128 EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



[iterated. All pre-Cambrian fossils that may 

 once have existed were completely destroyed, and 

 even the Cambrian remnants have almost entirely 

 disappeared. &quot;Should it be concluded from these 

 facts,&quot; asks Deperet-Wagner, &quot;that we must for 

 ever desist from hoping to solve a problem so 

 passionately discussed as that of the commence 

 ment of life upon earth? Or at least to be able 

 to follow it further back?&quot; And he mournfully 

 answers: &quot;Unhappily it must be granted that this 

 is the most probable prospect.&quot; 3 We behold 

 therefore the absurdity of the bold and sweeping 

 assertions made in the name of science where cer 

 tainty is a thing utterly and forever unattainable. 



But perhaps the most impressive fact of the en 

 tire Scripture narrative of the creation of heaven 

 and earth, from a scientific point of view, is the 

 description that now appears for the first time, 

 of the sun, moon and stars, shining in the firma 

 ment of heaven, long after the creation of light 

 itself. Here, as apparently throughout the en 

 tire narrative, the viewpoint is the earth surface 

 from which all these events are pictured. To 

 quote but the sixteenth verse : 



And God made two great lights; a greater light 

 to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night; 

 and the stars. 



How indeed could Moses have known, without 



9 &quot;Die Vmllldung der Tierwelt&quot; p. 312. See Karl Frank, 

 S. J., &quot;The Theory of Evolution,&quot; pp. 22-26. 



