Synopses & Reviews
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II. THE PURPOSE OF THE COSMOGONY. I. We have said that the cosmogony both allows and even demands scientific investigation. It would be a grave mistake, however, to suppose that it was written for the sake of such investigation. As soon as independent knowledge of the facts of creation exists, with which its statements can fairly be compared, investigation into its truth is, indeed, challenged. But its proper purpose was one altogether different; namely, to instruct those who had no such independent knowledge. In a word, the narrative of Genesis was intended primarily, not for the scientific, but for the unscientific. It has been handed down to us as part of the sacred writings of the Israelites, a people whom we have no reason to suppose knew anything of science properly so called; who at all events knew nothing of that particular branch of science, geology, which throws mostlight upon the history of creation. Nor do we find that this record was committed to the Israelites merely to be preserved by them, and so handed on to other and more enlightened readers. It was no sealed writing, whose meaning and use would first be perceived in future times when knowledge was increased1. On the contrary, it was pointed to as the authority and exemplar of one of their most characteristic institutions, the Sabbath (Ex. xx. 11, xxxi. 17). In the history of creation here given them the Israelites were to behold the reason and the pattern of their own perpetually recurring six-days' labour and seventh day's rest. It was a narrative, then, which was held to be well within their comprehension, and which was expressly designed for their instruction. And with this its whole structure and language well agree. It is as simple, as straightforward throughout as could possibly be conceived. There is ...
Synopsis
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