OLIN ftNX BS 651 - P9 1 1859 ^1* iirt-*ii: i-Ti ^■■■ LIBRARY ANNEX !,^^^^Mi Oiin GUI ?V 1851 3ltt;aca, Steu Intk .'rftps,ai).u).w»te, 3 1924 074 31L_516_ All books are subject to recall after two weeks. Library Annex DATE DUE M fl%fiiy joaa QAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924074317516 SCKIPTURE AND SCIENCE NOT AT VARIANCE; WITH REMAKKS ON THE HISTORICAL CHARACTER, PLENARY INSPIRATION, AND SURPASSING IMPORTANCE, OF THE EARLIER CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. JOHN H. PEATT, M.A. ABOHDEACON 01" CALCUTTA ; AUTHOR OF THE " MATHEMATICAL PBINCIELES OF MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHT.' C^trb €bitimr. LONDON : THOMAS HATCITARD, (PICCADILLY. CALCUTTA t ?.. C. ]ppiAp]^'& CO. I I 1859. |. Y Olin 0' la ^'\ ■•6 Tf«?.r,;^i'^ m&i A •f;?-' Y;"' i,okdon:111-« n- CI,Ar, "lUNTEIi, B]U-AD SlltijiT HHL. PEEFAOE TO THE THIRD EDITION. Some further improvements have been made in this Third Edition; especially one based on the dis- coveries of the late M. d'Orbigny, regarding the entire difference of the species in the Tertiary, from those in the Recent or Human, Period of the earth's natural history. I have, also, endeavoured to profit by the , several critiques which have come to my knowledge ; at the same time adhering to my original plan of confining the whole within a small compass, by giving an abstract of the argu- ment, rather than a discussion of its details. Calcutta, February ith, 1859. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. In this Edition, several more illustrations are given of the harmony betvpeen Scripture and Science. The arrangement of the Chapters has been changed, and other minor alterations made. A Section has been added, to show the high value we should put upon the opening portion of the Book of Genesis, on account of the important information it conveys. Calcutta, July 16, 1857. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. PAGE Object and plan op this Treatise 1 CHAPTER I. THE HARMONY BETWEEN SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE VINDI- CATED BY AN APPEAL TO THE HISTORY OP THE PAST. § 1. — ^Examples, from the earlier history of scientific discovery, in which scripture has been relieved of false interpretations, and the harmony of scripture AND Science thereby re-established 8 The Firmament— Antipodes — The Earth a Globe — The Motion of the Earth. § 2. — Examples, from the later history of Science, in which Scripture has not only been relieved of false interpretations, but has had new light reflected upon it from the discoveries of Science 27 The Antiquity of the Earth — Creatures in existence before the Six Days — Existence of Light before the Six Days — Death in the World before Adam's Fall — Spe- cific Centres of Creation — No known traces of the Deluge — The Deluge probably not Universal. § 3. — Examples, in which Science has been delivered from the false conclusions of some of its votaries, and thereby shown to be in entire agreement with scrip- TUBE 52 Origin of nations and races— Origin of languages — Age of the human race — The Six Days' Creation not con&ned to Paradise. VIU CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. PAGE THE HISTORICAL CHAEACTER, PLENARY INSPIRATION, AND SURPASSING IMPORTANCE, OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. § 1.— The historical charactbe and plenary inspiration op the first eleven chapters of genesis . ... 68 Our Lord and His Apostles regarded them as Historical documents — This being the case, their Inspiration follows from the nature of their contents — As they are original and not borrowed — Their freedom from Error. § 2. — The suepassinq Importance of these Chapters . . 89 They are of unrivalled antiquity — They tell us of the Origin of the World — Of the Entrance of Evil into the World — ^They explain the contradictions we see in Man — They show the true basis of Physical Science, and the credibility of a Divine Incarnation — They detect the essence of all successful Temptation — They convey re- markable facts in History, the Institution of Marriage and the Sabbath, the Deluge, the confusion of tongues, the apportioning of the earth to the nations, the Insti- tution of Sacrifices — They contain the germ of all Prophecy, the promise of the Seed of the Woman, and the prediction of the destinies of the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japhet. CONCLUSION. No NEW DISCOVERIES, HOWEVER STARTLINO, NEED DISTURB ODR BELIEF IN THE PLENARY INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE, OR DAMP OUR ZEAL IN THE PURSUIT OF SCIENCE 103 INTRODUCTION. OBJECT AND PLAN OF THE PRESENT TREATISE. The assertion, not unfrequently made, that the dis- coveries of Science are opposed to the declarations of Holy Scripture, is as mischievous as it is false, because it tends both to call in question the Inspiration of the Sacred Volume and to throw discredit upon scien- tific pursuits. Many, however, who are predisposed to reject such a conclusion, from a general conviction that Scripture is the Word of God, are nevertheless at a loss for arguments to repel the charge. It is the object of the following pages to furnish such persons with a reply, in a concise and portable form. The Treatise, therefore, is intentionally only a summary of argu- ments. To expand it, except by the addition of new illustrations, would defeat my design. A larger work would not find access where I hope this will. There are others also whose case it is here designed to meet — those who receive the Christian Revelation, but, under the influence of supposed difficulties brought to light by scientific discovery, are tempted to abandon 2 INTRODUCTION. the Earlier Portion of the Sacred Volume as not in- spired. It is possible that the unbeliever, too, may find something in these pages to soften his prejudices ; but his case is not here specially contemplated. In the First Chapter I bring the experience of the past to bear upon the subject, by showing how many examples history supplies in which from time to time Scripture and Science have appeared to be in irrecon- cilable conflict, in every one of which further light has cleared up all difficulty. Prom tliis I argue, that it is in the highest degree unphilosopMcal, whenever new difficulties arise in these days of discovery, to allow ourselves to doubt but that these also will be cleared up as light and knowledge advance. The ex- perience of the past should encourage us fearlessly to carry our investigations into the phenomena of nature, fully persuaded that no real discrepancy can ever be in the end established. The above may be regarded as a negative argument. In the Second Chapter I enter upon an ex- atnination of the character and contents of the Earlier Portion of the Book of Genesis ; as it is in this part of the Sacred Volume that the seeds of strife between Scripture and Science are supposed chiefly to lie. By what I Cannot but regard as an unan- swerable proof of the Historical Character, Plenary Inspiration, and important bearing of these Early Chapters in various eminent particulars, I establish a positive argument, and show that it is impossible OBJECT AND PLAN OF THIS TREATISE. d that Scripture, proceeding as it does from Divine Inspiration, and manifesting such superhuman wisdom and foreknov/ledge, can, when rightly interpreted, be at variance with the Works of the Divine Hand ; and that therefore, if difficulties remain at any time not cleared up, they must arise from our ignorance, or from hasty interpretation either of the phenomena before us or of the language of the Sacred Record. The results of this investigation are then summed up, and the conclusion drawn — that no new dis- coveries, however startling they may appear at first, need disturb our belief in the Plenary Inspiration of the Sacred Volume, or damp our ardour in the pursuit of Science. B 2 CHAPTER I. THE HARMONY BETWEEN SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE VINDICATED BY AN APPEAL TO THE HISTORY OF THE PAST. The Book of Nature and the Word of God emanate from the same infallible Author, and therefore cannot be at variance. But man is a fallible interpreter; and by mistaking one or both of these Divine Records, he forces them too often into unnatural conflict. Reason, when combined with an humble mind and a patient spirit, is man's highest endowment. By it he can scale the heavens, and unravel the mysterious ties which unite matter to matter in all its combina- tions; and can trace the secret and silent operation of its laws. Thus furnished, he can weigh aud ap- preciate the claims of truth, as revealed from heaven or produced from the evolutions of the human mind ; and can reject the evil and choose the good. But, deprived of these valuable accessories, this noble gift is converted into a snare, and too often hurries him to conclusions from which he is afterwards compelled to retrace his steps. It is my intention to bring together in this Chapter a number of Examples culled from the history of b SCRIPTUEB AND SCIENCE Science, which show how needless are the fears en- tertained at the present day by many excellent persons in their holy jealousy for the Sacred Volume, the source and centre of their highest hopes; as it has already, in so many instances, triumphantly emerged from conflicts as severe as any in which it may now or hereafter be engaged. In some instances positive errors in the interpre- tation of the phenomena of nature, and in others ignorance of the facts of nature, have led to the imposing upon Scripture a meaning, which the cor- rection of these errors on the one hand, and the discovery of new facts on the other, have proved to be false. As true Science has advanced, Scripture, so far as it touches upon natural phenomena, has received new illustrations : other false interpretations have been detected and corrected : and the statements of Scripture have been found to be always worthy of the God of Truth. Scripture, indeed, does not attempt to teach Natural Science; neither does it always speak of natural things in language scientifi- cally correct, but as man would speak to man in every- day life, viz. according to appearances. In so doing it cannot be fairly charged with adopting popular errors and prepossessions ; for our men of Science, even among themselves and in their scientific writings, are now compelled by convenience to speak of natural phenomena in conformity with the popular usage, viz. according to appearances ; and cases will be produced. NOT OPPOSED TO EACH OTHER. 7 in which the statements of Scripture contrast favour- ably with some of the vaunted deductions of Science. The Examples, above referred to, I shall class under three heads. The first class arose from the progress of discovery sweeping away long-standing notions regarding the nature of the canopy above us, the existence of Antipodes, and the form and stabiUty of the earth. As Science put these things in their true light, Scripture, which had all along been interpreted in conformity with the current prepossessions, appeared to be in fault : till a closer examination into the real meaning of its language relieved it of the false inter- pretation which had been imposed upon it, and the harmony between Scripture and Science, although for a time they had appeared to be irreconcilable, was fully re-established. , The second class of Examples in its character very much resembles the first, but belongs to a more recent period of discovery. Long-standing notions regarding some of the circumstances of the Creation having been cleared away by the discoveries of Science, and Scripture being still fettered with the old inter- pretations imposed upon it in the days of ignorance, the cry of antagonism between Scripture and Science was again raised, and perhaps louder than ever. But in these instances also reconciliation has been effected ; and notonly has Scripture been relieved of false in- terpretations, as in the first class of Examples, but much light has been thrown upon its language and 8 CORRECTION OI? ERRORS allusions, which would never have appeared but for these scientific discoveries. Under the third class, I bring forward Examples in which Science, for a time, has in the hands of the unskilful made a retrograde movement. Conclusions have been put forth regarding the origin of nations and races, the origin of the present diversity of languages, the age of the human race, and the super- ficial extent of the Six-Days' creation, which are con- tradictory to Scripture; and thus Scripture and Science were again declared to be at variance, till Science, under the guidance of wiser men, corrected herself, and harmony was restored. § 1. — Examples from the earlier history of scientific discovery, in, which Scripture has been relieved of false interpretations, and the . harmony between Scripture and Science thereby re-established. 1. The earliest instance of this kind which I shall produce affords a remarkable example of false notions of the celestial mechanism beinff incor- Pinuament. poi'^tcd in mistranslations of Scripture, in such a way as to consecrate error, and to sow the seeds of future perplexity by bringing God's two Books into seeming collision. It is well known that the ancients imagined the heavens to be an enormous vault of transparent solid matter, which rotated round the earth in diurnal REGARDING THE FIRMAMENT. 9 revolution, carrying with it the stars, supposed to be fixed in its substance. In accordance with this view, the Scripture was made by the LXX. to call the heavens a-Tepecofia — that is, something soUd ; and the Vulgate calls them jirmamentum, which signi- fies the same. Josephus, in his " Antiquities " (pro- fessedly gathering his ideas from Scripture), in describ- ing the Creation calls the heavens KpiaraXKov, i. e., a sort of crystalline case.* And thus all seems to be in accordance, and Scripture and Science to agree and illustrate each other ; till the light of later times pours in its beams, and, showing that space is not a solid mass, detects a seeming contradiction between the Word and Works of God. How is this to be met ? Which is to yield? The popular solution, current to the present day, is this, — that Moses wrote, in matters of this description, not merely according to the appearance of things (which is true, and is the style which the most enlightened Science now uses in such a case), but in accommodation to the notions and prepossessions of the times. But is this the fact? Could not the Omniscient have put a correct word into the mouth of His servant, as readily as one contradictory to fact? Let us turn to the * The following is from Jose- itself. He also placed a crys- phus: "After this, on the second taUine [firmament] round it day, he placed the heaven over (Kpva-ToWov re irepiinj^as avra), the whole world, and separated and put it together in a mannej: it from the other parts ; and he suited to the earth." — , determined it should stand by AnSiq. Lib. I. cap. i. § 1. 10 CORRECTION OF ERRORS word which the Holy Ghost has used by the pen of the inspired writer, and what do we find? That the original by no means implies, of necessity, a solid mass, but an expanse : * — And God said. Let there he an expanse in the midst of the waters, pea/ia, vel quia SgT est a-refica, i- e. firmo, stabilio ; ita vertunt d Ps. cxxxvi. 6 ; Is. xlii. 5, et xliv. 24 ; vel quia coelum ssepe tentorio conferfcur, quod dioitur irrjyvvo-Bai (i. e. funibus ad paxillos in terram depaotos firman) qua- tenusexpanditurEsa.xlvii. 5; vel potius a Syriaoo usu »2"! quod signiflcat me^eiv, comprimere, Luc. vi. 38. Et forte ■s^ Heb. primo signiflcat comprimere, inde- que extendere, nam premendo res extenduntur, ut laminae seris." Wide Poli Synopsis, Oen. i. 6. * The following are Pool's com- ment on this passage, and Ge- senius' explanation of the Hebrew word : — " 6. Fiat JirwMmentiimI\ — Alii non flrmamentum vertunt, sed expansionem, rem expansam seu extensam, eo modo quo aulaea ex- panduntur, ut tentorium quod funibus suatinetur ne decidat, vel sicut argentum malleo didu- citur et attenuatur. Inde Deus dioitur extendere emlos, Is. xl. 22 et xlii. 5, et Ps. civ. 2. Grot, reddit rao-is (quae vox Platonis est). »P5, est expandere. Lamirise expansse appeUantur n'no '.»^i. Num. xvi. 38. Uxpansmn firma- mentum vertit Apnsworthus]. Expansio haec est difi'usum cor- pus aeris. Nam quid, nisi aer, dividit aquas inferiores, i.e. mare, a superioribus ? Neo aUud aeri nomen est Hebrseis quam ?V5 et o'M. Hoc nomen aeri tribui testantur Chald. Par. in Ps. xix, et K(imchi) in Ps. Ixxvii. Quid mirabilivs aqitis in coelo, stantibus ? ait Phnius, 1. 31. Aves call vocan- tur, Jer. vii. Os. ii. Matt. viii. et xiii. Alii err^onvixA flrmamentum, et accipiunt de orbibus coelestibus. Complectitur tamen haeo vox etiam aerem vicinum a coelo in terram expansum, et suo loco quasi firmatum. o vertunt im- The following extract from Leo's Translation of Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon will give his idea of the meaning of the Hebrew word. In his comment, in the lat- ter part of this extract, Gesenius appears to side with the popular notion alluded to in the text ; with this we have nothing to do, but only with the meaning of the Hebrew word, which he shows will well convey the idea of e,;,-- panse, in the sense of open space or expanded atmosphere. Lu- ther's translation, it will be seen, is the only one which does not convey a false idea, except that given in the margin of our authorised version. " »'l?Tm., more fully Q;o^>ri »>r^ REGARDING THE FIRMAMENT. 11 and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse. ..... And God called the expanse Heaven. So that, in fact, the inspired writer used the best possible word to express both the appearance and the actual state of things ; but man, in his ignorance and misinterpretation of Nature, by his successive versions of the word of God threw a cloak of sacredness around his own error, in a way calculated to bring discredit upon the Holy Scrip- tures, as the discoveries of Science cleared away the mists. Here, then, Scripture was right from the beginning, and all the confusion arose solely from human ignorance and misconception.* Gen. i. 14, 15, 17, that which is distended, expanded (from »P5) the expanse of heaven ; i. e. the arch or vault of heaven, which, as to mere sense, appears to rest on the earth as a hollow hemisphere. The Hebrews seem to have con- sidered it as transparent, like a crystal or sapphire (Ezek. i. 22 ; Dan. xii. 3 j Exod. xxiv. 10 ; Kev. iv. 6) ; hence, different from the brazen and iron heaven of the Homeric mythology. Over this arch they supposed were the waters of heaven (Gen. i. 7, vii 11 ; Ps. civ. 3, cxlviii. 4. LXX. arepeafia. Vulg. frmamentzim. Luther, Feste." — See Leo's Trans- lation of Oesenius' Lexicon. * It is interesting to observe that the New Testament writers, who often quoted the Septua- gint version verbatim et literatim, havebeen preserved from using this erroneous term a-Tepea/ia to describe the celestial firmament ; although it occurs in .several places in that version of the Old Testament, and the New Testa- ment writers had not scientific knowledge to avoid the error of themselves.. The word is once used by St. Paul, but in an en- tirely different sense {Col. ii. 6), to (TTepiafia rijs els XpiCTov jrlcrreas vpav, — '' the steadfastness (or, as Mr. Alford renders it, the solid ' basis) of your faith in Christ." It has been suggested, that the fact that Moses (Gen. i. 21) particularly specifies "whales" among the creatures of the deep, indicates, also, that he wrote by inspiration, and was overruled to use language the minute correct- ness of which science could alone 12 CORRECTION OF ERRORS 3. Another instance of Scripture having been drawn into this unworthy collision with the facts of Nature, is seen in the denial of the exist- Antipodes. ence of Antipodes on the opposite side of the earth. I am not aware of any particular texts which have been quoted to support this view ; but no less a writer than the great Augus- tine, who in so many places * shows the greatness of his mind in not suffering Scripture and Nature to bus qui libi'ia nostrse salutis ca- lumniari affeotant, ut, quicquid ipsi de natura rerum veracibus documentis demonstrare potue- riat, ostendamus npstris Uteris non esse contrarium ; quicquid autem de quibuslibet suis volu- minibus his nostris literia id est catholicsB fidei contrarium protu- lerint, aut aliqua etiam facuitate ostendamus aut nulla dubitatione credamusessefalsissimum: atque ita teneamus Mediatorem nos- trum, in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientisB atque scientise absoon- diti, ut neque falsse philosophies loquaoitate seducamur, neque falsEB religionis superstitione ter- reamur." — Aug. de Qenesi ad lile- rnm, lib. I. cap. xxi. § 41. " Nunc autem servata semper moderatione piae gravitatis, nihil credere de re obscura temere de- bemus, ne forte quod postea Veri- tas patefecerit, quamvis libris Sanctis sive testamenti veteris sive novi nuUo mode esse possit adversum, tameu propter amo- rem nostri erroris, oderimus;" — Aug. de Gen. ad Ut. lib. II. infim. illustrate ; as this term might be taken as the generic representa^ tive of that remarkable class of sea -animals which are warm- blooded and suckle their young. This suggestion, however, cannot be sustained ; as the Hebrew word, V??, is used in the Old Testa- ment in other senses ; e. g., ser- pents (Ex. vii. 9, 10, 12) ; and, very frequently, dragons, described as living in ruined cities and deso- late places, and, no doubt, mean- ing serpents in those places also, but by no means whales or sea- mammalia. * The following are speci- mens : — " Si manifestissimse certseque rationi velut Scripturarum Sanc- tarum objicitur autoritas, non iu- telligit qui hoc faoit ; et non Scripturarum illarum sensum (ad quem penetrare non potuit) sed suum potius objicit veritati ; neo id quod in eis, sed quod in seipso velut pro eis invenit, opponit." — Aug.Epist. 143 alias 7, adMareelli- mm. " Respondendum est homini- REGAEUING ANTIPODES. 13 come into conflict, unfortunately brings the silence of Scripture to bear upon this question. He says that " the story of there being Antipodes, or men on the opposite side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets to us, planting their footsteps opposite to our feet, is on no account to be believed ; " and that " even if the earth be a globe" (a thing in his mind very doubtful), " it does not follow that the opposite side is not an ocean ; and even should it be bare of water, it is not necessary that it has inhabitants ; since the Scrip- ture is in no way false, but secures belief in its narrative of the past, inasmuch as its predictions of the future are accomplished. And it is utterly absurd," he adds, " to suppose that any men could have crossed the vast ocean from this side to that, to establish the human race there as well as here."* He appears to * " An infenorem partem terne, si figura conglobata et rotunda qitce nostra habitationi contraria mundus esse credatur sive aliqua est, antipodas habere, credendum. sit. ratione monstretur, non tameu " Quod vero et antipodas esse esse oonsequens, ut etiam ex ilia fabulantur, id est homines a con- parte ab aquarum congerie nuda traria parte terrse, ubi sol oritur sit terra. Deinde etiamsi nuda quando occidit nobis, adversa sit, neque hoc statim neoesse pedibus nostris calcare vestigia, est, ut homines habeat : quoniam nulla ratione credendum est. nuUo modo Soriptura ista men- Neque hoc uUa historica cogni- titur, quse narratis prseteritis tione didicisse se affirmant, sed facit lidem, eo quod ejus prse- quasi ratiocinalndo conjectant, eo dicta complentur. Nimisque quod intra convexa coeli terra absurdum est ut dicatur, aliquos suspensa sit, eundemque locum homines ex hao in illam partem mundus habeat, et infimum et Ooeani immeusitate trajecta na- medium ; et ex hoc opinantur vigare ao pervenire potuisse, ut alteram terrse partem, quss inira etiam illic ex uno illo primo est, habitatione hominum carere homine genus institueretur hu- non posse. Nee attendunt, etiam- manum. Quapropter inter illos 14 CORRECTION OF ERRORS conceive, therefore, that as Scripture does not tell us of any people on the opposite side of the globe, and he did not imagine that any could have traversed the boundless ocean, it must be concluded that there are no people there. But geographical research has di- vested this argument of all its force. In Behring's Strait a narrovv^ sea exists, across vrhich many an adventurous bark may have found its way eveii in the days of only primitive seamanship, and carried across to the furthest regions descendants of the sons of Noah, who spread forth on all sides to people the earth. Meanwhile Scripture, although it speaks of no .nations but such as took their rise and dwelt on this side of the globe, presents no contradiction to the fact which actual observation teaches ; for it nowhere says, that none ever had reached or ever would reach those furthest and then unknown regions. 3. Closely allied to this is the question already alluded to, and which has also exercised the ingenuity of the ancients. Whether the Earth be a ^°2?"°^*^ Globe, or a vast extended Plane? or, which Earth. ' ' amounts to the same. Whether the heavens are a sphere surrounding the earth, or a wide-spread tunc hominum populos, qui per benedictiones perseverasse mon- septuaginta duas gentes et toti- stratur, maxime in maximo, qui dem linguaa colliguntur fuisse est appellatus Sem : quandoqui- divisi, quseramus, si possumus dem Iaph.et ita benedictus est, invenire illam in terris peregrin- ut in ejusdem fratris sui domibus antem oivitatem Dei, quae usque habitaret." — Aug. de Civitate Dei, ad diluvium aroamque perducta lib. XVI. cap. ix. est, atque in filiis Noe per eorum REGARDING THE FORM 01'" THE EARTH. 15 canopy overshadowing its extended surface? And there were not wanting advocates who appealed to Scripture to decide the question. What doubt, for instance, could there be when the Psalmist thus spoke of the Creator : Who stretchest out the heavens LIKE A CURTAIN ? (Ps. civ. 2.) To these Augustine alludes, although he himself repudiates the appeal. " It is commonly asked," he says, " of what form and figure we may believe heaven to be according to the Scripture. Por many contend much about these matters, which with greater prudence our authors [meaning the sacred penmen] have forborne to speak of." " What is it to me," he adds, " whether heaven, as a sphere, on all sides environs the earth, balanced in the middle of the world, or whether, like a dish, it only covers and overshadows the same?" And he then throws out a salutary caution against appealing to Scripture in such cases, lest misunderstanding the Divine expressions we should give interpretations, in physical subjects, which may prove to be contrary to fact, and so tempt others to suspect the truth of the sacred writers in more profitable matters.* *"Qu8erietiamsolet, quae forma temporum spatia. Quidenimad et figura ooeli esse credenda sit me pertinet, utrum coelum siout secundum scripturas nostras, sphsera undique ooncludat ter- Multi enim multum disputant de ram in media mundi mole libra- iia rebus, quas majors prudentia tarn, an earn ex una parte desuper nostri auctores omiserunt, ad velut discus operiat ? Sed quia beatam vitam non profuturas de fide agitur scripturarum, prop- discentibus, et occupantes (quod ter illam causam quam non semel pejus est multum) preciosa et oommemoravi — ne quisquam elo- rebus salubribus impendenda quia divina non intelligens, cum 16 CORRECTION OF ERRORS 4. The great controversy in which GaUleo bore so conspicuous a part, regarding the Motion of the de his rebus tale aliquid vel in- venerit in libris nostris vel ex illis audierit, quod perceptis a se rationibus adversari videatur, nullo modo eis osetera utilia monentibus, vel narrantibus, vel pronunciantibua, credat — brevi- tur dicendum est, de figura coeli hoc soisse auctores nostros quod Veritas habet, sed Spiritum Dei qui per ipsos loquebatur noluisse ista docere homines nulli saluti profutura." — Aug. de Oenesi ai lit. lib. II. cap. ix. § 20. The followiog remarfes of Lac- tantiua, a Christian writer at the end of the third and the begin- ning of the fourth century (or some writer using his name), against the rotundity of the earth and the existence of Antipodes, afford a curious specimen of the arguments which sway the mind when devoid of what Dr. Whewell so aptly designates, in his " His- tory of the Inductive Sciences," " the appropriate idea :" — " Quid illi, qui esse contraries vestigiis nostris Antipodas pu- tant, num aliquid loquuntur % aut est quisquam tarn ineptus qui credat esse homines, quorum vestigia sint superiora quam capita I aut ibi quae apud nos jacent, in versa pendere ? fruges et arbores deorsum versus cres- cere ? pluvias et nives, et gran- dinem sursum versus cadere in terram ? Et miratur aliquis hortos pensiles inter septem mira narrari, quum philosophi et agros, et maria, et urbes, et montes pensiles faciant ? Hujus quoque erroris aperienda nobis origo est. Nam semper eodem modo falluntur. Quum enim fal- sum aliquid in principio sum- serint, verisimilitudine inducti, necesse est cos in ea, qu88 con- sequuntur, incurrere. Sic inci- dunt in multa ridioula : quia necesse est falsa esse, quse rebus falsis congruunt. Quum autem primis habuerint fidem, qualia sunt ea, quse sequuntur, non cir- cumspiciunt, sed defendunt omni modo ; quum debeant prima ilia utrumne vera sint an falsa ex consequentibus judioare. Quse igitur illos ad Antipodas ratio perduxit ? Videbant siderum oursus in occasum meantium, solem atque lunam in eandem partem semper occidere, et oriri semper ab eadem. Quum autem non perspicerent, quae maohina- tio cvirsus eorum temperaret, nee quomodo ab occasu ad orientem remearent, coelum autem ipsum in omnes partes putarent esse devexum, quod sic videri prop- ter immensam latitudinem ne- cesse est; oxistimaverunt rotun- dum esse mundum, sicut pilam, et ex motu sidenim opinati sunt coelum volvi ; sic astra solemque, quum occiderint, volubilitate ipsa mundi ad ortum 'referri, Itaque et sereos orbes fabricati sunt quasi ad flguram mundi, REGARDING THE MOTION OF THE EARTH. 17 Earth, furnishes a further and very striking iUustra- tion, from the history of the past, of the mischief of bringing Scripture to bear upon scientific questions. At the same time, however we^°*^°^^j°J** may now smile at the doubts and difficul- ties which beset men in those days on points which appear so simple to us, and which every child knows, we must remember that they were good and learned men who debated these matters. And in the struggles of that period between Reason and Observation, on eosque oaelarunt portentosia qui- busdam simulacris, quae astra esse dioerent. Hano igitur coeli rotunditatem illud sequebatur, ut terra in medio sinu ejus esset inclusa. Quod si ita esset, etiani ipsam terram globo similem ; neque enim fieri posset, ut non esset rotundum quod rotundo conclusum teneretur. Si autem rotunda etiam terra esaet, ne- cesse esse, ut in omnes coeli partes eandem faciem gerat, id est, montes erigat, campos ten- dat, maria consternat. Quod si esset, etiam sequebatur illud ex- tremum, ut nulla sit pars terrse, quse non ab hominibus ceteris- que animalibus incolatur. Sio pendulos istos Antipodas coeli rotunditas adinvenit. Quod si quseras ab lis, qui hsec portenta defendunt, quomodo non cadunt omnia in inferiorem illam coeli partem ? respondent banc rerum ease naturam, ut pondera in me- dium ferantur, et ad medium connexa sint omnia, sicut radios yidemus in rota ; quae autem levia sunt, ut nebula, fumus, ig- nis, a medio deferantur, ut ooelum petant. Quid dicam de iia nescio, qui, quum semel aberraverint, constanter in stultitia perseve- rant, et vanis vana defendunt, nisi quod eos interdum puto aut joci causa philosophari, aut pru- dentes et scios mendacia defen- denda suscipere, quasi ut ingenia sua in malis rebus eierceant vel ostentent. At ego multis argu- mentis probare possem nuUo modo fieri posse, ut coelum terra sit inferius, nisi et Uber jam concludendus esset, et adhuc ali- qua restarent, quse magis sunt prsesenti operi neoessaria : et quoniam singulorum errores per- currere non est unius libri opus, satis sit pauca enumerasse, ex quibus possit, qualia sint cetera, intelligi." — Lactantii Omnia Opera, Oxon. 1684. Imtitut. lib. III. cap; 18 CORKF.CTION OV ERRORS the one hand, and Scripture, or rather Scripture falsely interpreted, on the other, and in the old pre- possessions which the men of those days had to abandon, we see the very same causes at work, which still, vmder new circumstances, agitate and confuse religious but uninstructed minds. What could be more clear, they then thought, than the testimony of Scrip- ture — TAe world also is established, that it cannot be MOVED (Ps. xciii. 1) ? Even so late an author as Calvin, the erudite and sagacious commentator, drew from this passage the inference that the earth is motionless.* The old Ptolemaic system, which had so blinded men for ages, chiefly under the authority of Aristotle, was only beginning about that time to meet its death-blow ; and the new ideas had not yet reached the study of the learned reformer. Eleven centuries before him, when Pythagorean notions had not been so entirely eclipsed, Augustine * Ps. xciii. 1. — "The Psalmist all their wanderings, maintain proves that God wiU not neglect their respective positions. How or abandon the world, from the could the earth hang suspended fact that he created it. A simple in the air were it not upheld by- survey of the world should of God's hand ? By what means itself suffice to attest a Divine could it maintain itself unmoved, Providence. The heavens revolve while the heavens above are daily, and, immense as is their in constant rapid motion, did fabric, and inconceivable the ra- not its Divine Maker fix and pidity of their revolutions, we estabhsh it 1 Accordingly the experience no ooncu.ssion — no particle pjif, denoting emphasis, disturbance in the harmony of is introduced — ' Yea, lie hath their motion. The sun, though established. iV "— Cominentary on varying its course every diurnal the Psalms, Calvin. Translation revolution, returns annually to Society's Edition. the same point. The planets, in REGARDING THE MOTION OF THE EARTH. 19 refers to tlie controversy; but avoids coming to a decision, on the plea of want of leisure to discuss it, and absence of profit to his hearers. But in stating the case he affords a curious example of coming to a right conclusion upon false premises, and of thus hazarding the credit of Scripture by an unnatural alliance between it and Science. " If the heaven moves, how," he makes some ask, " is it a firma- ment ? "* So that by a double misinterpretation of Scripture, such reasoners shut themselves up in this dilemma -. — The Sacred Volume asserts in one place that the heavens are solid, and therefore motionless ; and. in another, that the earth is so also : the inevi- table conclusion is, that no motion, real or apparent, can take place either in the earth, or in the heavens — a thing contradicted by every day's experience. One, therefore, of these premises must yield. If the first, we are riveted in error, for the earth does move : if the second, the conclusion is corrected ; but further light shows that the first premiss is false, for the heavens are not solid ; and the argument becomes again involved, and all is confusion. The solu- tion of the difficulty, we know, is this : — The second premiss is false, for the earth does move ; and the first premiss is partly true, for the heavens do not * "]De motu etiam coeli non- quomodo sidera, quae in illo fixa nulli fratres questionem movent, oreduntur, ab oriente usque ad, utrum stet an moveatur : quia si oocidentem circumeunt %" — Aug^ movetur, inquiunt, quomodo fir- de Gen. lib. II. cap. i. mamentum est 1 Si autem stat, c2 20 CORRECTION OF ERRORS move, and partly false, for they are not solid. The first premiss is thus so far true as to preserve it from leading, vphen combined with the second, to a VFrong conclusion. This example strikingly shows the mis- chief of taking our ideas of natural things from Scrip- ture, and shutting our eyes to the just conclusions of Reason. All these mists have long been dispersed ; the whole is clearly understood; and yet Scripture stands unchanged and unimpeachable. Other Scripture texts were forced into this unholy warfare. Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should NOT BE REMOVED FOR EVER (Ps. civ. 5) ? One generation passeth away, and another generation Cometh; but the earth abideth for ever (Eccles. i. 4). Then the following were adduced to establish the correlative truth, as they supposed, that the sun is not at rest. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it (Ps. xix. 4 — 6). The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose (Eccles. i. 5).* * They resorted to such argu- be in the suri. So that hell ments as the following curious would be in the sun, and there- piece of reasoning :— Hell, it had fore, in fact, be up in heaven — long been supposed, was in the which was too absurd, they centre of the world. Now, if thought, to be believed. In the sun was at rest, with the laughing at such folly, let us earth revolving about it, then beware lest we be guilty of the the centre of the world would same in our way, notwithstand- REGAKDING THE MOTION OF THE EARTH. 21 The mischief which this appeal to Scripture did is incalculable. It sanctified error. It confirmed the mind in blunders regarding a fact in Nature on which many of the ancients had clear and correct conceptions, till Aristotle and then Ptolemy drew the veil of obscurity over it. So that even Tycho, a name of eminence among philosophers in the days of Kepler and Galileo, was kept back from holding the true view, chiefly by his false estimate of Scripture language.* All this conflict of ideas and opinions is now passed away ; and Scripture stands unscathed in all its truth, simplicity, and beauty. All are agreed that its words require no apology, and call for no compromise. They speak intelligibly to learned and unlearned. Indeed, we may well pause to admire the wisdom ing all the light that knowledge in the following words, quoted gives us, and all the experience by Dr. WheweU : — " In Theology that the history of error and of we balance authorities, in Philo- well-intentioned but iU-direoted sophy we weigh reasons. A holy zeal teaches us. man was Laotantius who denied Another argument was, that that the earth was round ; a holy heaven and earth are repeatedly man was Augustine, who granted mentioned in Scripture as cor- the rotundity, but denied the relative, like the centre and oir- antipodes ; a holy thing to me cumferenoe of a circle. Thus, is the Inquisition, which allows " the heaven and the earth," the smaUness of the earth, but (Gen. i. 1,) and in a multitude denies its motion ; but more holy of other texts. Now, said they, to me is Truth ; and hence I the heavens, spread out as they prove, from philosophy, that the are, must be the circumference ; earth is round, and inhabited on hence, the earth must be the every side, of small size, and in centre, and therefore at rest. motion among the stars — and * See Sir David Brewster's this I do with no disrespect to Martyrs of Science. The freedom the Doctors." of Kepler's mind is nobly shown 22 WISDOM DISPLAYED IN THE with which Scripture is constructed, both as to its Wisdom Been subject-matter and its phraseology. Human teaeWng Ind sjstems of rehgion have usually blended a S^sTri°ture ^^^^ theology with some preposterous system of natural philosophy j and the application of true Science is sufficient to explode the whole.* But Scripture, while it teaches a religion revealed by God himself and worthy of its Author, forbears to teach natural Science. Had Scripture in its teaching embraced Science as well as Religion, we should have been in danger of finding our interest in the Sacred Volume divided between the truths which concern our spiritual and eternal welfare, and its scientific mys- teries. Reason, moreover, would not have had the scope which it now has. It was once the universal creed, that the sun moved through the heavens : that it is absolutely fixed in space, took its place : at the pre- sent day there seems every reason to believe, from accurate astronomical observations, that the sun, with its system of planets, is, after all, in motion. These are not mere random guesses, but the result of laborious thought and inquiry. If Scripture, how- *" Examine all the false theolo- grossest errors on. the material gies of the ancients and modems ; world. You will be revolted with read in Homer or in Hesiod the their theology, no doubt ; but religious codes of the Greeks ; their natural philosophy, and study those of the Buddhists, their astronomy also, ever allied those of the Brahmins, those of to their religion, will be found to the Mahommedans ; you will not rest on the most absurd notions." only find in these repulsive sys- — TAeopneustia, by M. Oaussen, tems on the subject of the God- chap. iv. sec. 6. head, but will meet with the TEACHING AND PHRASEOLOGY OE SCRIPTURE. 23 ever, had been appointed our guide in such matters, all such inquiries would have been superseded, and human reason would have been deprived of a most delightful and profitable exercise, to which she has proved herself fully competent : The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. (Psalm cii. 2.) The Scripture allusions to those Works, for the like reason, are expressed according to their appearances, and not according to their physical realities. Our men of Science adopt the same mode of speaking, even in their scientific writings,* which would otherwise be encumbered and obscured with the most tiresome cir- cumlocutions. Here is no concession to vulgar error, but only a wise compliance with the convenience and necessity of the case.f The language of Science, * Thus, I take down at random plishment of this is supposed by a volume of the Astronomical some to have been by the arrest- Transactions, and find a Paper by ing of the earth in its rotation, the Astronomer Royal, in which In what other words, then, could the following passage occurs : — the miracle have been expressed ? " The meaning of the third term Should it have been said, " So [inan astronomical formula under the earth ceased to revolve, and consideration] is, that the sun made the sun appear to stand moves (independently of pertm-- still in the midst of heaven?" bations) in a small circle. . . ."— This is not the language which Moy. Ast. Soc's Trans, vol. x. we should use, even in these p. 237, 1838. days of scientific light. Were f Among many examples the so great a wonder again to ap- language of the Sacred Historian pear, would even an astronomer, in recording the miracle of Joshua as he looked into the heavens, is an excellent illustration of this, exclaim, "The earth stands So the sun stood still in the midst still!" Would he not be laughed of heaven, and hasted not logo dmn at as a pedant ? Whereas, to use about a whole day. The acoom- the language of appearances, and 24 CORRECTION QF ERRORS moreover, even in its highest walks, admits of improve- ment, and oft-times requires correction as the field of discovery widens. If, then, scientific phraseology were to be used in Scripture, what epoch of knowledge should its Divine Author have fixed upon, as furnishing the language best adapted for speaking to mankind on natural things ? The more advanced the epqch, the longer would be the period through which Scripture would be unintelhgible even to the learned, because forestalling human discovery. What admirable wisdom, then, is displayed by Him, who from the first knew the laws of nature and foresaw their operations, since from Him they took their rise ; but forbore to divert our attention from the great lessons to be conveyed, by embarrassing us with information not essential to our best interests ; and yet speaks of His Works in terms intelligible to all generations of mankind, from the beginning to the end of time ! It is highly instructive to fix our thoughts upon This is a examples which the experience of the past msteStive furnishes ; that we may benefit by the mis- Exampie. |.^]jgg ^f ^j^^gg ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ before, learn thus to imitate the style of changed his situation at all, the Holy Scriptures themselves, though this would be strictly would be most natural and intel- and Scientifically true? So a ligible. Conceive a vessel moving statement strictly scientific, in smoothly down a stream, and a the case of Joshua's miracle, man walking in a contrary direo- would have been uninteUigible tion on its deck and at the same to common persons, and ahnost rate. What should we think of ridiculous in the ears of even the his asserting that he had never learned. REGABBING THE MOTION OF THE EARTH. 25 wisdom in our own day, and see how we should behave in the controversies which the march of dis- covery is perpetually stirring up amongst us. And no controversy is so well adapted for this purpose, as that regarding the Motion of the Earth : for no truth is at the present day more entirely and universally received; although no statement can be more con- tradictory to the letter of Scripture, and no physical fact is less palpable to the senses. The fact is, we are taught from our infancy that the earth revolves on its own axis, and thus gives apparent motion to the luminaries above — ^and we believe it. We are informed, however, that the earth's surface is rushing round at the amazing speed of 1,000 mUes an hour in the equatorial regions, and 600 in English latitudes; and it is plain, that the resistance of the air, estimated by what we feel when moving along a railway, ought to produce one incessant terrific tempest on the earth, compared with which our most tremendous hurricanes are but as the sighing of the summer breeze ; and yet we perceive nothing ! We are told, indeed, that the air itself in one mass moves round with the earth at the same amazing speed, and therefore oflFers no resistance, and so we perceive nothing. But how in- comprehensible is all this, except to scientific minds ! Surely the objectors in the days of Galileo would have seized upon such an argument, as conclusive against the new-fangled opinions, had they thought of it. But with the most unscientific among ourselves it presents 26 DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE no obstacle to the universal creed. All continue to believe as they were taught from infancy, that the earth revolves on its own axis, giving apparent motion to the heavens, and that — without the least prejudice to their reverence for Scripture, the language of which they have always been taught to interpret according to appearances. So marvellous is the effect of habit, even in thinking ! " Scientific views, when familiar, do not disturb the authority of Scripture," however much they did upon their first announcement. " Though the new opinion is resisted as something destructive of the credit of Scripture and the reve- rence which is its due, yet, in fact, when the new interpretation has been generally established and in- corporated, with men's current thoughts, it ceases to disturb their views of the authority of Scripture, or of the truth of its teaching. . . . And ... all culti- vated persons look back with surprise at the mistake of those, who thought that the essence of the revelation was involved in their own arbitrary version of some collateral circumstance in the revealed narrative." * * Dr. Whewell's " Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences," Chapter on the Eelation of Tradition to Palsetiology. REGARDING THE ANTIQUITY OF THE EARTH. 27 § 2. — Examples, from the later history of Science, in which Scripture has not only been relieved of false interpretations, but has had neio light reflected upon it by the discoveries of Science. The Science of Geology, with its kindred studies, furnishes several examples of this kind. 1 . The vast and unknown Antiquity of the Earth, compared with which the 6,000 years of its supposed existence are but as yesterday, was the first of the of those startling facts which the researches of Geology brought to light. So unlooked- for a result, and so boldly put forward, shocked the minds of multitudes. The names of Geologist and Sceptic were regarded by the mass of sensible but uninformed and astonished minds as all but synonyms. But what changes have a few years brought on ! With rare -exceptions, the vast Antiquity, as well as the Motion, of the Earth has become the universal creed. The prejudice of long-standing interpretation^ and ignorance of the records which the earth carries in its own bosom regarding its past history, had shut up us and our forefathers for ages in the notion, that the heavens and the earth were but six days older than the human race. But Science reveals new pheno- mena, opens up new ideas, and makes new demands. The torch of nature and reason sheds its light upon the letter of Scripture. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without 28 DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE form and void, and darkness was wpon the face of the deep — is now seen to refer, first to the original ^a^ which called the material universe into existence ; and then to a state of emptiness and waste into which the Earth long after fell, ere God prepared it to be the residence of the most perfect of His creatures. The mind instructed gradually threw off the trammels of prejudice. Such men as Dr. Chalmers — whom none could deny to be above . suspicion, since they were at once the champions of Holy Scripture in all its integrity, and possessed minds too capacious and commanding to. be distrusted — lent their efficient help in promoting the change.* And Scripture once more emerges, not only unscathed, but fraught with a fuller meaning, from a fiery trial, which had bid fair in the eyes of many to ruin its credibility.f * Thus Dr. Chalmers writes : — the clouds, and the atmosphere " Between the initial act and the (or heaven), for man's appear- details of Genesis, the world, for ance upon the earth. It is this aught we know, might have been Six Days' work which is alluded the theatre of many revolutions, to in the Fourth Commandment, the traces of which geology may and not the original Creation of still investigate, and to which aU things. For in six days the Lord she, in fact, has confidently ap- made heaven and earth, the sea, pealed as the vestiges of so mariy and all that in them is. The words successive continents that have translated created and made are now passed away." — Nat. Theol. different in the original. The vol. i. p. 251. first is «Ta. It occurs 8 times in •[■ In Genesis we read, In the Genesis, and is in these places beginning Ood created the heaven always translated created. It oc- and the earth, that is, called them curs 40 times more in the Old into existence. In the subsequent Testament ; and in 32 of these it verses the work of the Six Days is rendered created; in 3, made ; is described, in which God pre- and in the other 5 it has various pared the earth, and the sea, and meanings. Whereas the other REGARDING PRE-ADAMITE ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 29 2. The existence of Animals and Plants previously to the Six Days' work, when first announced, was regarded with the like indignant scorn, as the fabrication of ungodly men, enemies of animau ° '' _ _ and plants. the Sacred Volume, and fearless in their profane inventions. The Press teemed with attacks upon such reckless theorists; and crude hypotheses, and hasty guesses, and ignorant assertions, which the Age should have been ashamed of, were thrust forward to take the place of facts. Every effort was made to crowd the countless tribes of creatures, which the rocks poured forth from their opened treasure-houses, within the six thousand years of man's existence ; and to attribute their entombment to the Deluge. But Science revolted at such summary work. Rushing waters were not the scene for calm deposits, where aU the bones and spines of the most delicate structures, and the forms of leaves and plants in endless variety, could be laid and kept unhurt. A deluge, and that, too, of only one hundred and fifty days' duration, was not the workshop in which strata ten miles thick could be formed and packed with their teeming popu- lation ; neither had it time to do the work, nor had it room to hold the materials. Physiology^ too, lent its word, ntoj, which occurs 154 times in the Old Testament, and times in Genesis, is not once I believe is not once translated rendered created : it is 88 times created. There is a third word, did or done; 45 times made; ISJ, which occurs 3 times in and 21 times has other mean- Genesis (ch. ii. 7, 8, 19), and is ings, regulated by the context. ttax^hXeiA. formed. This word occurs about 2,700 30 DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE aid. It was discovered that the buried species, those at least below* the higher (the Tertiary) beds, differed altogether in their organization from the existing species. An order of things had evidently once pre- vailed, to which the present families could claim no relationship. One act of creative power must have called the existing beings into life ; and a distinct act, at some previous epoch, those whose remains Science had brought to light. But Scripture records only one such epoch. Thus the silence of Scripture was once again set up against the legitimate demands of Science ; and God's Word and Works set at variance. Time and reflection, however, brought the remedy. Has God recorded all His acts ? How presumptuous in us to limit His creative energy ! Could not He have called worlds after worlds into existence without telling us so? The minds of the alarmed were calmed. Scripture, it was once more remembered, records the history of man's beginning, and the cir- cumstances connected therewith. It was again justly felt that Reason was free to find out things that Scrip- ture did not touch upon, but the evidences of which God had treasured up in His Works. The new dis- coveries forthwith became a new argument for the existence of a Deity. If previous worlds of beings had existed, from which the present races could not * It has been recently dia- the Tertiary beds themselves differ covered (see infra, p. 41, note, altogether from the existing and p. 66) that the species in species. KEGABDING PBE-ADAMITE ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 31 have descended, we have at once a proof that some creative power must have interposed to give a begin- ning to what we see around us. This was the argu- ment of one whose masculine mind and Christian heart did much, as I have before observed, to turn the current of the public mind.* * Dr. Chalmers. See his geo- logical argument for a Deity in his Natural Theology.. In the following passages he speaks of the Six Days' work : — " We hold the week of the first chap- ter of Genesis to have been literally a week of miracles — ■ the period of a great creative interposition, during which, by so many successive evolutions, the present economy was raised out of the wreck and materials of the one which had gone before it." — Chalmers's Works, vol. i. p. 229. ''We have already endeavoured to show, how without any inva- sion even, on the literalities of the Mosaic record, the indefinite antiquity of the globe might safely be given up to naturalists, as an arena whether for their sportive fancies or their inter- minable gladiatorship. On this supposition the details of that operation narrated by Moses, which lasted for Six Days on the earth's surface, will be regarded as the steps by which the pre- sent economy of terrestrial things was raised, about six thousand years ago, on the basis of an earth then without form and void. While, for aught of in- formation we have in the Bible, the earth itself may, within this time, have been the theatre of many lengthened processes — the dwelling place of older economies that have now gone by ; but whereof the vestiges subsist even to the present day, both to the needless alarm of those who be- friend the cause of Christianity, and to the unwarrantable triumph of those who have assailed it." — Ibid. p. 256. Professor Jlitchoock's Religion of Geology, and Dr. Pye Smith's Lectures on Geology, have also had a very large share in influencing men's minds aright 6n this sub- ject. Increasing opportunities also for the communication of scien- tific knowledge by those who carry weight, as alluded to by Sir Charles LyeU in the following extract from his A(Mress to the British Association for the Ad- vancement of Science in 1846, have greatly tended to open men's eyes to see things in a better light : — " It is now fifty years since Playfair, after studying the rocks in the neighbourhood 32 DISCOVEEIES OF SCTENCE 3. The existence of the Sun before the Fourth Day, on which it was supposed to have been created, was another astounding announcement which per- of Edinburgh, in company with Dr. Hutton and Sir James Hall, was so struck with the evidence they aflforded of the immensity of past time, that he observed, ' How much farther reason may go than imagination can venture to follow ! ' These views were common to the most illustrious of his contemporaries, and since that time have been adopted by all geologists, whether their minds have been formed by the literature of France or of Ger- many, of Italy or Scandinavia, or of England ; all have arrived at the same conclusion respect- ing the great antiquity of the globe, and that, too, in opposition to their earliest prepossessions, and to the popular belief of their age. It must be confessed, that while this unanimity is satis- factory as a remarkable test of truth, it is somewhat melancholy to reflect, that at the end of half a century, when so many millions have passed through our schools and colleges since Playfair wrote that eloquent passage, there is still so great a discordance be- tween the opinions of scientific men and the great mass of the community. Had there been an- nual gatherings such as this, where they who are entitled to speak with authority address themselves to a numerous as- sembly, drawn from the higher classes of society, who, by their cultivation and influence, must direct the education and form the opinions of the many of humbler station, it ia impossible that so undesirable and unsound a state of things shoxild have now prevailed, as that there should be one creed for the phi- losopher and another for the multitude. Had there been meet- ings like this, even for a quarter of a century, we should already have gained for geology the same victory that has been so tri- umphantly won by the astro- nomer. The earth's antiquity, together with the history of suc- cessive races of organic beings, would have been ere this as cheerfully and universally ac- knowledged as the earth's mo- tion, or the number, magnitude, and relative distances of the heavenly bodies. I am sure it would be superfluous if I were to declare, in an assembly like this, my deep conviction, which all of you share, that the farther we extend our researches into the wonders of creation in time or space, the more do we exalt, refine, and elevate our concep- tions of the Divine Artificer of the universe." REGARDING THE AGE OF THE SUN. 33 plexed even philosophers, and which the multitude indignantly denied as repugnant to the simplest and plainest declarations of God Age of Himself. A kindred difficulty, however, had long been felt ; for Light was called forth, according to the Sacred Narrative, on the First Day, before the Sun was said to be made ; and yet the alter- nations of evening and morning on that and the suc- ceeding days seemed to indicate the presence of some fixed luminary, independent of the rotating earth, which would produce this vicissitude. So that, the account had long seemed to involve in itself a contradiction. But now proofs were adduced that light had existed for ages previous even to the first day. For the exhumed remains of animals, belonging to ages long gone by before man's appearance, had eyes; and it was argued that eyes were for use ; that light was necessary, and that light must have existed. But all this seemed directly contrary to Scripture, which thus spoke of the First Day : And God said, Let there be light, and there was light (Gen. i. 8); and of the Fourth Dayr And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the dag, and the lesser light to rule the night : {he made) the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the- earth, and to rule over the day, and over the night,, and to divide the light from, the darkness. (Gen. i, 16 — 18.) So that the geological argument increased the difficulties which had already existed, and which 34 DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE had been unsatisfactorily explained. But there is an answer to them all ; although it is probable that there are some, who cannot even yet divest themselves of their old prepossessions. In the first place, it is not said that light was created or made at all : it is called forth : it is commanded to shine out of the darkness which was upon the face of the deep. Nor, with reference to the second passage, is it said that the sun, and moon, and stars, were created on the Fourth Day : the word is made — God made two great lights — the original word for which is used in the sense of did, appointed, constituted, set for a par- ticular purpose or me ; and never once, in the hundred and fifty places where it occurs in the book of Genesis, is it used in the sense of created. And it is one service which Science renders, to point out which of the various meanings of the word should have been here applied. The Mosaic account of the Six Days' work is thus harmonized by some. On the First Day, while the On the Six ^^i^th was " without form and void,"* the Days work, pgg^it Qf g^ previous convulsiou in nature, " and darkness was upon the face of the deep," * Literally "desolation and that case on a small scale by man, emptiness." Heb. For illustra- I suppose to have been produced tion of the meaning of this ex- in the present instance by .the pression, seethe description of Almighty Himself through a tre- the land of Israel as desolated mendous physical catastrophe, and depopulated by Nebuohad- thirty of which can be traced as nezzar, Jer. iv. 23—26. having visited the globe since its The desolation produced in Creation. See infra, p. 41, note. REGARDING THE SIX DAYs' WORK. 35 God commanded light to shine upon the earth. This may have been eiFected by such a clearing of the thick and loaded atmosphere, as to allow the light of the sun to penetrate its mass with a suffused illumination, sufficient to dispel the total darkness which had pre- vailed, but proceeding from a source not yet apparent on the earth. On the Second Day a separation took place in the thick vapoury mass which lay upon the earth, dense clouds were gathered up aloft, and sepa- rated by an expanse from the waters and vapours below. On the Third Day, these lower vapours, or fogs and mists, which hitherto concealed the earth, were condensed, and gathered with the other waters of the earth into seas, and the dry land appeared. Then grass and herbs began to grow. On the Fourth Day, the clouds and vapours so rolled into separate masses, or were so entirely absorbed into the air itself, that the sun shone forth in all its brilliancy, the visible source of light and heat to the renovated earth, while the moon and the stars gave light by night ; and God appointed them henceforth for signs and for seasons, for days and for years, to His creatures, whom He was about to call into existence ; as He afterwards set or appointed His bow in the clouds, which had appeared for ages before, to be a sign to Noah and his descendants.* The Fifth and Sixth Days' work needs no comment. * " The Scriptures were not even all lauiabk curiosity, but to written to gratify curiosity, not nourish faith and govern human D 3 36 DISCOVKRIES OF SCIENCR According to this explanation, the First Chapter of Genesis does not pretend (as has been generally conduct. Accordingly, they af- ford no answer to a multitude of questions that might be asked l-especting Vaswhen, and the why, and the how of the Divine opera- tions But although the Mosaic history of the creation does not embrace all the points on which it might have been sup- posed, a priori, that a Divine re- velation would have instructed us, yet it is to be borne in mirld, that it is true as far as it goes, and in no way inconsistent, when rightly explained, with any sub- sequent discoveries which have been made in the structure of the globe, or the laws of the planetary system. As the Bible and the universe have one and the same Author, we may be sure that the truths of the one can never militate with those of the other. That they may in some cases apparently come in collision, may be admitted : but time and patient research, and a wider col- lation of facts, will not fail in the end to bring nature and re- velation into the most perfect harmony with each other. " Let there be lights. . . It is un- questionable that the Scriptures generally describe the pheno- mena of the natural world as they appear, rather than according to strict scientific truth. Thus the sun and moon are said to rise and set, the stars to fall, and the ■moon to be turned into blood. Consequently, if this history of the creation were designed to describe the events of the six days' work, as they wonld have appeared to a spectator had one been present, a supposition ren- dered probable from its being said, let the dry {land) appear (Heb. be seen), when as yet there was no eye to see it — then we may reasonably conclude that the sun was formed on the first day, or perhaps had been created even before the earth, and was in fact the cause of the vicissitude of the three first days and nights. But as the globe of the earth was during that time surrounded by a dense mass of mingled air and water, the rays of the sun would be intercepted ; only a dim glimmering light, even in the day time, would appear ; and the bodies of the heavenly luminaries would be entirely hidden, just as they now are in a very cloudy day. Let it be supposed, then, that on the fourth day the clouds, mists, and vapours, were all cleared away, and the atmo- sphere made pure and serene ; the sun, of course, would .shine forth in all its splendour, and to the eye of an imagined spectator would seem to have been just created ; and so at night of the moon and stars. This efiect of Divine power, according to the usual analogy of the Scriptures, is described from its appearance REGAKDING THE SIX DAYS WORK. 37 assumed) to be a Cosmogony, or an account of the Original Creation of the Material Universe. The only and the language employed, ' let there be lights in the firmament,' and ' he made two great lights, and set them in the firmament,' is to be interpreted on the prin- ciple above stated. They might then be said to be ' made,' be- cause they then first began to be visible, and to perform the office for which they were designed. . . . "... As the rainbow was made or constituted a sign, though it might have existed before, so the sun, moon, and stars may be said to have been Tnade and set as lights in the firmament, on the fourth day, though actually called into existence on the first, . or previously. The same result had indeed been really efiected by the same means during the previous three days and nights, but these luminaries were hence- forth by their rising and setting, to be the visible means of pro- ducing this separation or suc- cession." — Professor Bush, Pro- fessor of Hebrew and Oriental Lite- rature in New York City University, on Genesis. " The most complete solution of this difficulty [of the fourth day] of which we know," says Dr. Chalmers, " has been furnished by Rosenmiiller. He says, that ' if any one who is conversant with the genius of the Hebrew, and free 'from any previous bias on his judgment, will read the words of this article in their connexion, he will immediately perceive that they import a di- rection or determination of the heavenly bodies to certain uses, which they were to supply to the earth.' The words ni«D ti' in the 14th verse, are not to be separated from the rest, or to be rendered 'fiant luminaria,' let there be lights — that is, 'let lights be made ;' but rather, ' let lights be ' — that is, ' serve in the expanse of heaven' — ' in- serviant in expanse coelorum' — for distinguishing between day and night, and let them be or serve for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. For we are to observe that the verb n'n to be, in construction with the prefix '' 'for,' is generally em- ployed to express the direction 6t determination of a thing to an end, and not the production of the thing — for example, Num. x. 31 ; Zech. viii. 19, and in tnany other places." He further argues thus — " But the difference between the sin- gular 'rp and the plural vm in the 14th verse, demands a corre- sponding difference in the inter- pretation ; and therefore if we would make that difference lite- rally apparent, we must thus literally interpret — 'Fiat, lumi- naria in firmamento cosli ad divi- dendum inter diem et noctem, ut sint, in signa, et tempora, et in dies, et in annos, et sint, ad 38 DI&COVERIES OF SCIENCE Cosmogony which it contains, in that sense at least, is confined to the sublime declaration of the first verse, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The Inspired Record then, stepping over an interval of indefinite ages with which man has no direct concern, proceeds at once to narrate the events preparatory to the introduction of man on the scene; employing phraseology strictly faithful to the appearances which would have met the eye of man, could he have been a spectator on the earth of what passed during those Six Days. All this had been commonly supposed to be a more detailed account of the general truth an- nounced in the first verse, in short — a Cosmogony. Such was the idea of Josephus ; such probably was the idea of our translators ; for their version, without form and void, points to the Primeval Chaos, out of illuminandum super terrain.' for days and years ; and let them That is, ' Fiat ut luminaria sint be for lights in the firmament of in signa, &c., et ad illuminan- heaven to give light upon the dum, &c.' The particle i signi- earth ; and it was so.' So that fies 'ut' in three hundred pas- Eosenmiillei''s induction from the sages, and vni signifies 'ut sint' construction of this passage is, in several of them. This inter- ' de determinatione astrorum ad pretation, therefore, yields this certos quosdam usus orbi terra- literal sense in our language — rum prsestandos, esse sermonem' 'Let it be, that the lights in the — non de productione' — or that firmament of heaven, for divid- the narration in these verses re- ing between the day and the spects the determination of the night, be for signs and for sea- heavenly bodies to the perform- sons, and for days and years ' — ance of some certain uses to that is, finally, ' Let the lights in the earth — not to the produc- the firmament of heaven, for di- tion."^ — Chalmers's Works, vol. i. viding between the day and night, p. 253. Note, be for signs, and for^seasons, and REGARDING THK SIX DATS WORK. 3 which all things were then supposed to emerge ; and these words standing in limine have tended, perhaps more than anything else, to foster the idea of a Cos- mogony in the minds of general readers to this very day. The foregoing explanation many have now adopted. It is sufficient for my purpose, if it be a possible ex- planation, and if it meet the difficulties of the case. That it is possible in itself, is plain from the fact above established, that the Scriptures wisely speak on natural things according to their appearances rather than their physical realities. It meets the difficulties of the case, because all the difficulties hitherto started against this Chapter on scientific grounds, proceeded on the principle that it is a Cosmogony ; which this explanation repudiates, and thus disposes of the diffi- culties. It is, therefore, an explanation satisfactory to my own mind. I may be tempted to regret, that I can gain no certain scientific information from Genesis regarding the process of the Original Creation ; but I resist the temptation, remembering the great object for which the Scripture was given — to tell man of his origin and fall, and to draw his mind to his Creator and Redeemer. Scripture was not designed to teach us natural philosophy, and it is vain to attempt to make out a Cosmogony from its statements. The Almighty declares himself the Originator of all things ; but He condescends not to describe the process or the laws by which He worked. All this He leaves for 40 DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE Reason to decipher from the phenomena which his World displays. This explanation, however, I do not wish to impose on Scripture ; and am fully prepared to surrender it, should further scientific discovery suggest another, better fitted to meet all the requirements of the case. I am satisfied to have proved, that the Mosaic narra- tive is not a mere myth or fable, insuperable objections to which view I shall state in my Second Chapter ; but a simple history of real events, described as they would have appeared to ourselves, had we been placed on the spot. And I rise from the contemplation of this Ancient Book with admiration at the wisdom with which it is constructed ; so that whUe human systems have disappeared before the light of advancing know- ledge, the Holy Scripture in its original tongues remains pre-eminent, and no charge of error brought against it has ever been substantiated.* * My object in this Treatise, intended to convey scientific as will have been seen, is not to ideas. discuss contending theories of There is one class of inter- interpretation. It is sufficient preters, however, with whom I for my purpose to convince my find it impossible to agree. I readers, that an explanation of mean those who take the Six the inspired words of Moses on Days to be Six Periods of un- physical principles is possible ; known indefinite length. This not that I regard it as necessary, is the principle of interpretation or indeed to be expected, that in a work on the Creation and the we should be able to satisfy our- Fall, by the Rev. D. Macdonald ; selves altogether as to what the also in Mr. Hugh Miller's post- real physical interpretation is. humous work, The Testimony of The words of the narrative are the Bocks ; and also in an admir- too brief for this ; and are not able treatise on the Pre-Adamitq REGARDING DEATH BEFORE ADAM, 41 4. Another formidable difficulty to whicii Geology gave rise, was the existence of Death in the world Earth, in Dr. Lardner's Museum of Science. In this last it is the more surprising, because the suc- cessive chapters are in fact the accumulation of evidence which points the other way, as a writer in the Christian Observer, January 1858, has conclusively shown. The late M, d'Orbigny has demon- strated, in his Prodrome dePalaon- foloffie,a,fteT an elaborate examina- tion of vast multitudes of fossils, that there have been at least twenty-nine distinct periods of animal and vegetable existence, that is, twenty-nine creations, separated one from another by catastrophes which have swept away the species existing at the time, with a very few solitary exceptions, never exceeding one- and-a-half per cent, of the whole number discovered, which have either survived the catastrophe, or have been erroneously desig- nated. But not a single species of the preceding period survived the last of these catastrophes ; and this closed the Tertiary Period and ushered in the Human Period. The evidence adduced by M. d'Orbigny shows, that both animals and plants appeared in every one of these twenty-nine periods. The notion, therefore, that the " Days" of Genesis repre- sent Periods of creation from the beginning of all things, is at once refuted. The parallel is de- stroyed both in the number of the Periods (Thirty, including the azoic, instead of Six), and also in the character of the things cre- ated. No argument could be more complete. And yet the writer of the Pre-Adamite Earth, in the last two pages, sums up his lucid sketch of M. d'Orbigny's researches by referring the ac- count in the First Chapter of Genesis to the whole Creation from the beginning of all things, a selection of epochs being made, as he imagines, for the Six Days or Periods ! This is an interpre- tation which in no way accords with the facts he has previously detailed with such perspicuity. Indeed, one is tempted to sup- pose that the writer of the main body of the treatise had handed over his finished task to some less skilful hand, a resolute ad- herent to the Period-day theory, who did not really understand the line of argument, or was de- termined to make it speak his own pre-conceived theory. But were there no other ground of objection to this mode of inter- pretation, I think the wording of the Fourth Commandment is clearly opposed to it. Ex. XX. 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 9. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. 10. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou. 42 DISCOVERIES Of SCIENCE before the Fall of Adam. The mvriads of creatures Death which the strata have brought to light, before the i i • i a i Fall. lived and died ere Adam came; and yet St. Paul has said, By one man sin entered into the nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid, servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : 11. For in six days the Loed made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested tlie seventh day ; wherefore the Loed blessed the sabbath day, and hal- lowed it. Is it not a harsh and forced interpretation to suppose that the '' Six Days " in v. 9 do not mean the same as the " Six Days" in v. 11 : but that in this last place -they mean Six Periods? In read- ing through the eleventh verse, it is extremely difficult to believe that the " Seventh Day " is a long Period, and the " Sabbath Day " an ordinary Day ; that is, that the same word " Day" should be used in two such totally different senses in the same short sen- tence, and without any explana- tion. In support of this assumed double use of the word " Day " within the same passage, it has been said, that in Genesis i., even within the compass of one verse, the word is used in two different senses, viz. in v. 5 : Ood called the light. Day — where it is there- fore less than twenty-four hours ; and the evening and the morning were the first day, or as it has been translated, " evening was, morn- ing was, one day," in which, ac- cording to our interpretation, it is the whole twenty-four hours. But this surely is not a case in point ; at any rate, it is a very narrow basis upon which to erect so large an hypothesis. When the whole twenty-four hours are called a day, they are so named from the most important part of the twenty-four hours, the light part. The day of light and the day of twenty-four hours refer to the same thing ; the one to part, the other to the whole. This is totally different from supposing that in a passage in which the term " Six Days " occurs twice, it means Six Periods — in one place of twenty-four hours each, and in the other of one thousand years or more. I have shown above, that the most recent investigations clearly prove, that the Geological Periods do not coincide with the Six Days, as described in Genesis. Indeed, these attempts at the interpretation of Scripture on , physical grounds are very unsafe and hazardous. Experience has surely taught us enough of the danger of it. Geology is still but in its infancy. A few years more may add so much td our knowledge as to make it n«oes REGARDING DEATH BEFORE ADAM. 43 world, and death by sin. So unanswerable has this objection appeared to some, and still appears, I believe, that blindfold they condemn the whole science of Geology, and ignore the universal testimony of the greatest and best men. And no doubt, while igno- rant of the facts which the Book of Nature reveals, we should conclude from the Apostle's words that it was the sin of Adam that had brought Death upon the irrational as well as the rational creation. But is this the necessary meaning of the passage? By no means. Science here comes to our aid to correct the impressions we gather from Scripture ; and the lesson we learn from the Apostle is, not that Death had never appeared even in the ifrational world before the Fall of Man, but that in that fearful event sin had degraded God's intellectual creature to the level of the brutes in his animal nature, and in his spiritual to that of a lost and fallen being. Death received its horrors when its sentence fell upon man, who alone was made in the image of God.* sary again to modify our inter- called for the belief, that mor- pretations of Scripture. As a tality had been stamped on crea- general rule, the best method is, tion, and had manifested its to keep Scripture and Science proofs in the animal races pre- apart as much as possible ; and, viously to Adam's appearance — wherever they come in contact, Jeremy Taylor could write as to be satisfied with removing follows regarding Adam himself difficulties, without attempting before the Fall. He considers a,ny physical exposition of Ian- him to have been created mortal guage, which was never intended — not merely liable to become for such a purpose. mortal, but actually mortaL * Two hundred years ago — " For ' flesh and blood,' that long befoi'e the science of Geology is, whatsoever is born of Adam, 44 DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE 5. Another difficulty, which the progress of scien- tific discovery has originated, arises from the theory Specific of Specific Centres. According to this Centres. Jiscovery, every species, vphether of plants or animals, is confined to a certain region or habitat, beyond the boundaries of which its individuals cannot live. Each species, therefore, must have diverged from some centre within its region ; and this is called a Specific Centre : and these Centres must have been the foci of creation. No doubt the boundaries of these regions may have varied since the Six Days' creation under the influence of climate. But it is contended that no change of climate which is likely to have occurred can account fOr so great a transfer of the Centres to such considerable distances, as many of them are found to be from the limits of Paradise. ' cannot inherit the kingdom of Adam, and which passed upon God.' And they are injurious to his posterity, is not the going Christ, who think, that from out of this world, but the man- Adam we might have inherited ner of going. If he had stayed in immortality. Christ was the giver innocence he should have gone and preacher of it ; ' he brought placidly and fairly, without vexa^ life and immortality to light tiousandafflictivecircumstances; through the Gospel.' " Again : — he should not have died by sick- " For that Adam was inade mor- ness, defect, misfortune, or un- tal in his nature, is infinitely willingness." These sentiments certain, and proved by his very I quote, not as necessarily ap- eating and drinking, his sleep proving them, but to show that and recreation, &c." — Works of so good and learned a man as Jeremy Taylor, by Bishop Heber, J&c&cny Taylor held a view re- vol. ix. pp. 74, 76. garding death and mortality, no And in another passage quoted less unusual than that which by Professor Hitchcock : " That Geology demands, death which God threatened to REGARDING SPECIFIC CENTRES OF CREATION. 45 This^ appears to be at variance with the account in Genesis, which seems to represent the creation, of animals at least, to have been in regions within the reach of Adam. But this difficulty need not stagger us, unexpected as it is. For in the first place, it is not impossible that the regions which are found on the opposite side of the globe, and others also of which the limits are far from the boundaries of man's first residence, have become the scenes of creative power at epochs subsequent to the Six Days' work. And further ; there is nothing in the account of the Six Days' creation to militate against the idea, that creation may have been going on over the whole surface of the earth at the same time. It simply requires us to suppose, that the animals brought to Adam for him to name them must have been those only in the neighbourhood of Paradise. 6. Another instance in which Science has been looked upon as inimical to Scripture, is the assertion now universally made by Geologists, that no ^o known known traces exist of the Noachian Deluge, o^t^e The disappointment which this has occa- '^^'"se- sioned has been felt all the more severely, because the advocates of Revelation had long been in the habit of pointing triumphantly to the rocks in all parts of the earth as containing shdls even to the highest peaks, and so being infallible witnesses to the fact of the Deluge. Geologists used to support this view. One of their number, eminent both , for his eloquent expo- 46 DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE sitions and thorough acquaintance with the science, had even written a work* on the subject, describing a cave at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, where bones of numerous animals had been accumulated, it was supposed, by the waters of the Deluge. But it is now acknowledged by all Geologists, that these conclusions were premature. In a subsequent work this author publicly renounced his former views on the subject, and recalled his book. Further consideration has shown, that the Deluge cannot have been the occasion of embedding shells and other fossils in solid rocks, and to such a depth as they are found. Nor are the superficial deposits, those for instance in the York- shire cavern, such as a temporary deluge could have produced.! The more the progress of scientific discovery has brought to light the varied agencies which are per- petually at work in changing the aspect of the earth's surface, the more is it seen, that it was unreasonable to expect to find traces of the Great Cataclysm at the present day, so many ages after its occurrence. Any marks it left must have been long since obliterated, or so mixed up with the effects of subsequent gradual changes as to be undecipherable, even if they ever possessed any characteristic features peculiar to them,- selves. The marvel of this great historic event was the presence of so vast a body of waters — their rapid * ReliquitB Dihvianne. cussed in Testimony of the Rocks, t See this subject fully dis- Lect. 8, on the Noachian Deluge. KEGARDING THE DELUGE. 47 appearance and as rapid disappearance — the windows of heaven being opened, and the fountains of the deep being broken up. Whether this Great Cata- strophe was brought about by an intervention of second causes or not, it was by the interposition of the Almighty for the punishment of a guilty world. The record of this, Scripture conveys to us ; and Science, though robbed of its supposed power of illustrating the Scripture truth, nevertheless places no obstacle in the way of its reception. 7. The history of the Deluge furnishes an illustra- tion of my subject in another way. It has been conceived by most readers of Scripture, that it describes the Deluge as having covered the The Deluge surface of the whole earth. To this view twhoie Science of late years has presented various **'*'^- difficulties. Of course, a believer in the Divine Power can have no difficulty in admitting any miracle, however as- tounding, so long as it does not involve an impossibi- lity, and is clearly demanded by the Sacred Narrative. But he must not be charged with Scepticism or with favouring it, if he seek so to interpret the Record, as to avoid an impossibility ; or if he endeavour to confine the miracle within limits proportioned to the occasion ; or if he search for an explanation, in part at least, in the operation of second causes — by which the Almighty, in many recorded instances, has worked His wonders : for if we exaggerate the demands of Scripture on men's 48 DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE faith, beyond what the text, fairly interpreted, abso- lutely requires, we make ourselves, so far, responsible for their Scepticism. Now the lamented Hugh Miller, in his most inte- resting and valuable work, The Testimony of the Bocks, has shown how all the phenomena of the Deluge might have been produced by the gradual submergence and raising again of the country comprised within a radius of a few hundred miles around the dwelling-place of Noah, so as to include the portion of the globe then inhabited. This phenomenon of the change of level of large portions of the earth's surface, by depression or elevation, is not unknown to geologists ; though the periods in which these vast oscillations occur are of immeasurably longer duration than that of the Deluge. He shows that the depression during the first forty days might, nevertheless, have been so gradual as to have been imperceptible, except from the effects — the, pouring in of the mighty waters from the neighbouring seas into the growing hollow, and the disappearance of the mountain-tops. And when, after a hundred and fifty days had elapsed, the depressed hollow began slowly to rise again, the bound- less sea around the ark would flow outwards again towards the distant ocean, and Noah would see that the fountains of the deep were stopped, and the waters were returning from off the earth continually. This process, miraculous though it be in thus calling into sudden action secondary agents, meets REGARDING THE DELUGE. 49 the difficulties of the case in a way in which no other known hypothesis will. It supplies and disposes of the mighty mass of water required for the Catastrophe : it makes the miracle proportioned to the occasion, viz. the destruction of the human species for their wickedness : and above all, it limits the number of animals which Noah would have to accommodate in the ark within reasonable bounds. Mr. Miller mentions an interest- ing calculation made by Sir Walter Raleigh, to show that Noah's ark was capable of holding all the then known animals of the world, with provisions for all the time during which the earth was submerged. The calculation of this great voyager is justly con- sidered to have been sober, and judicious. But our growing acquaintance with the animal kingdom has converted his trustworthy result from being an argu- ment for a Universal, into one for a Partial Deluge. The eighty-nine known animals of his time would now embrace but a single region. There are no fewer than one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight different species of mammals at present known ! To this extraordinary increase in our knowledge may be added the six thousand two hundred and sixty-six birds of Lesson ; and the six hundred and fifty-seven reptiles of Charles Bonaparte, or, subtracting the sea- snakes and turtles as fitted to live outside the ark, his six hundred and forty-two reptiles !* Now granting that all these 8,666 species of mammals, birds, and * Testimony of the Bocks, p. 323. 50 DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE reptiles could have been brought from all parts of the earth, and actually assembled around Noah, and afterwards replaced in their respective habitats all over the globe, it seems impossible that they could have been all accommodated within the prescribed limits of the ark during the earth's submergence. The question has been asked. Why were birds taken into the ark, if the Deluge were only Partial ? But this objection is based upon an error in natural science, into which even naturalists of the last century, such as Buffon, not unfrequently fell : viz. that of assigning to species wide areas in creation, which in reality they do not occupy. A better acquaintance with the habits of many of the non-migratory birds will convince such an objector, that even in a local deluge, of the extent which we suppose the Deluge may have attained, many species would have become extinct but for their preservation in the ark, as the surrounding regions could not have supplied them.* But is not this notion of a Partial Deluge contrary to the express language of Scripture ? Of course, the words of Scripture, were there no facts like those I have mentioned to modify our interpretation, would be understood as describing a Universal flood of waters over the whole extent of the globe : there would be no cause for questioning this, and there- fore no ground of doubt. But when the new facts become known, as they are at present, then the * Testimony) of the Rocks, p. 292. REGARDING THE DELUGE. 51 question is started, Does the Scripture language present any insuperable obstacle to this more Hmited interpretation? That it does not, may be inferred from the fact, that two of our celebrated commen- tators on Scripture, Bishop Stillingfleet and Matthew Pool, both in the seventeenth century, long before the discoveries of natural science required it, advocated this view. The strongest expression in the whole account is this. All the high hills that were under THE WHOLE HEAVEN Were coversd. But that, if other circumstances require it, this phraseology may refer solely to the region affected and not to the whole globe, is apparent from the use of the same expression by the same inspired writer in another place, in which it is evident, that he cannot have intended the whole globe, but only Palestine and the countries in its immediate neighbourhood : This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the feat of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee (Dent. ii. 25). With some minds the argument of the Divine Omnipotence is sufficient to meet all the difficulties of a Universal Deluge : to others they have appeared so formidable as to recommend the theory of a Partial Deluge, which certainly furnishes a ready and complete answer to all the objections. I proceed now to the Third Class of Examples. e 2 52 REPUTATION OF FALSE CONCLUSIONS ^ 3. — Examples, in which Science has been delivered, from the false conclusions of some of its votaries, and thereby shown to be in entire agreement with Scripture. 1. From the great diversities which exist among the tribes of men which at present inhabit the earth it has been boldly inferred by some writers, All men .... -i i i n i of one that it IS impossible that they can all have descended from common parents. The statements of Scripture, that Eve was the mother of all living (Gen. iii. 20) ; that after the Deluge the earth was peopled by the descendants of one man, Noah (Gen. x. 32) ; and the declaration of St. Paul (Acts xvii. 26), that God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, are all equally set aside as irreconcilable with the facts of nature. Thus the Word and Works of God have been driven once more into conflict, and upon entirely new ground. But this apparent contradiction between Revelation and Nature, has been altogether reconciled, and the argument thrown back upon the sceptic to his complete refutation, by the researches of the late Dr. Prichard. His facts and arguments have been collected in his invaluable work on the Natural History of Man. He takes no guide but the phenomena which the various tribes present, and which well-authenticated history furnishes. And he comes to the conclusion, that there are no permanent REGARDING THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS AND RACES. 53 lines of demarcation separating the several tribes or nations ; that all the diversities which exist are variable, and pass into each other by insensible grada- tions ; that there is scarcely an instance in which the actual transition cannot be proved to have taken place ; and that there is everything to lead us to infer, quite irrespectively of Scripture testimony, that all the fami- lies of the earth are descended from common parents, and that at no very distant epoch. So triumphantly is the Scripture account verified by an impartial and independent appeal to facts.* * " The Sacred Scriptures, whose testimony is received by all men of unclouded minds with implicit and reverential assent, declared that it pleased the Al- mighty Creator to make of one blood all the nations of the earth, and that all mankind are the off- spring of common parents. But there are writers in the present day, who maintain that this asser- tion does not comprehend the uncivilized inhabitants of remote regions ; and that Negroes, Hot- tentots, Esquimaux, and Austra- lians, are not, in fact, men in the full sense of that term, or beings endowed with like mental facul- ties with ourselves. Some of these writers contend, that the races above-mentioned, and other rude and barbarous tribes, are inferior in their original endow- ments to the human family which supplied Europe and Asia with inhabitants — that they are or- ganically different, and can never be raised to an equality, in moral and intellectual powers, with the offspring of that race which dis- plays, in the highest degree, all the attributes of humanity. They maintain that the ultimate lot of the ruder tribes is a state of per- petual servitude ; and that if, in some instances, they should con- tinue to repel the attempts of the civilized nations to subdue them, they wiU at length be rooted out and exterminated in every country on the shores of which Europeans shall have set their feet " I shall not pretend that in my own mind I regard the ques- tion now to be discussed as one, of which the decision is a matter of indifference either to religion or humanity. But the strict rule of scientific scrutiny exacts, ac- cording to modern philosophers, in matters of inductive reason- 54 REFUTATION OF FALSE CONCLUSIONS But the attack on Scripture, grounded on the dif- ference of races, has been since renewed. The ing, an exclusive iomage. It requires that we should close our eyes against all presumptive and extrinsic evidence, and ab- stract our minds from aU con- siderations not derived from the matters of fact which bear im- mediately on the question. The maxim we have to follow in such controversies is, ' fiat justitia, ruat coelum.' In fact, what is actually true, it is always most desirable to know, whatever con- sequences may arise from its ad- mission." — Prichard's Natural History of Man, vol. i. pp.5 — 7. " In the ethnographical outline which I have now concluded, the facts have been very briefly stated, and it would be difficult to recapitulate them in a shorter compass. I shall merely point out some of the most obvious inferences. " The differences of men are not distinguished from each other by strongly marked, uni- form, and permanent distinc- tions, as are the several species belonging to any given tribe of animals. All the diversities which exist are variable, and pass into each other by insen- sible gradations ; and there is, moreover, scarcely an instance in which the actual transition cannot be proved to have taken place."— /W(?. vol. ii. p. 644. "We contemplate among all the diversified tribes who are endowed with reason and speech the same internal feelings, appe- tences, aversions ; the same in- ward convictions, the same sen- timents of subjection to invisible powers, and, more or less fully developed, of accountableness or responsibility to unseen avengers of wrong and agents of retributive justice, from whose tribunal men cannot even by death escape. We find everywhere the same susceptibility, though not always in the same degree of forward- ness or ripeness of improvement, of admitting the cultivation of these universal endowments, of opening the eyes of the mind to the more clear and luminous views which Ohristianityunfolds, of becoming moulded to the in- stitutions of religion and of civi- lized life : in a word, the same inward and mental nature is to be recognised in all the races of men. When we compare this fact with the observations which have been heretofore fully esta- blished as to the specific in- stincts and separate psychical endowments of all the distinct tribes of sentient beings in the universe, we are entitled to draw confidently the conclusion, that all human races are of one species and one family." — Ibid. pp. 713, 714. REGARDING THE ORIGIN OP NATIONS AND RACES. 55 objectors, under the force of evidence brought forward by Dr. Prichard, admit that, not- Differences withstanding the diversities existing among sincrthe the several tribes of the earth, all races may ^Jeiuge. have sprung from an original stock, if we allow time enough for the operation of the causes of change. But they contend that the time in which the earth was fepeopled after the Deluge, reckoned according to Scripture chronology, is altogether inadequate to the necessities of the case. It is asserted that Egyptian paintings which may be dated at 1,000 or 1,500 years before the Christian era, display the forms and Com- plexions of the Negro, the Egyptian, and some Asiatic nations distinctly marked. The earliest of these dates coincides with the age of Moses ; and is, according to Scripture, only 848 years subsequent to the Deluge, when, as it is assumed, the population of the world began a second time. This interval, it is contended, even if we lengthen it by supposing the antiquity of the Egyptian monuments to have been carried too far back by some centuries, is too short for the produc- tion of such national diversities as those potirtrayed on the Egyptian tombs. This at first sight is a formidable objection. But it is one, after all, which need not stagger us, not shake our belief in the full Inspiration of Holy Scrip- ture. In the first place, this apparent difficulty pro- ceeds upon the assumption, that the rate of change in man's physical condition is the same now that it 56 REFUTATION OP FALSE CONCLUSIONS was in the earlier ages of the renovated world. But it is quite conceivable that in those primitive and half-civilized times, physiological changes might take place much more rapidly than they have done more recently and among nations of settled and civilized habits. In the next place, it is assumed, that the changes were always, not only slow, but gradual. It is, however, quite possible, that in some cases a new type may have arisen, as it were, per saltum. As far as regards colour, there are remarkable examples in India of the apparent want of all law. The children of the same parents — one a European, the other a Hindoo, or even a Eurasian — will be some white, and others black. Sometimes the grandchildren are dark, although the children were white and were married to Europeans. So unaccountable are the changes in colour. In the third place, it is a mistake to assume, that the population of the world began again from a new single centre after the Deluge. Eight persons repeopled the earth. There is no evidence that Ham had not in him aU the elements, or many of the elements, of the Negro, Japhet of the European, and Shem of the Asiatic. They may have married, too, into different tribes, and their wives have been as diversified as themselves. It is, then, alto- gether gratuitous to assert, that the races which now exist must be traced down from one man, Noah, as from a new starting point. This at once carries back our range of time 1,700 years, to the day of Adam, EEGARDING THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS AND RACES. 57 for the operation of the changing causes ; and the objection is entirely removed. The objection to the descent of all the tribes of men from one stock, has recently been revived in a new form; and, strange to say, Scripture has been enlisted in support of the theory. The dis- gonpture tinguished naturalist Agassiz, following, it ^^"^^^l/'^ would appear, Dr. Nott of America, has ■^"°''- avowed it as his belief, that " there was no common central origin for man, but an indefinite number of separate creations, from which the races of men have sprung ; " * and he boldly asserts that Scripture sup- ports this view. Scripture and Science, therefore, are * See this fiilly examined and refuted in Dr. Thomaa Smytt's I/nitt/ of the Human Baces, pub- lished in America, where this new and preposterous theory, while it has found some able opponents, is not wanting in warm admirers ; as it appears to countenance the notion, that the slaves are of a race to whom the blessings of Christianity are not promised ; for, according to this hypothesis, they are not descended from Adam ! " ' God hath made of one blood,' Said the Apostle Paul, in address- ing himself to the elite of Athens, ' all nations for to dwell on the face of all the earth.' Such, on this special head, is the testi- mony of Revelation, and such is the conclusion of our highest scientific authorities. The ques- tion has indeed been raised in these latter times, whether each species of animals may not have been originally created, not by single pairs, or in single centres, but by several pairs and in seve- ral centres, and, of course, the human species among the rest. And the qiier^ — ^for in reality it amounts to nothing more — has been favourably entertained on the other side of the Atlantic, where there are uneasy con- sciences, that would find comfort in the belief that Zamboo, the blackamoor, who was lynched for getting tired of slavery and hard blows, was an animal in no way akin to his master. And on purely scientific grounds it is of course difficult to prove a nega- tive in the case, just as it would be difficult to prove a negative 58 REFUTATION OF FALSE CONCLUSIONS not at variance according to him ; and we so far agree in our results. But both his premises being false, he fur- nishes a new instance, similar to that already produced under the first class of Examples, of an apparent agree- ment arising from a double error, in the interpretation both of Revelation and Nature. His first premiss is, that Science requires this view. But what is his argu- ment ? Solely one of analogy. He has started a general hypothesis, that among plants and the lower animals, identity of species does not necessarily imply identity of origin. He assumes that analogy should lead us to apply the same to the various races of men now inhabiting the world. But analogy is not demonstra- tion. Moreover, to make his analogy worth anything even as an analogy, he must show that his theory is true, in the case of all the lower animals, and not that it is probably the case with some. He must show that man, whom we except, is the only exception, before his principle of analogy can be of any service whatever. If indeed we admit this kind of reasoning, analogy will rather turn against such a conclusion. Por there are varieties — individual, family, and national — in any one race of men, fully as diflBcult of explanation as the diversities of races one from were the question to be, whether the identity of the human race the planet Venus was not com- under all its conditions, and in all posed of quartz-rook, or the its varieties, Science has solved." planet Mars of Old Red Sand- ■ — Hugh Miller's Testimony of the stone. But the portion of the pro- iSoci*, 1857, p. 249. blem really solvable by Science, REGAKDING THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS AND RACES. 59 another.* Analogy would therefore lead us to infer, that as these varieties, singular as they are, are known to belong to the same race, so the probability is that the several races — though differing, but not with wider distinctions than the varieties in each — aU belong to one stock. But the Professor's second premiss is, if possible, still more unwarrantable; and the boldness with which it is put forth, is equalled only by its hol- lowness. He asserts that Scripture countenances this view. The groundwork of his assertion is the following passage -. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod. .... and he huilded a city, and called the name of the city after the 7iame of his son, Enoch (Gen. iv. 16, 17). His inference is that there must have been men to form this city ; whereas, now that Abel was dead, Cain and his son, as far as Scripture acquaints us, were the sole descendants of Adam. The Professor thus peoples the land of Nod with descendants of another race distinct from Adam, and upon this flimsy basis grounds his assertion, even in the face of those plain and decisive statements of Scripture which I have already quoted, in which Eve is declared to be the mother of aU hving, and St. Paul informs us, that God made of one blood all nations of men. The above-mentioned argument, strange to say, has been advanced by a man avowing his behef * Unity of the Human Races, pp. 364, 371. 60 REPUTATION OF FALSE CONCLUSIONS in Scripture, and speaking of its sacred pages with reverence, and who holds also a high place among the scientific observers of the day. One would have thought, that the most cursory reader of Scripture must be aware, that all the children of Adam are not men- tioned by name, any more than those of the patriarchs after him. In Gen v. 4, we are expressly told that Adam . . . hegat sons and daughters ; but no daughters are anywhere named. Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born, a substitute for Abel (Gen. iv. 25; v. 3). If, then, Abel was slain in the previous year, Cain can- not have been much less than 130 years old when he went forth into the land of Nod. During this time his own descendants, according to the ordinary laws of human increase, might have amounted to a con- siderable population.* Cain's descendants, then, may have been many thousands, especially when we remember the lengthened lives of those who lived before the Deluge ; and men enough would be found among them to build and inhabit a city. The very name, moreover, of the land to which Cain wandered, implies that it received its designation from him, and not from any people already inhabiting it ; for Nod means " wandering." 2. Again, there have not been wanting men who * " An island firat occupied by years by 12,000 souls, all the a, few shipwrecked English, in descendants of four mothers.'' 1689, and discovered by a Dutch — Quoted in Dr. Smyth's Work, vessel in 1667, is said to have p. 375. been found peopled after eighty REGARDING THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGES. 61 have profanely ridiculed the account which Moses gives, not only of the origin of nations, but, of the confusion of tongues. They have asserted one tongue that the variety of languages is so great, °"g™*^'y- and their differences of character so wide, and history is so far from furnishing any example of the formation of even one new language, that it is incon- ceivable that man could ever have spoken only one tongue ; and they deny that the " fable " of the Dis- persion is sufficient to explain the endless and wide variations which at present prevail. But this subject has received the attention of the most learned philo- logists. Alexander von Humboldt, the Academy of St. Petersburgh, Merion, Klaproth, and Frederic Schlegel, have all come to one conclusion by a com- parison of languages, viz. that they bear such marks in common, that they must have been originally one. And in addition to this, other philologists, viz. Herder, S. Turner, Abel-Remusat, Niebuhr, and Balbi, have discovered evident internal proofs, that the separation into different tongues must have been by some violent and sudden cause. So singularly do their labours confirm the literal truth of Scripture.* * See this point well worked families ; and that these again out in Wiseman's Lectures on are found to be not primitive Revelation and Science. and independent, but modifioa- j " The results of maturer tions of some original language ; and very extensive investigation and that the separation between prove, that the 3,064 languages them could not have been caused of Adelung, and the 860 Ian- by any gradual departure, or guages and 5,000 dialects of individual development, but by Balbi, may be reduced to eleven some violent, unusual, and active 62 REFUTATION OF FALSE CONCLUSIONS 3. At the close of the last century an attack was made * upon the . Scripture account of the creation and subsequent history of man, by appeahng to the astronomical works of the Hindoos, and especially to an astronomical table for which an age was claimed A e of the ^^^^hiug back more than 700 years before Human Race, the Delugc. The epoch of the table was the commencement of one of the enormous periods of Hindoo chronology, called Yugas. A conjunction of the sun, moon, and planets is spoken of in the Hindoo books as having then occurred, and is mentioned in such a manner as to imply that the fact was a matter of observation. We are indebted to the late Mr. Bentley of Calcutta, a member of the Asiatic Society, for a complete ex- posure of the fallacy of this objection. Indeed, the adversary's weapons are effectually turned upon himself, and one more proof is added of the harmony between Scripture and Science when rightly interpreted. By using the accurate calculations of modern astronomy it is shown, that the phenomenon of the conjunction above alluded to is a mere fable, devoid of aU truth, as it could not have taken place at the date assigned, nor at any other epoch near it. It could not therefore have been, as pretended, an observed fact ; but must have been determined by the Hindoo astronomers by calculating force, sufficient at once to account Races, p. 214. for the resemblances and the * By M. Bailly : Histoire de differences." — Vnity of the Hvman I'Astronomie mcieme. REGARDING THE AGE OF THE HUMAN RACE. 63 backwards, and upon imperfect data. But more than this, Mr. Bentley has examined the table itself, with a view to determine the date of its construction from internal evidence. He lays down the following just principle to guide him. At the date of the table's construction, the positions and rates of motion of the heavenly bodies were determined by actual observa- tions : and their positions at previous and subsequent dates inferred by calculation. He contends, that the places determined by observation must in general be more accurate than those assigned by calculation with imperfect methods, and that the wider the interval from the date of observation the more erroneous the table would be. He considered therefore,, that if he could find an epoch for which the Hindoo table, as compared with the exact calculations of modem astro- nomy, assigns places to all the heavenly bodies differ- ing from the truth by quantities much smaller than at any other epoch before or after, that is the daite when the table was constructed and the observations made. Pursuing this process he demonstrates, that beyond a doubt the date falls in the \'i,th century of our era. By a similar investigation he shows, that the earliest of all the observations recorded in any of the sacred books of the Hindoos — the division of the zodiac into " lunar mansions " — was in the 15th century before Christ. 4. A mistake of Geologists regarding the species of the Tertiary Period, which immediately preceded the 04 REPUTATION OF FALSE CONCLUSIONS present or Human, has been recently rectified by the The Six Days' researches of the late M. d'Orbigny, in a confined "o* ^^y *° supply onc more striking proof of Paradise. ^^iQ real harmony between Scripture and Science when rightly interpreted. It is an established principle with physiologists, that individuals propagate in the same species ; and never out of one into another. Sameness of species, therefore, is necessary to physical continuity : and physical continuity on the other hand has generally been inferred, where sameness of species has been found at two different epochs. It was for a consider- able time maintained by Sir Charles Lyell and other equally eminent Geologists, that there are multitudes of pre-Adamite fossils in the upper (or Tertiary) strata, which are precisely the same as species now in ex- istence.* Shells, found fossil in the rocks, were pronounced by the scientific conchologists in many instances precisely the same as species now living in the neighbouring seas. Here, then, we seemed to have a chain of living links between the present times and the most recent (the pleiocene) of the pre-Adamite Periods. It would follow, that creatures must have been in existence, on some parts of the earth, during the Six Days' work, which had lived before that time, and partook not of the creation of that period. Dr. * Indeed upon this hypottesis of recent (species) ; the Mdocene, the designations of the several or minority of recent (species) ; divisions of the Tertiary Period and the Pleiocene, or majority were framed— the Eocene, or dawn of recent (species). REGARDING THE TERTIARY AND RECENT STRATA. 65 Pye Smith attempted to solve this difficulty, which seemed utterly opposed to the letter of Scripture. His solution was simply, that the word translated earth, in the Old Testament, is as often rendered land; and that, therefore, it might be so rendered in the account of the creation of plants and animals during the Six Days. The Mosaic account would then refei^ only to a local creation of certain races of animals and plants at the epoch when man was formed, and in the country which surrounded Paradise, and not to a creation taking place over the whole earth. This solu-i tion satisfied many, under the circumstances. But this much-vaunted identity of species is now found not to exist. Years of investigation and a large multiplication of facts have shown, that this conclusion was premature. M. d'Orbigny has proved, that between the termination of the Tertiary Period and the com- mencement of the Human or Recent Period there is a complete break. Although five in every seven genera are the same in the Recent as in the previous Period, there is not a single species common to the two Periods. The difficulty therefore vanishes. No resort to the forced expedient of Dr. Pye Smith is called for. The triumph is complete. What was at one time a formid- able objection, and one never fully met, is become one of the most striking confirmations we could possibly have, that Scripture and Science are never at variance when interpreted aright. The theory of Sir Charles Lyell was for a long time regarded as one of the discoveries 66 SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE of modern Science ; and the fact which it was supposed to have established was, perhaps, more difficult to re- concile with Scripture than almost anything previously advanced. We must not, however, ungenerously glory over it as an exploded fancy. Science in her onward progress has often had these temporary reverses. It has often happened too, that facts discovered and em- bodied in erroneous theory, and even errors made, have had their importance in leading to truth at last. But this lesson we certainly should learn — Never to allow a theory, however plausible, to stand forth as an argument against the infallibility of the Word of God. With these various examples before us, I think we may boldly say, that to assert that Scripture and Science are opposed to each other is tjnphilosophical. With such experience as the past has heaped up for our instruction and warning, is it not in the highest degree contrary to the spirit of true philosophy to sound the alarm at every apparent contradiction be- tween the Word and Works of God ? Have not the scientific, in the steady and sure advance of their admired pursuit, been forced times without number to abandon theories which once appeared plausible and comprehensive, and to yield to the stern requirements of fact a,nd truth ? Have anomalies and contrarieties staggered them, and not rather quickened their search for clearer light and a nearer acquaintance with hidden NOT OPPOSED TO EACH OTHER. 67 connexions ? And why should not the same waiting and trusting spirit guide us, when the Holy Scriptures are involved ; coming too, as they do, with such high sanctions, and carrying the trophies of victory from so many previous conflicts ? With the history of past conflicts and past triumphs before us, whatever startling difficulties may yet arise, we shall do well to pause and wait for further light ere we risk our credit in venturing to assert, or even to suspect, that they are enemies, whom we hq,ve found to be friends under so many trying circumstances. Let our inductions be sober and well-weighed, and our reverence for the Sacred Volume, as God has given it to us, unshaken ; and no discoveries can move our confidence that Scripture, as the Inspired Word of God, and Science, as the means of setting forth the glory of His Works, will always be found to speak the same thing in matters which they touch upon in common. F 2 CHAPTER II. THE HISTORICAL CHARACTER, PLENARY INSPIRATION, AND SURPASSING IMPORTANCE, OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. In the previous Chapter the argument has been rather of the negative description. The high improbability of Scripture being at variance with Science has been established ; and that, not so much from a considera- tion of the character of Scripture itself, as from the experience of the past ; which shows so many instances of imaginary discrepancies becoming in the end wit- nesses on the other side, and illustrating with such force the harmony between the Word and Works of God, that any man who ventures to set aside this experience justly forfeits the title of Philosopher. In the present Chapter I propose to make some remarks on the character and contents of the earlier portion of the Sacred Volume, selecting for this purpose the First Eleven Chapters of Genesis, as it is here that Scripture and Science have been supposed more particularly to come into collision. I hope to establish the Historical Character and Plenary Inspi- ration of these Chapters on the authority of our Lord and His Apostles, and to point out in various eminent particulars their surpassing importance. An THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OP GENESIS. 69 argament of a positive nature, and confirmatory of that of tlie former chapter, will thus flow from the character of Scripture itself, to show how impossible it is that such a record can in any way contravene the teachings of the phenomena and laws of the mate- rial world, which proceeds from the same Almighty Author. ^ 1. — The Historical Character and Plenary Inspira- tion of the First Eleven Chapters of Genesis. By the Inspiration of Holy Scripture I understand that the Scriptures were written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who communicated to p^g^jy^^ ^^ the writers facts before unknown, directed^''^P'^^*^°°- them in the selection of other facts already known, and preserved them from error of every kind in the records they made. That the portion of Scripture now under consideration is a genuine historical docu- ment and comes under this definition of Inspiration, I proceed to show by an appeal to the use made of it by our Lord and His Apostles, to the matters which it contains, and to the early place it occupies in the Sacred Volume. The following series of verses chosen from the First Eleven Chapters of Genesis, with corresponding texts from the New Testament placed after them, shows how repeatedly this portion of Scripture is either quoted or referred to by our Lord and His Apostles. 70 HISTORICAL CHARACTER Gen. I. 1. In the be- ginning God created the heaven and the earth. Heh. i. 10 (quoting Ps. cii.) —Thou, Lord, in the be- ginnibg hast laid the foun' dation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. Heh.sS.. 3. — Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word pf God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 3. And God said. Let there be light : and there was light. 2 Gov. iv. 6. — God, who com- luanded the light to shine out of darkness. the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Heb. vi. 7. — The earth which . . . bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth bless- ing from God. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the hea- ven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear : and it was so. 2 Pet. iii. 5. — By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth stand- ing out of the water and in the water. 26. And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Heh. ii. 7, 8 (quoting Ps. viii. 6). — Thou madest him a littlelowerthan theangels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands : thou hast put all things in sub- jection under his feet. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, 27. So God created man in his oion image, in the image of God created he him : male and female created he them. 1 Gov. xi. 7. — For a man in- OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 71 deed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God. James iii. 9. — .... men, which are made after the similitude of God. Matt. xix. 4. — Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and fe- male % IT. 1. Thus the hea- vens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. Acts iv. 24. — Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is. Acts xiv. 15. — .... the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein. Acts xvii. 24. — God that made the world and all things therein. Eph. iii. 9. — ... God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. Col. i. 16. — For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, ■wrhether they be thrones, or dominions, or princi- palities, or powers : all things were created by him and for him. Heh. i. 2. — ... by whom also he made the worlds. Heb. iii. 4. — He that built all things is God. Rev. iv. 11. — . . , for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Rev. X. 6. — And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created hea- ven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein. Rev. xiv. 7. — Worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. 3. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Heh. iv, 4. — For he spake in a certain place of the se- venth day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanc- tified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God cre- ated and made. 72 HISTORICAL CHARACTER ii. 27; — The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. 7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul. LuTce iii. 38. — Adam, ■which ■was the son of Q-od. 1 Got. XV. 47.— The first man is of the earth, earthy. 1 Oor. XV. 45. — And so it is ■written, The first man Adam was made a living soul. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food ; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Rev. ii. 7. — To him that overoometh will T give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. 18. And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone ; I will make him an help meet for him. 1 Cor. xi. 9. — Neither was the man created for the woman ; but the woman for the man. 1 Tim. ii. 13.— For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 23. And Adam said. This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 1 Cor. xi. 8. — For the man is not of the woman ; but the woman of the man. 34. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and they shall be one flesh. Malt. xix. 4, 5. — And he answered and said unto them. Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said. For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife : and they twain shall be one flesh. — jS'ee also Mark. x. 6—8. Rom. vii. 2. — The woman or THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 73 whicli hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. 1 Oor. vi. 16. — . . . . for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. Eph. V. 30, 31. — For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. III. 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die : 5. For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. John viii. 44. — Ye are of your father the devil . . . He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the .truth, because there is no truth in him. 2 Gor. xi. 3. — But I fear, lest by any means, as the ser- pent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 1 John iii. 8. — He that com- mitteth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. Rev. xii. 9. — And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. — See also xx. 2. 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. l^Tim. ii. 14. — And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Bom. xvi. 20. — And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. 16. Unto the woman he said, 1 will greatly multi- ply thy sorrow and thy 74 HISTORICAL CHARACTER conception ; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall he to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 1 Gor. xi. 3. — .... the head of the woman is the man. 1 Gor. xiv. 34. — .... they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 17. And unto Adam he said. Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; 18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field : 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Rom. V. 12. — .... by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Rom. Ti. 23. — The wages of sin is death. Rom. viii. 20, 22.— ... the creature was made subject to vanity, ... the whole creation groaneth. 1 Gor. XV. 21, 22.— By man came death .... in Adam all die. Heh. ix. 27. — It is appointed unto men once to die. 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve ; be- cause she was the mother of all living. Acts xvii. 26. — And hath made of one blood all nations of men. IV. 4. And Abel, he also brought of the first- lings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his ofiiering. . 5. But unto Cain and to his oSering he had not respect. Heh. xi. 4.— By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Gain, by which he ob- tained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 75 8. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. Matt, xxiii. 35. — ... all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel .... See also Luke xi. 51. 1 John iii. 12. — Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. Jude 11. — They have gone in the way of Cain. 1 0. And he said. What hast thou done ? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Heb. xii. 24.— ... the blood of sprinkling, that speak- eth better things than that of Abel. v. 3. And Adam . . . begat a son . . .and called his name Seth. 6. And Seth . . . begat Enos. 9. And Enos . . . begat Cai- nan, &c 32. And Noah begat Shem. Luke iii. 36—38.— . . . which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, .... which was the eon of Adam. Jude 14. — Enoch ... the seventh from Adam. 24. And Enoch walked with God : and he was not ; for God took him. Heh. xi, 5. — By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death ; and was not found, because Q-od had translated him. VI. 3. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh : yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 14. Make thee an ark of gopher wood .... 17. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh. . . . 18. But . .. thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 22. Thus did Noah. Heb. xi. 7.— By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. 76 HISTORICAL CHARACTER 1 Pet. iii. 20.— ... the long- suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing. VII. 7. And Noah went in . . . into the ark . . . 17. And the waters in- creased, and bare up the ark . . . 31. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth . . . 23. , . . and Noah only remained cdive, and they that were with him in the ark. Luke xvii. 27. — Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. — See also Matt. xxiv. 38. 2 Pet. iii. 20.— ... the ark , . . wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. 2 Pet. ii. 5. — And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. 2 Pet. iii. 6.— Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. IX. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you ; even as the green herb have I given you all things. I Tim. iv. 3. — . . . meats, which God hath created to be received with thanks- giving of them which be- lieve and know the truth. 4. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. Acts XV. 29. — That ye ab- stain . . . from blood. 11.... neither shall aU flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood ; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. See also VIII. 22. 2 Pet. iii. 7. — But the hea- vens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment. X. 32. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their genera- tions, in their nations : and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. Acts xvii. 26. — And hath made of one blood all na- OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 77 tions of men for to dwell Thara . . . which was the on all the face of the earth, son of Sam. and hath determined the times before appointedj.and a i m i the bounds of their habi- "jl- And lerah took tation. Abram his son . . . and . they went forth . . . from XL 10. Sheni ... be- Ur of the Chaldees . . . gat Arphaxad. . .12. and they came unto Haran, And Arphaxad begat Sa- ^^^ ^welt there, lah, &C. . . . 26. And ^cis vii. 2.— Abraham, when Terah . . . begat Abram. ^%^^\ ''^ Mesopotamia, » before he dwelt m Ohar- Luke iii. 34 — 36. — Abra- ran. ham, which was the son of 1. Here are sixty-six passages of the New Testa- ment in which these Eleven Chapters of Genesis are either directly quoted, or are made a ground of argu- ment. Of these, five are by our Lord Himself, two of them being direct quotations ; thirty-eight by St. Paul, three being direct quotations ; six by St. Peter ; eight in St. John's writings ; one by St. James ; two by St. Jude ; two by the assembled Apostles ; three, all of them direct quotations, by St. Luke ; and one by St. Stephen. The inference which I would draw from this cir- cumstance is, that our Lord and His Apo- our Lord sties regarded these Eleven Chapters as his- i^osties torical documents worthy of credit, and th,at '*^e*^ they made use of them to estabhsh truths ^^gtorioaT — a thing they never would have done, documents had they not known them to be authoritative. The texts quoted or referred to, lie, moreover, scat- 7S PLENARY INSPIRATION tered through the Chapters in such a way, that no claim of authority can be set up for one part which cannot be equally demanded for every other. The creation of matter, the formation of the worlds and all things in them, the command that light should shine, the separation of the waters and the appear- ance of dry land ; the creation of man out of the dust ; dominion given him over the irrational world ; his being made in the image of God, and having a living soul; God resting the seventh day from all His works, and the institution of the Sabbath ; Adam being first made and then Eve, the woman from and for the man, and their being made male and female ; the law of marriage, and the man cleaving unto his wife so that two should be one flesh ; the Pall, and the entrance of sin and death into the world, its origin in Satan's guile tempting and deceiving Eve in the form of a serpent with lying words, Adam not deceived but tempted through Eve, the curse upon the serpent that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head ; the origin of all nations from one blood ; the existence of the tree of life in Paradise ; the history of Cain and Abel ; the genealogy, from Adam to Noah, and also from Noah to Abraham; the exalted character of Enoch; circumstances connected with the Deluge ; and the subsequent division of the earth among the descend- ants of Noah ; — all these topics are severally drawn from the Chapters " under consideration, by our Lord OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 79 and His Apostles, in a manner which precludes every hypothesis, but that they regarded the opening portion of the Sacred Volume to be of Historic Credi- bility and Plenary Authority. The notion that these Chapters are myths or merely parabolic, as some have hastily conjectured, or that the account of the Creation and Fall was acted over in a vision to Moses, as others have suggested, is only a device for getting rid of their Historical Character. But the fact, that they are quoted and used as circumstantial narratives by infallible authority, can never be thus set aside. 2. The Historical Credibility of these chapters having been thus estabhshed, the proof of their Inspiration immediately follows from the nature of Their '' _ . . Inspiration their contents. Nothine short of a Divine proved by Communication could have furnished the contents. information which they contain regarding the origin of matter, and the formation of the worlds ; the origin of man, his original purity and uprightness, his soul made in the image of God ; the history of the entrance of sin and death into the world ; and the two paradisia- cal institutions of the Sabbath and Marriage. While, then, the seal set to the document by our Lord and His Apostles stamps these communications as unerring Verities, the nature of the truths themselves leaves no alternative but to conclude, that they were written under the Inspiration of God. 3. These same transcendental truths appear in other parts of Scripture; and it is possible that, in 80 PLENARY INSPIRATION treating of them there, an objector to Inspiration might These ^^^J *^® inference which I have drawn. Chapters g^^ jjgj.g there is no room for such denial ; are not ' quotations. }jgj.g ^jjgy appear for the first time. And consequently, though it might be alleged regarding other parts of Scripture containing them, that there the statements were borrowed, and that therefore those portions could not carry with them their own evidence of Inspiration, any more than ordinary human compo- sitions quoting the same — here there can be no doubt. Here is the original source and fountain, from which all subsequent information regarding those subjects is drawn. These are the very documents, to which the prophets for 4,000 years, and our Lord Himself and His Apostles at the end of that long period, pointed, as a true source and fountain of information. It is difficult to suggest what stronger evidence could have been given than this, short of a voice from heaven which every ear could hear in every age. But even then, no doubt, the hesitations of unbelief would darken the testimony ; and it would still in a way be true, that if they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they he persuaded though one rose from the dead. A celebrated infidel once declared, that if Christianity were true, it would have been recorded in unmistakeable characters upon the heavens, that none might have room to doubt in so important a matter. But he was met by the query, whether this was the case in natural religion : whether it is not by patient OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 81 inquiry and diligent examination of evidence, which the works of God and our consciences supply, that the first principles of natural religion are discovered and believed in. So of Christianity; so of Inspiration. We must weigh the evidence ; for it is upon evidence aloue that we can determine.* * In the First Edition I gave a sketch of the general argument for the Inspiration of the whole Old Testament taken as one volume. I now remove those portions of the text to a note, and add some remarks on the Inspiration of the New Testament also. OUTLINE OF THE ARGUMENT FOR THE mSPIEATION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. The Old Testament consists of those writings which were known in the time of our Lord as ai ypa(t>ai, or The Scriptures, and were admitted on all hands, by friends and enemies, to be of infallible authority, from which there was no appeal. It is of these that St. Paul de- clares (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17), All Scripture is given by inspira- tion OF God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And regarding the sacred penmen, St. Peter thus speaks (2 Pet. 1. 21) : Eoly men of God spake AS THET WERE MOVED BY THE Holy Ghost. Some have attempted to de- prive us of the testimony of the first of these texts to the doctrine that the whole of Scripture is inspired, by suggesting that it might be differently tran.slated in connexion with the context, and be made to say, not that every part of Scripture is inspired and profitable, but that all tJiose parts which are inspired are " pro- fitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," — a mere truism, compared with the lesson which our translation and, I feel per- suaded, the original gives. They cannot deny that our own trans- lation is a perfectly legitimate one ; but they consider that theirs also is admissible. Apart, however, from philological and critical reasons, does this suit the context well ? St. Paul is com- mending the " Holy Scriptures " to Timothy, meaning the Old Testament in which he had been taught by his Jewish mother and grandmother ; and he sums up his commendation with the text and what follows. If he meant to imply that only parts of these Holy Scriptures, which were re- G 82 FREEDOM FROM ERROR It follows as a natural corollary from what has gone before, that in these Chapters there is no admixture ceived by the Jews and referred to by our Lord as a whole, were inspired, and that those were profitable, was it not a great omission that he gave Timothy no canon by which he should know which were inspired, and which were not 1 But no such canon appears, nor is one alluded to. In fact this limiting hypo- thesis has no good argument to stand upon, and must be aban- doned. The truth, however, of the Inspiration of Holy Scripture as a whole does not rest solely on this text. If the text did not exist, the same result is to be gathered from other passages. In entire accordance with these two universal statements by St. Paul and St. Peter are the terms in which the Scriptures are inci- dentally referred to throughout the New Testament. See, for example. Matt. i. 22 ; ii. 15. Mark xii. 36. Lukei. 70. Acts 1 16 ; iii. 18 ; iv. 26 ; xxviii. 25. Horn, i. 2. Heb. i. 1 ; iii. 7. Take also the following, in which the Scriptures are spoken of in a way which belongs only to an Inspired Volume : — Mark vii. 13. John x. 35. Acts vii. 38. Rom. iii. 2. Heb. v. 12 IPet. iv.ll. Eph. vi. 17. The same Scriptures are con- tinually referred to in the follow- ing terms: — That the scripture might be fulfilled. — Have ye not read this scripture ? — As the scrip- ture saith. — Vhat saith the scrip- ture t — and similar forms of ap- peal occur in endless variety, all pointing to the sacred records as an infallible source of light and knowledge. In strict keeping with this view are the declarations of the inspired penmen themselves : — as the following, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1,2. Isaiah i. 10, Jer. i. 1, 2, and many such passages. " Thus saith the Lord ;" « The mouth of the Lord hath spoken ;" and many similar formulae per- petually occur, all pointing to the same result — ^that the writers were conscious that they were speaking by the Spirit, and under His guidance. But under the designation of " Scripture " come — not only the Old Testament, but also those writings which have been handed down to us as the undoubted re- cords of the Evangelists and Apostles, who were endowed by the Holy Ghost with all truth as our Lord specially told them they should be, to teach and preach the Gospel, and to plant the Christian Church (see Matt. X. 19, 20 ; Luke xii. 11, 12 ; Mark xiii. 3 ; John xiv. 16, 17, 25, and 26 ; xvi. 12 — 15). Can we for one moment suppose that they were thus inspired in their teaching, but not so in their writing ? That the term " Scripture " is to be extended to the New Tes- OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OP GENESIS. 83 of Error of any kind, no inaccuracies arising from human ignorance and infirmity. For all These is from God ; and therefore bears His therefore' When the Maker of the world "Xr™. stamp. tament writings, is evident also from some incidental notices which, lie in these writings, as seeds of evidence of the greatest value, now that the spirit of scep- ticism would call their Inspiration in question. St. Peter speaks thus of St. Paul's writings. In alluding to some of the profound truths he delivered he says, In, which there are some things hard lo be understood, which they that are unlearned [Le. unlearned in the truth] wrest, as they do also the OTHER Scriptures. Hence St. Paul's writings came under the designation of " Scripture,' ' in the times of the Apostles, as much as the Old Testament, here called the OTHER Scriptures. Again, St. Paul writes to Timothy, For the Scrip- ture saith. Thou shall not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward. (1 Tim. v. 18.) The first of these quotations is from Deu- teronomy. But the second is found only in St. Luke. Hence St. Paul calls this Gospel, which was then in circulation, the " Scripture " or part of the Scrip- tures. Thus the New Testament as well as the Old, comes under the designation of " Scripture," and the whole volume must there- fore, in every part of it, partici- pate in this characteristic, an- nounced by St. Paul — At.t. Scrip- ture is given by inspiration of Ood. There are in this volume many things which reason could never have discovered ; though there are other things, such as the facts of history, which needed no revelation. But if all Scrip- ture is given by inspiration of God, we conclude that, not only were those transcendental truths for which the Bible is unique, re- vealed ; but also in all matters of an ordinary kind, the writers were directed by that same Spirit what to select, to form a part of the sacred deposit ; and in their records were preserved from all error. Otherwise, I repeat, what can this mean 1 AuEi Scripture is given by inspira- tion of Qod. Inspiration is a more general term than Revelation. Revela- tion applies solely to those things which could not be discovered by reason. Inspirationincludesthis, and more. It implies a divine guidance in other things, when necessary. AhoUab and Bezaleel, who were raised up by God to construct the tabernacle in the wilderness, and all the curious carving for its decoration, were said to be filled with the Spirit of Oodior this work (Ex. xxxv. 31), g2 84 PEEF.DOM FROM ERROR deigns to become an Author, it is to be expected that His Word would be as perfect as His Works. The inspiration, of ihe Almighty, we are told, ffiveth mderstanding. (Job xxxii. 8.) We pray for ourselves that God would " cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the in- spiration of His Holy Spirit." We speak oi genius sometimes as a kind of inspiration. We talk of the inspiration of the poet or of the musical composer. And some have attempted to ac- count for the inspiration which they cannot but acknowledge in some parts of the Scriptures, by referring it to a high-wrought de- scription of genius. Genius is no doubt the gift of God ; and is far more rarely bestowed than reason, another of His gifts. But it can never account for the presence of those lofty truths and those heaven-born revelations, which He only who is the Infi- nite, to whom the past, present, and future are all alike, could have communicated ; nor can it account for those miraculous, as well as prophetic powers, with which many of the holy men of God were endowed, as a testi- mony to the truth of what they said and wrote. The Inspiration, then, for which I am contending, cannot but be acknowledged in those parts of Scripture which have been ob- viously given by revelation. But Scripture, as a whole, is often ap- pealed to as of final authority. How, then, can we admit that there is any admixture of human infirmity in any part 1 If there be error in any part, and this is not distinctly revealed to us, who is to draw the line, and say, " This is true, and that doubtful " ? On the term " Verbal Inspiration." The precise mode in which this power operated on the in- spired writers is not told us ; and, probably, were it revealed to us, it would be beyond our comprehension. Fanciful and overstrained notions have some- times been charged upon the advocates of Inspiration, in con- sequence of their use of the term "verbal," as applied to this property of Scripture — a term which controversy has al- most forced upon us in discus- sions on the subject. The origin of the phrase appears to be this : — Some have suggested that whi le the writers may have had ideas divinely infused into their minds, they were left altogether to their own unaided faculties and gifts to clothe them in appropriate language ; and that, therefore, though the sublimest truths and revelations are to be expected in Holy Writ, yet human error and infirmity cannot be altogether absent. But, as if to meet such statements by anticipation, St. Paul expressly asserts that all OP THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 85 He is the God of Truth, and is incapable of deceiving His creatures; it is impossible, therefore, that He scripture (he speaks not here of the writers, but Scripture*— that which is WRITTEN) is given by inspiration of God; and many of the passages already quoted speak in the same strain. To express the opposite of the above-men- tioned erroneous view, the term " Verbal Inspiration " has been brought into use ; and, if retained, its origin should always be re- membered. I understand it to imply simply that the language is inspired, as well as the truths, without at all entering into the question of the mode of this Inspiration. I conceive that, at least, the writers were so under the guidance and control of the Holy Spirit, as to preserve them from using language which would convey error. Differences of style no objection. It has been objected, that the existence of wide differences of style, so conspicuous in the writers of Scripture, militates strongly against the notion of the controlling influence implied in Inspiration. This controlling power, it is said, would produce a uniformity of style which is not found in Scripture. Those, however, who entertain such thoughts seem not to be aware, that they are degrading the Di- vine Spirit to the level of one who possesses only the limited powers of a finite mortal. We beg in reply to ask such persons, What would you expect to be the style of the Holy Ghost ? Are not all styles His ? As He em- ploys the free-will of men, in all its tortuous varieties, to work put His purposes in the moral government of the world, cannot He overrule their natural powers and diversities of disposition and gifts, all in their freest action, for the holier and higher purpose of communicating His will ? In this wondrous diversity we possess one of the most striking illus- trations of the truth of that In- spiration for which we contend. The keys and stops may be as various as the minds of men ; but when tuned by the Great Musician, and breathed upon by the Spirit from on high, each gives utterance to its own me- lodious strain, while all combine their richness to produce one harmonious whole. Accordingly, all the peculiarities of genius, character, thought, and feeling, belonging to the writers as hu- man beings, and resulting from the several social positions they occupied, were employed by the Holy Spirit for communicating the Divine will in these records, written at various epochs through a long period of at least fifteen centuries from the days of Moses to the time of Christ, and yet 86 FREEDOM FROM ERROR should have introduced anything but Truth into His Revelation. At the same time we must not shut our eyes to the breathing the same spirit, and manifesting a marvellous consis- tency under all their variety; Copyists not inspired. ■which a Divine original can alone account for. It need scarcely be observed, that it is the Original Scriptures for which this claim of Inspira- tion is set up. We do not con- tend that Copyists were inspired, nor that they were necessarily free from those inaccuracies, in the process of transmitting the ancient manuscripts, to which the most careful are liable. We rejoice in the labours of the learned critic and philologist, who will, by comparison of MSS. and by researches into the meaning and use of words, improve the text, and bring it back as near to the original as possible. The result of their unwearied toil is a triumphant testimony to the almost perfect integrity of the text as we have it. Time, talent, and learning have been lavishly spent upon this laborious inves- tigation ; and the learned ratio- nalist Eichhom has admitted, that the different readings of the Hebrew MSS. collated by the in- defatigable Kennicott (near 600 in number) offer no sufficient in- terest to compensate for the labour they cost. Dr. Moses Stewart observes : " In the Hebrew MSS. that have been examined, some 800,000 various readings actually occur as to the Hebrew consonants. How many as to the vowel points and accents, no man knows. But at the same time it is equally true, that all these taken to- gether do not change or mate- rially affect any important point of doctrine, precept, or even his- tory. A great proportion, indeed the mass, of variations in Hebrew MSS., when minutely scanned, amount to nothing more than the difference in spelling a mul- titude of English words \e.g. Sp or 'Jip as honour, or honor] . . . Indeed, one may travel through the immense desert (so I can hardly help naming it) of Ken- nicott and De Eossi, and (if I may venture to speak in homely phrase) not find game enough to be worth the hunting. So completely is this chase given up by recent critics on the Hebrew Scriptures, that a re- ference to either of these famous collators of MSS. who once cre- ated a great sensation among phi- lologers, is rarely to be found." — Quoted in, Leds Inspiration (the most able, conclusive, and in- structive work in the English language on the general subject of the Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures), p. 410. OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 87 scope and purpose of the communications made to us in Holy Scripture, lest we should be looking for in- formation there which it was never intended we should find ; for it has been well said,* that " the Scriptures are a record of the moral destinies of man, and there- fore altogether unconnected with any exposition of the phenomena of the natural world, and of the laws by which material things are held together." Some have conceived, that in the darker ages, ere the mind of man had unfolded itself to the varied wonders of the world around and within him which modern Science has disclosed, a necessity existed for veiling truth in terms, not only obscure, but even of doubtful verity, to meet the ignorance and prejudices of the times. But the necessity hinted at is purely one of their own invention. The Omniscient, by avoiding to treat of matters which Would have needlessly puz- zled mankind, avoided placing Himself under any such necessity, and speaks of them only as they present themselves to the sight and sense of all generations. Translators not inspired. Nor do we claim Inspiration arguments we have adduced — for the Translators. All sound which may be found drawn out researches, therefore, into the at greater length, and with fuller structure of language and all illustrations, in works written discoveries in natural science, expressly on the subject — while which help to throw light on the they establish the fact for the meaning of the original and to cor- Sacred Volume in general, at the rect and improve our versions, are same time involve the Inspiration welcomed by the serious student. of every portion of it. It is for the Inspiration of the * Sedgwick's Discourse on the Original Scriptures, and for that Studies of the University of alone, that we contend ; and the Cambridge. 88 FREEDOM FROM ERROR Again, He has afforded us but scanty information on the early history of our own species. But why should we assume that little to be fable, instead of simple matter of fact ? That the Omniscient should afford us glimpses of Futurity through the disguise of symbolic imagery and figurative language, is well ; for Prophecies must be more or less obscure, else they might be made a pretext for the most atrocious crimes. But the case is different with positive statements, assuming to be narratives of the Past : if any statement at all were to be made respecting the Past, there is no conceivable reason why it should not be the simple truth. The only effect of clothing facts in a fabulous disguise would be, to mystify what might just as well have been made perfectly intelligible. What we contend for is, that the First Eleven Chapters of Genesis, as being inspired by God, must be free from all Error. The alleged contradictions of Science have been triumphantly disposed of. Of rational explanation we have enough and to spare. Natural things are spoken of according to their appearances. We may have to modify our interpretations, to cast aside long-cherished prepossessions with which in our ignorance we and our forefathers had enveloped and perverted the language of Scripture. But in the midst of all this (as I have attempted to show in the previous Chapter by many Examples), Holy Scripture still stands forth as the infallible Word of God, without blemish and without defect. OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 89 § 2. — On the surpassing importance of the First Eleven Chapters of Genesis. It is possible that some who feel unable to gainsay the preceding argument for the Historical Character and Plenary Inspiration of this portion of the Word of God, and who are willing to admit that the dis- crepancies alleged against it are satisfactorily ex- plained, may, nevertheless, have a lurking feeling that after all these Earlier Chapters are of comparatively small importance, and that Christianity would still stand intact were they even blotted out; and that, consequently, there is but little use in attending to them, or in taking such pains to vindicate them from the charge of being at variance in some of their statements with the facts of Science. That this is a very mistaken view, I propose to show in this section. I have in a previous page pointed out, in how many particulars our Lord and His Apostles have referred to these Chapters, and drawn from them facts, arguments, and illustrations of the greatest importance. There are other matters to which I will now draw attention. At the Twelfth Chapter of Genesis commences the history of Abraham and his descendants, which runs through the whole volume of the Old Testament to the end, relating the wonderful things God did in preparation for the coming of the Saviour of the 90 THE SURPASSING IMPORTANCE world. The First Eleven Chapters may be regarded, therefore, as the in trod action to the rest of Scripture, the brief history of the world before the days of Abra- ham, and are a most precious relic of antiquity and treasure of divine revelation. 1. In the first place, as an historical document this portion of Scripture stands unrivalled, as no other _ history in any nation under heaven can Chapters come near it in point of antiquity. The unrivalled duratiou of the human race may be di- antiquity. _ "^ _ vided into three nearly equal portions of 2,000 years each : — from Adam's creation to the time of Abraham is about 2,000 years ; from Abraham to the birth of Christ, 2,000 years ; from Christ to the present day, nearly the same. As we ascend the scale backwards from the present day, we possess the history of some branches of the human race through the last of these periods up to Christ, and of Greece and Rome through one quarter only of the second middle period ; but it is Scripture alone which supplies any authentic or intelligible account of the long vista of years up to the beginning of this middle period; while in reference to the whole of the first period of 2,000 years antiquity is profoundly silent, no vestige of history is to be found, except this sacred record to which I am now directing attention. We see, then, its great value in a mere historical point of view. 2. But these Chapters give us information concern- ing various most important matters: for example. OV THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 91 the ORIGIN OF THE WORLD. How many con- jectures and guesses on this subject do Theyteii we find among the ancient philosophers of origm*of Greece and Rome, and also in the East? ^^^^°^^^ And yet how important it is to have some certain information regarding the relation of the Creator to the Universe, that we may know our own position and our own duty. One class of Greek philosophers conjectured that matter is eternal ; that all the order and harmony we see in nature is the result of chance ; and that the gods take no concern in the affairs of the world. The ancient Persians, before the change in their tenets brought in by Zoroaster, conceived that there were Two Independent First Causes, the one Light, or the good god, who was the author of aU good, and the other Darkness, or the evil god, who was the author of all evil, and that from the action of these two, in continual struggle with each other, all things were made.* * " According to the Vendidad ated Bakhdi, pure and brilKant [the sacred book of the Parsees] in its colours, Ahriman created Hormazd [the good deity] was op- a multitude of ants, which de- posed by Ahriman [the evil deity] stroyed its pavilions ; when he in aU his works. When Hor- created anything good, Ahriman mazd created Eriniem vejo, si- was sure to create something mUar to behisht, or paradise, evil. The power thus ascribed Ahriman produced in the river to Ahriman, that of creation, is the great adder, or winter; when greater than can be possessed by he created Soghdo, abundant in any created being, and the doc- flocks and men, Ahriman created trine which teaches its exercise flies, which spread mortality substantially promulgates the among the flocks ; when he ere- monstrous dogma of two eternal 92 THE SURPASSING IMPOKTANCE The Hindoos look upon the world as an emanation from the Deity himself, and therefore as part of the Deity. When Brahm, the Supreme Being, designed, they say, to produce the world, he threw off his abstraction, and became Brahma, the Creator. From his mouth, arm, thigh, and foot, came the four castes, the priest, the warrior, the trader, and the labourer. As the fruit, they say, is in the seed, awaiting develop- ment and expansion, so all material forms exist in Brahma : a notion which degrades the Creator to the level of the creature. These are the opinions of men, feeling in their darkness after the truth, but lost in the dimness of unaided reason. But all these reasonings and guesses are set at rest by the revelation of God Himself in the opening of the Sacred Volume, and the empty specu- lations of philosophers may cease : — In the begin- ning God created the heaven and the earth. There was, therefore, a beginning, when nothing existed ; and God created out of nothing all things that exist. How sublime the idea ! He commanded and they principles, which, though not un- man may reverence, love, adore, known to the ancient Persians, and serve. The character as- is altogether unreasonable, as cribed to the works referred to, inconsistent with the predomi- moreover, is totally inconsistent nance of order, regularity, and with their essential nature :" &c. goodness in the system of the —The Doctrine of Jehovah, address- uni verse, and altogether impious, ed to the Parsees, by the Eev. Dr. as it leaves no being of infinite Wilson, Free Church of Scotland, perfection, whom the mind of 1839. OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 93 tjoere created (Ps, cxlviii. 5). By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them hy the breath of His mouth (Ps. xxxiii. 6). It is thus by faith in God's declaration that we learn these things. By faith, by the teaching of these Chapters of Genesis, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear (Heb. xi. 2), i.e. they were created, not out of previously existing matter, but out of nothing. This is an idea which no philosophy has ever conceived, and which Divine Revelation alone can teach us. 3. Take another question on which man's reason has puzzled itself in vain. How came evil into the WORLD ? What Greek, or Hindoo, or other human system, ever gave an intelligible account of this ? But what say these Chapters ? Here we have the of the ,. 1,1 p l.^ • £ i. ^ i. entrance of narrative and the cause oi this latal event, y,-^ into the How valuable, then, the Record in which all ^°^ ^' is explained ! God created Adam and Eve perfect : they were innocent and happy. But He made them not mere machines, to be His tools or instruments : while He created them with a holy bias on their minds, He gave them free wills. They were free to choose what was good, and to reject what was evil, or to do the opposite. As a test, there was one restraint placed upon them. They were not to eat of a parti- cular tree ; and God told them, that in the day they 94 JTHE SURPASSING IMPORTANCE ate of it, they should die : it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; by eating of it they would disobey God, and would to their cost then know the " good " of obedience and the " evil " of disobedience.* This one act of disobedience tainted their whole moral being. They fell, and evil entered the world. We can understand this. K we are tempted to do some wrong action, and we resist the tempta- tion and triumph over it, how we feel strengthened and encouraged ! But suppose we yield, and commit the sin — is there not a sting within, which afterwards goads us ? Does not conscious guilt torment us ? Does it not weaken our moral power? Conceive, then, the first sin, this sin of disobedience to an easy command of a good and gracious God. How, when once perpetrated, must it have stung the con- science of our first parents, and poisoned their moral nature ! How forcibly and truly is this all set forth in the simple narrative of these Earlier Chapters of Genesis ! How valuable, then, is this Record, in show- ing us, as no other can, how it came to pass that Evil entered into the world ! 4. There is another question. Although Evil is come into the world, and has infected the whole * " Arbor itaque ilia non erat qua homo per experimentum mala, sed appellata est soientisa poense disceret, quid interesset dignosoendi bonum et malum, inter obedientise bonum et in- quia si post prohibitionem ex obedieutisa malum." — Augustine ilia homo ederet, in ilia erat de Oenesi ad literam, lib. VIII. prsecepti futura transgressio, in cap. vi. § 12. OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 95 human race, yet what a wonderful creature is MAN ! In his moral nature, how marvellous is the. power of conscience, that inward monitor, accuser, and judge ! Then, in his intellect, how great his genius, how varied his gifts, how wonderful his powers of expres- q^ ^^^ sion ! Observe, the creations of his genius contrarieties " in man. in music, in poetry, in painting, in sculp- ture ; the triumphs of the reasoning faculty, by which, though tied to the earth, he can scale the heavens, and penetrate into the hidden laws which govern the uni- verse ; the marvellous gift of language, " that miracle of human nature, at once its chief distinction, and its highest glory," and seen so remarkably in those renowned orators of ancient and modern times, who have moved the wills and passions of thousands by the power of eloquence ; the instances of heroic self- devotedness which the history of the world furnishes ; the many noble and lofty sentiments which philosophers have in all ages given utterance to — and yet, with all this, the MORAL degradation which marks man in every age ; so that the mind shudders at the moral deformities which stain even the most polished times of antiquity, and at the opposition of principles which strive even in the Christian's breast, of whom it is justly said, that when he would do good evil is present with him. Man is indeed a mystery of inconsistencies, a riddle of greatness and littleness, of good and evil. What account of this strange confusion of things has 96 THE SURPASSING IMPOETANCE any philosopliic system ever given? None. Pliny, in his perplexity, pronounced man to be an enigma not to be solved. Pascal notices these opposite prin- ciples thus : " The greatness and misery of man being alike conspicuous, rehgion, in order to be true, must necessarily teach us that he has in himself some noble principles of greatness, and at the same time some profound source of misery." Turn, then, to Holy Scripture, and what does it tell us? Here we have the inspired history of facts which unlock the mystery, and show that man is not in the state in which he was made, that he is a RUIN — a monument of a once noble creature, bearing at once the marks of his origin, and of the vast change which has come over him. What do we read ? Pirst, that God created man in his own image, in the IMAGE OF God created He him: He created him in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after the divine resemblance ; not infinite, but pure, perfect, with high endowments, the glory of all his creatures. But, secondly, that man by disobedience fell from this image, and became a ruin. The history of man's Origin, combined with the history of his Pall, is essen- tial to explain the condition and character of man as we find him now ; and these are to be found only in this Sacred Record.* * " A fall of some sort or damental postulate of the moral other — the creation, as it were, history of man. Without this of the non-absolute— is the fun- hypothesis man is unintelligible OF THE FIUST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 97 5. But let us cast back our thoughts once more upon man as he came from his Maker's in stowing hands, "the image and glory of God," the J]^^^'',°/^f °p crown of God's works, for whom creation °*®'^ p°"*^- through former ages had been preparing, placed infinitely above the world by being thus made in the Divine likeness. No philosophy has ever so well explained the proper basis of physical Science, as the Scripture here does ; which is, that as God has made the world by His Word or Wisdom, so man, being made in the image — with it, every phenomenon is explicable. The mystery itself is too powerful for human in- sight. Such, in this matter, was the ultimate judgment of a man who in youth had en- tertained very opposite views — the poet Coleridge.'' — Hugh Miller's Testimony of the Mocks, p. 265. " It is astonishing that the mystery which is farthest re- moved from our knowledge (I mean the transmission of origi- nal sin) should be that, without which we can have no knowledge of ourselves. It is in this abyss that the clue to our condition takes its turns and windings, in- somuch that man is more incom- prehensible without this mystery, than this mystery is incompre- hensible to man." — Pascal, quoted in Dr. M'Gosh's Method of the Divine Government. "A paradise, a condition of primeval innocence, a state of probation, and a fall, are abso- lutely requisite before we can explain anything connected with man. Without these, philosophy would lead us only to a hopeless mystery ; we should know abso- lutely nothing, and never should be able to attain to knowledge ; for all the science that has ever been evolved does not advance man a single step in the expla- nation of his moral nature and moral condition. No man who has rejected these four parti- culars has ever been able to ad- vance an explanation possessing even the most remote claims to acceptance. They, and they only, solve the perplexing ques- tion of human existence — of man endowed with the concep- tion of the virtues, yet con- stantly practising the opposite evils." — Dove's Loffic of the Christian Faith, p. 352. 98 THE SURPASSING IMPORTANCE of God, is created with faculties which put it in his power to explore and to systematize those works. Here we have an answer at once to all sceptical doubts about the reality of sensation and of science. See, too, the vastness of man's moral capacities as thus created, and the love bestowed upon him at his creation, which is the basis of the whole doctrine of Redemption. This does away with the supposed incredibility of an Incarnation ; for the end was none other than that which had been the ultimate design of all previous dispensations — a restoration of the Image of God in human nature. 6. Next see in this simple narrative of Scripture, how with a master-touch the very essence of all suc- They detect ccssful temptation to sin is exposed to view, of succersM ^^^ *^^ source of all that disobedience Temptation, ^q Qq^ which SO mars the moral aspect of the world. What was the snare which Satan so successfully laid to entrap our first parents ? What is the bait which so easily draws us from our allegiance to God who made us, and who preserves and blesses us ? Is it not summed up in these words — Ye shall be as GODS ! W/ien the woman saw that the tree was .... to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat ; — although God's command was express. Ye shall not eat of it. Here was the assail- able point, the fancied glory of independence, the heart's revolt against restraint, an uncreature-like OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 99 rebellion of the will against dependence even upon God, whose service is perfect freedom. How much is this at the root of all our rebellion now 1 It was the deification of man's reason, the atheistic pride of vice and intellect combined, the blasphemous assumption of an independence of all that was holy, divine, and true, that distinguished the Infidels of the French Revolution of 1798, as well as Voltaire and his accomplices, who came to such a wretched end. It was the pride of independence which hurled the Devil and his angels down to hell. And how wonderfully does this record of Holy Scripture put it prominently forward as the master- stroke, with which the arch-deceiver plied his art with such awful success against our first parents — innocent, but not invulnerable ! 7. These Chapters contain some remarkable points in History. Here we find the first Institution of Marriage, and of the Sabbath. They give the only rational account of that great event, the Deluge, the refiex of which is seen in the innumerable T^ey contain traditions among nations the widest apart "^p^hJts^hi* and the most dissimilar in habits and ^istoi-y. character. They explain, by a simple history of the divine interposition in the Dispersion of mankind because of their pride and wickedness, the singular results at which philologists have of late arrived regarding the 6,000 languages and dialects at present H 2 100 THE SURPASSING IMPORTANCE spoken — that such is the internal relationship of their radical words and inflexions and construc- tions, that there is every reason for supposing that they must have proceeded from one primitive tongue ; and that the separation into branches must have arisen from some violent and sudden cause— a theory which is a remarkable comment upon the history of the Tower of Babel. This Sacred Record gives the only history of the apportioning of the earth to the several nations, as we now find them. After an enumeration, Tliese, says the inspired writer, are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations ; and hy these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. To which St. Paid, 1,500 years afterwards, thus alludes : God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the BOUNDS OF THEIR HABITATION. Here, too, we have a certain clue to the first Insti- tution of SACRIFICES — that remarkable method for attempting to appease the divine wrath, which we find still prevailing all the world over, wherever Christianity has not shed its light and superseded the type by the sacrifice, " once offered," of the Redeemer Himself. 8. Lastly, in these wonderful Chapters we have the germ, the rich and fruitful germ, of all Prophecy, in OF THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTEES OF GENESIS. 101 two of the most remarkable and comprehensive predictions which the whole Scripture They contain contains : the germ of all Prophecy. One, the promise of the Seed of the Woman, who should bruise the serpent's head while he should bruise his heel — a prophecy which has been so largely fulfilled in the miraculous birth of Christ of a pure virgin, who by His death upon the cross, His triumphant resurrection and ascension to the Father's throne, has overcome sin and death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers — a prophecy which is fraught with blessings to all nations, and which will be completed in its fulfilment when He comes the second time to judge the world, and to reign for ever and ever. King of kings and Lord of lords : — The other Prophecy — the curse upon Canaan, and the blessing upon Shem and Japhet, spoken in few words, but carrying with them, as years after years still roll on, their own evidence of divine Inspiration by the wonderful accomplishment they are perpetually receiving. Who can deny, then, that this portion of Holy Scripture is a treasury of unspeakable value, and worthy of its high origin? The simplicity of the narratives, combined with the surpassing importance of the truths conveyed in them, is a confirmation of their authority. Who, but one writing under the 102 THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. guidance of Inspiration could, not merely have avoided all the inanities of Cosmogonies, but have delivered at that early period, and in the most unas- suming way, accounts of the most momentous transactions, which are found to harmonize with the most recent investigations of Science, and which supply the most profound information on theological and moral subjects? CONCLUSION. What, then, are the results arrived at in the fore- going pages P They may be summed up under the following heads : — 1. That, through ignorance and hasty zeal, Holy Scripture has undergone many severe tests during the progress of Science, and has come through the trial in every case with triumph. The experience of the past has worked out this result, that through the whole course of philosophical discovery, Scripture and Science have never been found at variance, though they have often been charged with being so. 2. That Scripture speaks to us on physical matters according to the appearances of things, in a way intelligible in all ages of the world — and, in so speaking, only speaks as the Philosophers them- selves speak on such topics, even in times of the greatest scientific light. It studiously avoids teach- ing Science ; and therefore makes no sacrifice of scientific truth, as some have pretended, to human ignorance and prejudice. 104 CONCLUSION. 3. That this harmony between Scripture and Science appears, not only from the abundant illus- tration it receives from the history of past conflicts through which the Sacred Volume has passed intact, but pre-eminently from the character of Scripture itself as the Inspired Word of God, and therefore, infallible in every respect. 4. That the Earlier Chapters of the Sacred Volume in which the seeds of variance have been supposed to lie, are of inestimable value to us ; and the fact of their Inspiration must not be set aside on the pretence that Christianity would remain the same if they were blotted out ; for they form a most important portion of the Divine Revelation, and convey inspired truths of the highest moment. The Conclusion, then, which I would draw in these days of advancing knowledge is this. That no new DISCOVERIES, however STARTLING, NEED DISTURB OUR BELIEF IN THE PLENARY INSPIRATION OF ScRIPTURE, OR DAMP OUR ZEAL IN THE PURSUIT OF SciENCE. That difficulties should have existed, and should still occasionally appear, is not to be wondered at when we consider the things which are brought into com- parison. On the one hand, here is an Ancient Record handed down to us, first by the careful guardianship of the Jewish nation, and now in addition by that of the Christian Church, referring to events which occurred 6,000 years ago — intended for the instruction of e\eiry successive age, from the period when it was written SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 105 down to tlie end of time. The authority of this Record is attested by our Lord and His Apostles, inasmuch as in nearly seventy passages they quote or refer to it as authoritative. The great truths taught in it, are such as the acutest philosophers of Greece and Rome and the East failed to discover — such as the origin of the world ; the origin of man ; how Evil came into the world ; the promise of a Saviour ; — and with these revealed truths are mixed up statements regarding the aspect and condition of the earth and of the heavenly bodies around. The language of this Record was fixed thousands of years ago, and is brief and terse, and not designed to communicate to us scientific information, but only those great realities which Reason could never have found out. On the other hand, Science has been opening the book of Nature, and turning over its countless leaves with unwonted rapidity. Theories have been built up, imperfect in their parts, and too often with hasty generalizations. And a harsh and crude comparison is made with this venerable Document, which speaks not the language of a varying and growing Science, but is couched in terms to be intelligible in all ages. Is it to be wondered at, that as new and ill-digested physical facts rise upon our view with such rapidity, frequently combined by gratuitous hypotheses, contra- dictions between Scripture and Science should be perpetually appearing ? It is clear to what cause this is to be attributed — not to Scripture, but to a 106 CONCLUSION. restless aiid imperfect Science. The experience of the past teaches us this. While, however, the hasty and immature deductions of Science have sometimes appeared to contradict Scripture, those settled results in which the body of philosophers agree, confirm and illustrate the statements of the Inspired Volume. Let us, then, hold firm our grasp upon this truth, that the Scriptures are the infallible Word of God, true in every statement they contain ; but at the same time remember, that there is no ground whatever for ceasing to pursue Science, in all its branches, with an ardent and fearless mind. God's Word and Works never have contradicted each other, and never will do so. Some would decry the pursuit of Science as endangering Revelation ; they tremble for the result, as new discoveries are announced and Reason publishes its triumphs. But these are short-sighted and ill-placed apprehensions : nor would such a course remedy the evils feared. The progress of Science is inevitable. As well might we desire to hold back the wheels of time, or attempt to enchain the thoughts of men, as to arrest its course. The progress of Science is indeed the glory of man's intellectual endowments ; and to live in ignorance of the history and material laws of the Universe, of which he forms a part, is a libel on that commanding gift with which God has endowed him, rendering him pre-eminent above the rest of His creatures. The progress of Science is the setting forth of the greatness and wisdom of the CONCLUSION. 107 Creator in His works : and to desire to check it, or to fear its results, is to betray our narrow prejudices, and to refuse to recognise the hand of GOD in His own world. Let us, therefore, push our investigations to the utmost with untiring energy. Let us not shrink, moreover, from stating our difficulties in their broadest features, and laying open without hesitation all that appears contradic- tory. We have nothing to fear. The greatest per- plexities may at any time surround usj but both Reason and Experience have armed us with arguments, which assure us that all will be right. Whatever happens, let our persuasion always be avowed, that Scripture cannot err. Let us be content rather to remain puzzled, than to abandon, or even question, a truth which stands upon so immoveable a basis. It is the doubts and surmises of those who are looked to as authorities in these matters, which shake men's minds. It is the hazardous assertions* of some * Take, for example, such state- in Genesis. In the minds of all ments as the following: — "In a competent^ iwformed persons a,t the former Essay I have adverted to present day, after a long struggle the question of discrepancies be- for existence, the literal belief in tween Science and the language the Judaical cosmogony, it may of Scripture generally, and have now be said, has died a natural referred, more especially, to that death " [!] — And after some re- notable instance of it — the irre- marks on a theory of evolution concilable contradiction between or progressive development of the whole view opened to us by animal Hfe, he adds : — " Those Geology and the narrative of the who accept geological truths at Creation in the Hebrew Scrip- all, and admit their palpable con- tures, whether as briefly deli- tradiotion to the Old Testament, vered from Sinai, or as expanded without prejudice to their faith, 108 CONCLUSION. who occupy the seat of the philosopher — who ought to be models* of philosophical prudence, holding even the scales of truth amidst the headstrong and unin- formed — which create the confusion. Such a course is unphilosophical in the highest degree ; and not only so, it is mischievous in every way. It unsettles the minds of the young ; it plays into the unbelieving prepossessions of the infidel ; it confirms the sceptic in his disregard of religion. On the other hand, it repels the timid from the pursuit of Science; it disunites, instead of harmonizing; it checks the progress of truth; it sets at variance things which in reality agree. cannot with consistency make it a ground of objection to any hy- pothesis of the nature of the changes indicated, that they are contrary to Scripture. They are in no yi^jmore so than all geology is " [!] — Bssay on the Philosophy of Creation; by the Rev. Baden Fowell, Savilian Professor of Geo- metry in the University of Ox- ford. My answer to all this is : — There is, in the sense intended, no " narrative of the Creation in the Hebrew Scriptures," no " Ju- daical Cosmogony," no " contra- diction of geological truths to the Old Testament," according to the principles of the foregoing Trea- tise. * See some excellent remarks, written in this spirit, in the chapter on the Kelation of Tra- dition to Palsetiology, in Dr. Whewell's "Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences." FINIS. n. CI.AY, PRINTBIl, BREAD STllEKT HILL. ANNEX LIBRARY \TOVI