124 



E. WALTEK MADNDEK^ F.K.A.S., ON 



even the sun and moon are not named ; we are told nothing- 

 except what an intelHgent child might perceive for himself ; 

 namely, that there are in the heavens a greater light, a lesser 

 light, and the stars also. There is nothing contrary to science 

 told ns. but neither is there any scientific revelation. Herein 

 the chapter stands ni striking contrast to all other accounts of 

 Creation. These, without exception, either give us ialse and 

 unscientific explanations of the heavenly bodies, or the results 

 of long-continued scientific observation. Thus the Babylonian 

 story mentions the planets, the poles of the heavens, and the 

 artificial divisions of the ecliptic. 



If Genesis I had l^een a revelation of Nature to man, that is to 

 say, if it had given him instruction in natural science, it would 

 have been worse than useless. The highest benefit which any 

 science confers upon man is not the increase of his information, 

 but the development, training and increase of his natural 

 powers. Astronomy has been a utilitarian science from the 

 beginning. From his observation of the heavenly bodies, man 

 has learnt to divide, that is to measure, his time ; next, to find 

 his direction over land or sea : third, to determine his position, 

 that is his longitude or latitude. But all these, tliough of high 

 importance, form a very small part of astronomy to-day. From 

 a directly utilitarian point of view, Kuskin's contemptuous 

 remark that he did not care to know what gas Sirius smelt of, 

 is justified ; but though it is no service to us to have found out 

 that hydrogen exists in Sirius, yet tlie process of finding out, 

 with its consequent development of observation and thought, 

 has been of untold service. But if it had been revealed to us 

 in the first chapter of Genesis that Sirius contains hydrogen, 

 the statement would have been unintelligible until man had 

 found it out for himself, and the revelation might well have 

 retarded man's mental development, and delayed the discovery. 



The liev. T. H. Darlow toJd us in his paper, read on March 

 2nd, " On the Character of the Bible," that " the Bible is not 

 such a book as man would have made if he could, or could have 

 made if he would." The accounts of Creation which have come 

 down to us well illustrate the truth of this statement, for all of 

 them, — except that of Genesis, — whether they proceed from 

 savage or from cultured nations, attempt to explain the origin 

 of the universe by supposing it to liave been built up out of 

 similar materials. Thus, in the Babylonian story, Marduk builds 

 the heavens and the earth from the body and bones of Tiamat 

 and the sons of Bor, in the prose Edda, use the flesh and blood 

 of Ymir, the frost giant, for the same purpose, so that the 



