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E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S., ON 



astronomer, has so little to offer by way of hostile criticism. I am 

 afraid I cannot accept his ruling-out of the nebulae from considera- 

 tion ; I had rather hoped that he would have had something to 

 say upon my query as to whether they are luminous or illu- 

 minated. 



There is so much in the paper with which I thoroughly agree 

 and, indeed, have to a large extent anticipated, that I can, as a 

 student of theology, thank the author for it as a most valuable 

 contribution to an important chapter of Natural Theology, in 

 which I still stand for the " dual revelation " through the Spirit of 

 God working {a) directly upon the human spirit ; {h) in the minds 

 of capable men, as interpreters of His works. (" There is a book 

 who runs may read.") Rightly looked at, the whole of phenomenal 

 Nature may be regarded as a continuous " parable in action," 

 teaching the contemplative mind something of " the everlasting 

 power and divinity" of the Godhead, as Saul of Tarsus has taught 

 us, and psalmist and prophet before him. 



Sir R. Anderson, K.C.B. : If my having written upon the first 

 chapter of Genesis entitles me to a hearing, I should like to express 

 my keen and cordial appreciation of Mr. Maunder's Paper, and my 

 earnest hope that it will obtain a far wider circulation than our 

 annual volume can give it. My purpose is not to criticise it, but 

 merely to offer a few words that may possibly increase interest in 

 its subject. 



The order of Creation, as recorded in Genesis, has been " so 

 affirmed in our time by natural science that it may be taken as a 

 demonstrated conclusion and established fact." This was Mr. Glad- 

 stone's thesis in his Dawn of Creation and Worship. This was 

 challenged by Professor Huxley on the ground that the testimony 

 of the rocks was conclusive that reptiles existed before birds, 

 whereas, according to Genesis (he argued), birds were created on the 

 fifth day and " creeping things " on the sixth day — " creeping 

 things " being defined by Scripture itself to include lizards 

 (Leviticus xi). " The merest Sunday-school exegesis," therefore, 

 he contemptuously remarked, refuted Mr. Gladstone's contention. 

 I had the privilege and honour of calling Mr. Gladstone's attention 

 to the fact that the Hebrew word rendered "creeping things" in 

 Leviticus xi, 29, 31, was wholly different from that so translated in 

 Genesis i, 24, 26, and that the Leviticus word, sheretz, is the word 



