162 



COMMEMORATION MEETING. 



to others for the brake. We have learned much, and have had 

 to modify some of our views and qualify many of our terms in 

 stating them. Let me select one or two illustrations. 



1. Geology and Genesis. When geology first became popu- 

 larized the young giant was sometimes led forth by his backers 

 with the threat against us that he would destroy our faith in 

 the Bible. Its cosmogony, we were told, was utterly contra- 

 dicted and destroyed. But though the giant was led forth to 

 curse, he has remained to bless. The order of the events in 

 Genesis i is found to be so marvellously in accord with the 

 known facts of s;eolo2;v that it is as certain as anvthincr in 

 human opinion can be that no writer writing 3000 years ago 

 could have possessed such scientific knowledge as would have 

 enabled him to write it. Xo geologist now ventures to affirm 

 that any serious discrepancy occurs between the two records, 

 while the incredibly legendary character of the Babylonian 

 myths affords no explanation of the origin of a record so extra- 

 ordinary. 



Xo man witnessed the dawn of light on the First Day. or 

 saw the seething waters of the Second, or stood amidst the 

 soro-eous vegetation of the Third. Xo man saw the breakincr of 

 the sun's rays through the thick mists of the Fourth day, or 

 confronted the mighty saurians of the Fifth or the huge 

 mammals of the early Sixth. 



We are left, therefore, with only one explanation, viz., that 

 the writer, whoever he was. and whenever and wherever he 

 wrote, must have written under the guidance of a supernatural 

 knowledge. 



But the adherents to the Genesis narrative have had to make 

 some concessions to the geologist. We may not say that fossils 

 were created and buried deep in the earth's surface in order to 

 test our faith, nor that creatures whose remains are found in 

 the Palaeozoic strata lived, grew great, propagated their species 

 and died within a few hours of those which lived in the 

 Mesozoic or the Kainozoic. We have to admit the story of the 

 " ages," and this admission has given more vivid meaning even 

 to New Testament expressions. When the Apostle (pace the 

 critics ; Heb. xi, 3) says, " By faith we understand that the ages 

 were framed by the word of God," we see at once his reference ; 

 or when he says again, " according to His own purpose and 

 grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the times of 

 the ages " (n Timothy i, 9) ; or again, " in hope of eternal life 

 which God that cannot lie promised before the times of the 

 ages " (Titus i, 2), ou# thoughts stretch back over the long 



