THE FIKST CHAPTER OF GENESIS. 



149 



from its previous condition. If we further bear in mind that these 

 last words never occurred in Scripture except in connection with sin 

 and some judgment of God, we might perhaps get a fuller light 

 upon that second verse. Then on page 133, Mr. Maunder said that 

 each working day was bounded by the evening and the morning; it 

 would be well to bear in mind the fact that on the seventh day, 

 when God rested, there is no mention either of evening or of 

 morning. 



The Chairman pointed out that unfortunately very few of them 

 there were accurate Hebrew scholars, and he was convinced that no 

 one but an actual Hebraist ought to discuss the minute verbal 

 details of this chapter. The marvel was that books of such infinite 

 difficulty for minute analysis conveyed such a splendid and distinct 

 impression on the average man ; it was one of the evidences of the 

 Divine truth of the Holy Scriptures. 



Professor H. Langhorne Orchard was sure that the very hearth- 

 thanks of that large meeting would be given to the author of the 

 paper to which they had been listening,— a paper which, for 

 originality and vigour of thought, linked with vivacity of style and 

 diction, took rank among the best of the many valuable contribu- 

 tions in religion, philosophy, and science, with which their Society 

 had been favoured. 



The paper was adorned by many gems of truth. Genesis i is a 

 revelation of God by Himself, — " God is the only source of light 

 concerning himself " (page 126). The creation work on any one of the 

 six days " was good and complete in itself " but " contained no germ 

 or potentiality " of the work of a future day (page 130) ; before the 

 work comes the fiat; man is made in the image, and after the 

 likeness, of God (page 141). 



But though we concur with the author that the primary object 

 of this revelation is religious and designed to teach men the seven 

 great truths he brings forward on page 127, yet it may be pointed out 

 that this is not a complete account of the matter. Genesis i 

 contains also other truths. God has been pleased to put the 

 spiritual jewel in an historical and scientific setting — a setting which, 

 since He is the God of Truth, must (if the revelation be from Him) 

 itself be true. The Divine Author of the chapter tells men several 

 science-truths, unknown to science when the chapter was written 

 and for centuries afterwards, e.g.^ the firmament in which the sun 



