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E. WAl/i'ER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S., ON 



outset his true position in the universe, and enables him to take 

 his first step in the knowledge of God, which is Eeligion, and 

 his first step in the knowledge of nature, which is Science.* 



V.—" God said." 



The basis of all the science of to-day is found in the 

 .principle of continuity ; the principle that like causes produce 

 like effects, or, to use less debateable terms, that like ante- 

 cedents are followed by like consequents, and that the 

 phenomena perceived to-day follow necessarily and continuously 

 from the phenomena of yesterday. 



The first chapter of Genesis is not concerned with such 

 continuity. Six times it is recorded " And God said " ; and in 

 answer to that Word, a change in the condition of nature 

 followed immediately. Two different words are used in con- 

 nection with that change, — " God created," and " God made," — 

 and some commentators have laid great stress upon the 

 distinction between these two terms. It lies outside my 

 province and present purpose to debate this distinction. In one 

 thing they agree : they indicate a change in the course of 

 nature, which, but for the command of God, would irot have 

 taken place. If the word had never gone forth, " Let there be 

 light," then the darkness that was on the face of the deep 

 would never have been dispelled. The creation of light on the 

 first day was good and complete in itself, but contained no germ 

 or potentiality of the creation of the second day. The 

 command " Let there be a firmament " was as necessary in its 

 turn as the command " Let there be light " had been before it ; 

 but again the condition produced had no germ or potency of 

 the creation of the third day. So in like manner if the 

 command of the third day " Let the waters under the heaven be 

 gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear," 

 had not been issued, our continents and islands would never 

 have risen above the waters to bring forth grass, herb, and 

 tree. 



So with the remaining days. The meaning of the chapter is 

 missed if the work of the sixth day is regarded as the necessary 



^ There is a misleading phrase — "The Conflict between Eeligion and 

 Science" — which, unfortunately has become almost proverbial But 

 because it is so familiar 1 wisli, throughout this paper, to use the two 

 terms, Eeligion and Science, in the senses in wliich tiiey occur in this 

 phrase, Eeligion as meaning that knowledi^e of God which is founded on 

 Eevelation, and Science that knowledge of Nature which is founded on 

 Observation. 



