of the whole revealed plan of redemption. The whole Bible, there- fofe^Tests"upoh~lh"g"Te'c^^^ the work of creation, and
consequently all the evidence which goes to support the divine authority of the Bible, tends to sustain the historical verity of that record.
Objections to the Mosaic Account of the Creation.
The principal objections to the Mosaic account of the creation are either critical, astronomical, or geological. Under the first head it is objected that the account is inconsistent with itself, espe- cially in what is said of the creation of man ; and that it is evidently composed of independent documents, in one of which God is called CMbs, and in the other nirr;. The former of these objections is answered by showing that the two accounts of the creation are not inconsistent ; the one is a concise statement of the fact, the other a fuller account of the manner of its occurrence. As to the second objection, it is enough to say that, admitting the fact on which it is founded, it creates no difficulty in the way of acknowledging the historical character of the record. It is of no importance to us whence Moses derived his information, whether from one or more historical documents, from tradition, or from direct revelation. We receive the account on his authority and on the authority of the Book of which it is a recognized and authentic portion.
The astronomical objections are, (1.) That the whole account evidently assumes that our earth is the centre of the universe, and that the sun, moon, and stars are its satellites. (2.) That light is said to have been created and the alternation between day and night established before the creation of the sun ; and (3.) That the visible heavens are represented as a solid expanse. The first of these objections bears with as much force against all the repre- sentations of the Bible and the language of common life. Men instinctively form their language according to apparent, and not absolute .or scientific truth. They speak of the sun as rising and setting ; of its running its course through the heavens, although they know that this is only apparently and not really true. The language of the Bible on this, as well as on all other subjects, is framed in accordance with the common usage of men. The second objection is founded on the assumption that the fourteenth verse speaks of the creation of the sun and other heavenly bodies. This is not its necessary meaning. The sense may be that God then appointed the sun and moon to the service of measuring and regulating times and seasons. But even if the other interpretation be adopted, there need be no conflict between the record and the
670 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. X. — Creatiow.
astroncmical fact that the sun is now the source of light to the world. The narrative makes a distinction between the cosraical light mentioned in the earlier part of the chapter, and the light emanating from the sun, specially designed for our globe. The third objection is met by the remark already made. If we speak of the concave heavens, why might not the Hebrews speak of the solid heavens? The word firmament applied to the visible heavens is as familiar to us as it was to them. Calvin well remarks, " Moses vulgi ruditati se accommodans, non alia Dei opera com- memorat in historia creationis, nisi quae oculis nostris occui'runt." ^
Greology and the Bible.
The geological objections to the Mosaic record are apparently the most serious. According to the commonly received chronology, our globe has existed only a few thousand years. According to geologists, it must have existed for countless ages. And again, according to the generally received interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis, the process of creation was completed in six days, whereas geology teaches that it must have been in progress through periods of time which cannot be computed.
Admitting the facts to be as geologists would have us to believe, two methods of reconciling the Mosaic account with those facts have been adopted. First, some understand the first vei'se to refer to the original creation of the matter of the universe in the in- definite past, and what follows to refer to the last reorganizing change in the state of our earth to fit it for the habitation of man. Second, the word day as used throughout the chapter is understood of geological periods of indefinite duration.
In favour of this latter view it is urged that the word day is used in Scripture in many different senses ; sometimes for the time the sun is above the horizon ; sometimes for a period of twenty- four hours ; sometimes for a year, as in Lev. xxv. 29, Judges xvii. 10, and often elsewhere ; sometimes for an indefinite period, as in the phrases, " the day of your calamity," " the day of sal- vation," " the day of the Lord," " the day of judgment." And in this account of the creation it is used for the period of light in antithesis to night ; for the separate periods in the progress of creation ; and then, ch. ii. 4, for the whole period : " In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens."
It is of course admitted that, taking this account by itself, it would be most natural to understand the word in its ordinary 1 Institution I. xiv. 3, edit. Berlin, 1834, p. 112.