THE PIEST CHAPTER OF GENESIS. 



159 



IV. "Let there be lights" (not "light" as in verse 3). 

 Astronomical changes producing no observable geological effects but 

 overlapping III and V. 



V. " And God created the great [sea] monsters .... and every 

 winged fowl " (or creature). Hebrew tannmini, meaning long creatures 

 — Mesozoic Period. Huge aquatic and terrestrial saurians and great 

 flying reptiles. Also first appearance of true birds. 



YI. (a) " And God made the beast of the earth " — Kainozoic 

 Period. Period of mastodon, mammoth, and other gigantic 

 mammals and man. 



(h) " And God said. Let us make man " — Kainozoic Period also. 

 God's last creative act. 



Vn. " And God .... rested on the seventh day." In what is 

 known as " Kecent " Geological Deposits, no evidence of any new 

 creation is found. 



Thus it seems to me that the chapter contains a true history of 

 the creation of our world from its primeval condition to that which 

 fitted it for the abode of man. 



Of course it does not tell us everything, but selects some great 

 creative act or acts distinctive of each Period, and then after the 

 creation of man no new creature appears. 



Rev. Chancellor LiAS : As a very old member of the Institute I 

 cannot withhold a word of very high commendation from this 

 excellent paper. The truth is, as the writer contends, there can be 

 no collision whatever between the first chapter of Genesis and 

 scientific research. The former deals simply with the original 

 cause ; the latter deals simply with effects and their secondary 

 causes. Even a tyro in Hebrew knows that the " days " in 

 Genesis i are not necessarily in chronological order, and people 

 altogether unacquainted with Hebrew can infer from Genesis ii, 4, 

 that the word " day," with the Hebrew historian, may mean a 

 period of time of indefinite duration. Observe, I do not deny that 

 the account of creation is in chronological order, and I only say that 

 the word " day " majj be an indefinite period of time. We have 

 had, I think, too much dogmatism on points such as these. 

 Mr. Maunder, in his enunciation of the " seven great truths " con- 

 tained in Genesis i, takes care to avoid it (page 127). All I desire 

 to contend for is that we have no right to read into the narrative of 

 the creation anything that is not plainly and distinctly stated there. 



