 tirely harmonizing, according to present 



* See Bishop of Winchester's "Commentary." 

 + This perplexed ijuostion is discussed, in a sense 

 adverse to the Septuafjint, by the critic of the re- 

 cent revision, in the "'Quarterly Eevicw" for Oc- 

 tober, No. 323. The revisers of the Old Testament 

 state (Preface, p. vi) th.at in a few cases of extreme 

 difficulty they have set aside the Masoretic text in 

 favor of a reading from one of the ancient versions. 



knowledge, with belief in a revelation, and 

 as presenting to the rejector of that belief 

 a problem, which demands solution at his 

 hands, and which he has not yet been able 

 to solve. Whether this revelation was con- 

 veyed to the ancestors of the whole human 

 race who have at the time or since existed, 

 I do not know, and the Scriptures do not 

 appear to make the affirmation, even if they 

 do not convey certain indications which 

 favor a contrary opinion. Again, whether 

 it contains the whole of the knowledge 

 specially vouchsafed to the parents of the 

 Noacbian races, may be very doubtful ; 

 though of course great caution must be ex- 

 ercised in regard to the particulars of any 

 primeval tradition not derived from the 

 text of the earliest among the sacred books. 

 I have thus far confined myself to rebutting 

 objections. But I will now add some posi- 

 tive considerations which appear to me to 

 sustain the ancient and, as I am persuaded, 

 impregnable belief of Christians and of 

 Jews concerning the inspiration of the Book. 

 I offer them as one wholly destitute of that 

 kind of knowledge which carries authority, 

 and who speaks derivatively as best he can, 

 after listening to teachers of repute and 

 such as practice rational methods. 



I UTiderstand the stages of the majestic 

 process described in the Book of Genesis to 

 be in general outline as follows : 



1. The point of departure is the formless 

 mass, created by God, out of which the 

 earth was shaped and constituted a thing of 

 individual existence (verses 1, 2). 



2. The detachment and collection of 

 light, leaving in darkness as it proceeded 

 the still chaotic mass from which it was de- 

 tached (verses 3-5). The narrative assign- 

 ing a space of time to each process appears 

 to show that each was gradual, not instan- 

 taneous. 



S. The detachment of light from dark- 

 ness is followed by the detachment of wet 

 from dry, and of solid from liquid, in the 

 firmament, and on the face of the earth. 

 Each of these operations occupies a " day " ; 

 and the conditions of vegetable life, as 

 known to us by experience, being now pro- 

 vided, the order of the vegetable kingdom 

 had begun (verses 6-13). 



4. Next comes the presentation to us of 

 the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars, 



