216 WALTER KIDD, ESQ., M.D., F.Z.6., OX CREATION OR EVOLUTION. 



do frequently introduce allusions to nature, but it is in the way ot 

 illustration, or to direct the hearei-'s thoughts up to God, the great 

 Creator and Ruler of the universe. The hmguage in which this 

 is done is usually that of poetry ; and I do not remember that in 

 any case any didactic reference to nature is introduced by such a 

 formula as " Thus saith the Lord." Most of the old pagan nations 

 worshipped the sun or some other natural object, and, accordingly, 

 they looked upon their priests or sacred books as expositors of 

 nature. Is it possible that this same idea has been transferred, 

 like many other pagan notions, to the Jewish and Christian 

 writings, which make no such profession ? 



As to the question of creation by evolution ; there is no scriptiu-al 

 difficulty in receiving what is now the almost universally accepted 

 view of the origin of different species of plants and animals, 

 including man himself. Anyone who will take the trouble to look 

 up the forty-eight or more passages of scripture where the word 

 Bara is employed, will fiad that, as ah'eady stated, the word is 

 never used except with reference to the work of God ; but it is 

 not stated or even implied in any one of them that this creation 

 was out of nothing, while it is impossible to attach such a meaning 

 to such passages as Psalm cii, 18, Isaiah liv, 16, Ezekiel xxi, 30. 

 The same is equally true of the thirty-eight passages in the New 

 Testament where kti^u) or its derivatives occur. I am fully con- 

 vinced that, in making the material world as we see it now, God 

 has proceeded by a method of gradual development similar to that 

 which He has employed in revelation. 



