339 
1. The Biblical cosmogony was intended primarily for those 
unacquainted with natural science. 
2. It was intended for no one single nation or place, but • 
for the whole world. 
3. It was intended to exhibit, through the medium of facts 
in creation, the relation of God to Nature, and Nature to God. 
Few, if any, would be prepared to dispute these propositions 
thus broadly stated. They need no defence, and but little 
argument in their support. Our main business will be to 
trace out the important consequences which are involved in 
their admission. 
1. The Biblical cosmogony tvas intended primarily for those 
unacquainted with natural science. — Then must its interpreta- 
tion also be altogether independent of the conclusions and 
researches of science. If the meaning of its language, or the 
significance of its statements, is made to depend upon modern 
scientific investigations, in such a way that until these 
were carried out its purport could not rightly be perceived, 
then it becomes at once, to all past ages, an enigma waiting 
for solution. With this, however, its simple language, its 
historic character, and its didactic purpose, are altogether in- 
consistent. A plain, natural sense, moreover, it certainly has 
throughout on its face. If, then, this be a false sense, it must 
be regarded not only as an enigma, but an enigma whose 
enigmatical character no one could perceive until the solution 
came ; whose function, meanwhile, should be to mislead and 
deceive upon those very points where it was meant to instruct. 
The mere statement of such a conclusion is a sufficient re- 
futation of the premises on which it rests. We conclude, 
therefore, that the true meaning of the narrative must be that 
which those would have assigned to it for whom it was first 
written. And inasmuch as these were altogether independent 
of, and unbiassed by, the discoveries of modern science, so 
also must our interpretation be. By this proposition, then, 
we sweep away all theories which would give a forced or un- 
natural meaning to the language of Genesis, in order to bring 
it into accordance with science. 
2. The Biblical cosmogony was intended for no one single 
nation or place, but for the whole world. — This is evident from 
the fact that similar cosmogonies — some, indeed, grievously 
distorted, and all markedly inferior in simple sublimity — are 
found among many other ancient nations also. The partial, 
fragmentary character of most of these, as well as the notable 
differences existing between them, and other circumstances, 
preclude the idea that they are the result of later borrowings 
from, the Hebrew Scriptures. Bather must all alike be re. 
