to Cuvier's Theory of the Earth. 229 



This mode of interpreting the words of the inspired writer 

 may have lieretofore been proposed, of which I have no know- 

 ledge ; but it is now offered in the hope that there is nothing in 

 it that can oftend the most scrupulous zeal for the cause of reli- 

 gion, or those who are most tenacious for the modes of thinking 

 oftheir predecessors. I have privately submitted it to many 

 thinking men, without giving offence to any. If it should be 

 asked, whv an innovation should now be broached, and why an 

 attempt should now be made to disturb the tranquil belief of ge- 

 nerations ? I reply, that it will be found, as I trust, in no respect 

 to injure the character of Moses, but rather to confirm it, since 

 this interpretation will best agree with our knoM'ledge of the struc- 

 ture of the earth. And as Truth alone is my object, I shall most 

 readily and dispassionately attend to any arguments that may 

 temperately be brought against it, and cheerfully yield to and 

 acknowledge such conviction as they may produce. 



Homo*. 



* The idea siicrijesteJ by FTomo, modified in various ways, is a very old one, 

 a>;d not only has had, but, still has, advocates. Philo held that the world was 

 formed out of pre"-ey.is;infr matter : that is, he conceived the word K"ia [he cre- 

 ated] not to include the creation but the arrangement of matter. The author of 

 the liook of fVisdom believed that Gou fashioned the world oxxt of un/ashioned 

 mailer, sg a/iia^ti vXrt;. Justin Maktyr (Apol. 1.) says it was the Christian doc- 

 trine of his time, ria»r«, tjji/ «j;^!jv, a^a^av ovra S>j^j8jyf)(rK/ avTov [Ssov] i^ eefts^lfli 

 iXns 'itoa.yii'Ja : and elsewhere he says that Pr.ATfi [v. ho held that l!ie world was 

 created out of pre-existino matter] borrowed his doctrine from Moses. 



MicHAELts conceives Kin to liave the same sense as the Latin Pario. Geddes 

 probably comes still nearer the sense when he makes it the same as Paro. Cer- 

 tain it is that xnn is used in Scripture in a sense very diflerent from that nf creating 

 in the common acceptation of the word; as in Joshua xvii. 1 j. where the word is 

 rendered cut down, but should rather be cut out, or make for Ihy self (the portion 

 of laud which they wanted) ; and the same word is used in the same sense in the 

 18th ver;e. — Homo should see Mosheim's Dissertation De creatione mundi ex 

 nihilo. 



The Hebrew may certainly be rendered in such a manner as to carry the sense 

 contended for by Homo ; for it is not necessary that the vau should always be trans- 

 lateil as a coi)ulative coninnction. The words may be rendered thus : — In the be- 

 ginniiif; God cieated Ike heaven and the earth, but the earth was ivilhout farm, yea, 

 void (of form), and darkness was vpon Ihe face of the deep : and the spirit of God 

 moved upon Ihe fare of the waters. Then God said. Let there be lighl"&c. But some 

 for " f/ie .'!/)!>i/ «/ Corf " tian-late "a wind of God," and contend that this is a 

 mere Hebrew form of rpecch for "a mi^ihty wind. "' If this be taken as the tnean- 

 inpr, then the mighti/ or tempestuous wind may even be referi ed to the chaotic state 

 of the matter subsequent to its creation out of nothing-, but prior to the six days 

 work. 13ut the general opinion of those whoso render the word, and whihold 

 that the matter wa?: creale<l at a period not specified, is, that the mighty loind refers 

 not to the turbulent state of the matter before the six days, but to the first kind 

 of agency employed to bring the chaos into order. 



P3 XLI. Notices 



