186 MR. GLADSTONE AND GENESIS v 



are very difficult, even for those who possess the 

 intellectual discipline requisite for dealing with 

 them. And it was this conviction that led me to 

 express my desire to leave the discussion of the 

 question of the asserted harmony between Genesis 

 and the nebular hypothesis to experts in the appro- 

 priate branches of knowledge. And I think my 

 course was a wise one ; but as Mr. Gladstone 

 evidently does not understand how there can be 

 any hesitation on my part, unless it arises from a 

 conviction that he is in the right, I may go so far 

 as to set out my difficulties. 



They are of two kinds exegeticaland scientific. 

 It appears to me that it is vain to discuss a sup- 

 posed coincidence between Genesis and science 

 unless we have first settled, on the one hand, what 

 Genesis says, and, on the other hand, what science 

 says. 



In the first place, I cannot find any consensus 

 among Biblical scholars as to the meaning of the 

 words, " In the beginning God created the heaven 

 and the earth." Some say that the Hebrew word 

 bara, which is translated " create," means " made 

 out of nothing." I venture to object to that 

 rendering, not on the ground of scholarship, but 

 of common sense. Omnipotence itself can surely 

 no more make something e: out of " nothing than 

 it can make a triangular circle. What is intended 

 by " made out of nothing " appears to be " caused 

 to come into existence," with the implication that 



