'::-:1tt:^V^.^ ^ ■ LIBRARY ^ OF THE University OF California. Class ft^ ^ &•■-'■ %\)t tCijeological Hibrarp. DOES SCIENCE AID FAITH IN REGARD TO CREATION? THE THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. The need of a concise and -well-written Series of Books on the chief doctrines of Christianity is generally recognised. Hence it is intended to isstie, at convenient intervals, a series of small books on the doctrines which recent debate has brought prominently before the public mind. These volumes will be condensed in expression, biblical in doctrine, catholic in spirit, and by competent zvriters. The following is a list of the volumes in preparation, the price of which will be 3^. dd, each. SUBJECTS. Does Science Aid Faith in re- gard TO Creation? Is Life Worth Living? Are Miracles Credible? . Is God Knowable? Is Dogma a Necessity? What is Regeneration ? . Is Christ Divine? Does God Answer Prayer? What is Saving Faith? . What is the Scripture Doc- trine OF the Body? . A UTHORS. Rt. Rev. Henry Cottenll, Bishop of Edinburgh. Rev. y. Marshall Lang, D.D. Rev. J. J. Lias, M.A. Rev. y. Ivei-ach, M.A. Rev. Prebendary Meyrick, M.A. Rev. Principal Angus, D.D. Rev. T. Whitelaw, M.A. Rev. R. McCheyne Edgar, M.A. Rev. Prof J. J. Given, M.A. Rev. Henry George Tomkins. London : HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row. DOES SCIENCE AID FAITH IN REGARD TO CREATION? BY THE RIGHT REV. HENRY COTTERILL, D.D, F.R.S.E., BISHOP OF EDINBURGH, FORMERLY BISHOP OF GRAHAMSTOWN, AND SOMETIME FELLOW OF ST. John's COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXXXIII. [Aii rights reserved.^ 64 GENERAL "Almighty God, who hast created man in Thine own Image, and made him a living soul that he might seek after Thee, and have dominion over Thy creatures, teach us to study the works of Thy hands, that we may subdue the earth to our use, and strengthen our reason for Thy service ; and so to receive Thy blessed Word, that we may believe on Him whom Thou hast sent, to give us the knowledge of salvation and the remission of our sins. All which we ask in the name of the same Jesus Christ our Lord." James Clerk Maxwell (1831— 1879). "Thou, O Father, who gavest the visible Light as the first-bom of Thy creatures, and didst pour into man the intellectual light as the top and consummation of Thy workmanship, be pleased to protect and govern this work, which coming from Thy goodness returneth to Thy glory. Thou, after Thou hadst reviewed the works which Thy hands had made, beheldest that everything was very good, and Thou didst rest with complacency in them. But man, reflecting on the works which he had made, saw that all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and could by no means acquiesce in them. "Wherefore, if we labour in Thy works with the sweat of our brows. Thou wilt make us partakers of Thy vision and Thy Sabbath. We humbly beg that this mind may be steadfastly in us; and that Thou, by our hands, and also by the hands of others, on whom Thou shalt bestow the same Spirit, wilt please to convey a largess of new alms to Thy family of mankind. These things we commend to Thy everlasting love, by our Jesus, Thy Christ, God with us. Amen." Bacon (i 561—1626). ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. Introduction . . . 3-8 PART I. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH ON THE SUBJECT OF CREATION. CHAPTER I. APOSTOLIC DEFINITION 11-22 First Article of the Christian Faith — First Principle in all Religion — In Heb. xi. 3, definition of the Faith as derived from Genesis — The ^ons here the Days of Creation — The Word the Agent in Creation — Language of Genesis Symbolic — Purpose of the Sacred History. CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF CREATION NOT SCIENTIFIC . . 23-32 Religious Value of Faith as to Creation — The History given for Man, and therefore not Scientific — Speaks of Causes beyond Human Knowledge, and therefore only describes Results — Could not use the Language of Physical Science because such Language never can be the Whole Truth — In- stance as regards Creation of Light. 156172 vi Analytical Table of Contents. CHAPTER III. PACK god's glory in creation .... 33-46 Creation of Light first act in Creation, because of Relation of Light to Visible Universe — Light medium of Communication between the Creation and Reason — First Day, therefore the Lord's Day — Light represents to man God's glory — Reveals it to the Spirit of Man— "The Lilies of the Field"— The Rainbow — But Beauty of Nature cannot of itself teach Religion. CHAPTER IV. CREATION THE WORK OF WISDOM . . . 47*55 False idea of God as mere Power — Old Testament teaches that Creation by Wisdom — Definition of Wisdom — Creation described in Book of Job — Wisdom of God in Creation infinitely beyond that of man, both in kind and in degree — Practical application to Human Life. CHAPTER V. REASON THE LIGHT OF DIVINE WISDOM . . 56-62 Relation of Human Reason to Divine Wisdom indicated both in the Old and in the New Testament — Wisdom in the Proverbs intellectual as well as moral — Illustrated in Solomon — The Divine Wisdom includes, while it infinitely surpasses, all Human Knowledge and Science — St. John, in his teach- ing as to the Logos, confirms this. CHAPTER VL TEACHING OF ST. AUGUSTINE .... 63-75 Charge that the Religious view of Creation has been adjusted to suit discoveries of modem Science — True as regards some Analytical Table of Contents. vii PAGE post- Reformation Theology — But completely answered by the views held by Early Christian writers, ages before the birth of modern Science — St. Augustine — Prepared for this work by his experience of Manichseism — His first work on Genesis against the Manichseans treats the History as an Allegory — Yet contains the idea of Creation being analogous to the Evolution of a Plant out of a Seed, which he ex- pounded in subsequent Works — His wise cautions against bringing our conclusions from Scripture into conflict with the conclusions of Science — Creation of the physical causes which in due order produced all Nature is the Creation of Natural things. CHAPTER VII. TRUE IDEA OF CREATION 7 6-8 1 The Creator present always in His Works — Every Man born into the World as much the Creation of God as Adam — The Hundred and Fourth Psalm a complete Exposition of this truth — Creation in several distinct senses — Primary Creation — Secondary or derivative Creation — But period before the Creation of man to be distinguished from that which follows. CHAPTER VIII. CREATION SUBJECTED TO VANITY . . . 82-95 Teaching of St. Paul as to Creation in Romans viii. — ktioiq illustrated from Revelation v. — "Vanity" from the Book of Ecclesiastes — Connection of the Argument in Romans viii. with that of the fifth Chapter, and with the History of the Fall — Because in the order of the Divine counsels, Redemption preceded Creation — Hooker and St. Augustine — Further illustrations from Scripture — The present state of Creation provisional. viii Analytical Table of Contents, PART ir. SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF CREATION. CHAPTER I. PAGE SCIENCE INTERPRETS DIVINE WISDOM IN CREATION 99-IO5 St. Paul's argument as to the manifestation of God in His works implies that Science must aid Faith if it fulfils its true functions — It confirms the Witness to God in the unity, order, and causation of the Universe — Mistaken attitude of Theologians towards Science — Resillt that Science re- garded as natural adversary of Faith — Sir W. Hamilton — "Unseen Universe" — True Relation between Faith and Science. CHAPTER II. PRIMARY CREATION BEYOND SCIENCE . . I06-II4 Objection to Christian Faith in regard to Creation as "un- thinkable " — Every theory of Creation equally so — Objection as to break of Continuity — Creation the Relation both of the finite to the Infinite, and of Reason to external World — Is the visible Universe a Physical or Spiritual production ? CHAPTER III. LAW IN CREATION II5-I23 Both Science and Theology have Law as a fundamental Prin- ciple — Hooker on Law of Nature — Must be Law of Wisdom — Is it Unchangeable or Arbitrary ? — In the view of Science Unchangeable — Such Law necessary for rational Beings- - True Meaning of Law — Distinction between Phenomenal and Dynamical Law. Analytical Table of Contents. ix CHAPTER IV. PAGE IMMENSITY OF CREATION I24-I29 Number of Stars — Magnitudes and Distances of Heavenly Bodies — Mind obtains no Idea of these except by Compari- son — Sirius — Distance and Mass — Apparently a '* Giant Sun" of "Giant Planets" — Do these Discoveries aid Faith or overwhelm it? CHAPTER V. LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS I30-I42 General Belief fifty years ago — Discoveries of Astronomy counterbalanced by those of Geology in respect to other Worlds being abodes of rational Life — Whewell on "Plurality of Worlds " — His Statement of Argument from Geology — Man the climax of Creation — Question affected by Dis- coveries of " spectrum analysis," and by Laws of Transforma- tion and Conservation of Energy — Proctor's view — Conclusion founded on Assumptions respecting which Science gives no Information — But does not affect Faith in regard of Creation. CHAPTER VI. LAW OF EVOLUTION I43-I59 The growth of a Plant from its Seed, by which Augustine illus- trated Creation, the process in Nature from which the Law of Evolution derived — Principles of that Law, and Definition — The same Law fulfilled in the growth of a Chick in an Egg and in the birth of an Infant — In the System of the Universe — In the Earth's Structure — This Law, in its largest sense, the order through which Creation effected — The same order exhibited in the System of Animal Life — Confirmed by the teaching of Embryology. Analytical Table of Contents. CHAPTER VII. PAGE EVOLUTION OF THE INORGANIC UNIVERSE . . 160-173 That Inorganic Nature was constituted through Physical Causes not supposed to be inconsistent with a Divine Creator — Nebular Theory—Sir William Thomson's Theory — General Scientific considerations suggested by Jevons — Prove that Will of the Creator cannot be excluded by Science, nor the causes explained through which the Evolution effected — Constitution of the Matter of which Universe composed — Atomic Theory — Molecules, differently arranged Systems of Elementary Atoms — Conjectural order of development of the Material of the Visible Universe — General conclusion as to development of the Inorganic Universe agrees with Law of . Evolution. CHAPTER VIII. ORGANIC NATURE 1 7 4- 1 93 Agassiz and Huxley on Characteristics of Life — Science, both Experimental and Theoretical, denies Spontaneous Genera- tion — Definition of Evolution of each individual organism — Chief cause of Evolution unknown and mysterious — "Natural Selection " and " Survival of fittest " — Darwin, Mivart, and Lubbock — Two objections fatal to Natural Selection being the true cause of the Evolution of Organic Nature — General definition of that Evolution — Important inference firom the Analogy of Embryology. CHAPTER IX. CREATION OF MAN 194-20O Creation of Man twofold — Perfection of Animal Nature ; and Living Soul — The latter immediate Creation — Science con- firms this — Negative Evidences — Positive — Man' ritual Being belongs to Eternity. Analytical Table of Contents. xi CHAPTER X. PAGE LAW OF DECAY . 20I-2o8 Argument from Design strengthened by Science — But that Argument sometimes Illogical — Wisdom seeks best ends — Ideas of Modern Theolog)^ as to Creation — Corrected by- Geology — Laplace's proof of Stability of Planetary System — Later discoveries of Science — "Degradation of Energy" proves that Law of Decay is Universal. Conclusion 209-216 Appendix 217-22S INTRODUCTION. INTRODUCTION. THE purpose of this treatise cannot be better described than by referring to an eloquent and suggestive passage in the Inaugural Address, at the Church Congress held at Newcastle in 1881, by its President, the Bishop of Durham. In that year the British Association for the Advancement of Science had lately celebrated its jubilee in the metropolitical city of York, where, fifty years before, it had its birth. " The President of that Association " (the Bishop observed) " availed himself of the occasion to sum up the achievements of the half-century past, — untrodden fields opened out, fresh sciences created, a whole world of fact and theory discovered, of which men had hardly a suspicion at the beginning of this period. In this commemoration we are reminded of the revolution in the intellectual world which has taken place in our time, as in the other " (the centenary of the birth of Stephenson) " our attention was directed to the revolution in the social and industrial world. Here again we are con- fronted with a giant force, of which the Church of Christ must give account. If we are wise, we shall endeavour to understand and absorb these truths. They are our proper heritage as Christians, for they are manifestations 4 Introduction, \ of the Eternal Word, who is also the Head of the Church. They will add breadth and strength and depth to our theo- logy. Before all things we shall learn by the lessons of the past to keep ourselves free from any distrust or dismay. Astronomy once menaced, or was thought to menace, Christianity. Long before we were born, the menace had passed away. We found astronomy the sworn ally of religion. The heresy of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- turies had become the orthodoxy of the nineteenth. When some years ago an eminent man of science, himself a firm believer, wrote a work throwing doubt on the plurality of worlds, it was received with a storm of adverse criticism, chiefly from Christian teachers, because he ventured to question a theory which three centuries earlier it would have been a shocking heresy to maintain. Geology next entered the lists. We are old enough, many of us, to remember the anxiety and distrust with which its startling announcements were received. This scare, like the other, has passed away. We admire the providential design which through myriads of years prepared the earth by successive gradations of animal and vegetable life for its ultimate desti- nation as the abode of man. Nowhere else do we find more vivid and striking illustrations of the increasing purpose which runs through the ages. Our theological conceptions have been corrected and enlarged by its teaching, but the work of the Church of Christ goes on as before. Geology, like astronomy, is fast becoming our faithful ally. And now, in turn. Biology concentrates the same interests, and excites the same distrusts. Will not history repeat itself? If the time should come when evolution is translated from the region of suggestive theory to the region of acknowledged fact, what then ? Will it not carry still further the idea of providential design and order ? Will it not reinforce with Introduction. 5 t new and splendid illustrations the magnificent lesson of modern science — complexity of results traced back to sim- plicity of principles, variety of phenomena issuing from unity of order — the gathering up, as it were, of the threads which connect the universe, in the right hand of the One Eternal Word ?" {Official Report of Church Congress, 1881, pp. 15, 16.) Are these descriptions of the history of the past relations between Christianity and Science in all respects true ? Or even granting this, can we admit that the sanguine anticipa- tions as to their future relations are equally trustworthy ? On both these grounds, the view here presented to us in the fervid language of the Bishop has been challenged. It is main- tained by the adversaries of orthodox Christianity, who urge it as a proof that the religion itself is changing its form as mankind becomes enlightened ; even by some of its adherents it is admitted, but only as a sufficient reason for distrusting science itself, as the philosophy by which men are led astray from the simplicity of faith in Christ; that although it may be true that, as science has made its discoveries, theologians have contrived to adjust their belief to the new views that have been forced upon them much against their own will, and thus to satisfy them- selves, though they have not satisfied the world in general ; at all events they have never effected such adjustment, without a serious loss to Christianity itself, at least as accepted by them ; the loss of a belief in Scripture as really inspired by God, and therefore perfectly and absolutely true according to that interpretation of it which an honest and impartial mind must accept. If it is a " nose of wax," to be twisted to one side and the other by a process of accommo- dation to suit new views of truth ; or to be explained away to mean the very opposite of that which it seems to mean ; 6 hitroduciion. ^ what will be the result of such a process, but that Christi- anity itself, with all its supernatural dogmas, will ultimately disappear? And further as regards the future, it is con- fidently asserted that the new discoveries, especially in the direction of evolution, are to give, if they have not already given, the death-blow to the whole system of supernatural religion. The present treatise, which discusses the momentous question how the Christian faith on the subject of Creation is affected by the progress of physical science, is written, it need hardly be said, from the Christian or theological stand- point, not the scientific. Nor does it profess to be a work on the evidences of Christianity. It is intended for those that believe, not for those that believe not. Its purpose is to quicken and strengthen the faith of those, who have found the spiritual truth which is revealed in Christ to be the Light and Life of their souls, by assisting them to recognise more distinctly what is the relation of revealed truth to such other truth as the enlightened reason of man can discover in nature. It is indeed obvious, to every one who is capable of reflecting at all on the question, that the truth that is indeed revealed from God, and that which the Divine gift of reason enables man to conclude from God's own works — so that the conclusions cannot be denied without denying reason itself — cannot possibly contradict one another, what- ever they may seem to do. But as these two kinds of truth lie in different spheres of man's being, and address different faculties, — the distinction between them being, at least, as wide as that between science and art (for example), or even that between material quantity and moral quality^ — it is easy to see that the language in which the one kind of truth is conveyed to the human mind, may be, or rather we should say, must be^ very different from that which is necessary to Introduction. 7 express the other. How differently, for example, would the very same scene in nature be described by the physicist and by the artist, — or, much more, by the poet ; so that often there might be apparent contradiction where there is none in reality. We need not therefore be surprised if Holy Scrip- ture, in which God reveals Himself to us in order that we may obtain that eternal life which consists in the knowledge of Him, and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent, uses very different language on many subjects from that which would be employed if its purpose were to convey scientific know- ledge. Even as a poet's description of some natural phe- nomenon, which might be perfectly true from the aspect in which he regarded it, might yet produce utterly incorrect impressions on the mind of one ignorant of science, as to the physical causes to which the effects He described were due ; so, and much more, when Holy Scripture represents Creation as the work of the Infinite God, and in its rela- tion to man and his duty to God his Maker, we might expect with confidence — as experience has shown to have been the case in time past — that ideas would be produced as to the physical character of that work, which could only take the forms into which our previous knowledge enabled us to interpret the language. These would become necessarily modified as our knowledge of the physical universe advanced, and corrected the inaccurate and imperfect interpretations. And thus science may seem, as it progresses, to be opposed to revelation, and to contradict its teachings ; and it will for a season supply arguments to its adversaries, simply because it corrects those notions which were all our previous ignorance allowed us to form. Ultimately, however, when we discover that our interpretations of the language have all the while obscured the underlying truth, instead of being part of it, or at all essential to it, the discoveries of 8 " Introduction, ^ science are, in their permanent results, nothing but gain to real Christianity. This general view of the question is one that readily pre- sents itself to every thoughtful and impartial mind, which is, at the same time, profoundly convinced of the reality of that spiritual truth which Holy Scripture reveals, and also conscious that the reason of man, to which God Himself appeals in His word, is not given to mislead and deceive us when we study His works in nature. His own creation. All that is proposed in this treatise is to illustrate this general view in some of the more important aspects of the subject. For the more distinct exposition of the argument, the work is divided into two parts, of which the first discusses at length the Christian Faith in regard to Creation, with the special view of exhibiting it, not merely as a dogma, but as a rational belief, consistent with all the perfections of God, and with the other doctrines of the Catholic religion. The second part touches on some of the scientific aspects of Creation. It would not be suitable to a theological work, nor would it be possible within the limits of this treatise, to enter in any detail into an examination of all the various scientific questions which bear more or less directly on the subject of Creation as apprehended in the Faith of the Church. It will be sufficient in that part to give some illustrations of that harmony between Science and Faith, which is the result of each observing the limits of the legiti- mate sphere which God has ordained for each. PART I. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH ON THE SUBJECT OF THE CREATION. CONTENTS OF PART I. CHAP. I. APOSTOLIC DEFINITION. II. HISTORY OF THE CREATION NOT SCIENTIFIC. III. GOD'S GLORY IN CREATION. IV. CREATION THE WORK OF WISDOM. V. REASON THE LIGHT OF DIVINE WISDOM. VI. TEACHING OF ST. AUGUSTINE. VII. TRUE IDEA OF CREATION. VIII. CREATION SUBJECTED TO VANITY. CHAPTER I. APOSTOLIC DEFINITION. IT is evident that for the investigation of the question which it is proposed to discuss, — viz., ^^ Does Science aid Faith in regard to Creation?'^ — or, to state it more fully, "How is the Christian Faith on the subject of Creation affected by the progress of Science ? " — the very first and most essential point to be determined is, " What is the Christian Faith on this subject ? " And this we must examine with much care, for it is more than possible that many of the difficulties have arisen from errors or defects in regard to this fundamental question. And by the Christian Faith is meant, that which is derived from Holy Scripture, and is taught and received as such in the Church of Christ. The first article of this Faith, as set forth in what is called the Apostles' Creed, as containing those fundamental truths which were taught by the Apostles of Christ, is expressed in the words, ''/ believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earths The general truth, indeed, that Creation is the work of Almighty God, is one that belongs not less to what we understand by Natural Religion than to that which is derived from Revelation. This we must con- clude from the teaching of the Apostles themselves. Thus St. Paul and Barnabas, when protesting against the idola- trous worship offered to them by the heathens at Lystra, 12 Christian Faith as to Chation, appealed to their own consciousness that worship was due only to ''the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that in them is ; " and " Who left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness." * St. Paul, again, when addressing the Athenians, assumed t as a truth self-evident to their own consciences, that there is a God " that made the world," — tov Koa-fxovy which included not the earth only, but the whole universe and the heavenly bodies, — " and all things therein;" and Who, as Creator, is "Lord of heaven and earth," and "giveth to all life and breath and all things;" in whom " we live and move and have our being," as even their own poets testified when they said, " For we are also His offspring." And this is the more remarkable when we consider that among his hearers were " Epicurean philoso- phers," whose philosophy was, or at least was accounted to be, opposed to the religious view of Creation. And yet the apostle took for granted that the religious consciousness of all on this subject was so strong, that he might appeal to it without hesitation as contradicting all such atheistical speculations. Indeed, in his epistle to the Romans,^ when describing in the first chapter the condition of the heathen world without Revelation, he declares that their sin consisted in ^^ holding down the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them ; for God manifested it unto them." And he explains how, in their inner consciousness, God made certain truths as to Himself manifest to them. ''For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His ever- lasting power and divinity : so that they are without excuse." * Acts xiv. 15-17. t Acts xvii. 24-29. % Rom. i. 18-21. Apostolic Definition, ' I3 And he proceeds to show what would have been the moral effects of this belief in Almighty God as the Creator, had not their knowledge of this truth been suppressed and over- laid and almost lost through their own love of evil. So that it is evident that belief in God, as the Maker of heaven and earth, is the first and most fundamental principle in all religion ; and so necessary to man, that, before that Revelation was given by which man should obtain the full knowledge of God, which is life eternal, this truth was clearly manifested, to all whose hearts were willing to recognise it, in the works of God themselves. But the Christian Faith as to Creation, as taught in Holy Scripture, and particularly by the apostles of Christ, although its elementary truth was made known to man independently of Revelation, is not only more defined and more developed, so as to enter much more largely and with more moral and spiritual force into the religious life ; but is also related to other fundamental verities of that Gospel which is the power of God to man's salvation. And although, in the Old Testament, enough was revealed on this subject of Creation to suffice for that imperfect and preparatory Reve- lation of God ; it is undoubtedly to the New Testament that we must look for the exact definition and the complete exposition of the Faith which the Church of Christ receives and teaches. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, which, whether it was written by St. Paul himself or by some other apostolic teacher, is accepted by the Church as one of those scrip- tures from which the Christian Faith is derived, there is given a series of illustrative instances, taken from the Old Testament, of that faith by which God's servants in all ages have been distinguished, and which connects the saints of the Old Testament, ever since the creation, with us who believe in Christ under the gospel. And this series is 14 Christian Faith as to Creation, prefaced by a definition* of the faith on the subject of Creation, so far as that faith is common to us and to the patriarchs. We must therefore regard it as the apostolic interpretation of that Revelation which was given to the fathers, as to this primary truth of all religion, that God is Maker of heaven and earth. Indeed, from the fact of the instances t of Abel and Enoch and Noah, which are recorded in the fourth, and fifth, and subsequent chapters of Genesis, following this reference to Creation, there can be no doubt whatever that the writer had in his mind, when describing the faith on this subject that was common to all the true servants of God, that sacred history of Creation with which the First Book of the Old Law commences. And it is of the utmost importance, therefore, that we should compare this statement of the faith as to Creation — which is derived from that part of the Old Testament, and expounded by apostolic authority — with the history itself to which it refers. For the one will undoubtedly explain the other. In Genesis we find that the account of Creation is prefaced by the words, '* In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The first act in the process of bringing order and being out of the primary state of formless, indefinite dark- ness and emptiness, was the command of God, " Let there be light : and there was light." The light and the darkness are separated ; and the light, unlike the perpetual glory of God's presence, is intermitting ; and from the dawning of the light to the return of the darkness is one Day of God's Creation. Again God uttered His Word, and a second separation, that of the waters below from those above, was made by the firmament of heaven : and this was the second Day of Creation. A third time that Word is uttered, and the dry land and the sea are separated ; and as that Divine * Heb. xi. 3. t Heb. xi. 4-7. Apostolic Definition, 15 Word commanded the earth to bring forth the various forms of vegetable life capable of propagating themselves by seed, so it was. And this was the third Day of God's creating work. On the fourth, the same Word of God called into existence lights in the firmament to divide between the day and the night ; from which it is evident that the Days of God's Creation — whatever they may mean — are altogether different from these days that mark the time for man. On the fifth Day the Word of God calls forth from the waters all living creatures that are in the seas, and the fowl that fly above the earth in the firmament of heaven. And, lastly, on the sixth Day, the same Word commands the earth to bring forth all the beasts of the earth after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and creeping things after their kind. But here, as the great work approaches its consummation, and the crowning result of Creation is to appear in one who is to be related to God as no other created existence can be, there is a corresponding change in the operation of the Divine Word. It is no longer, as before, God said, " Let man be brought forth, and man was created ; " but, '' God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over " the rest of created beings on the earth. " So God created man in His own imaged Such is the history of Creation, of which the apostle gives the summary in these few but very comprehensive words : IIicrTCt i^oov/xev Kar-qprtcrOaL Tov1 " His countenance was as t-he sun shineth in his strength." * In fact, we are so familiar with this kind of representation of heavenly and Divine glory, and it seems so natural and appropriate, that perhaps it has never occurred to us to ask ourselves what is the meaning that underlies such symboli- cal language, or representation. But, in the pre-eminence given to light in the sacred history of Creation, that which specially concerns our argument in this treatise is, that it presents nature to us, not simply or primarily as a work contrived for purposes necessary or useful, but first of all as a spectacle in which the glory of God is manifested by that light which is the most suitable symbol of the spiritual light that surrounds the throne of Him who is invisible. God reveals in Creation first and above all His glory; as the seraphims above the Divine throne, which the prophet Isaiah saw in vision, proclaimed in responsive chorus, " Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Hosts ; the whole earth is full of His glory. "f By the creation of light, nature is visible to animal life, by all endued with that which is implied by the Greek word ijruxr], for all the purposes necessary to that life ; while in man it also speaks to his logical faculty, or what is called vovSf — by which, through '' discourse of reason " or science, he can recognise in nature sequences of cause and effect, and can derive from them proofs of the wisdom and power of the Creator, and thus he can conclude design. But in man, beyond and above all these, it speaks to a higher faculty, his spirit or Tn/cG/xa, in which his likeness to his Creator most of all consists. And this enables man to behold in nature the glory of God ; and to all whose spirit is purified from earthly and carnal feeling, and quickened into its true life, this is a far more distinct and immediate wit- * Rev. i. i6. t Isa. vi. 3. 38 Christian Faith as to Creation, ness to the presence of God in His creation than any that can be supplied by the lower faculties of his being. The sense of beauty and glory of creation is an effect on the mind wholly independent, both of the use of nature to the animal life, and of the conclusions that science may draw as to the constitution of nature ; it arises immediately from the view of nature simply as ro ^Xe-rrofxevov, when seen by one capable of fully recognizing that which he beholds. Professor Mozley, in his profoundly interesting discussion of this subject in his sermon on Nature, says of this, " The glory of nature in reality resides in the mind of man ; there is an inward intervening light through which the material objects pass, a transforming medium which converts the physical assemblage into a picture." This is no doubt true, in the sense in which Professor Mozley used these words, of such objects of sight as that of which he was speaking, namely, the glory of a landscape ; the special beauty of which depends chiefly on the arrangement and disposition of the natural objects. But it may be questioned by some whether it is equally true of the beauty of separate objects in nature, as, for- example, of a beautiful flower. We must analyze the process that takes place in vision in order to state the truth somewhat more accurately than Mozley has done. That which reaches the. eye is, of course, not the material object itself, but the light coming from it, which forms an image on the retina, which the ifrvxr} even of an animal transfers to the object itself from which the light has proceeded. This is the case both as regards form and colour. As re- gards the latter, it is indeed very difficult for one not scientifically taught, not to believe that the colour is in the object itself, whereas it is certain that it is the light that reaches the eye that produces the sensation of colours; indeed, the present conclusion of science is that as colour it God^s Glory in Creation, 39 has merely a subjective existence, and is due to the triple constitution of nerves within the eye. It is evident then that, as has been before observed, the cognition of the object, v^hether such cognition as an animal may have, or such as the intelligence of man obtains of it as a subject for reason, or such as the higher faculty has of it as beautiful and glorious, is due, in all cases, whether in animal or in man, to the light that the eye receives. But in each case the inner faculty interprets the sensations produced by the light ; only there is this difference between the several cases referred to. In the two former,* the relation of the object to animal life in regard to its use for food, or the danger it threatens, and the like, would be the same whether it were visible or not. And in man's own vision, that character ot the object which science can investigate would be unaltered by its being unseen ; whereas the beauty and glory of it is entirely the result of its being seen, and do not exist except in the mind that is capable of recognizing such characters in it.t Yet it is not true, as Professor Mozley's words might be misunderstood to mean, that the beauty and glory are the mere creation of the human mind itself; but they must have (to use the language of Aristotle with regard to all external nature) first of all a potential existence in the creation of God, in order that the mind that is capable may give them an actual and subjective existence within itself We may take a few instances in nature as illustrations which Holy Scripture supplies. Our Lord Himself refers to the " lilies of the field " as clothed by God with a beauty surpassing all the glory of Solomon. One of these, which grows still in great abundance in the rich valleys of * See Mozley's Sermon on Nature, p. 126, t See Note C. in Appendix. 40 Christian Faith as to Crmtion. Palestine, is described* as a flower of great beauty and dignity. *' The three inner petals meet above and form a gorgeous canopy, such as art never approached, and king never sat under in all his glory." These flowers are the favourite food of the wild gazelles; this is the animal view of that which God has clothed with a beauty excelling all the art of man. Science again can distinguish its botanical characters, examine its tissues, expound the processes of its growth ; this is the view of reason, — but what is all this to its beauty and glory? But the higher faculty in man sees it first, and above all things, as beautiful ; he seeks to imitate it, and recognizing that beauty as representing to his mind some of the glory of His Creator, he carves the graceful forms of the flowers and leaves of the lilies on the capitals of the columns for the temple of God. Even as true Christian feeling also, in seasons of joy and praise, places in our churches flowers of beauty and glory ; not as mere ornaments, but to set forth, by those creations of our God, the true spiritual beauty of the Lord in His sanctuary. Indeed the almost Divine significance of the beauty of nature, as God's work, quite distinct from all ideas of its usefulness to man and beast, is not unfrequently indicated in Holy Scripture. . How full of spiritual meaning are the simple words, '' The winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth." And again in those by which special Divine excellence is intimated, " I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. "t Again, the beauty of precious stones, although made manifest by the art of man, is no less truly the creation of God than the glory of the flowers of the field. The promise given by * " The Land and the Book," i. 394, quoted in Smith's '* Dictionary of the Bible." t Cant. ii. i, 2. 1 GocT s Glory in Creation. 41 God to the afflicted and desolate Church of the old Testa- ment was, " I will lay thy stones with fair colours and thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of precious stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord ; and great shall be the peace of thy children."* It is impossible adequately to express the idea of spiritual light, except through those of natural beauty and glory, which are wholly out of the sphere of the merely logical faculty. Truth itself is not known and distinguished truly, except its beauty is recognized. And therefore in the de- scriptions of the blessedness of the New Jerusalem which is to come down from heaven, objects of surpassing natural beauty, and not merely those of conventional value, can alone express the spiritual idea. " The city was pure gold, like unto pure glass" And not only are all the twelve foundations laid in precious stones of diverse colours, but " the twelve gates were twelve pearls."t It is impossible not to be reminded of the parable in which our Lord illus- trates:}: that spiritual insight into the value of the '' kingdom of heaven," which disposes a man to surrender all for its sake, from the conduct of a merchant who is able to recognize the surpassing beauty and therefore the extraordinary value of a single pearl. Another illustration which Holy Scripture suggests is, in some respects, even more direct and pertinent. " The appearance of the bow in the cloud in the day of rain," as the prophet Ezekiel,§ with almost scientific exactness, de- scribes the rainbow, is the one instance in nature of light not giving beauty to a natural object, but simply revealing its own beauty and glory. With animal life it has no relation * Isa. Ixv. 1 1- 13. t Rev. xxi. 18-22. X Matt. xiu. 45, 46. § Ezek. i. 28. or THF ^ UNiVERSITY ) 42 Christian Faith as to Creatioii, whatever. Science explains it as the effect, to the eye of a spectator, of the light from the sun falling on spherical drops of water, and being reflected internally with great brilliance. But this explanation, though very interesting, is yet exceedingly prosaic ; it can tell us nothing at all of that feeling which the bow in the cloud inspires in the heart of man : * ' My heart springs up when I behold A rainbow in the sky ; So was it when my life began ; So is it now I am a man ; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die ! Without attempting to analyse this sense of its beauty, and thus spoil the purity and reality of that beauty, as a direct revelation of God's glory in His creation, we may yet observe that it consists not merely in the beautiful harmony of the tender bands of the several colours into which the pure white light is separated, but in the dignity and majesty of the noble arch that appears to span the sky and rest upon the earth, and yet more in the contrast between this vision of glory and the dark storm on which it appears. It is a revelation of the beauty of heaven in the midst of the dark clouds of earth. As such, it was selected by God Himself,* as the outward and visible token of the covenant with Noah and all mankind, made after the Flood, that the world should not again be destroyed by water. And in the visions,t both of Ezekiel and of St. John in the Apocalypse, the brightness round about the throne of God, in the midst of which the glory was too intense for the eye of man to rest upon, and from which proceeded thunderings and light- nings, was a rainbow or halo, in which the light shone in softened tints. ♦ Gen. ix. 12-17. t Ezek. i. 28 j Rev. iv. 3. God^s Glory in Creation, 43 In such instances as these of the flowers of the field and the rainbow, the Word and Spirit of God themselves direct our thoughts to the beauty which the mind of man recognizes in the Creation of God, through the light which first of all He commanded to shine out of darkness. But I refer to such distinct and definite recognition in Holy Writ, not as if these were some exceptional instances of the relation of natural objects of beauty to Divine ideals, but simply as reminding us, that in all cases it is only by looking through Nature to that which underlies it, to the invisible reality which is Divine and Eternal, and of which Nature is the visible witness, that we can truly appreciate that which is beautiful and glorious therein. It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that this looking through Nature to Divine ideals of beauty and glory, implies that we distinguish these as something, w^hich the understanding presents to us in any defined form of thought. On the contrary, the very power that a spectacle of grandeur or loveliness has to affect the soul, consists chiefly in its being that which can be neither described nor understood ; the mind must be passive and silent in its presence, in order that the vision may pro- duce its own effect on our mind, and fill the soul with itself. Few persons have not felt this, when standing, for example, in the presence of Niagara, or of some grand Alpine range clothed in eternal snow ; or on one of those delicious morn- ings which come even in England at the beginning of summer ; or on a calm evening at sea in the tropics, when the sun is setting in the midst of clouds tinted with all the hues of the rainbow, and edged with gold ; — at such times few are not conscious of a silent joy, which approaches at times to awe, in the contemplation of Nature, such as to attempt to analyze and express would be almost profane. Indeed, wherever this beauty speaks to us, whether in a 44 Christian Faith as to Creation, simple flower of the field, or in the most majestic mountain scenery, it is only such a spirit that can receive its teachings. The soul, when smitten thus by a sublime idea, " feeds on the pure bliss and takes her rest in God." It is, however, very necessary to remember, as Mozley warns us,* that although the beauty of Nature is as truly a part of God's creation as its material framework is, and, indeed, a far higher and more Divine part, — yet it is ''a religious communication only to those who come to it with the religious element already in themselves ; no man can get a religion out of the beauty of Nature. There must be for the base of a religion the internal view, the inner sense, the look into ourselves. ... If there is not this, outward nature cannot of itself enlighten man's conscience, and give him a knowledge of God." In fact, the beauty of creation has been, in all ages to the present hour, as much an incen- tive to the idolatry of Nature in some form or other, as the beauty of woman, which is also God's creation, has been to fleshly lust. The patriarch Job, in enumerating the temp- tations to forsake God his Maker, which he had resisted and overcome, lays special emphasis on this ; " If I beheld the sun" (literally the light) "when it shineth, or the moon walking in brightness; and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand ; this also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge ; for I should have denied the God that is above."* Such kind of Atheism, or, as St. Paul calls it, of " worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed for ever," was, it seems, the earliest defection from God. We might almost say that, in a more intellectual and refined form, it is the latest, at least in the poetic mind ; in the scientific mind, Nature-worship takes the lower and more unspiritual form, of * Sermon on Nature, p. 140. * Job xxxi, 26-28. God'* s Glory in Creation, 45 the idolatry of physical law. But for both these, the Chris- tian faith on the subject of creation supplies the remedy by teaching that both its beauty and its order are only from God ; that in the one we may see His glory, in the other His wisdom. And in the eloquent words of him to whose sermon on Nature I have frequently referred in this chapter, " When men have started from outward nature, when they have used it as a foundation, and made it their first stay, its glory has issued in gloom and despondency ; but to those who have first made the knowledge of themselves and their own souls their care, it has ever turned to light and hope. They have read in Nature an augury and a presage ; they have found in it a language and a revelation ; and they have caught in it signs and intimations of Him, Who has clothed Himself with it as with a garment. Who has robed Himself with its honour and majesty, decked Himself with its light, and Who created it as an expression and manifestation of Himself"* Or the same truth may be expressed in the language, no less true, though far less profound, of a writer of a very different school of thought. " The mere majesty of God's power and greatness," Dr. Chalmers says, " when offered to your notice, lays hold of one of the faculties within you. The holiness of God, with His righteous claim of legislation, lays hold of another of these faculties. The difference betw^een them is so great that the one may be engrossed and inter- ested to the full, while the other remains untouched, and in a state of entire dormancy. Now, it is no matter what it be that ministers delight to the former of these two faculties. If the latter be not arrested and put on its proper exercise, you are making no approximation what- ever to the right habit and character of religion. There are * Mozley's "University Sermons," p. 144, 46 Christian Faith as to Creation. a thousand ways in which you may gratify your taste for that which is beauteous and majestic. It may find its gratification in the loveliness of a vale, or in the freer and bolder outlines of an upland situation, or in the terrors of a storm, or in the sublime contemplations of astronomy, or in the magnificent idea of a God who sends forth the wakefulness of His omniscient eye, and the vigour of His upholding hand, throughout all the realms of nature and of providence."* '' The religion of taste is one thing, the religion of con- science is another." A truth, indeed, most necessary to be remembered, and too often forgotten. Yet when conscience is purified from dead works to serve the living and true God, it is no small aid to our faith in the Creator, and our apprehension of His glorious perfections, and therefore an incentive to our praise, that He has left us in the beauty of His works a witness to His glory, no less certain, and even more distinct, than the testimony which they give to His law by their order. * Chalmers' "Astronomical Discourses," Sermon vii. 47 CHAPTER IV. CREATION THE WORK OF WISDOM. IT has been already observed that the patriarchal faith on the subject of Creation, viz., that it was effected by the spoken Word of God, is in the Christian Faith further developed and expounded by the truth, that the " Logos," who was in the beginning with God, and was God, is He through whose Divine operation all things were made. And we also inferred generally from the term used by St. John to represent the Second Person of the Trinity, im- plying the word conceived in the mind by reason before it is expressed, that the language of the Old Testament respecting Divine wisdom was an anticipation of the more complete revelation of the New. But we must now examine more fully what is the force and meaning of this part of the Christian Faith as affecting our view of the creating work of God. We have already assumed that, although the Word of God was the one original cause of all the effects produced, we must not therefore conclude that no inter- mediate and subordinate causes were employed for this end ; indeed occasional indications of the interposition of such causes were pointed out. We have now to take a step further and shew that the very truth, that the Word or active Wisdom of Qod was the agent by which creation was 48 Christian Faith as to Creation, effected, itself implies that subordinate means were used for the fulfilment of the ends. The idea of God, whether in creation or in any other of His works, which is most natural to the mind of man, and which, if uncorrected by the teaching of revelation, — too often indeed among those who live in the full light of revelation, — seems to absorb all His other attributes, is that of infinite and almighty power. It seems to such persons (and they are many), not only consistent with the perfections of Deity, but even the highest proof of the greatness and majesty of God, that He should work immediately by the mere authority of Sovereign will. The interposition of subordinate means implies, they imagine, limitations of power. This, however, is not the Christian Faith, nor is it the teaching even of the more ancient Revelation, of which that Faith is only the fully-developed form. It is the very purpose of Holy Scripture throughout to reveal God as One in Whom the several perfections of Deity are not merely present as attributes distinct from Himself, but are indivisibly and inseparably united, so that they of necessity combine and co-operate in all Divine works. Nothing indeed is more frequently declared even in the Old Testament, when the Creation of God is described, than that by His wisdom, no less than by His power, this Divine work was accomplished. "The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth ; by understanding hath He established the Heavens ; by His knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew."* The Psalmist in that glorious nature psalm to which we shall refer in a following chapter for other aspects of Creation, says of it, " O Lord, how marvellous are Thy works ; in wisdom hast Thou made them all."t And the prophet Jeremiah combines the several * Prpv. iii. 19, 20, f Psalm civ, Creation the Work of Wisdom, 49 Divine attributes, " He hath made the earth by His power ; He hath estabHshed the world by His wisdom ; and hath stretched out the Heaven by His understanding."* Now it must be observed that wisdom — with the cor- responding words both in Hebrew and in Greek — as compared with other cognate words, — such as those which are rendered " understanding," '' knowledge," ^' prudence," and the like, — whatever other distinctions may be observed amongst them, always expresses the highest and noblest kind of knowledge ; and has been defined as including both the striving after the best and highest ends, as well as the using the best means,t so that '' there can be no true wisdom disjoined from goodness." This seems on the whole to be the most complete and exact definition of wisdom ; though it is well defined also by other writers, both Chris- tian and heathen, as the knowledge which includes both those things that are Divine and those that are human, things eternal and temporal ; and also as the reason which has insight into the causes or inner principles of things, as distinguished from the understanding, which apprehends and appreciates their application. Without, however, con- fining ourselves strictly to any one formal definition, the question of wisdom, both in man and in God Himself, is so fully discussed in the Old Testament Scriptures, and especially with reference to the work of God as Creator, that it will be sufficient for our argument to examine this teaching, as affecting the question of the use of intermediate means in the creation of the visible universe. There is no book of the Sacred Volume in which the subject is more clearly stated, and the comparison between human wisdom and Divine more distinctly exhibited, than * Jer. li. 15. t Trench's *' Synonyms of the New Testament." 50 Christian Faith as to Creation, the Book of Job. The questions as to the date of this book, its relation to the Mosaical books, and its character, — whether strictly historical or a sacred poem, — do not con- cern our argument. Being received, not only by the Jews, to whom were entrusted the oracles of God, but also by the Church of Christ, as part of those Scriptures which are " given by inspiration of God," and therefore the source of our faith, the view which it gives of the Divine wisdom as exercised in the work of Creation must be accepted as of plenary authority in regard to the Christian faith on this subject. The importance of this, in discussing the ques- tion of the relation between human science and the Creation of God, will be manifest as we examine it. It will be observed, by all who study the Book of Job with any attention, that in the twenty-sixth chapter — when his three friends had finished their mistaken condemnation of his conduct — while he allows that he had himself pre- viously misapprehended the providential government of God, and could not even yet understand the cause of his own sufferings, — he was content to accept that which Creation itself taught him as to the wisdom of God transcending, not only in degree, but in its very character, all human under- standing. In the twenty-eighth chapter he confesses that all human wisdom, though it may be of much value to man as regards temporal things, yet differs essentially from the wisdom of God. The marvellous faculties with which God has endowed man, — beyond the keen eye of the eagle, or the strength and vigour of the lion, — do indeed enable him not only to subdue the earth and make it fruitful, but to explore its secrets and turn its darkness into light ; to penetrate into its depths, to break its rocks in pieces and tunnel its mountains ; in fact, to conquer Nature and make it serve his purposes and to enrich himself with its trea- Creation the Work of Wisdom, 51 sures. And if this was true in the time of the patriarch, how much more is it fulfilled in the present day ! Yet, whatever secrets of Nature all this skill and enterprise of practical science may discover, they do not bring man one step nearer wisdom. It is declared by the Atheist that he dissects every fibre, he explores every secret place in Nature, he scrutinizes every cell with his microscope ; and yet he can nowhere find God. The patriarch anticipated him in this conclusion. He says that man, with all his boasted powers of insight, may search for Wisdom in the heaven above and the depth beneath, but whatever treasures he may find, this, which is the most precious treasure of all, will everywhere elude his grasp.* There is a mystery under- lying all Nature, which, search as he may, remains unde- tected and incomprehensible. But to God, the Creator, all is known.t The profoundest mysteries of Nature are all open to Him, the methods of applying all its powers are wholly understood by Him. " God understandeth the way of wisdom, and He knoweth the place of understanding." And this wisdom which is His eternal perfection He has manifested in His creation. " He looketh to the ends of the earth ; and seeth under the whole heaven : to make the weight for the winds ; and He weigheth the waters by measure. When He made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder ; then did He see it, and declare it : He prepared it, yea, and searched it out." There is not a single adjustment, and " collocation " of the whole universe, which His infinite wisdom has not appointed and ordered. That wisdom includes the absolute knowledge of all natural causes and all natural effects, and governs them all. Even as regards natural things, man's knowledge is not only infinitesimally small compared with God's, but, yet * Job xxviii. 12-14. t Joh xxviii. 23-28. 52 Christian Faith as to Cf^eation, further, it is incapable of comprehending in any degree the mystery that lies behind Nature, the source and fountain head of the wisdom which Nature expresses. The only wisdom which can be of real spiritual value to man is of a different kind. ^' Unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; and to depart from evil, that is understanding." But this contrast between Divine wisdom and all that man can attain by his own investigations of nature, though so clearly expounded by the patriarch as evident, even in the most ordinary phenomena of nature, was nevertheless as yet little apprehended by him in its application to human life. He acknowledged in theory that there was this infinite difference between human wisdom and Divine ; that to the latter all secret things were open, and that its range was unlimited, while the human mind was not only very limited in its range, but unable in the commonest things to pene- trate to the hidden cause. And yet, while expounding this to others as undeniable truth, he proceeds to complain of the terrible afflictions that had come upon himself; who — as he appealed to all who knew him and to God Himself who knew all the secrets of his life — had served God in integrity of heart, and when he had offended, had not attempted to cover his transgressions, or hidden them in his own bosom. Nor was this a vainglorious boast, as it is with many who are righteous in their own eyes. The Lord Himself declared of Job, that there was none like him in the earth, " a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil."* But Job had not yet learnt the very truth which he himself expounded from creation, that the wisdom of God was beyond man's understanding. And therefore, although he had silenced his three friends, * Jobi. 8; li. 3- Creation the Work of Wisdom, 53 who, in total ignorance of God's dealings with His children, had pointed to his sufferings, as proving that he was a hypocrite, and on that account punished ; another * (Elihu) is raised up to speak to him in God's name, and teach him a further lesson. He reminds Job that if he fully acknow- ledges the infinite superiority of God to man, he ought to trust Him, though He gives no account of any of "His matters " to man. Often the severest chastisements are proofs of the tenderest love. To question God's justice because He sends us afflictions is to sin grievously against Him ; it is in itself to " go in company with the workers of iniquity, and to walk with wicked men." God is the Judge of all the earth, and the Governor over all that He has created. His chastisements should lead us to humble our- selves before Him, even though our conscience accuses us of no sin. And to think otherwise of God is to be destitute of that which is the very beginning of all human wisdom, " the fear of God." And at last his argument brings the speaker back to the same theme from which Job himself had drawn the true conclusion as to the infinite wisdom of God. He points the patriarch to God's works in nature, and earnestly presses home the very lesson which he him- self had expounded to his friends. Listen, he says, to the voice of God in nature, in which He thundereth marvellously with the voice of His excellency. " Great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend." " Hearken unto this, O Job, stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Dost thou know when God disposed them and caused the light of His cloud to shine ? Dost thou know the balanc- ings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge ? " And then having appealed, even as Job had done, to these universal proofs of God's wisdom * Job xxxii. 6 ; xxxvii, 24. 54 Christian Faith as to Creation, in the order of His creation, as sufficient to make man feel that silence before Him is our truest wisdom, he draws the irresistible conclusion : " Touching the Almighty, we can- not find Him out : He is excellent in power and judgment, and plenty of justice; He will not afflict," — without reason, or, as in the Septuagint, He will not give account to man. " Men therefore do fear Him ; He respecteth not any that are wise of heart," in their own estimation. This conclusive moral and spiritual argument from God's works in Creation is followed by the voice of God Himself* speaking to Job out of the whirlwind : not arguing with His feeble and sin- ful creature as his fellow-men might argue, however wisely; but, with Divine authority, calling on him to answer to His Maker, and demanding of him his right to set up his ignorance against the wisdom of God. " Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? declare if thou hast understanding." One by one, from their begin- ning " when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," the marvellous works of God in Creation are enumerated. All these, from one end of the immeasurable universe to the other, from the greatest and most glorious of the creations in heaven to all the manifold forms of animal life on earth, are God's own work. They are beyond, not only the power of man to create, or even to control, — except as God gives him authority in a very limited sphere, — but also beyond his power to explain, so as to account for the absolute and ultimate reason of all the various and manifold phenomena of nature. The very commonest facts that meet man's eye in his daily life, the instincts, as we call them, of the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, as well as the beautiful variety and the wonderful vigour and energy of animal life, surpass the * Job xxxviii., xxxix. Creation the Work of Wisdom. 55 wisdom of man to account for. Well may man, whenever he does by faith realize in the. simplest facts of nature the infinite wisdom of his Creator, feel as Job did before Him ; * " Behold, I am vile : what shall I answer Thee ? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer, yea, twice, but I will proceed no further." Yet this lesson of simple, unreserved submission to God's will, as infinite alike in wisdom, justice, goodness, and power, needs to be thoroughly learnt by man if patience is to have its perfect work. And therefore the patriarch is finally reminded of the utter impotence of man in compari- son with the strength even of those creatures of God, which though mere brute beasts, yet ought to be outward and visible witnesses to us of our insignificance, notwithstand- ing all our boasted skill, and our superiority as reasonable beings. Of such a creature of God (whatever may be the *' leviathan " here described) He says, ^' None is so fierce that dare stir him up ; who then is able to stand before Me ? "t With this Divine Voice from Nature itself, reveal- ing to him at once the infinite and unsearchable wisdom, the unlimited and inexhaustible knowledge, and the great- ness and almighty power of God as manifested in His works, before which the wisdom, understanding, and strength of man utterly shrivel into nothing and disappear, the humbled and penitent servant of God now completely and finally submits to God's will. " I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee. Where- fore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." * Job X. 4, s. f See Note D in Appendix. 56 CHAPTER V. REASON THE LIGHT OF DIVINE WISDOM. THE argument from Creation in the Book of Job, con- nected as it is with profound questions as to the wisdom and righteousness of the Creator, and the govern- ment of the world, which that infinite and omnipotent wisdom made and constituted as the habitation for the sons of men, touches the great theme of God's Creation in many points of deep and universal interest ; as a brief examination of that argument has been sufficient to indicate. The general purpose of this part of Revelation is evidently to exhibit, in various directions of human thought, the infinite and essential superiority of God's wisdom and knowledge to all that man either possesses or can acquire. At the same time, while God's Spirit ''Who spake by the prophets" reminds us in this book, that there are everywhere in God's works mysteries of wisdom, which are not merely unsearch- able, because they are infinite in extent, but also such as cannot be expressed in any form of human thought, and therefore inconceivable by the mind of man ; there are not a few intimations here, as we have also seen, that the actual manifestations of the wisdom of the Creator in nature around us in some respects resemble, far as they surpass, those which our own mind can appreciate ; and therefore they may teach us, not as a mere theory or notion, but by comparison Reason the Light of Divine Wisdom. 57 ot ourselves with a standard which we find in every direc- tion to be immeasurably superior to our own, how entirely unreserved must be our confidence in God, and how fiilly He understands all that is in man. The moral and spiritual conclusions ft-om the revelation of God's wisdom in His works are derived, not merely fi'om the infinite superiority of His wisdom, but also, and we may say equally, from that wisdom being, in not a few of its manifestations and opera- tions, such as is intelligible to the human mind. It is this characteristic of Divine wisdom, I mean its relation to human wisdom, which we must now proceed to investigate further from the teaching of Scripture, in order that we may draw such conclusions as are in accordance with the Chris- tian Faith as to the action of Divine wisdom in the creation of the universe. This relation is (as we have before observed) explicitly manifested in the New Testament, through the revelation of the Eternal Word of God, Who, being the Creator, came into this world, and took the nature of man and dwelt among us. But even as, before the coming of Christ, there were many prophetical intimations of various parts of His redeeming work, which are very valuable aids to enable us to appreciate their force and meaning ; so in regard to the true import of this Divine fact of the Word of God, Who has redeemed us, being our Creator, the Spirit of God has given us in Holy Scripture, especially in that portion of the Book of Proverbs to which I have before referred, a descrip- tion of the actings of the Divine wisdom in the work of Creation, in which some of the relations of human wisdom with the Divine are not obscurely indicated. (i) The Wisdom which is the theme of the Book of the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David king of Israel, might be regarded merely as a poetic and prosopopoeic representa- 58 Christian Faith as to Cf^eation. tion of the attribute of Divine wisdom, were it not that the revelation in the Gospel of the ''Logos" of God as the Only-begotten Son, Who was made man and became our Redeemer, has given a new force and reality to the personi- fication, now that Christ has been manifested to man. This Wisdom is set forth in the Book of Proverbs as the one source to the sons of men of all blessings, and of all true honour and prosperity, temporal and eternal. *' She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared with her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that retaineth her," * And it must be observed, that this which is here represented as being in man so great a blessing is the same wisdom as that by which God Himself created all things. " The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth ; by understanding hath He established the heavens. By His knowledge the depths are broken up ; and the clouds drop down the dew." The operations of what we call natural agencies belong to the same Divine wisdom. Indeed, considering wisdom, whether in God or man, as that universal reason which both seeks the best ends and employs the best means to attain them,t we must obviously infer that it includes in itself not only all moral and spiritual virtue, but equally all intellectual excellence. And in the Divine mind these are inseparably united. That the wisdom of which the inspired writer speaks in this book includes that which we call intellectual, is evident from many other passages. Thus, in the eighth chapter X it is said, " I wisdom dwell with prudence " — or practical judgment — " and find out knowledge of witty inventions," * Prov. iii. 15-18. f See p. 49, supi-a. X Prov. viii. 12-16. Reason the Light of Divine Wtsdo?n. 59 or rather, wise devices and counsels. And therefore in a following verse it is added, " By me kings reign and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, all the judges of the earth." It was, in fact, specially to enable him to govern and judge the nation over which he was appointed to reign as the heir of David's throne, that Solomon asked for the gift of wisdom ; * " Give me now," he prayed, *' wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before Thy people." " Give Thy servant an under- standing heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad." t There can be no doubt that the wisdom for which Solomon asked, and which God gave him, while it was some of that very Divine wisdom which created the world, was emphatically human wisdom. "And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of the east country and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, .... and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall ; he spake also of beasts and of fowls, and of creeping things and of fishes." X It is well to present before our mind this description of the wisdom given by God to man out of the fulness of His own wisdom, so that we may distinctly recognize the truth that the wisdom of the Creator, however infinitely superior, yet in all those things with which man's finite reason can deal, includes all human wisdom, and is in one sense similar. We must not suppose that our scientific knowledge, for example — when it is truly the result of reason — is .anything * 2 Chron. i. lo. f i Kings iii. 8. % i Kings iv. 29-33. 6o Christian Faith as to Creation, else than the result in us of the exercise of the wisdom that comes from God. In this as in other respects man is the image and likeness of His Creator. And in his wisdom we see an image, however faint and imperfect, and too often distorted, of the Divine. We must not doubt that the likeness does really exist. But let us suppose the intellect of man, being cultivated from age to age without intermission, to be capable of retaining all that it learns, and to accumulate knowledge by perpetual progress ; while it is ever acquiring fresh powers of assimi- lating and applying it. Let science be thus extended beyond the wildest dreams of the imagination, so as to be able to trace clearly the sequences of natural causes and effects to limits as yet unconceived ; and further, by the vastly enlarged sphere of its vision, to determine the solution of problems in nature which as yet, from the complexity and multitude of the hitherto unknown quantities involved in them, are to our minds quite indeterminate : still, all this science, though, as compared with man's present attain- ments, it would seem infinitely great, yet compared with God's wisdom, would be as defective and insignificant as the knowledge of nature which the most ignorant peasant possesses. In the brightness of the light of the Divine wisdom all finite light is as the blackness of darkness. But that which is all-important for us to remember is not merely that this wisdom is in God (that no one will question), but that by this wisdom all the works of God in nature were made. And let us consider what this implies. First of all, it certainly means, that the end being the creation of the heaven and the earth, and all things therein, God accomplished this end through such means, and by the operation of such causes, as were fitted to make it in accordance with His will. The discoveries of science are nothing more than traces Reason the Light of Divine Wisdom, 6i which the cultivated reason of man discerns here and there in nature, of methods which the infinite wisdom of God, the Universal Reason, employed for the fulfilment of these ends. Far from the discovery of such physical causes being in any way contrary to our faith in the Creator, it is only a com- mentary on the very teaching of Holy Scripture, from which our faith is derived, that the heaven and the earth were created, not by almighty power alone, but equally by infinite wisdom. (2) This truth — I mean, that the very being of God indicates that His creation would be effected according to reason ; in other words, through processes and methods consistent with reason — is one which the more distinct and complete revelation in the New Testament of the mystery of the Father and the Son very emphatically confirms. For we have not now merely to infer, from the language of the Proverbs respecting the wisdom of God, and the character of the wisdom which in some special cases God gave to the children of men, that there is an intimate relation between human reason and Divine wisdom ; but we have expressly revealed to us the only-begotten Son,* " the Word;" "Who was in the beginning with God, and was God." And He was the Light of man, through the Life in Him. Not only the spiritual light by which man knows God and has eternal life, but also the intellectual light of reason, by which man lives as a rational being, is of Him. He is the Divine and Eternal Wisdom of which the reason of man is the image and reflection. " He was the true Light, that lighteth every man, coming into the world." And the evangelist not only teaches that " all things were made by Him," but — as if there were danger of our overlooking this fundamental ele- ment in the Christian faith on the subject of creation, which * John i. I -10. 62 Chrisiian Faith as to iOreation. the Old Testament had but imperfectly shadowed forth in symbolical language suited for the dispensation of types and figures — he again expressly affirms, that ^^ without Him was not anything made that hath been made'' God never exer- cises His creating power except through the Word. " Through Him God made the ages." * " In Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth .... all things have been created through Him and unto Him ; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."t It follows, then, that to imagine any work of God in creation to be a mere isolated act of absolute power, and not a work effected by, and according to, that wisdom of which the human mind partakes in the divine gift of Reason, would be contrary to that characteristic doctrine of the Christian Faith as to Creation, by which it is distinguished from the faith of the Old Dispensation, which only included the truth implicitly, and did not explicitly reveal it. ♦ Heb. i. 2. t Colos. i. i6, 17. 63 CHAPTER VI. TEACHING OF ST. AUGUSTINE, WITHOUT pursuing further at present this branch of our argument, it may be well here to pause and consider for a while, how far the views as to the Christian Faith on the subject of Creation, which we have endeavoured to expound in the preceding chapters, are in accordance with the teaching of the Church of Christ. Many adver- saries of that faith, some of them of considerable scientific pretensions, contend that these are nothing more than adjustments and accommodations which have been forced upon us reluctantly by the discoveries of modern science, and not such as would, independently of such discoveries, have ever been allowed as legitimate interpretations of those Holy Scriptures from which our faith is derived. Now it may be freely admitted that, so far as the popular theology of the period since the Reformation is concerned, there is considerable truth in this charge made by scientific infidelity. The natural tendency both of the Calvinistic theology generally, and specially of its excessive reverence for the letter of Holy Scripture, was no doubt to cramp the exercise of the higher reason in its interpretation of Scrip- ture, and to treat articles of faith, and doctrines generally, as dogmas rather than living truths. And of this Puritanical theology, the great Milton was the poet. His '' Paradise 64 Christiaji Faith as to Creation. Lost " gives an interpretation of the inspired history of creation in accordance with the strictest literal notions. What is more fatal to its truth as a Christian exposition of this Divine work, is that it presents a picture of the exercise of power quite independently of all rational means, that is, independently of wisdom. The genius of Calvinism is in fact familiar with this view of God as mere Sovereignty. Creation in Milton's poem is nothing else than an uncon- nected series of marvellous acts of power. And there can be no doubt that the majestic poetry of the Puritan bard has done more than anything else to stereotype, in the Christian thought of Protestantism, the hard-and-fast literal, or rather unspiritual and unchristian, notions as to creation, to which so many cling as if they were the only true revela- tion of God. Professor Huxley has been blamed, quite unreasonably, for having in his American addresses on Evo- lution spoken of the literal interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis as the " Miltonic hypothesis," and kept it quite distinct from the Biblical account. But Professor Huxley, in making this distinction, merely follows writers on the Christian side, who, long before those addresses were de- livered by him, had pointed out how much of the popular belief about Creation was due to the untheological poetry of Milton. And there is no doubt whatever that we owe a deep debt of gratitude to modern science, — to astronomy, to geology, and last, though not least of all, to evolution, so far as it is really scientific, — for setting Christian thought in the present day free from the bondage to the letter to which Calvinism had partially enslaved it. The objections against the Christian faith on the subject of Creation, which the discoveries of science have suggested, have no doubt been beneficial to Christianity, in the same manner as the various heresies that have assailed the faith from age to age have Teaching of St. Augustine, 65 ultimately confirmed and elucidated it. They have com- pelled Christians to study Holy Scripture more carefully and more widely, and the result is that the faith has been held at last more intelligently, and therefore more distinctly, than ever. But if the scientific opponents of the Christian faith as to Creation suppose, that the broader and larger and truer views of God's works, those which are indeed alone worthy of the greatness, and glory, and (most of all) of the wisdom of the infinite Creator, have been due to themselves and not to God's Word, there is abundantly sufficient testimony to the con- trary to refute them. For these views, in their substance, were held and taught by Christian theologians, long before any of these sciences, as they are received in modern times, had a beginning. Of all the early Christian writers, none has discussed the Christian faith on the subject of Creation so fully, so profoundly, and in such a truly philosophi- cal spirit, — as, almost universally during one period, to guide Christian thought, — as St. Augustine of Hippo. This great man was not only the most illustrious of all the Latin fathers, but the first Christian writer after the apostolic age who was a profound thinker; one who could sympathize with the intellectual difficulties of others as to the teaching of the Church, and was therefore best qualified to deal with them. He was prepared for the special work to which God called him, not only by a liberal education in rhetoric and philosophy in his youth, but yet more through having in «arly manhood embraced the heresy of Manichseism; the doctrines of which seem, like other visionary systems of error in later ages, to have had a strange fascination for those ardent and imaginative minds, in whom the religious sentiment is stronger than the sense of personal responsi- 5 66 Christian l^aith as to Creation, bility to God, When, after some years' experience of this heresy, he began to distrust its teaching, he still, though now attracted towards the Christian faith, was prevented from accepting it by metaphysical difficulties, chiefly as to the mystery of the origin of evil. In the struggles of his soul at that time, which he touchingly describes in his '' Con- fessions," nothing, he says, would have saved him from falling into utter Atheism except the deep inward conviction of judgment after death, which he could not shake oft'. It is very instructive to observe how in such a mind intellec- tual and moral difficulties were always associated together ; and that the one solution for both was faith in Christ as the " Word of God." He acknowledges the goodness of God in providentially putlinj in his way at this time a Latin trans- lation of some of the Ilatonic writers, which prepared his mind for the reception ol Christian truth, especially on the subject of the Incarnation of the Word of God. This funda- mental truth of Christianity, which he found in the teaching of St. John, was to him indeed a light from heaven ; a reve- lation which testified for itself to his own conscience, and required no external evidence. And little by little that light shone brighter and clearer in his heart, and before it all the intellectual and moral difficulties gradually vanished awa3\ In his thirty-fourth year he was received by bap- tism into the Church of Christ. One of his early works, written a few years after his baptism, but before his ordina- tion to the priesthood, was a "Treatise on the Book of Genesis," specially directed against the errors of the Mani- chaeans, who denied that the God of the Old Testament was the same as the God and Father Whom Christ revealed. It seems that the account of Creation given in the first two chapters of Genesis was with them as favourite a subject for ridicule and cavils, as it is among infidels in the present Teaching of St, Augustine, 67 day, though not on the same grounds. He remarks that their attacks on Holy Scripture do, indeed, too often shake the faith of the feeble and unstable, and yet are overruled for good, both by awakening us to the necessity of a fuller knowledge of Scripture, and enabling us to teach others more fully the way of truth. In this treatise, composed before he had fully examined and considered the teaching of the Scriptures on Creation, he acknowledges that he found almost insuperable difficulties in the literal, as contrasted with the allegorical interpreta- tions of Holy Scripture.* He observes that those who examine this part of Revelation with pious diligence propose even more questions to solve than the adversaries of the faith themselves can suggest; but the former seek that they may find, whereas the only object of the others is to find difficulties which cannot be solved, and thus to bring discredit on Holy Scripture. He observes that if any one wishes to take its teaching literally, and can so interpret it consistently with reverence to God and with the Catholic Faith, such an one is not only to be envied, but ought to be considered as the best and most praiseworthy interpreter. But Augustine evidently at that time saw no such solution himself, and doubted whether such was possible. And if there is?, no other course left, so as to understand what is written piously and worthily of God, except by supposing the history to be set forth as a figure and allegory, we are (he says) fully authorized by the example of the apostles, who adduced so many things from the Old Testament as types and figures of better things to come, to use the history for this purpose, at all events for the present, without pre- judicing any better and more careful investigation of the * *' De Genesi contra Manichaeos," lib, ii., § ii. Note E in Appendix, 68 Christian Faith as to Creatio7i. subject, either by ourselves or any others to whom God may reveal it.* Although, however, the reply that might be sufficient for the objections of the Manichaeans would hardly be suitable for those of modern infidelity, there is one illustration that Augustine uses in this treatise which he further expands in subsequent writings on the same subject, and which contains a principle of interpretation that almost startles us by its conformity with modern scientific thought. He is explaining how the words, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" may be applicable to the whole of the subsequent creation. This, he says, is true, not because the creation existed already, but because it could be^ it existed potentially. " For as if we consider the seed of a tree, we may say that there are in it the roots, and the branch, and the fruit, and the leaves ; not because they exist already, but because they are to come into existence from that seed ; " so it is said, ^^ * In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth 'y as if this were the seed of the heaven and the earth, although as yet all the material of heaven and earth was in confusion ; but because it was certain that from this the heaven and the earth would be, therefore the material itself is called by that name."t Four or five years after this work was published, and while he was still a presbyter of the Church, Augustine began a work on Genesis, such as he felt was required, in which the history might be investigated without having recourse to allegorical interpretation. But he found him- self at that time of his life still unequal to the task ; " In Scripturis exponendis tirocinium meam sub tantse sarcinae mole succubuit, et non dum perfecto uno libro, ab eo quem * Note F in Appendix. t '^ De Genes, contra Man.," lib. L, § vii. Note G in Appendix. Teaching of St, Augustine, 69 sustinere non poteram labore conquievi," * he says in his ^^ Retractations/' and the work was left unfinished. He after- wards wrote twelve books on the same subject, and al- though, even in these, he acknowledges, many questions are rather proposed as subjects for investigation than as capable of being thoroughly explained ; yet he considers them far superior to his unfinished work, which he leaves, he says, chiefly as an indication, which might not be with- out use, of his rudimentary thoughts in the investigation of the Divine oracles. These w^orks together must be taken as containing his matured views as to the true teaching of the inspired history of creation, without treating it as an allegory. And while he now does not find it necessary to take refuge in allegorical meanings in order to interpret the history consistently with the infinite perfections of God, yet he recognizes, what in his first treatise on this subject he does not seem to have realized, that its language must, from the necessity of the case, be not literal, in the usual sense of the word, but symbolical or ideal language, such as is adapted to convey to our limited and imperfect apprehensions those conceptions of the Divine working which may most impress our hearts with the mysteries of His Divine wisdom and power, and of His eternal and infinite Being; and at the same time indicate the intimate connection between the mystery of Creation and that of Redemption. He gives some practical cautions as to the study of such parts of Holy Scripture as treat of obscure subjects wholly removed from the range of our understandings, which cautions it would be well if theologians of all ages had more carefully observed. The first isf that when passages * " Retract.," lib. i., cap. xviii. t " De Gen. ad Litteram," i., § 37. yO Christian Faith as to Creation, of Holy Scripture can, without imperilling the faith, yield different meanings, we must not so commit ourselves hastily and dogmatically to any one particular view that our whole argument breaks down if further and more careful investi- gation of truth shall overthrow our particular interpretation. We are too ready to act, he says, as if we were contending, not for the meaning which Holy Scripture itself contains, but for our own, and as though our wish were that the sense of Scripture should be that which we adopt ; where- as our desire ought rather to be to adopt as our own that which is the meaning of Scripture. He gives, as an in- stance, the various meanings that might be given to the light which is described as being created by the Word of God. But he also points to another more general case* in which serious injury may, and often does, arise to the cause of Christianity from partial dealing with the Word of God. " It very often happens," he says, " that there is some question as to the earth, or the sky, or the other elements of this world, as to the m.otion or course, or even the magni- tude and distance, of the heavenly bodies, the cycles of years and seasons, of the nature of animals, trees, stones, or other things of this kind, respecting which one who is not a Christian has knowledge derived from most certain rea- soning or observation." In fact, a scientific man. " And it is very disgraceful and mischievous, and of all things to be carefully avoided, that a Christian speaking about such matters as if according to the Christian Scriptures, should be heard by an unbeliever talking such nonsense that the unbeliever, perceiving him to be as wnde from the mark as east from west, can hardly restrain himself from laughing. And it is not merely that an ignorant man is ridiculed, but that our authors are believed by those who * Lib. i., § 39. Note H in Appendix. Teaching of St, Augustine, 71 are without to have held such opinions, and are found fault with and rejected as unlearned men, to the loss of the souls of those for whose salvation we are earnestly striving." He proceeds to say that these rash and self-appointed champions of the truth, who set up their own hasty conclu- sions from Holy Scripture as the very Word of God itself, little know what trouble and sorrow they cause their more prudent brethren. Alas ! the scene described here repeats ' itself in the nineteenth century, with some differences as to the questions in regard to which the unbeliever ridicules the ignorance of the Christian, but in substance precisely the same. It is evident that the principles here laid down by Augustine could not fail to be adverse to narrow and irra- tional interpretations of this part of Holy Scripture, and to lead the student to regard the spirit, and not the mere letter, as expressing the truth. In referring to the apparent contradictions in Gen. ii. 4, which speaks of '' ' the day ' in which God made the heaven and the earth,'' whereas in the first chapter the Sacred Record had spoken of six days altogether, he points out the impossibility of there being measurements of time before those motions of created things existed which determine and measure time, and he continues : * " Wherefore when we consider the original condition of the things created, from which works of His God rested on the seventh day, we ought not to think either of those days as being these solar days of ours, nor of the working of God itself as now God works anything in time ; but rather as He has worked from Whom time itself had its beginning, as He has worked all things simultaneously " — in the sense which he explains in his former treatise (see p. 68) ; ** bringing them also into due order, not by intervals * " De Genes, ad L