373 



43. Another mistake into which persons are sometimes apt to 

 fall in reference to the Bible is to imagine that the expressions 

 applied to the works of Creation are to be taken in their strictly 

 literal meaning. Now, it should be remembered, that the lan- 

 guage of the Bible is not the language of science, but of common 

 sense. And we need not go far to account for this. For, if it 

 were written in the technical phraseology of physical science, 

 there would be very few comparatively to whom its language 

 would be intelligible. Take, for instance, the descriptions of 

 the sun, when it is said to " rise and " set,^^ or, as in the case 

 of Joshua, where it is said miraculously to "stand still.^^ 

 These words convey to every human creature on the surface of 

 the globe the very same idea. Whether he be a New Zealander, 

 or an inhabitant of Labrador, or of England, or of the Caucasus, 

 all are agreed on the fact, which appeals directly to their senses ; 

 and for all practical purposes this is quite sufficient. But if the 

 real state of the case were scientifically put before them, it is 

 not too much to affirm that, with few exceptions, as in the case 

 of learned men, all the rest of the world could not possibly 

 understand, much less believe, the facts when clothed in the 

 garb of science. This was not the object of the Bible, and 

 hence the sacred writers adopted the current prhraseology, and 

 in the current popular meaning, whenever they had occasion to 

 allude to natural phenomena. 



44. To make known the One and all-sufficient Atonement 

 for the sins of a world in wickedness was the primary object of 

 the Bible. Hence Natural Science does not form any direct 

 department of Revealed Truth. Beyond certain general state- 

 ments in reference to the formation of Man and Matter, we 

 have no special information to guide us on the subject. 



Concluding Remarks. 



45. The application of the principle of Unity in Variety is as 

 extensive as the creation of God. We have pointed out its 

 existence in the constitution of the human mind — in the 

 structure of the body — in the formation of our globe — in 

 comparative anatomy — physiology — botany, and if the time 

 and place permitted, we could also show the same principle 

 existing in the various modes of Christian worship, and the 

 different administrations of religion. The principle is as 

 generous as it is ennobling. It shows us the ever-present 

 working of an Infinite Mind. It exhibits the unwearied bene- 

 volence of the Great Creator, and the boundless horizon of 



