F 
 
 LIBRARY OF PRiNCETO?! 
 
 THFOLOGiCAL SEMINARY 
 
VEEACITY 
 
 THE BOOK OF GENESIS 
 
LONDON 
 PRINTED BV SPOTTISWOODE Al 
 NEW-STREET SQUARE. 
 
THE 
 
 VERACITY OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE INSPIRED HISTORIAN 
 
 REV. WILLIAM H.^IOAEE, M.A. 
 
 LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLKGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND AUTHOR OF 
 
 LETTF.RS TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE GREY, BART. ON MR. FOX'S SCHEME OF 
 
 EDUCATION," "outlines OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY," ETC. ETC. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 LONGMAN, GllEEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS 
 
 1860 
 
 The right of translation is rescroed 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Scriptures of the Old Testament have long- 
 been the favourite ground of attack with the 
 opponents of revelation. Those who would engage 
 in its defence must therefore necessarily occupy the 
 same ground, and not too securely reckon on the 
 safety of the citadel while they suffer the outposts 
 to be taken with indifference. It has indeed been 
 maintained, that a pure and spiritual religion can 
 have nothing to do with remnants of Judaism, nor 
 the faith of Christ need any support from preceding 
 and less perfect dispensations. Nay, with some 
 even orthodox writers the disposition has been 
 manifested to disclaim for the Christian faith in its 
 essential characteristics any necessary dependence 
 on the former covenant, and to assert for it a suffi- 
 ciency of evidence within its own immediate and 
 peculiar sphere. The prophecies themselves, whose 
 remarkable fulfilment has ever been accounted one 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 great leading evidence for the truth of our holy re- 
 ligion, existed, these writers remind us, not in the 
 sacred volume alone, but currently among the whole 
 Jewish people, and partially also amongst the Gen- 
 tile nations of the world. " I do not see," says a 
 late learned writer of our own Church, " how it 
 would injure any part of the argument on which 
 our belief of Christianity is properly founded, if the 
 historical books of the Old Testament had not been 
 handed down to us at all. It is the adversary of 
 Christianity who commonly appeals to the Old 
 Testament, that being the side on which he deems 
 the proof of revelation to be weakest." And he 
 endorses the saying of Paley, that " We ought not 
 to make Christianity answer with its life for every 
 fact recorded in the Old Testament." * 
 
 At the same time, it may appear to many minds 
 impossible practically to separate either the pro- 
 phetic from the historical parts, or the entire books 
 of the Old Testament from those of the New. So 
 long as they are bound up in one volume, and that 
 volume is in every one's hands in its present form, 
 it is difficult to see how any other impression can 
 be popularly entertained, but such as shall associate 
 the two Testaments in necessary connection, so 
 that whatever shakes the credit of the one must in 
 
 ^ Dean Lyall, Frcjiaration of Prophecy, ch. viii. Rivington, 1854, 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 some measure weaken the authority of the other. 
 There is, besides, in the history of the Old Testa- 
 ment such a variety of topics, and so large a collec- 
 tion of facts, coming in contact at every turn with 
 the common events of history, and therefore ob- 
 viously challenging comparison with those events, 
 and leading to a variety of criticism from every 
 quarter; that to shun that criticism, and hide our 
 eyes from the light of any fresh discoveries, would 
 imply either unpardonable indolence, or a defective 
 appreciation of the strength of those arguments on 
 Avliich the inspiration of the Scripture rests. When 
 we think of the great strides which science is every 
 day making, the many discoveries of modern travel 
 and research, to say nothing of the advantage ac- 
 cruing from the possession and collation of so 
 many new manuscripts and ancient versions of the 
 Scriptures, it is among the first duties of the 
 Christian philosopher to bring his faith to the test 
 of these discoveries, and to seek a fair adjustment 
 of any differences which in the course of argument 
 and the conflict of opinion may chance to arise. It 
 has often proved — and who can tell how often it may 
 prove again? — that persevering industry and ad- 
 vancing science have been of excellent use in clear- 
 ing up Scripture difficulties, and bringing out the 
 meaning of disputed passages. The readers of 
 
viii Preface, 
 
 Butler will remember a passage in his " Analogy " 
 which greatly encourages this hope, where he says, 
 " If ever the whole scheme of Scripture comes to be 
 understood before the restitution of all things^ and 
 without miraculous interpositions, it must be in the 
 same way as natural knowledge is come at : by the 
 continuance and progress of learning and of liberty, 
 and by particular persons attending to, comparing 
 and pursuing, intimations scattered up and down 
 it, which are overlooked and disregarded^ by the 
 generality of the world. .... Nor is it at all in- 
 credible that a book, which has been so long in the 
 possession of mankind, should contain many truths 
 as yet undiscovered. For, all the same phenomena, 
 and the same faculties of investigation, from which 
 such great discoveries in natural knowledge have 
 been made in the present and last age, were equally 
 in the possession of mankind several thousand years 
 before. And possibly it might be intended that 
 events, as they come to pass, should open and ascer- 
 tain the meaning of several parts of Scripture." ^ 
 So far then from being surprised at any new endea- 
 vour to throw light on the page of Scripture, — so 
 far from shunning comparison with any new sources 
 of information, — such inquiries should be rather en- 
 
 1 Antilogy of Natural and ReA-ealed Pteligiou, part. ii. chap. iii. 
 
Preface, ix 
 
 tertained with ardour, and hailed as efficient helps 
 to a better understanding of the sacred text. 
 
 It is at the same time to be lamented, that in the 
 excess of critical zeal some have ventured rashly to 
 compromise essential truths of the Christian faith, 
 and professing by some new lights to explain the 
 Scripture, have virtually explained it away. Some, 
 for instance, have run into the absurdity of deny- 
 ing all miracles, and openly rejecting whatever in 
 Divine revelation cannot be brought under the deno- 
 mination and order of natural events. They judge 
 of everything by a spurious idea of reason ; i.e. they 
 measure it by their own notions of what ought to be, 
 — by what, they think, accords with "general laws 
 of nature," with the early "traditions of nations," 
 or with the " religious consciousness of the indi- 
 vidual." The earlier Kationalist came forward, it 
 is true, in defence, as he thought, of Christianity, 
 and not in opposition to it. It was upon the pub- 
 lication of " one of the most formidable attacks," as 
 Professor PoweU well calls it \ "which the cause 
 of Christianity had ever sustained, under the name 
 of the Wolfenhuttel Fragments^ ascribed to Lessing 
 (1773 — 1778)," that Paulus^ Eichhorn^ and other 
 learned men of the Rationalistic school, took up 
 
 ^ Order of Nature, Essay iii. § 2. 
 
X Preface. 
 
 this new ground on the side, as they believed, of 
 the true faith. But as they too easily joined the 
 adversary in the denial of whatever is supernatural 
 or miraculous, it is easy to understand, — what in 
 fact actually happened, — that they formed but a 
 stepping-stone for others, who, with bolder hand 
 and greater consistency, proceeded to deny, not the 
 miraculous parts alone, but all the chief and dis- 
 tinctive doctrines of Scripture — the Incarnation, 
 for example, the Atonement, the Eesurrection, and 
 most other articles of the Creed, and this for no 
 better reason than because of the miraculous nature 
 of these objects of belief, and the mere fact of their 
 transcending the limits of human knowledge and 
 experience. What is this, but under the name of 
 Christianity to revive the worst errors of the 
 avowed sceptic of the days of Hume and Voltaire ? 
 and with the best intentions, perhaps, of promoting 
 the cause of truth, to make a large and fatal con- 
 cession to its worst enemies?^ It is easy to speak 
 of the " natural " interpretations, or of the " ra- 
 
 ^ We speak especially of 8lraus& may be spreading amongst us. It 
 
 and his followers, the " Licht- is also a fact to which we should 
 
 freunde," or '' Friends of Light," not shut cm* eyes, that these 
 
 as they are apt to call themselves opinions sprung originally from our 
 
 in Germany. Not that in Eng- own country in the last ccntiuy, 
 
 land we can boast ourselves free and they are now returning to us 
 
 from the infection ; nor can we well with interest. Froude's Nemesis 
 
 reckon how far and how deep it (/ Faith ; F. J. Foxton's Popular 
 
Preface. xi 
 
 tional," or of the "mythical; " but as an American 
 writer has well observed, " The natural interpreta- 
 tion by its unnaturalness, and the mythical by its 
 absurdity in some instances, and by its daring im- 
 
 Cfhristianity ; Theodore Parker's 
 Tlieism, Atheism, and the Popular 
 Theology, -will supply some choice 
 specimens. The latter writes in 
 the following strain : — " I do not 
 believe that there ever was a mira- 
 cle, or ever will be : eveiy where 
 I find law, — the constant mode of 
 operation of the Infinite God. I 
 do not believe in the miraculous 
 inspiration of the Old Testament or 
 the New Testament. I do not be- 
 lieve that the Old Testament was 
 God's first word, nor the New Tes- 
 tament His last. The Scriptm-es 
 are no finality to me. Inspiration 
 is a pei-petual fact. Prophets and 
 apostles did not monopolise the 
 Father. He inspires men to-day 
 as much as heretofore. I do not 
 believe in the miraculous origin 
 of the Hebrew Chm-ch, or the 
 Buddhist Chivrch, or the Christian 
 Chm'ch, nor the mii'acidous cha- 
 racter of Jesus. I take not the 
 Bible for my master, nor yet the 
 Chm-ch, nor even Jesus of Naza- 
 reth for my master. ... I try 
 all things by the human faculties." 
 —Tlieism, ^-c, pp. 263, 264. A 
 particular accoimt of the infidel 
 writers of the last century, as well 
 as of the principal works in answer 
 to them, will be foimd in Van 
 Mildert, Boyle Lectures for the 
 years 1802 to 1805. See also a 
 more recent accovmt carried down 
 
 to the present time in the late 
 Archdeacon Hard wick's Clxrist and 
 other Masters (particularly vol. i. 
 pp. 1 — 40 ; On the'Religioim Te)i- 
 dencies of thepresmt Age^ ; an able 
 review of Strauss's, Lehen Jesu, 
 in appendix to one of the es- 
 says in the collection of articles 
 from the Edinbia-gh Revieiv by 
 Mr. Rogers, entitled Reason and 
 Faith ; Professor Powell, Order of 
 Nature, Essay iii,, On the Ration- 
 alistic and other Theories of 
 Miracles. See again, on the deri- 
 vation of some modern objections 
 across the Channel from English 
 soiu-ces of the last centiuy (as 
 painfully exemplified in some of 
 the abovenamed works), some 
 important hints, from which we 
 select the following : — '' The ob- 
 jections in question are not the 
 novelties they aifect to be. It is 
 necessary to remember this, in 
 order to obviate an advantage 
 which the very vagueness of 
 much modern opposition to 
 Christianity would obtain from 
 the notion that some prodigious 
 arguments have been discovered, 
 which the intellect of a Pascal or 
 a Butler was not comprehensive 
 enough to anticipate, and which 
 no Clarke or Paley would have 
 been logician enough to refute. 
 We afiinn, without hesitation, 
 that when the new advocates of 
 
xii Preface. 
 
 piety in others, both combine to drive us back to 
 the supernatural. On that ground, and on that 
 only, all becomes plain, consistent, and intelligible. 
 By the other plan you may, indeed, get rid of all 
 chronological difficulties, and of troublesome dis- 
 crepancies; but you are compelled to deny the 
 genuineness of the books, and you destroy their 
 authority. Thus Wegscheider declares it impossible 
 to rescue the Bible from the reproaches and scoffs 
 of its enemies, except by the acknowledgment of 
 mythi in the sacred writings, and the separation of 
 their inherent meaning from their unhistoric form? 
 De Wette, denying the possibility of miracle and 
 of prophecy, maintains the modern origin of the 
 Pentateuch, and especially of the book of Genesis. 
 Strauss lays it down for an infallible criterion of 
 myth, when a narrative is intermingled with ac- 
 counts of phenomena or events of which it is either 
 expressly stated or implied that they were pro- 
 duced immediately by God Himself (such as Divine 
 apparitions, voices from heaven, and the like), or by 
 
 infidelity descend jfrom their airy found in the pages of our own 
 
 elevations, and state their objec- deists a centuiy ago; and, as al- 
 
 tions in intelligible temis, they ready hinted, the vast majority of 
 
 are foimd, for the most part, what Dr. Stranss's elaborate strictures 
 
 we have represented them will be foimd in the same sources." 
 
 Hardly an instance of discrepancy — Rogers, JReason and Faith, p. 
 
 is mentioned in the ' Wolfenbiittel 238. 
 Fragments ' which will not be 
 
Preface. xiii 
 
 human beings possessed of supernatural powers 
 (miracles, prophecies, &c.). In short, that "a 
 miracle is impossible, prophecy is impossible, and 
 therefore all accounts detailing miracles are not 
 true; they are but fables; such fables are the 
 growth of long time in rude ages, therefore the 
 Pentateuch must have been a collection of tradi- 
 tions put together many ages after the occurrence 
 of the wonderful events which they so exaggerate ; 
 consequently, the Pentateuch cannot be the work 
 of Moses. Moreover, the Gospel histories also 
 being fuU of marvels, could not have been the pro- 
 duction of eyewitnesses, as is vulgarly believed." ' 
 Such are the bold assertions which these writers 
 have ventured to build upon the one gratuitous 
 assumption. That a "miraculous narrative neces- 
 sarily involves some mythical origin ; " and that 
 " mysteries must give way to reason " — to reason, 
 that is, in their sense of the word, viz. the limited 
 comprehension of man's finite and imperfect under- 
 standing. 
 
 In Germany, we have reason to be thankful that a 
 purer light seems of late years to be dawning upon 
 the spirit of the popular Theology. A new class 
 of writers has arisen, uniting the "illumination" 
 and deep research of their predecessors, with a 
 
 1 Hamilton on the Pentateucli, 1852. 
 
xiv Preface. 
 
 more profound and just reverence for the inspired 
 records. The highly esteemed names of Neander^ 
 Olshausen, Tholuck^ Kurtz, Bohr, Bock, Rdvernick, 
 Stier, (^c, are the harbingers of better times and a 
 more hopeful theology. Let England but aspire to 
 rival at once the learning, the patient spirit, and 
 the mutual kindly feeling of her neighbours across 
 the channel; and she too may hope to contend 
 successfully against the new forms of error; and 
 to restore the Scriptures to their just place in the 
 estimation of all sincere seekers after truth. Nor 
 need we, in the meantime, be deaf to the voice of 
 history, or the testimonies of experience ; we need 
 show no disrespect to the rational conclusions of 
 philosophical investigation, nor lag timidly behind 
 the advancing march of the literature and science 
 of the day. Keason may assuredly find sufiicient 
 scope for its exercise, without rudely seeking to 
 displace Kevelation ; and there is abundance in the 
 Scriptures alone to employ the intellect without 
 violating those mysterious doctrines of the Faith, 
 which reason itself might fairly have anticipated 
 in a Revelation professedly coming from the Infi- 
 nite source of Wisdom and Truth. 
 
 We can think of no better way to assist in coun- 
 teracting any new attempt to revive the Scepticism 
 of a past age, than by building up what the sceptic 
 
Preface. xv 
 
 would destroy, — by endeavouring at least to 
 show the futility of many objections popularly but 
 inconsiderately entertained against the plain sense 
 of Scripture ; and that the Mosaic record, whicli 
 stands at the fountain-head of Revelation, contains 
 nothinoj but what ao;rees well both with the reason 
 and experience of mankind. And this design 
 appears to comprehend the two -fold task, — 
 
 Firsts — Of representing plainly and correctly 
 what is really the substance (divested, perhaps, of 
 some mistaken associations) of the earlier portion 
 of Genesis : and. 
 
 Secondly^ — Of proving that there is nothing in 
 it at variance either with reason (in the proper 
 acceptation of the term), as founded on the true 
 relation of things, or with matters of fact, as dis- 
 coverable from other sources. 
 
 It will not, however, be necessary in the popular 
 and general view of the question which is here 
 proposed, to separate nicely in every instance be- 
 tween these two divisions of the subject ; but 
 rather, as each event or doctrine comes under con- 
 sideration, to endeavour as far as may be, to sub- 
 stantiate the credibility of the one, or to show the 
 reasonableness of the other. This task will lead 
 naturally to many interesting ^particulars of the 
 Life of Moses, which may serve, perhaps, as a 
 
xvi Preface. 
 
 general guide and introduction to the study of the 
 Pentateuch ; — and thence to the earliest records of 
 profane history, and especially to the condition of 
 Egypt at the time of Exodus. This will be fol- 
 lowed by a careful collation of the best accounts 
 concerning the Dispersion and first settlement of 
 Nations, together with something of their subse- 
 quent history. The way will then be prepared for 
 a more attentive study, in the next place, of the 
 clear evidences, which will be pointed out, that in 
 the still more remote records of Creation itself, 
 Moses wrote under no ordinary illumination, but 
 that the account in Genesis will stand the test of 
 even the most recent discoveries of modern times. 
 There will be added, in conclusion, a general sum- 
 mary of the whole ; and the bearing of those earlier 
 records on the principles and final establishment of 
 Christianity will be carefully traced. Should the 
 minds of any, into whose hands his work may fall, 
 have been unsettled (as, doubtless, many are) by 
 the fluctuating opinions M the day, — to such the 
 Author trusts he may be performing no unaccepta- 
 ble service, when he offers them this opportunity 
 of confirming themselves in the certainty of a few 
 leading principles, which, taking their rise in the 
 earlier records of Moses, will be found to run, like 
 sacred threads, through the whole texture of Reve- 
 
Preface. xvii 
 
 lation. The works of Moses are indeed a mine of 
 wealth, from which something valuable might be 
 gathered by readers of every country and every 
 age, of every rank and every profession. To ex- 
 haust its riches would be a work far beyond the 
 pretensions of the writer; and would far exceed 
 the limits of his present undertaking. He can but 
 hope to have worked successfully some few veins 
 which seemed to promise the best reward to his 
 labours, and to present the most striking and 
 salient points, for displaying the high character of 
 the original, and its intimate and important rela- 
 tion to all succeeding periods in the history of 
 mankind. 
 
 In treating the " Life and Character of Moses " 
 himself, before his history of the world and its 
 creation, it may be expedient to notice, as the 
 reason for thus appearing to invert the scriptural 
 order of subjects, that it seemed the order more 
 agreeable to general usage, and likely to be con- 
 ducive to the better understanding of the whole. 
 Indeed the works of any Author are considered 
 almost incomplete without his life ; for the obvious 
 reason that they mostly admit of important illustra- 
 tion from a previous acquaintance with the times in 
 which he lived, and the circumstances under which 
 he wrote. 
 
xviii Preface. 
 
 A few words may suffice on the Geological rela- 
 tions of Genesis, as about to come under considera- 
 tion in the course of the subject. It will be our 
 endeavour, without pretending to any special origi- 
 nality of view in this department, to gather from 
 different quarters a just idea of the present state of 
 conflicting opinions as to the leading difficulties in 
 this department ; and particularly as to the pur- 
 port and duration of the Mosaic " days of creation." 
 Whether the account in Genesis was properly 
 intended to embrace the whole structure of the 
 earth during the long periods of the deposition of 
 the successive geological strata, — or whether the - 
 "days" are natural days, and we have only the 
 literal account of a " six days'" preparation of the 
 earth for the immediate habitation of man, — is 
 perhaps the point, on which the chief interest is 
 concentrated. In whichever way, however, this 
 question may be determined, the believer in Re- 
 velation need scarcely fear for the result. Upon 
 the former supposition, we have a simple coin- 
 cidence and identity between the account in 
 Genesis, and the observations of Nature — one 
 evidently confirming the other. Upon the latter 
 there is no collision, and therefore no contra- 
 diction ; — since the periods must be supposed dif- 
 ferent, to which tlie two records, the scriptural and 
 
Preface. xix 
 
 the natural, principally refer. It may be added, 
 that in the opinion of many, the same " law of 
 creation" (as it has been termed) is observable on 
 either view. There is the same ascending scale from 
 the lower to the higher types of life — exempli- 
 fied, upon the one hypothesis, on the smaller scale 
 of " six " natural " days;" — extending, upon the 
 other, through all antecedent periods and all suc- 
 cessive phases of the world's existence. Thus, whe- 
 ther we adopt the literal or the unliteral interpre- 
 tation of the days, we may equally join in the per- 
 suasion that " there is now no ground for appre- 
 hension, that there will be any displacement of the 
 established law of creation," whereby there has 
 been " a gradual progress from the lower to the 
 higher orders of living organisms — from the simply 
 constructed Zoophyte, through the intermediate 
 classes of the invertebrate Molluscs, Crustaceans, 
 vertebrate Fishes, Reptiles, and Mammals, up to 
 Man."^ Nor is this the only remarkable coinci- 
 dence between the two versions of the Scripture 
 narrative. They are both of them greatly in ad- 
 vance of the old and now obselete theory, which in 
 the mystic "beginning" saw only a brief preamble 
 to the work of the six days following ; — in the deso- 
 
 ^ Quoted from M'Causland, Sermons in Stones, Ed. 4. 
 
XX Preface. 
 
 lation and " darkness," a primitive " chaos " of con- 
 fused elements; — in the "light" which followed, 
 the first creation of that element ; in the " sun, 
 moon, and stars " of the " fourth day," the similar 
 origination of all the celestial bodies ; and so forth. 
 It is a satisfactory instance of the mutual reaction 
 of revelation and science, that our knowledore of 
 Cosmogony has long since outstripped these raw 
 beginnings ; and the great question now in discus- 
 sion among geologists is one, which, in either way 
 of deciding it, can only end in reflecting fresh 
 honour on the marvellous accuracy of the Mosaic 
 record. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chap. 
 I. Introductory Observations 
 11. The Life of Moses. — First Part 
 
 III. The Life of Moses. — Second Part 
 
 IV. The Dispersion 
 
 V. Eelation of Geology to the Scripture Nar 
 
 rative 
 
 VI. The Mosaic Order of Creation 
 VII. The Mosaic Order of Creation continued 
 Vin. The Mosaic Order of Creation concluded 
 — Concluding Observations 
 
 Page 
 
 1 
 21 
 
 58 
 96 
 
 130 
 167 
 202 
 243 
 263 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Notice of " The History of the Old Covenant,'' by Dr. 
 Kurtz. Foreign Translation Series. T. and T. 
 Clark, Edinburgh, 1859 .... 293—303 
 
 Appendix Notes. 
 
 Chap. II. On the Contemporaiy History of Egypt, 
 regarding chiefly (1.) The Time of the Exodus. 
 (2.) The reigning Sovereign, and General Con- 
 dition of the Country at the Time 
 
 41—57 
 
xxii Contents, 
 
 Page 
 Chap. III. On the Typical Character of Moses . 90 — 95 
 
 Chap. IV. Dr. Whewell ou the Origin of Language . 129 
 
 Chap. V. On the supposed Agencies in the great Phy- 
 sical Disturbances of the Earth's Svirface, at the 
 successive Geological Epochs . . . 1G3 — IGG 
 
 Chap. VI. On the Contrast between the Biblical and 
 Geological Accounts, as to the Precedence of the 
 Vegetable to the Animal Tribes . . 201 
 
 Chap. VII. (1.) On alleged Human Remains in the 
 older Strata. (2.) On the Divine Image in Man, 
 various Opinions contrasted. (3.) On the Eifects 
 of the Fall on the Divine Image in Man, and the 
 Means of its Recovery .... 228 — 242 
 
 Chap. VIII. On the Relation of Genesis to the Subse- 
 quent Books of the Pentateuch . . . 283 — 289 
 
THE VERACITY 
 
 THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory Observations. 
 
 If a book were presented to us, professing to chap. 
 
 contain an account of the ^rst man, the first — " 
 
 arts and sciences, the first cities, the first origin 
 of nations, the first houses, the first ships, — to 
 say nothing of the earliest ideas of religion, 
 and the earliest institutions of religious worshij), 
 — the very profession of such a theme would 
 secure for it a more than ordinary attention 
 and interest. Now just such a book — to go no 
 deeper into it at present — is the book of Genesis. 
 On the most cursory inspection, it abounds with 
 notices of the very antiquities we have enumerated. 
 Archseologically considered, there is nothing in the 
 
 B 
 
! Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, whole compass of historical document that bears 
 — '■ — the marks of such great and venerable antiquity, — 
 nothing that embraces subjects of the same uni- 
 versal interest, the same extensive relation to the 
 world we live in, and to the original and essential 
 elements of society. Some would claim for it a still 
 wider sphere. In its opening portion they would 
 see the formation of primitive rocks, — the first 
 filling of space with the immensity of all created 
 matter, with the stars in their several spheres, 
 with ethereal and liquid forms, before they were 
 shaped and consolidated into the grosser elements 
 which have since been associated with our ideas of 
 the material world. And to what extent the mys- 
 teries of creative power were intended to be evolved 
 in detail in the Mosaic account, — or how far the 
 details given are calculated to bear the test of phy- 
 sical science, — or within what limits the description 
 holds good, — may be regarded as open questions. 
 But of this we are certain, — for of tlti^ there is the 
 clearest evidence on the face of the account, — that 
 we have here what professes to be a description of 
 the primitive state of man, and of the world as 
 coeval with man, i.e.., as immediately prepared for 
 his habitation. It then goes on with a relation of 
 the times and events immediately subsequent, — 
 events directly bearing on all the interests of society 
 in general, and on the whole history of the world 
 to the present time. And such being the obvious 
 and professed scope and nature of this wonderful 
 
Value of Genesis as an Introductory Book. l 
 
 book, an enquiry at once suggests itself, on what chap. 
 grounds of authority it rests, and how far its claims 
 to inspiration deserve to be admitted? In other 
 words, Avhat were the sources from which the author 
 derived his information? and whence did he ob- 
 tain it ? Was it to his superior skill in antiquarian 
 research? to extraordinary erudition, and great 
 advantages of education? or was it rather to still 
 higher endowments, to preternatural aid, and to 
 direct light from Heaven, that we may ascribe these 
 marvellous revelations?^ Genesis being the first 
 book in Holy Scripture, adds greatly to the im- 
 portance of this enquiry. It is there that our 
 earliest ideas are formed of the Divine administra- 
 tion and government of the world ; it is there we 
 find the key to the imagery and phraseology of all 
 other scripture ; there that its chief allusions find 
 their explanation; and, if we take in the whole 
 Pentateuch, we may say, it is there only we must 
 look for all the principal ideas and historic facts 
 
 ^ " There is no work whose loss history now extant was composed ; 
 
 would cause a wider chasm in and that the facts which it records 
 
 om- historical knowledge than the are exactly those about which oiu- 
 
 fii-st five books of the Old Testa- curiosity would be most alive, 
 
 ment. But for them, we should supposing we had no information 
 
 be without so much as even a concerning oiu- primeval ancestors 
 
 tradition respecting the early his- beyond what has been preserved 
 
 tory of mankind. Of the value of in the broken and, for the most 
 
 this book as a mere literaiy docu- part, fabidous traditions which 
 
 ment, it may be sufficient to ob- wo find in the ancient poets of 
 
 sei-ve, that the language in which Greece."— Lyall's PrejMmtim of 
 
 it is written had ceased to be a Prophecj/, Part I. ch. viii. 
 spoken language before any other 
 
Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 which form the basis, the great vocabulary, as it 
 were, of the entire volume of inspiration. 
 
 In assisting, as we hope to do, in this important 
 enquiry, — an enquiry so much the more pressed 
 upon our attention of late years by the doubtful 
 tone into which even some eminent theologians 
 have fallen on the subject, — we may state, at the 
 outset, that the class of evidence to which we shall 
 have occasion to appeal is that which arises from 
 the nature of the contents themselves of the books 
 of Moses, and particularly of the earlier chapters 
 of Genesis. For of all the proofs that may be al- 
 leged in favour of their Divine inspiration, none 
 has appeared to us more interesting or more 
 conclusive than the kind of evidence of which we 
 speak. Foremost, we would place the whole life 
 and character of the great Lawgiver himself, whose 
 exploits follow in the subsequent portions of the 
 Pentateuch. And assuming, according to the 
 uniform tradition of the Jews, that the giving 
 of the law and all those exploits, and the writing 
 of the Books, were by the same hand, we find in the 
 very nature of the transactions presumj^tive evi- 
 dence of no mean degree, that the author was, in his 
 writings also, acting under the immediate sanction 
 and assistance of Heaven. The fact is, we do not 
 ordinarily take our measure of the authority of 
 Genesis from the earlier chapters of it, nor from 
 any particular subjects in them, but from the 
 general tenor of those subsequent portions of 
 
Proper Estimate of the Writer. ^ 
 
 the Pentateuch which contain the actual history CHAr. 
 
 of the writer (for so we take leave to call him^) ^ — 
 
 and of the marvellous people whose appointed 
 leader and prophet he was. It is to this history 
 that the earlier chapters lead up and are intro- 
 ductory. It would seem, therefore, unreasonable 
 to dwell much on the details of the latter till 
 we have furnished ourselves, in the first instance, 
 with the necessary information derivable from the 
 former. Our value for the writings insensibly de- 
 pends on our estimate of the writer. And though 
 the highest opinion which, upon a diligent study 
 of that history of Moses, we might conceive of the 
 wisdom, the ability, and the integrity of his con- 
 duct and character, would not exactly justify us in 
 concluding him to have been the subject of imme- 
 diate and actual inspiration, yet could we not deny 
 to those qualities, when fairly made out, that due 
 weight which is ever accorded to them by the uni- 
 versal sentiments of humanity. A certain amount 
 of credit will readily be allowed for such qualifica- 
 tions, appearing in whomsoever they may. They 
 naturally pave the way for a more attentive hearing 
 of those other and higher claims which, though rest- 
 ing on distinct grounds, seem thus recommended, as 
 it were, to our more patient and impartial consider- 
 ation. It may not, therefore, be an unprofitable 
 
 ^ The learned Eichhorn, with origin, of the Pentateuch. The 
 the earlier Rationalists, admitted same was admitted by Porphyiy 
 the genuineness, i.e., the Mosaic and others. See Xote, p. 13. 
 
 B S 
 
) Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, labour to commence our notice of the earlier chap- 
 
 ters in Genesis by a detailed review of the Life of 
 
 Moses. It will at least serve to put the reader on 
 the same starting-ground as ourselves, when we thus 
 invite him to a more intimate acquaintance with 
 the life and character of him on whose credit the 
 documents in question are required to \)Q received. 
 We must be prepared in such a biography to 
 meet with many incidents differing by their pre- 
 ternatural character from ordinary history ; and 
 we must be prepared no less for the- common taunt 
 of the objector, ever ready to assail such pre- 
 tensions, when he perpetually harps upon the 
 never-failing maxim, that " No amount of evidence 
 can prove a miracle!" or, as Voltaire put it, 
 " No such things have happened in our time, 
 therefore, they never happened!" This oft-re- 
 peated, and now somewhat trite assertion, may 
 sound plausible to the ear ; but there is really very 
 little to recommend it to the reason. If a document 
 introduced into the world and preserved and handed 
 down in so extraordinary a manner, and under 
 such remarkable circumstances, as the Old Testa- 
 ment Scriptures have been, should itself contain 
 nothing extraordinary, this would be far more 
 unaccountable than if, as it does, it should contain 
 accounts and narratives of a character peculiar to 
 itself, and largely abounding with the supernatural 
 and the marvellous. Its preservation alone would 
 be a miracle, if there were no other. The Jewish 
 
Miraculous Preservation of the Sacred Writings. 
 
 people have preserved these records from the be- 
 ginning with the most jealous care ; and this 
 notwithstanding they contain disclosures by no 
 means^ flattering to their national pride, together 
 with rules of living, and a number of burdensome 
 rites and ceremonies, which no man on his mere 
 private authority, or in the apparent interest of 
 his countrymen or himself, would ever have thought 
 of inventing. ' These documents, nevertheless, have 
 been handed down by that very people whom they 
 most concern, with the greatest care. They are 
 the very opposite to what we should have expected, 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. 
 
 ^ " The most decisive character 
 of truth in any history is its IM- 
 PAKTIALITT ; and here the autlior 
 of the Pentateuch is distinguished 
 perhaps above every historian in 
 the world. . . . He speaks of the 
 Jewish nation, not only impar- 
 tially, but even severely ; he does 
 not conceal the weakness and ob- 
 scurity of their first origin — that 
 'a Syrian ready to perish was 
 their father ' (Deut. xxvi. 5) ; nor 
 their long and degi'ading slaveiy in 
 Egypt; their frequent murniur- 
 ings and criminal distrust of God, 
 notwithstanding his many inter- 
 positions in their favom' ; their 
 criminal apostacy, rebellion, and 
 resolution to retm'n to Egypt — 
 first, when they erected the golden 
 calf at Mount Sinai, and next, on 
 the retiu-n of the spies from the 
 land of Canaan : he repeatedly 
 reproaches the people with these 
 crimes, and loads tliem with the 
 epithets of * stiifiiecked,' ^rebel- 
 
 lious,' and ^ idolatrous ' (Deut. ix. ; 
 Exod. xxxii.) ; he declares to 
 them his conviction, that in their 
 prosperity they would again re- 
 lapse into their rebellions and 
 idolatries, and imitate the foul 
 vices of those nations whom God 
 had driven out from before them 
 for these very crimes. ..... So, 
 
 again, in speaking of his own re- 
 latives, and of himself ... Of his 
 own family we are told nothing, 
 but that his fether-in-law, Jethro, 
 was a wise man, who suggested 
 to Moses some regulations of uti- 
 lity ; that his wife was an zEthio- 
 pian woman, and as such the ob- 
 ject of contempt and opposition 
 even to his own brother and sister 
 (Num. xii. 1). . . How different is 
 all this fi-om the embellishments of 
 fiction or the exaggerations of va- 
 nity ! How strongly does it carry 
 with it the appearance of himiility 
 and truth!" — Graves, On the 
 Pentateuch, Part I., Lect. ii. 
 
 B 4 
 
^ Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP both in the character which they give of the people 
 and in the picture which they draw of their pros- 
 pects, and of the ultimate destination of their king- 
 dom and city. Their boasted Lawgiver faithfully 
 pourtrays to them the certainty of their downfal, 
 should they continue in apostacy from the true God 
 and from the Prophet that was to come. Not like an 
 impostor, who would have concealed their foibles, 
 and lightly excused their faults, we- find him, in 
 all his writings and addresses to them, faithfully 
 recording what they had done amiss, and boldly 
 representing the dark side of their character and 
 prospects. Yet these are the very writings which 
 they have so jealously preserved and handed down 
 to posterity. And if, after all this, it should turn 
 out that the contents of the sacred books, in an 
 historical point of view, were nothing but the 
 commonplace narration of ordinary events, the 
 wonder would indeed be on this, rather than on 
 the actual side of the question. But when we 
 observe that the contents of the books are as mar- 
 vellous as the fact of their preservation and the 
 circumstances of their origin, — that the substance 
 of them consists in a plain and impartial mixture 
 of extraordinary and ordinary dispensations of 
 Providence, and of revelations concerning the past 
 which appear to claim the like authority with the 
 more strictly historical portions, — this agreement 
 and harmony between the style and character of 
 the work and the origin claimed for it, as much 
 
Denial of Miracles absurd. « 
 
 impresses the imagination as convinces the judg- chap. 
 ment, that the claims are genuine, and that the 
 work is Divine. 
 
 It is easy to go upon the tack of denying the 
 possibiHty of a miracle. We readily grant that the 
 evidence for any alleged miraculous story should 
 be more full and decisive than would be required 
 in a common case ; but this is no argument what- 
 ever for discarding from the range of our be- 
 lief the notion of a miracle altogether. To deny 
 the possibility of a miracle is to limit the power of 
 the Creator; it is to banish Him from His own 
 world, which he has made.^ It is to pronounce, that 
 nothing new, i.e.., nothing contrary to what are 
 called " general laws, " ^ can possibly be. And thus 
 
 ^ There are, doubtless, immu- in tlie next note that even man 
 
 table laws of right and -wi-ong, from has power to interfere with the 
 
 which the Deity Himself never physical laws of the world ; how, 
 
 departs. These are not so much then, can we deny the same power 
 
 laws as they are rules of the Di- to the gi-eat Being to whom both 
 
 vine conduct, essential principles manhimself and the world aroimd 
 
 of Hisnatcu'e, and elements of His him are alike subject and subser- 
 
 moral government of the world. vient ? HE, sm-ely, may intei-pose 
 
 But what is to Him a rule is to at His pleasm-e ; may alter, divert^ 
 
 His crcatio'es a la IV ; and a law im- or suspend the physical laws 
 
 plies a lau-(/iver. The very use of which He has imposed on His 
 
 the temis should remind the ob- creation. 
 
 jector of that flaw in his argument ^ We come here at once to the 
 
 which wovild imagine the exist- doctrine of Spinoza, the reviver of 
 
 ence of laiv, and overlook the will Pantheism, as we may call him, in 
 
 and power of the being from whom the seventeenth centiuy, and who 
 
 the law proceeds. With regard to also made a collection of the prin- 
 
 the physical order of natm-e, the cipal objections against inspii-ation, 
 
 case is perfectly different from that — obj ections which laid the foun- 
 
 of the moral law by whicli God dation for the Rationalism of Le 
 
 governs the world. It will be seen Clerc, Wer/scheider, and succeed- 
 
10 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. 
 
 we should be driven, with the Stoics, to admit the 
 eternity of matter; with Lamarck, the generation 
 
 ing wi'iters of that school. He 
 supported in particular the theory 
 of the uniform and undeviating 
 agency of '^ natural laws," among 
 which he reckoned the ordinary 
 powers of the human mind. 
 *'God/' he said, "was before all 
 things, and the substance of all, for 
 there was really no other substance 
 in nature besides Him, — so that 
 whatever opposes the laws of na- 
 ture is necessarily repugnant to the 
 Divine nature ; — that the powers 
 of nature were no other than the 
 veiy power of God ; and that to 
 ascribe a thing to the Divine 
 power, when we ought to refer 
 everything to a law of nature and 
 a natural cause, is absolute folly. 
 That if we could conceive a phe- 
 nomenon of any kind to have oc- 
 ciin-ed in the natural world which 
 was in any degree repugnant to 
 nature's law, such a conception 
 was to be rejected as absurd." 
 ^' Omnia per Dei potentiani facta 
 sunt ; immo quia naturae potentia 
 nulla est nisi ipsa Dei potentia, 
 certimi est nos eatenus Dei poten- 
 tiani non intelligere, quatenus 
 causas naturales ignoramus ; 
 adeoque stulte ad eandem Dei 
 potentiam recm'ritur, qiiando rei 
 alicujus causam natm-alem, hoc 
 est, ipsam Dei potentiam igno- 
 ramus." — Tractatus TJieolor/. Poli- 
 ticus, ed.l674, p. 20. " Si concipere 
 possemus aliqiud in natura ab 
 aliqua potentia .... posse fieri 
 quod naturte repugnet . . . id ut 
 absm'dum rejiciendimi." (Ibid., 
 
 p. 102.) Better this, perhaps, 
 than with the Sadducees and an- 
 cient heathen adversaries of Chris- 
 tianity, to ascribe the miracles re- 
 corded in Scripture to Beelzebub 
 and evil spirits. Yet in that very 
 charge we find a valuable testi- 
 mony involved to the ti-uth of the 
 miracles themselves as haviug 
 really happened, — a testimony so 
 much the more important, as it 
 was near the time when they 
 actually happened. Yet, in the 
 face of an overwhelming amount 
 of testimony, indirect and in- 
 voluntary as well as direct aud 
 actual, the advocates of Chris- 
 tianity ai'e again and again as- 
 sm-ed that "ifio testimony can 
 bring a miracle within the re- 
 motest boimds of probability ! " 
 and that for the old reason, so 
 much vaunted by Hume and his 
 followers, '' that a miracle is con- 
 trary to experience." But to 
 zvhat experience ? For this is 
 siu-ely part of the question in dis- 
 pute ! For the sacred history ex- 
 pressly declares, and neither Jew 
 nor heathen denied it, that miracles 
 have been wi-ought, and that pub- 
 licly, before many people. They 
 are not then certainly against the 
 experience of those who saw them ! 
 And a most unreasonable thing it 
 woidd be to set the inexperience 
 of persons who had no opportunity 
 of witnessing such phenomena 
 against the experience of those 
 who had. 
 
 But, besides this, it may well 
 
Consequence of denying Miracles. 
 
 11 
 
 of mankind from an improved race of monkey, and, chap. 
 in short, the whole train of absurdities too often 
 
 be doubted wbetlier, speaking 
 universally, experience be not ra- 
 ther /or tlian against the probabi- 
 lity of a miracle. For, gi-anting 
 that it involves a temporary inter- 
 ference with some law of uatiu-e, 
 or with the uatm-al order of things, 
 such interference is sm-ely not mi- 
 frequent, even within the range 
 of human life and action. Gra\d- 
 tation, for instance, is an order 
 and law of nature ; and is it not 
 an " interference " with this law 
 when we lift a weight in our 
 hands and prevent it falling to the 
 gToimd ? Now, if a man can lift 
 a weight, cannot God support a 
 drowning man, or cause another 
 to walk on the sea ? Cannot He, 
 who has all nature at command, 
 and myi-iads of angelic agencies 
 to wait upon His will, dinde the 
 waves, and make a pathway 
 through the waters ? Cannot 
 He fetch the water out of the 
 stony rock ? and feed a midtitude 
 with manna in the wilderness ? 
 It is sui-prising that among per- 
 sons boasting of dispassionate 
 reason, the opposite ^dew should 
 ever have found one serious advo- 
 cate ; and that thinking men 
 should not all have come to the 
 conclusion thus eloquently drawn 
 by a learned prelate of our Church, 
 who says, " Convinced that, by a 
 fair chain of reasoning, " \jiot, ob- 
 serve, intending it, or clearly see- 
 ing such a consequence them- 
 selves] "they who deny them 
 must be driven to the necessity of 
 maintaining Atheistical principles, 
 
 by questioning either the power, 
 or wisdom, or goodness of the 
 Creator, the true philosopher vdll 
 yield to the force of this con- 
 sideration, as well as to the over- 
 powering e\-idence of the facts 
 themselves, and will thankfidly 
 accept the dispensation which 
 God hath thus graciously vouch- 
 safed to reveal. He wiU suffer 
 neither "wit, nor ridicide, nor 
 sophisti-y to rob him of this anchor 
 of his faith ; but will turn to his 
 Saviom- " [for the argimient ap- 
 plies to both Testaments alike,] 
 " with the confidence so emphati- 
 cally expressed by Xicodemus, 
 ' Eabbi, we know that Thou ai-t a 
 teacher come from God ; foe no 
 man can do these miracles that 
 Thou doest, except God be with 
 him.'" — Van Mildei-t, Botjle 
 Lectures, 1802—1805. Vol. ii. p. 
 344. We subjoin the opinion ©f 
 Sir Matthew Hale : — " It is true 
 of miracles as of special Provi- 
 dence, that if we shoidd deny the 
 intei-vention of special acts of 
 Divine Providence in relation to 
 actions natm-al or moral that ap- 
 pear in the world, we shoidd ex- 
 clude His regimen of the world 
 in a gi-eat measm-e, and chain up 
 all things to a fatal necessity of 
 second causes, and allow at most 
 to the glorious God a bare pros- 
 pect or prescience of things that 
 are or shall be done, without any 
 other regency but merely accord- 
 ing to the instituted nature and 
 operations of things." — Primitive 
 Origination of Mankind, ch. i. 
 
12 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, endorsed and passing current with the pretended 
 
 '- — rationalist, under the name of reason, but which 
 
 are in reahty far more astounding and incredible 
 than anything proposed on the other side. If, on 
 the contrary, we admit a Creator, it is in the high- 
 est degree rash and unphilosophical to limit His 
 creating and dispensing power. And though we 
 believe Him to administer the world which He lias 
 made, by regular and uniform laws, yet it is im- 
 possible for us to decide what acts or events, how- 
 ever seemingly extraordinary, come within the 
 limits of those laws if only we were more perfectly 
 acquainted with them, or how far it may please 
 Him occasionally to depart from them. Thus, for 
 instance, a revelation^ being clearly a departure 
 from the ordinary course of Providence, is ^ 
 miracle, and yet we must admit that many such 
 revelations there have been. Among the Jews 
 they were of constant recurrence. Voices from 
 Ileaven, or by angelic messengers, in patriarchal 
 times ; the Urim and Thummin, under the Law ; 
 Visions, under the Propliets, were the constant 
 vehicles and direct instances of such a revelation. 
 They are credibly recorded ; they include prophecies 
 long since verified by the result, and thus guaran- 
 teeing the reality of the predictive power. Yet to 
 admit this is to admit miracles^; and it is there- 
 fore nothing against the credibility of the Mosaic 
 
 ^ On the arg-mnent for miracles, Relic/ion, by the Hon. F. Boyle j 
 see HecoHcilableness of Reason and J, F. ]>uddeus, de Atheismo ct 
 
Authority of Pentateuch indepe7ident of Authorship. 13 
 
 documents, that miraculous accounts are found chap. 
 
 among their contents. '■ — 
 
 We have assumed Moses to be the writer of the 
 Pentateuch^, and have appealed for the truth of this 
 liypothesis to the invariable tenor of Jewish tra- 
 dition. That he was so considered among them is 
 evident from the books of the New Testament ; and 
 upon other and independent grounds it may not be 
 difficult to prove that he really was. But we may 
 observe, that Moses being the author, is not abso- 
 lutely essential to the argument for the inspiration 
 of the books, however much it may strengthen that 
 argument. A saying may be none the less true 
 because it is doubtful who said it. The uncer- 
 tainty of the authorship does not prevent our 
 admiration of many passages in the Letters of 
 Junius. And so in the instance before us ; we must 
 keep our eye mainly upon the facts recorded, and not 
 too exclusively on the person recording. It might 
 have been Moses, we will say, for argument's sake, 
 or it might have been some other compiler ; but in 
 either case the subject-matter of the record is the 
 
 Superstitione ; Lettres cle quelques ^ We may remark also, that 
 
 Juifs a lions, de Voltaire, Paris, Porpliyiy, the learned and bitter 
 
 1781 ; Houteville, La Religion enemy of Christianity, admitted 
 
 Chretienne prouvee par les fails ; the authorship of the Pentateuch, 
 
 StUlkig-fleet, Orig. Sac. vol. ii. and acknowledged that Moses was 
 
 ch. 5 — 10 ; Fleetwood, Essay on prior to the Phoenician Sanchoni- 
 
 Iliraclcs ; Leslie, View of De- atho, who floiu-ished before the 
 
 istical Writers, vol. i. Letters 18 Trojan war. See Hamilton, On 
 
 —21 ; Biyant, On the Plagues of the Pentateuch, 1852, p. 137. 
 Egg2)t ; Rogers, Reason and Faith. 
 
14 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, principal thing. In either view, also, a great in- 
 
 '- terest must attach to the life and character of the 
 
 chosen leader of Israel out of Egypt, whether he 
 wrote the Pentateuch or not. 
 
 That at least the name of that Leader — not to 
 insist more on the authorship of the books — was 
 Moses, we may unhesitatingly assume as a fact 
 equally certain with any in history. Besides in 
 Josephus, and throughout the Scriptures, he is 
 spoken of by Manetho, Diodorus, Lysimaclius^ 
 Tacitus^ Longiniis, and Straho^ in short, by nearly 
 all writers, sacred and profane, as the great law- 
 giver of the Jewish people. The selfsame locali- 
 ties in the East^ as are mentioned in his own 
 narratives still re-echo his name ; and we have 
 the continuous testimony of Jewish tradition to 
 the reality of the man and of his work. But the 
 continuous testimony of the Jewish nation alone 
 amounts to a moral certainty of the fact. It would 
 be impossible for a whole people for ages together 
 to testify to things as actually having taken place 
 among them, and to carry on that testimony from 
 the very time they are said to have occurred, if 
 they never occurred at all. How hopeless it would 
 be for an impostor to go to a strange people, — say 
 to the Siberians, — and persuade them that from time 
 immemorial they, or their forefathers, had been 
 
 ' Til ere are places on the Red (fountains of Moses), 02-)posite Eas 
 
 . Sea called by the natives to this Attalca, or the Bay of Deliverance, 
 
 day Hummam 3Ima (bath of See Kitto, CyclopacUa of Biblical 
 
 Moses), near Tor, and Ayun Musa Literature. 
 
Impositio7i precluded hy the Circumstances. 15 
 
 circumcised or had kept the Passover, or received chap. 
 
 the Law on Mount Sinai, or, in short, been the sub- ■ 
 jects of a history in which they were conscious they 
 had really taken no part ! Would any number of 
 Englishmen be persuaded to believe that 600,000 of 
 their ancestors had been led over the Thames at the 
 Nore on dry ground, from the Kentish to the Essex 
 side, if this had never really taken place ? But if 
 this would be impracticable with Siberians, or with 
 Englishmen, as unlikely is it that any similar story 
 should have succeeded with the people of Israel, . 
 unless it was strictly founded on fact. But when a 
 story did obtain credit, and was received among 
 them from the generation that first witnessed it to 
 their remotest posterity, no doubt can exist in 
 any reasonable mind of the truth and reality of it. 
 In thus stating the case, it wiU be perceived that 
 we have been following the celebrated argument of 
 Leslie ^ in his " Method with the Deists." And if 
 it convincingly shows the certainty of the facts^ we 
 are sure there must have been some principal actor 
 in the transactions thus credibly recorded, even if 
 it was not Moses. To deny that it was Moses is 
 merely, therefore, to shift the question to a dispute 
 about names, and gains absolutely nothing to the 
 side of the objector, except to bring upon him the 
 responsibility of telling us who it was to whom the 
 history belongs. He must equally admit the sub- 
 stance of the history to be true as standing on similar 
 
 * And see Jenkins' Reasonableness of Cliristianity, vol. i. p. 2. cli. 0. 
 
16 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 and, we must say, much stronger evidence than it 
 would be easy to find for any other known history 
 in the world. ^ 
 
 We have thus briefly stated the case as it regards 
 the substance of the Mosaic history. It may be 
 useful, before concluding these preliminary re- 
 marks, to show how the constant persuasion 
 among the chosen people themselves was, that 
 the books of the Pentateuch were to be ascribed 
 to the authorship of the same individual who 
 had conducted their forefathers out of Egypt, as 
 well as in what esteem he was held among the 
 same people as regards the inspiration under 
 which those writings were composed. 
 
 If others 
 
 1 "Here," says Van Mildeii, 
 " as in the Christian Religion, is 
 a series oi facts easy to be proved 
 or disproved at the time when 
 they were said to be brought, and 
 also several ordinances of a pecu- 
 liar and appropriate description, 
 designed to keep those facts in re- 
 membrance. If, then, it be asked, 
 ' Might not an impostor deceive a 
 whole people by pretending to do 
 such things as Moses did ? or 
 might not some other impostor 
 aftei-wards fabricate an account of 
 these pretended transactions ? 
 the answer is, that the natvu'e of 
 facts clearly refutes the former 
 supposition ; and the nature of tlie 
 institutions founded upon them as 
 clearly refutes the latter. For as 
 no man could make a whole 
 people believe that he had laid 
 the country in which they lived 
 imder desolation by unheard-of 
 
 plagues of a preternatural kind, 
 and that he had conducted them 
 for forty years together through a 
 scene of perils, trials, and deliver- 
 ances imparalleled in the histoiy 
 of mankind, without having 
 actually performed such things ; 
 so no man in after times could in- 
 duce that people to believe that 
 such and such ordinances and me- 
 morials of those events had been 
 constantly and religiously observed 
 by that very people ever since the 
 events took place, if neither such 
 events had ever happened, nor such 
 ordinances and memoricds were then 
 rcallj/ existing. And it is utterly 
 incredible that at any after period 
 an attempt to impose such things 
 upon the nation, if unfoimded in 
 fact, coidd possibly have suc- 
 ceeded." — Van Mildert, Boyle 
 Lectures, ii. 247. 
 
The place of Moses in the Jewish Canon. 17 
 
 sliould come to the conclusion that the author chap. 
 of the books was not also the chosen leader of 
 the people, they will have two characters to ac- 
 count for, — each having distinct claims to inspi- 
 ration ; while, if we take the Jewish tradition and 
 belief, it leaves us the easier task of accounting only 
 for one. And this is the hypothesis which, in the 
 following pages, we would be supposed to adopt. 
 The following, then, was the order of the sacred 
 Canon, as received among the Jews : — 
 
 I Genesis. 
 Exodus. 
 Leviticus. 
 Numbers. 
 Deuteronomy. 
 
 r Joshua. 
 Four Books of the former Pro- I Judges and Euth. 
 
 phets 1 Samuel 1 and 2. 
 
 L Kings 1 and 2. 
 
 r Isaiali. 
 Four Books of the later Pro- j Jeremiah and Lamentations. 
 
 Pl^ets H Ezekiel. 
 
 I Twelve Lesser Prophets. 
 
 Psahns. 
 
 Proverbs, 
 
 Ecclesiastes. 
 
 Canticles. 
 
 Job. 
 
 Daniel. 
 
 Ezra and Nehemiah. 
 
 Esther. 
 
 Chronicles 1 and 2. 
 
 ^ Ifaimonides, recognising this and ascribing to Moses the pre- 
 division of the ancient Scriptures, euiiuence above all the other iu- 
 
 C 
 
 Psalms, and rest of the Ilagio- 
 grapha, Nine Books ^ . . 
 
18 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. We copy from Bishop Gleig's Introduction to 
 
 * — Stackhouse the following observations on the 
 
 above Canon : — " It is evident, from this classifi- 
 cation, that the Jews who made it considered the 
 different classes of their sacred books as entitled to 
 difi'erent degrees of reverence ; and it is well known 
 that, in the days of our Saviour's sojourning on 
 earth, the five books of Moses were received as ca- 
 nonical scripture by the sect of the Sadducees, and 
 by the people of Samaria. In rejecting the writings 
 of the prophets these heretics did, indeed, greatly 
 err ; for these writings have internal evidence, that 
 whatever doctrines or prophecies they contain, were, 
 dictated by the Spirit of God, and are therefore un- 
 questionably sacred and authoritative. It cannot, 
 however, be denied that the books of Moses were 
 entitled to peculiar reverence, because they not 
 only contain the complete code of Jewish law and 
 
 spired winters, thus enumerates Moses it was not so ; and this is 
 
 tlie particulars wherein it con- what the Scripture says, — 'Asa 
 
 sisted, viz. : " (1.) All the other man speaketh mito his friend ' 
 
 prophets saw the prophecy in a (Ex. xxxiii. 11), (4.) All the 
 
 dream or a vision ; but our rabbi other prophets could not prophesy 
 
 Moses saw it when he was awake. at any time that tliey wished ,• but 
 
 (2.) To all the other prophets it with INloses it was not so, but at 
 
 was revealed through the medium any time when he wished for it, 
 
 of an angel, and therefore they the Holy Spirit came upon him ; 
 
 saw in an allegory or enigma; so that it was not necessary for 
 
 but to Moses it is said, 'With him him to prepare his mind, for he 
 
 I will speak mouth to mouth ' was always ready for it, like the 
 
 (nS"^i< HD, Num. xii. 8), and ministering angels." — Maimon- 
 
 ' face to face ' (n"'2Q"'?X D''3Q, Kx. ides, Yad Hdchazakah, c. vii. See 
 
 xxxiii. 11). (3.) All the otlier Lee's I/ispmdiun of Holy Scrip- 
 
 prophets were terrified ; but with ture, Appendix C. 
 
Scriptural Testimony to the Inspiration of Moses. 19 
 
 relio'ion, but also relate those awful events on which chap. 
 
 . . I. 
 is founded the whole scheme of revealed religion, 
 
 Christian as well as Jewish." 
 
 We have yet higher authority than Jewish tradi- 
 tion. St. Peter sets his seal to the truth of those 
 early Scrij^tures, where he adopts in his Epistle 
 several principal particulars in the Mosaic records, 
 such as the history of Balaam (2 Pet. ii. 15), the 
 destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah^ Lot^ Noah., 
 and the Ark (2 Pet. ii. 5-7; and 1 Pet. iii. 20). 
 We have his testimony again (2 Pet. iii. 5, 6), that 
 " by the word of God the heavens were of old, and 
 the earth standing out of the water and in the 
 water; Whereby the world that then was, being 
 overflowed with water, perished." And he adds 
 (2 Pet. i. 21), " The prophecy came not in old 
 time by the Avill of man ; but holy men of old 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 St. Paul, in like manner, declares his belief to be 
 grounded on the same Old Testament records — 
 " And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the 
 promise made of God unto our fathers .... I con- 
 tinue witnessing both to small and great, saying 
 none other things than those which the prophets 
 and Moses did say should come " (Acts xxvi. 6, 22). 
 Pleading before Felix, he says (Acts xxiv. 14): 
 "This I confess unto thee, that after the way which 
 they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, 
 believing all things which are written in the Law 
 and in the Prophets." " We have found Him," 
 
20 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, said a still earlier discif)le, " of whom Moses in the 
 
 '■ — law, and the Prophets, did write." (John i. 45). To 
 
 the Jews, who admitted the writings while they re- 
 jected the conclusions drawn from them, our Lord 
 himself rejoins (John v. 45, 46), "There is one that 
 accuseth you, even Moses^ in whom ye trust. For 
 had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me, 
 for he wrote of Me." On the solemn occasion of 
 one of his latest manifestations of Himself to two 
 of his disciples, " beginning at Moses, and all the 
 Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scrip- 
 tures the things concerning himself." Luke xxiv. 
 27. And in what appears a parting charge to the 
 Eleven Apostles (Luke xxiv. 44), " These are the 
 words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with 
 you, that all things must be fulfilled, Avliich were 
 written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, 
 and in the Psalms, concerning me." With these 
 lights before us, we proceed to follow Moses through 
 the chief events of his personal history. Much ad- 
 ditional interest will arise from its connexion with 
 the whole national history of Israel, and much cause 
 of admiration also, as we mark the sober truthful- 
 ness of the narrator, and the sublime simplicity of 
 the narrative. 
 
21 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 The Life of Moses. — First Part. 
 
 " The best ^vay of proving the truth of religion is by exhibiting it as 
 it is. The best proof of the creation of the world, of the deluge, and of 
 the miracles of Moses, is the natm-e of those mii-acles." — Feneloi^. 
 
 "^So distinctive, so peculiar, that the wonderful vitality of 
 Hebraism in after times can only be explained on the hypothesis that 
 men's devotion to it had been supernatm-aUy produced, and ever since 
 the childhood of the nation had been growing upward with their 
 gi'owth. ' ' — Hakd WICK. 
 
 The life of Moses is interesting alike to the 
 Statesman, the Lawgiver, the Philosopher, and the 
 Divine. In it we see, reflected as in a mirror, the 
 most favourable image of the times in which he 
 lived — the measure of light enjoyed — and the 
 extent to which it pleased God at that period to 
 manifest His Divine attributes among the most 
 favoured people of the world. We see, moreover, 
 in his personal character, much to venerate and 
 admire — much to qualify him for the work to which 
 he was called ; and thus to establish the truth of 
 his Divine mission, and to commend to our approval 
 the titles by which he has come down to us, as 
 " the man of God," and the type of that " Prophet 
 that should come into the world." 
 
 It may indeed be difficult to separate him in our 
 
 c 3 
 
22 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, view from the system with which we associate his 
 '- — name. We almost unavoidably bring to the con- 
 sideration of his character the prejudices which 
 cling to our ideas of that more limited dispensa- 
 tion, of which he was the minister. We mix up 
 with our conceptions of the Lawgiver all the im- 
 perfections which we associate with the law; — 
 imperfections, be it remembered, which can only be 
 viewed in their true light, when regarded as intro- 
 ductory, in the purposes of Infinite Wisdom, to the 
 better dispensation of the Gospel of Christ. It 
 would be desirable to put aside by some decided 
 effort all such prejudices, if we would form a fair 
 estimate of the man. And if this be done, we 
 doubt not the admirable adaptation of the instru- 
 ment to the Avork required, and thereby the wisdom 
 of Divine Providence in selecting him for the office 
 assigned him, will very plainly appear. There will 
 be seen to be nothing strained or unnatural in the 
 fancy of painters and sculptors, when they adorn 
 his brows with horns of light — just emblems, as we 
 shall allow them to be, not merely of the light 
 which beamed from his countenance on his descent 
 from Mount Sinai, but of the peculiar grace which 
 pervaded all the Avords and actions recorded of him 
 in the daily discharge of the offices of his ministry. 
 Moses, through his father Amram, was grandson 
 of Levi, and, therefore, fourth in descent from the 
 patriarch Jacob ; — thereby illustrating tlie prophecy 
 in Gen. xv. 16. "And in the fourth generation 
 
Analogy of Moses' Office. 23 
 
 they shall come hither again," i.e., out of Egypt CHAr. 
 into the promised land of Canaan. But though '- 
 
 descended from Levi, he was not, technically speak- 
 ing, a Levite. That office had not yet been insti- 
 tuted, nor that tribe set apart for the public 
 ministry of the tabernacle when Moses was born, 
 nor even when he entered upon the duties of public 
 life. If, therefore, we would picture Moses to our 
 minds, we are not to imagine him in priestly robes, 
 limited to the comparatively small, though venerable 
 sphere of priestly offices. Younger in years than 
 Aaron, he was made Aaron's superior in command ; 
 and we have an early example, so to speak, of 
 Church subordinated to State. Yet in Moses there 
 was enough of the Churchman to secure such 
 arrangement from any danger of abuse from reck- 
 less and unprincipled invasion of ecclesiastical rule, 
 and from contempt of the laws of religion and 
 morality. He held, in fact, a double office; and 
 when that office became divided with Aaron, one 
 soul as it were animated both; there reigned the 
 strictest harmony between them, not less from ties 
 of brotherhood, than from a common spirit of faith 
 and loyalty to the one true God of Israel. 
 
 His infancy fell in a strange land, and in a time 
 of great oppression and cruelty against the people 
 of his race. A Pharaoh had arisen, who " knew 
 not Joseph," 1 and, desirous of exterminating, or at 
 least of wearing down to insignificant numbers 
 
 Ex. i. 
 c 4 
 
'4 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, a people whose industry and good conduct had 
 — ^ — advanced them to a position of inconvenient wealth 
 and importance in the land of their settlement, had 
 issued an order to slay, or to cast into the river, 
 every male child that should be born to Israel. 
 This order was at first frustrated by the better 
 feelings and brave resistance of the Egyptian mid- 
 wives. But as regarded the child Moses, it had 
 nearly taken effect, when by God's peculiar blessing 
 on a mother's skill and a sister's tender care and 
 cleverness, he was snatched from a watery grave, 
 and even placed in shelter under Pharaoh's roof. 
 We need scarcely repeat the circumstances ; but 
 anything more touching can scarcely be imagined 
 than the pretty artifice of the little Hebrew maid, 
 the sister of Moses, on this occasion. As he was 
 lowered into the river in his slender bark, that 
 " sister stood afar off, to see what would be done to 
 him." The approach of Pharaoh's daughter to 
 perform the rites of ablution in the sacred waters 
 of the Nile, soon gave occasion for the exercise of 
 her watchfulness. At the call of that Princess, who 
 had been attracted by the beauty of the child whom 
 she saw lying on the stream, the little maid rushes 
 forward from her place of concealment, and proffers, 
 as a stranger, her services to procure a nurse. 
 The nurse whom she procures — all unknown to 
 the royal company — is the mother of the child. 
 " The maid went and called the child's mother.^ . . . 
 
 ' Ex. ii. 4—10. 
 
His learned Education. 25 
 
 And the child ojrew, and she brouo^ht him unto chap. 
 
 II. 
 Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And '- — 
 
 she called his name Moses, and she said, Because I 
 drew him out of the water?" This little 'ark' 
 of bulrushes, we may remark, is called by the 
 same name in Hebrew as the ' ark ' which carried 
 Noah and his family in the Flood. It scarcely 
 bore a less precious treasure than that other and 
 more memorable vessel; and the very name 
 was intended, probably, to suggest a parallel 
 between the two events — the one, signalising 
 the preparation for a new world, the other a no 
 less important preparation for a new aera in its 
 development. 
 
 Received into the house of Pharaoh, he now 
 grew up a favourite in the King's court. Between 
 the care of a Jewish mother, and the advantages 
 of the royal household, he doubtless acquired the 
 choicest learning of his day. " The magicians of 
 Egypt, and all the wise men thereof " ^ would have 
 waited upon him to instruct him : and, if we give 
 credit to Josephus, he became famous in the arts 
 of war as well as of peace, and headed a military 
 expedition into Ethiopia. Thus he spent the first 
 forty years. And with all these accomplishments, 
 added to the advantages of a goodly person and 
 the prime season of manhood, we can scarcely over- 
 estimate the temptations he must have felt to 
 prefer the favours of the court of Egypt, and all 
 
 1 Gen. xli, 8. 
 
26 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, the blandishments of royal luxury, before the in- 
 
 '- — terests of his country, and the sterner calls of 
 
 duty. It is, however, recorded of him that " he 
 esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than 
 the treasures in Egypt." ^ He determined to " visit 
 his brethren," and to acquaint himself by personal 
 observation with their condition, and the treat- 
 ment they continued to receive under their " cruel 
 taskmasters." 
 
 At this stage of his life, an action is recorded 
 of him, which must have been very trying to his 
 faith. In a contest between an Israelite and an 
 Egy]3tian, he took part with the Israelite, and 
 " slew the Egyptian." ^ Before he slew him he is 
 recorded to have looked about him, to see that no 
 other Egyptian was near; and afterwards to have 
 " hidden him in the sand." ^ The following day 
 he saw two Israelites engaged in a similar contest, 
 and when he offered again to interfere, one of them 
 reproved him and said, " Who made thee a ruler 
 and a judge over us ? Intendest thou to kiU me, 
 as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday ? " ^ We 
 have purposely given the express words of Scrip- 
 ture in relating this transaction; and we see no 
 ground for calling the first of the actions here 
 related, as some have done, the 'murder' of the 
 Egyptian. There is nothing to prevent our sup- 
 posing that it was a case of aggravated assault and 
 
 » Ileb. xi. 2G. 2 Ex. ii. 12. 3 Ex. ii. 14 ; Acts vii. 27, 28. 
 
His Rupture with the Court of Pharaoh. 27 
 
 outrage, in the first instance, on the part of the chap. 
 
 Egyptian, which justified some violence in return, 
 
 and that therefore Moses was acting on the defen- 
 sive side. St. Stephen certainly puts this con- 
 struction upon it, when he says (Acts vii. 24), 
 " Seeing one of them sufi'er wrong, he defended 
 him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and 
 smote the Egyptian." It was an act, therefore, 
 which rather showed his courage, and seemed 
 forced upon him ; and though he would hide him 
 from the Egyptians, he clearly wished his o-\\ti 
 brethren to understand that he felt himself strongly 
 moved to come forward as an avenger of his in- 
 jured countrymen. He might have reckoned on a 
 general rising of his own people in defence of their 
 rights. Perhaps St. Stephen intimates as much, 
 when he continues, " He supposed that his breth- 
 ren would have understood him that God by his 
 hand would deliver them, but they understood 
 not." (Acts vii. 25.) On the side of the Egyp- 
 tians we may regard it as a wholesome warning to 
 them to rejDent of their oppressions ; an intimation 
 that a day of vengeance might await even the 
 monarch upon his throne for his wilful murder of 
 the Israelitish children. To Moses the trial was 
 — not that worst sufi'ering of a troubled con- 
 science (for it was no common impulse under 
 which it had acted), — but the certainty of know- 
 ing that by this act there was brought to an issue 
 his resolution to break with Pharaoh. He must 
 
II. 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, not only break with him, he must fly from the city, 
 as amenable to the laws of homicide ; and where 
 then was his hope of doing good to his o^vn people, 
 or of taking the lead in any measures for their 
 benefit? His rejection by his own countrymen 
 was more galling than the wrath of Pharaoh and 
 the awakened suspicions of the Egyptian people. 
 A voluntary and immediate exile was his only 
 resource. With what feelings of mortified am- 
 bition ! with what disconcerted hopes ! with what 
 sad discouragement to his ardent patriotism, must 
 he have fled — an eight days' journey as we read 
 it is — into the wilds of Midian ! Here, adopting 
 the garb and occupation of a shepherd, he sat down 
 by a well ; and, as it chanced one day, the daughters 
 of some native priest, or chieftain, came to draw 
 water for their herds, and encountered the oppo- 
 sition of a band of marauders, — when Moses took 
 the opportunity to attack the assailants, and by 
 his courage succeeded in driving them away. He 
 was immediately taken into the employ of the 
 father, whose name was Jethro, and whose flocks 
 he tended for another forty years of his life. Can 
 we read this and not forecast his future history ? 
 Can we help feeling, that there was upon him, and 
 everywhere following him, the mark and type of 
 the future Deliverer of his people? He was now 
 tending sheep in the wilderness : but there was a 
 larger and more important flock awaiting him; 
 there were oppressions going on, more serious than 
 
Was Moses the Author of the Book of Job ? 29 
 
 tlie pastoral affrays of Midian; and there was a chap. 
 day of retribution coining, and Jethro's servant 
 the destined instrument. He seemed but a lonely 
 shepherd ; yet he was training in the school of ad- 
 versity, and in the retirement of the desert — in 
 days of labour and nights of watching, to become 
 fitted for his higher charge. In present rcAvard of 
 his fidelity, he obtained, at some later period of his 
 sojourn in Midian, the hand of Jethro's daughter 
 in marriage, — by whom he had two sons, one named 
 Gershom, in remembrance of his father's wander- 
 ings, and the other Eliezer. We have no certain 
 evidence, but it is generally supposed that he de- 
 voted his hours of leisure to the composition of 
 psalms, particularly of Psalms XC. — C, which are 
 those usually ascribed to Moses. The Book of 
 Genesis might also have employed him, as well as 
 the translation from the Arabic of the Book of 
 Job. The patronymic names of two of Job's 
 friends, Eliphaz and Bildad \ point clearly to Idu- 
 maean, i.e.^ to Arabian origin. The style and 
 lano;uao;e of the book, as well as the absence of 
 directly Jewish allusions, point equally to an earlier 
 date than the books of the Pentateuch : — and all 
 would be explained, if we suppose the present ver- 
 sion of it, as introduced into the Jewish canon, 
 to be a translation by some Jewish author. Tra- 
 
 1 Eliphaz, the Temanite, and xxxvi. 10 — 11 ; Shuah, son of 
 Bildad, the Shuite : Teman being Ketiu-ah, wife of Abraham, Gen. 
 son of Eliphaz, son of Esau, Gen. xxv. 2. 
 
30 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, dition gives it to Moses ^ ; and there seems every 
 
 '■ — probability that Midian, being contiguous to Idu- 
 
 masa^, Moses was attracted by this remarkable 
 book which he found there, abounding, as it does, 
 with remarks and incidents full of instruction and 
 consolation in times of affliction and trouble, and 
 that he eventually bequeathed it, in its Hebrew 
 version, to the devout use of posterity. 
 
 Thus Moses completed another forty years of 
 his life, when he was destined to receive a more 
 visible appointment to his sacred office. As he was 
 leading his flock near to where the wilderness of 
 Midian sloped away to the heights of Horeb, the 
 Almighty, by the Angel of his presence, suddenly 
 appears to him in a flame of fire in a bush. The 
 bush burns without consuming — apt emblem of the 
 destined preservation of Israel, notwithstanding all 
 the fires of persecution, and the furnace of afflic- 
 tion, through which they must pass. The call is 
 made to Moses, in no ambiguous terms, to become 
 the leader in the great work of their deliverance. 
 The backwardness of Moses to meet the call is now 
 as remarkable as his forwardness on another occa- 
 sion. But it is no mean symptom of merit, and no 
 bad omen of success, when the first feeling is that 
 of a painful consciousness of personal deficiencies. 
 Forty years' perhaps sorrowful recollection of his 
 
 1 Kimchi and the best Rabbi- Append. C. 1856. 
 nical aiitliorities. See Bany, In- 
 troductmi to the Old Testament, * See again Gen. xxv. 2, 
 
His Backwardness to obey the Call. 31 
 
 own precipitancy, had quenched somewhat of the chap. 
 
 early impetuosity of his youth, and taught him a '- — 
 
 more sober estimate of the difficulties of the charge 
 proposed to him. And if it had ended there, — if, 
 with the cooling down of his ambition, he had lost 
 all the fire of his faith and earnest regard to duty, 
 it would have been a loss to his country, and to the 
 world ; — and we should have condemned the 
 excess of prudence with which he debated ere he 
 made his choice. But faith and the strong sense of 
 duty were alive in him still ; and the timidity with 
 which he at first shrank from the office proposed 
 to him, gave way before the repeated assurances of 
 the Divine favour and support. He who with his 
 accustomed meekness had imagined himself slow of 
 speech, and of a faltering tongue, was destined to 
 become " mighty in words and in deeds." ^ That 
 highest element of character — ever the parent of 
 the best Christian graces — humility within the 
 heart re-assured by faith in the Divine promises, 
 was seen to work in him in its full measure of 
 power and energy, as was soon to be made manifest 
 in the result. 
 
 The scene of the flaming bush is instructive to 
 us upon another account. We see here the terrors, 
 as well as the mercies, of the Divine Majesty. The 
 Almighty reveals himself by the awful name, 
 Jehovah, — so sacred a name among the Jews, that 
 they ever after feared to take it upon their lips. 
 
 1 Acts vii. 22. 
 
32 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. The giving of this sacred name is accompanied 
 —^ — with its explanation. The very thought of a Being 
 self-existent from all eternity — must needs awaken 
 the most profound sentiments of adoration and 
 reverence. Nor are such feelings to be lightly 
 regarded, as though they required not the food of 
 such passages as these ; — as if either the conceits of 
 heathen philosophy, or the witchery of heathen 
 superstitions, or even the more genial revelations 
 of a later dispensation, could ever do away with, 
 or in any sense replace them. They are placed 
 deep in the heart by our Maker, and want the 
 nourishment of His o^vn word to feed and develope 
 them. Such would be the effect of the scene before 
 us, if rightly contemplated and improved. " Put ^ 
 off thy shoes from off thy feet; draw not nigh 
 hither, for the place whereon thou standest is holy 
 ground" was the direct command of the Almighty, 
 even at the moment that He required the atten- 
 dance and homage of his chosen servant ; — a lesson, 
 surely, to all ages of the Church, that men should 
 duly reverence God, even while He graciously con- 
 descends to them in the gift of his Son and Holy 
 Spirit. On this, if on any occasion, it might have 
 seemed expedient to divest of its terrors the sacred 
 name of Deity, and to render the approaches to 
 Him easy and familiar. For on it might seem to 
 depend the assurance with which Moses might 
 assume to come into near relationship, as the 
 
 1 Ex. iii. 5. 
 
Lesson of Fever en re in approaching the Deity. 33 
 
 interpreter of His will, and the privileged recipient chap. 
 
 of more immediate communications. But none of — 
 
 these considerations, we see, for a moment led to 
 unworthy representations of the Supreme Being. 
 Yet more awful still were to be the future displays 
 of His glory upon Mount Sinai. Assuredly, then, 
 we are not less capable of loving God, when we 
 begin by fearing Him. On the contrary, we are led 
 rather to take heed, that, whether fearing or loving 
 Him, we entertain alike due conceptions of His in- 
 finite perfections and attributes. Need we fear that 
 the motives of love to Him will be less because we 
 apprehend Him as the fountain of all perfection, 
 and therefore of all good to man, and of all wisdom 
 and power to sustain His creatures, to protect His 
 people, and to provide for the execution of His 
 own laws ? Not even as Christians, then, — not 
 as enjoying all the privileges of the better coveijant, 
 and the one all-prevailing Mediator, — not as being 
 invited, in Christ's name, to draw near with filial 
 " boldness to the throne of grace," ^ — are we entitled 
 to forget that the throne of grace is a throne still, 
 and that it must ever be as petitioners, dependent 
 wholly on the grace and mercy sought, that we 
 draw near. 
 
 His instructions are now to go forward to his 
 work. " I have surely seen the afiaiction of my 
 people which are in Egypt, and have heard their 
 
 1 Ileb. iv. 16. 
 D 
 
34 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CPiAP. cry by reason of their taskmasters Come 
 
 — — — now, therefore, and I Avill send thee unto Pharaoh, 
 that thou mayest bring forth my people the chil- 
 dren of Israel out of Egypt." ^ He is assured that 
 he shall meet Aaron by the way, who shall come 
 out to him from the land of Egypt, and returning 
 with him there lend the weight of his authority and 
 influence (for he was doubtless even then a chief 
 officer in Israel), to secure the respectful hearing of 
 at least his own brethren and countrymen. Aaron 
 was also to relieve him in being spokesman to the 
 people and before Pharaoh. There is a remarkable 
 simplicity in the manner in which the shepherd of 
 Midian takes leave of his master and father-in-law, 
 Jethro. There is no concealing from him the fact 
 of his proposed departure, nor any parade of the 
 distinguished honour that had been put upon him. 
 Neither boasting of his high call, nor attempting to 
 carry it with a high hand, he simply requests leave 
 of absence, and says, " Let me go, I pray thee, and 
 return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and 
 see whether they be yet alive." ^ His wife and 
 children accompany him, but not far ; and then, 
 (as we are led to gather by indirect inference from 
 Scripture^, and as we find confirmed by Jewish 
 tradition), he commits them to the care of Jethro 
 and proceeds on his way. And thus, bidding adieu 
 to long- cherished ties, and committing wife and 
 
 1 Ex. iii. 7—10. 2 Ex. iy. 18. s geg Ex. xviii. 5—7. 
 
Retributive Justice displayed. 35 
 
 children to Him who never suffers the righteous to chap. 
 
 be forsaken, nor his seed to beg their bread \ he '■ — 
 
 takes the first great step in his appointed mission, 
 — fit type of those who should hereafter be called 
 to "forsake all and follow Christ."^ As the cre- 
 dentials of their authority, the two fathers of Israel 
 were to be armed with a rod, which being let go 
 should turn to a serpent, and again to its natural 
 form when taken up. Thus armed they arrive 
 in the land of Egypt, and, on the exhibition of 
 their credentials, are received with favour by their 
 own people ; but Pharaoh, deluded by the subtlety 
 of his magicians, hardens his heart against them. 
 Again and again they appeal to their Divine com- 
 mission, and perform wonders in the sight of 
 Pharaoh, vdiich the art of the magicians in vain 
 strives to counterfeit. The Nile is turned to blood 
 — foul creatures pollute the land — diseases break 
 out on man and beast — grievous hail and a pro- 
 found darkness prevail ; — but the monarch's heart is 
 hardened still. It would not have been surprising 
 if the thunderbolts of Heaven had been launched 
 at once against the guilty land; for, besides the 
 obduracy of Pharaoh, the cry of blood was still 
 going up, and the murder of the innocent children 
 was still unavenged. It seems, indeed, that a fitting 
 retribution for that atrocious act of cruelty formed 
 one great part in the counsels of the Almighty 
 at this crisis. He had threatened it at the outset ; 
 
 1 Ps. xxxvii. 25. ^ L^i^g^ ^. 28. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 ciTAr. " Israel ' is my son, even my firstborn : and I say 
 - ' — unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me: 
 and if thou refuse to let him go, I will slay thy son, 
 even thy iirst-born." But the judgment first 
 threatened was the last fulfilled. It was reserved 
 for the last of the ten plagues to touch the life of 
 man ; and the stroke now fell upon the firstborn, — 
 " from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat upon the 
 throne to the firstborn of the captive that was in 
 the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle," ^ and 
 " there Avas not an house where there was not one 
 dead." Thus, in perfect consistency with the usual 
 order of Providence, it was not till milder methods 
 had been tried that resort was had to severer 
 courses. 
 
 We have not dwelt minutely on the several 
 plagues, nor shall we enter at length upon the in- 
 stitution of the Passover, and all the different cir- 
 cumstances of the Exodus, as they seem to have but 
 little bearing on the life and character of Moses. 
 There is one circumstance, however, which may re- 
 quire some special comment. We read ^ that on 
 the eve of their departure they " borrowed of the 
 Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and 
 raiment ; and the Lord gave the people favour in 
 the sight of the Egyptians, and they spoiled the 
 Egyptians." This act of the Israelites " spoiling the 
 Egyptians " has been objected to, as a breach of faith 
 
 1 Ex. iv. 23. 2 Ex. xii. 20—30. » Ex. xii. .3."), 3G. 
 
No Injustice in ^'spoiling'' the Egyptians. 37 
 
 in not returning the things which they are described chap. 
 as having " borrowed " of them. But it is by no — ^^^— 
 means certain that the two actions refer to the same 
 thing; and even if they did, the word " borrow " in 
 the English text may signify to "ask" in the Hebrew, 
 which they might innocently have done, and there 
 was then no wrong committed in keeping the things 
 which had been gratuitously given. It has also 
 been ingeniously remarked, that as the Israelites 
 had been long employed on the public works, it is 
 more than probable that some proportion of wages 
 was due to them, and that what they now received 
 and carried off as spoil was no more than the arrears 
 of wages justly due to their account. Thus also a 
 sort of price of their redemption was paid, and the 
 event became more emphatically typical of a Re- 
 demption to come, according to the description of 
 the Psalmist, " He brought them forth also with 
 silver and gold, there was not one feeble person 
 among their tribes." ^ The great design of calling 
 out a peculiar people, and of placing Moses at 
 their head as Judge and Lawgiver of Israel,- was 
 rapidly receiving its accomplishment. How great 
 a change was that which had exalted him from 
 a desert to a judgment-seat! See him, but a 
 few short months before, a shepherd in the lonely 
 wilderness ; thence sallying forth as a pilgrim with 
 staff in hand, venturing all upon the faith of the 
 miraculous vision which he had witnessed, and alone 
 
 1 Ps. CT. 37. 
 
 D 3 
 
IL 
 
 38 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, setting out, to encounter single-handed, or at least 
 with one solitary companion, the whole might 
 and wisdom of Egypt " — that cherished land of art 
 and science. How contrary to all human proba- 
 bility that such an errand should succeed! We 
 see nothing enthusiastic, nothing savouring of 
 ambitious dreams ; no thought of personal aggran- 
 disement among the motives which animated Moses 
 on this occasion of his Divine mission. If he obeyed 
 the call, which thus led him from a life of compa- 
 rative ease and retirement to one of toil and painful 
 responsibility, it was reluctantly and with many 
 misgivino-s. But out of weakness he was made 
 strong by an invisible power; — while his own 
 sense of the infirmities with which even the best of 
 men are encompassed, deepened by a long expe- 
 rience in the school of adversity, and by the many 
 trials of a chequered life, well fitted him for the 
 cares of government, and gave him a ready sym- 
 pathy in the wants and infirmities of others. 
 
 We may observe, in passing, the truly Catholic 
 character of many of the passages in the life of 
 Moses. They show the high rank he must ever 
 occupy in his historic, independently of his personal, 
 capacity, as principal actor in these scenes. The 
 oppressions and afiiictions of Israel are forcible 
 
 imajrcs 
 
 of the sufferino-s of the Church in ever 
 
 yage. 
 
 The land of Egypt, and the house of bondage, 
 are plainly the dominion of sin, and the service 
 of the Prince of Darkness : and the deliverance 
 
Analogy of Egyptian and Christian Redemptmi. 39 
 
 from bondage no less forcibly represents the great chap. 
 
 future deliverance. Jehovah is now " our Father 
 which hath bought us;" ^ "the blood of the Lamb 
 sprinkled on the door-posts " ^ of the children of 
 Israel is that more precious blood of the " Lamb of 
 God which taketh away the sins of the world ;" ^ we, 
 like them, but in a far higher sense, were to become 
 the " redeemed " people of the Lord, brought out 
 from the natural condition of helplessness and 
 misery into communion with the one true God; 
 to be the depositories of His revealed will, and, 
 under the sense of their manifold obligations, to 
 walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve 
 the Lord our God with all the heart, and with all the 
 soul." ^ And, as if to impress the parallel on our 
 minds, it was so contrived that the means were as 
 emblematic as the action itself. There was not 
 only the " silver and gold " and the " death of the 
 firstborn," but another and more distinct witness of 
 Him who " came by water and blood. "^ The baptism 
 of water in the Red Sea, and the consecration of 
 the people to their covenant state " in the cloud 
 and in the sea," ^ were no less typical than the blood 
 of the Paschal lamb itself, of the future blessings 
 of that better and more enduring covenant which 
 was to be ratified in the blood of Christ, and 
 sealed at the baptismal font. We might pursue 
 
 i Deut. xxxii. 0. ■» Deut. x. 12. 
 
 2 Ex. xii. 3-7, 21, 22. ^ 1 Jolm v. G. 
 
 3 Jolin i. 29. « 1 Cor. x. 2. 
 
Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, the parallel further, were it not anticipating 
 
 '■ — the sequel of the history. The passage of the 
 
 Eed Sea Avas the point at which we had just 
 arrived. There, at a place where the sea is some 
 eight or nine miles across, and where the temple- 
 fortress of Baalzephon overlooked the mountain 
 gorge of Pihahiroth, the Israelites, numbering 
 600,000 fighting men, besides women and children, 
 and a mixed multitude of retainers, passed over 
 before their enemies, the sea making a safe and 
 dry passage before them, while it swallowed up the 
 Egyptian host in its depths. The " strong east 
 wind," ^ of which the writer makes special mention, 
 might have tempted the Egyptians to imagine that 
 it was the force of the elements, and not the power 
 of the Almighty, which drove back the waves, and 
 that, therefore, the pursuers might follow in safety. 
 We might otherwise wonder at the selection of 
 that solitary circumstance, in a narrative which 
 supplies so few particulars. There were probably 
 many others handed down by tradition: — the 
 Jewish historian tells us'-^ of fierce wind and tem- 
 pests, storms of hail and rain, fearful thunderings 
 and lightnings; and so, too, the Psalmist^, "The 
 waters saw Thee, God, the waters saw Thee, 
 and were afraid ; the depths also were troubled. 
 The clouds poured out water ; tlie air thundered, 
 
 ' Ex. xiv. 21. Ps. Ixxviii. 18 ; Is. Ixiii. 11, 12 ; 
 
 - .]u»v\>h. Ant. \i\}. II. Ilabak. iii. 15; Wisdom xix. 7, 
 
 ' Ts. Ixxvii. ir>, kc. See al^n &,-. 
 
II. 
 
 Different Accounts of Red Sea Passage. 41 
 
 and Thine arrows went abroad. The voice of Thy chap. 
 thunder was heard round about; the lightning 
 shone upon the ground ; the earth was moved, and 
 shook withal." If we may believe Artapanus, as 
 quoted by Eusebius and Clemens Alexandrinus ^ 
 the people of Heliopolis, in Egypt, were wont to 
 give much the same account of the Exodus as this 
 in Holy "Writ ; but those of Memphis ascribed the 
 escape of the Israelites to the artifice of Moses 
 in marching over his army at a time of low water. 
 We may trace, in the hesitating and contradictory 
 statements of Manetho, a reluctant testimony to 
 the substantial truth of the Scripture narrative. 
 It is, however, to be remarked that, in a matter of 
 this kind, the authority of Jewish tradition alone 
 would be sufficient. It comes down to us as part 
 and parcel of their national history : the idea of im- 
 posture at some later period is, as we have stated 
 in a former chapter^, effectually precluded by the 
 circumstances of the case. We have now to fol- 
 low Moses in a new stage of his career, and through 
 the labours of his public administration. 
 
 Contemporary History of Egypt. — Beyond the scattered 
 notices in Scriptiu-e, the principal authorities to be consulted 
 on the early history of Egypt are these : Herodotus, Manetho, 
 Eratosthenes, Diodorus, Plutarch. Herodotus, B.C. 460 ; Ma- 
 netho, B.C. 280; Eratosthenes, b.c. 240; Diodoi-us, B.C. 56. 
 
 Of these, Manetho and Eratosthenes were natives of Egypt ; 
 
 ^ Prsep. Evang. ix. 27 ; Strom, i. - See above, Chap. i. p. 15. 
 
42 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. Manetho belonged to an ancient order of priests of Heliopoli 
 
 II. 
 
 and was employed by Ptolemy Pliiladelphus to translate into 
 Greek the lists of kings wliicli were preserved in the temples, 
 and also to collect the historical records of their reigns. Un- 
 fortmiately we have only a few fragments of both these authors, 
 preserved by Josephus, Africanns, and Eiisebius, but the lists of 
 kings are tolerably perfect, and comprise thirty dynasties, from 
 Menes, the first king, to Darius. If the transcribers of Manetho 
 were all agreed, we might here have some certain data. But 
 the lists in Afi'icanus, who came a century before Eusebius, show 
 the niimber of 452 kings, while in Eusebius, the number is 334 ; and 
 there are other considerable differences between them. In the Greek 
 authors we meet with still greater differences. Thus, Herodotus 
 and Diodorus, while they agree in stating that Egypt was first 
 governed for a long period by gods, then by demigods, and lastly 
 by mortals, yet entirely disagree in the names of these pretended 
 sovereigns, in the duration of their reigns, and in the acts which 
 they performed. The Egyptian j)riests, indeed, told Herodotus, 
 " that they had always computed the years, and kept written ac- 
 counts of them with the greatest accuracy." — Herod, ii. 145. 
 " But as," says Sir John Stoddart, {Introduction to Universal 
 History^ p. 210,) they asserted this no less positively respecting 
 the thousands of years of gods, than respecting the shorter reigns 
 of mortal kings, the assertion was no doubt equally false in both 
 cases." It seems also to have been almost brought to a demon- 
 stration by Bockh, that Manetho, in his dates, took for granted 
 so many revolutions of a certain Sothiac period of 1460 years, 
 arbitrarily assuming seventeen such periods for his reigns of 
 gods, and three for the ordinary reigns, doAvn to B.C. 1322, him- 
 self living in the next or fourth of these periods of mortal 
 kings. 
 
 If we go to the Greek authors, Diodorus tells us that up to 
 the time of Alexander the Great, Egypt had been governed 
 33,000 years; — the first 18,000 by gods and demigods, and the 
 last 15,000 by men. It is at once obvious, that for the matter of 
 dates at least, we had better turn to some better guides than 
 either the Greeks or the Egyptian priests. Now Manetho's ac- 
 count, though doubtless in some particulars he was much preju- 
 diced, as all Egyptians were, in favour of some fabulous antiquity 
 
Accounts of the Exodus in profane History. 43 
 
 of his nation and religion, and these prejudices perhaps were CHAP. 
 newly awakened by the large concourse of Jews imder Ptolemy ^^- 
 
 Philadelphus, and the recent LXX translation of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, yet can we not suppose that setting apart his obvious 
 passion for magnifying ad libitum the historic periods, he would 
 venture upon an entire perversion of any notorious fact within 
 the range of existing records. He is therefore not unfrequently 
 regarded as on the whole oiu- safest guide to the antiquities of 
 Egypt. He makes the total of years fi-om Menes to Alexander, 
 3555 (compare, above, the three Sothiac periods of Bockh, which 
 nearly coincide). Others, with Dr. Lepsius, and many able 
 modem critics, go rather to Eratosthenes, — a fragment of which 
 celebrated aiithor affords a useful " canon" of computation, where 
 he gives the names of certain Memphite kings, from the first 
 foundation of Memphis to the capture of that city by the 
 Shepherd Kings diu-ing the reign of Amun Timceus ; assigning to 
 this period 1076 years. 
 
 Before Ave pass on to compare results, it may be expedient to 
 premise something as to the Hebrew and LXX chronologies. 
 These notoriously differ by many years. The tendency of modern 
 criticism, however, inclines decidedly to the adoption of the LXX, 
 which adds 600 to the years fi-om the Creation to the Flood ; and 
 about 800 from the Flood to the call of Abraham. The LXX 
 chronology is confirmed by Josephus, and we are indebted to the 
 learned Dr. Hales, in his Analysis of Sacred Chronology, &c., 
 for an elaborate revision of the LXX computation which he 
 clearly shows to be the more reliable of the two ; nay, the only 
 one consistent with the known facts of history. We are now 
 prepared for the question. Do any of these writers mention the 
 Exodus ? and if so, what light do they throw on the time at 
 which it happened ? In Diodorus we find the following account : 
 " A plague having broke out in Egypt, many persons attributed 
 the cause of the evil to the anger of the Divinity ; for there were 
 many strangers there from aU parts, who used foreign rites in the 
 sacred ministries and sacrifices, whence it came to pass that the 
 ancient honours of the gods fell into neglect ; and the original 
 inhabitants began to fear that imless they removed from among 
 them the foreigners, they should never be relieved from their 
 aflB.ictions. The men of other nations, therefore, were expelled ; 
 
44 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. ^'"^^ of these the noblest and bravest, vinder the guidance of 
 II- Danaiis, Cadmus, and other celebrated leaders, came into Greece 
 and the parts adjacent ; but the more numerous body were di-iven 
 out into Judffia, a country adjoining to Egypt, but at that time 
 Avholly deserted. The leader of this colony tvas named Moses, 
 a man of excellent wisdom and fortitude, who, occupying that 
 region, built there many cities, and particularly the most cele- 
 brated of all, Jerusalem, with its tenijole." — Died. i. 40. 
 
 The account of Manetho is broken into two parts. In the first 
 part he relates how, " in the reign of Tmicras" (comp. the " Aviun 
 Tim(jeus " of Eratosthenes, above), " there came men of ignoble 
 birth out of the Eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an 
 expedition into our covmtry, . . . rebuilt the city of Avaris on the 
 Bubastic channel of the Nile, and held the country 511 years : this 
 whole nation was called Hycsos, i.e. ' Shepherd Kings : ' — that at last 
 another king of Egypt, Thummosisby name, came to a composition 
 with them to leave Egypt, and go, without any harm done to 
 them, whithersoever they would ; so they Avent away with their 
 whole families and eifects, not fewer than 240,000, and took their 
 joui-ney into Syria, and built a city named Jerusalem." — Manetho, 
 quoted by Josephus, lib. c. Apion., § 14. Subsequently , and much 
 to the indignation of Josephus, the Egyptian historian introduces 
 the same people as invited back again, to occupy the said city of 
 Avaris, by certain disaifected subjects in Egypt, who had also 
 been cast out of the rest of the country as leprous and maimed ! 
 That some of the learned j)riests also were polluted with them ; and 
 that they appointed themselves a ruler out of the priests of Heli- 
 opolis, whose name was Osarsiph, changed afterwards to Moses; that 
 he made this law for them, that they should neither worshi]-) the 
 Egyptian gods nor abstain from any one of those sacred animals 
 which they have in the highest esteem, but kill and destroy all. . . . 
 That because of their strength and number. King Amenophis was 
 obliged to hide himself in Ethiopia, out of their reach, for thirteen 
 years . . . after Avhich, however, he, with his son Ramses, joined 
 battle with the Shepherds and the polluted peoj)le . . . and pursued 
 them to the bounds of Syria." Josephus adduces other instances 
 of a concerted plan among the Greek and Egyptian authors to vilify 
 liis countrymen and their ancestors; and jmrlicularly Lysimachus, 
 whose account boars still niui-c evident marks of being only a 
 
Distorted Account of Lysimachus. 45 
 
 distorted tradition of the Exodus.- He says, " The people of the CHAP. 
 
 Jews being leprous and scabby, and subject to certain other __^J±i 
 
 kinds of distempers, in the days of Bocchoris, King of Eg}q:»t, fled 
 to the temples and got their food there by begging, and their 
 numbers being very great, there arose a scarcity in Egypt. Here- 
 upon the kin^ sent to consult the oracle of Jupiter Amnion, 
 and obtained instruction to pui-ge out the impure and impious 
 people, and expel them into desert places. Accordingly the 
 king ordered this to be done, and to take the leprous people, 
 and wrap them in sheets of lead and let them down into the sea. 
 Hereupon some were di'owned, and the rest were gotten together 
 and sent into desert places, in order to be exposed to destruction. 
 In this plight they assembled themselves together and took coimsel 
 what they shovdd do, and determined that, as the night was 
 coming on, they should kindle fires and lamps, and keep watch ; 
 that they also should fast the next night, and propitiate the gods 
 in order to obtain deliverance from them. On the next day there 
 was one Moses, who advised them that they should venture on 
 a journey, and go along one road till they should come to places 
 fit for habitation ; that he charged them to have no kind regards 
 for any man, nor give good counsel to any, but always to advise 
 them for the worst, and to overtiu'n all those temples and altars 
 of the gods they should meet with ; that the rest commended 
 what he had said with one consent, and did what they had re- 
 solved on, and so travelled over the desert. But that the diffi- 
 culties of the journey being over, they came to a coimtry 
 inhabited, and that there they abused the men, and plundered 
 and burnt their temples, and then came into that land which is 
 called Judfea, and there they built a city, and dwelt therein; and 
 that their city was termed ' Hkrostjla^ fi-om this their robbing 
 of the temples ; but they afterwards, from piu-e shame, changed the 
 name to Hierosolyma.'" — Lib. c.Apion., § 2^^ 28,34. Well might 
 the united ignorance and insolence of such a charge as the latter 
 fire the indignation of Josephus. "So we see," he says, "that 
 this fine fellow hath such an imboimded inclination to reproach 
 us, that he did not understand that robbery of temples is not 
 expressed by the same word and name among the Jews as it is 
 among the Greeks ! " A more surprising thing is, that Josephus 
 himself, in his equally 1 >lind desire to magnify the antiquity of his 
 
46 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, countrymen, by associating the Exodus exclusively with the earlier 
 
 II. 
 
 part of the account above quoted fi'om Manetho, which would 
 make the Israelites the " Shepherd Kings," should not have per- 
 ceived the obvious application of the latter part of it to that event, 
 and the painful but palpable perversion of the true account there 
 obviously to be detected. Had it been the ex;fress object of 
 Manetho to mix up the most incongruous things, and to throw 
 discredit on a transaction, the truth of which he could neither 
 wholly suppress nor openly deny, he could scarcely have devised 
 a better or more artful method. He has so effectually confounded 
 the two separate events, viz., the Exodus of the Hebrews and 
 the expidsion of the Phoenician Shepherds, — Osarsiph, with 
 Joseph, and both with Moses, &c., — that it is scarcely to be won- 
 dered at that Josephus himself was deceived ; and regardless of 
 the existence, elsewhere so often recognised, of a race of Shep- 
 herd Kings, in his zeal to apply it to his own ancestors, altered 
 the very signification of the term, and made the Hycsos to mean 
 Shepherd-coj;^/res ! Chseremon, Artapanus, and others, might 
 be urged in further proof of this event being mentioned by heathen 
 writers ; but we will proceed at once to the next point, viz. the 
 date of the Exodus. After which we shall endeavour- to ascertain 
 the name of the reigning sovereign of Egypt, and Avhat Avas the 
 condition of that celebrated people at the time ? 
 
 I. The date of the Exodus. 
 
 After what has been said as to the great disparities betAveen 
 the HebreAv and the LXX chronologies, we cannot but be struck 
 by observing, in the first place, that the date of the Exodus is 
 nearly the same in both those systems ; the Hebrew, according 
 to Ussher, placing it B.C. 1491 ; and the LXX, according to 
 Scaliger, 1497 (varying in other accounts from 1509 to 1593). 
 — See Hale's Ch^onologi/, vol. i. p. 215, ed. 1830; Sir John 
 Stoddart, Introduction, Dissert. 2. But besides this, Ave believe 
 Ave can shoAv a convergency of other circumstances pointing to 
 the same period for the date in question. To show this we have 
 but to estimate (1) from the Flood to Menes, the first king of 
 Egypt ; (2) from Menes to the celebrated XVHIth Dynasty ; 
 (3) from Dynasty XVHI. to the Exodus. (1.) As to the first" of 
 
The Date of the Exodus C07nputed. 47 
 
 these periods, considering the probable identification of Menes CHAP. 
 
 with INIizraim, the son of Ham (for which see Cumberland's ^ — 
 
 Sanchoniatho, § 2 ; ditto, Notes on the Table of Eratosthenes^ § 2 ; 
 Shuckford, Sacred and Profane History, b. xi.), and that Egypt, 
 being contignotis to Arabia and Central Asia, was probably peopled 
 soon after the Flood, we may here side with the calculation 
 which places the formdation of Memphis by Menes about 290 
 years after the Flood. ^ (2.) On the next period, viz. from Menes 
 to Dynasty XVIII., we shall be assisted at once by the Canon of 
 Eratosthenes, referred to above, and which gives from the foun- 
 dation of Memphis, by Menes, to its capture by the Shepherd 
 Kings, who put an end to the XVIth Dynasty, 1076 years. Adding 
 to this, 103 years for the duration of Dynasty XVII. (as Eusebius 
 gives it from Mauetho), we have from Menes to the beginning of 
 Dynasty XVni. a total of years 1076 + 103 = 1179. But to check 
 this part of the calculation, (as it is here, perhaps, that the prin- 
 cipal difficulty lies,) let us take the dates assigned to this second 
 period by the most approved modern Egyptologers. («.) Rawlin- 
 son and Wilkinson (see Eawlinson's Herod, vol. ii.. Append, 
 b. 2, c. viii.) give us, 
 
 From Menes to Dynasty VI 700 yrs. 
 
 From Dynasty VI. to Dynasty XVIII., 
 
 At the longest, 625 1 f 625 
 
 Atthe shortest, 511 | Mean Period ^ 5^ 
 
 2)1136 r 568 
 
 568 
 Total of years from Menes to Dynasty XVIII. . 1268 „ 
 
 (6.) Osbiu-n gives us Dyn. I. — Dyn. XII. = 470 years; Dyn. 
 XII. to end of Dyn. XIX. = 645 years; total, 1115 years. 
 Subtract 194 years for duration of Dyn. XIX., the remainder 
 =period from Dyn. I. (or Menes) to Dyn. XVIII. = 921 years. 
 (See Osburn's Egypt, ii. 633.) Comparing these with our former 
 
 ^ It will be seen afterwards But as this date in a measm-e rules 
 that this computatiou would give the rest, (though even, iu case of 
 for the date of MeneS; b. c. 3343. error, it would be easy to allow 
 
48 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, results, and taking tlic average of tlie three, we have- 
 II. 
 
 1179 
 
 1268 
 
 921 
 
 3 ) 33G8 
 
 1122 years as the approximate 
 duration of tlie second interval. 
 
 (3.) Proceeding now to the third siihdivision of our period, we 
 must observe that the Shepherd Kings, after they had possessed 
 themselves of Memphis, and held it during Dynasty XVII., were in 
 turn overcome and finally expelled by Amosis (sometimes wi-it- 
 ten Tethmosis, Tutmosis, &c.), the first king of Dynasty XVIII. 
 And this, be it observed, is no obscure period of Egyptian his- 
 tory ; but with the joint aid of the monuments, of recent researches^ 
 and of historical documents, we here enter on a comparatively 
 lucid field, where some tolerable certainty begins to be had. 
 We shall, therefore, have less difficulty in settling the interval 
 now under our consideration. The first point wiU be to ascer- 
 tain when Joseph arrived in Egypt. In answer, there can 
 scarcely be a doubt, after the great pains that haA^e been bestowed 
 by Dr. Hales, and other archaeologists in this field of research, 
 that Joseph arrived in Egypt at a time when Hycsos op- 
 pression was now past, and when it must have rendered the 
 name of Shepherd " an abomination to the Egyptians.'' (See 
 Gen. xlvi. 34.) We have other intimations (Gen. xlii. 9 ; xlvii. 
 
 for it in adtling up tlie three po- date of Menes b. c. 8892 ; Uhle- 
 
 riods, tbo effect being simply to man (JEf/yptisch. AUertlmms- 
 
 throw the total date of the Exodus kioule, iii. 12) makes it i?. r. 
 
 somewhat earlier or later), it may 2782. Taking the average of 
 
 be better here to take another which gives ns, — 
 estimate of the date of Menes, 3892 
 
 derived from two celebrated Ger- 2782 
 
 man Egyptologc-rs, Lepsius and 
 
 Uhlemau. Lepsius, going by the 2) 0074 
 
 extracts in SipiceUm (.v.D. 700) 
 
 from the" Anom/inoKs Chro7iicle'' T5. c. 3337 for another 
 
 of the Kings of Egypt, makes the npproximate date of Menes. 
 
Date of Exodus computed. 49 
 
 C). " Ye are spies ; to see the nakedness of tlie land ye are CHAP. 
 come," can imply no less than a suspicion, at the time spoken of, H- 
 
 that opportunities were still watched for on the Phoenician or 
 Syrian side for fresla invasions, — a probability, therefore, that 
 the memory of some earlier ones was still fresh. Nor is it pro- 
 bable that Joseph would have been required to " look out" from 
 among the Israelites, " men of activity "(see xlvii. 6) to 
 take charge of the cattle in Egypt, had not a strong aversion stiU 
 subsisted among the Egyptians to an occupation associated with 
 their late oppressors. Again, if Joseph had arrived before the 
 exprdsion of the Shepherds, the latter event could hardly fail to 
 have been named in the Scriptiire history, dui'ing the subsequent 
 years of the Israehtes' sojoiu'n in Egypt. So great an event 
 could hardly have passed without, at least, some allusion to it. 
 And Dr. Hales has very clearly shown, that the persecution of 
 the Israelites, which arose after Joseph, was not imder the sway 
 of the Shepherd Dynasty, but arose from quite a different 
 quarter ; and in short, that Joseph came to Egypt some time 
 (Dr. Hales puts it at 13, Bishop Cumberland at 96, Kitto at 70, 
 years) after the Shepherd Dynasty was put an end to by Amosis, 
 at the commencement of the XVIIIth Dynasty. (See also, to 
 the same effect, Kitto's History of Palestine, b. i. c. ii., and 
 Pictorial Bible, note on Ex. i. 8.) Only that Kitto is peculiar 
 in not making the expulsion imder Amosis the actual termination 
 of the Shepherds' reign, the total duration of which he computes, 
 after Manetho, at 5 11 years : but instead of these years expiring 
 Avith the reign of Amosis, he puts Amosis only 250 years after 
 the beginning of that period; — not attempting to explain what 
 became of the Shepherd Kings afterwards, and as if they had 
 received a second expulsion and subjugation after another 261 
 years, though we have nowhere any record of it. From Joseph's 
 arrival Ave must add 23 years, according to the Scrip tm-e 
 account, between that and the arrival of Jacob, and thence, for 
 the sojourn of Israel in Egypt imtil their final departure at the 
 Exodus, 215 years. (See Stackhouse, b. iii, c. v., Dissertation 5 ; 
 Mant's Bible, notes on Ex. xii, 30.) 
 
 Putting now all these intervals, (1), (2), and (3), together, 
 Ave have 
 
50 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CPIAP. Years. 
 
 II- (1.) From the Flood to Menes . . .200 
 
 (2.) From Menes to Dynasty XVIII. . .1122 
 
 (3.) From beginning of Dynasty XVIII. to Exodus 
 
 (13 + 23 + 215) . . . .251 
 
 Total years from tlie Flood to the Exodus . .1573 
 
 Now for the Flood we have two very different dates ; the Hebrew 
 B.C. 2348, the LXX and Josephus (as corrected by Dr. Hales) 
 B.C. 3758. 
 
 3758 
 
 2348 2348"! 
 
 Average date of Flood -! ^ n ^^ '^^^ \ b-C. 3053. 
 
 3053 J 
 
 705 
 
 Subtracting from this the number of years from Flood to Exodus, 
 we have for 
 
 rsosj 
 
 Date of Exodus 
 
 1573 
 
 1480 
 
 B.C. 1480 ; 
 
 a remarkable approximation, at least, to the traditionary date of 
 this event, as taken above from the Hebrew and LXX. 
 
 11. The reigning Sovereign of Egypt, and condition of that 
 country^ at the time of the Exodus. 
 
 There remains the last question, as to the name of the 
 reigning sovereign in Egypt, — the Pharaoh whose armies were 
 overthrown in the Red Sea. That the Egyptian priests and chroni- 
 clers would studiously have concealed both the nature of the disaster 
 and the name of the sovereign, we can easily imagine. It may 
 be reserved to ftiture researches among the monuments, already 
 so fruitful of important results, to throw fresh light on these 
 points. As it is, Ave may justly say of those monuments, " cum 
 tacent, clamant." " Loaded as they are," observes Sir John 
 Stoddart, " with innumerable records of the trivmiphs of their 
 kings, their silence on this point decisively shows that the ex- 
 imlsion was productive to Egypt of nothing but misery and dis- 
 
Amenophis III. and Harnesses two likely Names. 51 
 
 gi-ace. Diflferent clu-onologists having fixed this event at B.C. CHAP 
 1648, 1608, 1593, 1509, and 1491, aU which dates faU within II. 
 Manetho's period of the XVIIIth Dynasty, it follows that several 
 sovereigns of that dynasty have been supposed to be the Pharaoh 
 who then reigned, e. ff., Memphres, Amenophthis, Achencheres, 
 &c. ; but it does not appear that the discoveries hitherto made, 
 either con-oborate or weaken any of these conjectui-es." Stoddart, 
 Introduction to Universal History^ p. 215. Notwithstanding, 
 hoAvever, the uncertainty here expressed by the learned Avriter, 
 many things point strongly to one particular reign. It should 
 also be borne in mind, that we are far more likely to get upon 
 the traces of any given event in early history, by attending to 
 names and circumstances, than by binding oiu-selves to chrono- 
 logical calculations, the dates of which must always, in the vary- 
 ing modes of computation, and at the great distance of time, be 
 subject to very considerable suspicion. It is, however, an old 
 opuiion, and confirmed by circumstantial evidence, as well as by 
 the conclusions of though tftd inquirers, that the king concerned in 
 the Exodus was the last king of the XVIIIth Dynasty. Manetho, 
 as reported by Josephus, calls him expressly Amenophis, and, to 
 distinguish him fi'om other kings of the same name, he tells us 
 he was the father of Eamses and Ai-mais, or, as he elsewhere 
 calls them, Sethos and Danaus. Though Manetho contrives to 
 varnish over the true facts of the history, and to hide the real 
 nature of a catastrophe which involved disgrace and defeat to 
 the Egyptians, we have no reason to impute to him any wilful 
 concealment or perversion of the name of the sovereign, any 
 more than of that of INIoses on the other side, which he reports 
 correctly enotigh. "We have in the same book of Josephus, lib. c. 
 Apion., i. § 32, the further authority of Cha^remon, a Greek his- 
 torian, for ascribing the event to this reign. As the tables of the 
 Egyptian dynasties may not be at hand, it may be convenient 
 here to transcribe the brief but very exact list in Josephus of 
 the whole XVIIIth Dynasty, which he has evidently preserved with 
 special care. His account is as foUows, — lib. c. Apion., i. § 15: 
 " Tethmosis, who drove out the Shepherds, reigned afterward 
 twenty-five years and four months, and then died ; after him, 
 his son Chebron took the kingdom for thirteen years ; after 
 whom came Amenophis, for twenty years and seven months ; then 
 
52 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. <^'i"^e his sister Amessis, for twenty-one years and nine months ; 
 II. after her came Meplires, for twelve years and nine months ; after 
 him was Mephramuthosis, for twenty-five years and ten months ; 
 after him, Tethmosis, for nine years and eight months ; after him 
 came Amenophis, for thirty years and ten months ; after him 
 came Oriis, for thirty-six years and five months ; after him came 
 his daughter Acenchres, for twelve years and one month ; then 
 was her brother Rathotis, for nine years ; then was Achencheres, 
 for twelve years and five months ; then another Achencheres, for 
 twelve years and three months ; after him Armais, for four years 
 and one month ; after him was Eamesses, for one year and four 
 months ; after him came Ramesses Miammoun, for sixty-six years 
 and two months ; after him Amenophis, for nineteen years and 
 six months ; after him [Sethosis and] Ramesses, who had an 
 army of horse and a naval force." From what he says after- 
 wards, it seems that Sethosis and Ramesses were the same. There 
 was another brother, Armais the Second, or Danaus, but Ramesses 
 was the successor on the throne ; and with him commences the 
 next dynasty, viz., Dynasty XIX. And here comes a remark- 
 able circumstance : — both Sethosis, Ramesses, and his next suc- 
 cessor, Rhampses, have very long reigns : to the first 59, and to 
 the second 66 years are ascribed. Here at once there appears a 
 suspicion of some king being omitted altogether, and the years 
 of his reign added to his successor's. The omitted king might 
 be some father, or son associated with his father, who fell a 
 victim in the Red Sea, or on the sudden death of the first-born. 
 "We have another landmark, as it were, in the royal name, so 
 common about this time, viz., Ramses, or Ramessis. Now the 
 frontier-city of the same name might well be imagined to be 
 called after the first king of this name, and it was built, we know, 
 at the time of the Exodus, because the Israelites were at that 
 time employed in building it, as we read (Ex. i. 11) : " Tliey 
 did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. 
 And they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses." 
 Both these circumstances agree well with the supposition of 
 Amenophis being king at the time, who was father to one, and 
 grandson or son of another Ramses. Kitto's advocacy of the earlier 
 reign of Thotmes III. (see note, Ex. ii. 12), as the date required, 
 implies throughout an earlier date for the Shepherd expulsion. 
 
Horses in EgyiH an Indication of Date. 53 
 
 Thcit author agrees with us, in making Joseph's arrival shortly CHAP. 
 after the expulsion of the Shepherd-Kings, and that they were 1 1- 
 
 expelled under Amosis at the beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty. 
 But from the beginning of their reign to the reign of this Amosis, 
 he makes only 250 years, though he allows for the total of their 
 reign 511 years; whereas, according to the usual accoinit, these 
 511 years expire with Amosis ; and as Joseph arrived very 
 shortly after, this of coiu-se brings down his arrival, and the time 
 of the Exodus along with it, to a much later period than Kitto. 
 It is not, therefore, surprising that this Avi'lter should have refen-ed 
 the Exodus to the earlier reign of Thotmes III., in the middle 
 of Dynasty XVIII. Yet this is to contradict or ignore the express 
 authority of Josephus, who in this particular dynasty (the XVIIIth) 
 evidently bestowed the most minute attention on the names and 
 dates of his kings, and who plainly refers the Shepherd exjiulsion 
 to Amosis, the first king of the XVIIIth Dynasty. Nor is he 
 suspected of being wrong in his names and dates, though, as we 
 have before obsei-ved, he was misled to confotmd the two distinct 
 events of the expulsion and the Exodus. The bricks, in making 
 which the Israelites were made to labour, would suit well 
 enough with either, as it appears that, fi-om Thotmes III. onwards, 
 this material was more and more used in the great public works 
 and monuments of Egypt. (See Eawlinson's Herod., b. ii. § 136.) 
 Kitto well remarks : " The fact of his abundant use of bricks 
 is not the least interesting or important of those numerous cor- 
 roborations of the Pentateuch which the study of Egyptian 
 antiquities has of late years produced." The same author, in 
 what he says of the " horses " of Pharaoh, — so circumstantially 
 introduced in the accoimt of the Exodus, — has omitted a distinc- 
 tion which throws considerable light on our subject. He says : 
 " wherever armies are represented on the monuments of Egypt, 
 they are represented as composed of troops of infantry ai-med 
 with bow or lance, and of ranks of chariots drawn by two 
 horses." And of such chariots and their mounted drivers, he 
 interprets the Scripture expression of the "horse and the rider ;" 
 and again, " The Egyptians piirsued and went after them into 
 the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and 
 his horsemen." But he does not seem aware, that even this 
 limited introduction of horse into the armies of Egypt may be 
 
54 Veracity of Geiiesis. 
 
 CHAP. looked upon as another indication of the XVIIIth Dynasty. For 
 
 II. 
 
 we are assured by Wilkinson that it was during the reign of Amosis 
 that mention is first made of the horse on the monuments ; but 
 that neither at the tombs about the Pyramids, nor at Beni Has- 
 san, is there any indication of the horse, though the animals of the 
 country are so numerous in their paintings. (See Eawlinson's 
 Herod., Appendix, b. ii. § 18.) 
 
 If we now search further among the monuments, we may even 
 get nearer upon the track of the fated monarch of the Exodus. 
 "We are now speaking at second hand, as we have not ourselves 
 travelled among the ruins of Egypt. But it appears there is a 
 king, called Si-phtha on the moniiments, of whom Mr. Osbiirn 
 tells us {Egijpt, vol. ii. c. ix.) " that there is a tomb at Biban-cl- 
 Malook, near Thebes, commenced with great magnificence by a 
 monarch who never lay in it, and who may be identified with the 
 Pharaoh who perished in the Eed Sea. His hieroglyphic name 
 is Si^jhtha." Another account adds, " The tomb of Siphtha, in 
 the Babel-Malook, originally exhibited on its walls his shield 
 and that of his wife ; but they have been covered with plaster, 
 and other inscriptions substituted for them. The name of the 
 king who thus usurped the sepulchre of another is not clearly 
 made out, owing to the number of characters, not phonetic, with 
 which the shield is filled ; but it seems to be Merir or Merira. 
 His name is also on the granite sarcophagus which remains, 
 though broken. In the Procession of Medinet-Aboo, his shield 
 folloAvs that of Seti Meneptha the Second. We cannot, therefore, 
 question his royal dignity. (Kenrick's Egypt, b. ii. p. 325.) Rosel- 
 lini. Moil. Stor. iii. 2, calls him Uerri, or Eemerri. " Eemeni 
 himself," he adds, " never reigned." Thus we have one king 
 who " never reigned," and another who '' never lay in the 
 tomb prepared for him ;" it might be possible, between these 
 two to discover the right king of the Exodus. An excellent 
 writer, who takes him for the 3rd Amenophis, says, " This 
 Eemerri Avas the first-born of Pharaoh, and, as was customary, 
 the colleague of his father in the kingdom, the prince who fell 
 a victim to the obstinacy of his sire, and perished prematiu-ely 
 on that dread night, when the destroyer passed through the 
 land and smote the first-born of the Egyptians. The first- 
 bom of Pharaoh, dying prematurely, had failed to prepare 
 
Names more ce^iain than Dates. h$ 
 
 himself a tomb, and Amenopliis having perished ere the em- CHAP. 
 
 bahnment of his son was completed, the latter was hastily '- — - 
 
 placed in the sepulchre his father had constructed for himself, 
 while his subjects, little solicitous at such an awful crisis of trans- 
 mitting his name to posterity, were content, in their despair, to 
 record his titles on plaster, instead of imdertaking the more 
 tedious process of graving them on such material as might ensiire 
 perpetuity." Groves, Echoes of Egijpt (Rivington, 1857), pp. 
 177, 178. 
 
 Sir Gardner "Wilkinson, who began by regarding Thotmes III. 
 (the 7th king of Dynasty XVIII. on the list of Josephus) as the 
 monarch of the Exodus, (see Antiq. Eg., vol. i. pp. 77, 81,) 
 gives afterwards the preference to the reign of Pthahmen, as sug- 
 gested by the Duke of Northumberland, Pthahmen being the 3rd 
 king of Dynasty XIX. (See Herod., App., b. ii. c. viii. § 24, 25.) 
 
 And generally we may obsei-ve, that the later dates for the 
 Exodus seem to be growing in favour with modern Egyptologers. 
 They are not incompatible with the line of argument above taken. 
 For in this case the authors differ as much in the dynasty 
 as in the date. Thus, when Dr. Lepsius gives us, B.c, 1314, 
 Osburn nearly the same, Bunsen, B.C. 1320, for the date of the 
 Exodus, it is not that they take this for the proper date of 
 Amenophis III., to whose reign we have referred this event 
 in Dynasty XVIII. ; but they suppose it to have occurred 
 somewhere in Dynasty XIX. We can only say, that such an 
 opinion is not to be lightly disregarded ; and that many of the 
 foregoing arguments apply equally to such later period and date, 
 — they would seem to exclude only the supposition of any much 
 earlier one. According to some authors, the most certain thing in 
 Egyptian chronology is the date of Thotmes III., of Dynasty 
 XVIII., for which, they say, we have definite astronomical data, 
 pointing to B.C. 1445. And if this be so it will bring down Ame- 
 nophis III. to a later date than has been assigned him above, and 
 will a little displace all our other dates ; but to rectify this we 
 should only have to assign a somewhat later date for the building 
 of Memphis by Menes than that which we have taken (viz. 200 
 years after the Flood), and date it nearer to the time assigned for 
 the dispersion by the LXX chronology, viz. after the Flood 531. 
 Adhuc sub judice ; — and it may be reserved for some fiiture 
 E 4 
 
56 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, discoveries among the monuments to throw fresh light on the 
 
 II. 
 
 subject. 
 
 From wliat has been stated we may at least be sure, that, at 
 the time of the Exodus, the kingdom of Egypt was at the full 
 height of power and prosperity. Next to the Pyramid-period, it 
 was the era of the greatest and most splendid national monuments, 
 which still perpetuate the names of its most illustrious monarchs. 
 The EAMSES, in particular, seem to have surpassed other 
 monarchs in the magnificence of their tombs and palaces. It is 
 not agreed what exact infliience the irruption and long sway 
 of the Arabian and Phoenician settlers, from whom the Shepherd 
 Kings were descended, might have had on the religion of the 
 country. Egyptian annalists would naturally fasten upon them 
 the stigma of being disturbers of the national faith, and 
 vilify them, as they did afterwards with the Israelites, by every 
 false representation : but it is probable that they introduced 
 purer and more primitive ideas of religion than those which had 
 taken root in the national worship of Egypt, and which were 
 zealously adopted and propagated by the native races of kings. 
 These kings also amalgamated with their own office, that of 
 being Supreme Pontiffs, and chief among the Priests of their 
 religion. Their notions, however, were materialistic and idola- 
 trous ; they taught the worship of the Sun ^ and heavenly bodies ; 
 they deified the powers of nature ; or else paid divine honours 
 to departed kings, whom they embalmed and laid up in royal 
 tombs, under the full belief that they were still alive, and, re- 
 assuming the same bodily form, would hereafter bring back the 
 fabled reigns of the demigods, and keep up a perpetual succession 
 of kings to almost infinite ages. Between these and the more 
 primitive ideas (kept alive by tradition in the East, and imported 
 afresh by the Phoenician Shepherds), there appears to have been 
 kept up a continual struggle. Fresh impetus would, doubtless, 
 be given to the better side by the intercourse, not ambiguously 
 recorded in Scripture, betAveen Egypt and the Patriarch Abraham. 
 
 ^ Hence, imder the vernacular name Ea, we so often find it in the 
 etymology of Egyptian names, as in Pha-rw-oh, Ra-ma&is,, Potiphar, 
 abbreviated from Potiplia-r«, i.e. Priest of the Smi, &c. Compare 
 lloliopolis, or On, and other names compounded with " on." 
 
General Condition of Egypt. 57 
 
 There is mtich in the slight glimpses we have of the conduct of CHAP. 
 
 Abimelech, to show that there Avas at that time no special £?^ 
 
 animosity, nor ill-feeKng of any kind, towards the professors of a 
 purer faith. As time went on, and during the long governorship 
 of Joseph, the kindly feeling would even have improved. 
 His eminent services to the Idng and country must have laid 
 them imder no inconsiderable obligations. The " Canal of 
 Joseph," and frequent other monuments called by his name, 
 testify to this day, the honour in which he was held. Territorial 
 and agi-arian dispositions made under his hand, seem to have 
 worked a permanent improvement in the royal finances, and to 
 have been one great cause which contributed to the consolidation 
 of the empire, and the growing power of the kings. At last 
 when a " king arose which knew not Joseph," we have the 
 spectacle of a mighty kingdom, which had attained the summit 
 of temporal power, but which eventually bowed down to a false 
 and idolatrous religion. No time, therefore, could have been 
 more seasonable for the display of a mightier Power still, and for 
 the deliverance of the Chosen Seed from the hand of their 
 oppressors. 
 
58 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 The Life of Moses. — Second Part. 
 
 '' On Sinai's top, in prayer and trance, 
 Fiill forty nights and forty days, 
 The Prophet watcJi'd for one dear glance 
 Of Thee and of Thy ways. 
 
 So, separate from the world, his breast 
 Might duly take and strongly keep 
 
 The pi-int of Heaven, to be express'd 
 Ere long on Sion's steep." 
 
 KJEBLE. 
 
 CHAP. The Israelites are now speeding towards the Land 
 '- — of Promise. Let us direct our attention for a 
 
 moment to the foremost figure in the group. He 
 has had the experience of four score years of a 
 chequered and anxious life. He is " meek above 
 all the men which were upon the face of the 
 earth;" ^ but it is the meekness of real wisdom, 
 acquired by the painful experience of many trials, 
 which have convinced him of his own frailty and 
 the comfort of the Divine grace. A great gulf 
 literally separates Him from his earliest associa- 
 tions. A wilderness lies before him, through which 
 
 * Num. xii. .'». 
 
Necessity of Divine Support. 59 
 
 he must struggle in the prosecution of the great chap. 
 
 purpose with which he is commissioned from 
 Heaven, — a wilderness where but of late he had 
 spent a long season of obscurity and poverty. If 
 the thought of the one might have elated, the 
 recollections of the other were well fitted to humble 
 him. He has, too, upon his shoulders the burden 
 of a numerous and rapidly-increasing people. He 
 has to lead them in war, to instruct them in peace, 
 to wean them from the corrupt notions and cor- 
 rupter habits of Egypt, and to train them for a 
 new and prominent position among the nations of 
 the earth. Shall he be left to the fertile resources 
 of his own mind ? to his human strength and wis- 
 dom ? Shall he tend his people with no other help 
 than what he needed when he kept his father's 
 sheep in the wilderness? Or what shall be that 
 meeting of his God, which was promised him on 
 the selfsame mountain of Midian where he had 
 tracked the humble sheepwalk? How full must 
 have been his heart, as he mused on the mysterious 
 promise ! How ardent his prayer, that it might 
 carry with it some preternatural strength equal to 
 his need ! 
 
 For it was not lojig before the murmuring of 
 the people broke out. The waters were bitter ^, 
 or the food was scanty; others said, "We remem- 
 ber the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the 
 cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the 
 
 1 Ex. XV. 23 ; xvi. 4. 
 
60 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, onions, and the garlick ; " ^ but now tliey were 
 
 III. 
 
 dying with hunger and thirst, and they cast all the 
 blame on their leader, and were " ready to stone 
 him." ^ The smiting of the rock with the same 
 miraculous rod which had been the instrument of 
 performing so many wonders in Egypt, is permitted 
 to relieve the thirst, and the manna falls in grateful 
 plenty from heaven, to supply the place of food. 
 These are some of the modes by which present relief 
 was given. That they had often occasion, like other 
 travellers, to dig wells for themselves, and to labour 
 thus for a natural supply, seems implied in the very 
 contrast drawn between their wilderness-condi- 
 tion and the advantages to be enjoyed in Canaan. 
 For there they were to find Avells " digged, which 
 they digged not^'' "vineyards and olives, which they 
 planted not." There seems no sufficient ground for 
 concluding that the waters from " the smitten rock " 
 did more than " follow " them for that particular 
 stage of their journey. And of the manna we know 
 that the supply was renewed every morning; " the 
 children of Israel did eat manna forty years, till 
 they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan." ^ 
 But there was one provision, which more than all 
 bespoke the Divine presence with His chosen people, 
 and with His servant Moses. As they performed 
 the perilous passage of the Red Sea, a cloud had 
 been seen hovering over the host. Its beacon-light 
 
 ' Num. xi. 5. * Ex. xvii. 4. ^ Ex. xvi. 35. 
 
III. 
 
 The cloudy Pillar. 61 
 
 had gone before them in the night ; it again removed chap. 
 behind them and cast a shade upon their pursuers 
 that they could not make way against it. In the 
 morning it dazzled them with its brightness, and 
 assisted in the rout and discomfiture of their 
 hosts. ^ That same " pillar of a cloud" still ac- 
 companied the triumphant armies of Israel. When 
 it rested, the camp was to be stationary, — ^when it 
 moved, it was the signal for marching 2, — and where 
 it led, was the direction of the march. By day it 
 was in the form of a cloud, and a pillar of fire by 
 night. When the tabernacle was erected, and the 
 ark made, the same cloud rested upon them ; and 
 it became further the oracle of the Most Hio-h, and 
 Moses had resort to it for the purposes of his 
 ministry ^ when he needed the Divine counsel and 
 direction, and he received thence the visible tokens 
 of Divine favour and support. 
 
 Such preternatural assistances did not, however, 
 supersede the necessity for more ordinary precau- 
 tions. The care of all the people was growing too 
 great a burden for their single ruler, when Jethro, his 
 father-in-law, re-appears upon the scene, and meets 
 him on his weary journey with the welcome greeting 
 of a father and a friend. The scene is a touchino; 
 one, where he restores the wife and children of 
 Moses, which had been evidently under his charge 
 from the day of his son's departure into Egypt ; 
 
 1 Ex. xiv. 19—26. 3 Ex. xvi. 10, 11 ; xxxiii. 9 — 
 
 2 Numb. Lx. 17—20. 11; Deut. xxxi. 15. 
 
;2 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, and he further suggests the appointment of as- 
 
 ^ — sistant officers, "rulers of thousands and rulers of 
 
 hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens \ who 
 might relieve him of a part of his daily charge, for 
 he saw that " the people stood by him from morn- 
 ing unto evening." " Thou wilt surely," said he, 
 " wear away, and the people that is with thee : for 
 this thing is too heavy for thee ; thou art not able 
 to perform it thyself alone." ^ So they " took them 
 wise men, and understanding, and known among 
 their tribes," and when Moses had charged them 
 to "judge righteously and not to respect persons in 
 judgment," ^ they entered on their duties, " to judge 
 the people at all seasons; the hard causes they 
 brought unto Moses, but every small matter they 
 judged themselves." * We see from this example 
 that Moses was wise enough to value the timely 
 counsel of a friend, — a disposition not found in those 
 Avhose chief motive is a mere worldly ambition. 
 We observe another illustration of this principle 
 in his conduct to Hobab, a son of his father-in-law, 
 whose experience in the hilly country and bleak 
 passes of Midian, appeared to fit him for a service- 
 able guide; and we find Moses endeavouring to 
 dissuade him from returning home, inviting him 
 to partake with him at once in the toils and the 
 
 ^ Ex. xviii. 21. Elders, wliicli we sliall read of 
 
 ^ Ex. xA-iii.18. presently. These 'judges ' must 
 
 3 Deut. i. 13, 16, 17. Lave amoimted to niauy times 
 
 •* Ex. xviii. 26. Not to be con- that number, 
 founded with the council of Seventy 
 
Discomfiture of the Amalekites. 63 
 
 honours of his enterprise, till he should reach the chap. 
 Promised Land.^ 
 
 The first trial in arms on this side the Red Sea 
 was not long in coming. It was occasioned by an 
 unexpected attack of the Amalekites, and was 
 remarkable on several accounts. It first intro- 
 duces Joshua 2 to our notice, and it displays the 
 justice of God in more severely punishing this 
 people, as wilful offenders against the light afforded 
 them, than other nations who knew not His will. 
 The Amalekites were descendants of Esau, and 
 must have kno^\Ti the promises made to Israel in 
 the person of their common forefather Abraham, 
 making over to them the countries to be conquered 
 from the seven nations ^ of Canaan. The children 
 of Esau had in like manner been allowed to appro- 
 priate the country of the Horims and of Mount 
 Seir^; and was it for them to oppose the express 
 will of the Almighty, now that Israel was about to 
 enter on its inheritance ? Yet, contrary to the 
 Divine command, and actuated, perhaps, by some 
 
 1 Nimi. X. 29—33. than thou." Deut. vii. 1. But in 
 
 2 See Ex. xvii. 9. Otlienvise another pLace, Gen. xv. 19 — 21, 
 called Oshea, and Jesus. Xum. ten nations are enumerated. Al- 
 xiii. 8 : "Of the tribe of Ephraim, lowing the Rephaims of Genesis 
 Oshea, the son of Xun." See other to answer to the Hivites of Deut., 
 notices of Joshua, Ex. xxiv. 13 ; the remaiaiag three nations, viz. 
 xxxiii. 11 ; Num. xx-s-ii. 18. the Kenites, Kenizzites, and Kad- 
 
 3 " The Hittites, and the Gir- monites, lived on this side Jordan, 
 gashites, and the Amorites, and and are on this accoimt omitted 
 the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, in the former list. 
 
 and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, * Deut. ii. 5, 12, Gen. xxxvi. 8. 
 
 seven nations greater and mightier 
 
III. 
 
 64 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, cowardly fear for their own possessions, or more 
 likely by petty jealousy of their brethren, they 
 made this unprovoked attack upon them, as they 
 were just entering on their journey. They were 
 not permitted to succeed, and it was specially en- 
 joined upon Israel to make no peace with such 
 a people till they had rooted out all remembrance 
 of them from the land. The manner of the victory 
 was destined further to illustrate the duty of perse- 
 verance in faith, and of direct dependence upon God, 
 even in the use of ordinary means. While Joshua is 
 ordered to the fight, Moses is to stand on the height 
 with the rod of God in his hand. So long as that 
 rod is held up shall Israel prevail ; but Amalek, if 
 the hand of Moses shall droop. ^ Supported by 
 Aaron and Hur, the hands of Moses fail not, till 
 the victory is complete on the side of Israel. 
 
 Recourse to arms was no more necessary till the 
 last year of their circuitous route through the 
 desert, when they had fairly entered on the cam- 
 paign which was to give them possession of the 
 land of Canaan. But we may say, by anticipation, 
 that after a casual attack of Arad the Canaanite, 
 who was soon defeated^, two kings on this side of 
 Jordan eastward were the chief opponents. And 
 it is remarkable that these also, like the Amalekites, 
 
 > The opinion is not to be dis- ingwas to tHat wliicli is of tlie ti-ue 
 
 regarded which makes this action essence of prayer, ^iz. faith and 
 
 of JMoses a simple act of prayer. a spirit of dependence upon God. 
 Either way of taking it, the bless- 2 Num. xxi. 1—4. 
 
The seven guilty Nations of Canaan. G5 
 
 were the assailants, and not the children of Israel, chap. 
 They were, therefore, lawfully exposed to the "^' - 
 consequences of a war provoked by their own act ; 
 and their kingdoms the lawful spoil of the con- 
 queror. Nor were these in a similar situation 
 with the seven guilty nations, whom Israel was to 
 cast out of Canaan. So that the charge sometimes 
 brought against this portion of Scripture history, 
 as encouraging acts of indiscriminate slaughter, 
 belongs not, strictly speaking, to the history of 
 Moses at all. Yet, as Moses may be held re- 
 sponsible for what was done at his command, and 
 as he certainly commanded Joshua and the people 
 under him, on approaching nearer to the Promised 
 Land to carry on this series of conquests till the 
 seven nations of the Hittites, and the Girgashites, 
 and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the 
 Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, were 
 "smitten and utterly destroyed,"^ it may be pro- 
 per to glance briefly at a few considerations which 
 may appear to justify this proceeding. How- 
 ever, then, we may lament the unhappy necessity 
 for this apparently cruel and unsparing bloodshed, 
 it cannot be forgotten that these nations had long 
 been ripe for destruction. Since the days of Abra- 
 ham 2, i.e. for more than 400 years, sentence had 
 been passed against them for their iniquities ; yet 
 these were continually growing to a greater and 
 
 1 Deut. iii, 21; vii. 1, 2. 2 Gen. xv. 19-21. 
 
66 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, greater pitch ; and the long-suffering of God Avaited 
 
 '' — for them in vain. They now sacrificed their own 
 
 sons and daughters to Moloch; and their hands 
 were stained deejD with innocent blood. The cities 
 of Sodom and Gomorrah had not been spared ; why 
 should it be different with those nations, who only 
 lived to imitate their vices ? Israel herself was to 
 expect no other treatment, if she gave way to the 
 same evil courses ; "As the nations which the Lord 
 destroyed before their face, so were they to perish, 
 if they would not be obedient to the voice of the 
 Lord their God." ^ The crimes of those nations 
 were violations of the very laws of humanity, 
 and such as to render them amenable to human 
 justice. Much more, then, were they justly 
 punishable by the all-righteous decrees of Heaven, 
 and the mode of inflicting that punishment must 
 be allowed matter of inferior consequence. We 
 see how it pleased God to make the Israelites His 
 instruments in executing the sentence; and we 
 have no right to canvass the wisdom of the means, 
 Avlien we can see the justice, not to say the mercy "^^ 
 
 ^ Deut. viii. 20 ; Ley. xriii. witli the rod of His wi-ntli ; but I 
 
 20, 28. am persuaded that all His punisli- 
 
 2 Bishop Watson, in his justly ments originate in His abhorrence 
 
 admired ^;jo/or/y, remarks : ^' I am of sin, are calculated to lessen its 
 
 fond of considering the goodness influence, and are proofs of His 
 
 of God as the leading principle of goodness ; inasmuch as it may not 
 
 His conduct towards mankind; bo possible for Omnipotence it- 
 
 of considei-ing His justice as sub- self to communicate supreme hap- 
 
 sei-vient to His mercy. He pu- pincss to the human race whilst 
 
 nishes individuals and nations they continue servants of sin. 
 
The Law of dealing with the Inhahitaiits. 67 
 
 of the end. This consideration must surely re- chap. 
 
 move the apparent harshness of the act. '■ — 
 
 And further, it may be doubted whether violence 
 was ever had recourse to, unprovoked by the enemy. 
 On the contrary, it is maintained by many Jewish 
 writers, that before an appeal to arms could be 
 made, terms of peace were first offered ; and no 
 violence attempted till peaceable measures had 
 failed. We have, certainly, much to this purpose in 
 the express injunctions of Moses (Deut. xx. 10-14), 
 "first to proclaim peace to a city; and if it make 
 answer of peace, then all the people shall be 
 tributaries to thee, and shall serve thee. And if it 
 make no peace with thee,... when the Lord hath 
 delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every 
 male thereof with the sword." And we find an ex- 
 ample in point, in the case of the Gibeonites, who, re- 
 nouncing arms, attempted to gain by subtlety the 
 most favourable terms ; and when a treaty had been 
 thus made with them unawares, the terms of the 
 treaty were strictly respected, and the lives of the 
 people spared.' 
 
 The destruction of the Canaanites murder to the judge of the laud 
 
 exhibits to all nations, in all ages, in condemning criminals to death, 
 
 a sig-nal proof of God's displeasm-e as to condemn the conduct of 
 
 against sin ; it has been to others, Moses in executing the command 
 
 and it is to om-selves, a benevolent of God." 
 
 warning. The conduct of Moses ^ Josh. Lx. 3, 21. And thus 
 
 towards the Canaanites would the slow and gi-adual conquest 
 
 have been open to severe animad- of the couutiy was, in the 
 
 version, had he acted by his own hands of Divine Providence, the 
 
 authority alone : but it were as means of efiectlng a greater 
 
 reasonable to attribute cruelty and good than would have resulted 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. We have now reached the time when Moses sliould 
 
 '—^ receive a yet more formal and majestic installation 
 
 into his office, when the dispensation committed to 
 him should be expanded, into larger proportions 
 and more complete development, and the people be 
 brought into nearer acquaintance with the God of 
 their fathers, and under the more exact discipline 
 of the law. This first year of their wanderings was 
 therefore to be marked by an event more important 
 in its consequences than any other, and from it 
 were to date new trials, and a new state of proba- 
 tion to all this people. It was no longer with 
 physical privations alone, nor with the dreariness 
 of a desert march that they were to contend. They 
 were now to pass under the yoke of a stricter 
 spiritual discipline ; it was to be proved ^ " what 
 was in their hearts, whether they would keep God's 
 commandments or no." Moses should be now the 
 lawgiver, no less than the ruler and commander of 
 the people. The promise that " he should serve 
 God on this mountain"^ was about to be verified, 
 and the burning bush to be exchanged for the 
 fiery mount. The Shepherd of Israel is summoned. 
 
 from an immediate extermination. at the present day. Ex. xxiii. 29, 
 
 For, (1.) it tried the obedience of 30 j Deut. vii. 22: "The Loed 
 
 Israel, Judg. ii. 21 ; (2.) it prac- thy God will put out those nations 
 
 tised thcni in anns, Judg. iii. 1, 2 ; before thee by little and little ; 
 
 (.3.) it prevented the eoimtry being thou mayest not consume them at 
 
 overnm with wild beasts — those once, lest the beasts of the field 
 
 very scourges which are said to increase upon thee." 
 infest the coimtrv about Galilee ' Dent. viii. 2. - Ex. iii. 12. 
 
Proclamation of the Law on Mount Sinai. 69 
 
 amidst majestic sounds of the trumpet and the chap. 
 
 flashings of the thundercloud, to unearthly au- — 
 
 diences; and that nothing should be wanting of 
 due publicity and notoriety, it is commanded that 
 the people also within duly prescribed limits, should 
 come near to Avitness and to hear the solemn words 
 from Heaven. Moses alone was to be admitted 
 within limits which none else might transgress. He 
 passes to and fro on the ministry of God's word 
 to the people, who, against the third day, are to 
 purify themselves, and then a};^3roach the boundary 
 prescribed. Moses himself is to pass beyond, and to 
 minister before the God of Heaven. The grandeur 
 of the scene can scarce find fitter description than in 
 the words of the sacred narrative itself. " And 
 Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to 
 meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of 
 the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a 
 smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, 
 and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a 
 furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And 
 when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and 
 waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God an- 
 swered him by a voice." ^ The law of the Ten Com- 
 mandments is now promulged ; but no sooner is it 
 done, than the people, who from the first had trem- 
 bled in great alarm, retreat hastily from the awful 
 scene. And now, that fitting witnesses might 
 still remain to attest the realities of the Divine 
 
 1 Ex. xix. 17, 18, 19. 
 
70 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, revelation, taking with him Aaron, with his two 
 
 '- — sons Nadab and Abihu, and seventy chosen elders 
 
 of Israel ^, Moses reascends the mount, and leaving 
 Joshua, his special minister on the occasion, at a 
 few paces distance, he prej)ares himself again to 
 receive the Heavenly voice. A six-days' cloud en- 
 compasses the mountain, and on the seventh day^ 
 the glory of the Lord shines out " as a devouring 
 iire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the 
 
 children of Israel And Moses was in the 
 
 mount forty days and forty nights." The two 
 tables of the law are here presented to him, 
 " written with the finger of God " Himself; — by the 
 dispensation, that is, of angelic ministries, or, as 
 some suppose, by the second Divine Person in the 
 blessed Trinity. The people, meanwhile, are to 
 bring their matters before Aaron and Hur, till 
 Moses should return to them. In his absence a 
 fearful apostacy breaks out ; an idolatrous image 
 is set uj), and divine honours paid to the likeness 
 of a calf, the very animal set aj^art for sacrifice. 
 This substitution of the heathen usages of Egypt 
 for the pure worship of Jehovah, into which even 
 
 ' Ex. xxiv. 1, 9, 1.3. The ap- says Bp. Patrick, " that these 
 
 pointmcnt of these Soy entj^ Elders seventy persons made a higher 
 
 is regarded as the first origin of court than any of those constituted 
 
 the Jewish Sanhedrim. In Num. by the advice of Jethro, and after- 
 
 xi. 10- — 2.5, -we have the account wards established in every city." 
 
 of their first appointment. They Sec Ex. xviii. 12 — 27 3 Deut. 
 
 •were afterwards to merge in the xvi. 18. 
 
 gTcat central court at Jenisaleni, ^ ^^ xxiv. 15 — 18. 
 Deut. xvii. 9 — 11. " It is plain," 
 
The People ivorship a Golden Calf. 71 
 
 Aaron fell, finds no apologist in Moses. Filled with chap. 
 
 grief and consternation, as the sound of the music '- — - 
 
 and dancing and all the revelry of the idol feast 
 fell uj^on his ear, he rushes from the mount, dashes 
 the two tables of the covenant to the ground, and 
 calls upon the congregation of Israel to give up the 
 heads of the rebellion to the hands of justice. The 
 Levites come forward and undertake the unwel- 
 come duty of executing immediate vengeance upon 
 no less than 3,000 of the chief offenders. It may 
 be asked, why did Aaron escape ? Why did he 
 escape again on the occasion of himself and Miriam 
 affecting equality with Moses, though Miriam was 
 afflicted with leprosy in punishment for her fault ? 
 The Sacred history very clearly explains it in the 
 latter case ; and we have only to apply the same prin- 
 ciple in the former. We shall then perceive that it 
 was not from undue partiality, nor yet from regard 
 to the sanctity of his offi.ce, that Aaron gained this 
 exemption ; but because of his prompt and sincere 
 repentance, finding vent in the earnest cry, " I 
 beseech thee lay not the sin upon us, wherein we 
 have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned." ' 
 A similar defection of the people, when seduced, 
 at the instigation of the wicked prophet Balaam, 
 by the Moabitish women, we may just mention here ; 
 but it forms no part of our purpose to dwell 
 minutely on the particulars of Balaam's history, 
 
 ^ Nuinb, xii. 11. 
 F 4 
 
72 Veracity of Ge?iesis. 
 
 CHAR except so far as it illustrates the deep infection 
 — — '- — which still rested on the people, from their old 
 idolatrous notions in Egypt, and shows the extreme 
 difficulty of weaning them from their corrupt 
 habits and ideas. We must not omit to observe — 
 as both instances may well remind us to do — upon 
 the remarkable and disinterested veracity of the 
 Mosaic account. Josephus, in this part of his 
 history, quite conceals the infirmity of Aaron, in 
 being carried away by the popular idolatry in 
 worshipping the golden calf ; whereas Moses relates 
 it with all its aggravations, and with no unworthy 
 respect to the person of his o^\ti brother Aaron. 
 And we find, generally, the same frankness and 
 truth-telling disposition, marking every portion 
 of his writings. He does, what no common writer, 
 still less an impostor would do, — he freely owns 
 the truth, though at the expense of his own 
 reputation ; and often suppresses the more favour- 
 able side, where it inight tend to minister to 
 personal exaltation. We hear nothing from himself 
 of those various accomplishments which universal 
 testimony ascribes to him, — ^nothing of the great 
 sacrifice it must have cost him to renounce all the 
 attractions of the court of Egypt, and to choose 
 boldly the rough path of duty ; but when it comes 
 to matters of a less flattering nature, he tells us 
 candidly, how he was tempted to err in the hastiness 
 of his speech, and in his backwardness to accept 
 the charge laid upon him; and how difficult he 
 
Moses intercedes for them, 73 
 
 found it to keep that charge, and to bring the char 
 
 j^eople to any due degree of subordination and '- — 
 
 obedience to the will of God. 
 
 But what had been passing on the Mount during 
 those forty days, when Moses was absent there? 
 Besides the two tables of the Law, he had received 
 exact directions for the framework of the tabernacle, 
 the ark, and all the holy furniture" — the rules for 
 the order of the priesthood, for the sacrifices and 
 ceremonies of divine worship. The names of the 
 artists, Bezaleel and Aholiab, were expressly revealed 
 to him ; but the patterns were to be taken from 
 "heavenly things," displayed to him, doubtless, in 
 mystic vision. From a passage in Deuteronomy, 
 we may infer, that acts of intercession and prayer 
 formed part of his employment on that sacred 
 height. At least it was so, on the second occasion 
 that he was called to that high communion with 
 his Maker. After the sin of the people in the 
 worship of the golden calf, we find him thus 
 exercising his intercessory office. A second time 
 he goes up into the Mount, and, rapt in holy vision 
 for another forty days, he pleads with God in behalf 
 of the guilty congregation. Two new Tables of 
 the Law are granted to him, to replace those which 
 in the fury of his zeal for God, he had broken in 
 pieces on his former descent from the Mount. ^ 
 " I fell down," says he, " before the Lord, as at the 
 
 I Ex. xxxiv. 1—4, 28 ; Deut. x. 1 — 4. 
 
74 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, first — for forty days and forty nights : I did neither 
 
 ^ — eat bread nor drink water, because of all your sins 
 
 which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of 
 the Lord, to provoke Him to anger." ^ And the 
 Lord renewed to him that remarkable proclamation 
 of Himself— as " The LORD, the LORD GOD, 
 merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant 
 in goodness and truth : keeping mercy for thousands, 
 forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and 
 that will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the 
 iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon 
 the children's children, unto the third and fourth 
 generation."^ On the expiration of this second 
 period, and the renewal of God's covenant with 
 his people, we read that, when ]\Ioses came down 
 from Mount Sinai, " the skin of his face shone " 
 Avith the reflected glory of the Divine presence ; 
 and "a vail was put on his face,"^ that the 
 people might be able to come near and address 
 him. 
 
 In less than six months, the tabernacle, and all 
 its furniture and sacred vessels, were completed. 
 The time of the passover was again come round, 
 and all seemed ready for the direct march to 
 Canaan. On the second month of their second 
 year's journey they are bid to set forward; and on 
 reaching Kadesh Barnea, they send forward twelve 
 men, a man from each tribe, to explore the land on 
 which they hoped to enter. A new trial here awaits 
 
 J Dcut. ix. 18, 25. 2 Ex. xxxiv. Q, 7. ^ Ex. xxxiv. 29—35. 
 
Faintheartediiess of the Spies. 75 
 
 III. 
 
 Moses. The spies — though they returned with chap. 
 that famous cluster of grapes which required two 
 men to carry it — brought no good report of the 
 land. They represented it as full of cities, high, 
 and walled up to heaven, and the inhabitants of 
 warlike air and gigantic stature, before whom their 
 hearts had sunk within them, and " they were in 
 their o^vn sight as grasshoppers." Joshua and 
 Caleb alone, of all the spies, stood up for an imme- 
 diate and courageous advance, in the name and in 
 the strength of the Lord of Hosts. The advice of 
 these faithful men was however in vain; and a 
 retreat was determined on, which cost them the 
 forty years' wandering in the wilderness which now 
 ensued. ^ We have but the accounts of the first 
 and last of these years, if we except the mere 
 mention of some principal stages in the thirty- third 
 chapter of Numbers. ^ No sooner had the Law 
 been given, than some restless spirits ventured to 
 innovate on some of what they regarded its super- 
 fluous ceremonies. Nadab and Abihu, the favoured 
 sons of Aaron, who had been with Moses in the 
 Mount, thus attempted to offer incense with strange 
 fire on the altar ; but for their offence " there Avent 
 out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they 
 died before the Lord." ^ The like waywardness in 
 Aaron and Miriam, in claiming equality with Moses, 
 has been already mentioned, and was visited with 
 proportionate severity. Punishment of death was 
 
 1 Num. xiv. 33, 34. ^ See also Deut. x. 6. ^ Lev. x. 1, 2. 
 
76 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, inflicted on a man avIio even picked up sticks on 
 
 '- — the Sabbath to burn. The most daring rebellion 
 
 was that of Korah, a Levite, and his family, with 
 Dathan, Abiram, and On, descendants of Reuben 
 the first-born. These persuaded themselves that 
 the distinctions of office, prescribed by the law, 
 were unjust assumptions of Moses and Aaron, 
 and they rose up against them, and drew off a 
 large number of the congregation. The contest 
 was decided by a direct appeal to Heaven : and 
 on presenting themselves at the door of the 
 Tabernacle to offer incense, as the priests alone 
 might do, the impious band of Korah and their 
 associates were scorched Avith fire from Heaven, 
 while the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan 
 and Abiram and all the unruly multitude who 
 stood around their tents. Thus God avenged His 
 own ordinances and vindicated the authority of His 
 servant Moses. In sign of the special authority 
 committed to the chosen High Priest, the rod of 
 Aaron budded and blossomed in the tabernacle, 
 those v/hich belonged to the other heads of families 
 in Israel remaining barren as before. 
 
 We may imagine, so meek as Moses was, with 
 what pain he must have Avitnessed the just con- 
 demnation of these various offenders. Indeed, in 
 some instances, the punishment may almost seem 
 to have exceeded a due proportion to the offence. 
 But in the beginning of institutions, it is necessary 
 to exercise due and salutary discipline ; and laws. 
 
Patriotism of Moses. ' Ti 
 
 which may afterwards admit of reasonable relaxa- chap. 
 
 tion, must then be enforced with rigour. It is not '■ — 
 
 every lie which is punished with the same severity 
 as in the instance of Ananias and Sapphira, at a 
 time when it was deemed peculiarly needful that 
 " fear should come upon the infant churches." 
 Theirs, however, was a moral and deadly sin; 
 while the Israelites perished for violations of mere 
 outward and ceremonial observances. There cannot 
 be a doubt that Moses, in all these transactions, looked 
 far beyond himself or any private ends. Had he 
 paid regard to these, opportunities were not wanting 
 to have promoted them at the expence of others. 
 But this was never in his thoughts. He looked to 
 the duties of his oflSce, and to nothing else. When 
 he witnessed the temporal suiFerings which others, 
 by their disobedience, brought down upon their 
 own head, we may imagine him to have taken 
 comfort in the reflection, that the temporal was not 
 necessarily to be followed by eternal death; but 
 that rather the justice of God miglit be satisfied in 
 the present chastisement, and not extend to the 
 final condemnation of the sinners in the world to 
 come. The whole secret of his conduct was, in a 
 word, the submission of himself to the known and 
 revealed will of God. AYhen exposed to contradic- 
 tions and reproach, the answer was ever ready on 
 his lips — " Who are we that ye murmur against 
 us? your murmurings are against the Lord."* 
 
 ^ Ex. xvi. 7j Nimi. xvi. 11, and comp. Ex. iii. 11 ; iv. 10. 
 
78 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. His conduct was thus marked witli as much of 
 
 '■ — meekness throughout, as of faithfuhiess to the 
 
 commands of God. 
 
 He never loved his countrymen the less, because 
 he feared and loved God the more. What can 
 equal that noble burst of affection and ardent 
 patriotism, when, in the midst of complaining that 
 the burden of so great a multitude was too much 
 for his single strength to bear (for that now " they 
 were as the stars of heaven for multitude"), he thus 
 apostrophises the same people, and says, " The Lord 
 God of your fathers make you a thousand times so 
 many more as ye are, and bless you, as He hath 
 promised you ! " ^ What disinterestedness, when, 
 the Almighty having threatened to cut off and dis- 
 inherit the whole people of Israel, and to make of 
 Moses " a greater and mightier nation than they," — 
 the dazzling offer had no other effect upon him 
 than to drive the holy Prophet. to his knees, and to 
 extort anew the intercessory prayer ever ready on 
 his lips, " Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity 
 of this people according unto the greatness of 
 Thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, 
 from Egypt even until now !" ^ We might look 
 in vain in heathen story for instances of the 
 like absence of personal ambition and of private 
 aims of ao:":randiscment, in stations of the same 
 eminence and authority. The ardent love of others, 
 the spirit of self-sacrifice, which had settled do^vn, 
 
 1 Dcut. i. 10, 11. 2 j,-^„ii_ xiv. 12, 19. 
 
His Disinterestedness and Public Sjnrit. 79 
 
 in Moses, into a constant rule of life, seems a gift chap. 
 
 peculiar to the chosen servants of the Most High. '- — 
 
 The Scriptures supply another memorable instance 
 in Christian times, — when St. Paul, a prisoner in 
 chains, and pleading before Agrippa, in reply to the 
 half-confession extorted from the King, ("almost 
 thou persuadest me to be a Christian,") bursts out 
 into that generous and noble strain, " I would to 
 God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me 
 this day, were both almost, and altogether such as 
 I am, except these bonds." ^ 
 
 We must notice in one stage of their pilgrimage, 
 the plague of serpents, of Avhose deadly bite a great 
 multitude of the Israelites perished ", when it pleased 
 God to ordain a miraculous cure, the tradition of 
 which has undoubtedly left its trace in many reli- 
 gious usages amongst the nations of the earth. ^ The 
 peculiar import of the brazen serpent, which was 
 on this occasion commanded to be made and raised 
 up on a pole or ensign, that the Israelites looking 
 towards it might receive a miraculous cure, we 
 reserve for another occasion. ^ But to show how 
 little it was intended as a mere natural charm, or 
 to give countenance to the superstitious worship of 
 out^Yard signs, this very serpent of brass, after 
 
 ^ Acts, xxvi. 28, 29. tliis event. — Eatto, note on Num. 
 
 2 Niun. xxi. 8, 9 ; Jolin, iii. 14. xxi. 9. 
 
 3 Thus the worship of ^scii- * The reader is refen-ed to the 
 lapiiis, the god of physic, under longer note appended to this 
 the fonn of a serpent, may liave chapter. 
 
 been derived fi'om a tradition of 
 
80 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, being religiously kept among the Israelites for 
 '■ — many ages, when it began to be abused to super- 
 stitious uses, was purposely destroyed by express 
 command of God, in the reign of King Hezekiah.^ 
 The author of the Book of Wisdom has well pointed 
 out the true virtue of the symbol, where he says, 
 " He that turned himself towards it was not healed 
 by the thing which he saw, but by Thee who art 
 the Saviour of all." ^ 
 
 As the forty years' journey in the wilderness 
 drew to an end, Moses redoubled his zeal and 
 earnest care for the instruction and improvement 
 of the people. He renews the covenant made with 
 them at Horeb ^, and pledges them, on their arrival 
 in Canaan, to engrave it on pillars or tablets of 
 stone to be erected on Mount Ebal. * Clearing 
 himself of all danger of mistake, he declares to 
 them in emphatic terms, " I call heaven and earth 
 to record this day against you, that I have set 
 before you life and death, blessing and cursing: 
 therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed 
 may live." ^ The generation was now fast dying 
 out, to whom it had been threatened that they 
 should not set foot in the promised land, because 
 of their unbelief in being swayed by the ill report 
 of the spies. The justice of this sentence we are not 
 competent to call in question. It may, however, 
 fairly and justly be demanded, if such was the sad 
 
 1 2 liings, xviii. 4. 2 "vvisd. xvi. 7. ^ j)Qx\t. xxix. xxx. 
 
 " Dent, xxvii. 1—8. ^ p^.,^^. xxx. 19. 
 
TJie System tried by its Fruits. 81 
 
 condition of many for whom better things might chap. 
 
 have been hoped, where are we to look for the '■ — 
 
 fruits of this great mission of Moses ? The merits, 
 it may be insisted, of any plan of government, or 
 the abilities of the governor, may fairly be esti- 
 mated by the amount of good produced, and by the 
 success attending his measures. Where then was 
 the good of this wilderness discipline ? and what 
 success had followed the past efforts of Moses? 
 There can be no doubt, that in the knowledge of 
 the true God, as distinct from the inventions of 
 human superstition, a great progress had been 
 made. " The great work which the Lord did upon 
 the Egyptians," ^ had been enough to display the 
 terrors of His arm. But in the wilderness they 
 had learnt further His tender care for his people, 
 how " He bare them as a man doth bear his son, in 
 all the way that they went," ^ and thus they had 
 been taught the great duty and privilege of obe- 
 dience, founded on love. And though many of 
 them had failed to manifest that improvement 
 under the various trials and dispensations ap- 
 pointed them, which might have been desired, there 
 were still some faithful spirits who had realised the 
 benefits intended. The old generation was dying 
 out ; but there were left those of younger years, 
 who had really profited by the lessons they had re- 
 ceived. At the age of twenty, men are not ill quali- 
 
 1 Ex. xiv. 31. 2 D,.„t. i. .3.3. 
 
82 Veracity of Ge7iesis. 
 
 III. 
 
 CKAP. ;fied to be wrought upon, by what they see and hear, 
 to pay increasing heed to the lessons of Providence, 
 and to turn to account the ripening experiences of 
 life. Such must now have had the additional 
 experience of another forty years, — time enough, 
 one may be sure, to shake oif the superstitious 
 notions they had imbibed in Egypt, and to confirm 
 themselves in the knowledge and obedience of the 
 one true God of their fathers. To such, the many 
 dispensations by which God had tried them, " to 
 humble them and to prove them, to know what 
 was in their hearts, whether they would keep his 
 commandments or no," ^ were not in vain ; but 
 they had eifectually acquired the character that 
 would fit them to take part with Joshua, in form- 
 ing the first nucleus of the infant theocracy within 
 the borders of the Holy Land. 
 
 Another thing which marks this period, is the 
 fuller mention which is made to the Israelites of 
 the natural beauties and advantages of the country 
 before them : as though the nearer thoughts of it 
 animated the speaker to dwell more upon this 
 theme, than he had hitherto done on the dreary 
 march through the wilderness. He no longer fears 
 to contrast the fertile plains of Canaan with the 
 barren rocks of Paran. He dwells with rapture on 
 the good land of promise — as " a land of brooks 
 of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out 
 of valleys and hills ; — a land of wheat, and barley, 
 
 ' Dt'ut. viii. 2. 
 
Moses speaks " unadvisedly " and is punished. 83 
 
 and vines, and figtrees, and pomegranates ; a land chap. 
 
 of oil-olive and honey." ^ Yet to these happier '- — 
 
 scenes, neither Aaron, nor himself, in their o^vn 
 persons, are ever destined to arrive. Both are 
 to be monuments of the impartiality of Divine 
 justice, because of their offences ; and are to forfeit 
 the fondly hoped privilege of admission to the 
 Promised Land. The exact nature of the offence of 
 Moses may admit of some doubt ; but, whatever it 
 was, Aaron participated in it - ; and we have the 
 authority of the Psalmist for saying, that "he 
 spake unadvisedly with his lips." ^ According to 
 a tradition of the Rabbis, the act consisted in the 
 opprobrious appellation by which he had addressed 
 his countrymen, when he struck the rock to give 
 them water. We shall see reason for regarding it 
 in a somewhat different light. But it may be well 
 to give the passage at full length. The peoj)le 
 having for the second time given vent to some 
 vehement expression of complaint, on occasion of 
 their wanting water, Moses, we read, receives 
 commandment, saying, " Take the rod, and gather 
 thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy 
 brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their 
 eyes ; and it shall give forth his water, and thou 
 shalt bring to them water out of the rock. And 
 Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He 
 commanded him.... And Moses and Aaron gathered 
 
 » Dent. viii. 7, 8. 2 jjg cYi. .33. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, the congregation together before the rock, and he 
 — — — said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we 
 fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses 
 lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the 
 rock twice ; and the water came out abundantly, 
 and the congregation drank thereof, and their 
 beasts also." ^ Such were the exact circumstances 
 of the case. But what was the charge founded 
 upon them ? We find it in chapter xxxii. verse 51 : 
 — " Because ye trespassed against Me among the 
 children of Israel, at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh ; 
 because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the 
 children of Israel." From which it would appear, 
 that this act of Moses in twice smiting the rock, 
 was an overlooking of the express word of the 
 Divme command, in the indulgence of a hasty and 
 impatient temper, or of some feeling of personal 
 vanity. It was a mistaken idea of improving 
 on the prescribed methods of God, — as if it was 
 either the word of man, the blow, or the twice 
 repeating 2 of the blow, that would produce the 
 effect, — and not rather the invisible power of God, 
 and His blessing on the faithful performance of His 
 word. That God, in His infinite wisdom, had some 
 further design ^ in not permitting the rock to be 
 
 1 Niun. XX. 8 — 12. ^ That class of precepts which 
 
 2 " Twice," as it might have is called positive, as not foimded 
 seemed, in appropriate signiflca- onany obvious principles of reason 
 tion of the twice-repeated com- and morality, must often have 
 plaining of the people. been a stumbling-block to the 
 
III. 
 
 Last Measures of Moses. 85 
 
 struck as on a former occasion, we doubt not ; and chap. 
 especially this, that it might better symbolise the 
 rock's great Antitype, who was to suiFer once, and 
 once only, under the stroke of the law, for the sins 
 of the world. 
 
 Aaron dies first, on Mount Hor, and was buried. 
 With Moses, there is a larger interval of warning 
 and preparation, though Ave know not exactly how 
 long. In an early chapter of Deuteronomy, he 
 mentions his approaching end, but reverts to it no 
 more till the end of the book. As he contemplated 
 his own removal, he seems to have made it his first 
 care to provide a faithful successor, who might 
 tend the flock which he was about to quit, and lead 
 them safely fonvard to the consummation of their 
 hopes. Committing this desire of his heart in 
 prayer to God, he is directed to make choice of 
 Joshua, whom he is to bring to the Holy Taber- 
 nacle, — the seat of the Divine presence, — and there 
 to induct him into his office. To this kindly 
 forethought for his people, Moses, under the Divine 
 direction, shortly adds another labour of love, in 
 the composition of that beautiful song, which, 
 though it must necessarily lose something of the 
 charm of its poetic dress and melody to the modern 
 reader, is still full of the most sublime and heart- 
 stirring strains, and was eminently calculated then, 
 
 faith of men under tlie Jewish their application to the times of 
 dispensation. It is comparatively Messiah, 
 easy now to look back and trace 
 
6 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, by its mention of so many points in their national 
 
 ' — history, to make a deep and abiding impression on 
 
 the minds of the Israelitish people. What sublime 
 and impressive passages are these ! — " He found 
 him in a desert land, and in the waste howling 
 wilderness ; He surrounded him, He instructed 
 him. He kept him as tlie apple of His eye. As 
 an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her 
 young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketli them, 
 beareth them on her Avings ; so the Lord alone did 
 lead him, and there was no strange god with him." 
 (Deut. xxxii. 10-12.) " See now, that it is I, even 
 I, and there is no god with me : I kill, and I make 
 alive ; I wound, and I heal ; neither is there any that 
 can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my 
 hand to heaven, — I say, T live for ever. If I whet 
 the lightning of my sword, and mine hand take 
 hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine 
 adversaries, and will repay them that hate me." 
 (Deut. xxxii. 39-42.) 
 
 Such are the last preparations before the great 
 Lawgiver must quit his charge. And now he, too, 
 must obey his summons from the God of the spirits 
 of all flesh. " Get thee up into this mountain, and 
 die, and be gathered unto thy people." Such is the 
 word of God to him on the selfsame day, " that he 
 had rehearsed all the words" of that last song in 
 the ears of all the con2:reo;ation. How often of old 
 had he paced the mountain-top, seeking there — 
 in the retirement of Nature's sanctuary, half-lifted 
 
His latter EjuL 87 
 
 as it were to heaven, or in immediate intercourse chap. 
 
 III. 
 with Nature's God — rest to his weary spirit, re- '- — 
 
 cruited strength for fresh labours, counsel and 
 direction for his future path ! Shall his God for- 
 sake him at the last? Shall there be no more 
 blessing for him on the mountain -top ? Yes ! 
 there again God meets him, and appears to him. 
 " His. eye is not dim, nor his natural force abated," 
 but, apart from this natural vigour, God strengthens 
 him by His Spirit. By a miraculous extent of view 
 there is spread out before him the whole extent of 
 Canaan. Nor is the vision bounded there ; — but as 
 he looks abroad from Mount Nebo, — across the inter- 
 vening stream of Jordan and the plains of Moab, to 
 the valley of Jericho, to Kedron, and to Hebron, and 
 the brook of Siloah on the south, — and as he stretches 
 his view north^vard to the plains of Sharon, and 
 over Mount Carmel to the more distant Lebanon and 
 the everlasting hills; so, doubtless, to the eye of 
 his faith was disclosed that further stage of things, 
 to which Jerusalem itself, and her temple, and all 
 the scenes of Palestine were but the curtain and 
 the veil. And thus forecasting the kingdom of the 
 Messiah and the better days to come, and the rest 
 that remaineth for the people of God, this great 
 Prophet dies and resigns his spirit to Him who 
 gave it. We read of no instructions being given 
 by him, as once by Joseph, to take up his bones 
 and bury them in the land of his fathers. Nor 
 were other tokens wanting to show that his body 
 
B8 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, was designedly to be left in an unknown place, lest 
 '- — in after ages it should be made the object of adora- 
 tion ^ among a people predisposed to idolatry by 
 what they had seen practised in Egypt. In some 
 unknown spot it was deposited, and awaits the 
 resurrection of the just. Josephus speaks of " his 
 body not being found, and disappearing." '^^ Accord- 
 ing to a current tradition of the Jews, " he ascended 
 and ministered to God in the heavens." The scene 
 of the Transfiguration related by the first three 
 Evangelists, where he appears in company with 
 Elias, has inclined many to adopt a very similar 
 idea of his translation to heaven, after the manner 
 of that other Prophet. But, as the Scrij^ture ac- 
 count makes mention of his death and burial, and 
 as the Apostle Jude speaks of a contest in the 
 spiritual world over the " body of Moses," we may 
 rather believe that he was associated with Elias, on 
 the occasion referred to, in vision, not in reality ; or 
 
 ^ This very reason we have in naan, he did not desire to be car- 
 R. Levi Ben Gerslwm, " Future ried thither to be buried with his 
 generations," says he, "might per- ancestors, as Joseph did ; because 
 haps have made a god of him, his interment in that country 
 because of the fame of his mi- might have proved of dangerous 
 racles ; for do we not see how consequence, if, in their distress, 
 some of the Israelites erred in the chiklren of Israel should hiive 
 the brazen sei-peut which Moses rmi to his sepulchre, and begged 
 made ? And what then would of him to pray for them, whose 
 they not have done, had they but prayers and intercession in their 
 known where his remains were behalf they had found in his life- 
 laid?" "Fortius reason, very time so veiy prevalent." — Patrick 
 likely, it was that, how much so- un Bent, xxxiv. G. 
 ever Moses was in love with Ca- ^ yi,it{(j_^ ijij, jy, c_ yin 
 
Place of Sepulture concealed. 8 9 
 
 else that his real body was raised purposely for that chap. 
 
 occasion. And we cannot do better than adhere '■ — 
 
 to the express language of the sacred narrative, 
 " So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in 
 the land of Moab, according to the word of the 
 Lord. And He buried him" (by the hand of angels, 
 as it would appear from Jude) " in a valley in the 
 land of Moab, over against Beth-peor ; but no man 
 knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."^ We 
 have here sought to lay another stone to his 
 memory, and to bring out the strong features of 
 his character, and his claims to be considered the 
 inspired Prophet of Heaven. We have regarded, 
 him, perhaps, a little too exclusively, in his great 
 public capacity as Leader and Governor of Israel, — 
 passing over in comparative silence the interior, as 
 it were, of his life and manners, — and have said 
 nothing of his symbolical office as typifying the fu- 
 ture Deliverer of the world, that "greater Prophet 
 which was yet to be raised up in Israel like unto 
 him," and to whom they should "hearken ;"2 but, if 
 they refused, " every soul Avhich will not hear him, 
 was to be destroyed from among the people." For, 
 however worthy of notice in themselves these points 
 may be (and most deserving of attention they are), 
 it seemed better to keep them separate from the 
 thread of the narrative, and to confine ourselves to 
 those principal circumstances of his life, on which 
 
 1 Deut. xxxiv. 5, 6. sion, ''hear Him," — Matt. xvii. 
 
 * Compare the parallel expres- 5 ; Mark, ix. 7 ; Luke, ix. 35. 
 
90 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, after all the others must depend. For the same 
 
 '- — reason we must leave to others the discussion of 
 
 the si:»irit and temper of those laws ^ which were 
 delivered by him, and which were the great founda- 
 tion, not of the Jewish code alone, but also, as is 
 probable, of that of every other civilised nation in 
 the world. We subjoin a brief mention of the 
 more striking particulars, in which the history of 
 Moses was typical of the great Messiah that was 
 to come into the world. 
 
 Moses, a type of Christ. — Interesting as is the life of tlie great 
 Jewish Lawgiver, regarding him only as we have hitherto done, 
 in his individual capacity, and as the chosen leader of Israel ; it 
 acquires additional interest when we consider him, further, as the 
 forerunner of a better dispensation to come. Any view of his 
 character must be incomplete, Avhich omits to regard him in this 
 ulterior light. If he was a shining light to the men of that gene- 
 ration, — if he displayed abilities and virtues of the highest order, 
 and exhibited the most exemplary fidelity in his office, — with all 
 these excellencies was combined the still higher office of repre- 
 senting, however faintly, a greater Prophet to come; and whose 
 more exceeding glory should one day scatter the clouds of Sinai, 
 before the brightness of His appearing. We had before occasion 
 to remark on the pecuharly Catholic natm-e, in many instances, of 
 the scenes and transactions in which Moses took part ; and how 
 the desert, and the wandering, and the Eed Sea, and the pillar of 
 the cloud, the manna and the rock, and many such things, have 
 their counterpart in the blessings and the realities of the Christian 
 covenant. We might have added to the catalogue many rites 
 
 > On the purity and excellence tateuch, Vi. II. and Vt. III. Lect. 
 
 of the Mosaic Law, see especially iii.; Warbiu-tou, Divine Legation of 
 
 'Eimoh, Prap. Evang.Yih.Vn — ix. Moses; Ilamiltou, On the Pmta- 
 
 amlxiv. XV.; GxSi,\eB, Onthe Pen- tmwh; Cm-rey, Ilukean Lectures. 
 
Typical Character of Moses 91 
 
 and ceremonies of the law, and instittitions of the temple service. CHAP. 
 
 But the analogy between any of these, and the benefits which, as 
 Christians, Ave have now received, is not more striking than that 
 Avhich subsists between the personal office and character of Moses 
 himself, and the person of Him that was to come. 
 
 1. — Take him first in the character of & Prophet. In the 
 terms which accompanied the giving of the law, — in the near 
 communion which he was permitted to hold with Heaven, while 
 every other witness of the sight shrunk back with horror and 
 alami, — in the continviance of that high communion, till his 
 very coimtenance was radiant with the heavenly glory, — in the 
 wonders which made him " very great in the land of Egypt, in 
 the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people " 
 ( Exod. xi. 3), — in the comprehensive yet distinctive character 
 of that celebrated code, which, in the name of the Almighty, he 
 was commissioned to promulgate fi-om Moimt Sinai ; — in all these 
 singular prerogatives, where was ever the Prophet that might 
 compare Avith Moses ? — a Prophet, as the Scriptiu-es express it, 
 " whom the Lord kncAV face to face, in all the signs and the Avon- 
 ders which the Lord sent him to do to Pharaoh and to all his land. 
 And in all that mighty hand, and in all the gi-eat terror, which 
 Moses shoAved in the sight of all Israel." (Deut. xxxiv. 10 — 12.) 
 But there yet remains an important feature of his prophetic ofilce, 
 and one in which he still more closely resembles Christ, viz., 
 the power of foretelling fiiture events. He not only describes 
 beforehand the Promised Land with all the vividness and particu- 
 Larity of one who had actually seen and Hved in it ; but he marks 
 out the future destiny of its old inhabitants, and the stiU more 
 A'"aried destinies of the people who Avere about to dispossess them, 
 and to occupy the land in their stead. In a subsequent chapter we 
 shall be able to point out instances of that most singrdar discern- 
 ment, by which he Avas permitted to penetrate into the fliture 
 settlement of nations, and mark the course and direction of civili- 
 sation and religion. Add to this, the direct prophecies of the 
 Messiah, with which his writings abound. These, too, will be 
 fou.nd noticed at some length in the last-named chapter. They 
 none of them exceed in distinctness and importance that cele- 
 brated one in Deut. xviii. 15 — 18 : " A Prophet Avill the Lord 
 thy God raise up unto thee of thy brethren, like mito me : unto 
 
02 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, liim shall ye hearken." And accordingly we find this prophecy 
 ^"- veiy frequently nrged in later times by the Apostles, as in Acts 
 iii. 22, 23; vii. 37. 
 
 2. — The office oi Lawgiver was another plain characteristic of 
 Moses ; and so it was of Christ. The sermon on the mount is 
 enough to show the authority which He took upon Him to give 
 laws to His people. A learned writer has well remarked : " Search 
 the Avhole range of inspired Prophets ; view that long line of emi- 
 nent men, distinguished by various gifts of inspiration, having 
 diversities of gifts from the same Holy Spirit ; some endued with 
 the power of working miracles, healing the sick, and raising the 
 dead ; some enabled, with the glance of their mental vision, to 
 pierce the gloom of futurity, and depict with the boldest, yet most 
 accurate imagery, events yet distant : seek out Joshua, the cho- 
 sen captain of Israel ; Samuel, called to consecrate her kings ; 
 David, himself the anointed of the Lord ; Elijah, a man of like 
 passions with ourselves, but gifted with Divine wisdom in his 
 life, and distinguished in his death, above the sons of men ; and 
 Elisha, upon whom the spirit of Elijah rested ; contemplate those 
 twelve holy men who declared all the will of the Lord, until 
 vision and prophecy were sealed up : and behold all these enfor- 
 cing, with all the authority of their office, and in the name of the 
 Most High God, the sanctions of the Mosaic law, and often giving 
 intimations of some greater lawgiver, who shoiild be raised up ; 
 yet in no one instance themselves introducing any new law. 
 Behold the world left for a series of years in darkness, uncheered 
 by one ray of inspiration, until at length the gospel day begins 
 to dawn ; the Spirit begins to be poured out upon all flesh ; the 
 prophetic dreams, the vision, and the superhuman voice, are 
 once more displayed among the people of Israel ; the messenger 
 comes in the wilderness, to prepare the way of the Lord ; and 
 then the long-predicted, and typified, and expected Prophet ap- 
 pears, like unto Moses in many respects, and delivering laws, as 
 Moses did, with authority and power." — Chevallier, Hulsean 
 Lectures. Camb. 1826. 
 
 3, 4. — As a Priest and as a King Moses was, further, a fit re- 
 presentative of Christ : if not in the same degree as in his other 
 offices of Imvgiver and j)rophet, yet sufficiently so to ensure 
 that which is more striking than any mere single point of re- 
 
His Office^ as a Mediator. 93 
 
 semblance, viz., the wonderful combination of characters, which CHAP. 
 never before or since met in the same individual. Moses was ^^^- 
 not himself a priest; yet, receiving his appointment anterior to 
 Aaron, he had to perform the priestly office on more than one 
 occasion, as the patriarchs had done before him. On one of 
 these occasions, he so exactly typified Christ, that the very words 
 which he was directed to employ were engrafted upon the first 
 institution of the most solemn ordinance of the Christian Chui'ch. 
 For "he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience 
 of the people ; and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we 
 do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled 
 it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which 
 the Lord hath made with you, concerning all these words " 
 (Exod. xxiv. 7, 8) ; recalling to mind the very similar expression 
 in the Gospels, — " He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave 
 it to them, saying. Drink ye all of it ; for this is my Hood of the 
 New TestamenV (i. e. Covenant), "which is shed for many, for the 
 remission of sins " (Matt. xxvi. 27, 28). Whether the passage, 
 Deut. xxxiii. 5, " he was king in Jeshurun," may be referable 
 to Moses, or whether Jehovah Himself be intended, it is clear that 
 Moses was in fact a king, as much as if he had been expressly 
 called by that name. The kings of later times were themselves but 
 instruments under God to execute His commands, as supreme 
 Governor of the people, manifesting that government by outward 
 and visible tokens : and Moses in this light was not inferior to 
 them. In the substance of his office, he precisely resembled 
 them ; — and therefore, both as priest and king, we may view 
 him as typifying and preparing the way for the futiu-e Re- 
 deemer, no less than as a prophet he resembled Him in the 
 plenitude of the gifts by which he was distinguished. 
 
 5. — We pass to the last great point of resemblance — one evidently 
 in the mind of the Apostle, when he speaks of the law having 
 been " ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator" (Gal. iii. 
 19), and one most strictly in harmony with the evangelical dis- 
 pensation. How often we may observe him in the exercise of 
 this mediatorial character ! When the people were in great 
 terror and consternation before the awful thunders of Sinai, 
 amid the " blackness, and darkness, and tempest," — when they 
 were unable to bear so terrible a sight, standing though they 
 
94 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, might witliin the prescribed liraits of the Mount, — Moses alone 
 HI- was able to draw near to converse with God. And the people 
 said unto Moses, " Speak thou with us, and we will hear ; but 
 let not God speak Avith us, lest we die. And the people stood 
 afiir off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God 
 was." (Exod. XX. 19 — 21.) To this occasion it was that Moses 
 refers the first announcement of that remarkable prophecy on 
 which we have already dwelt. It was when the people shriuik 
 from the glories which indicated the miraculous presence of 
 Jehovah, and wished for a Mediator to interpose between them 
 (Deut. xvii. 16), that the word went forth, " They have well 
 spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a 
 Proj)het fi'om among their brethren, like vmto thee." (Deut. xvii. 
 18.) Thus might he say, " I stood between the Lord and you at 
 that time, to show you the word of the Lord." (Deut. v. 5.) In 
 the same capacity we find him, at other times, interceding for the 
 people. When they fell into that grievous sin, the worship of 
 the golden calf, — when, again, they had sinned, in the matter of 
 the spies, and God threatened to disinherit and cast them oif, — 
 when they provoked God by the waters of Meribah, — and on 
 many similar occasions, with what fervour he implores the Divine 
 forgiveness ! We find him rather disposed to implicate and mix 
 up himself in the whims and infirmities of the people for whom 
 he acted, than neglect the mediatorial part which he had under- 
 taken to perform toward them. Under the tempting offer, " I 
 will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they " 
 (Numb. xiv. 12), he seems to spurn every thought but that of 
 making common cause with the people, and in the largeness of 
 a sympathising heart, he vents himself in still more earnest 
 prayer, " Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people, 
 according unto the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast for- 
 given this people fi-om Egypt even until now." (Numb. xiv. 19.) 
 In prayers such as this, we are even informed, that the time was 
 in great measure spent, when, rapt in holy vision on the Mount, he 
 held mysterious converse with Heaven. " I fell doAvn," he tells 
 us, " before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights ; 
 I neither did eat bread nor drink water, because of all your sins 
 which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to 
 provoke Him to anger ... I prayed, therefore, unto the Lord, and 
 
General Analogies. 95 
 
 said, O, Lord God, destroy not Tliy people and thine inheritance, CHAP, 
 Avhich Thou hast redeemed through Thy greatness, which Thou ^^^- 
 hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand." (Deut. ix. 
 18, 26.) Could anything more jixstly denominate him a fit 
 type of Him who interposed between the offended justice of God 
 and the trembling offender ? Could any outward situation have 
 prepared, in a more emphatic manner, that office of the gi-eater 
 Prophet, on which all our hopes of acceptance depend ? Could 
 anything more sensibly place before our eyes the " One God, and 
 the One Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus?" 
 (1 Tim. ii, 5.) 
 
 G. — There were inferior resemblances, on which we need not 
 particularly dwell : such as the miraculous escape from the 
 slaughter of the infants, and the return from Egypt ; the forty 
 days' fast ; the refusal of the offer of the kingdoms of this world ; 
 the rejection by his own coimtrymen ; the fi-equent murmuring 
 of his followers ; the giving of manna ; the smiting of the rock ; 
 the lifting up of the brazen serpent in the wilderness; the shin- 
 ing of his countenance ; the dying in the full vigour of his 
 strength ; and (if it was so) the miraculous translation of his 
 body to heaven. 
 
 Of these, the lifting up the serpent in the wilderness is alluded 
 to by our Lord Himself, in illustration of the mode of His own 
 appointed death. In His " lifting iip " of Himself He was to resem- 
 ble — not indeed the serpent, whom (in a figure) He came to over- 
 come — but Moses, who lifted up that serpent. " This brazen 
 serpent put upon a pole," says Bishop Patrick, " was not a figure 
 of Christ ; but of the old serpent himself (the devil), as wounded, 
 bruised, and dead, by the lifting up of Clu-ist on the cross, where 
 He entirely disarmed him of all his power to hiut us." (Vide 
 Patrick, note, Numbers xxi. 9.) 
 
 Such was the vividness of the type, through all its points of 
 resemblance ; and such the exactness of the flilfilment. What 
 proof is there in all this — not merely of the supernatural charac- 
 ter of the Mosaic economy, but also of the visible manifestation 
 of the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, who con- 
 nects, in His all-seeing eye, the famtest shadow cast before with 
 the actual event, which, according to appointed order and in the 
 fulness of time, comes behind ! 
 
9G Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The Dispersion. 
 
 'EvXoyrjTos o Qtof 2?;/^, Kcil tarai Xavadv ircuQ avTOv' irXarivai Kvpiog 
 Ttp 'laipiO, Koi KaToiKT]ffdra) iv roiq o'lKOiq ^rjfi' K.r.X. Kai oti outw ye- 
 yoviv ctKovaart ' vfiiiQ yap ('lov^nTot) oi airo rov ^ij/i Karayovrig to ysi'oc, 
 iTryXOtrs, Kara ri]v rov Qeov (iovXijv, rf) yrj twu viiZv Xavadv, Kai SiaKari- 
 (TXfTf avTi'iV Kai OTi 01 v'loi 'id^iO, Kurd ti]v rov Qtov Kptalv tniXdovTfg 
 Kai avToi vjxTv, d(t)(i\ovro Vfiojv Tiqv yrjv Kai SiaKarkaxov avri]v (paivtrat. — 
 Jiistin Martyr, Dial c. Tryph. 
 
 '' I do not know any better cure of (speculative) Atheism, next to 
 the gi-ace of God, than the due consideration of the Origination of 
 INIankind." — Sir Matthew Hale. 
 
 CHAP. The naturalist who is desirous of comprehend 
 
 msf 
 
 clearly his department of science, begins by arrang- 
 ing the varieties of species under their genera, 
 — these again under families, orders, classes, — till 
 he has reached the limit which marks a separate 
 province in the animal or vegetable kingdom. 
 When this is done, and the results of his researches 
 duly registered, suppose a book were found, coming 
 down from some remote antiquity, and containing 
 an exact catalogue of the very types and forms 
 to which the parentage of the several varieties had 
 been thus carefully traced, — would not the coin- 
 cidence be considered a remarkable one? Would 
 not much curiosity be excited about the author of 
 
Ancestry of the Four great Continents. 97 
 
 such a book? Would not mucli credit be OTven chap. 
 
 IV. 
 
 liim for the sino-ular skill and insio^ht he had thus ' — 
 
 early discovered into so deep and complicated a 
 subject? Would he not at once have accorded to 
 him the first rank among writers in his branch of 
 science? But Moses, in his relation of the first 
 origin of nations^ goes far beyond this. He traces 
 to one blood all nations of the earth ; and, as 
 though this were an easy task, he proceeds further 
 to distinguish the several families of man, as they 
 arise, under three distinctive heads, — as though he 
 foresaw the very localities which would become 
 most celebrated on the map of the world, and 
 wished to denominate them, from the commence- 
 ment, after their true original. We may almost 
 fancy him to have had in view the three great 
 continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, together 
 with what we may include under the generic 
 Hebrew term the ' Isles of the Sea,' viz. the 
 Western Hemisphere itself, when he wrote an 
 account so suggestive of times and of people yet to 
 come. Nay, — could we for a moment forget the 
 remarkable character of the man, and the preter- 
 natural assistances which he received, we might even 
 be tempted to think that he must have written after 
 those great geographical divisions had been estab- 
 lished, and the infant tribes had been developed into 
 fuU-groAvn national communities. If he had been 
 taking a quiet survey, in the palmy days of Augus- 
 tan literature, over all the Imown countries of the 
 
98 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAR world, and tlieir several histories ; and if he had 
 
 IV. 
 
 '■ — kept a memorandum of the principal localities that 
 
 had occupied his attention in the course of such 
 a survey, he could hardly have made a better 
 selection than he has actually done under very 
 different circumstances, and writing, as he did, 
 some 1000 years before that period; though even 
 then he came long before the earliest known writers 
 of history. 
 
 So far as we know, there is but one exception to 
 this remark, and that regards the Chinese ; of which 
 people, it may be said, we find no trace, not even 
 the remotest mention, in Genesis. To account for 
 this, it has been supposed by some, that China 
 might have been the country where the ark rested, 
 and the first settlements were made by the im- 
 mediate descendants of Noah ; and that, therefore, 
 they were less careful to note down home events, 
 as we may call them — i.e. events concerning them- 
 selves; — while those which took place to the right 
 or left of the primitive settlements, and of which it 
 might otherwise have been difficult to preserve the 
 records, found their appropriate annalists. But 
 this theory seems opposed to the usual practice of 
 nations, which undoubtedly is, to preserve their 
 own records first. Nor can it be conceded, that 
 the ark ever drifted so far north as China, so as to 
 make it answer to such a supposed primitive 
 antiquity. We must, therefore, rather ascribe the 
 apparent silence of Moses to our own ignorance of 
 
Chinese and American Tribes. 
 
 99 
 
 the true origin and early history of that singular 
 people. According to Sir William Jones^ the 
 Chinese have no traditions beyond the 12th century 
 before Christ. And even if they had existed 
 nationally at an earher period, our knowledge of 
 them to the present day is so imperfect, that it 
 would be the height of injustice and absurdity, 
 to blame the Mosaic history with defects which 
 
 may be owin^ 
 information.^ 
 
 to our own io;norance and want of 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 ^ That ofFslioot of tlie family of 
 Ham wliicli, commencing with 
 Nimrod, and striking off to the 
 north-east of Asia, retained its 
 original warlike and predatory 
 character, seems to have been the 
 element of the great MoncjoUan 
 branch of ethnographers. If so, 
 it was a tribe of this branch which, 
 extending itself over the fertile 
 plains of China, took up a new 
 taste for agi-icnltm-al and peaceful 
 pm'suits, to which indeed that 
 coimtiy must have powerfully in- 
 vited them. For it is to the Mon- 
 (jolian type that the Chinese evi- 
 dently belong. 
 
 In affinity with the same we 
 may place the population which 
 spread northward, and ultimately 
 overflowed into the arctic regions, 
 across the narrow sti-ait which se- 
 parates the Old World from the 
 New, and so became the root- 
 people of America. Thus, the 
 high cheek-bone, pyramidal form 
 of the head, eyes wide apart and 
 elevated at the outer corners, — 
 which distinguish the Mongolian, 
 
 are found in the Esquimamx ; and 
 so downwards through all the na- 
 tive Indian ti'ibes of America. 
 The Aztecs, or Mexicans, are not 
 of course included in the same 
 general law with the native In- 
 dian races ; but like the present 
 lords of the soil in the States of 
 North America and in other pai-ts 
 of that vast continent, they are 
 supposed to be a race of foreigners 
 of superior stamp, and boasting 
 from the first a higher order of 
 civilisation. But with respect to 
 the indigenous races, though the 
 face of an Indian chief has some 
 advantages, the rest have gene- 
 rally the t}qDe of countenance 
 which bespeaks them to be allied 
 to the races of north-eastern Asia. 
 A keen observer of natm-al history 
 remarks : " In the South Ameri- 
 can Indian aU these defects are 
 still more exaggerated, and give 
 to the races of the South a very 
 marked character of inferiority. 
 At the extreme point of the con- 
 tinent, and in Tierra del Fuego, 
 live the Pesherais, the most mis- 
 
 H 2 
 
100 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. Passing, then, from this, and proceeding with 
 
 '- — those other people, of which Moses particularly 
 
 speaks, we find that names are given us of certain 
 immediate descendants of Noah, and their families, 
 till we come down by gentle stages to the known 
 periods of history, as recorded in other sources. 
 But it is by Moses alone that we are guided back 
 to the first link in the series. It is obvious to 
 remark what peculiar advantages and opportunities 
 he must have enjoyed for a work of this kind. 
 He was living, according to the Hebrew chronology, 
 not more than 800 years from the flood — or if we 
 take the longest computation, that of Josephus and 
 the Septuagint, it was not above 1,500 years; — a 
 less period than tliat which divides us at the present 
 time from the days of the Roman Empire. But 
 this is not all. There were sixteen successions 
 from Noah to Moses ; but, owing to the much 
 
 rfiapcn, the most imciiltivated, to designate tlae Caucasian regions 
 and the most wi-etched of all the as the cradle of man, the original 
 inhahitants of the New World. point of departiu'e for the tribes 
 It is the sanle in advancing to- of the earth?" — Guyot's Earth 
 wards the poles. Passing the mid 3Ian, ch. xvi. If the ark 
 Fins, we an-ive at the Laplanders; rested on the moimtains of Ar- 
 throngh the Mongolians we reach menia, this would well enough 
 the Tungusians, the Samoiedes of accord with the latter hypothesis ; 
 Siberia, and the Esquimaux of to say nothing of the many other 
 North America. Thus, in all di- indications in the early Scriptm-e 
 rections, in proportion as we re- history which wovdd point us to 
 move from the geographical seat that whole range of country be- 
 ef the [original and] most beauti- tween the steeps of Caucasus and 
 ful human type, tlie degeneration the Arabian Gulf, as the probable 
 becomes more msirked. Does not cradle of civilisation before and 
 this sm'prisiug coincidence seem after the Flood. 
 
Germs of all future History in Gejiesis. 101 
 
 greater longevity of that time, there were, in chap. 
 all these generations, but four^ steps through ™ — ' — 
 which the tradition would have had to come, from 
 mouth to mouth, — viz., Kohath, Jacob, Abraham, 
 and Shem, in order to reach Moses through his 
 father Amram. And when we consider the care 
 with which the Hebrews were wont to preserve the 
 archives of their national history, it is easy to see 
 to what satisfactory sources of information ]\Ioses 
 had access, regarded only as a common "u^iter. 
 But we know that the Scriptures claim for him a 
 much higher authority than this. And considering 
 the disposition sometimes manifested to lower that 
 authority, and to dethrone him, as it were, from the 
 high position hitherto assigned him by the faith of 
 the Christian Church, we are prepared to vindicate 
 that position, and to establish, as far as we can from 
 the premises before us, the evident tokens in the 
 portion of his writings now under review, of a 
 superior insight into coming events; — how, in a 
 small space, he has laid the foundation of all future 
 history ; — how he has supplied a link which connects 
 and reconciles its known and later portions with 
 what we are taught to believe of man's original des- 
 tination. We think no instance too small, which 
 
 ^ Sliem, who was an eyewitness MoseS; with Kohath : whence the 
 
 of the Flood, was contemporary tradition of the Flood would pass 
 
 with Abraham, Abraham contem- to Moses through four liauds, viz. 
 
 porary with Jacob, Kohath, the Shem to Abraham, Abraham to 
 
 son of Levi, contemporary with Jacob, Jacob to Kohath, Kohath 
 
 Jacob, and Amram, the father of to Anu-am. 
 
IV. 
 
 102 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAR may serve to supply sometliing in confirmation of 
 those higher pretensions which we advocate as 
 fairly belonging to Moses. And many such instances 
 we think we have in this relation of the dispersion 
 of nations. Written with no apparent design of 
 displaying superior intelligence, it so completely 
 harmonises with known and later events, — it so 
 completely comprises in few elements, the very 
 germ of all coming history, — that we can scarcely 
 observe such admirable perfection in its kind, in 
 so early a document, without suspecting some 
 supernatural aid. And while some contend, that 
 Genesis deals only with the history of the chosen 
 people, and that the meaning of the book is ex- 
 hausted in its application to that one people, we 
 shall be rather led to conclude that it has a far 
 wider object, and an universal bearing upon aU 
 mankind ; and that through and beyond, as it were, 
 the portals of Judaism, it embraces within its 
 precincts the interests of all the other nations 
 of the world. Moses himself speaks expressly 
 (Genesis x. 5) of the first peopling of "the isles 
 of the Gentiles ; " and if there were no other proof, 
 this alone would serve to show that he was not 
 limited in his object to the people of the Hebrews; 
 it would be an authority to us to apply his relation 
 as widely as it will bear ; as widely, indeed, as to 
 comprehend the whole civilised world. And for 
 this, we doubt not, there was given him more than 
 the advantages of a comparatively recent tradition, 
 
History of the Line of Shem. 103 
 
 or of access to authentic documents. We cannot chap. 
 
 IV. 
 
 think that he stumbled by chance on that skilful '- — 
 
 selection of names which have so often reproduced 
 themselves under various forms in the annals of 
 nations, and have obtained a world-wide celebrity, 
 not from their occurring in Genesis only, but 
 because they belong to history. The more we 
 study this portion of the sacred narrative, the more 
 we shall be impressed with the conviction that it 
 could have proceeded from no ordinary hand, but 
 from a man raised up for an extraordinary purpose, 
 by the special Providence of God. 
 
 For the further elucidation of the argument, it 
 will be necessary to enter a little on the actual 
 history of some of the principal races, as they have 
 figured on the stage of the civilised world ; — con- 
 necting them afterwards with the three sons of 
 Noah, " of them the whole earth was oversj^read." 
 (Gen. ix. 19.) 
 
 1. First in order, let us take the line of 
 Shem. With Abraham we may, perhaps, begin 
 the clear history of this people. A period of 430 
 years brings us from the birth of Isaac to the 
 arrival out of Egypt into the promised land — an 
 important epoch, during which they had experi- 
 enced every variety of fortune, and had begun to 
 be known as a distinct people. They settle in 
 Canaan ; and the land is divided among the twelve 
 tribes. Though they have no king, they are under 
 the direct government of the Almighty, and of 
 
 H 4 
 
104 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, rulers sent by Him till the time of Saul. Another 
 — — — 400 years had now elapsed, and their prosperity 
 reached its climax under David, successor of Saul, 
 and Solomon his son. The division of the king- 
 dom ensued, and the national prosperity began to 
 decline. The Babylonish captivity completed its 
 fall. The line of their kings, however, survived 
 in Zerubbabel, who rebuilt the temple. Ezra 
 restored the laws, and Nehemiali the walls of Je- 
 rusalem. With Cyrus began the Persian rule over 
 Judaea : from the Persians it passed to the Grecians, 
 and thence to the Eomans. Under all these, the 
 Jews retained the appointment of their own Chief 
 Priests, who had a kind of princely authority 
 among them. As a nation, and excepting their 
 share in the inconveniences to which they were 
 exposed in the wars between Syria and Egypt, 
 they were on the whole well treated by their con- 
 querors, till the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 
 169—166, who grievously oppressed them, and 
 shamefully profaned their temple and city. From 
 this oppression they were delivered by Judas 
 Maccabeus. The Maccabees continued in power 
 till Herod. And shortly after our Saviour was 
 born in Bethlehem, the country was divided among 
 the three sons of Herod. But disorders so often 
 broke out that, a.d. 12, it was determined by the 
 Emperor Augustus to take the government out of 
 the hands of the Jewish people; and a Roman, 
 Co]:)onius by name, was made Procurator for 
 
Its Relations with otliei' Countries. 105 
 
 deputy-governor) of Judsea, under Quirinus, Pre- chap. 
 
 sident of Syria. The taxing of it as a Eoman ^— 
 
 province completed their degradation, and accounts 
 for the extreme horror with which they regarded 
 the Romans, to whom they were thus made to own 
 their complete subjection. Hitherto they had not 
 been without some independent governor of their 
 own, mostly resident at Jerusalem. Noav the only 
 governor was a Roman, and he lived at Csesarea, 
 in Galilee. 
 
 Comparing this outline of Jewish history with 
 the Mosaic notices of the people that should come 
 in contact with the line of Shem, — we find in the 
 book of Genesis some first traces of the Persians, or 
 Elamites (according to their Hebrew appellation), 
 in "Elam;" of the Hebrews themselves in "Eber;" 
 of the Assyrians in " Asshur ; " of the Babylonians 
 in "Babel ; " of the Greeks and Romans in "Elishah" 
 (identified by Dr. Kalisch with Hellas and Ehs) and 
 in the ships of " Chittim." But more than this : we 
 find the line of Shem peculiarly distinguished by 
 being made the subject of several distinct prophe- 
 cies; we find it standing in a kind of galaxy of pre- 
 dictions, which, though scattered here and there in 
 the Pentateuch, yet collectively throw a most con- 
 spicuous lustre on the subject of them. We might 
 here adduce all that is predicted of the several 
 tribes^; but that most striking prediction of the 
 tribe of Judah may sufiice : " The sceptre shall not 
 
 ^ Gen. xlviii. xlix: Deut. xxxiii. 
 
IV, 
 
 106 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAR depart from Judali, nor a lawgiver from between 
 his feet, until Shiloh come ; and to Him shall the 
 gathering of the people be." Add the prophecy 
 of Balaam (Num. xxiv. 17, 24), "And there 
 shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall 
 rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of 
 Moab, and destroy all the children of Seth. . . . 
 And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, 
 and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and 
 he also shall perish forever;" ^ and the still eaidier 
 declaration (Gen. ix. 26,27), "Blessed be the 
 Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his ser- 
 vant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall 
 dwell in the tents of Shem ; and Canaan shall be 
 his servant." And, to end this account, those 
 directly Messianic predictions may be cited, 
 which we find delivered in the books of Moses : 
 such especially as that twice repeated (Deut. xviii. 
 
 1 Gen. xlix. 10. The foregoing of tlie Jews tliemselves, and the 
 
 summary of Jewish history is suf- seat of it was at Jerusalem, in the 
 
 ficient to show the exact fulfil- tribe of Judah, till the end of the 
 
 ment of this prophecy, delivered reign of Ai'chelaus, A. D. 12, when 
 
 1700 years before! If it be ob- the first Roman procurator was 
 
 jected, that the sceptre had al- appointed, as we have seen above, 
 
 ready departed from Judah before The stress in the prophecy is not 
 
 the birth of our Saviom-, and that on the word " sceptre," but, after 
 
 Zedekiah was the last king, B. C. the Hebrew fashion, the latter 
 
 010; — we reply: The sovereignty clause of the verse explains and 
 
 of the kings did indeed cease with qualifies the former. The verse 
 
 Zedekiah, but not the supremacy is thus explained by Bp. Patrick : 
 
 of Judah among the tribes, which ''There shall be either kings or 
 
 is the thing here immediately inferior governors among the Jews 
 
 spoken of. Moreover the govern- till Christ come." Judah included 
 
 ment remained, and in a gi'eat Benjamin and Levi, who were in- 
 
 measure independent, in the hands coi-porated with it. 
 
The ultimate Subjugation of Shem. 107 
 
 15, 18, 19): "The Lord thy God will raise up chap. 
 
 unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of '■ — 
 
 thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye 
 hearken. . . . And it shall come to pass, that 
 whosoever will not hearken unto my words which 
 he shall speak in my name, I will require it of 
 him." Immediately connected with which are the 
 express threatenings of the downfall of the people, 
 because of their unbelief (Lev. xxvi. ; Deut. 
 xxviii. ) : some passages referring to the time of 
 the first temple, and to the Assyrian and Baby- 
 lonish captivities ^ : others to the return from 
 Babylon, and the final destruction of the temple 
 by the Romans.^ These prophecies, though it may 
 not be easy to arrange them in precise periods of 
 time, suffer nothing by comparison with others 
 delivered much nearer the events by subsequent 
 prophets. The sky was not yet overcast ; but the 
 first rumbling of the thunder is heard, which 
 swells up and gathers strength in the pages of 
 sacred ^vrit, till the " days of vengeance " were 
 fully come, and the predicted ruin fell down on 
 the chosen seed, to be reversed only when they 
 turn effectually and (it is to be hoped) finally to 
 Him that smites them. The history of the line of 
 Shem has more or less touched upon that of the 
 other families of the sons of Noah. We will now 
 take them separately, and 
 
 ^ Deut. xxviii. 20 — 40 are thus usually understood. 
 2 So Deut. xxviii. 49 — 56. 
 
108 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP 2. Next, the family of i76)5m. We may take Egypt 
 
 '- — as the princijoal representative of this branch; 
 
 although, from the very early settlement of that 
 country, and from the successive importations which 
 it received, it contained a very strong infusion of 
 the other races. The first King of Egypt, men- 
 tioned by Herodotus, and famous in all Egyptian 
 annals, was j\Ienes. He was the reputed founder 
 of Memphis, which afterwards became the capital 
 city of all Egypt. In those early times, the con- 
 stitution of the country was rather a confederation 
 of separate vo'^aa/, or petty states, than one large ^ 
 kingdom — a condition somewhat resembling the 
 confederation of kingdoms and duchies in modern 
 times, under the German Empire. It is now admit- 
 ted on all hands, that in the first eighteen dynasties 
 of Manetho, the names on his lists Avere for the 
 most part those of contemporary, not of successive 
 kings. Attempts at consolidation were now and 
 then made, but without appreciable result, till the 
 kino'doms were united under Osirtasen I., " Lord 
 of the Upper and Lower Country," as his style 
 
 1 "Kingdoms," obserres Sir xiv. 8 — 16. — Introduction to Uni- 
 
 Jolin Stoddart; '^ in those days versed History, part ii. p. 150. 
 
 were often of very limited extent. ''Kings" of Canaan occur in 
 
 A few years after his short sojourn the Book of Judges, with little 
 
 in Egypt, Abraham, with only more than a few fenced cities for 
 
 " three hundred and eighteen their territory. Admii-hezeh, king 
 
 trained servants," defeated four of Bezek, boasted that seventy 
 
 '' kings " who had previously over- " kings " had gathered bread un- 
 
 come fivo other '' kings." Gen. der his table. Judg. i. 7. 
 
Intercourse of Egypt with Arabian Tribes. 
 
 109 
 
 runs on the monuments. This was during the 
 Xllth dynasty : but the final union and con> 
 solidation was not till the XYIIIth, and after the 
 successful expulsion of the Hycsos, or shepherd- 
 kings, under Amosis. That remarkable race appear 
 to have invaded Egypt from the north-east — or 
 from part of Arabia ; and held it in partial sub- 
 jection — that is, chiefly the country of Lower Egypt 
 — for upwards of 500 years. These Arab kings had 
 been great persecutors of the Egyptian religion, 
 and are supposed to have inculcated the worship of 
 the Sun, to the exclusion of the multitude of 
 nature-gods with which Egypt abounded. It is 
 thought that Joseph was sold into Egypt about ^ 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 1 So Dr. Hales. Bp. Cumber- 
 land makes it 96 years. It seems 
 an excess of caution in some cri- 
 tics to doubt the shepberd-kings 
 of Manetbo because not expressly 
 mentioned by tbe Greek and Eo- 
 man wiiters. See Su- Jobn Stod- 
 dai-t, Introduction, p. 184 ; Quar- 
 terly Review, Apr. 1859, Bimsen''s 
 E'jyP^- ^ tbe accoimt of Diodo- 
 rus tbere is abundant room for 
 sucb a race of kiugs. ^Tiy, else, 
 sbould be speak of " many stran- 
 gers being in Egypt y)-o??j aUpciHs, 
 wbo used foreign rites in tbe sa- 
 cred ministries and sacrifices ? " 
 And again, wben be comes to tbe 
 expulsion: "Tbe men of otber 
 nations, tberefore, were expelled ; 
 and of tbese tbe noblest and bravest, 
 imder tbe guidance of Danaus, 
 Cadmus, and otber celebrated lead- 
 
 ers, came into Greece, and tbe 
 parts adjacent," &c. &c. Niebubr 
 says : " Tbe indescribable batred 
 of tbe EgA-ptians against tbe Hyc- 
 sos is fi-equently manifested in tbe 
 monuments. A red Egj-ptian bas 
 before bim a yellow Asiatic in 
 cbains, and stamps upon bim. 
 We also find a quantity of painted 
 papyi'us sandals, in tbe inteiior of 
 wbicb a Hycsos is represented; 
 so tbat tbe Egyptian, in putting 
 bis foot into tbe sandal, put it upon 
 bis enemy." — Lectures, vol .i. p. 43. 
 A papyi'us in tbe Britisb Museum 
 in wbicb " a sbepberd-king " is 
 mentioned may be quoted as 
 fm-tber evidence. Tbe " celebra- 
 ted leaders " of sucb a race would 
 easily obtain tbe name and rank 
 of " kings," and woidd, doubtless, 
 in prosperous times, bave dis- 
 
IV, 
 
 110 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, thirteen years after their final exclusion by Amosis ; 
 and that they were in power during Abraham's 
 visit to that country. With Amosis and his suc- 
 cessors, may be said to begin the true historical 
 period of Egypt, though we are able to gather 
 much from the monuments appertaining to earlier 
 periods. The magnificent tombs and temples Avith 
 which Egypt abounded, were covered with elaborate 
 devices, serving the double purpose of ornamen- 
 tation and historical record. Of the successors of 
 Amosis', however, we have some exact notices in 
 extant authors. And it is of some interest to 
 know, that somewhere in this dynasty, or in the 
 early part of the following, it is generally agreed 
 to place the great event of the Exodus. Civilisation 
 had now attained its highest point in Egypt, and 
 her kings their utmost grandeur. Commerce had 
 largely extended; and the recent introduction of 
 the horse had added a new arm to their military 
 strength. In arts they had been famous from the 
 earliest period; and the monuments leave us no 
 
 played a proportionate royal state. ing often^ both on the monuments 
 
 Comp. last note, and see other and in other records, to a great 
 
 general evidence of an Hycsos diversity of names for one and 
 
 domination in the note appended the same individual. Thotmes 
 
 to Chap. II. III., for example, "is remarkable," 
 
 ^ This name is indiiferently says Sir Gardner Wilkinson, " for 
 
 written, Ames, Amosis, and Teth- the great variety in the mode of 
 
 mosis. It shoidd be observed, writing his name, of which I have 
 
 that the spelling of words seems more than thirty varieties!" — 
 
 to have been very irregular in the Rawlinson's Herod., Append., 
 
 Egyptian demotic character, load- book ii. ch. viii. § 20. 
 
Egypt represents the Line of Ham. Ill 
 
 room to doubt, that long before tliis time, they had chap. 
 
 in this respect attained a very high degree of '- — 
 
 excellence. This important discovery would lead 
 to the conclusion that they must have originally 
 imported the knowledge of arts and sciences from 
 the original cradle of civilisation. It is not reason- 
 able to think that all scientific knowledge perished 
 in the flood. It was doubtless, handed down and 
 perpetuated in the family of Noah, — and like the 
 elements of religion itself, spread from the Asiatic 
 centre to the different lands peopled and colonised 
 by his sons and descendants. Among the rest, they 
 seem to have brought letters, or alphabetical 
 characters; and even that knowledge of the one 
 Supreme God, and those notions of a future state, 
 which seem never wholly to have died out, even 
 under the degrading forms of superstition with 
 which they were overlaid. Such is the conclusion 
 of the most eminent writers, particularly as regards 
 the early date of civilisation among this people, 
 which, therefore, we may ascribe, not to their own 
 unassisted genius, but to the advantages of birth 
 and early tradition. We forbear to trace their 
 history minutely onwards through subsequent 
 periods : how they fell at length under Cambyses, 
 and became tributary to Persia; soon after to 
 Alexander ; the reigns of the Ptolemies and 
 their successors, and their wars with the kings of 
 Syria ; how they were forced to implore succours of 
 the Komans, B.C. 203 ; how they became, under 
 
112 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. Cleopatra, a mere Roman province ; afterwards tlie 
 - — '- — seat of a Christian Patriarchate ; and how they 
 were finally over-run and subdued by the Maho- 
 medan armies under the Caliph Omar, a.d. 666. 
 
 There are other kingdoms which deserve to be 
 classified, not only in point of antiquity, but as 
 seemingly of kindred race and origin with this of 
 Egypt. Thus Phoenicia had certainly its kingdom 
 of Tyre ; and a still more conspicuous ofi'set in 
 Carthage. But the great rival empire was clearly 
 that of Assyria — not the later Chaldeo-Babylonian 
 monarchy begun by Nabonassar, but that founded 
 by Xinus at a much earlier period. Here, again, 
 the monuments are our principal guide. And 
 these, most assuredly, bespeak a similar character 
 and antiquity with those of Egypt. They are 
 marked, indeed, with that bold and massive exu- 
 berance which suited the youth of the world, and 
 of which it may be said with equal truth as of the 
 human stature in times before the flood \ " There 
 were giants in the earth in those days." The exact 
 date of those wonderful structures, and of the 
 early period of Babylon's greatness (for it Avas 
 here that Ninus established his capital), can only 
 now be matter of conjecture. Like the Egyptians, 
 this people indulged in the wildest and most 
 extravagant assertions on this head, — ascribing to 
 themselves an antiquity agreed on all hands to be 
 entirely fabulous, though they professed to derive 
 
 ' Gen. vi. 4. 
 
Assyrian Chronology. 113 
 
 it from astronomical calculations. In the time of chap. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Alexander the Great, and upon the taking of '■ — 
 
 Babylon by that king, a Grecian, Callisthenes, is 
 said to have been employed by Aristotle, to 
 ascertain by strict inquiries the true period to 
 which those calculations reached back. He found 
 it to be about 1,900 years; which would give us 
 in round numbers, for the first foundation of the 
 Assyrian Empire by Belus, the father of Ninus, 
 B.C. 2,200. Taking now the Scripture account, — 
 which gives us Nimrod for the founder, and places 
 him in the second generation from Ham — we have 
 only to take some fifty or sixty years from the usual 
 date of the flood, and it ought to tally with this 
 other computation ; which it actually does, ac- 
 cording to the Hebrew chronology, within a few 
 years. The longer chronology of the LXX. and 
 of Josephus, would not materially alter the case. 
 Thus we have found a very tolerable approximation 
 to a right date for the first beginnings of the Assy- 
 rian Empire; and have so far harmonised sacred 
 with profane history. A various translation of the 
 Hebrew (Gen. x. 11) introduces a slight confu- 
 sion in this part of the narrative. " Out of that 
 land went forth Asshur^ and builded Nineveh." 
 Now the Asshur of Scripture occurs elsewhere 
 (Ch. X. 22) as a son of Shem. To the Semitic 
 race, therefore, would seem to be ascribed in this 
 verse, some share in the settlement of Assyria, or 
 at least in the erection of a rival city at Nineveh. 
 I 
 
114 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. But another translation makes it, "From that 
 
 IV. 
 
 land he," i. e. Nimrocl, " went out into Assyria., 
 and founded Nineveh : " which agrees better mth 
 the account in the text, and is the more approved 
 rendering. There is at the same time, every 
 reason to think, that, in the first beginnings of the 
 Assyrian, as of the Egyptian Empire, the two races 
 of Shem and Ham were very much mixed up. 
 Such an intermixture could hardly be avoided, so 
 near to the central and original seat of civilisation. 
 And it accounts for the Assyrians at a later period 
 appearing to understand the Jews' language, and 
 the Jews the Assyrians'.^ 
 
 But without pursuing the history further, we 
 may now gather into one view the scattered 
 notices in Genesis as regards this line of Ham, 
 which, however brief, are sufficient to constitute 
 that very surprising link which we are tracing 
 between the written pages of Moses, and the 
 existing facts of history. And we ask, as before, 
 can any attentive and impartial reader fail to 
 recognise in " Mizraim " (Gen. x. 6) the El-Misr 2, 
 to this day the vernacular name of Egypt? in the 
 Patriarch Ham, its still more ancient name Chemi ? ^ 
 in the " Caphtorim" (Gen. x. 14) the Coj^ts?^ in 
 
 ^ See 2 Kings, xviii. 26 — 28 j ^ gee Rawlinson's Ilcrod. ii, 
 
 Isa. xxxvi. 11 — 13. § 15. 
 
 ^ Ti)v klyvTZTOv M((Tp7]v, Kai * The root also of Al-rviTT-or. 
 
 Miapaiove tovq AiyVTrriovg uTrav- (rv7rr= Copt.) 
 rig oi TavTr\v oiKovvrtg /coXoujUfj'. 
 — Joseph. Aiitiq. i. G. 
 
Corresponding Variety of Languages. 115 
 
 " Cush" (Gen. x. 6) Cuzestan? in " Nimrod" (Gen. chap. 
 
 X. 8, 9) Niniasand Nineveh? in "Babel" (Gen. x. ' — 
 
 10) Babylon? in " Calah" and "Calneh" (Gen. x. 
 10, 11) Chalda^a? The matter is really as plain and 
 plainer than half the things we are in the habit of 
 admitting on far less evidence eveiy day ; as that 
 "shire," "share," "sheer," "shore," "sheriff," indi- 
 cate some common root signifying to " divide ;" — 
 that "journal" and "diurnal," meet in their original 
 "dies;" and that "stock" in all its various senses 
 may be traced to an ancient participle of the verb to 
 " stick! " Add, that in the Scripture ''Noph'' (not 
 however a Genesis word) all are agreed to recog- 
 nise the root of the Egyptian Memphis, originally 
 Avritten (and still found so on the monuments)^ 
 M'-Nuph-i ; and Osburn suspects the Scripture 
 "Noah" in the Egyptian God Nu or Nub, for 
 "the great abyss." ^ Not that mere verbal corre- 
 spondence is all we have to allege ; we have shown 
 that facts agree as well as names; the earlier 
 intimations of Moses tally with the later researches 
 of history and science. 
 
 Before we pass on to the third of the principal 
 races concerned in the dispersion, we will stop to 
 notice a few particulars, as to the variety of lan- 
 guages which formed so strong a distinguishing 
 feature between them all. Owing to the necessary 
 mixture of races, of which we have lately taken 
 
 ' Osburn, Monumental History of Eyypt, vol. ii. pp. 261, 506. 
 2 Ibid., vol. i. pp. 239, 240. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, notice in tlie line of Ham, as inseparable from the 
 
 '■ — geographical proximity of their earliest settlements, 
 
 and also, doubtless, from commercial relations after- 
 wards, it cannot be expected that the line of de- 
 marcation should always be strictly kept, or even 
 distinctly perceptible. But with all this partial 
 confusion, and under all the varieties of classifica- 
 tion that occur among pliilologists, there is still a 
 remarkable analogy between the races and the 
 tongues, which we proceed to state under their 
 several heads. 
 
 {a.) We have a distinct language for the line of 
 Shem. It was, indeed, long suspected that the 
 Semitic language would prove the one mother 
 tongue of all. This idea, though now very gene- 
 rally abandoned, serves at any rate to show the 
 wide-spread use and influence, as well as the dis- 
 tinctive character of that very ancient language — 
 the staple of the Arabic, the Hebrew, the Chaldee, 
 and the Syriac, and which is called the Semitic or 
 Aramaean. It was spoken in these various dialects 
 and others in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Arabia, and 
 was the general and stationary language of all those 
 j^arts. Its characteristic according to Boj^p, con- 
 sisted in its having three consonants for the root, 
 and dissyllabic verbs. Through its use in Arabic 
 literature, and also from its being made the 
 medium of Divine revelation, this is undoubtedly 
 the most venerable, if not exactly the most 
 ancient of all the tongues we are acquainted 
 with, (b.) Coming next to the line of Ham, we 
 
The Arabic^ Sclavonic^ and Sanscrit. 
 
 117 
 
 meet with tlie difficulty before alluded to, arising 
 from the frequent early intercommunion and ad- 
 mixture of this race with the line of Shem. It is 
 to this, perhaps, that we must ascribe whatever of 
 similarity there subsists between the Syriac and 
 the Coptic. The most distinguishing mark, per- 
 haps, of the sons of Ham, is their addiction gene- 
 rally to the hieroglyphic character. Beyond this 
 it may be difficult to assign any exact language to 
 the descendants of Ham, unless we take the third 
 in the threefold division of Sir William Jones, \dz. 
 the Sclavonic^, and suppose that as they spread 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 ^ It is not pretended tliat an 
 exact agi-eement can be foimd be- 
 tween the number of the lan- 
 guages and that of the races men- 
 tioned iu the test, or that no other 
 considerable varieties are to be 
 foimd. The exti'eme variety of 
 the dialects, and the great dif- 
 ficulty of sorting them imder pro- 
 per heads, would make any such 
 assumption in the highest degi'ee 
 absurd. Thus, in Caucasia alone, 
 we are assured that among ti-ibes 
 numbering not more than 500,000 
 people, there are foimd some 30 
 diiferent dialects. See Haxthau- 
 sen's Tribes of the Caucasus, pp. 
 16, 21. In the South Sea islands 
 the Bishop of New Zealand has 
 found as many difterent tongues 
 as there are islands. In India and 
 in Afi-ica, the diversity seems not 
 much less in the different tribes. 
 "WTiat is asserted in the text, is 
 simply this : — That for the sons 
 of Shem and of Japheth, at least, 
 there are foimd two great mother- 
 
 tongues, the use of which, from 
 the necessaiy admixture of peo- 
 ples, more or less spread to the 
 settlements of Ham. In all their 
 known settlements we find that 
 wherever they went, those parti- 
 cular tongues went with them, 
 and the ti-aces of one invariably 
 assist us in finding the place of 
 the other ; and the last assertion is, 
 that, with their- places thus dis- 
 covered or confii-nied, the accoimts 
 in Genesis Tvill be foimd most re- 
 markably to fit in and con-espond. 
 That there were other tongues 
 besides, we do not question ; but 
 as none can show that they were 
 of the same antiquity with those 
 that have been ascribed to the 
 Semitic and Japhetian races, so 
 no one disputes that, in the pro- 
 gxess of the dispersion, such new 
 languages were likely enough to 
 spiing up and be disseminated in 
 the parts more recently brought 
 into occupation. It is, however, 
 remarkable that the classification 
 
118 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, northward, and gradually formed into a perfectly 
 
 distinct community from the Semitic branch, this 
 Sclavonic language rose up among them, and be- 
 came distinctive of the nations with whom they 
 amalgamated, and of whom indeed they might 
 have been the original root. Along with the 
 above, though we have not yet followed the 
 history of this line, we will mention, (c.) That 
 most remarkable lano-uas^e of all, — the root of 
 the Indo-European tongues, — the great trunk 
 language, as it were, of all the civilised world: 
 that which, in Bopp's division, consists of mo- 
 nosyllabic roots, susceptible of composition. The 
 Sanscrit is considered the mother-tongue in this 
 division. And from it we find diverging, on the 
 one hand tlie Teutonic and the Celtic, and on the 
 other the classic tongues of Greece and Rome. 
 And thus it has been the vehicle of all the com- 
 merce and civilisation of the West : fitly, therefore, 
 
 of that great oriental scholar, Sir or monosyllabic character ; others 
 
 William Jmies, corresponds very among the Poljoiesiau tribes 5 
 
 nearly with our three races, viz. others, again, in the American, 
 
 (1.) the Arabic, (2.) the Sanscrit, and so on, — which cannot well be 
 
 (3.) the Sclavonic. This latter reduced to those jmncipal lau- 
 
 might belong to the north-eastern guages of the civilised world on 
 
 settlements of the sons of Ham, which we have here enlarged, 
 
 to whom, in a former note we Bopp, in like manner, attempted 
 
 have ascribed the characters of a threefold division ; the third of 
 
 the great Mongolian race which which admits a similar distinct 
 
 peopled those parts. We have, class of languages for the N. and 
 
 however, no disposition to deny NE. tribes, which has been since 
 
 what other philologists liave since called the Turania^i. See Max 
 
 asserted, — that there are minor Miiller on the Non-Iranian and 
 
 peculiarities, as in the Chinese Non-Semitic LanguagcK. 
 
The Line of Japhet. 119 
 
 belonging to a race whose frequent migrations and chap. 
 
 commercial activity have enabled them to carry '• — 
 
 both their language and their arts to aU corners of 
 the world. 
 
 3. And now, in accordance with this last observa- 
 tion, we have only to notice, in the third great di- 
 vision of our subject, the history of that line of 
 Japhet, which we thus connect with the most wide- 
 spread and polished of all known languages, and to 
 see how wonderfully its history corresponds. From 
 the time that Cadmus brought letters to Greece, 
 and Greece passed them over to Italy, what inter- 
 change of arts, what rivalry of progress, what 
 commercial activity and enterprise may we not 
 trace in the monuments of those countries, and by 
 the testimony of accredited authors ! The first 
 colonies of Greece came from Egypt ; but, Cadmus 
 sailing directly from Phcenicia, the letters he 
 brought with him are, perhaps, to be considered 
 of Phcenician rather than Egyptian origin. The 
 Argonautic expedition, the Theban war, the siege 
 of Troy, attest the early spirit of enterprise 
 which distinguished this people. Greece began 
 soon to push forward to Italy. But it seems she 
 found herself preceded there by earlier settlements, 
 particularly the Etruscan, Umbrian, and earlier 
 Latin races. The Siculi were also spread along 
 the whole north-eastern coast. Phoenician ships 
 had probably brought new settlers, wherever they 
 landed — settlers more or less of the same race, 
 
 1 4 
 
120 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, but ready to receive from Greece whatever she 
 
 IV. "^ 
 
 '' — might bring of her o^vn religion and arts. It is 
 remarkable that, while the whole people of Greece 
 was called by the Latins Pelasgi, Pelasgus is said 
 to have visited Italy not many years after Cadmus 
 arrived in Thebes. From which it is evident that 
 Pelasgus was some generic name for a sea-faring 
 and scattered people — a name which passed from 
 a leader, probably, to a tribe, from a tribe to a 
 nation, and from the nation to the individual 
 members. Later still, in Italy, a community of 
 freebooters, throwing their protection over all who 
 resorted to their infant city, founded Rome. 
 Through the line of her kings, consuls, dicta- 
 tors, emperors, Rome became gradually the mis- 
 tress of the world. In the east and the south 
 she crushed, or undermined, the ancient king- 
 doms of Parthia, Syria, and Egypt : while Greece, 
 Gaul, Britain, and many people of the north and 
 . west of Germany, yielded to her sway. If after 
 this she outgrew her own strength, and broke up 
 the magnificent empire she had acquired, it was 
 rather to mix with surrounding nations than to 
 be subdued by them. And, in mixing, she leavened 
 them with the remains of her ancient civilisation 
 and laws. The Teutonic and Gothic hordes, Avhich 
 had poured do^vn upon her, and had seized the 
 more fruitful plains of the south, infused a fresh 
 spirit of liberty into the mixed forms of polity 
 wliich now arose, and upon which were founded 
 
IV. 
 
 Tlie '-'• Javan^^ and ^^Io7iians" of the Greeks. 121 
 
 those numerous kingdoms, which have since con- chap. 
 stituted the platform of modern and Christian 
 Europe. Such being the stirring character of the 
 third, or Japhetian, branch, what a foreshadow- 
 ing of it may we not see in the very names set 
 down by Moses in that part of his genealogy ! 
 More still, in his express assertion (Genesis x. 5), 
 " By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided :" 
 an assertion repeated and generalised (ver. 32), 
 " These are the families of the sons of Noah, after 
 their generations, in their nations : and by these 
 were the nations divided in the earth after the 
 flood." The very name of Japhet is preserved in 
 the annals of the poet : 
 
 , . eiig TToig 'laTreTOio 
 
 Hes. "E|Oy. Kcil 'Kfxep. i. 
 
 Javan, his son, is equally perpetuated in the 
 'laovsg of Homer : 
 
 'Ev0a C£ BoiwTOi (cat 'laovec, 
 
 the Mare Ionium, and, generally, in the Io7i{c 
 tribes of Greece. "The King of Grecia" (Dan. 
 viii. 21) is, in the Hebrew, "King of Javan.'' (\)l) 
 The same occurs for the isles of Greece, Is. Ixvi. 19, 
 Ezek. xxvii. 13; ^sch., Pers., 182, 569, 1009; 
 Aristoph. Acharn., 104.^ So mth the other sons 
 of Japhet: — in " Tiras " (Gen. x. 2), we have 
 "Thrace; in " Gomer (Gen. x. 2, 3), the Cimmerii, 
 
 ^ "VVTiere the Scholiast has — tcclvtuq tovq "EWrjvag 'idovag ol 
 j3ap(3apoi fKciXoin; 
 
122 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. Cymri, Gemri, Germans; in "Eipliath" (Gen. x. 
 
 '■ — 3), the Ripliaei ; in Kittim (Gen. x. 4), Citium, a 
 
 trading port of Cyprus, and hence the isles beyond, 
 (transferred to the Greeks generally, see 1 Mace, 
 i. 1) ; in "Elishah" (Gen. x. 4), Elis, or Hellas; 
 in " Magog " and " Meshech," the great Scythian, 
 Tartar, and Muscovite tribes. 
 
 These analogies though apparently founded on 
 the bare names of a few more eminent persons, are 
 certainly remarkable. But the analogy, as was 
 before observed, is more than in name. In phy- 
 siognomy, language, habits, indications are found 
 of a stream of enterprise continually flowing west- 
 ward from an Asiatic centre, the people bringing 
 letters and the seeds of a superior civilisation and 
 knowledge in arts and sciences along with them. 
 The Mosaic account, so far from contradicting this 
 idea, remarkably confirms it. Other indications 
 merely lead us to suspect an original connection 
 between the people thus reaching and visiting the 
 different shores, as the only hypothesis to solve the 
 existing phenomena. Moses enables us actually to 
 trace this connection. In two passages he marks 
 out with a few strokes of his pen that very ten- 
 dency which has characterised the several branches 
 of this race, and which has been the secret of their 
 spreading so fiir, and having such influence upon 
 the civilisation and progress of the world : " God 
 shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents 
 of Shem" (Gen. ix. 27); and, "By these" (the 
 
Colonising Genius of Japhetian Line. 123 
 
 sons of Japhet) " were tlie isles of the Gentiles chap. 
 
 divided in their lands." This people seem evi- '- — 
 
 dently gifted from the first with that spirit of 
 industry and love of enterprise, which has made 
 them the great colonisers of Europe and the West, 
 and which has eventuated in the strong stirring 
 spirit, the busy inventive genius of the Anglo- 
 Saxon, and the lively, social, and civilising temper 
 of the Celt, and which finally, engrafted upon the 
 faith of Christ, has been the great instrument of 
 dispelling the darkness of heathenism, and diffusing 
 the Gospel light. 
 
 By the help of a little imagination, but not more 
 than is accorded to the genius of modern criticism 
 when it seeks to create for us, out of scraps of ancient 
 legends and mythic tales, a kind of Textus receptus 
 of early history, we might easily go further, and 
 expand the brief hints in Genesis into a tolerably 
 complete sketch of ancient Europe. AYe have only 
 to fill up the outline given us, as to the several 
 directions taken by the three sons of Japhet and 
 their descendants, and imagine to ourselves the 
 several advantages of soil and climate, Avhich each 
 would find awaiting him on taking the directions 
 which they did. Those who entered Greece, for 
 instance, we can well conceive to have settled down 
 contentedly at once, while the more northern set- 
 tlers, led at first by the same irresistible impulse 
 to wander in quest of habitations, yet not meeting 
 with the same attractions, would feel themselves 
 
124 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, less permanently tied to their new settlements. 
 — ^ — And we might expect to hear, as indeed we do, of 
 their afterwards repairing elsewhere in search of 
 improvement ; thereby accounting for all those fre- 
 quent incursions of Gothic hordes, which occupy so 
 large a place in the real history of subsequent times. 
 We only mention this to show that in designating 
 a certain migratory disposition as the peculiar 
 characteristic of the Japhetian family, Moses strikes 
 the very key-note of their history. And as nothing 
 could harmonise better with actual facts, though it 
 could only have been known to him by Divine 
 illumination, so nothing could more clearly show 
 that he possessed that gift of illumination, and was 
 raised up for his office by the special providence of 
 God. There are two names which occur in the 
 Mosaic record, and whose remarkable application 
 we have not yet noticed, but have reserved them 
 for particular mention here, where we think they 
 may serve more strikingly to corroborate our argu- 
 ment. In the outline we before gave of the Grecian 
 colonies, it appeared that a people called Pelasgi 
 made a prominent figure in the early history of 
 Greece, indeed, that the Latins frequently denomi- 
 nated the whole people by that generic name. The 
 Tusci or Etruscans were not less famous in their 
 way. The Pelasgi, however, bearing the character 
 of a peaceful and quiet people — people of passage 
 from place to place, and carrying, doubtless, the 
 seeds of an early civilisation, and the elements of 
 
Etymology of Felasgi and Tusci. 
 
 125 
 
 an oriental tongue; the Tusci, a seafaring people 
 also, but of more commanding genius, probably 
 shipbuilders and merchant carriers to the other, 
 being themselves of a sterner and more martial 
 spirit. What is the probable origin of each ? We 
 find the latter indifferently written Tusci, Tuschi, 
 and Turschi, and we submit that they may have 
 had some connection with the Scripture " Tarshish." 
 We also subscribe to the opinion of Bochart, Stil- 
 lingfleet \ &c., that the Pelasgi came from " Peleg." 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 ^ See several reasons for this 
 derivation of the Pelasg-i, in Stil- 
 ling-fleet. He quotes this de- 
 scription of them from Straho : — 
 noAXa;ij;oi; rriQ EiipwTn](; ro TraKaiov 
 TrXavwfjievoi' and again, TroXvTrXa- 
 vov Kai Taxi) to tOvog nfwg iirava- 
 cTccffiiQ • and he adds : " These 
 Pelasgi confined not themselves 
 to Greece, but were dispersed into 
 the neighbour islands, as Chios, 
 Crete, Lesbos, Lemnos, Imbro, 
 Samos, as will appear aftei-wards ; 
 and at last came into Italy, as is 
 ■well known, and are thought to 
 be the same with the Tjm-henians, 
 and by some conceived to be the 
 first foimders of Rome. After the 
 Hellenes began to appear, Greece 
 was divided into rb nt\a(TyiK6v 
 and 7-0 'EWrjviKov, as Herodotus 
 witnesseth, and so these two ap- 
 pear to be a very different people 
 from one another, and not the 
 same under different names, as is 
 commonly thought. This sufii- 
 cieutly appeai-s from their lan- 
 guage, wherein they differed quite 
 
 from one another. So Herodotus : 
 ^Haav 01 TltXacryol (iaptapov yXwa- 
 aav 'UvTiq, they used a barbarous 
 languacje. That the Pelasgi may 
 with great probability be derived 
 from 3^2, Fhalefj, we have the 
 coucun-ent testimony of two 
 learned persons, Grotius and Sal- 
 masius, who are contented to 
 mention it without bringing much 
 evidence of reason for it. Epi- 
 phanius de Scythis (1 Ep. ad Acu. 
 § 2) brings them from Scythia. 
 Aiid that some of Shem's posterity 
 settled in those parts it is else- 
 where manifest. Coming down 
 fii-st into Thessalia, they seem to 
 have fixed themselves chiefly in 
 
 Arcadia (rieXacyoi ol esaaaXol 
 •yEvof ciTTo UtXaayov tow 'ApKc'ieoQ 
 ytvoiitvov TToXvTrXavr]TOv ' Hesy- 
 chius), and thence spread up and 
 down by degrees towards the sea- 
 side. And hence the agreement 
 of the ancient Greek language 
 with the Hebrew in many of its 
 primitive words ; as also the re- 
 mainders of the Eastern tongues, 
 
126 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. These are not accidental nor unimportant coin- 
 
 IV. 
 
 cidences. No one, we think, can have followed 
 the thread of our argument — can have compared 
 the suggestive hints of Genesis with accomplished 
 facts of history, descriptions in embryo with 
 answering events long after developed and ma- 
 tured — without being disposed to ascribe to the 
 books containing such hints a character distinct 
 from any mere uninspired document. Say that 
 the author, owing to the circumstances of the 
 times, had peculiar facilities of information handed 
 down by tradition : what should have led him, out 
 of the mass of facts thus made known to him, to 
 make such a remarkable selection? How should 
 he have hit upon just the very names and persons 
 which have proved, in the result, to teU most 
 exactly upon the history of all future times — names 
 which fill up an hiatus in our knowledge of the 
 past, and to which no other known records have 
 given us access? Such antiquarian lore would 
 have been remarkable in an author whose professed 
 object it was to search into the history of nations. 
 But Moses had no such direct object. The gene- 
 alogies recorded by him were chiefly with a view 
 to the future bearing of countries or kingdoms, 
 whose beginnings are there intimated, on the 
 
 in those places, sucli as Crete, 'Ev t>f ^~ioi Te TliXaayoi. 
 
 Iletriu-ia, .fee., where the Pelasgi Horn. Od. T. 175." 
 had been. 
 
 •i\\ f''ii\ \~ ' . — Stilllnft-fleet, OnV/. 6'flc/w, b. iii. 
 
 Iv fiiv 'Axawl ^^^' ^^'' 
 
These Etymologies more than fanciful. 127 
 
 history of the Jewish people \ and thereby on the chap. 
 
 history of the whole Christian Church. The in- '- — 
 
 formation, therefore, which we obtain, falls from 
 him, as it were, incidentally, and certainly with no 
 design to show off superior learning ; and yet it 
 may be safely pronounced that it supplies a link 
 in our knowledge of the past which may at once 
 be relied upon as genuine, and has not been sup- 
 plied from any other quarter. There may, here 
 and there, be room for some difference of construc- 
 tion ; there may, perhaps, be a temptation to a 
 little fancy in the application of a name ; but the 
 general argument rests on far more than a mere 
 disquisition on words. We have before us, under- 
 lying the brief outline in Genesis, a real relation, 
 striking deep into actual history, and capable of 
 being verified by it ; we have something to guide 
 us through periods not easily explored by other 
 lights, yet well according and harmonising with 
 all that is really known of succeeding times. Such 
 knowledge belongs to a higher order of intelli- 
 
 ^ While on tliis subject of the of Ham aud Japliet down to his 
 
 particular scope of these genealo- own time, but only mentions their 
 
 gies of ]Moses, we may add the children and gi-andchildren, for 
 
 following additional argument for two or three generations at most, 
 
 the veracity of the whole account : yet he draws down the lineal 
 
 *' The coherence and synchronism pedigree from Shem in the sacred 
 
 of all the parts of the JMosaical line down to his very age, together 
 
 chronology, especially after the with their births and ages j which 
 
 Flood, bears a most singidar tes- are a gi-eat evidence of the proba- 
 
 timony to the truth of his history bility of the rest of his account." 
 
 and computation ; for although he — Originaticm of Mankind, § 2. 
 
 draws not the lineal descendants c. 3. 
 
128 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, gence than ordinarily falls to the lot of man. 
 Even if the names in the tenth chapter, taken by 
 themselves, proved nothing to the purpose ; if they 
 were too slender a foundation to build anything 
 upon, beyond the mere deductions of a fanciful 
 etymology ; yet, when we find other passages, the 
 production of the same pen, serving to unfold the 
 allusions contained in that chapter, and, under the 
 form of direct prophecies, carrying on the thread of 
 those allusions : when further we have the means 
 of testing them by the actual and still growing 
 fulfilment of these prophecies, there is, in all this, 
 evidence that cannot be resisted, of a more than 
 natural ability in the person of the narrator, — of 
 something which challenges our peculiar attention 
 and respect. 
 
 On one of these passages (Gen. ix. 27), the 
 learned Mede makes the following remark : " Con- 
 sider the blessing of Japhet, That God icoidd enlarge 
 him into the tents ofShem., and that Cham should be his 
 servant. There hath never yet been a son of Cham 
 that hath shaken a sceptre over the head of Japhet. 
 Shem hath subdued Japhet, and Japhet subdued 
 Shem ; but Cham never subdued either. And this 
 fate was it that made Hannibal, a child of Canaan, 
 cry out with the amazement of his soul, Agnosco 
 fatum Carthaginis ! The Saracens, indeed, once 
 spoiled us; but they were no Chamites, but Ara- 
 bians of the seed of Ishmael; and yet because a 
 great number of their kind were afterwards of the 
 
Indications of jyrophetic Wisdom. 129 
 
 Moors and Chamish Arabians, we see they were in chap. 
 
 a moment shaken off by Japhet, and made to keep '- — 
 
 themselves within their African limits." He to 
 whom it was given thus to predict the future was, 
 assuredly, no common man. To have called the 
 persons by name, from whom afterwards the most 
 famous places and nations were called, was itself 
 no ordinary talent ; but to predict the very for- 
 tunes of their families and remotest descendants, 
 this was a thing only to be done and accounted 
 for by the hypothesis for which we have contended, 
 viz. that of a supernatural illumination marldng 
 out the author as a special organ in the hands of 
 Providence for conveying to mankind revelations 
 designed for the instruction and benefit of all suc- 
 ceeding ages. : 
 
 Origin of Language. — " We may explain many of the differences 
 and changes in languages, which we become acquainted with, by 
 refen-ing to the action of causes of change which still operate. 
 But what glossologist will venture to declare that the efficacy of 
 such causes has been imiform ; that the influences which mould 
 a language, operated formerly with no more efficacy than they 
 exercise now ? In the earliest stages of man's career, the revolu- 
 tions of language must have been, even by the evidence of the 
 theoretical history of language itself, of an order altogether dif- 
 ferent from any which have take place within the recent history 
 of man. And we may add, that as the early stages of the pro- 
 gress of language must have been widely different fi-om those 
 later ones of which we can in some measure trace the natiu-al 
 causes, we cannot place the origin of language in any point of 
 view in which it comes under the jurisdiction of natiu-al causa- 
 tion at all." — "^Vliewell, Indications of the Creator, pp. 164, 165. 
 K 
 
130 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Relation of Geology to the Scripture Narrative. 
 
 '' Prasclare Aristoteles : Si essent^ inquit, qui repente terram et 
 maria coelumque "vidissent : niibium magnitudinem; ventoriinique 
 vim cognorissent, adspexissentque solem, ej usque turn magnitudinem 
 pulchritudinemque, turn etiani efficientiam cognovisgent, quod is diem 
 efficeret toto coelo luce diifusa ; cum autem terras nox opactxsset, turn 
 ccelum totum cemerent astris distinctum et onjatimi, luneeque lumi- 
 num timi crescentis turn senescentis, eorumque omnium ortus et 
 occasus, atque in omni eetemitate rates inmiiitabilesque cursus ; 
 hsec cum viderent, profecto et esse Deos et lifec tanta opera Deorum 
 esse arbitrarentm'." 
 
 Cic. Dc Nat. D. lib. ii. c. 37. 
 
 " Every house is builded by some man : but lie tliat built all things 
 is God." 
 
 Heb. iii. 4. 
 
 CHAP. It is no disparagement of geology to speak of it 
 
 V. 
 
 as a science yet in its infancy, and which has not 
 attained the same fixity and stability with the 
 older sciences. Considering, indeed, the difficulties 
 through which it has struggled, the lateness of the 
 discoveries on which it is founded, and the exten- 
 sive areas of observation necessary to a due gene- 
 ralisation of its laAvs, it is only surprising that it 
 should have made so great a progress, and that so 
 much of agreement as to general principles should 
 already subsist among the various schools of its 
 professors. Yet, as every day brings fresh dis- 
 
Natural History not the Design of Scripture. 131 
 
 coveries, the conclusions of yesterday are continu- chap. 
 
 ally shifting, or at least are subject to considerable ^ — 
 
 modification ; and we find ourselves dealing with 
 j^rinciples which cannot yet off'er any certain 
 resting-place to the mind of the inquirer/ It is 
 the more necessary that we should seek to avoid 
 any false light from supposed scriptural allusions, 
 which may only tend in the minds of some to 
 involve this science in still greater obscurity ; 
 while with others it may have the still more mis- 
 chievous effect of bringing the Scripture itself 
 into disrepute, by making it answer for our own 
 arbitrary and perhaps ill-grounded supj)ositions. 
 Now it may well be doubted whether Scripture 
 was intended to teach geology at all.^ At least 
 we may be sure that, whatever light it may indi- 
 rectly throw on this or any other secular science, 
 
 ^ Dr. Kaliscli, in a recent pectation of finding thereia his- 
 
 leamed Commentary on Genesis, torical information respecting all 
 
 taking an opposite point of de- the operations of the Creator in 
 
 parture, — assuming, that is to say, times and places with which the 
 
 the perfection of geology and the human race has no concern. As 
 
 imperfection of the Mosaic cos- reasonably might we object that 
 
 mogony, — naturally finds conti-a- the Mosaic history is imperfect 
 
 dictions where there are none, because it makes no specific men- 
 
 and seems quite unnecessaiily tion of the satellites of Jupiter or 
 
 afraid of any attempt, however the rings of Saturn, as feel dis- 
 
 coimtenanced by men as learned appointment at not finding in it 
 
 as himself, to reconcile the two. details of geology, which may be 
 
 See Kalisch's Commentary, Gen. fit matter for an eucycloptedia of 
 
 Introd. pp. 1, 2, 43 — 52. science, but are foreign to the 
 
 ^ ''The disappointment of those objects of a volume intended only 
 
 Avho look for a detailed accoimt to be a guide of religious belief 
 
 of geological phenomena in the and moral conduct." — Buckland, 
 
 Bible, rests on a gi-atuitous ex- Bridyewater Treatise, vol. i. p. 14. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, it can only be incidental and subordinate to its 
 
 '- — main object, which is clearly of another and a 
 
 higher kind. The question is an open one, how 
 far it should be required, in a book professing to 
 contain a Divine revelation, that where it diverges 
 into physical details those details should be in 
 perfect accordance with other kno^vn truth; or, 
 how far it might be expedient to adopt a mere 
 popular phraseology on these particular points. 
 Thus : where, in the first chapter of Genesis, men- 
 tion is made of " the stars," and among them of 
 "two great lights," and "of a greater and a lesser 
 light," it is but too obvious to see that the phrase 
 is accommodated to the natural impressions of the 
 spectator; and the question immediately arises as 
 to this mode of speaking being the exception or 
 the rule. Be this decided as it may, the main 
 point assuredly is, that, however it may have been 
 necessary to reduce ideas to the level of ordinary 
 apprehension by clothing them in popular language, 
 it is our first business to seize the great ruling 
 thoughts, and to gather the lessons which are 
 principally intended to be conveyed, even as we 
 would separate the precious kernel from the husk. 
 Providing for this, we should be extremely cau- 
 tious how Ave strain the sacred text, and make it 
 answer for any crude conce^^tions, any hasty con- 
 clusions of our own. A right and reverent appre- 
 ciation of its main object is the proper safeguard 
 against any such error. It is the first thing re- 
 
Real Design of the Bevelation. 133 
 
 quired for obtaining the true point of view from chap. 
 
 which to contemplate the geological bearings of the '■ — 
 
 narrative in Genesis. 
 
 The ascription, then, of all created matter, and 
 of all the forms of it, to the one true God, was 
 clearly the main object of the writer. Contrasted 
 and confronted with this great idea we must place 
 before our minds the prevailing errors which were 
 abroad, and with which Moses had to contend. 
 We must remember how divinity had begun to 
 be ascribed to the various forms of nature, to the 
 "greater lights " of the sun and moon, and to all the 
 beauteous constellations which sparkle in the hea- 
 vens, and appear like presiding spirits to the earth ; 
 — how the worship of universal nature had spread 
 everywhere ; — how kings and heroes had been dei- 
 fied, and men paid divine honours to their fellow- 
 men. It was the work of Moses to demolish this 
 material Pantheon, and to build upon its ruins the 
 foundation of a purer worship, the acknowledgment 
 of the one supreme Creator. The whole world was 
 to be exhibited as His temple, made for His express 
 service, and peopled by various gradations of crea- 
 tures, each in his capacity fitted to show forth His 
 praise. Man, especially, was Nature's high priest, 
 alone among the creatures capable of giving dis- 
 tinct and intelligent utterance to the praises of the 
 Omnipotent. That all this was to be expressed in 
 language wholly remote from the conceptions of 
 the age, and adapted rather to the precision and 
 
 K 3 
 
134 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAE, refinement of modern science, is so irrational a 
 — ^ — requirement, tliat it could only, one would think, 
 be resorted to as the last refuge of some precon- 
 ceived but weak and untenable theory. The very 
 difficulty of finding appropriate terms might, 
 indeed, have been the reason why the account is 
 so brief and restricted as it is. It would certainly 
 have been interesting to know more ; to have had 
 more revealed to us, specially, about other intelli- 
 gences in the universe, of whose creation we have 
 here absolutely nothing related. It might have 
 seemed neither undesirable nor unprofita1)le to 
 man to have learnt something of other orders in 
 creation, more nearly resembling himself; and 
 whether there be any and what superior beings to 
 him, or how far he was destined to grow into a 
 likeness and equality with the highest. As it is, 
 these points are left an utter blank in the record ; 
 and all we can do is to form conjectures upon 
 them, borrowed from the best lights we have. 
 Looking only at Genesis, and measuring man by 
 the sphere which he occupies, to some it has ap- 
 peared that as the earth, his habitation, is a mere 
 speck in infinite space, the position of man, its 
 chief inhabitant, cannot be far removed above that 
 of the caterpillar which crawls on its surface. 
 Melancholy, but happily narrow and one-sided, 
 view of the question ! A wider and deeper con- 
 sideration might lead us to reflect by what rare 
 and extraordinary gifts and capacities man is dis- 
 
Man's Place in the System of the Universe. 135 
 
 tinguished from all the inferior creatures ; how he chap. 
 
 was made in the image and reflexion of his Maker ; '-_ — 
 
 how he may hold converse with angels, and is 
 fitted to rise ultimately, if he have never yet 
 reached, to an equality with them^ ; how, in his 
 very outward position (as it seems, at least, to the 
 eye of the observer) there is something correspond- 
 ing to this innate and intrinsic superiority. For, 
 look at the centrality, so to speak, of the earth 
 among the surrounding planets : the subordination, 
 not only of earthly things, but, in a measure, of 
 the very heavenly bodies themselves to the use 
 and convenience of earth's noblest inhabitant and 
 lord. From these and such like considerations we 
 should surely rise to far higher and nobler concep- 
 tions of the original and ultimate destination of 
 the human family. Man's foundation may be in 
 the dust, and his days as it were a span long ; but 
 look at the almost endless capacity of improvement, 
 " the thoughts which " even now " wander through 
 eternity," the upward look, the still more upward 
 spirit, the far-seeing stretch of mind, the bound- 
 less range of imagination, the aspirations of the 
 heart to a Supreme Good, unsatisfied by anything 
 here below ! These may not be the thoughts that 
 are uppermost in the minds of most men, who 
 turn to Genesis for a solution of great physical 
 phenomena ; but we believe them to have been in 
 
 ^ See the expression in St. Luie, xx. 36 : IcdyyiXoi yap aV/, Kai 
 v'toi iiai Tov Qtuv. 
 
 K 4 
 
L36 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, the breast of Moses when he hidited that book. 
 
 Y 
 
 '- — We believe them to have been the great puzzle 
 
 with all the sages and wiser men of that day. 
 But on the sacred penman himself we doubt not 
 they were prominently and deeply impressed. 
 They struggled within him for a solution more 
 complete than it was permitted even to him to 
 attain. Compared with this he cared but little for 
 the curiosities of the outer world : it was not, in- 
 deed, the age when philosophy was yet taking the 
 turn of a nice physical investigation. The want of 
 this, which is so much the pride and delight of 
 the present day, was, perhaps, then in a measure 
 compensated for, by a more intense admiration of 
 Nature as she appeared in her outward garb. If 
 there was less acquaintance with the secret powers 
 of Nature, if the reason was less exercised upon 
 her laws, if less of that refined pleasure was 
 experienced which now springs from the study of 
 those laws and the curious discoveries of natural 
 science ; — there was that other pleasure, peculiar to 
 the youth-time of the earth's present economy, of 
 a more vivid impression on the senses continually 
 kept up by the steadier and more congenial glow 
 of the climate, the greater clearness of the air, and 
 the fresher beauty of the landscape. Pearls and 
 jewels, so much more abundant in the East, would 
 have feasted the eyes of that generation, and created 
 as much pleasure in the possession and admiration 
 of them, as the philosopher finds at the present time 
 
Creation revealed under the form of a Vision. 137 
 
 in his collection of rare specimens of stones and chap, 
 pebbles. If there is more satisfaction and pride 
 from the labour of collecting, this was balanced then 
 by the greater profusion and greater brilliancy to 
 the eye of the beholder. 
 
 Let us figure, then, to our minds this first thought 
 of Moses, to vindicate the worship and authority of 
 the one true God, and to represent man as foremost 
 among the creatures who were made by His hand. 
 Add to this the no less pressing want and desire of 
 his soul, to search yet deeper into the mind of the 
 Spirit, and to know by what means it was destined 
 hereafter to accomplish man's promised restoration 
 after the Fall, by the cliosen seed of the woman, 
 how the great purposes of his being were yet to be 
 realised, and the capacities for good to take effect. 
 We are not about to deny that there was an inten- 
 tion, besides this, to dwell somewhat on the phy- 
 sical ; but in proportion as we endeavour to realise 
 the spiritual, we doubt not our estimate of the 
 other will be more correct and true. Taking our 
 o^vn stand on the same height with Moses, we shall 
 the more easily follow him along the sacred per- 
 spective. Rapt, as we may imagine him, in 
 heavenly contemplation, he is in the attitude best 
 adapted for receiving the Divine communications. 
 And now a great vision ^ appears to have been given 
 
 1 It scarcely seems necessary to to Moses at the time here spoken 
 justify the use of the terai w«j<w», of, to enable him to record the 
 in describing the revelation given acts of Creation. Unless we adopt 
 
138 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. 
 V. 
 
 him. Lines of sight, as it were, stretching in illi- 
 mitable length from eternity, and running parallel 
 towards him from the mystic beginning of all things, 
 as they at length converge to his eye in their first 
 measurable dimensions, convey the image of an 
 earth preparing for the use and reception of man. 
 It was an earth, be it specially observed, not neces- 
 sarily at that time first created, but just then in 
 a state of preparation for a new inhabitant, — an 
 
 the extreme opinion of supjoosing 
 a literal and verbal inspiration, 
 how else than by vision can he 
 have been made to conceive of 
 things bm-ied in so remote a past ? 
 It seems but the natural language, 
 in contemplating svich a revelation, 
 to say with Coleridge : " Let us 
 carry us back in spirit to the 
 mysterious week, — the teeming 
 work-days of the Creation, — as 
 they rose in vision before the eyes 
 of the inspired historian." — Aids 
 to It(^ectton. Indeed, the best 
 wi'iters on Inspiration will teU us 
 that oftentimes in no other way 
 coidd the hmiian facidties have 
 been employed to commimicate 
 Divine revelations at all, except 
 by ''visions" and imaginative 
 pictures presented to the mind ; 
 imless we are to suppose those 
 faculties altogether superseded 
 and suspended, and no use of them 
 made, in receiving or imparting 
 the supernatural information con- 
 veyed. Thus the " seer " was the 
 very title of the prophet (1 Sam. 
 ix. 9 ; 1 Chron. xxix. 29). St. Paul 
 says, " I will come to insions and 
 revelations:" and St. John is bid 
 
 "to wi-ite what he had seen:" 
 "he bare record of the word of 
 God .... and of all things that 
 he s«?p." (2 Cor. xii. 1 ; Rev. i. 
 2, 19.) The following is the re- 
 mark of a judicious writer : — 
 ""WTien the ideas to be con- 
 veyed related to things which 
 surpass the boimds of human ex- 
 perience, it is plain that ordinary 
 language must fail to convey to 
 others what was thus revealed. 
 It was necessary, therefore, that 
 such symbols or visible repre- 
 sentations shoidd be moulded, as 
 it were, for the occasion, which 
 would best confoi-m to those ideas. 
 .... And in the case of such vi- 
 sions, as in cases of natm'al poetic 
 effusions, the imaginative facidty 
 of the prophets naturally comes 
 into play, — the Divine Spirit 
 guiding the imagination, while 
 clothing the ideas with appropriate 
 symbols." — From Lee's Inspira- 
 tion of IIolij Scripture (Dublin, 
 1854), Lect. iv. We may refer the 
 reader to a weU-reasoned chapter 
 on the same subject in Hugh 
 Miller's Testimony of the Rocks, 
 ch. iv. 
 
The first beginning of '■'• Light^^ unrecorded. 139 
 
 inhabitant of Avhose existence, prior to the time chap. 
 
 spoken of, neither the pages of inspiration, nor the '■ — 
 
 records of nature appear to give any intimation. 
 Following at present the inspired record only, we 
 should say that everything is made to point for- 
 ward and bear directly upon man, as (next to the 
 Omnipotent) the real hero of the scene. It is with 
 a view to man's uses, that each day's work, as we 
 pass along in the narrative, introduces to us suc- 
 cessively the flower and fruit of the field, the cattle 
 and creeping thing, the fowl of the air and the fish 
 of the sea ; and further, it was to disabuse man of 
 any false notions of creature-worship, that every 
 creature is made to fall into his place as part of the 
 mere furniture of the dwellino; thus made for man. 
 This, we believe, is the only clue to the right con- 
 ception of these opening scenes of sacred writ. It 
 is not to exclude or to deny other stages of crea- 
 tion than that which accompanied and ushered in 
 the first appearance of man upon the earth. It is 
 not that the glorious light had never before dawned 
 on other orders of created beings, till on the " first 
 day God said. Let there be light, and there was 
 light." God, we are expressly told, had from the 
 beginning " clothed Himself with light as with a 
 garment." He ever " dwelleth in the light unap- 
 proachable " to mortal eye, " whom no man hath 
 seen or can see." Nor, again, have we a right to 
 bring all the stars, much less the angels also, ac- 
 cording to a favourite tradition of some, into the 
 
140 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, work of tlie fourth day. What we do see is, that 
 
 '- — by a fresh creative, or, it may be, fresh moulding 
 
 and formative act, the face of Nature is garnished 
 anew, and its wide domain fresh furnished for a 
 new inhabitant. The fairest and brightest forms 
 are but a portion of that furniture. " Thou madest 
 us, and not we ourselves," might each exclaim. 
 They have a work to perform, a place assigned 
 them, for the service and convenience of man ; — but 
 all in obedience to the laws of the Creatoe. The 
 skill of Deity is impressed upon them ; but they have 
 no divinity in themselves. Birds, fishes, beasts, sun, 
 moon, and stars, — these all might, in an after-day 
 of decline, be invested with imaginary Divine 
 honours, and figure among the false divinities of 
 a degenerate age, but they are here presented to us 
 in their only true view and position, as the crea- 
 tures of God's hand and the dumb unconscious 
 ministers of His will. We propose to enter more 
 fully in a following chapter into the several par- 
 ticulars • of the interesting account in Genesis. 
 And among them will be embraced what concerns 
 the higher and more spiritual, and not the mere 
 material view of the creation of man. But, taking: 
 for our guide the sacred narrative itself, we hope 
 to give at least a due proportion to the more 
 material part, and to follow out whatever of in- 
 terest to the scientific, and specially to the geolo- 
 gical reader, may occur. But before we do so, it 
 may conduce to the clearness of the argument. 
 
Main Conclusions. 141 
 
 if we begin by enunciating some principal conclu- chap. 
 
 sions to which, on this branch of the subject, we '- — 
 
 shall be led, and whicli may serve afterwards as a 
 kind of general principles to guide us in any future 
 inquiries. It should be borne in mind that errors 
 on the side of exaggerating any literal intimations 
 (or supposed intimations) of the inspired text may 
 be as serious, and may lead in the end to as false 
 conclusions, as the opposite error of ignoring or 
 contradicting such intimations altogether. It re- 
 quires no little care and discretion to avoid encum- 
 bering the statements of Scripture with false glosses 
 of our own, and so charging upon them the re- 
 sponsibility of the crude and imperfect, or, it may 
 be, the erroneous conceptions, to which our 0Yv^l 
 imaginations may have led us. The following, then, 
 are the chief points which will occupy our attention, 
 and which appear to offer the best solution to the 
 well-known difficulties that belong to this portion 
 of Holy Writ. 
 
 1. To say something, first, of the whole title of 
 the chapter (Gen. i.), as it stands in our English 
 version, viz. The Creation. A distinction seems 
 allowed by most Hebrew scholars between the 
 words for " creating " and " making." The latter 
 word may sometimes be used indifferently for 
 the former; but the former has the stronger and 
 more emphatic sense, and implies a jii^st lyroduction 
 of a something not existing before. Accordingly 
 it is the word eminently employed in the first verse 
 
142 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, of Genesis, and standing at the head of all that 
 
 '- — - account which is vulgarly called the Creation. 
 
 Nor does it seem without design that the same 
 word is not again repeated, till verses 21 and 27, 
 evidently marking out the creatures there named 
 for special notice ; while in chapter ii. verse 3, the 
 distinction is expressly recognised and confirmed in 
 the phrase " all His work which God created and 
 madeJ^ From other Scriptures it would appear — 
 what, indeed, seems naturally associated with our 
 idea of an Almighty Creator — that the first matter 
 was " created " out of nothing.^ Not so everything 
 that was "made."^ From the change of terms, as 
 well as from the reason of the thing, it would seem 
 that the subsequent works were of the nature of 
 some new forms and combinations of elements 
 previously existing, rather than absolutely fresh 
 creations. It is not, however, our intention, in 
 what follows, to press this distinction beyond due 
 bounds.^ God might in an instant of time have 
 
 1 See 2 Pet. iii. 5 ; Heb. xi. 3. ^ Compare the statemcutof the 
 
 2 " 'Creavit/ sciL die primo e.v learned Regius Professor of Ile- 
 nihilo, lit ' fiiceret ' ex eo opera se- brew in Oxford:"After having con- 
 quentium dierum. — Vetus auctor, tiniially re-read and studied this 
 Neheman.; ajmcl Facfimn, ad Gen. account, I can come to no other re- 
 ii. 3. David Kimchi, ad Is. xliii. 7: suit than that the words ' created ' 
 "Creavi eum, forma-\a eimi, atque and 'made' are synonymous (al- 
 feci eum." Kimchi sic explicat: though the former is to us the 
 " ' creavi eum,^ i.e. produxi eum de stronger of the two), and that, be- 
 nihilo ad esse. Dein ' fonnavi euin/ cause they are so cpnstantly inter- 
 eo qifod feci eiim e.ristere dis2)osi- changed j as, Gen. i. 21, 'God 
 tione for nice. Podremo ' Sod cum/ created great whales;' ver. 25, 
 hoc est, disposid seu ordinam eum.'" ' God made the beast of the earth ;' 
 Md. plura aptid Leigh, Critic. Sa- ver. 26, ' Let us make man ; ' ver. 
 era ad voc. Nia. 27, ' So God created mwo.: At the 
 
" Created and made^ 
 
 143 
 
 called into being the first elements of matter; — 
 and from these might have been wrought all sub- 
 sequent forms and creations in nature. But on 
 these matters we have no clear revelation to guide 
 us ; nor can we without irreverence prescribe the 
 manner or the limits of the Divine agency. For 
 aught we know, there may be yet new elements 
 produced; and there is certainly every appearance 
 in nature, that creation after creation has been 
 going on down to the present epoch, which 
 brought man upon the stage. It will be well if 
 
 CHAP. 
 V. 
 
 same time it is very probable that 
 j^na C created ' ), as being tlie 
 sti'onger -svord, was selected to 
 describe the first production of 
 the heaven and the earth. The 
 point, however, upon which the 
 interpretation of the first chapter 
 of Genesis appears to me 7-eaUy 
 to turn, is, whether the two first 
 verses are merely a summary 
 statement of what is related in 
 detail in the rest of the chapter, 
 and a sort of introduction to it ; 
 or whether they contain an ac- 
 
 coimt of au act of creation 
 
 Many of the Fathers supposed 
 the two first verses of Genesis to 
 contain an accoimt of a distinct 
 and prior act of creation : some, 
 as Augustine, Theodoret, and 
 others, that of the creation of 
 matter ; others, that of the ele- 
 ments; others, again (and they 
 the most numerous), imagine that 
 not these visible heavens, but 
 what they think to be called 
 elsewhere the ' highest heavens,' 
 
 the ^heaven of heavens/ are here 
 spoken of, — our visible heavens 
 being related to have been created 
 on the second day. Petavius re- 
 gards the light as the only act of 
 creation of the first day; con- 
 sidering the two first verses as a 
 summary of the accoimt of crea- 
 tion which was about to follow, 
 and a general declaration that all 
 things were made by God. Epi- 
 scopius, again, and others, thought 
 th?ct the creation and fall of the 
 bad angels took place in the in- 
 terval here spoken of: and mis- 
 placed as such speculations are, 
 still they seem to show that it is 
 natural to suppose that a con- 
 siderable interval may have taken 
 place between the creation related 
 in the first verse of Genesis and 
 that of which an accoimt is given 
 in the third and following verses." 
 — From note by Dr. Pusey to 
 Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, 
 vol. i. pp. 23, 24. 
 
1-44 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, the highly interesting dispute on the subject 
 
 '• — of the Mosaic " clays," intimately connected with 
 
 this of the " Creation," should be always carried 
 on in the same calm and impartial spirit in which 
 it was at first entertained by that late eminent 
 Professor of Geology, Dr. Buckland. Though 
 not himself disposed to adopt the wider acceptation 
 of the term, he adds the opinion that " there is no 
 sound critical or theological objection to the in- 
 terpretation of the word ' day,' as meaning a long 
 period;" but that there is "no necessity for such 
 extension, in order to reconcile the text of Genesis 
 with physical appearances, if it can be shown that 
 the time indicated by the phenomena of geology 
 may be found in the undefined interval following 
 the announcement of the first verse." Of tliis 
 same opinion we find Dr. Chalmers, Professor 
 Sedgwick, &c., and moreover, " that the creation 
 of the component matter of the earth and heavens 
 having been announced in verse 1, the phenomena 
 of geology, like those of astronomy, are passed over 
 in silence, and the narrative proceeds at once to 
 details of the actual creation which have more 
 immediate reference to man." 
 
 2. Next follows the order in which "the Creation" 
 is described as taking place. Here, it might be 
 imagined, comes in at once the question of the six 
 days. But this appears much too hastily assumed. 
 May not the real clue to the order of God's Avorks 
 be something quite dilFerent? — something in- 
 
Antiquity of the Earth. 
 
 145 
 
 dependent altogether of the six days ? ^ Suppose 
 that instead of six days, there had been only one^ 
 
 CHAP. 
 V. 
 
 ^ It is not at all intended by 
 anything here remarked, to speak 
 disparagingly of the interest that 
 must ever be felt in the question 
 as to the literal meaning of the 
 '' days/' and whether they imply 
 the natiu-al periods so called, or 
 those much longer ones which 
 might answer to the formation of 
 the great geological strata of the 
 earth. We have, in fact, reserved 
 the fm-ther discussion of this point 
 to a later chapter. Following the 
 authorities that have been ah-eady 
 named, — Buckland, Chalmers, 
 Sedgwick, — the natural theory 
 has been ably supported in a 
 pleasing manual on the subject 
 by the Eev. James Gray, The 
 EaHK s Antiquity in harmony with 
 the Mosaic Record of Creation. 
 He takes the view, "that the first 
 verse in Genesis is not to be imder- 
 stood according to the cmTently 
 entertained notion, as merely 
 giving a simimary account of the 
 f{/?(?r-recorded work of the six 
 days, but is an independent pro- 
 position, enunciating the Ceea- 
 Tio^", primordial as to time, — the 
 reference being reti-ospective ra- 
 ther than prospective." It is not 
 without satisfaction that we quote 
 from this author the following 
 eloquent tribute to the wonderful 
 discoveries, and improved tone, of 
 science in the present day: — '' The 
 philosophers of the present day are 
 not, like too many of a former age, 
 proud in their boast of an empty 
 scepticism. Science has now dis- 
 closed too much to satisfy a tndy 
 
 enlarged mind with any agency 
 less than Omnipotency; the ar- 
 cana of Natm-e have been of late 
 too widely laid open to allow any 
 correctly reasoning powers to as- 
 cribe her operations — so various 
 in action, yet so harmonious in 
 design — to other than an Al- 
 mighty' Aa-chitect. The proud and 
 sceptical spirit would seem now 
 to be obliged to succimib imder 
 the potency of the Divine Majesty 
 bearing down upon it from Na- 
 ture's storehouses on eveiy side ; 
 for while the telescope has brought 
 to view wider and wider ranges of 
 God's empire, and the microscope 
 has imveiled the most hidden cor- 
 ners thereof, and each and every 
 part has disclosed worlds of crea- 
 tion imknown before, the cul- 
 minating point has been achieved 
 by the delving instrimients of the 
 geologist. Penetrating with these 
 into the earth's solid masses, he 
 has manifested that, through time 
 past immeasurable, worlds upon 
 worlds of creations have been 
 evolving upon om- own little globe, 
 and the majesty of the Eternal 
 been displayed on successive sur- 
 faces of this earth diu-ing ages 
 long anterior to its ti'averse by any 
 human footsteps. Man therefore 
 now, in this newly opened volume, 
 has continually set before him a 
 palpable memorial of the immen- 
 sity of his God. 'The very 
 stones ' do indeed ' cry out,' and 
 speak to him this voice." — Gray's 
 Antiquity of the Earth, chap. iv. 
 p. 211, second edition. 
 
14G Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, is there not still a broad scale laid down, which 
 '- — allows for any conceivable length of progress, how- 
 ever slow and orderly the stages of it might have 
 been, and with whatever subordination to general 
 laws impressed upon them from the beginning, 
 they may have been carried on? We merely give 
 the result, which we purpose tracing out more in de- 
 tail in its proper place ; but in the very assertion that 
 God in the beginning " QVQViiQ^ Heave7i and Eartli^'' 
 and observing, in the details which follow, that 
 the scene is confined chiefly, if not wholly, to the 
 " earth^^ the thought must needs be suggested of an 
 immeasurable series of creative works. For that 
 " Heaven " here means more than the " heaven " 
 of verse 8 ("And God called the firmament 
 heaven"), we think abundantly clear from the 
 context in which it stands, and from comparison 
 of other passages. " Thou, Lord, in the beginning 
 hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the 
 heavens are the works of Thine hands ^ ; — " Heaven 
 is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what 
 house will ye build me ? saith the Lord," '^^ " By the 
 word of the Lord the heavens were of old, and the 
 earth, standing out of the water and in the water." ^ 
 No one will say that in these passages the term 
 " heaven " is to be restricted to that outer fir- 
 mament which is related (verse 6-8) to have been 
 the work of the second day. It only remains, that 
 
 ^ Pa, cii. 25, quoted Ilcb. i. 11. "^ Is. Ixvi. 1, quoted Acts, vii. 49, 
 
 =» 2 Pet. iii. 5. 
 
Pi'ohahle gradations in the structure of the '■'- Heavens ^ 
 
 147 
 
 we refer it to that glorious expanse of wliich the chap. 
 Psahnist exclaims \ "When I consider thy i7(?at;6?25, 
 the work of Thy hands, the moon and the stars, 
 which Thou hast ordained ; what is man, that Thou 
 art mindful of him? or the son of man that Thou 
 regardest him?" Assigning, then, the same sense 
 to the word in the passage before us, how marked 
 is the transition which follows ; when, having 
 named this Heaven and the earth together, he now 
 turns and confines himself to the earth alone! 
 " And the earth was without form and void." But 
 in what is omitted (and, as it seems, purposely 
 omitted), we cannot help thinking what an infinite 
 series of creative wonders mio;ht have been o;oino^ 
 on through all the antecedent, but unrecorded ages ! 
 If the structure of the heavens was in any degree 
 as elaborate and measured in time and order, as 
 that recorded of the earth in its last stage of 
 preparation for man, what a Avide and majestic 
 field of contemplation opens out to our view in the 
 simple announcement " God created the Heavens ! " 
 It was an ancient tradition of the Rabbis, that 
 there were seven things created before the six days 
 of Genesis; and a still more popular belief, that 
 "the light" of the first day was no other than 
 that of the sun itself.^ Might they not with more 
 
 1 Ps. viii. 3, 4. stantive form of the planets, per- 
 
 "^ We may take thus early an fectly answers the phenomenon 
 
 opportunityofstatmg that visible recorded in the 3rd verse. ' La- 
 
 limiinosity, rather than the sub- place declares the probability of the 
 
148 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, reason have referred the sun to a still more ancient 
 
 Y. 
 
 date ? There seems nothing in the words of Moses 
 
 to prevent our assigning a much more remote 
 origin to the solar and other systems, than would 
 aj)pear on the surface of the account. Worlds 
 upon worlds, and creations upon creations, rise up 
 before the mind, as we pass that " Heaven " in 
 review, which Moses couples in the same mention 
 with the " earth." But because, as the place of our 
 habitation, it more nearly concerns us than the 
 other planets, he dismisses these and confines our 
 attention to the earth alone, and all its furniture 
 and inhabitants, with so much only of the disposi- 
 tion of the heavenly bodies as bears immediately 
 upon ourselves. This, then, is the order. " Heaven 
 and earth," i. e. the original and elementary 
 matter of all things, is " created " first, probably 
 in an instant of time : — " Heaven " itself, with 
 the infinite number and variety of its orbs, with 
 all its jiossible inhabitants and appurtenances, 
 follows next, — each moulded, as the earth was 
 afterwards in its season, according to the will 
 of the great Creator: — next, the earth, sleeping, 
 j^erhaps, for a time, in a semi-liquid form, through 
 primeval ages of comparative vacuity, but even- 
 tually the seat of something noble and excellent in 
 its kind; then passing through many a successive 
 phase of animate and inanimate nature, till it 
 becomes the appropriate residence of man. Here 
 
 existence in natiu-e " of opaque in as great number as stars." — 
 iwfe as cousiderable and probably Sijst, d. 3Ionde, 1. iv. 
 
Alternating periods of " Darhiess and Lights 149 
 
 was the great scale and order of creation, to which chap, 
 
 is appended the much fuller detail of the six days' '■ — 
 
 work, — a detail, however, not simply terminating 
 in itself, but seeming also to reflect an important 
 light upon antecedent epochs, somewhat similar in 
 character, though less intimately related to the 
 human species. 
 
 3. Among the more prominent passages in this 
 last creation, is that where it is said, " Let there be 
 light, and there was light." At its first formation 
 there is every reason to think that the earth sub- 
 sisted, as we have before observed, in a semi-liquid 
 condition, a fiery fluid at the centre and boiling 
 waters separated from the fire by a solid but slowly 
 formed crust of rocky substance at the surface. 
 From the strong internal heat hardening from 
 below what was liquid above, would arise a dense 
 seething of the superficial waters, a profound misti- 
 ness would envelope the earth, so as quite to de- 
 stroy the reflecting power of our globe, and render 
 it to the outward eye an almost opaque mass. 
 Through how many ages this enveloping mist may 
 have continued, we have not the least means of 
 ascertaining. The clearing away of it, however, 
 (whether we are to imagine this done once for all 
 on the first of the six days, or whether such a 
 clearance had from the beginning alternated with 
 long periods of preceding darkness,) could only 
 have been eiFected by a process indefinitely slow, 
 or through the immediate interposition of Omni- 
 
150 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, potence, by a fiat as absolute and wonderful, as 
 
 ' — thouo-li the lio-ht itself were then first called into 
 
 being, and thrown upon a universe of primeval 
 darkness. The act, therefore, is expressed in terms 
 universally admired for their terse sublimity, nor 
 could any have been found more thoroughly ex- 
 pressive, had it been intended to describe the 
 original and actual creative word. And we see 
 nothing lost to the dignity and sublimity of the 
 expression, " Let there be light, and there was 
 light." ^ In either view of it we may take further 
 into consideration what is now discovered to be the 
 constitution of the source of light to this earth, viz. 
 of the Sun^ whose light (supposing the body of it 
 to have existed before) either then first struggled 
 through the mist, or entered upon a new phasis 
 of his shining. An alteration in the nebulous 
 atmosphere, which is now understood to form 
 the inner coat of the sun's atmosphere, might 
 have been employed to produce this efi*ect, and 
 that, either singly by its own operation, or in 
 conjunction with what has been just surmised 
 to have been the condition of the earth's surface 
 contemporaneously with it. By some such cause, 
 or by the union of both, the phenomena in Genesis 
 admit of a natural and easy solution. There is 
 nothing in the expression 2, " there was light " (or 
 
 ' A passage which excited the giver of the Jews. See Lmuji- 
 
 admiration of the heathen Longi- niis tie Suhlim. § ix. 
 
 mis, who at tlic same time '^ "I learn from Professor Piisey 
 
 spealcF'of ' Moses as the Law- that the words, "Let there be 
 
Pre-existence of Light. 
 
 151 
 
 "light was "),tliat necessarily implies creation for 
 the first time — any more than when it is said (for 
 the words are precisely the same in the original, 
 Gen. V. 5), "Evening was and morning was." In 
 this latter connection they occur repeatedly through- 
 out the chapter ; and, as it is obvious that creation 
 could not have been intended at each repetition of 
 " evening and morning," so neither can we argue 
 that it was necessarily intended in the earlier pas- 
 sages where the expression first occurs, whether 
 at verse 5, or in the passage under our considera- 
 tion and which first tells us " there was light." ^ 
 
 CHAP. 
 V. 
 
 liglit " (Gen. i. 3), by no means 
 necessarily imply that light had 
 never existed before. They may 
 speak only of the substitution of 
 light for darkness upon the sur- 
 face of this cm- planet. Whether 
 light had existed before in other 
 parts of God's creation^ and had 
 existed on this earth before the 
 darkness described in ver. 2, is 
 foreign to the purpose of the nar- 
 rative." — Buckland, p. 26. 
 
 ^ It may not be iminteresting 
 to fortify thus early oiu- general 
 position, by adducing the follow- 
 ing illusti-ations from other works 
 on Genesis, Gray, on verse 2 of 
 Genesis, says : " Such a disturbed 
 condition of teiTestrial things is 
 here narrated, as we should na- 
 turally conclude would be foimd 
 after the violent action of one or 
 other of those gi-and distm-bing 
 agents, either of fire by earth- 
 quakes, or of water by deluges, 
 which we know to be Nature's 
 
 ordinaiy mighty destroyers and 
 renovators on the earth . . . 
 a state following upon the last 
 catastrophe anterior to the period 
 of its Divinely recorded reorgan- 
 isation for the abode of man." — 
 EartKs AntiquiUj, pp. 120, 144. 
 '' Wrapped in its watery garment, 
 and enveloped in thick darkness, 
 without a living creatm-e of the 
 animal or vegetable world within 
 its precincts, a clarh, untenanted, 
 vxitery waste, is the simple con- 
 dition of om- planet, when intro- 
 duced to om" notice in the book of 
 Moses. . . . The tepid waters 
 on its surface, occasioned by the 
 centi-al heat, at this early period of 
 its existence must have sent up a 
 constant stream or volume of va- 
 pour, which rested above the 
 atmosphere, and acted as a screen 
 between the sim and the earth, 
 imtil dissolved by the gradual 
 cooling down of the elements." — 
 MQausland, pp. 147, 192. 
 
152 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. 4. Though allusion has been already made to 
 '- — the next particular which seems worthy of obser- 
 vation, it may deserve a separate and distinct 
 notice, viz. that the creation of the body of the 
 sun, and indeed of its illuminating power, need 
 not necessarily be deferred to the fourth day. 
 If Ave reserve for the work of that day such a 
 fresh modification of the light of the sun, as 
 should make it serve the purpose there indicated, 
 the description in the sacred narrative would seem 
 sufficiently carried out. To this some have not 
 unreasonably added the idea of a new rate of 
 revolution of the earth, by which the days might 
 have become shortened to their present dimensions, 
 having previously, and during the slower rates of 
 revolution, been of much longer duration. We 
 should thus have a sufficient explanation of the 
 fourth day, without having recourse to the almost 
 untenable position of ascribing the actual creation 
 of the great central orb in our planetary system to 
 the work of that day. 
 
 5. We have already remarked upon the distinc- 
 tion between the terms " creatino; " and " makinsr." 
 But indeed it may be doubted, whether the work 
 of creation ever ceased, till it placed man upon the 
 stage, or whether it be not rather in exercise to 
 the present day. It is the conclusion of tlie most 
 eminent geologists, founded, as they consider it, on 
 the undoubted indications of nature, that there 
 
Successive Creations. 153 
 
 have been successive epochs of creation, separated chap. 
 by indefinite intervals of time, and marked and 
 ushered in by phenomena of depression and eleva- 
 tion of the Earth's surface, when new forms of 
 life, whether by sea or land, have appeared and 
 flourished, till, by a similar catastrophe, these 
 again have yielded to others which have flourished 
 through the like long periods. They recognise 
 such epochs, partly because of the enormous revo- 
 lutions required to bring about and heap together 
 the successive strata which form 'the crust of the 
 earth, and partly from observing the continually 
 shifting forms of animal and vegetable life by which 
 those strata are distinguished. We see nothing in 
 the text of Scripture to militate against such a 
 conclusion. On the contrary, we start with the 
 supposition that the detailed account m Genesis is 
 that of the last adaptation of the soil and climate 
 of the earth to the use and habitation of man ; and 
 we see no inconsistency in allowing room for many 
 previous adaptations, according to the fashion and 
 organism of the creatures who were in turn to 
 occupy the terrestrial habitation. Our quarrel 
 with geologists is not for pointing out the distinct 
 traces of such epochs, but for ever hesitating to 
 confess in each of them the manifest tokens of 
 creative skill and power, similar in every respect 
 to that recorded in Genesis as introductory to the 
 formation of man. And how any one should deny 
 
154 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, us the liberty of asserting more sucli creations ^ 
 
 '■ — than one, because they are not actually recorded in 
 
 Scripture, we confess ourselves unable to understand. 
 There being one recorded instance of an entirely 
 fresh disposition of the earth's surface, so far from 
 precluding, rather tends to confirm the supposition 
 of there having been others, of which no record 
 remains, save the distinct traces which are dis- 
 cernible in the physical condition of the earth. 
 We seem perfectly at liberty to entertain the belief 
 that such epochs there really were, since the first 
 creation of matter. Old creations might have 
 perished, and been " emptied out " as it were, to 
 make way for new. The earth thus " empty and 
 void " for a time, and passing through its period of 
 murky steam, — again at the bidding of the omnific 
 Word, gave birth to the creatures best suited to its 
 condition. If old species should reappear, inter- 
 mixed with the new, it might either be by a fresh 
 creative act, or by some succession kept up in 
 places that might have escaped the general de- 
 vastation. The new races would, however, pre- 
 dominate, and would continue to perform the parts 
 assigned them till some new revolution again 
 
 ' Quite in accordance witli this the surface of the globe was pass- 
 view, we have the high authority ing from one condition to another, 
 of Sir R. Murchison for sajdng, whole races of animals — all the 
 " Geology, modem as she is among groups adapted to the physical 
 the sciences, has revealed to us, conditions in which they lived — 
 that during immeasm-eahlc pe- wwesj^ccessu'c/ycrmfw?, lived their 
 riods, long anterior to the crca- appointed time, and perished." — 
 tion of the human race, and while lIurcMsoii's Siluria, ed. 3, p. 4. 
 
Phases of Waste and Revival. 
 
 Ub 
 
 swept tliem away. Each would in turn have 
 issued from the parent earth, alike the work of 
 the same great " Spirit," who from first to last 
 "moved," — i.e. hovered with the watchfulness of 
 parental care, " on the face of the waters." And 
 the same terms would be applicable to each new 
 phase of waste and of reconstruction, as are in fact 
 applied by the sacred penman to that last revolu- 
 tion on the surface of our planet which issued in 
 the creation of man. " The earth was without 
 form [empty] and void ; and darkness was upon 
 the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God 
 moved upon the face of the waters. And God 
 said, Let there be light, and there was light." ^ 
 
 CHAP. 
 V. 
 
 ' "UTien gi'eat geologians have 
 been contented to see in Gene- 
 sis the non-recognition of their 
 science, wliile at the same time 
 they find certainly no contradiction 
 to it, others may at least wait in 
 patience till gi-eater light can be 
 throwTi upon the subject. Pro- 
 fessor Sedg-wick nobly remarks: 
 " T/ie Bible instructs us, that man, 
 and other living things, have been 
 placed but a few years upon the 
 earth, and the physical monuments 
 of the world bear witness to the 
 same truth. If the asti'onomer 
 tells us of mp'iads of worlds not 
 spoken of in the sacred records, the 
 geologist, in like mannei', proves 
 (not by argmnents from analogy, 
 but by the inconti-overtible evi- 
 dence of physical phenomena) 
 that there were former conditions 
 
 of our planet, separated from each 
 other by vast intervals of time, 
 dm-ing which man, and the other 
 creatiu-es of his own date, had not 
 been called into being. Periods 
 such as these belong not, there- 
 fore, to the moral histoiy of our 
 race, and come neither within the 
 letter nor the spu-it of revelation. 
 Between the fii'st creation of the 
 earth and that day in which it 
 pleased God to place man upon it, 
 who shall dare to define the in- 
 terval ? On this question Scrip- 
 ture is silent; but that silence 
 destroys not the meaning of those 
 physical monuments of His power 
 that God has put before our eyes, 
 giving us at the same time facid- 
 ties whereby we may interpret 
 them, and comprehend their mean- 
 ing." — Studies of the University. 
 
156 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. 6. And if this be the true account, it is a 
 
 '- — question whether the condition of the earth, 
 
 immediately antecedent to the creation of man, 
 or indeed during any of the preceding intervals, 
 can properly be termed a " chaos." Periods there 
 may have been when mighty convulsions disturbed 
 the face of nature ; but a prevalent order and regu- 
 larity seems to have been the general law throughout. 
 Of all that He " created," as well as of all that He 
 " made," it is emphatically pronounced, " God saw 
 that it was good." Or if this be too refined a 
 distinction, we find a juster and more convincing 
 argument in the orderly deposits of the most 
 ancient strata, in the testimony given by the whole 
 fossil tribe, as to the suitability of the earth's 
 condition to the varying forms of life which from 
 time to time have prevailed on its surface. Thus, 
 like the atoms of Epicurus, we may banish chaos 
 (in the common sense of the term) to the regions 
 of poetry and mythology, and claim for every suc- 
 cessive condition of the globe which we inhabit, an 
 orderly obedience to the laws impressed upon its 
 material elements, and conformable to the stage of 
 vegetation and to the species of animal life for 
 which the particular period was intended to serve. 
 7. It is not agreed among geologists, what 
 phenomena in the fossil-world may be due to the 
 general Flood recorded in Genesis, and what to the 
 original stratification of the earth, brought about 
 by the successive revolutions of its surface. When 
 
Traces of the Flood doubtful. 157 
 
 attention was first called to geological inquiries in chap. 
 
 the last century, it was at first thought that the '- — 
 
 fossil remains of beasts and fishes, and other 
 petrified substances entombed in the earth, were 
 all traceable to the efi"ects of the Deluge. When 
 it was seen that the highest mountains were 
 strewed with pebbles and shells of clearly marine 
 origin, — when the bones of the hyaena, the tiger, 
 the rhinoceros, and various other creatures of 
 tropical climates were found, as at Kirkdale, em- 
 bedded and scattered about in caves of much 
 higher latitudes than those they naturally inhabit, — 
 the conclusion seemed at first sight inevitable, that 
 they had been washed there at a time when a great 
 flood of waters overspread the earth ; and the 
 phenomena were hailed as fresh evidences that 
 " the waters had exceedingly prevailed, and all the 
 high hills that were under the whole heavens were 
 covered."^ This idea seemed supported by the 
 concurrent observations of other philosoj^hers, who 
 saw traces of enormous currents having set in from 
 the south, and swept in a north-easterly direction 
 over the continents of Asia and Europe. Reinhold 
 Foster^ who accompanied Captain Cook in his 
 second voyage round the world, sought thus to 
 account for the peculiar configuration of all the 
 continents of the Old World; and, observing how 
 their sides were hollowed out into vast gulfs on 
 the west, and their coasts or edges left pointed and 
 
 1 Geu. A-ii. 9. 
 
158 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, j^recipitous on the south, he thought that it was 
 
 '- — caused by "a great cataclysm comhig from the 
 
 south-west : that the Avaters of the ocean, dashing 
 with violence against the barrier which the con- 
 tinents opposed to them, ground away their sides 
 with fury, scooped out the deep gulfs open 
 towards the south-west, swept off all the movable 
 earth from the southern side, and left nothing 
 standing but those rocky points, which were only 
 parts of the skeleton. The islands on the east 
 might be only the accumulated ruins of this great 
 catastrophe, or the fragments of the continent 
 protected from total destruction by the jutting 
 point which received the first shock.'" Another 
 celebrated geographer^ accounted in the same 
 way for the vast plains of Siberia and the north, 
 and that they were composed of the earth washed 
 up and accumulated by strong currents from 
 the south, after their fury had been spent upon 
 the Himalaya, or the great table land of Asia. 
 And it was thus he explained the presence in 
 Siberia of fossil elephants, and of mammoths, and 
 a multitude of other animals and plants which 
 live at the present day only under the sky of the 
 tropics. Dr. Hales., and many learned writers of 
 his day, eagerly adopted the hypothesis. It is no 
 disparagement to the learning or abilities of those 
 eminent writers of the last century, to say that 
 
 1 Sec Guyot's Earth and Man, cli. ii. "^ Pallas, born 1741. 
 
Similar Catastrophes before the Flood. 159 
 
 further observations have led to a somewhat clif- chap. 
 
 V. 
 
 ferent account of the phenomena which thus '- — 
 
 engaged their attention. " Seductive as this idea 
 is at the first glance," observes the author^ just 
 quoted, "it is scarcely necessary to sa}^, that much 
 which modern geology has taught us upon the 
 structure of the mountains, their rise and the 
 composition of the soil, forbids us to adopt it. It 
 dates from a time when the mind, struck for the 
 first time with the revolutions of the globe, of 
 which it saw the traces everywhere, found no force 
 sufficiently powerful to bring them about ; and 
 when water, in particular, seemed the only agent 
 to which recourse could be had to explain them." 
 While, however, we abandon these suj^posed evi- 
 dences of the Flood, they by no means cease to 
 be of value as throwing important light on the 
 Scripture record. The very fact of such currents 
 having ever occurred, and having left indelible 
 marks of their track — the passage of large deposits 
 of earth, rocks, and other materials, rolled along 
 over the plains now elevated into mountains, or 
 sunk into valleys and lakes, is an instance in 
 observed nature which harmonises well -with the 
 Scripture account of a similar catastrophe and 
 convulsion of the elements at the time of the Flood. 
 It confirms also the foregoing supposition of alter- 
 nating periods of waste and revival. In the Flood 
 
 ^ Earth and 3Ian, cli. ii. 
 
160 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, itself, the scene of devastation was indeed the 
 
 '■ — effect of the Divine displeasure at the aggravated 
 
 impiety of men ; but the instruments employed 
 were no other than those same natural agents to 
 which the other observed effects are ascribed, and 
 whose action at some remote period of time in 
 breaking up the existing face of things is thus 
 exhibited in fact, and must therefore necessarily be 
 admitted. It has not been pretended by geologists 
 to explain in what exact manner the successive 
 changes and revolutions on the earth's surface, 
 which are distinctly observable, have been brought 
 about; nor how it was that the creatures of one 
 period were put an end to, and their fossil remains 
 imbedded in the ground, to be trodden under foot 
 by those who came after; — but it may safely be 
 contended that the Flood was an instance on actual 
 record, of at least 07ie disturbing force, adequate 
 to produce such result, and which made a clear 
 sweep, so to speak, with the exception of the one 
 family in the ark, of all the existing generations of 
 animal life. And when we behold the traces of 
 new life and the commencement of new strata fol- 
 lowing, at whatever interval, upon such temporary 
 devastation ; we have an instance before our eyes of 
 what the Theist is so anxious to deny, viz. that 
 the Deity has interfered at divers periods, with his 
 OAvn creation, and has not left it to be carried on 
 with blind uniformity by the spontaneous action of 
 general laws. 
 
No Pre-adamite Vestiges of civilised Life. 
 
 161 
 
 And again, whether we date man from the crea- chap. 
 tion, or trace the various families to their second 
 origin, as it were, at the flood, when only one 
 family survived — the case as to the comparatively 
 recent origin of our race is not materially altered. 
 To deny the flood is not to get rid of the recent 
 formation of mankind, unless it can be shown that 
 the period from Adam to Noah was of indefinite 
 length, and not the nine generations recorded in 
 Genesis ; and that man had existed from time im- 
 memorial upon the earth ; but this has never yet 
 been proved, and all appearances go quite to the 
 contrary. Human remains are not found among 
 the earlier vestiges of creation at all ; nor even in 
 the more recent alluvial deposits are they found in 
 any such proportion as to justify the assumption 
 in question.^ And yet, if this assumption were 
 true, we might undoubtedly expect, among the 
 other relics of bygone ages, not merely the re- 
 mains of the human inhabitant, but of the habita- 
 tions themselves, the cities and the houses where 
 he dwelt and flourished. " It would seem proba- 
 ble," remarks Bishop Berkeley, " that guns, medals, 
 and implements in metal and stone, might have 
 lain entire, buried under ground forty or fifty 
 thousand years, if the world had been so old. 
 How comes it, then, that no remains are found, 
 no antiquities of those numerous ages preceding 
 the Scripture accounts of time ; that no fragments 
 
 1 See Ch. VII. Appendix, Note I. 
 M 
 
162 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, of buildings, no public monuments, no intaglios, 
 
 '- — statues, basso-relievos, medals, inscriptions, utensils, 
 
 or artificial works of any kind are ever discovered, 
 which may bear testimony to the existence of those 
 mighty empires, those successions of monarchs, 
 heroes, and demi-gods, for so many thousand 
 years ? " ^ Or, to quote from a learned geologian 
 of our own day, " Maiiy signs of the agency of man 
 would have lasted at least as long as the shells of 
 the primitive world, had our race been as ancient." ^ 
 And from another, " Had any creature in the 
 likeness of Adam trod the earth during the depo- 
 sition of the stratified deposits, his form and works 
 must have been traced in as legible characters on 
 the framework of our globe, as the forms of those 
 plants and animals which have been exhumed in 
 such abundance by the practical geologist." ^ 
 
 While speaking of the deluge we will only fur- 
 ther notice, that whatever difficulties may occur in 
 accounting for the recorded phenomena — difficul- 
 ties as to the supply of water necessary to drown 
 the whole inhabitants of the earth, as to the num- 
 ber of beasts in the ark, or how they Avere provided 
 with food ; these and such like difficulties are 
 nothing to those which are presented to us in the 
 whole field of geological research, and which the 
 utmost ability of the most learned and assiduous in- 
 vestigators of nature has failed entirely to remove. 
 
 ^ Berkeley's 3Imide Philosopher. ^ M'Cuusland, p. 208. 
 
 ' Lyell; Principles of Geology. 
 
Difficulties in Nature. 163 
 
 How the flints got in between the chalk ; — by what chap. 
 process of fusion it came about, that in the compo- ' — 
 
 sition of both of them there should be contained 
 the same species of shells; — the whole history of 
 the quiet injection of so many myriads of fishes, in- 
 sects, and animals, with liquid matter dissolved from 
 rocky or mineral masses : — these, and many similar 
 phenomena, though the results are visible to the 
 eye, are extremely hard to conceive of as to the 
 manner of operation. Yet, till these things be 
 satisfactorily explained, it is vain to throw all the 
 difficulty on the Scripture-side, with the sole view 
 of discrediting the whole narrative of the earlier 
 chapters of Genesis, and of denying in particular the 
 recent origin of man, and the unity of the several 
 races in the one common head assigned to them by 
 Moses in his account of the creation. Every day, 
 amid the rapid strides that science is making, we 
 are compelled to witness phenomena which we 
 cannot understand. And it is too much, because 
 of similar incomprehensibility, to reject accounts 
 which, like those in Scripture, are supported by 
 an amount of independent evidence to which there 
 is nothing equal for any other writings. 
 
 Supjwsed causes of great physical disturhances on the surface of 
 the earth. — Notliing has more puzzled tie geologist than to ac- 
 count for the agencies by which the successive changes in the 
 earth's surface, as well as the displacement of older species of 
 plants and animals and their replacement by new ones, were 
 effected ; or to explain in what manner, the siidden extinction 
 and intennent of whole worlds of animate life was brought about. 
 M 2 
 
164 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. Sir Charles Lyell notoriously refers these phenomena to the slow 
 
 V. 
 
 and gradual operation of natural causes, such as we see at work 
 every day. Hitchcock ascribes these changes to gradual elevations 
 and depressions of land, causing immense revolutions in climate. 
 " Such animal and vegetable existences," he says, " have from 
 time to time been placed upon the earth as were adapted to its 
 varying conditions. When the earliest group was created, such 
 were the climate, the atmosphere, the waters, and the means 
 of subsistence, that the lower tribes were best adapted to the 
 condition of things. That group occupied the earth till such 
 changes had occurred as to make it unsuited to their natures, 
 and consequently they died out, and new races were brought in, 
 not by mere law, but by Divine benevolence, power, and wisdom. 
 These tribes also passed away, when the condition of things was 
 so changed as to be uncongenial to their natures, to give place to 
 a third group, and these again to a fourth, and so on to the 
 present races, which, in their turn, perhaps, are destined to 
 become extinct." — Religion of Geology, Lect. ix. And again : 
 " In the earliest times in which animals and plants lived, the 
 climate over the whole globe appears to have been as warm as, 
 or even warmer than, it is now between the tropics. And the 
 slow change from warmer to colder appears to have been the 
 chief cause of the successive destruction of the different races ; 
 and new ones were created better adapted to the altered condition 
 of the globe : and yet each group seems to have occupied the 
 globe through a period of great length ; so that we have here 
 another evidence of the vast cycles of duration that must have 
 rolled away, even since the earth became a habitable globe." — 
 Religion of Geology, Lect. i. The like opinion is expressed by 
 Sir Charles Bell, viz. : " That the earth was suited at one time 
 to the scaly tribe of the lacertas, with languid motion ; at 
 another, to animals of a higher organisation, with more varied 
 and lively habits ; and finally, that at any period previous to 
 man's creation, the surface of the earth wovdd have been ww- 
 suitable to him. Any other hypothesis than that of a new 
 creation of animals suited to the successive changes in the inor- 
 ganic matter of the earth, the condition of the water, atmosphere, 
 and temperature, brings with it only an accumulation of diffi- 
 culties." — On the Hand, Bridgewater Treatise, iv. p. 27. 
 
Successive Exertions of Creative Power. 165 
 
 Dr. Wliewell, in his History of the Inductive Sciences^ lias CHAP. 
 
 examined the opposite theories of the "doctrine of catastrophes," 
 and that which refers the changes to the uniform operation of 
 natural laws acting over very long periods. After carefully 
 balancing between them, he shows demonstrably that there is no 
 a priori probability, as seems once to have been imagined, in 
 fe,vour of the doctrine of uniformity, however adequate it may 
 be to account for many phenomena which, by an equal mistake 
 on the other side, seemed at first accountable for only by the 
 supposition of violent and sudden forces let loose, as it were, 
 upon the world. The same author, in another place, where he 
 again reviews these opposite hypotheses, thus applies the argu- 
 ment to the Scripture account of things : " The last great event 
 in the history of the vegetable and animal kingdoms Avas that by 
 which their various tribes were placed in their present seats. 
 And we may form various hypotheses with regard to the sudden 
 or gradual manner in which we may suppose the distribution to 
 have taken place. We may assume that at the beginning of the 
 present order of things, a stock of each species was placed in the 
 vegetable or animal province to which it belongs, by some cause 
 out of the common order of nature ; or we may take a uniformi- 
 tarian view of the subject, and suppose that the provinces of the 
 organic world derived their population from some anterior state 
 of things by the operation of natural causes. Nothing has been 
 pointed out in the existing order of things which has any analogy 
 or resemblance of any valid kind to that creative energy which 
 must be exerted in the production of a new species. And to 
 assume the introduction of new species as a part of the order of 
 nature, without pointing oiit any natural fact with which such 
 an event can be classed, would be to reject creation by an arbi- 
 trary act. Hence, even on natural grounds, the most intelligible 
 view of the history of the animal and vegetable kingdoms seems 
 to be that each period which is marked by a distinct collection of 
 species forms a cycle; and that, at the beginning of each such 
 cycle, a creative poiver ivas exerted, of a kind to which there was 
 nothing at all analogous in the succeeding part of the same cycle. 
 If it be urged that in some cases the same species, or the same 
 genus, rrms through two geological formations which must, on 
 other grounds, be refeiTed to different cycles of creative energy, 
 
 M 3 
 
 V. 
 
166 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, "^ve may reply tliat the creation of many new species does not 
 ^- imply the extinction of all the old ones. Thus we are led by 
 our reasonings to this view, that the present order of things was 
 commenced by an act of creative power entu-ely diiferent to any 
 agency which has been exerted since. None of the influences 
 which have modified the present races of animals and plants since 
 they were placed in their habitations on the earth's surface, can 
 have had any efficacy in producing them at first. "We are ne- 
 cessarily driven to assume, as the beginning of the present cycle 
 of organic nature, an event not included in the coiu-se of nature. 
 And we may remark that this necessity is the more cogent, pre- 
 cisely because other cycles have preceded the present." — Whewell, 
 Indications of the Creator, pp. 161, 162. A passage will be 
 quoted in a subsequent chapter, from which it will appear, that 
 Sir John Herschel would ascribe the phenomena in question to 
 certain modifications of the solar heat and atmosphere, rather than 
 to mere changes of level affecting the temperature on the surface 
 of the earth. (See Chap. VI. p. 177; and Herschel, Outlines of 
 Astronomy, § 830.) 
 
167 
 
 CHAP yi. 
 
 The Mosaic Order of Creation. 
 
 " A god alone can comprelaend a God ; 
 Man's distance how immense ! On such, a theme 
 Nothing can satisfy but what confounds j 
 Nothing but what astonishes is true." 
 
 Yoimg. 
 
 . . . , " Deum namque ire per omnes 
 TeiTasque tractusque maris, cceliunque profimdum ; 
 Hinc pecudes, armenta, \dros, genus onme ferarum . . . 
 . . . Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus 
 Mens agitat molem, et magno se coi-pore miscet." 
 
 Yirg. Georff. 4 ; ^n. 6. 
 
 Let us turn now to the sacred text itself. The chap, 
 
 VI. 
 
 part which concerns the present subject is from 
 
 Gen. i. 1, to Gen. ii. 8. And in what we shall 
 oifer by way of commentary, it is our purpose not 
 to be guided solely by those who have laboured in 
 this field since geology brought forward its pecu- 
 liar difficulties, but to take carefully into account 
 the earlier and more independent authorities as 
 well. Many ingenious modes of reconciling the 
 text of Scripture with the facts of geological 
 science have of late years been suggested. We 
 would mention with all respect and gratitude the 
 labours of those excellent men, who came forward 
 
168 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, when the citadel of our faith appeared to be in 
 '■ — danger, at once to vindicate the authority of Scrip- 
 ture, and to reconcile it with the new discoveries 
 of science. But after all our endeavours to follow ' 
 what is so ably advanced by this class of writers, 
 there remains often an uncomfortable impi-ession 
 on the mind, that had it not been for the necessity 
 of accounting for certain visible phenomena, many 
 new meanings would never have occurred which 
 now we find proposed as the natural sense of Scrip- 
 ture. It will therefore be the aim of the following 
 chapters to show that the received facts of geology 
 are not only compatible Avith the text of Scripture 
 as interpreted by a modern school of expositors, but 
 with known interpretations of it, before the dis- 
 coveries of geology were heard of, and before they 
 could have had any influence upon the 02^inions of 
 those who wrote. ^ 
 
 Gen. i. 1. "In the beginning God created the 
 heaven and the earth." 
 
 The word "beginning," whether taken in a 
 relative or an absolute sense, must needs in this 
 place have a very Avide and indefinite meaning. 
 For though in the relative use of it, the term 
 would be restricted by the subject in hand; as 
 
 ^ The reader may consult Ilitcli- ^ Certain opinions of tlie fathers 
 
 cock, TtdUjion of Geologij (con- may be here referred to, — see 
 
 taiuing almost all the newest note, Chap. V. See also a Catena 
 
 views); J. Pye Smith, On the of expositions in Gray, ^rt/'^/i's^«- 
 
 JRelation bettoeen the Sc)-ij)tures tiquity. Appendix to Chap. III. 
 and Geologij. 
 
The mystic " Beginning^ 169 
 
 when we read in the Gospels, " He which made chap. 
 them at the hegijining made them male and 
 female," ^ we refer naturally to the subject in 
 hand, and finding it " marriage," the " beginning " 
 becomes at once restricted to the time of man's 
 o^\Ti creation; yet the subject in Genesis being 
 a much wider one, viz. the entire creation, and 
 the whole compass of " heaven and earth," — by 
 the same rule we claim for the term " beginning " 
 a scope as wide as the subject itself, and refer it to 
 a period as indefinite and remote as the imagina- 
 tion can conceive — the first moment of time as 
 measured by the first act of creation. We think 
 this the only meaning compatible with the context, 
 and with other places of Scripture. But to make 
 the words a mere preface to the six days' work, 
 and as though all the particulars were soon to 
 follow, of what is here summed up under the 
 general phrase " created in the beginning " — is to 
 empty it of all sublimity and grandeur — to say 
 nothing of the incoherency of a statement which 
 would make a beginning from two things at once, 
 " heaven a7id earth." One of these surely must 
 have stood at " the beginning," and not both, if the 
 " beginning " was merely meant for the first stage 
 of the proceedings shortly after detailed. Passing 
 by this interpretation then of the term, as insipid 
 and irrelevant, we confirm our own sense of it by 
 comparing, among other passages the following: 
 
 1 INIatt. xix. 4. 
 
170 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. " The Lord possessed me in tlie hegimiing of his 
 
 '- — way, before his works of old. I was set up from 
 
 everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth 
 
 was Before the mountains were settled, 
 
 before the hills was I brought forth When 
 
 He prepared the heavens I was there, when He set 
 a compass upon the face of the depth" (Prov. viii. 
 22, 23, 25, 28). It is the very impossibility of 
 conceiving definitely the idea of time and of its 
 beginning, which throws into stronger relief and pro- 
 minence that which we doubt not is here the main 
 idea, viz. the assertion that God Himself was the 
 true and only Creator of all. The stress is evi- 
 dently here, that at what time soever the things 
 were made, and of whatsoever number and variety, 
 in " heaven and in earth," they consist, the great 
 God of Israel was the Maker of them all. " Heaven 
 and earth " thus include all things ^ whatever. It 
 is not merely " the firmament " of verse 8, that 
 is meant by "Heaven;" but, as we before showed, 
 the whole expanse of the stars and celestial bodies, 
 with all their supposable inhabitants and appur- 
 tenances. And it is to teach us that in no other 
 way, were all these and everything in them, and in 
 our own world, originally made, than by the sove- 
 reign will and power of the One Almighty Crea- 
 tor; and that, at a time or times utterly unknown. 
 
 ^ Ccelum et terram. Intellige Estius. Miindum imiversiun. — 
 omnes torrestres et ccelestes crea- Picherellus, who compares Gen. 
 tiiras. — Faf/ms; Vetablus ; Lyra ; ii. \, Ps. xxxiii. 6. 
 
Mystifying Effect of jjreconceived Ideas. 
 
 171 
 
 perhaps unintelligible by us \ " In the beginning 
 God created the heaven and the earth." And 
 now, as we advance in this record of creation, we 
 begin insensibly to substitute our own precon- 
 ceived ideas for the plain account of Moses. Most 
 readers are so familiar with this chapter of Genesis, 
 that it scarce occurs to them to question the cor- 
 rectness of the impressions which they have long 
 associated with it ; and it almost disturbs their 
 faith, to depart in the least from their customary 
 acceptation of its meaning. The scene they have 
 pictured to themselves may be somewhat as fol- 
 lows : — First, a wild primitive sea of chaos, tossing 
 
 CHAP. 
 VI. 
 
 ^ " Quo extitenmt initio coelum 
 et terra^ eo Deus ilia creavit/' is 
 the close renderiug of Picherelhis. 
 "In the beginning"' was some- 
 what fancifully, perhaps, inter- 
 preted by some of the Fathers 
 to express the agency of Christ 
 in the work of creation, who is the 
 true ''beginning." Ita Christum 
 Gen. i. 1, vocari tradtmt Origenes, 
 Basilius,HieronjTnus,Augustinus, 
 Beda, ut sit sensus, "In principio," 
 i.e. in. Filio Dei o-eavit Deus 
 coelum et terram; vencm rectius 
 statuit Ambrosius lib. i. Hexem. : 
 c. 6. intelligi princijntim temjioris : 
 so. materice, loci adeoque rerum 
 omnium ereatarum, — Leigh. Crit. 
 Sac. ad voc H^SJ'Nn. The parallel 
 expression in St. John's Gospel, 
 which was probably the last 
 book in the sacred canon, with 
 this in Genesis, the first book, is 
 certainly remarkable. " In the 
 
 beginning was the "Word, and the 
 Word was with God, and the 
 Word was God." It should be 
 noted, however, that while the 
 expression in Genesis denotes 
 that all things had a beginning in 
 time, viz. when God created 
 them, there is no such ascription 
 of a beginning to om* blessed Lord 
 in St. Jolm. " In the beginning," 
 he tells us, " urns the Word," not 
 "was created." The Greek 
 marks it strongly by the word i]v 
 (which compare with the iykviTo 
 of Genesis, ver, 3, &c.), expres- 
 sing an existence already begun, 
 and going on even when nothing 
 else existed save Deity Him- 
 self: — much more, then, in the 
 comparatively late "beginning" 
 of creation itself, — He " ?<;rts," 
 who is the Eternal " I A3I^^ (see 
 John viii. 58) ; " the A and Q the 
 First and the Last." — Rev. i. 11. 
 
172 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VI. 
 
 in unruly agitation ; then suddenly at the same 
 voice which " rebuked the winds and the sea, and 
 there was a great calm," a new condition of order 
 and beauty; whence immediately arose the beau- 
 teous and orderly frame of the earth ; light for the 
 first time sprang out of darkness — the shades of 
 evening gave place to the first dawn of morning, 
 and the day appeared. On following days, by a 
 similar process, both vegetable and animal life was 
 first called into existence ; fruits and vegetables were 
 the earliest products, then, after two days' inter- 
 val, birds, fishes, then again, cattle and creeping 
 things, and beasts of the earth after their kind, till 
 we come on the sixth day to man himself ; the 
 interval of the fourth day is occupied by the crea- 
 tion of the sun, moon, and planets, and of all the 
 stars of heaven. Such might be, and often is, 
 imagined to be the opening scene in Genesis, But 
 now, so far from all things having sprung imme- 
 diately from a primitive chaos of boisterous and 
 jarring elements ; science will tell us that, no 
 sooner was matter created, than it Avas subject to 
 general laws, by the gradual operation of which 
 successive changes took place. So far from the 
 light being wholly unknown, or birds, beasts, and 
 fishes being never seen till the day when order 
 thus for the first time succeeded to disorder, and 
 light to primeval darkness ; — her doctrine, gathered 
 from many clear intimations of nature, is, that 
 ages upon ages had rolled along, and revolution 
 
Pioneering Office of Science. 
 
 173 
 
 after revolution had occurred on the surface of the chap. 
 earth, each mtnessing some new race of mhabitants, - " 
 and some new forms of vegetable life, before the 
 £era which brought man upon the stage. Light, it 
 would appear by the same investigations of science, 
 must have contributed its share to the maintenance 
 of life, and to the support of the various organ- 
 isms and their specific functions during all those 
 antecedent periods. The sun, too, very probably 
 subsisted in his orbit, and, most certainly, the stars, 
 which are distant suns, and from many of which 
 our little earth must be wholly invisible. So far 
 from the fishes and fowls being wholly separated, 
 by perhaps a considerable interval from the first 
 plants and trees, indications are found that the 
 first terrestial plants were coeval Avith the first 
 fishes, and that many sea weeds, and many speci- 
 mens of the zoopliyte tribe, during enormous 
 periods, preceded both. And however we may 
 stretch the sense of " day," it does not seem entirely 
 to remove most of these apparent discrepancies be- 
 tween the conclusions of science and the relation 
 in Genesis. The question then arises. Is our geo- 
 logy at fault ? or our astronomy ? or our theology ? 
 We answer none. For here, in this immeasurable 
 period from " the beginning," we find time sufii- 
 cient to allow for all existing phenomena that 
 cannot otherwise be explained. This awful gulf is, 
 as it were, spanned and bridged over by the sup- 
 position of innumerable worlds then starting into 
 
VI 
 
 174 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, existence, in orderly though unknown succession. 
 There is indeed no record of their birth in history. 
 Such records, we may reverently believe, would 
 have been impossible, even if expedient or useful. 
 They would far have exceeded any power of man 
 to register, or any compass of books to contain. 
 But our ignorance as to the facts does not preclude 
 the reasonableness of the supposition — we might 
 almost say, its necessity^ in order to harmonise our 
 ideas of God's immensity and eternity with the 
 range in time and space of his created works. It is 
 something to know, that there is nothing in this 
 first verse of Genesis, but what assists and har- 
 monises with this belief. The myriads of suns 
 and planetary systems which stud the sky, must 
 have had a beginning, and we find that beginning 
 here.^ But to confine ourselves at present to the 
 
 ^ It is finely remarked by the stars that are in\'isible to tlie naked 
 learned Dr. Hales, " Whether 'the eye immensely, leading us to con- 
 host ' of the fixed stars were all elude that there are infinite 
 * created and made ' at the same numbers far beyond our ken, ut- 
 time with our system, may reason- terly uudiscoverable, so they de- 
 ably be doubted. For though all monstrate the immense distances 
 these had a heyimiing, it is no even of the largest and nearest, 
 where explicitly stated in Scrip- and lead us also to conclude, that 
 ture that they had ihe same he- these can be no other than suns, 
 ginniny ; and the first philosophy, shining with native light, and 
 in the days of Job, plainly iuti- from analogy, attended with suit- 
 mates that ' the morning stars ' able trains of planets, furnished, 
 (by a beautiful figure representing like ours, with inhabitants adapted 
 the angels of light) were prior to to each, compared Avith which our 
 that creation which they cele- whole system shrinks into insig- 
 brated with hymns of joy. Mo- nificance. Is it then to be 
 dern telescopic discoveries, as they imagined for a moment, that the 
 liave augmented the number of whole ' spangled heavens, a shin- 
 
VI. 
 
 The Primeval Void. 175 
 
 world which we inhabit. Professor Sedgwick chap. 
 states, " We are certain that there have been great 
 successive changes in the surface of the earth — 
 that some of these changes were slow and gradual 
 — that others were brought about by the sudden 
 eruption of the pent-up powers of nature, and were 
 comparatively rapid and violent ; but each a pre- 
 lude to the material conditions which followed, till 
 physical nature became what she now is." ^ Time 
 sufficient for all these changes, so well attested and 
 established on the face of the earth, is supplied 
 from those immeasurable ages which stretched 
 along from the mystic " beginning " to which the 
 sacred record points back. In perfect consistency 
 with this idea is also the second verse in Genesis. 
 We have here, too, room to satisfy the speculations 
 of geologists. 
 
 Gen. i. 2. " And the earth was without form and 
 void : and darkness teas upon the face of the deep. 
 And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the 
 waters." 
 
 It is best, perhaps, to take all the clauses of this 
 verse together, though something might be gained 
 to the geological side of the argument, by treating 
 them as descriptive of quite separate periods. To 
 
 ing frame/ were called into exist- not created until so lately as seven 
 
 ence merely 'to give light upon or eight thousand years ago?" — 
 
 the earth/ which would be abso- Hales, Analysis, vol. i. p. 813. 
 
 lutely invisible from the nearest ? ^ Sedgwick, Studies of the XJni- 
 
 or that the universe, which is foimd versify of Cambridge, Preface to 
 
 to be infinite or boundless, was 5th Edition, p. ccxviii. 
 
176 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, waive this advantage, however, we may observe, 
 
 '' — first, the marked transition, where the writer 
 
 passes from the mention of " heaven and earth " 
 together, to that of the " eartli " alone : " And the 
 earth was without form and void." In speaking of 
 these words as helping out the supposition of a long 
 duration prior to the earth assuming its present 
 superficial form, we may at least say, they indicate 
 a condition, towards which the elements of nature 
 had apparently been long working up, and in which 
 they continued working, till at last a new crisis 
 sets in, expressed in the last words of the verse to 
 which we shall come next. It is probable, too, that 
 after the first creation of all material elements, 
 things were left for the most part, to the operation 
 of natural causes; and this necessarily implies a 
 slow and gradual progress over large spaces of thne. 
 As regards the words themselves, "without form 
 and void," the expression seems plain, but it is not 
 so easy to form a clear conception of the meaning. 
 The Chaldee version has it, "empty and waste;" 
 the Syriac, "waste and uncultivated;" the Greek, 
 " dark and unfurnished." " Without inhabitants, 
 Avithout produce;"' "without produce, and with 
 no aptitude to produce ; " ^ " Avithout plants, with- 
 out animals;"^ — such are the glosses of difi"erent 
 interpreters. Of these, the Greek version'^ trenches 
 
 1 Ainsworth. ■* Adopted by M'Causland, wlio 
 
 ^ Piscator. well translates, " a dark, nn- 
 
 ^ Estlusj Tremelliua. tenanted, loatery wffs^e" — "dark, 
 
Modificatmis of the Sun's Atmosphere. 177 
 
 somewhat upon what follows in the next clause, viz. chap. 
 
 " And darkness was upon the face of the deep." '- — 
 
 In a former chapter, the condition of the earth's 
 atmosphere, answering to this description of " dark- 
 ness," was fully explained. It was shown not 
 necessarily to imply the non-existence of the light 
 of the sun, or at least of his substance ; but to 
 have been due partly to agencies affecting the 
 earth's atmosphere, and partly to similar conditions 
 in that of the sun. While the sun was regarded 
 by astronomers as itself an orb of fire, it might 
 have been difficult to imagine any considerable 
 diminution of light from that source, supposing it 
 to have been already in existence, as we shall see 
 reason presently to believe that it was. But after 
 the discoveries of Herschel as to the true nature 
 of the sun's constitution, and that his light is 
 due to a luminous atmosphere, underlying which 
 is another dense atmosphere of clouds, it becomes 
 far more easy to conceive any possible shades of 
 variety in the degree of luminosity from that 
 source. Sir John Herschel says, " Geology testifies 
 to the fact of extensive changes having taken place 
 at epochs of the most remote antiquity in the 
 
 inasmucli as it was covered with state, ia wliich the elemeuts of 
 
 vapour, and enveloped ia the darkness and light, and all other 
 
 'darkness that was on the face things, arecommiugled in an abyss 
 
 of the deep' — untenanted, in- called the 'deep,' but a tem- 
 
 asmuch as no organic forms of poijary obscuration and a tem- 
 
 plants and animals had yet been porai-y desolate and waste condi- 
 
 called into being." — Sermons on tion." — Gray, Earth's Antijuiti/, 
 
 Stones, p. 147. "Not a chaotic pp. 143-149. 
 
178 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, climate and temperature of our globe — changes 
 
 '- — difficult to reconcile with the operation of second 
 
 causes, such as a different distribution of sea and 
 land, but which would find an easy and natural 
 explanation in a slow variation of the supply of 
 light and heat afforded primarily by the sun itself." ^ 
 But we are not suffered to dwell long on this 
 condition of dull inert stagnation, with darkness 
 all around. We are wakened by the stirring 
 announcement, "And the Spirit of God moved '^ 
 upon the face of the waters." By the " Spirit," 
 in this place, some ancient Jewish expositors under- 
 stood, as we are informed by Bishop Patrick, " a 
 strong wind;" others, "the sun, which gives spirit 
 and life to all things:" but the current of later 
 interpretation tends (we should say more correctly) 
 to spiritualise the words, and to understand no less 
 than, as the learned prelate says, "the infinite 
 wisdom and power of God, which made a vehement 
 commotion and fermentation upon the fluid mass, 
 
 1 Herscliel's Outlines of Astro- tlie firmament must have sliut out 
 
 nomy, § 830, ed. v. " Au obscur- the sun from the earth's sm-face." 
 
 ation,extendingformanythou8and — lI'CauskDuI, p. 192. 
 milesjhas oftentimes been recorded ~ Or rather, " brooded upon the 
 
 in our own day, as the result of waters as a hen doth upon her 
 
 recent volcanic eruptions ; and eggs." — Patrick. See again Deut. 
 
 especially when volcanic force has xxxii. 11, ^' fiuttereth over her 
 
 upheaved the bottom of the sea, yoimg." Heb. nsri'ip. Picherellm 
 
 vapours dense, continuous, and in Cosmojiced, apud Poli Syuops. 
 
 vast in extent, have suffused such ^' The expression seems intended 
 
 large portions of space, as to have to convey the first act of tlie crea- 
 
 obscm-ed, for a long period, the tionof life, the poiu-ing of vitality 
 
 sun from y\ew."—EartKs An- into the waters. Comp. Ps. civ. 
 
 tiquity, ^. \\Q. ^'Clouds above 29, 30."— J/'CfHte7f/Hf/. 
 
VI. 
 
 Condition of the Earthy commonly called Chaos. 179 
 
 to separate the parts one from the other." ^ Thus chap. 
 far, as regards the agent : as regards the work, we 
 may look upon it as a transition- state in creation, 
 a terminal stage of preparation for a new creative 
 epoch. What forms of life may have existed and 
 flourished during the earth's condition as a watery 
 abyss, we are not informed; nor how long it con- 
 tinued in that condition. The last-mentioned 
 commentator says, " How long all things continued 
 in mere confusion, before the light was extracted 
 out of it, we are not told. It might be, for aught 
 that is here revealed, a great while ; and all that 
 time, the mighty Spirit was at work, disposing, 
 preparing, and ripening every part of it for such 
 productions as were to appear successively in such 
 spaces of time as are here and afterwards mentioned 
 by Moses; who informs us, that after things were 
 so digested and made ready (by long fermentations, 
 perhaps) to be wrought into form, God produced 
 every day for six days, some creature or other, till 
 all was finished." 2 Till we know, to a greater 
 certainty, exactly what happened, or how far this 
 mention of a dark and desert condition of the earth 
 
 ^ Add those many passages in in its present state. He affirms, 
 
 Holy Scriptm.-e, where creative indeed, that it was created, and 
 
 agency is ascribed to the Holy that it was 'without form and void,' 
 
 Spirit, as Job. xx\a. 13, Ps. when ' the Spirit of God ' began 
 
 , xxxiii. G, civ. 30. to move on the face of the fluid 
 
 2 Patrick ad Gen. i.5. The case mass, but he does not say how 
 
 is clearly and forcibly stated by long that mass had been in the 
 
 Bishop Gleig as foUows : " Moses state of chaos, or whether it was, 
 
 records the history of the earth only or was not, the wreck of some 
 
180 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, 
 VI. 
 
 was spoken relatively or absolutely, we are not 
 entitled to conclude that all was mere chaos and 
 confusion. We may rather picture to ourselves 
 very similar scenes to what even now appear, — not, 
 perhaps, the same order, nor the same perfection 
 nor variety of forms, — certainly nothing approach- 
 ing to the liigher orders of the animal creation, 
 still less to man himself. Just as where " heaven " 
 is mentioned at verse 1, the fitting up of it with 
 the heavenly host, and with all the beauteous stars 
 of light, is left unrecorded ; so here, perhaps, with 
 the mere mention of creative influence at work, the 
 
 former system, wlaicli liad been 
 inhabited by living creatm-es of 
 different kind from those which 
 occupy the present. We read in 
 various places of Scriptm*e of a 
 ncio heavens and a neio eaHh to 
 succeed the present earth and 
 visible heavens, after they shall 
 again be reduced to chaos by a 
 general conflagration, and there 
 is nothing in the books of Moses 
 positively affirming that there 
 was not an old earth and old 
 heavens, or, in other words, a 
 former planetary system, com- 
 posed of the same matter with the 
 present, before it was reduced to 
 that chaotic state in which Moses 
 represents it as having been when 
 the Spirit of God began to move 
 on the face of the waters. . . . 
 If philosophers have really dis- 
 covered fossil bones that belonged 
 to species and genera of animals 
 which now nowhere exist, and if 
 the destruction of these genera 
 
 and species cannot be accounted 
 for by the general deluge or any 
 other known catastrophe, or if 
 strata be foimd which coidd not ■ 
 have been so disposed as they are 
 but by the sea, or at least some 
 watery mass remaining over them 
 in a state of tranquillity for a much 
 longer period than the duration of 
 Noah's flood, — if these things be 
 indeed well ascertained, . . . 
 there is nothing in the sacred 
 writings forbidding us to suppose, 
 that they are the ruins of a former 
 earth, deposited in the chaotic 
 mass, of which Moses informs us 
 that God formed the present 
 system. How long," he adds, 
 " it continued in such chaotic state 
 it is vain to inquire ; but if in that 
 state it contributed to keep in their 
 proper places the other systems of 
 the universe, it seiTed a very im- 
 portant purpose among the works 
 of God." — Gleig, Annutatmis on 
 Stackhonse, b. i. c. i. 
 
Origin of Tertiary Strata conjectured. 181 
 
 record closes, but we are left to fill up the outline chap. 
 
 VI 
 
 as best we may. And it may not be presumptuous '■ — 
 
 to hope that the advance of science may more and 
 more enable us to do so, while to Scripture we 
 shall ever owe it, that we start with right ideas as 
 to the true and only source of life ; and that it is 
 to the superintending hand of Omnipotence that 
 all things owe their being. Who knows but that 
 this very verse in Genesis may conceal in its abyss 
 of waters the lapse of those very ages to which 
 belonged the formation of the tertiary, and some, 
 perhaps, of the secondary strata — those parts of 
 the earth's crust which are coeval with the first 
 appearance of animated forms ? 
 
 We stop at this point, before proceeding to 
 the " six days' work," to contemplate the advance 
 thus far made in the relation. We believe it to 
 contain stages in Avhich the true wonder of the 
 world's order consists, even more than in the mere 
 six days' work which follows, and which may have 
 been related in detail, chiefly because it more nearly 
 concerns the immediate object in view, when the 
 revelation or vision of it was made to Moses. We 
 may distinguish then, up to verse 3, the following 
 four or more separate periods. 
 
 1. " The beginning " — before all things. 
 
 2. When God " creates the heaven," 
 
 3. And " the earth." 
 
 4. {a.) When "the earth is without form and 
 
 void." 
 
 n 3 
 
182 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. (h.) When " darkness is upon tlie face of tlie 
 
 -^^^^ deep." 
 
 (c.) When " the Spirit of God moves upon tlie 
 face of the waters." 
 The shortness of the relation should not blind 
 us to its comprehensiveness and variety. From 
 speaking of the " heaven and the earth " together, 
 in verse 1, the transition to the " earth " only, 
 verse 2, is, as we have already observed, most 
 marked and emphatic. As though he would say, 
 " Of the heavens I omit to relate more, or of all 
 the wonders of the sky, in the order of their several 
 creations. And though I shall relate presently 
 how the sun in its orbit (that orbit, perhaps, as- 
 sio-ned it durino; some far more remote antecedent 
 period), became tributary to the uses of man upon 
 the earth, I pass over all particulars of its first crea- 
 tion, or of the creation of any of the heavenly 
 bodies whatsoever, or yet of the angels, or whatso- 
 ever forms may fill up the vast regions of infinite 
 space ; and I confine myself now principally to the 
 earth?" But though Moses thus limits himself, 
 or rather was thus limited in the revelation which 
 he received, who, without presumption, can venture 
 to imagine that the account omitted was a mere 
 nothing ? and that we know all because he pro- 
 ceeds to tell us so much? Must we not rather 
 think what hidden worlds of truth lie beyond the 
 province here immediately revealed ! and that in 
 the particular relation given we do but touch on 
 
Details of the " Heavenly " Creatmi unrecorded. 183 
 
 tlie confines of universal truth ! — enough only to im- ^^'^^• 
 press upon us with awful solemnity, the one great 
 ruling thought, that all things spring from one 
 great original, the power, wisdom, and goodness of 
 the one eternal Almighty Creator ! And if the ex- 
 position, which is a very ancient one, of the words 
 " heaven and earth " be true, as importing the ma- 
 terials or prime elements whereof these were after- 
 wards formed and made up, what an endless flight of 
 ages rushes upon the mind ! For to take this earth 
 alone, we see how from the .mention of the matter 
 of it, he proceeds to devote the whole remainder of 
 this chapter, and part of the next to its actual mak- 
 ing up and furnishing in its last and present phasis. 
 What might not, then, have been the space required, 
 had it been thought expedient to proceed in like 
 manner, from the first mention of the materials of 
 " heaven " to a proportionably minute specification 
 of the several details of its glorious mechanism, 
 as we may judge of it from those glorious orbs of 
 light which irradiate before our very eyes the wide 
 expanse of the nightly sky? Still more, if we had 
 been minutely informed as to all antecedent phases 
 and epochs of our o^vn earth, and of the long series 
 of revolutions which are traceable when we come 
 to examine into its structure? If it should be 
 thought that upon the theory which we have advo- 
 cated, an undue preponderance is given to the six 
 days' preparation for the coming of man into the 
 world, we refer again to the main object of the 
 
184 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, wliole revelation, wliicli was to lead men up to the 
 
 '- — idea of tlie one all-presiding all-creating God, and 
 
 to keep to the things which were of nearest in- 
 terest and relation to himself. There may have 
 been other reasons as well. It may be that in this 
 recorded creation we see as in a glass the reflection 
 of all other creations, though not recorded : — the 
 Omnific Word alike operating in all and saying, 
 " Let there be light, and there was light ;" — " the 
 Spirit " alike " moving upon the face of the waters ;" 
 — ruin and reparation alike succeeding each other in 
 their destined order. The whole description in the 
 sacred text, though not directly written with that 
 purpose, indirectly at least, admits of an application 
 to all creations and to all times ; — God in all is to be 
 glorified, and His hand confessed. In a geological 
 point of view, the same effort of imagination by 
 which we retrace the earth to its condition of a 
 watery deep, suffices to realise the repetition of the 
 same condition again and again, in previous stages 
 of its existence. We come easily to picture to our- 
 selves successive epochs of ruin and repair, of the 
 incumbent flood, and of the emerging surface ready 
 to receive a new race of inhabitants. Such an 
 exercise stretches the imagination, it is true ; but 
 not more so than if we seek to trace the path of 
 the comet, or to realise the distances of the fixed 
 stars ; while every such eff'ort tends to deepen and 
 exalt our impressions of the Divine Omnipotence. 
 We come now to the days of the last, or Adamite 
 
First Day of Adamite Creation. 
 
 185 
 
 creation, as recorded in Genesis, chap. i. v. 3 to 
 chap. ii. V. 8. 
 
 First. Chap.l. vv. 3-5. The first Day. 
 
 V. 3. " And God said. Let there be light, and 
 there was light. 
 
 V. 4. " And God saw the light, that it was good : 
 and God divided the light from the darkness. 
 
 V. 5. "And God called the light Day, and the 
 darkness he called Nipjht. And the evenino; and 
 the morning were the first day."* 
 
 It was the opinion of the ancient Jewish com- 
 mentators, that the " light " of this first day was 
 no other than that of the sun itself, whose creation 
 they refer to this day, reserving for the fourth 
 some new development of the laws by which his 
 light was regulated. Among the Fathers it was an 
 
 CHAP. 
 VI. 
 
 ^ Some ti-anslate, " And it was 
 evening, and it was morning, one 
 clay:'' Also at yy. 8, 13, 19, 23, 
 the words might more con-ectly 
 be ti-anshited, '^ a second, a third, 
 a fourth, a iifth day ; " while at 
 V. 31 it is "the sixth day." See 
 Benisch, Translation of the Penta- 
 teuch. Mr. M'Causland translates 
 — ''then eveuiug was, then morn- 
 ing was, one day ;" and comparing 
 this with " the vision of the even- 
 ing and morning," in Daniel, 
 "we cannot but see," he ob- 
 serves, "that there is sti'ong 
 gi'oimd for the suggestion, that 
 the whole scene was commvmi- 
 cated to the sacred historian in a 
 succession of visions, each separate 
 one occupying an evening and a 
 
 morning; that is to say, an inter- 
 mediate night, the season of 
 visions or dreams ; and the tran- 
 sactions of it appearing to Moses 
 to be comprised in the compass of 
 a natm-al day, which is defined to 
 be the period of light, though 
 the realities of which it was the 
 vision occupied many natural 
 days and nights. The ti-ansac- 
 tions of a dream are often com- 
 pressed into the space of a few 
 minutes ; and on the same prin- 
 ciple, the operations of the Divine 
 Author of creation, which may 
 have occupied a long series of 
 years, may have been presented 
 to Moses as the works of a single 
 day." — Sermons on Stones, p. 125. 
 
186 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, open question, as we see by the commentary of the 
 ~^^ — celebrated Lyra^ who says, " the substance of the 
 two greater luminaries mentioned on the fourth 
 day was made on the first ; but that which had before 
 been rude and irregular, was set in more perfect 
 order on the fourth day; it then received power 
 to make its influence felt upon this inferior orb of 
 the earth." ^ However this be, or whether the 
 substance of the sun might not have been created 
 earlier still ; and whether the things recorded both 
 of the first and fourth days, were not, alike, succes- 
 sive adaptations of the light of the sun, and of the 
 earth's receptivity for the same, may well be made 
 a question. Without repeating what has already 
 been advanced at some length on this subject, we 
 may observe the confirmation gained to our former 
 argument by the words which follow this production 
 of the light: — "And God divided the light from 
 the darkness." The antecedent state having been 
 one of murky mist, steaming off from the boiling 
 and troubled surface of the earth, when there was 
 no clear light by day, and when, possibly, a much 
 higher extent of atmosphere served to refract some 
 straggling portions of indistinct light by night; 
 7WW at once the day becomes more distinctly day, 
 and the night more distinctly night. The Creator 
 
 1 Ilebrsei dicimt solem primo iufomiis antea fuerat, quarto die 
 
 die creatiun. — Poli SjTiops: ad formata est 5 et tunc accepit 
 
 Gen. i. 14. Substantia luniina- virtutem influendi in haec in- 
 
 riuin facta est primo die, sed qvva fcriora. — Lyra. 
 
Literal Sense of the Days. 187 
 
 " divided between them," ^ as it is in the Hebrew, chap. 
 i.e. by a more distinct and perfect boundary; 
 altering and adjusting in the necessary propor- 
 tions both the luminous power of the sun's atmo- 
 sphere, and the receptive quality of the earth's. 
 
 We pass on to that which follows : — " And 
 evening was, and morning was," (thereby making) 
 " the first day." AYe take this to be a sufficiently 
 close translation^; and the sense is, " that by some 
 arrangement of the light, day and night were made 
 to succeed each other with a constant regularity, 
 approaching, more or less, to what at present takes 
 place by the successive returns of the earth on 
 her axis to the same meridian? But how are 
 we to account for the so frequent assertion and 
 repetition of this clause, " Evening was and morning 
 .was," during the whole six days' work, as at \^. 8, 
 13, 19, 23, 31? It would appear to have had a 
 prospective allusion to the fourth day, after which, 
 and after the adjustment of the sun's light, and of 
 
 ^ So the Hebrew literally sigui- tlie reflection of tlie solar rays 
 fies. "Thus/'remarksMr. Gray, caused to succeed the other; an 
 "the darkness which was over unanswerable argument, hence, 
 the face of the deep became ^x<r- seems furnished for the prior 
 tially scattered ; not indeed en- existence of the sim : how other- 
 tirely ; that was left for completion wise could there be a first, second, 
 till the work of the fom-th day, and third day ? " — EaHli's An- 
 but sufficiently so to mark the re- tiquity, p. 158. 
 volution of time. And since this ^ a \i^ extitit, vespei-tino con- 
 division between light and dark- stans etmatutino, primus dies." — 
 ness, I.e. between day and night, PichereUus. "Vespere et mane 
 necessarily indicates the fact of primum diem constituerimt." — 
 the revolution of the earth upon Gatakerus, 
 its axis, whereby the one was by 
 
188 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, the mutual motions of tlie earth and sun more 
 
 VI. 
 
 ■ ^ — nearly according to their present laws, it would 
 
 have been but natural to expect this regular succes- 
 sion of night and day, so often insisted on through- 
 out the chapter. But by this early mention of it, 
 ver. 5, we learn that the effect was produced in the 
 first instance, independeyitly of the present laws of 
 the sun's light. And thus it was intended to guard 
 against the error to which mankind were already 
 prone, of making the sun the author (as the 
 Egyptians did their Osiris) of every created thing; 
 whereas Moses here intimates it was not even the 
 cause of the evening and morning, those constant phe- 
 nomena of our world. The same care is observable 
 (chap. ii. 5) to prevent attributing any originating 
 power to the rain, or river-waters applied by tillage. 
 From the account of Moses in the last-mentioned 
 passage, it would appear that as there was an up- 
 growth of herbs and plants without the genial 
 moisture of the rain, so in chap. 1, without the 
 sun {i.e. without the light of the sun in its present 
 intensity), there was in like manner the process of 
 veofetation ffoino^ on — " the earth brinmno; forth 
 the grass of the field, and the flower and fruit of 
 the tree" (see vv. 11, 12); and in further ex- 
 emplification of the same principle, he now adds in 
 the passage before us, that prior to the more recent 
 modifications of the solar light, there were the 
 same phenomena of night and day as have been 
 since experienced. 
 
Second Day of Adamite Creatio7i. 189 
 
 Secondly. Chap. I. vv. 6-10. The second Bay, chap. 
 
 V. 6. "And God said, Let there be a "firmament 
 in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the 
 waters from the waters. 
 
 V. 7. " And God made the firmament, and divided 
 the waters which were under the firmament from 
 the waters which were above the firmament : and it 
 was so. 
 
 V. 8. "And God called the firmament Heaven. 
 And the evening and the morning were the second 
 day. 
 
 V. 9. " And God said, Let the waters under the 
 heaven be gathered together unto one place, and 
 let the dry land aj)pear : and it was so. 
 
 V. 10. " And God called the dry land Earth ; and 
 the gathering together of the waters, called fie 
 Seas : and God saw that it was good." 
 
 The second day of creation is ushered in by 
 the same words as the first, " And God said." ^ 
 So at the end of the day we find, as at the end 
 of the first, the parallel expression, " And God 
 saw that it was good;"^ by which same phrase, 
 afterwards, the work of each day is similarly 
 wound up. It might have seemed superfluous thus 
 to pronounce a commendation on that which is 
 clearly announced to be a Divine work ; — which has 
 made some excellent commentators observe, that 
 
 ^ OccTirring nine times in the " Occuning' seven times, vv. 4, 
 
 chapter, w. 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31. 
 26, 29. 
 
VI, 
 
 190 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, the words may rather signify in the Hebrew, 
 "God had provided that it should be good:" 
 i.e. had foreseen everything in the Divine Mind, 
 before it Avas made ; and consequently, when 
 made, it answered perfectly to the Divine ideal, and 
 " was good." ^ Perhaps, in the first saying, " God 
 said," we may recognise the Divine Word, the Aoyos 
 of St. John, at whose bidding all was executed ; 
 and in the second, the Divine Spirit, by whose 
 wisdom all was contrived ; for " by his Spirit he 
 hath garnished the heavens." " By the word of 
 the Lord were the heavens made ; and all the host 
 of them by the breath of his mouth." ^ Another 
 and critical use has been made of the latter clause. 
 By its usual occurrence after the work of all the 
 following days, and its non-occurrence here till the 
 end of ver. 10, it is taken to indicate the con- 
 tinuance of the second day's work down to that 
 verse, and inclusive of it. We are thus led to 
 embrace the separation of the dry land from the 
 seas, together with the structure of the firmament, 
 in the work of that second day. To the same 
 time — since the description of ch. ii. can only be 
 supplementary to that of ch. i. — we may refer the 
 selection and preparation of the garden of Eden. 
 
 ^ Remiuding us of a remark of iu the prescient miud of God." — 
 
 Professor Sedg"wick : " We believe Studies of University, Pre/., p. 
 
 that the past history of nature is ccxix. 
 
 consistent and coherent, and that ^ Job, xxvi. 13 ; Vs. xxxiii. G, 
 
 before the creation of all worlds civ. 20, 30, 
 there was an arclietiipc of natiu'c 
 
VI. 
 
 The Firmament. 191 
 
 Its furnishing with trees, &c., would follow in their chap. 
 order in the next day's work, and mth birds and 
 beasts on the fifth day. It is better to bring the 
 mention of them thus early into one view ; as the 
 sooner we accustom ourselves to compare closely 
 the two chapters and observe the supplementary 
 form (according to the frequent custom of Holy 
 Scripture) of the description in the latter, the more 
 we shall admire the admirable harmony, which 
 apparently without design subsists between them ; 
 while at the same time our eyes become opened to 
 observe, that under a very short account may 
 frequently be concealed a much greater variety of 
 particulars than would at first sight be imagined. 
 
 Some variety of opinions has been manifested 
 among commentators, as to the meaning and extent 
 of the "firmament" in this passage. The solid 
 crystalline sphere of the ancient Hebrew interpre- 
 ters has long since given way to the simple and 
 boundless expanse of the air and upper regions of 
 the sky.^ To those who would extend it to the 
 empyraeum itself, or seat of the highest heavens, 
 we think it a sufiicient answer to refer to what was 
 said on verse 2, where we remarked that Moses 
 having started in verse 1 with the mention of the 
 " heaven and the earth" together, expressly con- 
 fines himself to the " earth " alone. The firma- 
 
 1 a 
 
 Firmamentiim" denotat ex- — Vdahlus ; Drusitrs. Aquas Em- 
 
 jnmsionem. — Malvendus ; Marcus ; injrao qimni proximas. Quidam 
 
 Piscator ; Tremellms ; Fac/ius ; apud Patres. See above; note. 
 Vetahlus. Diffusum corpus aeris. 
 
192 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, ment, therefore, must be here the region of the 
 — ^ — clouds and higher atmosphere, extending at most 
 to the whole planetary system to which this earth 
 belongs.^ So Bishop Patrick, " the region of the 
 air is the lower firmament^ and the ether the higher 
 firmament^ wherein the sun and the planets are 
 seated." ^ The following is the sublime descrip- 
 tion of Job: "He bindeth up the waters in the 
 clouds and the cloud is not rent under them." 
 It is evident, however, that besides tliis earthly 
 firmament, so to speak, there is the still wider 
 expanse of heaven, those immeasurable regions of 
 space which are the great theatre of innumerable 
 worlds, whose distance causes them to appear to 
 us as one great cloud of light, or as mere specks in 
 
 1 Mr. Gray makes the following regions, by an illusion of the 
 
 important ohservation : — " The senses, seem to extend to the 
 
 bringing in the ' firmament ' on heavenly bodies, therefore the sun 
 
 the second day into the spaces and moon and stars are said to be 
 
 vacated by the ascending vapom-s placed in the firmament, though, 
 
 in no respect limits the expansion in reality, removed to immense 
 
 of this atmosphere to these locali- distances beyond it. It is the 
 
 ties, or indicates then its first crea- usage of the Scriptures to describe 
 
 tion, but yields admission for the the things of the natural world as 
 
 prior circumambient flow of this thcij appear — as they strike the 
 
 necessary constituent of an ancient eyes of plain imlettered observers ; 
 
 earth." And he quotes from accordingly, in former ages, before 
 
 Professor Bush {Commentary in the true structure of the solar sys- 
 
 loco) : — " The sense of expansion tern was understood, the idea 
 
 is undoubtedly prominent in the naturally suggested by the word 
 
 use of the tenu ; yet subordinate ' firmament ' was that of the blue 
 
 to this is the idea of a ' firmament,' vault of heaven. We now limit it 
 
 or that wliich firmly supports an to the atmosphere, or rather the 
 
 incumbent weight, as the atmo- region which it occupies." — 
 
 sphere does the masses of watery UartJi's Antiquity, pp. 161, 102. 
 clouds above. But since the aerial ^ Patrick on Gen. i. 7. 
 
Third Day of Adamite Creation. 193 
 
 VI. 
 
 tlie distant sky. And of this the Psalmist speaks, char 
 " Who coverest thyself with light as with a gar- 
 ment; who stretchest out the heavens like a cur- 
 tain ;" and Isaiah, " that stretcheth out the hea- 
 vens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a 
 tent to dwell in." ^ 
 
 Thirdly, Chap. I. vv. 11—13. The third Day. 
 
 V. 11. " And God said. Let the earth bring forth 
 grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree 
 yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in it- 
 self, upon the earth : and it was so. 
 
 V. 12. " And the earth brought forth grass, and 
 herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yield- 
 ing fruit, whose seed ivas in itself, after his kind : 
 and God saw that it ivas good. 
 
 V. 13. "And the evening and the morning were 
 the third day." 
 
 We may rather wonder at the appearance of the 
 vegetable tribe before the mention of the sun, — be- 
 fore that influence of the solar light and heat, 
 which is ordinarily necessary to their growth. The 
 difficulty is met by what has been before conjec- 
 tured, of the pre-existence of the matter of the sun, 
 though not with the same degree of luminosity, 
 nor possibly under the same general conditions as 
 now. On the intention of the sacred writer to 
 place them in the order here given, there can, 
 however, be no doubt. It is confirmed by his o-wn 
 incidental allusion to the vegetable world in the 
 
 » Ps. civ. 2; Is. xl. 22; xlii. 5. 
 
 o 
 
194 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, following chapter, where, speaking of the abso- 
 lute origination of all things from the immediate 
 hand of God, and of " the day when the Lord made 
 the earth and the heavens," he instances at once in 
 the " plant of the field " as that which was first pro- 
 duced, and thus gives undesigned witness to the 
 truth of his own former account, and the perfect 
 consistency of the two increases our confidence in 
 the writer's fidelity, and leaves no doubt that the 
 vegetable products did really precede the solar ar- 
 rangements of the fourth day, and of course, there- 
 fore, the animal tribes which followed. From this 
 precedence of the vegetable to the animal creation, 
 it has been argued that the "six days" cannot 
 represent or answer to the great geological periods 
 (as some have made them do), inasmuch as, in the 
 corresponding disposition of fossils, there is not 
 found anything answering to this precedence of 
 vegetable products over the lower forms, at least, 
 of animal life. On the contrary, these are found 
 rather to precede the other, if we except only a few 
 fucoid weeds of the earlier strata. Without 
 exactly adopting the hypothesis in question, we 
 must say that such a conclusion scarcely follows 
 from the premises. There might su rely, consistently 
 with the Scripture account, have been somewhat 
 of animal life in the bosom of the waters, pre- 
 vious to the great upgrowth of vegetation here 
 named, though not particularly specified by the 
 sacred historian; and though he appears to re- 
 
Observed Order of Nature. 195 
 
 serve all mention of animal life till the time when ciiap. 
 
 the higher species came into being, and the animals XL 
 
 were more complete and perfect in their kind, as on 
 the fifth day. Those primitive waters over which 
 " the Spirit " is said to have " brooded," need not 
 be supposed to have been entirely unproductive of 
 some forms of life from the first. ^ 
 
 A more observable thing, perhaps, is the close 
 coherence in the works of the successive days. 
 The order of the first three has been light., air., 
 icater^ earth: i.e. the elements of things (as they 
 may be roughly termed), before the things them- 
 selves which were to be compounded of them. 
 Next came the compound organisms themselves; 
 and they, too, in a corresponding- order: the 
 " sun " and " moon " of the fourth day answering 
 to " light " on the first ; " birds," to the " air," 
 on the fifth and second; and lastly, "creeping 
 things, and cattle," to " plants and earth," on the 
 sixth and third. Yet the entire absence of any 
 attempt to draw attention either to the order or 
 the correspondence — such as would inevitably have 
 
 J See Appendix-note at the end appears, thus : — 1. Fijist Day : 
 
 of this chapter. Light = Fottrth Day : The celes- 
 
 ^ This correspondence is ably tial orbs, the sources of light, 
 
 stated byDr.Kalisch — the analogy, 2. Secojst) Day: Water and 
 
 (?. e.) between the fii-st three and heaven ^ Fitth Da y : Fishes and 
 
 the last three days. He divides birds. 3. Thied Day : Diy land 
 
 the six into two triads. Between and vegetation = Sixth Day : 
 
 some of the days, as between the Animals and man : i.e. the inhabi- 
 
 third and fourth, there seems no tants of the land and the con- 
 
 natm-al connection, but taken sujaers of the vegetation, 
 crosswise, the analogy inmiediately 
 
196 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, been found in a professedly scientific treatise — 
 
 '■ — marks the character of the narrative, and stamps 
 
 it with a simplicity which bespeaks its truth. We 
 proceed to the special work of the next day : 
 
 Fourthly, Chap. I. vv. 14 — 19. The fourth Day. 
 
 V. 14. " And God said. Let there be lights in the 
 firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from 
 the night; and let them be for signs, and for 
 seasons, and for days, and years : 
 
 V. 15. " And let them be for lights in the firma- 
 ment of heaven to give light upon the earth : and it 
 was so. 
 
 V. 16. "And God made two great lights; the 
 greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light 
 to rule the night : He made the stars also. 
 
 V. 17. "And God set them in the firmament of 
 the heaven to give light upon the earth, 
 
 V. 18. "And to rule over the day and over the 
 night, and to divide the light from the darkness : 
 and God saw that it was good. 
 
 V. 19. "And the evening and the morning were 
 the fourth day." 
 
 There is a slight distinction in the Hebrew con- 
 struction between verses 14 and 16, to which we 
 have nothing answering in the English version. 
 In verse 14 it is as in the English version, "Let 
 there be lights," &c. In verse 16, there is the article 
 prefixed in the Hebrew, and it is, " And God made 
 the two great lights," &c., which looks as though 
 Moses would be understood as adopting a term in 
 
Fourth Day of Adamite Creation. 
 
 197 
 
 common use among the people of his time for the 
 sun and moon, rather than so denominating them 
 out of his own mind. This article may also 
 influence the whole construction, and give additional 
 reason for thinking (what otherwise is sufficiently 
 probable) that the words in verse 16, should be 
 rather rendered, " And God appointed the two 
 great lights — the greater of them to rule the day, 
 and the lesser of them to rule the night;" express- 
 ing, i.e. the design of these greater luminaries, 
 and not their actual creation, which, for aught 
 here said, might have taken jjlace at quite another 
 time. And if this be the meaning as to the sun 
 and moon, much more may Ave so understand it in 
 reference to " the stars," which otherwise seem here 
 introduced in an almost unaccountable manner^. 
 
 CHAR 
 VI. 
 
 ^ " The words in tlie text are 
 indeed, ' He made the stars also ; ' 
 but the whole sentence conies in 
 so very abruptly, that one would 
 be apt to imagine that after 
 Moses' time it was inserted by 
 somebody who had a mind to be 
 mending his hypothesis ; or else 
 was added by way of marginal 
 note at first, and at lengt;h crept 
 into the text itself, as F. Simon 
 hath evidenced in several otlier 
 instances. For the fixed stars do 
 not seem to be comprehended in 
 the six days' work, which relates 
 onlyto this planetary world,which 
 has the sim for its centre." — 
 Staclihouse, Hist, of the Bible, \>. i. 
 c. 1. By some the words are 
 taken with those immediately 
 
 preceding, thus, ^' The lesser 
 light, to rule the night and (to 
 rule) the stars." So Benisch, 
 Translation of rentateuch, London, 
 1851. It is finely remarked by 
 Buckland, " This very slight no- 
 tice of the coimtless host of celes- 
 tial bodies, all of which are pro- 
 bably suns, the centres of other 
 planetary systems, whilst our little 
 satellite, the moon, is mentioned 
 as next in importance to the sim, 
 shows clearly that astronomical 
 phenomena are here spoken of 
 only according to their relative 
 importance to our earth and to 
 mankind, and without any regard 
 to theii- real importance in the 
 boimdless universe. ' ' — Buckland, 
 Bridgexoater Treatise, vol. i. p. 27. 
 
 3 
 
198 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, as if they were all made on this fourth day, when 
 there is nothing in all the days but what relates 
 chiefly to the earth ! We may conceive, then, that 
 while some new rule was imposed upon the " greater 
 lights," there was imparted some corresponding 
 influence to " the stars" also. 
 
 That the masses of the heavenly bodies, including 
 even those here particularly mentioned of the sun 
 and the moon, were formed and projected into their 
 several spheres at some remote period far ante- 
 cedent to the fourth day, we have already had 
 occasion to propound as the most probable account 
 of the matter. The original formation of these 
 bodies, subject to whatever modifications might 
 afterwards be necessary, and which might have 
 made up the fourth day's work, would thus be 
 referable, in common with all things beyond the 
 immediate sphere of the globe which we inhabit, 
 to that great primordial " beginning " of all created 
 matter, Avhich Moses lays down in the first verse of 
 the chapter. The Rabbinical commentators, as we 
 have' before noticed, understood it to be the same 
 " light," under different conditions, which is 
 spoken of on the first, and here again on the fourth 
 day. And why not ? In the English, it is true, 
 the word " lights " ^ in the latter passage carries 
 somewhat of an ambiguous sense; but the plural 
 use of it sufliciently shows, that " light " and 
 
 1 More clearly iu the Latin, Jlch. nnxr|); — evidently difforiiig 
 " Liimiuaria J " Greek, (j.ujffTiipic; f^om "Lux/' r/tJr, ns. 
 
Antiquity of the Heavenly Bodies. 199 
 
 "lights "were not intended as identical. In the chap. 
 Hebrew, as also in the Greek and Latin, the dis- — ^^^— 
 tinction is, however, quite clearly marked ; in the 
 former passage it is " light " in the abstract, while 
 in the latter it is " lightbearers," or " luminaries," 
 i. e. implements for holding and diffusing the light. 
 It is not, however, in either case expressly stated, 
 nor is it necessary to understand, that these imple- 
 ments of light were then first created. It is said 
 only, " Let them be ... to give light upon 
 the earth," and that " God made them," or set them 
 in their exact places, " the greater light to rule the 
 day, and the lesser light to rule the night." And 
 no small instance of skiU and power it was to bring 
 two such stars into those exact positions with 
 respect to the earth, and to set up such a mutual 
 interdependence of motion between them, that the 
 grand effect of night and day, so beneficial to the 
 interests of man, should thenceforward result, and 
 should continue on with such singular and constant 
 regularity. They were to be " for signs, and for 
 seasons, and for days, and years." Now, granting 
 that all the stars serve in some degree for " signs," 
 in marking out the different quarters of the hea- 
 vens; that through their accumulated lustre they 
 have an important share in enlightening the night ; 
 that they are " signs " to the mariner, and help to 
 guide the calculations of science, how incalculably 
 more serviceable to man are those two nearer, and 
 to us brighter orbs, which are " for seasons " as weU 
 
200 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, as " for signs ! " See how, by tlieir means, " seed 
 
 -^— time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer 
 
 and whiter, and day and night," ^ cease not, but 
 are secured to us m admirable and orderly succes- 
 sion! See how the night is cheered — the long 
 nights at the poles especially, during the six months' 
 absence of the sun — by the great reflecting mirror 
 of the moon, which in that interval never sets to 
 the inhabitants of those regions ! How, with the 
 diiferent rates of speed, both internally on their 
 own axis, and as carried round their respective 
 centres, both sun and moon keep yet so near 
 together in their periods, and the yearly circle is 
 undisturbed, and keeps up a regular correspondence 
 with the monthly ! Must not the hand of God be 
 seen in this? And what more worthy of special 
 notice by the inspired historian than the " greater 
 light to rule the day, and tlie lesser light to rule 
 the night?" And all the while, the greater lu- 
 minary itself, the earth and all the planets, the 
 moon and the other attendant satellites, are poised 
 on nothing ! They perform their evolutions, and 
 maintain their relative places, in mid air, in the 
 regions of comparatively vacant space, and unsup- 
 ported by any visible agency ! Thoughts of these 
 things tend powerfully to humble and to elevate the 
 mind : they oppress and confound, while they delight 
 and interest the imagination of every beholder. Tlie 
 contemplation of them, therefore, forms a sublime 
 
 ' Gen. viii. 22. 
 
Relation of the Stars to the Earth, 201 
 
 and appropriate introduction to the volume of chap. 
 
 inspiration, and must necessarily prepossess every '- — 
 
 devout mind with noble, though still inadequate, 
 conceptions of the skill, the wisdom, and the good- 
 ness of the ffreat and merciful Creator. 
 
 &• 
 
 The apparent discrepancy between tlie Mosaic account and the 
 observations of Nature as to the precedency of plants to animals 
 in the one, and the reverse in the other, seems to deserve more 
 special notice here. Geology produces, among the earliest fossil 
 remains, nearly as many specimens of animal (in its lower forms, 
 at least, as zoophytes^ mollusca, &c.) as it does of vegetable life. 
 Again, it is obsei-ved, that many foi-ms o^ fishes — many even of 
 the most perfect — occur in strata far below those which con- 
 tain the great sea-monsters and birds, and which are supposed to 
 answer to the " fifth day." The question, therefore, arises, how 
 far these facts are compatible with any theory of reconcilmg 
 Geology with Revelation ? Some cut the knot at once, and refer 
 all to the Deluge. (See Voices from the Rochs, &c.) Others 
 solve the phenomena by supposing an unrecorded, but highly 
 probable, fecundity of the primeval " waters." (Gen i. 2.) An 
 argiiment from analogy may, we think, be suggested in favour of 
 the latter hypothesis. We find in the record of the animal crea- 
 tion (comp. vv. 20 and 24), that " the waters " are commanded to 
 " bring forth " before " the earth ; " and we shall presently see 
 (Chap. VII. p. 205) that the first recorded "blessing" was upon 
 " the waters " (v. 22). The supposition, then, of a similar pro- 
 ductiveness of the same element, to bring forth the lower forms 
 of animal hfe in the bosom of the ocean, before any recorded 
 terrestrial vegetation, has at any rate some analogy in its favour. 
 We may at least say that, as regards marine vegetation (and marine 
 animation Avas evidently contemporaneous with it), it is likely 
 enough, upon the strength of this analogy, to have preceded the 
 terrestrial vegetation ofw. 11, 12, — even as the marine creatiu-es 
 preceded those of the land in vv. 20, 24. 
 
202 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 The Mosaic Order of Creation continued. 
 
 " Sanctius his animal, mentisque capacius altfe, 
 Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta Deorum ; 
 Pronaque cum spectent animalia ca3tera teiTam, 
 Os liomiui sublime dedit : ccelumque tueri 
 Jussit, et erectos ad sidera toUere viiltus." 
 
 Ovid. 3Iet. i. 76—86. 
 
 ''How noble in reason! how infinite in facvdties! in form and 
 moving-, bow express and admirable ! in action, bow like an angel ! 
 in apprehension, how like a God ! " Hamlet. 
 
 CHAP. The work of furnishinpr the world for its new 
 vn. . . ° 
 '— inhabitant goes steadily onward — it may be it was 
 
 completed — on the fifth day. Reasons were assigned 
 at the 9th verse, for embracing that and the 10th 
 verse in the work of the second day, though it 
 appears at first sight to have ended at ver. 8, " And 
 the evening and the morning were the second day ;" 
 and though the words with which verse 9 begins 
 ("And God said"), more usually occur at the 
 beginning than towards the end of a day's work. 
 There are reasons for thinking that a similar con- 
 struction holds in the description of this fifth day, 
 on which we are now entering. In both cases 
 (vv. 9 and 24) we have only to understand the 
 words just quoted in the pluperfect tense, which 
 
Fiftli Day of Adamite Creation. 203 
 
 in the Hebrew is the same as the perfect.^ The chap. 
 
 . VII 
 
 reasons for thus including \'v. 24, 25 in the fifth ■ — 
 
 day, are, first, That, as the vegetable creation was 
 all completed within the compass of a single day, 
 it seems natural to expect that the same would 
 happen mth the animal ; and next. That by this 
 means we have an entire day reserved for the crea- 
 tion of man himself. And when we observe how 
 many things were crowded into the work of the 
 last day of all when man was created, — things re- 
 lating exclusively to man, — there seems the less 
 occcasion to encumber it with more, as we should 
 have to do on the other supposition of the fifth 
 day ending, as at first sight it appears to do, with 
 ver. 23. For, besides the brief account in chapter i. 
 we have to allow for the supplementary details 
 of chapter ii., the placing in the garden of Eden — 
 the giving of the command — of course, therefore, 
 the inspection of all the trees of the garden — an 
 acquaintance with the beasts, and the naming of 
 them — as also " the deep sleep " which " fell on 
 Adam " — and the formation of Eve (for this is the 
 order in which these particulars^ occur, chap, ii. 
 15-25). When indeed we reckon up all these par- 
 
 ^ See a similar construction, "^ Yet tliis maybe uncertain, if, 
 
 Gen. xii. 1 : " God had said to as before, cli. i. 9, 24, we render 
 
 Abraliam." Heb., " God said." ch. ii. 18, 21, " God had said," 
 
 So again. Gen. ii. 8, 18 : ''God '' AwfZ caused." See Patiick on ch. 
 
 planted" — "said" — for "God iii. 1, on the time which might 
 
 had planted:" i.e. on the third have been occuj)ied in these seve- 
 
 day ^'had said." ral transactiong. 
 
204 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 criAP. ticulars, we luive more reason to confess our ifino- 
 
 VII. . . ^ 
 
 ■ ranee, than to speak too positively on the exact 
 
 measure of time. It may even seem to confirm an 
 
 idea we have elsewhere advocated, of the longer 
 
 duration of the earlier days of the world, compared 
 
 with the twenty-four hours of our present time. 
 
 foregoing observations may at least justify us in 
 
 extending the Avork of the fifth day beyond the 
 
 limit popularly assigned it, so as to embrace the 
 
 twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth verses. It will 
 
 then run as follows : — 
 
 Fifthly, Chap. I. vv. 20—25. The fifth Day. 
 
 V. 20. " And God said, Let the waters bring forth 
 abundantly the moving creature that hath life, 
 and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open 
 firmament of heaven. 
 
 V. 21. "And God created great whales, and 
 every living creature that moveth, which the waters 
 brought forth abundantly after their kind, and 
 every winged fowl after his kind : and God saw 
 that it was good. 
 
 V. 22. " And God blessed them, saying, Be fruit- 
 ful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, 
 and let fowl multiply in the earth. 
 
 V. 23. " And the evening and the morning were 
 the fifth day. 
 
 V. 24. " And God {had) said, Let the earth bring 
 forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and 
 creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his 
 kind : and it was so. 
 
Sjjecial Blessing on the Waters, *^4 
 
 V. 25. " And God made the beast of the earth chap. 
 
 after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and 
 everything that creepeth upon the earth after his 
 kind : and God saw that it ivas good." 
 
 The word " created " is here used for the first 
 time since ver. 1, to express, says Patrick, " the 
 vastness of these creatures of the deep ; not be- 
 cause they were made, as the chaos was, out of 
 nothing ; but because it required a greater power 
 to make out of the precedent matter moving things 
 of so huge a bulk, and of such great agility, than 
 to make any other thing hitherto formed." It does 
 not occur again till the creation of man himself, ver. 
 27. The "blessing" pronounced, ver. 22, on the 
 inhabitants of the wate?' especially (the first bless- 
 ing in Genesis), justifies the remark that it seems 
 typical of the blessing on Christian baptism ; and 
 so the early fathers understood it. It is also ob- 
 servable that the " waters " are made the first 
 instrument of production, verse 20, and then the 
 "earth," verse 24. As to the distinction of the 
 creatures here specified, they are in accordance 
 with the usual classification among the Jews, and 
 correspond very nearly with those in Psalm viii., 
 "all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the 
 field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and 
 whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea." ^ 
 But not intending to write a natural history, and 
 hastening on to the advent of man upon the stage, 
 
 1 Ps. viii. 7, 8. 
 
 VII. 
 
206 Veracity oj Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, we merely remark further on the completeness of 
 
 ■ '- — the furniture now prepared for his habitation and 
 
 use. Above and around, the canopy of the sky, 
 " the heavens spread forth as a curtain ;" — beneath, 
 the flowery carpet of the earth, — everywhere the 
 fragrant blossom and the fruitful tree, the spring- 
 ing fountain and the mossy brook, the hill and 
 dale, the thicket and the shade, the playful lamb, 
 and the bounding deer, the cattle browsing the 
 tender herb, and the nobler beast majestically 
 2^acing the forest ; — such was the scene, and such 
 the hapjDy aspect of the place whicli the goodness of 
 God had prepared for his accommodation. 
 
 In announcing the creation of man himself, a 
 marked change takes place from the form of com- 
 mand, as we had it on the preceding days, " Let 
 the earth bring forth," or " Let the waters bring 
 forth," to that of mutual consultation as among 
 the divine persons of the Godhead. For now we 
 seem admitted to the council-chamber of Omnipo- 
 tence, and we see before us a work which engages, 
 so to speak, the united energy of the blessed 
 Trinity. " Let us make man in our image." The 
 more perfect creature, the masterpiece of creation, 
 the intellectual animal, is to be " after the image of 
 God " Himself. " Male and female creates He 
 them," partakers alike of that same image which is 
 now our most perfect ideal of the human nature, as it 
 proceeded originally from the hands of the Creator. 
 This is he to whose use all other creatures hitherto 
 
Sixth Day of Adamite Creation. 207 
 
 made were intended to subserve. To him, as it were, ^^t^' 
 all tilings converge and are tributary, as rivers to 
 the ocean, or as the stars of heaven to the earth 
 our habitation. In how few and emphatic strokes 
 does the sacred penman dash off this noble and 
 comprehensive picture ! The introduction, too, is 
 as sublime as the representation itself — that mys- 
 terious voice from the Triune Jehovah, " Let us 
 make man !" Observe also the threefold, we may 
 rather say, the fourfold repetition of the idea, 
 which cannot fail to be noticed as we go through the 
 passage. 
 
 Sixthly, Chap. I. vv. 26-28, 31. The sixth Day. 
 
 V. 26. " And God said. Let us make man in our 
 image, after our likeness ; and let them have domi- 
 nion 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. 
 
 V. 27. "So God created man in his own image: 
 in the image of God created He him ; male and 
 female created he them. 
 
 V. 28. "And God blessed them: and God said 
 unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish 
 the earth, and subdue it ; and have dominion over 
 the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, 
 and over every living thing that moveth upon 
 the earth. ^ 
 
 ^ With this compare the ac- God fonned man of the dust of 
 count, ch. ii, 7: "And the Lord the s'roimd, and breathed into his 
 
208 
 
 Veracity of Genesis, 
 
 CHAP. 
 VII. 
 
 V. 31. "And God saw everything tliat he had 
 made, and behold, it was very good. And the 
 cvenmg and the morning were the sixth day." 
 
 The fourfold repetition here of the Divine 
 "image" and "likeness," must surely deepen the 
 impression, which most readers must have felt 
 when this noble passage first caught their eye, and 
 its deep meaning flashed upon their thoughts. The 
 description may be wanting in that minuteness of 
 detail, which would suit some philoso})hical or pro- 
 fessedly scientific treatise. But we are not to 
 fancy an Aristotle expounding in exact and logical 
 method, the order and interdependence of the 
 
 nostrils the breatli of life ; and 
 man became a living soul." We 
 here learn fi-om what materials 
 the outer frame of man was made 
 — even the same to which it shall 
 return (for " Dust thou art, and 
 imto dust shalt thou return," Gen. 
 iii. 19) : and also whence the 
 livinc/ pai-ticle came — even from 
 the " brefith" of his Maker. This 
 " breath," because it is plural in 
 the Hebrew, some have thought 
 to include various spiritual gifts, 
 in addition to the animal life. But 
 it seems chiefly the intention in 
 cli. ii. to enlarge on the physical 
 conditions of man's life, and not 
 on the spiritual, as we see again 
 in the formation of Eve from 
 Adam's side, vv. 21-25. Kalisch 
 compares Job xxvii. 3, '' All the 
 while my breath is in me, and tlie 
 Spirit of God within my nostrils ;" 
 Job xxxiii. 4, '' The Spirit of God 
 
 hath made me, and the breath of 
 the Almighty hath given me life ; " 
 and thinks that, altogether, the 
 "breath" and the "life" here 
 spoken of go no higher than the 
 animal life. But the quotation of 
 the words following b}' an inspired 
 authority, and which describe 
 the effect of this "breath of life," 
 seems to put the matter out of 
 all doubt, — viz. that Moses is here 
 occupied with merely the physical 
 details, and not, as in ch. i., with 
 the spiritual and physical com- 
 bined. We find the passage quoted 
 by St. Paid as an ascription of 
 mere " natural " life to " the first 
 Adam," which he contrasts with 
 that gift of " spiritual " life pro- 
 ceeding from " the Second," " The 
 first man, Adam, was made a liv- 
 ing soul; the last Adam was 
 made a quickening spirit." ICor. 
 XV. 45. 
 
Man created in the Divine Image. 209 
 
 several parts of the human frame ; nor a Socrates chap. 
 
 bidding us, in the beautiful structure of the body, 
 " in the eyes to see and the ears to hear, in the 
 nice guard of the eyelids, in the fencing those lids 
 with eyelashes which, like a sieve, strain the dusty 
 wind, and hinder it from hurting the delicate 
 structure of the eye, to behold and recognise the 
 work of an intelligent Being." In the case of 
 Moses, it would not have suited with his main 
 design to be too nice and orderly in such matters 
 of detail. He hastens at once to his great purpose ; 
 and carried on by the torrent of his faith, he over- 
 leaps minor considerations, and shows himself bur- 
 dened with the one great thought of the true des- 
 tiny of man, of his superiority to all other bodies, 
 and of his direct af&nity to the great Being him- 
 self from whom all creation sprang. He refuses, 
 as it were, to loiter on the threshold ; and rushing 
 forward into the arcana of the temple, he lifts the 
 veil which discloses to us " Man " in the " image of 
 his Maker." 
 
 We propose to devote the remainder of this 
 chapter to a fuller development of this idea ; in 
 doing which, we need not detain ourselves long 
 (though it deserves a place in the description) with 
 that old Rabbinical exposition which makes the 
 terms of the " likeness " to consist in this : that 
 the " soul," or rational principle, " governs the 
 body, as God governs the world." " The soul," 
 said they again, "fills the body, as God fills the 
 
 VII. 
 
210 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, heaven;" "as there is but one God in heaven, so 
 
 VII. 
 
 in the body the soul is one ; — like God, the soul is 
 undefiled by bodily pollution ; like God, herself 
 unseen, she sees all things ; like God, she sleeps 
 not; and as no man is like God, so among men 
 none is like another." There is much elegance in 
 these conceptions ; but the whole seems open to 
 this serious objection, that, whereas, in the regimen 
 of the soul over the body in a man, these are both 
 parts of the same composition ; in the regimen of 
 the Supreme Being over the world, it is not that of a 
 soul informing it, but of a Governor wholly distinct, 
 separate, and essentially differing from it. Such 
 a view might, therefore, give a handle to that fun- 
 damental and dangerous error of the Pantheist, 
 which would confound the Deity with the works of 
 his hands, and resolve into a mere anima mundi 
 (or material energy in nature itself) that great 
 First Cause of all, who is infinitely above all, 
 and is the fountain from which all proceeds ac- 
 cording to the good pleasure of His will. With 
 the light of Christianity to guide us, we may come 
 nearer to a true comprehension of the words. In 
 the express promises which the gospel contains of 
 renewal after the Divine Image, and in the known 
 character of that renewal, we have a safe clue to 
 the true nature of the qualities and privileges in- 
 tended. That which is offered to be restored must 
 plainly be identical with that which was originally 
 lost ; and thus discovers to us what that property 
 
The Possession estimated by the Loss. 211 
 
 was which we may ascribe to man in the original chap. 
 
 completeness of his nature. In the revelation of ^— 
 
 an incarnate Saviour, uniting in His one sacred 
 Person the two perfect natures, we have actually 
 placed before our eyes the complete realisation of 
 the " Image " spoken of. And though the very 
 sacredness of the Person precludes us from arguing 
 immediately from the God-man to the rest of the 
 sons of Adam; yet, under proper limitations, we 
 have the authority of the Divine oracles themselves 
 for instituting a comparison in some degree. What 
 is true of the Son of God in the perfection of His 
 nature, is proportionably true, in various derived 
 degrees, of those whose representative He became. 
 At all events, when we find ourselves exhorted to 
 " put oiF the old man with his deeds, to be renewed 
 in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new 
 man, which after God is created in righteousness 
 and true holiness," ' the question comes before us 
 in a most real and practical shape. The ditficulty 
 lies in our present loss of this image. If the 
 subject concerned some merely inferior parts of 
 man's constitution, unafi^ected (if any such there 
 are) by the sad consequences of sin, the appeal 
 might have been more easily made to actual ob- 
 servation of his daily habits and life, and a fair 
 inference drawn thence as to his nature and con- 
 stitution in those respects. But now the case is 
 different. We are speaking of his whole moral, 
 
 2 Eph. iv. 22—24. 
 p 2 
 
212 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, physical, and mental condition; and, in formin 
 
 VII. 
 
 a right estimate of it, we have to contend with a 
 pecuhar difficulty arising from the confessed im- 
 perfection and corruption of the whole man. 
 
 We shall begin, therefore, from this point. For 
 it may be regarded as the confession of the heathen, 
 no less than of the Christian, philosopher, that 
 every where there are symptoms of this moral 
 degeneracy. Jarring and contending affections, 
 enfeebled powers of good, and strong tendencies to 
 evil; the better judgment often overborne by the 
 strength of passion within, or the force of tempta- 
 tion mthout ; the obliquity of the understanding, 
 and the feebleness of the will; these phenomena 
 have at all times presented no very flattering 
 picture of himself to the heart and conscience of 
 man. The strange inconsistency of his nature has 
 often dismayed and perplexed him. He has 
 marked, with shame and disquietude, how the beast 
 with his instinct seems, in his proportion, to behave 
 better than man Avith his reasonable understanding ; 
 and how the less perfect creatures in their kind seem 
 to have surpassed himself, the most perfect of any 
 in following and observing the law of their being. 
 Yet if, through this confessed degenerate condition 
 of man, when unassisted by the special grace of 
 God, we may yet see something left of a better 
 mind, something heavenward in its tendency, 
 though often overborne to evil, we may surely take 
 the benefit of the discovery, to recognise, amidst all 
 
The Nature majestic in its Ruins. 213 
 
 the deformities of his nature, an original likeness chap. 
 
 of man to his Maker. Who does not see, that there '■ — 
 
 still remain some lineaments of the Divine simili- 
 tude? It is not without significance on this head 
 that, in a striking and prominent passage of Holy 
 Scripture, man is declared to have the Divine image 
 still, at so late a period as when laws were given 
 anew to Noah, long after the ravages of the fall, 
 and its deadly consequences in the flood.' But, to 
 come to particulars : What but the remains of good 
 is that noble faculty, hence called the " Vicegerent 
 of God" in every man's bosom, the Conscience? 
 What else are those higher affections, whereby we 
 love ? whereby we apprehend and seek the good of 
 others, as if it were our o^vn ? What else are the 
 social instincts, which go so far to humanise even the 
 savage breast ? — the sense of truth and falsehood, of 
 right and wrong, of integrity and fraud ? What all 
 the other instances of a moral sense? What else is 
 it that draws us to a contemplation of the Divine 
 nature ? Does not all this argue something of Divi- 
 nity in man? a secret sympathy and bond of union, 
 which, though it be somewhat weakened and ob- 
 scured, is yet really there, and which indeed is wit- 
 nessed to by the very name religion ? For what is 
 religion, but a binding hach^ i. e. the renewal of a link 
 originally subsisting, when man came forth in the 
 Divine image? And it is in proportion as this 
 image is regained that man finds a greater and 
 
 ^ Gen. ix. 6. 
 p 3 
 
214 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, growing delight in the study of the Creator and 
 
 '— the Creator's works. The idea of His affinity 
 
 deepens and improves, as he continues to work it 
 out. Such result is dependent, no doubt, on the 
 gift of inspiration of the same Spirit, by which the 
 image was originally wrought. But who can say 
 that the Spirit is ever wanting ? Who cannot see 
 with what abundance of efflux it goes forth to meet 
 those who sincerely seek it, — who find themselves 
 dissatisfied without it? who seem to have failed 
 hitherto because they forgot or overlooked their 
 dependence upon Him? or because, under an im- 
 perfect appreciation of the gift of God, they had 
 thought of Him as of One afar ofi", instead of as 
 One brought nigh by the intercession of the One 
 Mediator? Who can say, further, but that such 
 revival of the Divine image is within the power of 
 the Gospel — nay, is its very object ? The true ideal 
 may have been realised only by that One among 
 the sons of Adam, who took our nature upon Him 
 without abating the perfections of His own Divi- 
 nity ; but it is realised also among his followers, in 
 proportion as they are under the operation and 
 influence of the same Spirit, and endeavour faith- 
 fully to follow His steps. It is that to which the 
 hearty endeavours of regenerate man arc all tend- 
 ing ; it is daily witnessed and felt in thousands who, 
 in the humble walks of life, it may be, but in sin- 
 cerity and truth are " taking up their cross and 
 following Christ," and are seeking to " glorify God 
 
Accomplishments of Body. 215 
 
 in their bodies and their spirits, which are His." chap. 
 
 VII 
 
 We will now seek to gather into one view the — — '— 
 several particulars of man's nature, which seem to 
 be comj^rised in the sacred portraiture before us. 
 
 1. First, in order, we are perhaps justified in 
 mentioning the dignity and majesty of his person, 
 together with all those endoAvments of his body 
 which distino-uish him above all other inhabitants 
 of the earth. The juxtaposition of the clauses in 
 ver. 26 may be pleaded as a sufficient authority for 
 including these bodily advantages in our view. It 
 seems equally in the intention of the writer to ex- 
 press this truth, when he says, Gen. ix. 2-6, "And the 
 fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every 
 beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, 
 upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the 
 fishes of the sea : into your hand are they delivered. 
 
 . . . Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall 
 his blood be shed : for in the iynage of God made He 
 many And again, Ps. viii. 6, " Thou madest him 
 to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; 
 Thou hast put all things under his feet." But not 
 the dignity alone, or commanding attitude, or such 
 other features of the outward form in man are to be 
 regarded : to these sterner excellences, so to speak, 
 of the man we must add the gentler but not less 
 noble qualities of her who was given to be his 
 companion. To this we are led by the evident 
 parity of rank and eminence attributed to the wo- 
 man, where, after declaring the formation of both 
 
216 Ve7'acity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, in the Divine image, it is immediately subjoined, 
 
 '— " Male and female created he them." Not merely 
 
 in a social sense was it " not good that man should 
 be alone," but also " it was not good " in regard to 
 the reflection of the Divine attributes. 
 
 To some it may appear trifling to mention these 
 bodily qualifications. They are not trifling, when 
 we regard them aright, as admirable manifesta- 
 tions of the Spirit within. We may think, rather, 
 hoAv much of the attitude and air of command in 
 Adam was due, not to his bodily part alone, but 
 proceeded also, and in a higher degree, from that 
 loftiness of his understanding and power of his will, 
 which beamed in every look, and displayed itself in 
 every limb. Another gift common to both, and 
 worthy of special mention, was that eminent gift of 
 speech, by which man is distinguished from the 
 brute ; by which he converses, and compares ideas ; 
 by which he thus becomes susceptible of social im- 
 provement, and is naturally a progressive being; 
 by which, above all, he praises God, and glorifies 
 Him by the open confession of His truth, by prayer, 
 and by the fruit of his lips in magnifying and prais- 
 ing His holy Name. But with all these advantages, 
 the mere bodily part could in no sense adequately 
 have represented the image of Deity, imless it were 
 combined with that which we shall mention in the 
 second place, viz. 
 
 2. A corresponding excellence in the pervading 
 and presiding soul. And, therefore, in his mind, 
 
Accomplishments of Soul. 217 
 
 or intellectual and moral part, in that which chap. 
 
 . . VII. 
 
 concerns his inward apprehension of the things 
 presented to his senses, in his reasoning powers, in 
 the power of the will, subjecting to itself all the 
 human appetites and passions, the chief resemblance 
 to his Maker was to lie. And that this principle 
 of reason, after its first implantation by the fiat of 
 the Almighty, became afterwards congenital with 
 the bodily element, not merely an addition or 
 ajDpendage to it, but interwoven with it in one 
 nature, and essential to its very being, seems the 
 general conclusion of physiologists. The very 
 germ of life in man seems necessarily fraught with 
 some higher faculty than is enjoyed by the lower 
 orders of creation. To think is with him as neces- 
 sary as to live ; and the power so to do, when not 
 hindered by accidental disorders of his constitution, 
 is bound up necessarily with his very existence. 
 
 3. To the above sentient and intelligent parts of 
 man was to be added, thirdly^ that great gift of the 
 Spieit, which should rule over the whole compo- 
 sition of his nature, and be itself subordinate only 
 to the Divine will. How far this latter gift was 
 made over to him, as it were, in possession, was 
 compounded into his nature, and made an inte- 
 gral part of himself ; or how far it was by way of 
 adventitious aid from without, and dependent on the 
 use made of it, revelation does not inform us, nor 
 are we able precisely to ascertain. The degrees in 
 which it is inherent in the nature of man, or, more 
 
218 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CPiAP. properly, a supernatural addition, has therefore been 
 
 '— matter of considerable dispute, and we make no 
 
 attempt to decide it here. Putting, however, all 
 the above endowments together, viz. hody^ soul, and 
 spirit, and attributing to all that perfection of kind 
 in which they originally came forth from the hands 
 of the Creator, we find something like an adequate 
 representation of the Scripture ideal of human 
 nature, without being driven to the absurdity — not 
 to say the impiety — of imagining in man the abso- 
 lute perfections and attributes of Deity. We have 
 found sufficient in these threefold gifts and the 
 various endowments which they comprise, to 
 establish the truth of the picture drawn by Moses, 
 when he declares him to have been " created in the 
 image of God." No picture of him, it appears, 
 ' could have been more just, or could more have dis- 
 played the Master's hand. We find it realised in 
 the harmonious combination of faculties of the 
 highest order, of body, soul, and spirit. When the 
 spiritual part was in entire harmony with the 
 Divine Spirit ; when his whole mind and affections, 
 his understanding and will, were in conformity with 
 the mind and will of God ; when the contexture and 
 temperament of the bodily frame was such, that it 
 freely obeyed and co-operated with the higher 
 motions of the soul ; a condition must have existed 
 approaching as nearly to a likeness of his whole 
 nature to the Divine as the earthly can approach 
 to the spiritual, or the finite be made like to the 
 
Spiritual Endowments. 219 
 
 Infinite. And here Ave see the reason, why it is chap. 
 
 . vii. 
 that mere logical acumen, or even the highest 
 
 powers of intellect, clo not always, nor necessarily, 
 confer superiority of character. " The race," in 
 this sense, " is not to the swift, nor the battle to 
 the strong " (Eccles. ix. 11), but " God giveth to 
 him that is good in His sight wisdom, knowledge, 
 and joy " (Eccles. ii. 26). Even a good quality may 
 lose its virtue by being cultivated exclusively and 
 in undue excess ; and it is the same with the powers 
 of the intellect. Under due subordination, and the 
 corrections of an humble and faithful spirit, they 
 may be regarded as the highest endowment in the 
 noblest work of God with which we are acquainted. 
 But it is rather the nice balance of all the faculties 
 and affections, than the preponderance of any one, 
 that gives the best and most satisfactory results. 
 
 It was a doctrine much favoured by the early 
 Fathers of the Church \ that the "likeness" after 
 which man was created was that of the Son of God, 
 referring this, not to the incarnate form of the Son, 
 but to those spiritual attributes which were His 
 from all eternity, as the Word and Wisdom of the 
 Father. Thus St. Augustine-, " The similitude 
 of God, after which man was made, may be under- 
 stood to be the Word of God itself, that is, the 
 
 ^ Besides the authorities in the blance to the true image of Christ, 
 
 text, St. Jerome says, " The image who is the image of the invisible 
 
 and similitude of God is not the God." — Jerome, in Hzck. i. 
 
 fonn of the body, but of the mind, ^ De Genesi, c. 16. 
 which is fashioned to a resem- 
 
220 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CFiAP. Only-begotten Son." Again, " The Divine beauty 
 of the Son is impressed upon our souls through 
 participation of the Holy Ghost." ^ Whether this 
 opinion have sufficient authority in Holy Scripture, 
 Avhether it is based on any intelligible distinction 
 in the Divine attributes, and how far we can venture 
 to attribute to man, in his first estate, powers 
 superior to the angels because equal in quality to 
 the Son of God, is not for us to pronounce. It is, 
 perhaps, enough to believe that there was a real 
 communication of Deity to man through the Spirit, 
 and that man " partook of the Divine nature," even 
 as he is once more invited to do (2 Pet. i. 4). 
 From all we know of the Divine purposes, it was 
 the intention of the Creator to communicate to His 
 creatures, and especially to man, some portion t)f 
 His own happiness. He was destined, it would 
 seem, to an immortality of happy service, wherein 
 he might advance from stage to stage in knowledge 
 of the Divine will, and ia the blessed enjoyment of 
 the Divine favour. To apprehend God as the chief 
 good, and to enjoy Him in all the manifestations of 
 
 ^ Clem. Alex. c. Julian, lib. i. Nyssen : '' There is in wb, because 
 
 p. 25. The Fathers themselves of God's image, the form of all 
 
 dwelt less on the derivation of good, all vu-tue, aU wisdom." Dc 
 
 the image from the Son especially, Ho7n. Opif. c. xvi. The reader is 
 
 than upon the intrinsic natiu-e of referred to an able statement of 
 
 the gifts confen-ed. Thus S. Ba- the general view of the Fathers on 
 
 sil : '' The soul of man, from having this head in Scudamore's Esmy on 
 
 been created in the image of God, the Office of the Intellect, chaps, 
 
 thought that which was good, and vi. vii. viii. 
 Ifnew tlio enjoyment of it." Greg. 
 
Danger from the very Perfection of the Will. 221 
 
 His love, this was designed to fill tlie capacities of chap. 
 
 his heart, and to exercise him in returns of grati- ' — 
 
 tude, adoring love, and obedience. As he bore a filial 
 relation to the Creator, and was destined to an 
 eternal inheritance of glory, he would not be left 
 destitute of capacities to fit him for this distin- 
 guished position, as a child of God, and inheritor 
 of the kingdom of Heaven. Whatsoever might be 
 wanting to fill up the measure of such capacities 
 we may safely afiirm would be granted to him, and 
 would be found among the gifts wherewith his 
 nature was endowed. Thus furnished, and having 
 all his faculties in perfect adaptation to the purposes 
 of his being, there would be no natural impediment 
 in man to a perfect conformity to the will of God, 
 a perfect obedience to His law, and to a filial love 
 and reverence of His Name. And nothing short of 
 this would seem to ansAver to the description of the 
 inspired penman, " In the image of God made He 
 man." 
 
 If there was what we might venture to call an 
 imperfection (as in everything finite must be ex- 
 pected somewhere), was it in this, that there was 
 no compulsion on his will? and, therefore, no 
 necessary immutability in the fruition of all the 
 excellences of his first estate ? Perplexing thoughts 
 may thus arise, and doubts be insinuated as to 
 the original perfection of his nature, if such were 
 the conditions of it. Nor are these done away 
 when we open the next revealed page in his history ; 
 
222 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, when we find him succumbino^ to the strength and 
 
 VII. 
 
 subtlety of the tempter, and deflecting from the 
 original law of his being. But whether it may not 
 be the law of all finite created being, that habits of 
 virtue should be necessary to the complete form- 
 ation and stability of virtuous character, and how 
 far this principle may extend to the most absolute 
 heights of holiness and piety, it is easier to speculate 
 than positively to affirm. Time may be required 
 for development in all the higher departments of 
 created existence, and a fair field of exercise, that 
 the habits may be formed which are necessary for 
 such sta,bility and perfection. And what if this 
 time was not in the present instance allowed? what 
 if, by inscrutable permission, it was prematurely 
 curtailed? and if, therefore, the discipline was ren- 
 dered ineff'ectual and unavailing to the end pro- 
 posed? What if a greater perfection is yet in store, 
 it may be, even in consequence of the fall? What 
 if, affording scope, as it did, for the intervention 
 and exercise of redeeming love and mercy, the very 
 failure became a source of greater and more abiding 
 strength? And if it be so, we may at least see 
 some reason to be less dismayed at the first apparent 
 failure of the Divine purpose with man ; and while 
 we stand in awe of sin, we may indulge the hope 
 that out of evil will come forth, by ways mysterious 
 to us, a greater good. And when, as believers in 
 revelation, we proceed to unfold its still later pages, 
 we there find the direct and infallible assurance 
 
The Christian Victory. 223 
 
 that the resources of Divine p;race and wisdom chap. 
 
 VII. 
 
 were not exhausted by that first catastrophe. 
 
 Means were at hand, and a purpose in store, to 
 rectify the disordered condition, and to restore the 
 lost image in man. The Apostle who dwells longest 
 on the depth of the degradation, and exclaims, 
 " Oh ! wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver 
 me from the body of this death?" — strikes at the 
 same time the keynote of deliverance, in that burst 
 of praise which follows, " Thanks be to God, which 
 giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." Here we have provision, not merely for 
 pardon and reconciliation, but for the healing and 
 recovery of the wounds of sin. A method is 
 disclosed to us, which, without disparagement of 
 the justice of God, gives full scope to his mercy, 
 and enables Him to be at the same time "just and 
 the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." 
 (Rom. iii. 26.) The gates of acceptance are again 
 thrown open, and man returns as a necessary con- 
 sequence into free communion with the father of 
 spirits ; and becoming again, through member- 
 ship with Christ, the child of God, and the inheritor 
 of the kingdom of heaven, recovers through the 
 operation of Divine grace, and the indwelling 
 power of the Spirit, that participation in the 
 Divine image which once seemed hopelessly lost. 
 
 What more elevating subject, then, of contempla- 
 tion can be imagined than this of man's relation to 
 the Most Hiojh ? What more admirable than the 
 
224 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, wisdom, the power, and the goodness by which we 
 
 VII. 
 
 are made capable of immortality? What more 
 excellent than that gift of understanding whereby 
 we may conceive of, though we cannot measure, 
 the Infinite Himself? What more noble than 
 that elastic essence of the will, at whose command 
 the inferior appetites and passions, all the powers 
 of body and of mind, spring into action ; and which 
 is destined yet, in some higher sphere, to exemplify 
 before assembled worlds the happiness of conforming 
 itself perfectly and undeviatingly to the will of God ? 
 Endowed with these glorious faculties, imagine 
 with what lofty feelings of pure delight must 
 Adam have walked abroad, through the fair scenes 
 with which he was surrounded ! must have gazed 
 upon the heavens above, and upon the earth be- 
 neath, in admiration of the Creator's skill ! With 
 what delight would he have experienced the power 
 given him to utter with his lips the thoughts and 
 emotions which filled his heart ! To mark the 
 adaptation of all things to his use — the grass grow- 
 ing for the cattle and herb for the service of man 
 — the song of birds — the expanse of heaven lit up 
 with the sun and moon, and with the glorious con- 
 stellations of the sky — the repose of night and the 
 thrilling call of morning to the works of the day ; 
 to feel himself the appointed Lord and Governor of 
 the inferior creatures, all of whom were ministering 
 to his use and happiness ; above all, to feel himself 
 conscious of higher thoughts, capable of seeing the 
 
Christian Aspirations. 225 
 
 hand of God in all things — of holding converse chap. 
 with the Father of Spirits — of living to his glor}^, 
 and in the hope and expectation of a still nearer 
 approach to his immediate presence hereafter. 
 Could anything be a more perfect picture of bliss ? 
 Must it not have been the very happiness of man ^ 
 in Paradise, to have enjoyed this consciousness of 
 his destiny, and to have lived in the exercise of 
 these high privileges and powers? 
 
 On the other hand there is, doubtless, something- 
 melancholy in the reflection, that so much happi- 
 ness should have been lost and forfeited ! Sadder 
 still, when a man's conscience accuses him, that he 
 himself has been accessory to the loss; — that he 
 has not been awake to the high original of his na- 
 ture, nor stirred to make any effort to recover it ; 
 but may have lived contented with some lower stan- 
 dard, some more earthly estimate of himself and of 
 the purposes of his being ! — that he has failed to 
 look through and beyond the evident degeneracy 
 of his nature to the true and original standard of 
 excellence, and to aspire upwards to the attain- 
 ment of the happiness which he has lost. Yet 
 this happiness might still be his. His might 
 again be die occupations and the delights of 
 Adam in Paradise. They are stored up — and 
 even in higher degrees, and with more perfect 
 security against all mutation and decay — in the 
 better state to which the Christian is called. They 
 are made the prizes of the race of life to every one 
 Q 
 
226 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, who, with humble heart and earnest mind and 
 
 VH. 
 
 — —^ — manly courage, will press forward to the reattain- 
 ment of the once forfeited inheritance. And more 
 than this, they are secured to him by express cove- 
 nant and promise. It is not in consideration of the 
 exact merit of the candidate, but on the most gra- 
 cious terms of faith and repentance that they are 
 oiFered. They are put freely within the reach of all 
 who with sincere repentance and true faith and 
 hearty endeavours, seek earnestly for them. Christ 
 who merited them for us, will bestow grace suffi- 
 cient to obtain them upon all who humbly seek it. 
 They are not, therefore, unattainable and impossi- 
 ble objects of desire, mocking our hopes with the 
 mere semblance of a blessing, or harrowing our 
 minds with unavailing regrets for benefits long 
 since withdrawn from our hands. And when we 
 feel that we were made for them, as well as they 
 freely offered to us, the ambition must surely be 
 awakened within us to become partakers of them. 
 And can it seem difficult to realise the object of 
 this ambition, when even here we have the assurance 
 that no inconsiderable progress might be made to- 
 wards the perfection and renewal of the fallen 
 nature ? The misfortune is men are too apt to look 
 downwards to the chains which bind them to earth, 
 when they should rather lift up their eyes to the 
 blessed links of that love which draws them back 
 again to heaven. The Scri23tures represent it 
 with indubitable clearness, not merely as a desi- 
 
Assurances of Scrijjture. 227 
 
 rable contingency, but as a positive duty with chap. 
 
 Christians, that they should exhibit in the present '— 
 
 life no mean degrees of that thorough transforma- 
 tion of the character which befits the image, and 
 is tlie work of the Spirit of God, and which will be 
 perfected in the life to come. To this effect is the 
 exhortation of St. Paul, already adduced in eluci- 
 dation of the meaning of the terms "after God's 
 image" (Eph. vi. 21-24), "Be renewed in the Spi- 
 rit of your minds, and put on the new man which 
 after God is created in righteousness and true 
 holiness." St. Peter, describing the " great and 
 precious promises " of the Gospel, adds, " That by 
 these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature." 
 (2 Pet. i. 4.) " By the Spirit," says St. Paul in 
 another place, "we are changed into the same 
 image from glory to glory." " Of His fullness all 
 we " — immediately, perhaps, meaning Christ's 
 Apostles and Prophets, but indirectly also all 
 other Christians — " have received, and grace for 
 grace." (John i. 16.) Let then the love of God 
 find admission into the heart, and already His 
 image, will be found to have begun there. Let 
 the love be accompanied with increasing de- 
 grees of holiness, and a steady growth in grace, 
 and the Divine image grows wdth it. And though 
 in its utmost perfection it may not be fully 
 realised upon earth, the present beginnings "will 
 be the first fruits of a never-ending harvest — 
 the earnests and fortastes of that final manifesta- 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 ^^f^' ation of the sons of God, which will form the 
 blessedness of heaven through the endless ages of 
 eternity. 
 
 Alleged human remains in older strata. — Among the uncertain 
 data of geological science, vip to its present stage of advancement, 
 must be reckoned the amonnt of evidence that exists, that human 
 remains are to be found among the deposits of the drift period. 
 Should it prove incontestably to be the case, it would not neces- 
 sarili/ follow that a greater antiquity should be assigned to the 
 human species than was before imagined, nor would it afford any 
 direct evidence for the existence of Pre-adamite man. Among 
 the hypotheses which would have to be examined in explanation of 
 the phenomenon, would be some very violent action of floods or 
 earthquakes (perhaps that of the great deluge itself), whereby 
 deep receptacles were hollowed out, and the remains of man 
 entombed among the older strata of the earth. We refer to 
 some remarks in another place, on the necessity of our having 
 many more elements in the data required for the theory of Pre - 
 adamite man, than the mere discovery of bones. (See Chap. V. pp. 
 161, 162.) Even a few rough implements, picked up among the 
 bones, would not suffice ; for these too are of common occurrence 
 in the ancient Cromlechs of Druidical times ; yet no one assigns 
 them a period of very extreme antiquity. We should require, not 
 a few knives and arrow-heads of flint or iron, but the debris of 
 large habitations, not to say of costly tombs and monuments. At 
 any rate, the caution required would be extreme, and must be 
 exercised over much larger areas than have been at present 
 explored, in order to separate between original locality and the 
 transporting effect of the elements, or even the hand of man him- 
 self excavating, in later times, ai^lace of sepultiue for the remains 
 of the departed. 
 
 We may further remark, that by some Christian writers it is 
 even maintained, that the existence of Pre-adamite races of men 
 would not be found incompatible with the Scripture account; 
 nor would involve consequences of which we should need to be 
 afraid, as prejudicial to the faith of Christians. (See Genesis of 
 
Alleged luiman Remains. 229 
 
 the Earth and Man.) On all such points, it woiilcl be wiser for CHAP. 
 
 the advocates of Scriptm-e revelation, to withhold from binding 
 themselves to particular dogmas on one side or the other ; but 
 rather to hold themselves fi-ee to follow in a more philosophical 
 spirit the researches of science and the path by which it leads 
 them. 
 
 Among the best-kno-uni instances of supposed human remains 
 in the older deposits, are the specimens in the British Museiuu 
 and in Paris of the himian skeleton in hard limestone from the 
 island of Guadaloupe ; marks of feet from Santa in Peru ; bones 
 of men said to be mixed up in large quantities with bones of the 
 hjsena, tiger, bear, antelope, &c., in certain caves in Franconia, 
 in the south of France, in the departments of Aude and Gard, 
 and here and there in Great Britain ; and more recently still, a 
 bone found by Dr. Dickeson of Natchez, United States, in " un- 
 disturbed blue clay." 
 
 As to the latter, inquiry remains to be made. The cave-re- 
 niains do not appear difficult to account for. Without supposing 
 an earlier race of men, we have only to suppose these bones 
 washed down at some later period, from distances Avhere they 
 would be mingled on their way with other alluvial matter from 
 various strata of the earth older, in many cases, than themselves. 
 It is certain, first, that the bones of men, where they occur at all 
 in these deposits, occm- in extremely small proportions to those 
 of bears and other quadi'upeds ; and secondly, that there is no 
 manner of reason for dating them all alike from the same period. 
 And precisely the same may be said of the few implements that 
 have tiu-ned up, such as sp)ears and arrow-heads, knives of flint, 
 and in some cases rough specimens of pottery. "We shall cite 
 presently the evidence of Dr. Mantell on some of the most re- 
 markable of these cave-remains. But where Ave come to hard 
 limestone, and not mere alluvial soils, containing hiiman remains, 
 the difficiilty is evidently greater. The first difficulty is to ob- 
 tain a correct account of all the conditions of the phenomenon. 
 Thus, to take the best known instance, the skeleton of a human 
 figure fi-om Guadaloiipe. One writer (Dr. Young) reports thus, 
 " The stone, which I carefully examined, greatly resembles some 
 varieties of oolite limestone, like which it contains fi-agments of 
 shells and of corals; the latter, as in the oolite, sometimes re- 
 Q 3 
 
 VII. 
 
230 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, taining tlieir original red colour. The bones are entirely fossi- 
 VII- lised, and have no appearance of recent bones." But what says 
 Mr. Richardson (a great authority in Geology) ? " The limestone 
 at Guadaloupe .... is a recent deposit, formed by the follow- 
 ing process : — The coral reefs which surround the island are 
 abraded by the incessant action of the waves. The detritus 
 thus produced is drifted to the shore in the state of coralline 
 sand or mud, where, by the action of the atmosphere, or streams 
 holding carbonate of lime in solution, the mass becomes indu- 
 rated, and forms a compact limestone. It is evident that the 
 rock was in a plastic state when these skeletons were placed in it, 
 and it is also ascertained that the bones are not fossilised, but re- 
 tain their animal matter and phosphate of lime. There is not 
 sufficient evidence as to the mode in which they have been em- 
 bedded, whether they are the relics of a battle, or were depo- 
 sited as a mode of sepulture A skeleton now in the Mxx- 
 
 seum of Natural History at Paris was discovered in a sitting 
 position, which is known to be the usual interment posture 
 adopted by the aborigines of these regions." — Richardson, In- 
 troduction to Geology, ch. ix. 1851. The necessity of careful 
 examination as to every minute particular, may further aj)pear 
 from the following anecdote by the same author, where he pro- 
 duces a picture very much in appearance resembling the skeleton 
 of which we are speaking, and relates the following : " The 
 celebrated naturalist Scheuchzer, who, with very considerable ta- 
 lents and attainments, possessed an equal share of credulity, 
 wrote a treatise on a fossil skeleton, under the title of Homo 
 Diluvii Testis et llieoscopiis, the object of which was to prove 
 the remains in question to be those of an individual who had 
 been destroyed by the Deluge, but which Cuvier decided to be- 
 long to a salamander of extinct species and enormous size. A 
 similar specimen is placed in the British Museum (Mineral 
 Gallery, room iii. case 1)." Introduction to Geology, p. 26. And 
 again, it has been remarked, " the femur of the bear is so like the 
 liuman thigh bone, as to be readily mistaken without due caution ; 
 see Professor Owen, British Mammalia, p. 96." — Mantell, Won- 
 ders of Geology, p. 185, note. Then again, as to the footprints 
 at Santa; — in the last edition of Dr. Mantell's book (often 
 quoted in affirmation of the antiquity of these remains), we find 
 
Bone Deposits in Caves. 231 
 
 tlie following note ; "In former editions of tins work a notice CHAP. 
 
 was given of some supposed imprints of human feet on limestone, 
 figured and described in an early A^olume of the American Jour- 
 nal of Science. These markings have since been careflilly ex- 
 amined by Dr. Dale Owen, of New Harmony, and prove to have 
 been sculptured by the aborigines !" 
 
 The cat'e-phenomena, as they may be called the most com- 
 mon and accessible sort, so, perhaps, they admit of the easiest 
 solution. We shall take a more particular description of one or 
 two of them, as Ave find it in Dr. Mantell. Describing Kent's 
 Cave, near Torquay, he says, " The lower part of the cave is 
 filled up to a thickness of twenty feet with reddish sandy loam 
 full of fossil bones. This is covered by a layer of stalagmite, 
 from one to four feet thick, which forms the floor of the cave. 
 Upon this is a slight covering of earthy matter, with here and 
 there patches of charcoal ; a few human bones and fi-agments of 
 coarse ancient potteiy have been observed. Upon breaking 
 through the sparry floor, the ossiferous earth is exposed, and, 
 embedded tvith the fossil-bones, several flint knives with arrow 
 and spear-heads of flint have been discovered. These stone im- 
 plements are of the same kind as those foimd in the tumuli of 
 the early British tribes, and unquestionably belong to the same 
 period." He proceeds to account for these phenomena, and 
 denies that either the implements, or the human bones thus 
 discovered in the higher layer of these cavern-deposits, were 
 necessarily contemporary with the camivora whose existence, in 
 and about the cave, are here indicated by their fossil-remains. 
 " More accurate observations," he says, " have rendered it pro- 
 bable that the hmuan remains were introduced at a later period. 
 .... The bones of people who perished and were buried, or 
 else who sought refuge in these caverns, would become blended 
 with the mud, gravel, and debris of the animals akeady entombed; 
 and a stalagmite paste might in some places be formed by the in- 
 filtration of water, as at Dize (Department Aude), and cement 
 the whole into a solid aggregate. In concretionary masses of 
 stone of this kind, containing bones of the bear and other extinct 
 species, human bones, fi-agments of pottery, terrestrial shells, and 
 bones of animals of modern times may therefore be associated." 
 Wonders of Geologij, pp. 183, 185. 
 
 Q 4 
 
 VII. 
 
232 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. This occurrence of land-shells, and the general absence of 
 
 VII. 
 
 marine fossils, while it is a mark of less antiquity than we often find 
 assigned to the remains just mentioned, is also a distinguishing 
 feature of the remarkable formation occurring in many parts of the 
 coast of the Mediterranean, as in the Roch of Gibraltar. Here we 
 have bones without end, mostly of extinct species — with abundance 
 of land-shells — "leading to the conclusion, that a great part 
 of the Mediterranean was once connected land, subject, like 
 Calabria, to repeated visitations of earthquake ; that the ani- 
 mals which inhabited the country fell into the fissures thus pro- 
 duced, and were preserved by the calcareous infiltrations that 
 were constantly in j^rogress. Subsequent convulsions, and de- 
 nuding agencies, severed the country into rocks and insular 
 masses, of which catastrophes the osseous conglomerates are the 
 physical and only records." — Mantell, p. 188. 
 
 It has been seen, then, that in deciding on the exact nature of 
 any alleged specimen, very careful discrimination is necessary, 
 whether in concluding it to belong properly to the human sj)ecies 
 at all, or in referring it to any particular age of the world's exis- 
 tence. And if, in the treatment of each particular specimen, so 
 much caution is required, much more ought we to be cautious in 
 di-awing conclusions fi-om the whole class of phenomena unfavoiu-- 
 able to the plain account of Scripture. We cannot too often re- 
 peat the observations of a great master of science : — "It is in 
 the highest degree itnwise in the friends of religion, whether in- 
 dividuals or communities, unnecessarily to embark their credit 
 in expositions of Scripture on matters which appertain to natural 
 science. By delivering physical doctrines as the teaching of re- 
 velation, religion may lose much, but cannot gain anything. 
 This maxim of practical wisdom has often been urged by Chris- 
 tian writers. Thus St. Augustin says (De Genesi, lib i. c. xviii.) 
 ' In obscure matters and things far removed fi-om our senses, if 
 we read anything, even in the Divine Scripture, which may pro- 
 duce diverse opinions without damaging the faith which Ave che- 
 rish, let us not rush headlong by positive assertion to either the 
 one opinion or the other ; lest, when a more thorough discussion 
 has shown the opinion which we had adopted to be false, our 
 faith may fall with it ; and we should be fovmd contending, not 
 for the doctrine of the sacred Scriptures, but for our own ; en- 
 
Various Opinions. 233 
 
 deavoui-ing to make our doctrine to be tliat of the Scriptm-es, CHAP. 
 
 instead of taking the doctrine of the Scrij)tures to be oui's.' 
 "Wniewell, Indications of a Creator, p. 184. 
 
 On the Image of God in man, various opinions. — " Habent illas 
 ubique lineas Dei, qua immortalis anima, qua libera et sui ar- 
 bitrii, qua prsscia plerumque, qua rationalis, capax intellectus 
 et scientice." — Tertullian c. Marcion, L ii. c. 9. 
 
 " Man being made in the similitude of God, has a reasonable 
 mind, by which he may discern wisdom ; therefore that Life, by 
 Avliich all things were made, that Life itself, is the Light, — not 
 of all animals, whatever, but the ' Light of men.' " — S. Augustin, 
 Tract, i. in Joli. Ev. c. 18. 
 
 " The Creator of the universe by His own word, oiu' Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, made the race of man after His own image, and 
 gave him power through his resemblance to Him, to contemplate 
 and become acquainted with the things that are, imparting to him 
 a conception of His own eternity." — S. Athanasius, c. Gent., 
 vol. i. 
 
 " We have been fashioned after the true and most exact like- 
 ness of the Father — that is, the Son : and His divine beauty 
 is impressed on our souls through particiimtion of the Holy 
 Ghost. — S. Cyr. Alex, c. Julian, lib. i. 
 
 " There are three constituents of tlie Divine image. 1. Lord- 
 ship over Creation. 2. Knowledge (by reason) and language. 
 3. Communion with God." — Wilberforce, Doct. of Incarnation, 
 c. iii. p. G5. Barry, Introduction to Old Testament, p. 75. 
 
 " The doctrine of one, personal, holy God, was not the only 
 triith on which the law insisted. It unfolded, also, the true 
 doctrine of man; his dignity and wretchedness. It lu-ged not one 
 of these great verities, but both : for only where the origin and 
 grandeur of the human species are fully apprehended, can we 
 hope to understand the turpitude of moral evil, and the real 
 nature of the fall of man. The Bible tells us, that there is in 
 him a high and God-like element, that instead of having been 
 fashioned in the lower model of the brute creation, he came forth 
 into the world erect in stature, and impressed with the Divine 
 similitude ; that in vii'tue of this kinship, human life is sacred 
 
 VII. 
 
234 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. (Gen. ix. G), and that human sj^irits, on the dissolution of the 
 ^11- hody, return to God who gave them (Eccles. xii. 7). The leading 
 property in which the high original of man has ever been dis- 
 tinctly traceable, is the fi-eedom of his will, his power of self-deter- 
 mination. Here lay his greatest dignity, and here his greatest 
 peril." — Hardwick, Christ and other Masters, p. 94, 95. 
 
 " Nowhere has the Godlikeness of man been conceived Avith 
 such purity and sublimity as in the Scriptiu-es ; the affinity 
 between God and man is a purely spiritual one — that of the 
 internal faculties, of reason, of imagination, of love. The expres- 
 sions "in our image, after our likeness," pre-suppose no visible 
 form of the Deity ; they are no remnants of heathen notions 
 among the Hebrews ; they do not deserve the hostile attacks of 
 many modern critics. It is nothing less than a destruction of the 
 very foundation of Biblical theology, to attribute to God any 
 quality of corporeity. God governs the world by his infinite 
 reason ; is it astonishing that those Avho were, in some degree, 
 destined to be the rulers of the earth, should resemble Him in 
 that power by which alone they can uphold their superiority ? 
 We are not seriously concerned, if some natural philosophers 
 make him the lineal descendant of the monkey, or the Batra- 
 chian." — Kalisch, Commentary on Genesis, i. 26. 
 
 "The features in which the first man resembled his Divine 
 original, were chiefly the following: — (1.) The moral sense of 
 discernment — an inward type of goodness impressed on hmnan 
 nature by the hand of God. (2.) Capacity of spiritual know- 
 ledge, and of intercourse with God. (3.) Spiritual illumination by 
 actual indwelling of the Sjjirit." — Scudamore, Office of the In- 
 tellect, ch. vii. 
 
 " When I consider the admirable frame of my body, made up in 
 that elegant, stately, and usefvil composure ; and when I consider 
 the usefulness, amplitude, and nobleness of my faculties, an under- 
 standing capable of the knowledge of all things necessary for me 
 to know, accommodated and fitted to the percej)tion and intellec- 
 tion (though not to the full comprehension) of a world full of variety 
 and excellency, of a God full of all conceivable perfection and 
 goodness ; a memory able to retain the iK)tions of what I under- 
 stand ; a will endued with freedom, whei-eby I am a subordi- 
 nate lord of all my actions, and endued with a connatural pro- 
 
Man the High Priest of Nature. 23^ 
 
 pension and appetite unto rational good ; reason and conscience CHAP. 
 to guide and direct me in all the inquiries and actions of my VH- 
 life ; and, beside this, a soul, the stock and root of all those 
 flxculties, endued Avith immortality, and capable of everlasting 
 blessedness : Avhen I consider that this soul of mine is not only 
 endued with faculties admirably fitted to the life of sense which 
 I enjoy in this world, but find in it certain secret connatural 
 rudiments of goodness and virtue, and a connatm-al desire and 
 endeavour after a state of immortal happiness : and when I 
 consider that this fi-ame, both of body and soul, had its primitive 
 origination immediately from the great Creator of all things, and 
 although my OAvn immediate origination was fi-om my parents, 
 yet that very productive virtue was implanted in the primitive 
 nature by Almighty God, and the derivation of the same speci- 
 fical nature to me was by virtu.e of His original institution and 
 benediction ; and by virtu.e thereof, that excellency and perfec- 
 tion of the human nature in its essential, which was first formed 
 by the glorious God, is handed over to me, abating only those 
 decays which sin brought into my nature : I say, when I deeply 
 and intimately consider these things, I cannot but be sensible that 
 that Being, from whom I thus derive this being, is a most wise, 
 poAverfiil, and bountiful Being, who could thus frame the human na- 
 tm-e, and thus freely bestow and confer this constitution upon me. 
 2. And upon this sense of His wisdom, power, and goodness, I 
 must needs entertain it with all imaginable admiration of it, and 
 Avith all possible gratitude for so great and so free a gift. 3. 
 And consequently I cannot choose but exercise the choicest affec- 
 tions I have toAvards Him, of reverence and fear of His greatness 
 and majesty, of dependence and rest upon His power and good- 
 ness, of love to the excellency of His essential perfection and com- 
 municative goodness and beneficence. 4. And consequently of en- 
 tire subjection unto Him, that upon all the rights imaginable hath 
 the most jiist sovereignty over me. 5. And consequently of all 
 due inquisitiveness, what is the will and pleasure of that God that 
 I OAve so much gratitude, love, and suljjection to, that I may 
 sei-A-e and please Him. 6. A resolved, entii'e, and hearty obedience 
 to that Avill of His in all things, thereby to testiiy to Him my 
 love, gratitude, and subjection. 7. An external manifestation to 
 men and angels of that internal love and gratitude I oAve Him, by 
 
236 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, continual praise and thanksgiving to Him, invocation of Him, 
 
 VII. 
 
 reverence of Him, and all those acts of religion, duty, and obe- 
 dience, which are the natural proceed of that internal frame of 
 my soul towards Him. 8. A constant desire of my soul to enjoy 
 as much of this bountiful, glorious, blessed Being as it is possible 
 for my nature to be capable of. 9. And because my estate and 
 condition in this life is but a state of mortality, and a temporal life, 
 an earnest endeavour to have my everlasting soul fitted and 
 qualified to be an everlasting partaker of His presence and good- 
 ness, in a state of nearer union to Him and fruition of Him, 
 in that futu.re life of glory and immortality. 10. And conse- 
 quently abundance of circumspection, care, and vigilance, that I 
 so behave myself in this state of probation here, that I neither 
 lose His favour from whom I expect this happiness, nor render 
 myself unworthy, unfit, or uncapable to enjoy it. . . . 
 
 "Almighty God, in the goodly frame of this world, hath mani- 
 fested the exceeding greatness of His wisdom and power, as in the 
 heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, the stars, the elements, the 
 meteors, the minerals, the vegetables, the animals ; they all make 
 up a most magnificent and stately Temple, and eveiy integral 
 thereof full of wonder, bears the inscription of the infinite 
 wisdom, goodness, and power of the glorious God ; yet still 
 all these are but passive, receptive, and objective reflections 
 of the goodness and glory of God ; there is not a grass in the 
 field, nor a tree in the forest, nor the smallest insect animal, the 
 fly, the worm, but bear an inscription of the incomparable wis- 
 dom of the glorious God ; but yet these cannot actively glorify 
 their Maker, they vrnderstand not their own original, nor their 
 own excellence; the noblest cedar in the field, nor the vastest 
 elephant in the Indies, nor the goodliest whale in the ocean, have 
 not the sense of their oAvn excellence, nor from whom they had it, 
 nor can actively and intentionally return praise and glory to their 
 INIaker, for they want an intellective principle to make those dis- 
 coveries or returns. 
 
 " The glorious God, therefore, seems to have placed man in this 
 goodly Temple of the world, endued him with knowledge, imder- 
 standing, and will, laid before him these glorious works of His 
 power and wisdom, that he might be the common Procurator, 
 the vicarious Representative, the common High Priest of the iuani- 
 
Existence of Evil Spirits. 237 
 
 mate and irrational world, to gather np, as it were, the admirable CHAP. 
 
 works of the glorious God, and in their behalf to present the praises, 
 suffrages, and acclamations of the Avhole creation unto the glorious 
 God, and to perform that for them, as their common Procurator, 
 which they cannot actively, intellectively, and intentionally perform 
 for themselves. It is true that the whole creation doth objectively, 
 and accordiiig to their several capacities, set forth the honour and 
 glory of their Creator, and cry '■Blessing, honour, glory, andpoicer 
 be unto Him that sitteth ripon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for 
 ever and ever,' Rev. v. 13: and the Psalmist, Ps. cxlviii., calls 
 upon them all to perform that duty : but Man, above all visible 
 creatures, is able to perform that duty intellectually, and inten- 
 tionally, and fitted to be the common Procurator and High Priest of 
 unintelligent creatiu-es, intelligently on their behalf to present 
 all their praises and acclamations to their common Creator, Lord, 
 and Sovereign." — Sir Slatthew Hale, Primitive Origination of 
 Mankind, § i. c. i. ; § iv. c. viii. 
 
 The Effects of the Fall on the Divine Image in Man. — " The 
 Fall," though not strictly a Scriptui-e term, expresses, perhaps, with 
 sufficient significance, a ScriptTu-e idea; viz. man's degeneracy 
 from a primitive state of rectitude in which he was created. The 
 occasion and circumstances of his fall are fully related in Genesis, 
 ch. iii., and the relation is alluded to as a thing to be taken 
 literally, in several passages of the New Testament, as 2 Cor. xi. 3, 
 " The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety." 1 Tim. ii. 
 13, 14, " Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not 
 deceived; but the woman being deceived, was in the trans- 
 gression." The first noticeable thing in the Scripture narrative, 
 thus literally taken, is the introduction upon the scene of a new 
 agent from the spiritual world. Now there are not wanting other 
 indications of the real existence of such agents. It is not in 
 Holy Scripture alone that we may trace it, but in the traditions 
 and sentiments of almost every people. It cannot be without 
 some foundation in fact, that we have both the testimony of tra- 
 dition and the felt consciousness of the human spirit, everywhere, 
 in favour of this scriptural hypothesis. Heathen nations, at the 
 very height of their greatest civilisation, have ever shown them- 
 selves in fear of some secret enemy, whom it was necessary to 
 
 VII. 
 
238 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, pi'opitlate with unnatural sacrifices ; who will otherwise bear 
 VII. them malice and illwill ; and who, at the best, is the author of 
 many of the calamities, sicknesses, and miseries, to which they are 
 continually subject. Towards this being — or rather towards a 
 multiplicity of beings of this kind — there was none of that adoring 
 reverence, that pious awe, yet secret inward trust, which we asso- 
 ciate with any true idea of the Supreme Being, and which, in its 
 l^roportion, woiild attach to any other being supposed of the like 
 nature and attributes with Him. Here we find nothing to ele- 
 vate, nothing to attract ; but rather an abject terror, a forced re- 
 luctant service, reacting on the spirit to confound the very idea of 
 worship, and to create a sense of alienation rather than true and 
 wholesome fear. It is almost needless to say, that the existence 
 and personahty of evil spirits is abundantly confirmed in Scrip- 
 ture. Various are the testimonies on this point. In the Old 
 Testament we may refer to Job, i. and ii. ; to 1 Chron. xxi. 1 ; 
 to Zech. iii. 1, 2 ; in all of which Satan is represented as taking a 
 personal and active part in accusing, oppressing, and persecuting 
 the faithful seWants of God. But as these might be taken for 
 symbolic scenes, and not actual reahties, we must seek their true 
 exposition in the language of the later dispensation. And here 
 we shall find the most unequivocal references to the fact of Satanic 
 agency, and the existence and operation of evil spirits generally. 
 There is not an apostle, of whose writings we have any remains, 
 but bears express witness to this fact. We have it from St. Peter 
 (1 Pet. V. 8), " Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh 
 about, seeking whom he may devour :" from St. James (iv. 7), 
 " Resist the devil, and he wiU flee from you :" from St. John (1 
 John iii. 8), " For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 
 that he might destroy the works of the devil." The short Epistle 
 of St. JiTde speaks of " The angels which kept not their first estate, 
 &c., and are reserved imto the judgment of the great day :" St. Paul 
 (Heb. ii. 14), " That tlii-ough death He might destroy him that 
 had the power of death, that is, the devil :" and again (Eph. vi. 
 12), " We wrestle not against flesh and blood, bitt against princi- 
 palities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 
 world, against spiritual wickedness," rh TrrevfjiaTiKa rrjc TrovripiaQ' 
 i. e. " the legions of evil angels" (see Blomf , Wordw., Alford) 
 " in heavenly places." Add those many instances in the gospel 
 
They seduced Man to Evil 239 
 
 histories of Satan tem^^ting Clirist ; of demoniacal possessions ; of CHAP. 
 
 Satan entering into Judas ; of liis final struggle with the Eedeemer ^JL 
 
 of iNIankind, during the agony in the garden, and throughout the 
 
 bloody scenes of the Cross : Matt. iv. 1 — 12 ; xv. 23. Luke xi. 
 
 14; xxii. 3. John xiii. 2 ; xvi. 11 ; xii. 31 ; xiv. 30. Take, lastly, 
 
 the authority of our Lord himself, as recorded John viii. 44 ; " He 
 
 (the devil) was a miu-derer fi-om the beginnmg, and abode not in 
 
 the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh 
 
 a lie, he speaketh of his own : for he is a liar, and the father of 
 
 it." And how He expressly fastens upon the person of the tempter 
 
 the charge of being principally concerned in the seduction and 
 
 ruin of mankind ; " An enemy hath done this :" " While men 
 
 slept, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat." — 
 
 Matt. xiii. 25, 28, 39. 
 
 This existence of an Evil One solves, in fact, the whole difficulty; 
 not, indeed, the difficulty of that remoter mystery, the origin of 
 evil ; but that which comes nearer home to om-selves, of the first 
 connection of evil with the spirit of man, and how the infection 
 of it came into the world. The circumstances are too Avell known 
 to require fiu'ther detail : the desire of knowledge by forbidden 
 means, the fair look of the fruit, the flattered pride, the deceitfril 
 prospect of some good to be gained ; the artful perversion of God's 
 word, turning a gi-acious permission to " eat freely of aU the trees 
 of the garden," into a stern prohibition " not to eat" of the only 
 one forbidden (comp. Gen. ii. 9, 16, with iii. 1) : and, following 
 iqion this necessarily, the first suggestion of mistrust, and the 
 whole train of disaffected, murmiu-ing thoughts, supplanting the 
 faith and trust of the too credulous victims ; the spreading of the 
 moral contagion from the woman to the man ; the mutual re- 
 proaches ; the anger and remorse ; the shame and concealment ; 
 all these are but too weU known to every reader. Thus came 
 evil into the world. Thus an antagonism of allegiance to the 
 one law and service of God. Thus the undermining of that love 
 and confidence which ought to repose on Him alone. And all 
 this effected by the art and subtlety of the Evil One ! 
 
 Further back we are not permitted to go. But if we are right 
 in attaching imperfection to all finite created beings, and thus 
 even to the spirits which of old had left thefr first estate ; the same 
 capacity of error which now showed itself in man, must, tlirough 
 
240 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHA P. some process unknown to ns, have similarly determined itself in 
 ^JJ- those other created beings to actual error, Avhich became the 
 root of a rebellious spirit, and eventuated in actual disobedience, 
 and in the loss of heaven. Once broken out, the consequences of 
 sin must irretrievably go on, and the bitter consequences be experi- 
 enced. It may, however, be with sin, as it is with diseases. Its 
 existence may not necessarily involve its universal diffusion, nor 
 even its endless perpetuation. The consequences of it may not 
 merely be penal and judicial, but in the end remedial and salu- 
 taiy. Other orders of angelic natures, and those also who stood 
 firm while the rest rebelled, may be put more effectually on their 
 guard by their experience in others of the fallibility of created 
 wisdom, the extreme danger of setting up a laAv of self-will, 
 and the necessity of leaning more on the succours of Divine 
 grace. 
 
 It more concerns us, perhaps, in a practical sense, to mark for 
 ourselves the consequences of the sad introduction of evil into 
 the world which is our own habitation. To the general deprava- 
 tion of all our faculties — to an infused moral weakness and 
 blindness — we must add a positive bias to evil of the corrupt 
 wills and affections of our nature. The author Ave have before 
 quoted — one who was truly a practical Christian, as well as 
 versed in all the niceties of human law — says, " Although the 
 fall of man did neither alter the essential constituents of man- 
 kind, nor wholly raze out the engravings of those common no- 
 tions, sentiments, and rational instincts, that Avere in them ; yet 
 it did in a great measure impair and weaken them, and brought 
 in a very great deordination and discomposure, setting up the 
 lower faculties in rebellion against the superior, so that the wiser 
 and more moderate part of mankind Avere forced to set up laws 
 and punishments, to keep the generality of mankind in some 
 tolerable order." — Sir Matthew Hale, Origination of Mankind, 
 § iv. ch. vii. " Hitherto," says another, " man had known good 
 positively as the will of God, and evil only negatively as the 
 
 neglect of that will Now the pure vision of truth was 
 
 obscured by the intruding phantom of moral and intellectual 
 falsehood, and the will was liable to a spiritual influence of evil," 
 (quite distinct from the rebellious power of the appetites and 
 passions — Avhat he afterAvards calls " a positive idea of evil,") 
 
Characters of true Obedience. 241 
 
 which bound it down to a luiw contraiy to the law of God." — CHAP. 
 
 Barry, IntrocL to Study of Old Testament, ch. ii. p. 84, 103. 
 
 "■ In man," writes a bishop of our Church, " as he was origin- 
 ally created, there was no natural impediment to a perfect con- 
 formity of his will and affections with the will of God. In man, 
 since the fliU, such an impediment manifestly exists. His appe- 
 tencies and affections are now at variance with each other and 
 with the Divine Avill ; so as to realise that distressing picture 
 which St. Paul delineates, Eom. i. 18, 19 : * I know that in me 
 (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing : for to will is pre- 
 sent with me ; but how to perfonn that which is good, I find 
 not. For the good that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I 
 would not, that I do.'" — Van Mildert, Sermons preached at Lin- 
 coln's Inn, 1831, vol. i. Serm. 8. 
 
 There seem, indeed, to be different degrees in which dif- 
 ferent constitutions are affected by the strength of sin. It is 
 not by any means an easy, if a possible task, to distingrdsh in aU 
 cases between what is due to defective education and habits, to 
 external circumstances, and other natural causes, and what to 
 nature and constitution. We may more safely rest on the decla- 
 rations of the Apostle (Rom. iii. 23), that " all have sinned, and 
 come short of the glory of God :" i.e. though the degrees of sin be 
 not by any means aHke in all, yet to one comit in the general 
 charge all must plead guilty, viz. that of living contentedly, per- 
 haps, below the real end of their being, of not giving the fu'st 
 place in their hearts, the first-fruits of their understandings, and 
 all other faculties, to God ; not *' seeking first the kingdom of 
 God and His righteousness," in an entire and cheerful confor- 
 mity of their wills to His divine will ; — and thus it holds equally 
 true of the more decent and respectable, as of open and notorious 
 offenders, that they have " come short of the glory of God, " the 
 image in which they were made, and that after which they may 
 be renewed. Nay, even the best of men may adopt the prayer 
 of the publican (Luke xviii. 13), " God be merciful to me a sin- 
 ner." It seems that the wiU of man requires time to bring it 
 into that state of discipline and conformity to the Divine AviU 
 which the order of the Divine government demands. For it is 
 not intended to crush that will, and to force upon the creature a 
 reluctant service. The pliability of a sycophant obedience is no 
 R 
 
 VII. 
 
242 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CFTAP. more contemplated than the proud attitude of an independent 
 VII- self-will. If obedience be rendered, it must be of a sort that be- 
 comes a rational and intelligent being ; one that is based on a 
 true relation to God, and a right appreciation of that relation ; 
 one that, in this manner, pervades the whole mind, and springs 
 spontaneously from the heart; an obedience, not blind to the 
 exact nature of its obligations, nor to the reasonableness of the 
 call to duty, nor to the advantages which attend its performance ; 
 yet, at the same time, an obedience, accompanied with the im- 
 faltering acknowledgment of the supremacy of the One Great 
 Maker of all, and of His alone right to order all things after the 
 good pleasure of His will. It is, in short, the spirit of love to 
 Him that is intended to be evoked by all the measures of dis- 
 cipline to which the creature, as such, seems necessarily subject. 
 This, and nothing short of this, is the ideal of a true obedience. 
 The trials which may be necessary for the discipline and perfec- 
 tion of such a disposition must be received and borne with a 
 patience and fortitude commensurate with the end which they are 
 designed to work out. Trials of this kind, together with the study 
 of God's word and works, and the faithful use of the means of 
 grace, will be found the best outward food and ntitriment of this 
 love to Him, while the Spirit of God will nourish and cherish it 
 within, by the secret light and warmth of His own Divine teach- 
 ing, till it becomes an essential and enduring element of character, 
 fitting its possessor for the never-ending enjoyment of a higher 
 and better state, Avhen the present state of trial shall have passed 
 away. 
 
243 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 The Mosaic Order of Creation concluded. 
 
 Ov Stl XpiffTiavovc lovSat^eiv Kai ev T(^ ffaiSdr^ er^^oXa^fiv, dWd tpyd- 
 Z(<yQcu avTOVQ iv ry ahry r'/fispg, Trjv de Kvpiaio'jv TrporinwvTag e'iye Sivaivro 
 ffXoXat^eiv. Concil. Laodicen. Can. xxix. 
 
 '' Both names are dear and blest ; 
 In each a meaning lies ; 
 From making — God did rest, 
 In saving — Christ did rise, 
 
 " As warp and woof enfold, 
 
 God weaves in one the two ; — 
 The strictness of the Old ! 
 The freedom of the New ! " 
 
 dfotiseU. 
 
 We had occasion, in our review of the " sixth day," chap, 
 
 to draw attention to the number of objects which, ^ 
 
 even on the most favourable supposition (viz. tliat 
 of remitting to the fifth day the rest of the animal 
 creation), would seem to be crowded into this fol- 
 lomng day. The " deep sleep which fell upon 
 Adam," ^ and to which we are bid to refer the first 
 origination of Eve, must clearly be taken as part of 
 that day's work, if we take the first chapter for our 
 guide, which assigns to one and the same time the 
 
 1 Ch. ii. 21. 
 
 B 2 
 
244 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, creation both of Adam and Eve. AYliether the re- 
 
 '— mainder of the events (chap. ii. 15 — 20) are to be 
 
 ascribed to the same interval? or when our first 
 parents were placed in the garden of Eden ? when 
 the commandment was given them which prescribed 
 that they might eat of every tree, save only the tree 
 of the knowledge of good and evil? and when "every 
 living creature" was "brought before Adam" to 
 receive its appropriate name, — are more doubtful 
 points. They might well be thrown forward to form 
 part of the occupation of the subsequent week 
 or weeks, without violence to the text, by simply 
 adopting the slight alteration before mentioned and 
 approved by Patrick and other commentators in 
 the rendering of chap. ii. verse 18, " And the Lord 
 had said," instead of " And the Lord said." Bishop 
 Patrick says : " It required some time for Adam to 
 be acquainted with all other creatures, and to impose 
 names upon them. When they were brought into 
 the garden, we cannot but think they walked about 
 it, and took such a view of it as to be convinced, by 
 the bountiful provision God had made for them, 
 they had no reason to complain of the small restraint 
 He had laid upon them. All which could not be 
 performed so speedily as some have imagined ; for 
 though God can do what he pleases in an instant, 
 yet man cannot, and God Himself did not in one 
 day create the world." ^ We only renew the subject 
 hete, to illustrate the difficulty of distinguisliing 
 
 ^ Patrick on Gen. iii. 1 . 
 
Different " Day " TJieories. 245 
 
 the time into exact days, even when we come to chap 
 
 . . . VIII. 
 
 those easier parts of the narrative, where the imagi- 
 
 nation is no longer oppressed and overwhehned 
 with the attempt to follow the first opening burst 
 of the wide field of creation. It may also help to 
 show us the real grounds there are for assigning to 
 each day, during that early state of the world, some 
 more considerable length than the twenty-four 
 hours that constitute our present day. 
 
 In a former chapter we noticed the twofold 
 hypothesis, which explains the days either (1) as 
 natural days, or (2) as indefinitely long periods, 
 corresponding to those in which the great geological 
 strata were deposited. There are two other views, 
 viz. (3) that which would lengthen the intervals 
 from evening to evening, by supposing the days to 
 have exceeded at first the twenty-four hours of 
 present time, but yet to have been natural days. 
 And (4) the vision-theory of Hugh Miller^ ^ which 
 
 ^ Dr. Kaliscli, in the account lie darkness falls upon tlie prophet ; 
 
 gives us in his learned C'o»i«!p«torJ/ he sees the Divine Spirit moving 
 
 on the Pentateuch of this ^nsion- on the waters ; he hears the vrords, 
 
 theoiy, has extracted chiefly from ' In the beginning God created the 
 
 the more fanciful pai-ts of Mr. heavens and the earth j' imreck- 
 
 Miller's vrork : nor can we by any oned ages pass on ; he hears again 
 
 means agi-ee in the justice of his the creative voice — 'Let there be 
 
 criticisms, either of Plugh Miller light;' mja-iads of 'heavy, simlesa 
 
 or ofthe other conciliators of Scrip- days elapse; the dim light sinks 
 
 tm-e and Geology. (See below, pp. beneath the imdefined horizon ; 
 
 274 — 279 and notes.) Dr. Kalisch it again brightens; Moses sees 
 
 says : " We see om-selves intro- that the lower stratimi of the 
 
 duced into an unti'odden recess of heavens, occupied in the previous 
 
 the 3Iidian desert ; here we be- vision by seethiug steam, is clear 
 
 hold Moses ; a gTeat and terrible and transparent, and only in the 
 
246 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 we shall endeavour briefly to describe. From the 
 fact of Moses speaking according to appearance, as 
 
 upper region do cloiicTs appear. 
 Darkness descends for tlae third 
 time upon the seer; hut again 
 the light rises, and there is no 
 longer an xmhroken expanse of sea ; 
 the white surf breaks, at the dis- 
 tant horizon, on an insulated reef 
 formed, mayhap, by the Silurian, 
 or Old Eed coral zoophytes, ages 
 before, during the bygone yester- 
 day." Can this be thought a fair 
 representation of Hugh Miller's 
 conception, as to the modus reve- 
 landi, in this gTand scene of crea- 
 tion? For ourselves, we have 
 read him very difterently ; nor can 
 we better assent to the somewhat 
 severe criticism which follows : — 
 ^'In this manner," he continues, 
 " the author, though with a rare 
 charm of fascinating eloquence, 
 carries out the visions of the six 
 days. Do such soaring flights of fic- 
 tion demand refutation ? They lie 
 beyond the pale both of science 
 and criticism, in a sphere where 
 reason willingly resigns the sceptre 
 to fancy ! " It is, perhaps, to be la- 
 mented that Hugh Miller should 
 have attempted to depict the 
 manner in which a vision might 
 he conceived to have taken place ; 
 and not contented himself with the 
 simple hypothesis of a vision 
 taking place in fact, and what 
 was the subject of it. We prefer 
 that plainer account of the matter 
 in which he calculates the time 
 necessary for the cooling down of 
 a red-hot surface of molten rocks, 
 whereof the crust of the earth is. 
 
 on all hands, considered to have 
 at first consisted : a condition of 
 our planet which, he justly ob- 
 serves, woidd turn, for many ages, 
 the superincumbent waters into 
 a dense mass of steam (p. 182). 
 " What, in such circimistances," 
 he asks, " would be the aspect of 
 the scene ? It would be simply 
 a blank, in which the intensest 
 glow of fire would fail to be seen 
 at a few yards' distance. An in- 
 considerable escape of steam from 
 the safetj^- valve of a railway en- 
 gine forms so thick a screen, that, 
 as it lingers for a moment in the 
 passing opposite the carriage win- 
 dows, the passengers fail to dis- 
 cern through it the landscape be- 
 yond. A continuous stratum of 
 steam, then, that attained to the 
 height even of our present atmo- 
 sphere, would wi-ap up tlie earth 
 in a darkness gross and palpable 
 as that of Egypt of old, — a dark- 
 ness this which even a single 
 ray of light would fail to pene- 
 trate." . . . "Nor would a planet 
 covered over for ages with a thick 
 screen of vapom- be a novelty even 
 yet in the universe. It is ques- 
 tionable whether a human eye on 
 the surface of Merciu-j^ would ever 
 behold the sun, notwithstanding 
 his near proximity ; nor would it 
 be often visible, if at all, from the 
 sm-face of Jupiter, This planet, 
 though it is thought his moim- 
 tains have been occasionally de- 
 tected raising their peaks through 
 openings in his cloudy atmo- 
 
The Vision-theory of Hugh Miller. 
 
 247 
 
 when he speaks of the sun and moon as the " two 
 greater lights," this author infers that he was not 
 bound, by the nature of the revelation which he 
 received, as to the literal words of his narrative; 
 but that a vision of the past being preternaturally 
 conveyed to him, he was left to describe it oiJtically^ 
 and as common observers would do when any 
 ordinary scene is presented to their sight. In 
 short, that Moses describes his impressions merely 
 of what he saw, these impressions being taken from 
 the vision which he received, similarly to what 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 sphere, is known cliiefly by tlie 
 dark, sliifting- bands tbat, fleakiug 
 his surface in the line of his trade- 
 winds, belong not to his body, but 
 to his thick, dark covering." (Pp. 
 176, 177, 182.) 
 
 These plain statements seem to 
 om'selves of sufficient force, with- 
 out calling in the aid of poetic 
 rhapsodies to help out the idea. 
 But, indeed, IMr. Miller himself 
 prefaces the passage quoted by 
 Dr. Kalisch with the remark : — 
 " Such a description of the crea- 
 tive vision of Moses as the one 
 given by Milton of that vision of 
 the futm-e which he represents as 
 conjured up (!) before Adam by 
 the archangel, would be a task 
 rather for the scientific poet than 
 for the mere practical geologist or 
 sober theologian." (P. 187.) 
 
 When Dr. Kalisch remarks, — 
 ^^It is veiy difficult to conceive 
 by what miracle Moses coidd have 
 enjoyed that extraordinary privi- 
 lege which this theory claims for 
 
 him ? and how he could actually 
 have seen, in a great air-drawn 
 panorama, the creation?" &c. — 
 it was surely by no other sort of 
 miracle than that which " caught 
 up St. Paul to the tliird heaven" 
 (2 Cor. xii. 1 — 4), or "opened 
 a door in heaven " to St. John 
 (Rev. iv. 1) : such, too, as, amidst 
 *' blackness, and darkness, and 
 tempest, and the voice of a trum- 
 pet, and the soimd of words," 
 proclaimed the law, at another 
 period, to Moses himself. He 
 fm'ther ascribes many things to 
 Mr. Miller which he never says ; 
 as, that "Moses was carried to 
 some elevation above our planet ! " 
 " that he knew how many thou- 
 sand years each tableau com- 
 prised," &c. &c. And can it be 
 said with truth, — "A prophetic 
 vision which reveals jxist events is 
 without example or analogy in 
 the whole range of the Biblical 
 records? See Ezek. viii; Dan. 
 ii. 36—38: Rev. xii. 1 — 4, &c. &c. 
 
 K 4 
 
248 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, aftenvards happened when he was enjoined to make 
 
 Vlll. 
 
 the tabernacle and sacred vessels " after the pattern " 
 of the vision " shewed to him on the mount." A sort 
 of spiritual perspective might thus be supposed to 
 have narrowed to his eye the full dimensions of all 
 that he saw. A whole world of creatures, over- 
 spreading the surface of the earth for a long period, 
 might reach his eye in the shape of some of its pre- 
 vailing and most conspicuous forms, and the work 
 of thousands of years might seem condensed into the 
 compass of a single day. Applying this theory to 
 the works of the three last days of creation, and 
 omitting the rest as less concerned with geological 
 considerations, he thus finds in the herbs and trees 
 of the third day the representatives of the great 
 carboniferous era. " The days," in fact, are re- 
 moved altogether from the province of chronology 
 to the province of prophetic vision : they are re- 
 presented simply as parts of the exhibited scenery, 
 or rather as forming the measures of the apparent 
 time during which the scenery was exhibited. 
 Moreover, " in the character of symbolic days they 
 were as truly representative of the lapse of foregone 
 periods of creation, as the scenery itself was repre- 
 sentative of the creative work accomplished in these 
 periods." ^ Accordingly, to the third of these days, 
 and answering to the plants and trees of Gen. i. 1 1, 
 12, he refers the extensive flora and forests of the 
 great Carboniferous era; to the fourth day (Gen. i. 
 
 ' Testimony of the Rocks, p. 185. 
 
Foundation of his Hypothesis. 249 
 
 14) tlie Permian and Triassic periods, which were chap. 
 marked by the decline of the previous (Palaeozoic) - 
 forms, and the first partially developed beginnings 
 of the Secondary ones; " while ^ the fifth and sixth 
 may be held to have extended over those Oolitic 
 and Cretaceous periods, during which the great sea- 
 monsters and birds were created, and over those 
 Tertiary periods, during which the great terrestrial 
 mammals were created." 
 
 It will be observed that the whole of this theory is 
 devised to meet and fall inmth another and previous 
 hypothesis of the days representing longer periods. 
 If this be the true account of the matter, and if St. 
 Peter's canon be here applicable (2 Pet. iii. 8), " one 
 day is Avith the Lord as a thousand years," we think 
 no theory could be safer, none more just, or more in 
 accordance with all reasonable ideas of the nature 
 of revelation. But to insist on it more strongly than 
 this involves not a few difficulties, and many 
 subtleties of geological observation, which may 
 perhaps require time for their fuller scope and 
 development. This Mr. Miller himself admits, and 
 takes even some pains to show, that " plants do not 
 precede the lower kinds of animals "^ in the order 
 of the observed strata, and yet here we find him 
 interposing an entire creation of plants before the 
 animals are once spoken of ! He has met this ob- 
 jection by saying that the prevailing features only 
 of each period are named in the Scripture narrative, 
 
 1 Testimony of the Rocks, p. 175. ^ Ibid, pp. 17, 197. 
 
250 Ve7'acity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAR and therefore such lower animals mi^^ht have 
 
 VIII. 
 
 — ■ existed before, though not particularly mentioned. 
 
 This part of the question can only, we apprehend, 
 be settled by further researches in geology. As to 
 the general idea, on which the whole argument of 
 Mr. Miller rests, viz. of the revelations to Moses 
 having taken place under the form of a vision, we 
 believe it to be the most reasonable and simple 
 account of the matter ; and the way of speaking of 
 it, into which any thinking mind would most 
 naturally fall. It has the particular merit of open- 
 ing wider than before the question of the duration 
 of the days ; and this, whether with Mr. Miller we 
 regard them as actually representative of the suc- 
 cessive long stages of the world's existence prior to 
 man; or whether we see occasion rather to leng- 
 then them into less considerable, but still very long 
 periods, according to the circumstances of the case, 
 periods more closely preliminary to the human a^ra, 
 and subsequent altogether to the laying down of 
 the great geological strata. It prevents our strait- 
 ening and curtailing them into actual days of the 
 present length ; and this, to our mind, is all that it 
 does. For that the great protozoic and other suc- 
 ceeding and preceding epochs are to be dated as 
 altogether antecedent to the " six days' work," 
 seems to us, after all, the most probable hypothesis, 
 and most agreeable to the text of Scripture. Then 
 came on the preparation of the earth for the im- 
 mediate occupancy of man, which is said to have 
 
Bishop Hor shy's Theory. 251 
 
 been a " six days' work," but whicb we are at chap. 
 
 liberty, through the vision-theory, if indeed it helps ^— 
 
 us no further, to conceive of as having really occu- 
 pied an indefinitely longer period. For ourselves we 
 adhere to the belief, that the strata were disposed of 
 during the great antecedent periods ; and we see no 
 need for finding them a place among the " days," or 
 for otherwise disturbing the impression which would 
 be conveyed to an ordinary reader by the literal text 
 of Genesis. And without resorting to such a theory, 
 elegant and attractive as it is, and well reasoned 
 and supported by the author, we cannot forget 
 that there is another, and perhaps a more ready 
 way, of accounting for the longer duration of the 
 twenty-four hours at that spring-time of the world; 
 viz. the slower rotation of the earth round its axis. 
 The remarks of Bishop Horsley are here worthy of 
 our attention. "In what manner," he says, "the 
 creation was conducted, is a question about a fact ; 
 and, like all questions about facts, must be deter- 
 mined, not by theory but by testimony ; and if no 
 testimony were extant, the fact must remain un- 
 certain. But the testimony of the sacred historian 
 is peremptory and explicit. No expression could 
 be found in any language to describe a gradual 
 progress of the work for six successive days, in the 
 literal and common sense of the word ' day,' more 
 definite and unequivocal than those employed by 
 Moses ; and they who seek to admit figurative 
 expositions of such expressions as these, seem to be 
 
252 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, not sufficiently aware, that it is one thing to write 
 
 a history, and quite another to compose riddles. 
 
 Moses describes the days as consisting of ' evening 
 and morning.' By what description could the word 
 be more expressly limited to its common meaning, 
 as denoting that portion of time which is measured 
 and consumed by the earth's revolution on her 
 axis? That this revolution was performed in the 
 same space of time in the beginning of the world 
 as now, I would not over confidently affirm ; but, 
 whatever was its space, a day was still the same 
 thing in nature — a portion of time measured by 
 the same motion, divisible into the same seasons of 
 morning and noon, evening and midnight, and 
 making the like part of the larger portions of time, 
 measured by other motions." ^ In confirmation of 
 what is here observed, it is added by Bishop Gleig ^, 
 "If the original state of the earth, when first 
 formed out of the chaotic mass, was rest, and the 
 laws of nature were the same as they are now, it is 
 impossible to conceive, that her different motions 
 can have commenced with their present velocity ; for 
 such a violent change from rest to motion would 
 have reduced the globe a second time to chaos, and 
 shaken it into atoms. The annual and diurnal 
 motions of the earth must indeed at first liave been 
 extremely slow, and gradually accelerated till they 
 reached their present velocity." 
 
 1 Ilorslcy; Svrm, III. on Mark ^ Annotatious ou Stackliouse, 
 
 ii. 27. b. i. c. iii. 
 
Institution of the Sabbath. 253 
 
 Chap. II. vv. 2, 3. The seventh Day. ciiAr. 
 
 V. 2. " 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. 
 
 V. 3. " And God blessed the seventh day, and 
 sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from 
 all his work which God created and made." 
 
 Such are the words in which, according to the 
 most received opinion \ we have the first institution 
 of the Sabbath. This was not, however, the uni- 
 versal opinion of the early Fathers, and is open to 
 some dispute. Of one thing we may be certain, 
 that "rest," in the literal sense of the term can 
 never be applied to the Creator. It can only be in 
 some relative sense, — a sense commensurate with 
 the infinite distance which separates our ideas of 
 the creature and of the Creator, — that we can with 
 any reverence, and propriety of reason, adopt the 
 description of the inspiredwriter, that " God rested 
 from all his work." The Chaldee version renders 
 it, " God was delighted with," — i.e. He regarded 
 with satisfaction and complacency — " the work 
 which he had made;" according to that of the 
 Psalmist, " The glory of the Lord shall endure for 
 
 1 In Suicer we find, for tliis 'Za^^arov. Among later commen- 
 
 opinion, Epipli. De Ha-res. lib. li ; tators, for, Corn, a Lapide, Ma- 
 
 Theodorus; Chrysostom; Theodo- sius ; against, Bocliart, Estius, 
 
 ret, Qitcsst. xi. in Gen.: — against, Vetablus. Vide Poll Synops. ad 
 
 Tertulliau; Athauasius; Euseb., Gen. ii. 3. To the latter we 
 
 Fraip. £v. lib. vii. § 6 ; John have to add, among the moderns, 
 
 Damascenus, TJiesaunts, in voce Paley. 
 
 VIII. 
 
254 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works." ^ Any 
 material idea of rest is quite set aside by that single 
 declaration of our blessed Lord, " My Father worketh 
 hitherto, and I work." ^ By some, who would take 
 the expression more literally than the Chaldee 
 version, the " rest " is explained as a suspension or 
 discontinuance of the earthly creation ; — the great 
 work of ordering, upholding, and governing the 
 universe remaining, as ever, in full operation. At 
 least, they say, we must avoid the idea of labour 
 and fatigue, which can only apply to the creature ; 
 and understand a relative rest, or termination of 
 the six days' work. It appears surprising that 
 another idea of " rest " has not, that we are aware 
 of, been adduced in explanation of the passage; 
 though it is an idea of frequent occurrence in 
 analogous passages of Scripture, and is certainly not 
 by any means incompatible with our highest and 
 most reverential idea of the Divine Being. When 
 the ark of the tabernacle was set down at any 
 halting-place^ during the march through the wilder- 
 ness, — or in later times when it was carried from 
 city to city, or to its ultimate destination on the 
 Mount, — the language of Scripture was, "Here 
 will I dwell, and this shall be the place of my 
 rest." "And when it rested, he said. Return, 
 Lord, to the many thousands in Israel." ^ Now 
 if a place may be said to furnish a " rest " for the 
 
 1 Pa. civ. 31. a John v. 17. 
 
 ' Ps. cxxxii. 14; Num. x, 30. 
 
Metaphorical Sense of Rest. 255 
 
 Most High, — because he there receives the worship chap. 
 
 of his people and the glory due to his Name ; — for '— 
 
 the like reason, assuredly, and with the like con- 
 descension to the material apprehensions of men, — 
 may a day be spoken of as the day of his " rest," 
 on which He receives such worship, and which is 
 specially set apart for the same. And such, it 
 seems, was the " seventh day ;" and therefore God 
 not only " rested " on it, but also " blessed and 
 sanctified it" to all future generations of the world. 
 There is a difference in the Hebrew and Bible 
 version, at that memorable passage in the fourth 
 commandment of the law of Moses, which is not 
 marked in the Prayer-book version ; for, whereas 
 in the latter the words run, " Wherefore the Lord 
 blessed the seventh day and hallowed it," the 
 Hebrew and Bible versions have it ^, " The Lord 
 blessed the Sabbath-daj, and hallowed it :" which 
 leads to the idea, that it was not specially the 
 seventh day of the Jewish Sabbath which received 
 a Divine blessing, and was peculiarly set apart for 
 Divine worship, but " the Sabbath " generally, i.e., 
 one day in seven, which might be variably fixed, ac- 
 cording to the altered propriety of the times. 
 
 If from the institution of the Sabbath, we proceed 
 to inquire how far it was observed from the begin- 
 ning, we find at once several traces of a public form 
 and stated place of Divine worship ; variously called 
 in Scripture the "face of the Lord ;" " the house, — 
 
 » Ex. XX. 11. 
 
256 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, the altar,— the presence of the Lord," — "where 
 ^^^^' God records his name," — " where men call upon 
 the name of the Lord," — " where the Lord gives 
 his blessing," ^ and as there was a stated place, 
 so we doubt not there was a stated time ; and this 
 was, most likely, the seventh day. " Seven days " 
 seems, accordingly, spoken of, as a marked and 
 recognised division of time. " Noah sent forth a 
 dove," we read ; " and he stayed yet otho^v seven days^ 
 and sent forth the dove, which returned not again 
 unto him any more." The law to Abraham runs, 
 " He that is eight days old shall be circumcised 
 among you ;" that is, seve7i days after the child is 
 born he shall receive that rite. Again, "Joseph 
 made a mourning for his father seven days^ 
 Among the heathen nations we have not, perhaps, 
 the same evidences of this weekly division of time. 
 But in Hesiod some obscure tradition of it occurs, 
 where he speaks of the seventh day (of the month) 
 as specially sacred, because thereon " Apollo was 
 born of Latona,"^ — a tradition in some degree con- 
 necting the sacredness of the number with an in- 
 distinct notion of the creation as the reason and 
 occasion of it." These notices of a weekly subdi- 
 
 ^ Gen. iv. 3, 14, 16 ; viii. 20 ; appropi-iatiiig some place to that 
 
 xii. 8 ; xiii. 4, 18 ; xxviii. IG, 17 ; use." — Mede, On the Reverence of 
 
 Ex. XX. 24, &c. &c. 'nVlaenMo- GocTs House. 
 ses erected the tabernacle, it was ^ , , , , koI tSdofit) hpov yi-iap 
 
 tanqttam recepti moris, as a thing- Tfi yap 'AnoWi^va xpvadopa yeiva- 
 
 of custom, and as mankind by tra- to Aijno." 
 dition had learned to accommo- "Epya Kal 'Hfj. 
 
 date the worship of their God, by And Eusebius quotes from Linus : 
 
Was the Sabbath instituted in the Wilderness. 257 
 
 vision of time, however rare in profane writers, and chap. 
 
 sca^ttered even in tlie sacred history, are yet sufficient — 
 
 to turn the balance of probability in favour of the 
 opinion which traces the original institution of the 
 Sabbath to the first beginning of mankind. It 
 acquired a fresh sanctity under the law of Moses. 
 It is first distinctly mentioned on the occasion of 
 the congregation of Israel murmuring in the wilder- 
 ness for want of bread, when a miraculous supply 
 of manna was sent them from heaven. On the 
 sixth day it was provided that a double quantity 
 should be sent ; and whereas on all common days 
 the manna would not keep till the morning, on the 
 seventh day it was miraculously preserved ; and 
 Moses said to the people, " This is that which the 
 Lord hath said. Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy 
 Sabbath unto the Lord."^ Paley, with others, con- 
 siders this transaction in the wilderness to have 
 been the first actual institution of the Sabbath; 
 but considering the traces of it which have been 
 adduced from the history of the patriarchal times, 
 it seems rather probable, that the double provision 
 on the sixth day had reference to an already 
 existino; division of time into weeks, and conse- 
 quently to some previous, though faint and iU- 
 observed, distinction of the seventh day. 
 
 'F.^coiiary S' rioi TfTtXefffikva Travra the Creation, according to the 
 TiruKrai. — Prcg]^. Evang. xiii. 12. shorter reckoning of the Hebrews ; 
 Plesiod lived b. c. 900, i. e. 400 according to Hales, 3900 years, 
 years after Moses, and 2500 after ^ Ex. x^-i. 23, 
 
 S 
 
258 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. With the abolition of the whole Jewish ritual, 
 
 VIII. 
 
 their Sabbath also, as regard their own peculiar 
 
 observance of it, was abolished. Christ claimed to 
 be "the Lord of the Sabbath ;" and strictly as he 
 bound himself to fulfil the whole law for man, 
 he began even in his own time to relax the 
 severities of Jewish and Pharisaical observance. 
 But yet, as regards the original Divine sanction, 
 and the principle of setting apart days of peculiar 
 sanctity to God's immediate worship, this day was 
 not and cannot be abolished. Christ, in what he 
 taught, both by precept and example, dealt with 
 the Sabbath in no other way than he dealt with all 
 positive rites and ceremonies. He maintained 
 them in their reasonable and well directed use ; 
 he exposed them as the subterfuges of the hypo- 
 crite and the Pharisee, when, upon plea of ob- 
 serving them, they overlooked the weightier matters 
 of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. To remind 
 men of this great principle, and of the danger of 
 resting in the mere outward rite, or of substituting 
 a legal righteousness for a spiritual law of life, — 
 the great Christian festival Avas altered from the 
 seventh, or last day of the week, and observed on 
 the first day. The frequent meeting of Christians 
 on this " first day " of the week, was alone an inti- 
 mation, that they received some express injunc- 
 tions to that effect from their Divine master. But 
 there wanted not reasons in the very nature of the 
 the case. On that day He himself rose from the 
 
Testimony of the Fathers. 259 
 
 dead : in the week following he appeared amongst chap. 
 
 them, and showed himself to -the twelve on the 
 same day; and on the same, again, the promised 
 gift of the Spirit descended upon them at the great 
 feast of Pentecost. It appears from various pas- 
 sages in the Acts, that, while they thus celebrated 
 the first day, they continued for a time to observe 
 the seventh also, i.e. the Jewish Sabbath. The 
 Apostles Paul and Barnabas frequented on that 
 day the synagogues of the Jews ^ ; and we else- 
 where learn that the Jewish Christians in many 
 places felt themselves still bound to the observa- 
 tion of their ancient Sabbath. Ignatius, in the 
 second century, writing to the Magnesians ^, Avarns 
 them against the Judaising method of observance, 
 and bids them rather to make the Sabbath, a day 
 " foivthe study of God's word, and for quiet em- 
 ployment, and not (as the Jews seem to have 
 kept it) for mere bodily rest, for eating stale food, 
 and measuring the distance they walked, some- 
 times even for idle dancing and frivolity," ^ " After 
 the Sabbath," he adds, " every lover of Christ is 
 bound to celebnite the Lord's Day." We have 
 thus a broad distinction at first kept up between 
 the days of Jewish and Christian observance. The 
 
 ^ Acts xiii. 14, 42 ; x\a. 13. Tt)v dva(jrd(jif.ior,ri)v ^a(Ti\iSn,T}iu 
 
 ^ Ep. ad Magues. It is in vTrarov TracrCJv twv r'uxepm/. — Pafr. 
 
 tlie same passage that lie calls Apostol, vol. ii. p. 105 (ed. Rus- 
 
 the Lord's day "the queen and sell). 
 
 prince of all days :" rtjv KvpiaK»ii; ^ Patres Apostol, vol. ii. p. 100. 
 
 VIII. 
 
260 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 ciiAF. famous testimony of Justin Martyr is to the same 
 effect. "On the clay called Sunday, there takes 
 place an assembly of all the dwellers in the cities 
 and country to the same place, and the memoirs of 
 the Apostles and the writings of the Prophets are 
 read as long as time admits. Then, when the 
 reader has ceased, the presiding minister delivers 
 by word of mouth, the admonition and exhortation 
 to the imitation of these good things. After this 
 we all rise up together and offer prayers ; and 
 when we have ceased from prayer, bread is brought, 
 and wine and water; and the president offers up 
 prayers as well as thanksgivings, according to his 
 power, and the people signify their assent by 
 saying. Amen. And the distribution of the conse- 
 crated elements, and the reception of them by 
 each takes place, and they are sent by the deacons 
 to those who are not present. And those who are 
 in good circumstances and are so inclined, each 
 according to his own purpose, give what they 
 think fit ; and that which is collected is deposited 
 with the president, and he assists the orphans and 
 widows, and those who are in want, from sickness 
 or any other cause, and those who are in bonds, 
 and sojourners (being strangers), and, in short, 
 provides for all who are in necessity. And we all 
 jointly make the assembling together on the Sun- 
 day, because it is the first day, on which God, 
 having changed darkness and inert matter, created 
 the world, and Jesus Christ our Saviour rose again 
 
vni. 
 
 The Lord's Day. 261 
 
 from the dead ; for on the day before Saturday chap. 
 they crucified him, and on the day after Saturday, 
 which is Sunday, having appeared to his Apostles 
 and disciples, he taught these things." At what 
 time the sanctity, as it were, of the seventh was, by 
 general agreement of the Church, transferred to 
 the first, we have no precise account. It seems to 
 have been a natural result of circumstances, and 
 particularly of that gradual decay of the Jewish 
 polity, which followed the destruction of their city 
 and temple. That by degrees the Sunday, or first 
 day of the week, took the place of the other in the 
 estimation and practice of the Christian Church, 
 there can be no doubt. It was made a public law 
 under the first Christian Emperor \ that none but 
 necessary works should be done on that day, which 
 was to be called, as of old, the Lord's day. And 
 St. Augustine says '-', " it was called by that name, 
 on purpose to teach us, that it ought all to be con- 
 secrated to the Lord." Its other name of Sunday 
 was derived from what we before noticed out of 
 
 1 See Sozom. Hist. Eccl. lib. daici Sabbati in Doniinicum diem 
 ii. c. 8 5 Nicepb. lib. vii. c. 46. transferre, ut quod ipsi in figura. 
 The Lord's day (KvpiuKi) iifiipa) nos celebraremus in veritate." — 
 was not a new name given by lb. quoted by Wordsworth, Greek 
 Constantine. We saw it before Testament, Matt, xxviii. 1. Dr, 
 in Ignatius, see p. 259. See also Wordsworth elegantly and justly 
 Eev. i. 10. observes : " The Jewish seventh- 
 
 2 " Ut ipso nomine docerent, day Sabbath died and was bmied 
 ilium totum Domino consecratuni with Christ, and rose again with 
 esse debere." — August. Serm. xv. Ilim the first day of the week 
 " Ideo sancti doctores Ecclesipe and became the Lord's Day." 
 decreverunt omnem gloriam Ju- 
 
262 Veracity of Genesis. ' 
 
 CHAP. Hesiod, that the Greeks were supposed to dedicate 
 
 ~ ^ this day to Apollo, or the Sun. But by whatever 
 
 name we call it, there is something remarkable in 
 the coincidence that it was really to Christians, 
 what the seventh was to Adam, — the first in their 
 new career of hopes and duties. In reference to 
 the works of creation, it was indeed the seventh ; — 
 and as the seventh, it might have acquired fresh 
 sanctity to the Israelites, through the events in 
 Egypt ; but to Adam, the representative of the 
 whole Church, it was — as it is to that Church 
 itself — the first day. He had never before risen 
 to the labours of a working day ; but he is called 
 from the first to consecrate the beginning of his 
 days, and the first fruits of his thoughts and afi'ec- 
 tions to God. And so it is now. Christ on that 
 day became the first fruits from the dead. On the 
 same. He sent down the first fruits of the Spirit. 
 Christians, therefore, following the order of the be- 
 nefits received, have adopted the same day, and con- 
 stantly observe it, in the spirit though not after the 
 letter of the law given to the Church under the elder 
 covenant, to celebrate the gifts and blessings of the 
 New. They find in it, almost unconsciously, the ful- 
 filment of the Psalmist's words, " This is the day 
 which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be 
 glad in it." 
 
Evidences of a Scheme gradually developed. 263 
 
 Concluding Observations. 
 
 The writings of Moses hold no ordinary place in 
 sacred literature. They exhibit the commence- 
 ment of a scheme" imperfectly developed at first, 
 but running through and pervading the whole 
 course of Scripture. They furnish the first link 
 in the great chain of revelations which lead up, by 
 gradual and successive stages, to the establishment 
 of Christianity itself. In the promised seed of the 
 woman — in the royal Priest Melchisedec — in the 
 sacrifice of Isaac — in the eventful history of Joseph, 
 the protector and preserver of the brethren who 
 had betrayed and delivered him over to death — in 
 the institution of the passover — in the whole office 
 and character of the great Jewish Lawgiver, as well 
 as in the sacred furniture and mysterious rites of 
 the Tabernacle, we have the first glimpses, and the 
 ever-growing types and shadows of the " greater 
 prophet " that was to come into the world. And 
 all these are recorded by Moses : on the veracity 
 of his account they all depend for their Divine 
 
 ^ In Mr. CuiTey, Huhean Lee- of tlie subject will be found ably 
 tures, 1851, and Bany, Introduc- and fully discussed. 
 fion to Old Testament, this part 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VIII. 
 
VIII 
 
 264 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, origination or historic truth. But for that truth 
 we need not fear. It is guaranteed to us by the 
 known jealousy with which, for many hundred 
 years, the Jewish nation guarded their national 
 records, and the pride with which they cherished 
 their national distinctions. It is confirmed by the 
 testimony of later writers, sacred and profane, as 
 well as by a comparison ^ of the earlier traditions of 
 other countries, concerning, particularly, the flood, 
 the ark, the first seats of civilisation, Abraham, 
 Moses himself, and the Kings of Israel. 
 
 There is another kind of evidence which deserves 
 to be considered, viz. the manifest harmony sub- 
 sisting between the several parts of the Mosaic 
 revelation and the more perfect features of the 
 Christian ; a harmony only to be accounted for by 
 regarding them as parts of one and the same design, 
 prepared and executed by one and the same design- 
 ing Mind, though not developed at once nor within 
 the compass of a single age. That same Tabernacle 
 and its sacred rites and furniture — those compli- 
 cated ceremonies of the Levitical law and priest- 
 hood — are absolutely stripped of all significance, till 
 we regard them as so many preparatory steps to- 
 wards the introduction of a better covenant, to be 
 
 * Most decided testimony is i. § 1 ; Jenkins's Antiquity of 
 
 borae by Pagan antiquity to tlie Scripture, vol. i. pt. 1 ; Ilarnicr's 
 
 cbief circumstances of Patriarclial Observations on Scripture ; SirWil- 
 
 and Jewish history. See Stilling- liam Jones's Asiatic Researches : 
 
 fleet, Orig. Sac. b. iii. ch. ii. — v.; Bryant's Mxjthology; Harcovu't's 
 
 Faber's Ilorce Mosaiccc, vol. i. b. Doctrine of the Dehige. 
 
Typical Events of Jewish History. 265 
 
 developed in time to come. But once possessed of chap. 
 
 this clue to their meaning, and coupling it with all 
 subsequent links in the order of development, we 
 observe such an intimate connection and dependence 
 between the successive parts of the scheme, and 
 such a convergency of tlie whole upon the future 
 kingdom of Messiah, as necessarily implies the pre- 
 sidino' and directino; hand of Him who alone " sees 
 the end from the beginning." The same long-ex- 
 pected Seed, who in the time of Abraham would 
 have been looked for as a second Isaac, the loved and 
 only son — in that of Moses, as a second Redeemer 
 from, it might be, a worse than Egyptian bondage — 
 would, in after times, be yet more distinctly imaged 
 forth in the victories of Joshua, in the establish- 
 ment of the throne of David, in the princely and 
 peaceful reign of Solomon. The very troubles and 
 reverses of the subsequent reigns, the frequent 
 lapses and ultimate degeneracy of the people, the 
 captivity to Babylon, and the final subjugation to 
 the Roman power, tended still to throw light on 
 a coming dispensation, which should far surpass 
 in excellence the brightest times of Judaism, and to 
 prepare the minds of the people for the advent of a 
 spiritual in contradistinction to a temporal Messiah. 
 But how astonishing a fact, that in One Divine 
 Person all the various types and shadows should 
 be found at last to centre, and to receive a full 
 accomplishment ! How difficult for man, how im- 
 possible for the most artful and accomplished im- 
 
 VIII. 
 
266 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, postor, to have framed even the semblance of a 
 
 VIII. . 
 
 '- — character in whom all these requirements should 
 
 meet ! And it was not merely that the temporal 
 should adumbrate the spiritual; not merely that 
 men should gaze on the strange phenomenon of so 
 many types being realised, and so many prophecies 
 fulfilled ; — but every stage in the long series of dis- 
 pensations antecedent to the coming of Messiah was 
 in reality a distinct process of preparation for it. 
 Every fresh dispensation was paving the way, and 
 breaking up the ground over different parts of the 
 world : it was preparing fresh channels and facilities 
 for the future spread of the Gospel of Christ. The 
 sojourn in Egypt was fitted to accomplish this 
 purpose, by displaying in the midst of a great 
 people the terrors of the Lord, and vindicating the 
 superiority of the God of Israel over the vain idols 
 of Egyptian worship. Something of the seeds of the 
 true religion would hereby be sown abroad among 
 the nations of the soutli. The wisdom and wealth 
 of Solomon, attracting the admiration of distant 
 potentates, — the captivity into Babylon, and the 
 dispersion of the ten tribes, — Avould contribute to 
 spread it further to the east and to the north. Sub- 
 sequent dispersions by war, or settlements in peace, 
 by bringing the chosen people into contact with 
 other civilised nations, would help to carry out into 
 distant lands the knowledge of the true God. And 
 thus a highway would be cast uj), and an ensign 
 unfurled, to herald the coming of Him who was at 
 
Providence riecessarily concerned in such a Scheme. 267 
 once the Son of David and the Hope of all the ends chap. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 of the earth. Not less remarkable were the circum- ^- 
 
 stances which, concurrently with these events, 
 brought about the great prevalence of that beautiful 
 lansruaoje of the Greeks, the use of which was 
 already so general, that even the Scriptures of the 
 Old Testament were usually read in the Greek 
 version of the Septuagint. The union of the 
 civilised world, in most countries of the East and of 
 the West, under the Roman sway, and the reign of 
 a general peace, were no less providentially ordered 
 to be another element in " that fullness of time," 
 when, as an apostle declares, it pleased God to 
 " send forth His Son," and " set up the throne of 
 David for ever and ever." When we reflect on 
 these things, when we observe closely the many 
 successive steps, evidently prepared and designed 
 by one uniform intelligence, to lead up to one great 
 end clearly known and conceived beforehand ; to- 
 gether Avith the many attendant circumstances, 
 Avhich were all overruled and directed to work out 
 the same end ; it is impossible not to acknowledge 
 the finger of God, as the only reasonable account 
 of so vast a plan, extending over so many ages, and 
 conducted by such regular and consistent steps. 
 The thing to be accounted for is not, as we before 
 observed, a few scattered miracles here and there in 
 the thread of the history, — nor even those by which 
 the Messiah Himself announced His divine authority 
 and the coming of His kingdom ; nor yet the strange 
 
268 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, phenomena wliicli attended His deatli and resurrec- 
 
 '— tion, and the subsequent ministry of His apostles ; 
 
 but a steady and settled plan, clearly traceable 
 from the embryo-state, so to speak, of the earlier 
 covenants with Noah, with Abraham, and with 
 Moses, up to the final consummation itself, when 
 the mystery which comparatively " had been hid 
 from ages and generations was now made manifest, 
 and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to 
 the commandment of the everlasting God, made 
 known to all nations for the obedience of faith." ^ 
 
 It would be highly interesting to trace the 
 several parts of this settled plan, as it developed 
 itself through all the stages of the sacred history. 
 But this labour we must leave to others ; and many 
 have already gone before us in the work. In the 
 foregoing pages it has rather been our object to 
 select one particular stage, and to illustrate 
 one leading part of the great dispensation. And 
 this we have viewed, not so much in connection 
 with the final end and purpose, as in its own 
 peculiar features and character. We have directed 
 our attention rather to the internal than to the 
 external evidence for the truth of the revelation. 
 The other is perhaps a wider and more fruitful 
 field ; but this has its interest and advantages too. 
 It has called us to notice the first be^-innino^s of 
 that wondrous history of God's church, and how 
 
 i Col. i. 2G ; Rom. xvi. 25, 2G. 
 
Pervading Unity of Design. 269 
 
 the foundations of it were laid in the chosen people chap. 
 
 of old. We are here in company with oMoses, the 
 •venerable leader and lawgiver of Israel, and one of 
 the most noble and generous spirits of any age. 
 We see him in contact, on the one hand, with the 
 wisest and most civilised nation of his age, and, on 
 the other, with all the waywardness, the weak- 
 nesses, and the follies of an infant people, under- 
 2:oino^ the first rudiments of an education for a new 
 and peculiar polity. We have seen him laying 
 (\.o^Yl\ at once his authority and his life, with the 
 same meekness and self-possession with which he 
 had employed both in the service of his country 
 and of his God. We have examined the details of 
 his life and character ; we have tested the truth of 
 his writings in several subordinate points of 
 ethnology, history, and physical science, as well as 
 in their higher bearing upon religion and morals. 
 We have gone along with him to a remoter anti- 
 quity still : we have together touched the confines of 
 space, and feebly counted the first pulses of time. 
 We have advanced with him to the formation of 
 the heavens and of the earth; we have seen how 
 " The Lord established the world by His wisdom, 
 and stretched out the heaven by His understand- 
 ing." (Jer. li. 15.) To this we have added, lastly, 
 the relation in which he stands to all subsequent 
 revelation, and the long but well tempered chain 
 which links the Mosaic with the Christian cove- 
 nant. The same God which spake, in the bush 
 
 VIII. 
 
270 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, and in the cloud, to His servant Moses, spake after- 
 ^"^' wards " in divers manners to the prophets," and 
 has "now at length spoken to us by His Son." But 
 along the whole line of spiritual communication, 
 there runs the evidence of an unity of design and 
 purpose. One part fits on to another as no human 
 art could have made it ; and all have a manifest bear- 
 ing upon the great consummation which the Gospel 
 age brought in, and which is still in progress, till the 
 earthly kingdom shall be exchanged for the heavenly. 
 With this we might bring our subject to an end. 
 But having in these last chapters introduced so 
 much on the earlier records of creation, and as the 
 connection of geological science with the Scripture 
 statement is a subject on which considerable interest 
 still continues to be felt, it may be desirable, before 
 we conclude, briefly to recapitulate the substance 
 of what has been advanced on that head, and what 
 it is that we have principally designed to show. 
 
 In criticising, then, minutely the cosmogony of 
 Moses, it has been our endeavour to vindicate 
 rather the literal sense of it than any other ; and 
 at the same time to clear it from any real dis- 
 crepancy with the latest discoveries of science. 
 But we have not undertaken to decide that the 
 literal sense is in all cases the only true, or the 
 most correct one. We are disposed rather to 
 admit, that in those things which transcend alto- 
 gether the limits of human knowledge, and wJiich 
 lie beyond the reach of the tests that may be 
 
Expressions taken from optical Impressions. 271 
 
 applied to other subjects of inquiry from tlie col- chap. 
 
 lateral lights of history and philosophy; — that 
 here there is often room for a more mystic sense, 
 not possible for us altogether to unravel and bring 
 down to the exact level of our finite understand- 
 ings. And especially we Avould admit the possi- 
 bility of the revelation having been made to Moses, 
 in the shape of some vision, some mystic scene 
 presented to the eye of his mind ; in such a shape 
 as would leave the description of it very much 
 dependent on the subjective impression on the 
 part of the individual influenced ; rendering, there- 
 fore, too close a restriction of the words employed 
 to their literal acceptation at once irreverent and 
 absurd. We are, moreover, prepared to admit 
 that the manner of the sacred writers in general 
 is, to adopt the common phraseology of life, rather 
 than the more exact language of an advanced and 
 refined philosophy : to speak of the sun, for instance, 
 as "rising" and "rejoicing to run his course" — 
 and to designate the heavenly bodies after their 
 apparent and not after their actual magnitudes : — 
 that it was not their aim to enlighten the world 
 in matters of science, so much as to lead up the 
 mind from what is visible and material to what 
 is invisible and spiritual: — to set forth the great 
 truth of the unity and sovereignty of the One 
 true God, who alone created the heavens and the 
 earth: — that, though there is not so much room 
 to speak after the appearance, with geological ob- 
 
 VIII. 
 
272 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, jects, as witli astronomical ; because in this case, the 
 
 ■ '- — 2^^i^^oi^6^^^ consist rather of things hidden from 
 
 the view; of strata and fossil remains not obvious 
 to the eye of a superficial observer, — yet if we 
 place the subject before us in the light (which is no 
 improbable light) of a vision, embracing different 
 successive pictures of the earth's surface at different 
 epochs — such a mode of speaking comes again into 
 operation : — that, on the other hand, this very con- 
 sideration of the objects observed by geology being 
 not on the surface, might equally tell towards an 
 opposite conclusion, viz. that such matters as the 
 great geological strata, and as the suj^posed succes- 
 sive epochs of the world's existence under other 
 conditions of life and climate and physical con- 
 stitution, would not come under the cognisance 
 of the sacred writer at all, but would be most 
 naturally omitted altogether in an account con- 
 cerning only that condition of the earth which 
 comes under the eye, and which belongs to it as the 
 seat and habitation of man. ' Such being the 
 
 ^ The visiou-tlieoiy, whicla we Las worked out liis theory. He 
 have before shown to be per- argues from the pliysiology of 
 fectly admissible in speaking of the fossil workl, from the evidences 
 Divine revelations (see Chap. V.), there are of a comparatively long 
 has been with much ingenuity, hazy period, during which no 
 and, indeed, with much force, sun, like that of the " fourth " re- 
 applied by a writer of the day to corded "day " could possibly have 
 support the geological view of illuminated the immense forests 
 the "days" being long periods, of ferns and all the products 
 We should wish for space to do of the gi-eat carboniferous .Tra, 
 justice to the admirable pains and much less the immeval waters 
 ability with which that writer and first emergent lands. The 
 
Tills Principle applicable Geologically. 
 
 273 
 
 opposite views, we have left the decision Avith 
 others; under the conviction, that both are com- 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VI I r. 
 
 great quantity of oxygen wliicli 
 would be suddenly discharged iuto 
 tlie atmosphere upon the appear- 
 ance of the solar light on the 
 '• foiu-th day" would account for the 
 marked development of animal life 
 and its many new varieties during 
 the great Permian and Limestone 
 period which then set in. But it 
 would be in vain to attempt, in so 
 naiTOw a compass, any adequate 
 representation of all the argu- 
 ments adduced by Mr. 3I'Ccms- 
 land. Suffice it to say briefly, 
 that the common objection to 
 this theoiy, foimded on the pre- 
 cedence in observed nature of 
 animal life to land-plants or vege- 
 tables, while the accomit in 
 Genesis woidd seem to reverse 
 the order, is most ably met, by 
 obsei-ving that animal existence 
 might very well be imagined to 
 have been going on within the 
 bosom of ''the waters," ujiseen 
 and imobserved, and therefore 
 imrepresentable to the eye of the 
 "■ Seer," so that, believing that 
 Moses was enabled only to write 
 what he saw, we are at liberty to 
 infer, though it be not actually 
 expressed, that certain forms of 
 animal life were really co-existent 
 with the primeval "waters" 
 themselves, especially from the 
 time when ''the Spirit of God 
 moved upon the face of the 
 waters." The following quota- 
 tions will sufficiently explain this 
 wi-iter's ^-iew : — " There is, more- 
 over, a plain reason, which we 
 
 leam from geology, for this some- 
 what indirect mode of auuoimcing 
 the submarine creation, so as not to 
 be confined to any one of the days 
 or eras of creation; and that is, that 
 the organic remains of the Cam- 
 brian, Silurian, and Devonian 
 strata show that the existence of 
 submarine animals may have com- 
 menced, and in all probability did 
 commence before the da'nnaing of 
 light on the deep, and was, we 
 know, continued subsequent to 
 that event, and that some of the 
 species, viz. fishes, were not in 
 existence until the commencement 
 of the work of the third day. 
 Tliere are, in fact, three classes 
 of submarine animals : first, 
 zoophytes and bivalve mol- 
 luscs, without visual organs, 
 and which, therefore, may have 
 existed before light; second, the 
 higher classes of molluscs and 
 crustaceans, furnished with org'ans 
 of sight, and which must have 
 come into existence after the crea- 
 tion of lif/ht ; and third, the still 
 higher class of vertebrate fishes. 
 The first class was created on the 
 first day, before the dawn of 
 light ; the next, on the second 
 day, after the appearance of light ; 
 and the last we know to have 
 come into existence contem- 
 poraneously with land vegetation, 
 viz. on the third day of the crea- 
 tion. So that the creation of this 
 portion of the animal world must 
 have extended through three at 
 least of the Mosaic days, and 
 
274 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 patible with the text of Scripture : and though the 
 latter is, we think, the simplest and most natural, 
 there is also great beauty in the other, and it has 
 been supported and advocated with much ability, 
 and with the most laudable desire to maintain the 
 authority of holy writ, by opening for it fresh 
 points of contact with the advancing science of 
 the age. At the same time we have no sympathy 
 with — we altogether protest against — the coldness 
 and unfairness of the view which would deny the 
 duty and deprive us of the privilege of attempting 
 any reconciliation at all between the two sides in 
 question: — between the statements of Scripture 
 and the observed facts of geology. The cosmogony 
 
 could not, tlierefore, consistently 
 with truth and accuracy, have 
 been announced as a separate item 
 of creation, confined to any one of 
 them ; and had the Mosaic record 
 declared that the submarine 
 animals were created on the first, 
 or on any single day of the crea- 
 tion, it must have been contra- 
 dicted by geologists." *' There is 
 a further, and as it appears to us, 
 a more satisfactory reason for the 
 form of expression which has been 
 adopted by Moses in this place for 
 the structure of this portion of his 
 nan-ative. The scene of the crea- 
 tion was, as we have already sug- 
 gested, in all probability, com- 
 municated to the divine historian 
 through the medium of a vision,and 
 if so, he could only have recorded 
 or described what had met his eye, 
 
 or was communicated to his ear ; 
 and, accordingly, he records that 
 part of the creation which he saw 
 or heard, and not that part of it 
 which he could not have seen or 
 did not hear. He therefore an- 
 noimces the Divine Fiats which 
 he heard, and the consequent 
 dawn of light, the formation of the 
 atmosphere, lifting up the clouds, 
 and the appearance of dry land 
 and vegetation, all of which he 
 saw, omitting that which he coidd 
 not have seen, viz. tlie submarine 
 animals, and only announcing, 
 with respect to them, what may 
 have been commimicated to his 
 senses, as to Ezekiel in the \'ision 
 of the valley of dry bones, that 
 the Spirit {Trvtviia) of God was 
 moving on the waters, breathing 
 life into thom." 
 
Astronomical application of the Principle. 
 
 275 
 
 of Genesis lias long stood the shock of advancing 
 science, in the astronomical department. Here reve- 
 lation has been harmonised with the conclusions of 
 philosophy ; and no violence, no fanaticism has been 
 charged upon those who have interested themselves 
 to trace out the harmony. Not Genesis only, but 
 scattered passages throughout the sacred volume, 
 depended on the issue of the trial ; it was clear that 
 they must stand or fall together under the test 
 which the science of the astronomer ^ was prepared 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 viir. 
 
 1 The most frequent reason for 
 apparent discrepancies between 
 Scripture and science is the ne- 
 cessity, in a Divine revelation, 
 of accommodating the language 
 to the ideas of men, so as to be 
 intelligible in all times and coun- 
 tries, and imder all conditions of 
 human progi-ess and society. (See 
 some remarks on this subject in 
 a former chapter, p. 132.) We 
 add the following powerful il- 
 lustration of the argument : 
 " Science is constantly teaching 
 us to describe known facts in new 
 language, but the language of 
 Scripture is always the same. 
 And not only so, but the language 
 of Scriptm-e is necessarily adapted 
 to the common state of man's in- 
 tellectual development, in which 
 he is supposed not to be possessed 
 of science. Hence the phrases 
 used by Scripture are precisely 
 those which science soon teaches 
 man to consider as inaccurate. 
 Yet they are not on that account 
 the less fitted for their proper 
 pui-pose ; for if any terms had 
 
 been used adapted to a more 
 advanced state of knowledge, 
 they must have been unintelligi- 
 ble among those to whom the 
 Scripture was first addressed. 
 If the Jews had been told that 
 water existed in the clouds in 
 small drops, they would have 
 marvelled that it did not con- 
 stantly descend ; and to have ex- 
 plained the reason of this would 
 have been to teach atmology in 
 the sacred writings. If they had 
 read in their Scripture that the 
 earth was a sphere, when it ap- 
 peared to be a plain, they woidd 
 only have been disturbed in their 
 thoughts, or driven to some 
 wild and baseless imaginations 
 by a declaration to them so strange. 
 If the Divine Speaker, instead of 
 saying that He would set His bow 
 in the clouds, had been made to 
 declare that He woidd give to water 
 the property of refracting different 
 colours at difierent angles, how 
 utterly unmeaning to the hearers 
 would the words have been ! 
 And in these cases the expres- 
 
 T 2 
 
276 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, to apply. The test was applied, and the Scriptures 
 -^^■^ stood; tlieir authority was unshaken hy the result. 
 A like trial is now challenged by the more recent 
 discoveries in geology. And why the like har- 
 mony is to be despaired of ; — why we are to desist 
 from seeking it ; — why it is to be denounced as 
 folly, or looked upon as mere shuffling and 
 " evasion," when such an attempt is made, we are 
 utterly at a loss to cemprehend ! ^ There may not 
 
 sions, being imintelligible, start- 
 ling, and bewildering, would have 
 been sucli as tended to unfit the 
 sacred nan-ative for its place in 
 the providential dispensations of 
 the world." — Whewell, Indica- 
 tions of a Creator, pp. 175, 176. 
 
 1 Yet such is the language 
 of the learned author of a recent 
 critical commentary on the Pen- 
 tateuch : " It is indeed a very 
 convenient way of restoring har- 
 mony between the Bible and the 
 natural sciences by asserting, that 
 the production of the starry host, 
 and the vast geological epochs, 
 lie before the work of the six 
 days; by making the first two 
 verses a carte hlanche, on which 
 eveiything might be crowded 
 that disagrees either with astro- 
 nomy or geology, and by main- 
 taining that the condition of the 
 earth, such as it is at present, and 
 as it is adapted for human habi- 
 tation, is the sole object of our 
 chapter." . . . . " But this is not 
 to hannonise, but to separate." 
 .... Such persons, "by a 
 cuwardlv mauceuvre, forsake the 
 
 true arena of the dispute, and in- 
 trench themselves behind a few 
 harmless verses." . . . . " Judi- 
 cious criticism protests both 
 against the stratagem and the 
 argument. ' ' — Kalisch's Commen- 
 tary, General Introduction, p. 50. 
 Yet, he admits, " this is by far 
 the most prevalent opinion among 
 theologians " (p. 2). And again, 
 '' From very early times it has 
 justly been supposed that the 
 first verse of our Book describes 
 the creation of matter, or of the 
 imiverse in general, whilst the 
 following part of the chapter 
 treats of the arrangement and 
 distribution of matter, of the for- 
 mation of the earth, and of the 
 beings which people it. This 
 opinion was entertained by many 
 of the early fathers of the chm-ch, 
 and has been adopted by many 
 later theologians and critics. 
 Most of the modo'n foUoivers of 
 this opinion believe that an in- 
 finite interval of time elapsed 
 between the creation of matter 
 recorded in the first verse, and 
 the formation of the imiverse (P) 
 
Probability of successful Result. 
 
 277 
 
 be the same conspicuous visible phenomena to chap. 
 deal with in the case of geology. But the prin- '— 
 
 in its present admirable order, a 
 period sufficiently extensive to 
 account for the various and re- 
 peated changes both in the con- 
 dition of the earth and the 
 sidereal systems ; so that, in fact, 
 the first chapter of Genesis does 
 not fix the antiquity of the earth 
 at all " (p. 48). Nor do the ex- 
 positors of the Mille)- school fare 
 better with Dr. Kalisch : any 
 thing like " creative pictm-es," 
 "visions," "hieroglyphics," "pan- 
 oramas of creation," &c. (p. 
 48), is intolerable in his sight. 
 But while he will have nothing 
 of "flights of fiction " and "fancy" 
 in criticising Hugh Miller, in 
 another place he makes poetry 
 the whole genius and spirit of 
 the Hebrew cosmogony, and 
 spends many pages in explaining 
 how poetically they conceived of 
 natm-e, and how little they cared 
 for the exactitude of science ! 
 (See pp. 19-27.) With the same 
 consistency he tells us the sacred 
 wi'iters were boimd to speak scien- 
 tifically, and according to true 
 matter of fact, in those parts 
 where narrative was evidently 
 intended (p. 50, § 10). And 
 again (p. 28), " If the Scriptm-es 
 are not hond fide truth, but in 
 many points a convenient accom- 
 modation to prevailing absurdities 
 and childish ignorance," (who 
 says this of them ?) " where can 
 we with confidence say they are 
 in earnest, and that their doctrines 
 claim the authority of absolute 
 truth ? .... If the sublime acts 
 
 of creation, as described in the 
 first chapter, are not serious truths, 
 of what other parts can we expect 
 it .P If a book which is intended 
 as a guide and a preceptor j with- 
 holds, on many momentous 
 questions, designedly, its better 
 knowledge and convictions, it has 
 necessarily forfeited, in a great 
 measure, that esteem and con- 
 fidence which alone secure its 
 authority (p. 28). It is simply 
 imtrue that the Bible entirely 
 avoids physical questions; it has, 
 in fact, treated the history of 
 creation in a most comprehensive 
 and magnificent manner; it has 
 evidently not withheld any infor- 
 mation which it was in its power 
 to impart" (p. 2). Thus the 
 Hebrew writers, and especially 
 those who claimed inspiration, 
 were bound to divulge the whole 
 secrets of natm-e, and relate boldly 
 all the facts, which would clearly 
 be equivalent to solving at once 
 all the difficulties of science ; — and 
 yet we ai'e told in another place 
 they utterly abjured science, and 
 spoke always after the popular 
 mode of conception ! " The He- 
 brews had no predilection for 
 
 positive sciences Though 
 
 they excelled all nations in sub- 
 limity of thought, they were 
 inferior to all in practical 
 studies; if they obtained some 
 scanty scientific results, they soon 
 forced them imder the dominion 
 of religion, and made them assume 
 an unsecular character" (p. 41). 
 And who, we would again ask, 
 
278 
 
 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 ciple is the same. There is the same reason in the 
 one case as in the other, for seeking to reconcile 
 the two sides of the account; — ^to inquire how far 
 the statement tallies with the facts ; or to what 
 extent the Scriptures may have been purposely- 
 silent, and may have omitted to record the great 
 primordial stages of the world's existence. The 
 
 are the wi-iters wlio " make the 
 Scriptures aconyenient accommo- 
 dation to prevailing absurdities ? " 
 (P. 28.) Who says " the sublime 
 acts of creation, as described in 
 the first chapter, are not serious 
 truths ? " Not, we can assiu'e 
 him, those whom he is opposing, 
 and who simply affirm that it is 
 here and there the custom of the 
 Scripture writers, on intricate 
 points, to adopt a popular phrase- 
 ology ; and who, far from ig-noriug 
 the statements in Genesis, take 
 them aU for most liberal and 
 "serious truths." It seems ra- 
 ther that our critic himself must 
 have been in some poetic mood, 
 when we find him seriously pro- 
 pounding such an explanation as 
 the following, ''That the Bible 
 expressed, in every respect, and 
 on all subjects,'" (the italics are his 
 own,) " what it considered (!) to 
 be the truth." This personifica- 
 tion of the Bible, or speaking of it, 
 rather, as a ''considering" machine, 
 is somewhat curious and amusing. 
 But to pass this, and to attend 
 only to tlie substance of the re- 
 mark : The assertion is, that the 
 Bible way of speaking, whatever 
 be the subject, — be it even physics 
 
 or metaphysics, — is always strictly 
 according to the fact ; and that to 
 condescend, in its language, to 
 the ordinary way of speaking on 
 such subjects would be a dispa- 
 ragement of its sacred authority. 
 Contrast this with another de- 
 claration at p. 51 : Tlie Bible, "in 
 this account of the creation, ex- 
 j})-esses facts which the researches 
 of science cannot sanction, and 
 which were the commo7i errors of 
 the ancient world.'" Who is it 
 now that imputes to the Scrip- 
 tures "a convenient accommo- 
 dation to prevailing absurdities 
 and childish ignorance 1 " 
 
 We see much to admire iu 
 the goodly array of geologic 
 facts which Dr. Kalisch has ad- 
 duced, and even in the tone in 
 which he seeks to soften down 
 needless animosities. But we 
 cannot accept the character which 
 he endeavours to fasten on that 
 large school of theologians, who 
 have recogiiised iu the first two 
 verses of Genesis the expression 
 of a time large enough to account 
 for all unrecorded phenomena, 
 but which yet have left an in- 
 delible impress on the rocks and 
 fossil strata of the earth. We 
 
The harmonising Principle defended. 279 
 
 vision-theory is certainly that which most brings chap. 
 
 into play, and draws most upon, the observed rule ' — 
 
 of the Scripture writers in matters of scientific de- 
 tail, of speaking more according to the appearance 
 than in strict agreement with the discovered nature 
 of the things. If Moses saw the things in vision, — 
 if a kind of distant prospect of them was presented to 
 his spiritual eye, — there is no absurdity in believing, 
 that he would have described them as he saw them ; 
 and just as he has described the sun and the moon, 
 and as the motions of the heavenly bodies in general 
 are described by the sacred writers. And whether 
 he does this or not, we may be content to take his 
 account as we find it ; but not awkwardly and 
 unnecessarily to impute contradictions where there 
 are none ; and to intimate the existence of some 
 great blunder somewhere, such as the weak faith 
 of mortals is ever apt to suspect in those who 
 boldly take the side of revelation, though they 
 cannot always find a ready solution of every diffi- 
 culty that may occur. Till we hear of some better 
 arguments than have yet been adduced against it, 
 we shall not be deterred from entertaining the 
 question of the harmony between Nature and Reve- 
 lation, for which we have now been contending. 
 
 cannot agi-ee to call it an " eva- which makes Genesis the mouth- 
 
 sion/' because they allo-w for piece of a great popular delusion 
 
 what is Mrtrecorded, while they of the time, upon the handsome 
 
 receive what is recorded as positive excuse that it was doing its best, 
 
 and " serious truth." Much less and not " designedly " giving 
 
 can we accept his own theory, circulation to error ! 
 T 4 
 
280 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP. Let it bear ever so remotely on the claims of 
 
 VIII. , . . "^ 
 
 '- — Genesis to be an inspired book, we clieerfully give 
 
 it a place among the credentials of so important a 
 history. We have seen the connection which sub- 
 sists between that history and the final establish- 
 ment of the Church of Christ ; and this must ever 
 give a fresh interest to the proofs by which the 
 authority of its author, and his claims to inspira- 
 tion, may be sustained and vindicated. With this 
 view we have followed him in his life — we have 
 examined the letter and endeavoured to extract 
 the spirit of his writings ; — we have viewed him 
 in his individual character, in his office, and in his 
 typical capacity; and, lastly, we have pointed out 
 the relation in which he stood to all coming dis- 
 pensations. To reflect on these things is to con- 
 firm our faith in Christianity itself. " The law was 
 given by Moses," but there were not wanting even 
 under the law some prospective indications of the 
 "grace and truth which should come by Jesus 
 Christ." And now, when that truth is established, 
 we may well look back with continued admiration 
 on the steps by which it was introduced, and by 
 which the world was gradually prepared for its 
 reception. 
 
 The laws and principles of the Gospel have, it is 
 true, their foundations deeper than in the law given 
 by Moses, or in the revelations imparted to him. 
 They are firmly rooted in the depths of our nature, 
 and, to a great extent, are a transcript of the " law 
 
Objective Character of Divine Dispensations. 281 
 
 written in our hearts." The very central article chap. 
 
 of the Christian faith — the Son of God incarnate in 
 the form and nature of man — finds its counterpart 
 in the natural aspirations and yearnings of the 
 humanity to reach and ally itself with the Divinity, 
 Yet it has been the constant order and method of 
 the Divine Providence to feed and draw out, as it 
 were, the inward faith by outward signs and insti- 
 tutions. There has always been an objective 
 teaching, corresponding to the inward testimony of 
 conscience and the natural law of the mind. Such 
 institutions were coeval with man. They began 
 with him in Paradise, and have followed him along 
 the wliole line of his subsequent history. In Para- 
 dise there was given him the law of the Sabbath, 
 the law of matrimony, and lastly, as a test of his 
 obedience, and as an acknowledgment of God's 
 sovereignty over him, the positive injunction to 
 abstain from the fruit of the forbidden tree. In the 
 time, and under the dispensation of Moses, such 
 positive institutions came to the fuU. They had 
 the additional object of prefiguring the promised 
 seed, and they prefigured it with a force, and under 
 a variety of emblems, unknown to any previous 
 age. In the strange combination of ofiices in the 
 same individual, — of Priest and Prophet, of Me- 
 diator, Ruler, and Judge; — in the typical sacri- 
 fices, and in the Lamb for burnt-offering, and in 
 some other circumstantials of the law to which 
 we have already adverted, Christ Himself stood 
 
 VIII. 
 
282 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, almost revealed to the view. Thus rich with 
 
 VIII. 
 
 ' '~~ prospective allusions to the future blessings of 
 
 Sion was the covenant of Mount Sinai. And while 
 the law of nature remained still in force — while 
 the covenant with Abraham was as valid as 
 before — (for, speaking of this covenant, the apostle 
 says, " The law, which was four hundred and thirty- 
 years after, cannot disannul it, that it should make 
 the promise of none effect,"^) — men were taught 
 above all to realise the time when the promised 
 Seed should eventually arrive, and the connection 
 of all past dispensations should fully appear. It was 
 not till many hundred years afterwards that the 
 time actually arrived. But no sooner was it come, 
 than the consistency of the whole scheme of type 
 and prophecy was clearly shown : the shadows disap- 
 peared, and the substance was realised. And now, 
 " Blessed are the eyes which see the things which 
 we see ; for I tell you," says the Divine Redeemer 
 himself^, "that many prophets and kings have de- 
 sired to see those things which ye see and have not 
 seen them ; and to hear those things which ye hear 
 and have not heard them." Yet the full effulgence 
 of the noonday light cannot wholly obliterate our 
 recollections of the early morn. A grateful sense 
 of the past is, on the contrary, calculated to kindle 
 and to keep alive within us the hopes of what is yet 
 to come. It stretches the understanding, and assists 
 the imagination, and infuses the more confident 
 
 ' Gal. iii. 17. ^ Luke x. 23, 24. Matt. xiii. 16. 
 
Tlie sure Promises of God, 283 
 
 assurance tliat God's purposes of love to His chap. 
 
 creatures will never fail, but that " He is faithful ^— 
 
 who promised," and that He will be true to His 
 word towards all those who believe and trust in 
 Him; that He will cause the Truth to prevail and 
 triumph over every opposition, and the trials of 
 His church to issue in unclouded happiness and 
 unbroken peace. 
 
 Relation of Genesis to the I'emaining Books of the Pentateuch. — ■ 
 The transition from Genesis to the other books of Moses is a tran- 
 sition, for the most part, from patriarchal life and times to the 
 next stage in the development of the great scheme, by which God, 
 in His mysterious Providence, was preparing the world for the 
 Incarnation and Kingdom of Jesus Christ. This was the establish- 
 ment of the Theocracy among a people selected from the rest of 
 mankind to be special channels for the transmission of Divine 
 truth, and for the gradual disclosure of the Divine purposes. In 
 the foregoing pages, though concerning ourselves chiefly with the 
 earlier records, we have not failed to call attention to some features 
 of the Jewish dispensation, and of the infant Theocracy as com- 
 mitted to the administration of Moses. In considering the life 
 and character of that remarkable servant of God, we have had 
 occasion to anticipate some little of Jewish history, at least so far 
 as it is developed in the remainder of the Pentateuch. This may, 
 perhaps, be our excuse for having omitted so much that is inter- 
 esting in the Patriarchal times, much, too, that by the glimpses 
 afforded us of a very early period of civiHsation, and the genume 
 traits which every where abound of a pastoral and primitive sim- 
 plicity, affords undesigned witness to the genuineness of the nar- 
 rative, and consequently would be usefril in confirming that 
 " veracity of the book of Genesis " for which we have been con- 
 tending. Eebecca coming to draw water for her father's sheep, 
 who was a great chieftain in Haran, — the simple loquacity of the 
 old servant Eliezer (Gen. xxiv. 15 — 27), — Eachel being found in 
 the employment and office of a shepherdess (Gen. xxix. 9), — and, 
 several ages after that, the seven daughters of Jethro, who was a 
 
284 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, prince as well as a priest of Midian, " keeping," in like manner, 
 ^I^I- "their father's flocks," and " di-awing water for the cattle" — 
 (Exod. ii. 16), — Esau and Jacob di-essing the venison at their 
 own fire, and waiting upon their father (Gen. xxvii. 31), — the 
 sons of Jacob taking their humble offerings into Egypt, — " Carry 
 do^vn the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, 
 and myrrh, nuts and almonds" (Gen. xlii. 11); — such are some 
 of the well-known incidents of patriarchal life, and they are cal- 
 ciTlated, more eloquently than words, to convince us that the record 
 was drawn from the life, and founded in undoubted fact ; and this 
 again, among other evidences, stamps its sealof truth upon the whole 
 narrative in which these particulars occur. It has not, however, 
 fallen Avithin our limits to prosecute minutely this part of the 
 Mosaic history. A gap has been left, rich in materials well cal- 
 culated to help out our general argument, between the time of Adam 
 and that of Noah, and again between Noah and the call of Abra- 
 ham. But the preference has been purposely given to subjects 
 presenting a wider scope for discussion, and about which difficulties 
 are felt whose solution must always be matter of great interest, — 
 difficulties in Ethnology, Early History, and Geology, together 
 with some more strictly Theological questions which naturally 
 occur. To these, it is hoped, due place has been given, and it 
 has been found impracticable, compatibly with this object, to 
 leave room for an orderly prosecution of the remaining subjects 
 in Genesis. 
 
 A late and eminent writer on the Pentateuch, under which 
 term it was not his intention to include the book of Genesis, 
 being solicited (as he tells us) by his friends to include that 
 book, gives the following reasons for declining the task : " The 
 history o^ the four last books of the Eentateuch forms one siibjcct 
 perfectly distinct from the history of the book of Genesis, except 
 so far as it is connected with the account of the fall of man in the 
 grand economy of grace. The evidence of the divine original of 
 the Mosaic law may therefore be clearly exhibited without in- 
 cluding the consideration of the facts recorded in the book of 
 Genesis. I add, that in the natural order of reasoning, the divine 
 mission of Moses should be proved by its pccidiar evidence, before 
 the truth of the antecedent facts can be decidedly admitted, be- 
 cause the credibility of the fiicts recorded in this history must 
 
Bible Lands and Oriental Literature. 285 
 
 always chiefly rest on the aiithority of their inspired historian, CHAP, 
 which I have here endeavoured to establish .... The great '^lll- 
 cause, however, why I have not attempted to comply with the 
 suggestion of my friends is my inability to do so. The work 
 they prescribe is on a subject of great importance and extent, and 
 on Avhich the daily increasing knowledge of Oriental history and 
 literature, and the extension of physical and geological discoveries, 
 are perpetually throwing new light." — Graves, On the Pentateuch^ 
 Introduction, pp. xii — xvi. It is evident that Dr. Graves looked 
 to Oriental scholarship — probably to a learned comparison of the 
 old traditional systems, the Vedahs and Sastras of the Hindoos, 
 &c. — as one great means in store for illustrating the Mosaic annals 
 of creation and subsequent events in sacred story. Cosmogonies 
 of the ancients, and collections of the earliest national traditions 
 handed down among the most celebrated peoples, have indeed been 
 long before the world.' But the learned writer was looking, per- 
 haps, for still greater light from this quarter ; and, indeed, it may be 
 reserved for future investigations to supply the desideratum which 
 he felt. The opening up of commerce in the East, and the im- 
 proved relations of civilised Europe with India and China, seem 
 likely enough to stimulate inquiry, and to lead to a deeper 
 acquaintance with Oriental literature in the original tongues. 
 The work of Sir Emerson Tennent gives already fair promise that 
 such will be the case. At the same time, much caution will 
 
 ^ See Cumberland's Sancho- a general flood. Thus the Greeks 
 
 niatho ; Shuckford's Connection ; began their world again with 
 
 Stillingfleet, Orig. Sac. ; Maurice, Deucalion, after a tradition de- 
 
 Indian Antiquities ; Sir J. Emer- rived from Hierapolis, according 
 
 son Tennent's Ceylon, its Natu- to Lucian ; the Chaldajans from 
 
 ral History, Antiquities, Sfc. In Xisuthrus, according to Berosus ; 
 
 tracing the original of mankind the Hindoo mythology is said to 
 
 in different coimtries, the ancients be in a great measure founded 
 
 could do no more than make upon a similar tradition ; and, in 
 
 them 'AvTox^owe — the natural short, we may trace the deluge 
 
 offspring of the soil— or else in the popular mythologies all 
 
 ascribe them to the union of roimd the world. Vid. Le Clerc, 
 
 OvpavoQ and r^ or of some other Notes on Grotiusde Veritate,\ih. i. 
 
 elements, the Sim and Water, &c. c. 16 ; Bryan's Analysis of Ancient 
 
 &c. But it is remarkable how Mythology ; Harcourt's Doctrine 
 
 almost universally their historians of the Deluge. 
 fell back upon some tradition of 
 
286 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, always be required in instituting a comparison between the more 
 
 VIII 
 
 sober and truthful relations of the Scripture narrative and tmcer- 
 tain traditionary legends, however adorned with poetiy, and 
 invested with the imaginary fascinations of an immemorial anti- 
 quity. And, moreover, it seems probable that the most valuable 
 aids to inquiry will, after all, be found to come more from the 
 labours and researches of the traveller than from the subtle argu- 
 ments of the philosopher. Voices from the tomhs are noAV joining 
 on eveiy side with voices fi-om the rocks, to proclaim the Divine 
 original of the Scripture records — to show, at least, (which is all 
 that the advocates of inspiration ought reasonably to require,) that 
 the sacred penmen so far enjoyed the privilege of the Divine co- 
 operation as to be guarded from essential error in the substance of 
 what they related, whether they collected the materials of it from 
 human sources, or whether they received them by immediate 
 illumination of the Spirit. These evidences from fact are most 
 important collateral supports to the general truth of Scripture. 
 They speak in clear and intelligible language to all, and tend to 
 bring vividly to mind the reality of the whole narrative, whose 
 minor circumstances are thus clearly established. And this 
 reflects further upon the doctrines themselves. The circinn- 
 stances with which these are interweaved, — (the outward vehicle, 
 as it were, in which they are wrapt up and conveyed to the 
 mind,) — ^having themselves found ready admission to the reason 
 and understanding, — having won their way to our acceptance 
 from the incidental marks of their reality, — justly gain for the 
 more mysterious parts of the revelation a proportionably more 
 ready and respectful hearing; and the great practical end is 
 attained, which seems to have constituted the great purpose of 
 inspiration when the peculiar style and method were adopted, 
 which we find so observable in the Scriptures, viz. of engrafting 
 doctrine upon history, and combining the two in strict practical 
 connection. 
 
 From the remarks of Dr. Graves, it may further be inferred, 
 that, if " the four last books of the Pentateuch" might justly be 
 represented as " forming one subject perfectly distinct from the 
 history of the book of Genesis," there can be no doubt that 
 Genesis itself forms a subject distinct from the four remaining 
 looks. With equal truth it may be affirmed, that, amidst the 
 
The Wadi Mokatteb. 287 
 
 vast variety and amount of information -wliicli lias been brought CHAP. 
 Lome from various quarters, and which has poured its light upon ^I^I- 
 the mysterious page of Scripture, no small share belongs par- 
 ticularly to this book of Genesis. Here belongs much that has 
 been discovered of the remains of Nineveh and of Babylon ; the 
 very head, it may be, of Nimrod, and the gigantic spoils of those 
 ancient cities. Here the hieroglyphic foims and characters, 
 which were once regarded as hopelessly locked up against the 
 art of man to open or decipher ; but which have found their 
 interpreters in a Rawlinson, a Champollion, a Bimsen. It seems 
 almost invidious to select names, Avhere so many have joined the 
 gallant band of travellers who have devoted themselves to the 
 exploration of the East. Egypt has played its full part — ^has 
 occupied, perhaps, the largest share in the wide field of anti-- 
 quai"ian interest. In the glance we have abeady had occasion 
 to take at the early history of that wonderful countiy, it was 
 unnecessaiy to do more than identity, as far as possible, the 
 statements of profane historians illustrative of the Scripture 
 narrative of the Exodus. In larger works the student will find 
 himself well rewarded, Avhile he pursues on the map of that 
 country the probable track by which the childi-en of Israel made 
 their retreat fi-om the house of bondage ; while he marches with 
 them from the land of Goshen to the borders of the Eed Sea, and 
 halts where they stood for a while encamped on the seaside, on 
 the dread night when their pursuers should perish in its waters, 
 hedged in between the sea and the mighty host of the Egyptians. 
 We will just notice a circumstance which seems to throw light 
 on a point somewhat disputed of late years among the learned. 
 
 To the north of Mount Sinai there are foimd some very 
 remarkable ancient inscriptions sculptured on the rocks, together 
 with certain figures, Avhich must either have been intended for 
 hieroglyphic characters, or else been idly cut by the passing 
 hand of the traveller, or whoever addicted himself to the pastime. 
 Their history had long defied the skill of the philologist, when an 
 ingenious theory was devised (see Mr. Foster's Primitive Lan- 
 guage)^ which referred them to a peculiar mixed dialect, growing 
 up probably during the sojourn in Egypt, and compounded of 
 Egyptian and Arabic, (or Semitic). The majority of philologists, 
 however (admitting their ignorance of the language), adhere to 
 
288 Veracity of Genesis. 
 
 CHAP, the opinion that they are of greater antiqiiity than the time of 
 
 '■ — the Exodus ; they think the figures (and certainly the crosses), 
 
 might have been added by some hiter hand, the latter probably 
 by some wandering pilgrims within the Christian era. Consider- 
 ing that another '■'■ valley of inscriptions'''' (see on the map the 
 Wacli Mokatteb) occurs on the Egyptian side of the water, — willi 
 similar characters engraven on the rocks, and the whole valley 
 bearing precisely the same name, — occurring moreover on the 
 same line of route between Memphis and the East (though it is 
 scarcely probable that the Israelites themselves came by that 
 way, for they most likely started from a point considerably 
 northward of Memphis) ; yet, considering all the circumstances 
 of similarity, may it not incline us to ascribe a similar origin to 
 the two ? It might have been the work of those Arab tribes, 
 from whom, it seems, the Shepherd Kings were descended, or 
 it might have been purely an Egyptian work ; for it is an 
 undoubted fact that the Egyptians qiiaiTied the stone for many 
 of their chief national works — their temples and their palaces — 
 from the mines of Mount Sinai and the adjacent mountains ; and 
 that the traces of theu- miners are still visible in that part of the 
 Arabian peninsula. Setting apart this controverted point, how- 
 ever, we cannot pass the mention of the Wadi Mokatteb of Mount 
 Sinai without adverting to its important bearing on the whole 
 Scripture accomit of the Exodus. When we find these valleys 
 and mines of Arabia lying on the natural route by which 
 caravans would travel or even armies march, on the great high- 
 way between the adjacent continents of Africa and Asia, we 
 cannot but be struck with the circumstance as giving great 
 additional interest and reality to that account. For it shows 
 that the scenes referred to were not some obsciu-e unvisited deserts 
 and corners of the earth, where no foot of traveller was ever 
 likely to tread, and which might afford unlimited scope for imagi- 
 nary difficulties and dangers. On the contraiy, all Avas enacted 
 on ground whose localities were patent to public observation 
 and inquiry. Liaccuracies of description, though slij^ping almost 
 accidentally from the pen, would have raised suspicion at once. 
 There was, in short, but one way to be secure against the 
 suspicion of fi-aud and imposture, and that was by following 
 truth, and truth only, in every statement ; and now, when Ave 
 
General Illustrations of Scripture. 289 
 
 find the sacred narrative in every respect answering to these CHAP. 
 tests of historic and geographical research, we claim for its VIH- 
 inspired historian, by this fresh argument, the character of clear 
 and undeniable truth. And if this may be said of that portion 
 of the narrative which concerns the Exodus and the wanderings 
 of the Israelites in the wilderness, there is abundance of similar 
 testimony, as Ave follow them on into the land of their settlement, 
 and pursue the thread of the inspired record through the remain- 
 mg period of their history. But here, as we are beginning to 
 overstep the limits of the Mosaic portion of Scripture, we must 
 bring our laboiu*s to an end. To those who are desirous of 
 pursumg and improving this branch of the subject, we would 
 recommend, among usefixl works of reference, particularly the 
 following: — Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, 4 vols., 4to. ; 
 Kitto's Bible Cydopcedia, 2 vols., 8vo. ; Kitto's Pictorial Bible, 
 3 vols., 8vo. ; Kitto's Pictorial History of Palestine, 2 vols., 8vo. ; 
 Conybeare and Howson's Life and Travels of St. Paul, 2 vols., 
 4to. ; Eobinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine, 4 vols., 8vo. ; 
 Foster's Primitive Language, 3 vols., 8vo. ; Stanley's Sinai and 
 Palestine, 1 vol , 8vo. ; J. L. Porter's Five Tears in' Damascus, 
 2 vols., 8vo. ; Osburn's Egypt from the Monuments, 2 vols., 8vo. ; 
 Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, 2 vols., 8vo. ; The Book and 
 its Mission, 1 vol., 8vo. ; Home's Critical Introduction of the 
 Scriptures, 4 vols., 8vo. ; Scripture Manners and Customs, 
 Christian Knowledge Society, 1 vol., 12mo. 
 
Ajypendix, 
 
Ajyjyendix. 
 
 KURTZ'S HISTORY OF THE OLD COVENANT. 
 The author reorets that the -work of Dr. Kurtz did not come APPEN. 
 
 into his hands in time to make that use of it which he could have Time of the 
 wished. He has at the same time the satisfaction of knowing, "*' 
 
 that any conclusions in which they may coincide, have been 
 arrived at, on his part, by the independent exercise of his own 
 judgment. It is impossible quite to pass over the points on 
 which it might be desirable to consult further the opinions of 
 Dr. Kui-tz : 1. On the Egyptian question^ and as regards the 
 Exodus. Here, as might be imagined, the conclusions in a fore- 
 going chapter are not quite in accord with those of Dr. Kurtz, 
 yet the differences are comparatively immaterial, as the following 
 brief analysis will show. On both hands it is agreed what was the 
 condition and what the ruling dynasty in Egypt at the time of the 
 Exodus. That the arrival of Abraham in Egypt must have fallen in 
 the times, and during the reign, of the Hycsos kings is eqiaally agreed. 
 Wliere, it appears, we differ is in the time of Joseph's arrival ; and 
 here the doctor sides with the most popular view, which is, that 
 Joseph arrived before the extinction of the Hycsos dynasty. He, 
 however, quite passes over one of the chief objections to this view, 
 Avhich is the utter silence of Scripture as to any remarkable change 
 of dynasty after Joseph's time, as there must really have been, 
 on the supposition of Joseph having arrived during the reign of 
 u 3 
 
^^^ Appendix. 
 
 AFPEN. the Shepherds. We should, however, mention, that the brief re- 
 
 Time of the mark of Scripture, " another kin^r arose which knew not Joseph," 
 
 Exodus. 
 
 IS supposed by Dr. Kiirtz to alhide to this change. His supposi- 
 tion on this head leads him naturally to an earlier date of the 
 Exodus ; and, accordingly, we find him placing it in the reign of the 
 third Amenophis, instead of the Amenophis who was the father of 
 Sethos and son of Raamses ; which is simply to ignore the express 
 authority of Manetho as given by Josephus : and so Dr. Kurtz 
 himself allows (vol. ii. p. 411). It is, however, satisflictory to 
 note, that he places the whole event in the seventeenth dynasty, 
 very nearly, at least, about the same period as the reader will 
 find assigned for it, by an entirely independent line of argument, 
 in an earlier part of this work. (See Appendix Chap. II.) 
 The reasons which led him to a Hycsos dynasty for the arrival 
 of Joseph are satisfactory as far as they go ; but we should apply 
 them rather to the arrival of Abraham, and, transferred to 
 the time of that patriarch, we think them conclusive. When 
 Joseph rose to power, there would not only have been the 
 prestige of his descent from Abraham, but there was the recom- 
 mendation of his own superior ability, as shown, in the first in- 
 stance in the interpretation of the king's dream, and afterward 
 more remarkably still in the skill with which he governed the 
 land as prime minister of Egypt, and found means to avert a 
 terrible calamity by providing corn for the impending famine. 
 Without these extraordinary recommendations, which were, indeed, 
 equivalent to a supernatural interposition of Divine Providence, 
 Joseph never xoould have been received., or would at any rate have 
 been kept a prisoner in the dungeon. But taking those miracu- 
 lous circumstances into account, there is nothing singular in the 
 fact (though it might not have been in a Hycsos reign) of the 
 " Israelitish tribes being made welcome, and the best provinces 
 
Kurtz's History of the Old Covenant. 295 
 
 being allotted to them, and even the gates and keys of the whole APPEN. 
 country being placed in their hands ; " — nothing singular in Life of 
 " Joseph advising his brethren to tell Pharaoh, without hesita- 
 tion, that they were nomads; " — nor in " the aged patriarch, Jacob, 
 taking upon himself to bless the Egyptian king ; " — nor, " when 
 Jacob died, in the whole of the com-t and the elders of the land 
 of Egypt forming a funeral procession, with chariots and horse- 
 men, in honour of the unclean Shepherd-chief, who was, notwith- 
 standing, an abomination in then- eyes." (See vol. iii. pp. 425-6.) 
 2. The Life of Moses is treated throughout with great care; and 
 many interesting disquisitions AviU be found as to the route of the 
 children of Israel in traversing the wilderness, and all the circum- 
 stances of their joiu-ney. Still more interesting are the author's 
 remarks on the great objects then in view, of training up the 
 chosen peoj)le for the important place they were to occupy in the 
 chain of Providences, which was gradually leading up to the final 
 estabKshment of Christianity. In particular, the reader should 
 consult the account of the Brazen Serj^ent in the Wilderness, 
 iii. 344 — 358 ; the Institution of the Sabbath (though here a 
 little German prejudice peeps out), vol. ii. 112, iii. 43, and 
 ibid. 313 — 317 (comparing vol. i. introduction, p. xxi.); the 
 Houte out of Egypt, ii. 123 — 129 ; and the Wanderings in the 
 Wilderness, vol. iii. 360 — 380. 3. On the Origin of Languages, 
 and the deriA^ation from one stock of the various races of men, 
 the author has not had the opportunity of consulting Dr. Kurtz. 
 But having himself made it the study of many years, and con- 
 sulted the best authors, he persuades himself they cannot be very 
 far apart on this branch of the subject. Leaving this, therefore, 
 he hastens on to a brief notice of that which comes last in the 
 order of subjects, as above treated of, but which really yields to 
 none in the interest with which it deserves to be regarded, viz. 
 u4 
 
296 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 APPEN. 
 
 Mosaic 
 Order of 
 Creation. 
 
 4. The Acount of the Creation in Gen. /., and how far, in all 
 the chief j)articulars of the Mosaic record, the conchisions of Dr. 
 Kurtz are in agreement with those of the foregoing chapters, it 
 shall be left to the reader to decide from the following few extracts : 
 " The Synagogue has rightly characterised even the historical 
 books of the Old Testament as prophetical. But as revelation 
 never supplies what man could have discovered without its aid, 
 we do not find in the historical parts of the Bible (always except- 
 ing Gen. i. and ii.) any hint that the writers had received the 
 material of their narratives in a supernatural manner. Hence 
 we conclude that the cooperation of the Holy Spirit consisted in 
 this, that they were enabled to distinguish the true from the 
 spurious in these traditions, and to understand the spiritual bear- 
 ing of these facts. But beyond the boundaries of human ex- 
 perience lies another development, and hence another history, 
 on the one side embracing the past^ and on the other the future. 
 Only the Lord looks behind and before, beholding both the 
 development which preceded the first appearance of man, and 
 that which lies beyond the present generation. HoAvever different, 
 these two histories are similar both as to the ground on which 
 man is unacquainted with them, and the manner in which he may 
 learn to know them. But how is this knowledge imparted? 
 Once only — in Gen. i. to iii. — did God reveal to man what had 
 taken place before his appearance ; but very frequently did lie 
 communicate events yet future. Now it seems to be a law of 
 revelation, that the disclosure of the future is brought about by 
 prophetic intuition. But as there is no essential difference in prin- 
 ciple or otherwise, betAveen a revelation of the future and one of 
 the past, may Ave not assiune that the latter had been connnuni- 
 cated in the same manner in Avhich Ave know the former has inva- 
 riably been vouchsafed ? This supposition is abundantly confirmed 
 
Kurtz's History of the Old Covenant. 
 
 297 
 
 by the narrative under consideration. "We notice in it a vividness APPEN. 
 
 of perception and a pictorialness of description which almost Revelation 
 necessarily leads us to conclude that the writer relates what he tL^vTiun 
 had seen .... "We maintain, then, that the narrator was in 
 prophetic illumination, raised to the height of Divine autopsy ; 
 that he beheld spiritually what took place before man existed, 
 and then translated into words his vision." — History of the Old 
 Covenant, vol. i. introd. p. xix. The reader might compare 
 with this the observations above, at Chap. V. pp. 137, 138. ; 
 Chap. "VIII. 245 — 250, and notes. After giving his verdict (p. 
 xxiii.) in favour of the literal sense of the word " day," as used 
 in the account of the creation *, (observing, moreover, that the 
 accoimt itself appears to ftimish the definition, where it says, v. 5, 
 " God divided the light from the darkness ; and He called the 
 
 ^ Dr. Kurtz here gives himself 
 credit for some originality in his 
 definition of "day," or rather in 
 his idea, that each of the " crea- 
 tive days" began with the morning, 
 and not with the evening ; be- 
 cause (1) work naturally begins 
 ■«ath "tbe light," and (2) because 
 every thuig in the sacred text 
 seems to rim in sequence of time. 
 Thus God said, " Let there be 
 light! and there was light. — 
 God divided the light from the 
 darkness. — It became evening, it 
 became morning, — and a new day 
 begins." Like many things, 
 which authors think very special, 
 we are unable to see much in the 
 distinction. "WTiere criticism wUl 
 find real scope in this part of Dr. 
 Kurtz's work will probably be in 
 the very deep and abstruse 
 reasonmg with which he sup- 
 ports the opinion, that the deso- 
 
 lation of the "tohu vahohu^^ state 
 of the earth described (Gen. i. 2), 
 was connected with the fall of 
 the angels "who kept not their 
 first estate " (Jude 6), and is 
 to be accoimted for by the ne- 
 cessity which that fall had occa- 
 sioned for some fearful visitation 
 on the earth. "This view," he 
 adds, " is very old, though not 
 exactly known to the Fathers, 
 who generally assert that man- 
 kind were created to fill the gap 
 left by the faU of the angels, 
 while many of them thought 
 that the race was to mcrease 
 tdl the number of the redeemed 
 shoidd equal that of the fallen 
 angels." The idea, however, that 
 chaos was the consequence of the 
 fall of the angels, we do not, as 
 om- author candidly acknowledges, 
 find suggested by the Fathers. — 
 See Kurtz, hUroduction, p. Iv. — Ix. 
 
298 Appendix. 
 
 APPEN. lifjht ' day,' and tlie darkness He called night," ) he explams the 
 The Six Scripture narrative on a principle, of which the following is a kind 
 days. of summary at p. Ixvii. : — " We have already seen that the work of 
 
 the six creative days had nothing to do with the creation of the 
 earth, far less with that of the universe. Before it commenced, 
 heaven and earth already existed, although the latter at least was 
 as yet without light and life, ' tohu vabolm.'' Our globe received 
 its living organisms during the six creative days, and that in 
 ascending scale. Earth gradually assimied its present form, dis- 
 played its physical forces, received its inhabitants, and assumed its 
 peculiar relation to the other heavenly bodies. Neither astronomy 
 nor geology can hazard an opinion about the period requisite for 
 such purposes. Astronomy may be right in maintaining that the 
 fixed stars must have been in existence for himdreds of thousands 
 of years. But it cannot possibly assert that sun, moon, and stars 
 had regulated our earthly night and day prior to the fourth 
 creative day. In order that their light might affect oixr earth, it 
 was necessary not only that they should have liglit, but also that 
 the earth should be susceptible of light, and astronomy can never 
 dispute that this adaptation had taken place at the period fixed by 
 the Bible. Similarly we may admit, so far as geology is concerned, 
 that immense periods had preceded the present formation of the 
 earth. These either occurred before or during the ' tohu vabohu.' 
 Against such suppositions there is nothing in the Bible. But no 
 geologist could ever convince us that the last preparation of the 
 surface of the earth had required either more or less than six days. 
 If any doubt could obtain on this point, it would rather be why 
 the Omnipotent had not given to this earth in a moment its pre- 
 sent form ? But the Fathers have already returned a satisfactory 
 reply to this objection. As the earth itself was designed for man, 
 so the duration and distribution of God's creative agency bore 
 
Kurtz's History of the Old Covenant. 299 
 
 special reference to man. God's work upon earth was to be a APPEN. 
 type of the iuture activity of man, A second objection to the Realpur- 
 Scripture narrative is derived from the supposed unequal distri- ^jsfaf/ative. 
 bution of the creative work over the six days. This objection 
 specially applies to the fourth day's work. Wliile five whole days, 
 it is said, were spent upon our poor earth, which is but a dot in 
 the universe, all the other millions or perhaps billions of suns and 
 worlds were finished in one day. But evidently this objection 
 proceeds on the same mismiderstanding as that which we have 
 already refi.ited. If, in accordance with the real piu-port of the 
 narrative, we Tinderstand that on the foui-th day only the perma- 
 nent relation between the earth and the stars was fij^ed, all 
 the difficulties conjured up immediately vanish." Again : — 
 " The organisms of the primeval world are not the animals 
 and plants of the Mosaic cosmogony, but neither are they those 
 of historical times, while the organisms of the Biblical uan-ative 
 are those Avith Avhich natiu'al history presently makes us ac- 
 quainted. Thus the sujiposed contradiction is removed. The 
 types buried in the rocks were not destined to continue per- 
 petually, or else have not attained their destination : they were 
 not created for man^ and have not been his contemporaries on 
 earth. Long before he appeared they had become extinct, 
 and were shut vip in their rocky graves. Only after the lapse 
 of six thousand years has man beheld their bones, and they 
 now present an enigma which natural science will probably never 
 solve, as if to convince us of the inadequacy of oiu- poAvers at the 
 very period when science pretends to be able to explain every- 
 thing. Beyond doubt, the fossils of the rocks cannot repi^esent 
 those organisations whose creation the Bible relates. It speaks not 
 of the Entozoa of geology ; refers only to those beings Avhich 
 were created for man, partly for his nourishment, and partly as 
 
300 Appendix. 
 
 APPEN. means of, and aids to, his ovn\ peculiar activity. On the other 
 
 Objections hand, geology does not treat of tliose creatures, which, according 
 
 lico-geolo- ^^ the Scrijitures, were called forth on the third, fifth, and sixth 
 
 ^■^, days, nor can this science take notice of them, since their types 
 
 theory. -^ ' t j i. 
 
 were intended to continue and not to pei'ish, and their families 
 were not to be petrified in strata, but each individual was to decay 
 in the ordinary manner, so that their bones have mostly passed 
 away without leaving any trace" (p. cxxiii.). Lastly, Dr. Kurtz 
 supports his general line of argument by the following principal 
 considerations, in which he enumerates the principal reasons which 
 decided him for the anti-geological interpretation (so to speak) 
 of " the days ;" — " We assert as strenuously as the other side, 
 that an impartial comparison of the results of geology with the 
 statements of Holy "Writ, rightly understood, Avill prove that the 
 two harmonise. But we cannot for that pm-pose adopt any 
 method which could either do violence to the plain language of 
 Scripture, or to the well-established conclusions of geology. But 
 the common mode of harmonising errs in both respects. For (1.) 
 It is evident that Scripture describes the creative days as natural 
 and ordinary days (having ' evening and morning,' ' light and 
 darkness ' ), while in order to identify the geological Avitli the 
 Biblical creation, it is necessary to represent them as periods of 
 ' Divine duration,' each comprising thousands, nay, perhaps 
 ' millions of terrestrial years.' (2.) It is evident that we read 
 only of one general inundation within the six creative days (Gen. 
 i. 2 — 10), to which, on the third day, bounds were assigned which 
 were not to be passed till the flood. But the above theory requires 
 that we should suppose that a number of inundations had taken 
 place in order to account for the numerous secondary and tertiary 
 stratifications which are thought to have taken place on the fifth 
 and sixth days. (3.) Scripture plainly states that the mountains 
 
Kurtz's History of the Old Covenant. 301 
 
 of the earth existed at any rate on the third day. (See Ps. civ. 8.) APPEN. 
 But this theory requires us to believe that the secondary and ter- Objections 
 tiary (if not the primary) strata and rocks had been formed on the lim-geolo- 
 fifth and sixth days. (4.) Scripture plainly states, that plants only, ^theory. 
 and not animals of any kind, were created on the third day, and 
 animals only, but not trees and plants, on the fifth and sixth days. 
 But according to this theory, these BibHcal are the same as the 
 ■ geological periods of which each has hath its plants and animals. 
 (5.) It is evident that the Hexaemeron only speaks of three periods 
 of organic creation, while geology counts as many as there are 
 stratifications. Yet the above theory identifies the Biblical 
 with the geological creations. (6.) Lastly, it is evident, on the 
 one hand, that the flora and fauna of the primeval world had 
 perished before man appeared, and hence could not have been 
 destined to continue along with man on the earth ; and, on the 
 other hand, that according to the clear and unequivocal statements 
 of Scripture, the flora and fauna created during the six days were 
 created for man, and destined to continue on earth along with 
 him. Yet the above theory confounds those two kinds of flora 
 and fauna." — Introduction, pp. cxxix. exxx. 
 
 These are somewhat dry and verbal criticisms ; but the admi- 
 rable spirit which pervades the writings of Dr. Kurtz will appear 
 from the following extract, with which we conclude : — " Our 
 earth, compared with the other planets, has distinguishing fea- 
 tui-es, which, however, are yet undeveloped germs concealed ia 
 the forms of loAvliness and distorted through the curse of sia. 
 We anticipate that these features will at last fully appear. We 
 expect that in those times what at present appear as hostile con- 
 trasts shall combine and cooperate; — that sin and death, and 
 with them all their shadows and fruits, shall have passed away, 
 and that the members of our solar system which at present ai-e 
 
302 Appendix. 
 
 APPEN. isolated, shall be vinited by bonds of harmony, communion, sym- 
 The future P^'^thy, and love. Perhaps this will be realised in a manner 
 ofCrea- analogous to what we witness in the heavens; perhaps those 
 '"'"• worlds, Avhich although now separated are so closely related, 
 
 shall move in sacred harmony, perhaps they shall stand in imme- 
 diate communion with one another ; perhaps the sea of ether 
 belonging to our system, which at present is unillumined, shall 
 be pervaded with light and afford an ' eternal sunshine,' uniting 
 worlds as now it separates them, just as the luminous atmosphere 
 of the heavens of the fixed stars binds together the worlds that 
 move in it. 
 
 " But the distinguishing excellency of our earth will consist in 
 this, that ransomed and glorified man, created in, and restored to 
 the image of God, shall dwell there, and that here the Lord of 
 Glory, who to all eternity has taken upon Himself their nature, 
 shall make His abode among those whom He is not ' ashamed to 
 call brethren ;' — that He shall bring with Him upon earth that 
 unfading inheritance of His Sonship, of which they are to be 
 fellow-heirs ; that He shall establish among them the throne of 
 His grace and poAver, of His glory and Majesty; — and that He 
 himself, the Uncreated Light, shall shine upon them with a 
 brilliancy which no creatiu-e has yet beheld. But as to the con- 
 ditions and changes which all this implies in the j^^ysical condi- 
 tion of the earth and of our system, and in their cosmical relation 
 to the rest of the universe, it becomes us in silence to await the 
 arrangements which the great Creator shall make. Our earth is 
 unique in its present state of humiliation ; it will be unique in its 
 future exaltation. As man is made loAver than the angels, and 
 yet is the ' embryo of the highest of all creatures,' so our earth 
 also is made lower than the celestial worlds, and yet is the 
 ' noblest germ in creation.' As Judaa was the least and most 
 
Kurtz^s History of the Old Covenant. 303 
 
 despised country of the earth, and yet the ' glorious land ' (Dan. APPEN. 
 xi. IG, 41) ; as Betlilehem was least among the thousands of y^g ^/p,.^-. 
 Israel (Mic. v. 2), and yet the Sun of Righteousness arose there °Jf^lg'''^"'^ 
 (Matt. iv. 2); so om- solar system is the JudiEa of the universe, ^<^rth. 
 and our insignificant earth the Bethlehem of this Holy Land — 
 poor and despised, yet precious above all. As in that prophetic 
 dream, sun, moon, and stars bent in lowly obeisance before 
 Joseph, who yet was the least among his brethren, so shall they 
 also make obeisance to our earth, although it is one of the 
 smallest worlds in the universe. When at first Jehovah 
 founded the earth, the morning- stars looked on with songs of 
 praise ; Avhen the Eternal Word, full of grace and truth, left the 
 throne of gloiy to clothe Himself with our nature, the hosts 
 of heaven burst forth into this hymn, ' Glory to God in the 
 highest, and on earth jjeace, goodwill towards men.'' When 
 again the Son of man shall return in the clouds, surrounded -.vith 
 all the glory of His eternal Godhead, to renew heaven and earth, 
 and to consummate all things, shall those messengers of his power 
 and goodness, in whose presence even now there is joy at every 
 new progress of the kingdom of God upon earth (Luke xv. 7), 
 behold with raptui'ous delight the unfolding of that ' mystery of 
 godliness,' into which they now ' desire to look ;' and in louder 
 tones and loftier strains shall then enchoir their never-ending 
 Hallelujah (Rev. v. 12, 13)."— Kiu-tz, Histonj of the Old Covenant 
 Introd. pp. cii. ciii. T. and T. Clark, Edmbiu-gh, 1859. 
 
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