On the other side, there has been a growing disposition on the part of theologians to inquire as to the actual views of nature presented in the Bible, and to separate these from those accretions of obsolete philosophy which have been too often confounded with them. With respect to the first chapter of Genesis more especially, there has been a decided growth in the acceptance of those principles for which I contended in 1860. In illustration of this I may refer to the fact that in 1862 it was precisely on these principles that Dr. McCaul conducted his able defence of the Mosaic record of creation in the "Aids to Faith," which may almost be regarded as an authoritative expression of the views of orthodox Christians in opposition to those of the once notorious "Essays and Reviews." Equally significant is the adoption of this method of interpretation by Dr. Tayler Lewis in his masterly "Special Introduction" to the first chapter of Genesis, in the American edition of Lange's Commentary, edited by Dr. Philip Schaff; and the manifest approval with which the lucid statement of the relations of Geology and the Bible by Dr. Arnold Guyot, was received by the great gathering of divines at the Convention of the Evangelical Alliance in New York, in 1873, bears testimony to the same fact. The author has also had the honor of being invited to illustrate this mode of reconciliation to the students of two of the most important theological colleges in America, in lectures afterwards published and widely circulated.

The time is perhaps nearer than we anticipate when Natural Science and Theology will unite in the conviction that the first chapter of Genesis "stands alone among the traditions of mankind in the wonderful simplicity and grandeur of its words," and that "the meaning of these words is always a meaning ahead of science—not because it anticipates the results of science, but because it is independent of them, and runs as it were round the outer margin of all possible discovery." [1]

In the Appendix the reader will find several short essays on special points collateral to the general subject, and important in the solution of some of its difficulties, but which could not be conveniently included in the text. More especially I would refer to the summaries given in the Appendix of the present state of our knowledge as to the origin of life, of species, and of man—topics not discussed in much detail in the body of the work, both because of the wide fields of controversy to which they lead, and because I have treated of them somewhat fully in a previous work, "The Story of the Earth and Man," in which the detailed history of life as disclosed by science was the main subject in hand.

J. W. D.

May, 1877.

CONTENTS.

[CHAPTER I.]
THE MYSTERY OF ORIGINS AND ITS SOLUTIONS.
Reality of the Unseen.—Personality of God.—Possibility of a Revelation of Origins.—Turanian, Aryan, and Semitic Solutions of the Mystery.—The Abrahamic Genesis.—The Mosaic Genesis[Page 9]
[CHAPTER II.]
OBJECTS AND NATURE OF A REVELATION OF ORIGINS.
Objects to be Attained by a Revelation of Origins.—Its Method andStructure.—Vision of Creation.—Translation of the First Chapter of Genesis[35]
[CHAPTER III.]
OBJECTS AND NATURE OF A REVELATION OF ORIGINS (continued).
Character of the Revelation and its Views of Nature.—Natural Law.—Progress and Development.—Purpose and Use.—Type or Pattern[70]
[CHAPTER IV.]
THE BEGINNING.
The Universe not eternal.—Its Creation.—The Heavens.—The Earth.—The Creator, Elohim.—The Beginning very Remote in Time[87]
[CHAPTER V.]
THE DESOLATE VOID.
Characteristics of Biblical Chaos.—The Primitive Deep.—The DivineSpirit.—The Breath of God.—Chaos in other Cosmogonies.—Chemicaland Physical Conditions of the Primitive Chaos[100]
[CHAPTER VI.]
LIGHT AND CREATIVE DAYS.
What is Implied in Cosmic Light.—Its Gradual Condensation.—Day andNight.—Days of Creation.—Their Nature and Length.—They areOlams, Æons or Time-worlds.—Objections to this View Answered.—Confirmations from Extraneous Sources.[115]
[CHAPTER VII.]
THE ATMOSPHERE.
Its Present Constitution.—Waters Above and Below.—The "Expanse"of Genesis not a Solid Arch.—Mythology of the Atmosphere.—Superstitions connected with it Opposed by the Bible.[157]
[CHAPTER VIII.]
THE DRY LAND AND THE FIRST PLANTS.
The Earth of the Bible is the Dry Land.—Its Elevation and Supportabove the Waters.—Structure of the Continents arranged from the first.— The First Vegetation.—Its Nature.—Introduction of Life.— Organization and Reproduction.—Objections considered.— Geological Indications.[174]
[CHAPTER IX.]
LUMINARIES.
How Introduced.—What Implied in this.—Dominion of Existing Causes.—Astronomy of the Hebrews.—Not Connected with Astrology[199]
[CHAPTER X.]
THE LOWER ANIMALS.
The Sheretzim, or Swarmers.—Their Origin from the Waters.—The Great Reptiles.—Their Creation.—Coincidences with Geology.— Hypotheses of Evolution[211]
[CHAPTER XI.]
THE HIGHER ANIMALS AND MAN.
The Placental Mammals.—The Principal Groups of these.—Man, how Introduced.—His Early Condition.—His Relations to Nature[230]
[CHAPTER XII.]
THE REST OF THE CREATOR.
The Sabbath of Creation.—The Modern Period.—Its Early History.—The Fall and Antediluvian Man.—Postdiluvian Extension of Men[249]
[CHAPTER XIII.]
UNITY AND ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
Biblical Account of his Introduction and Early History.—Historical Testimony with respect to his Unity and Antiquity.—Testimony of Language[263]
[CHAPTER XIV.]
UNITY AND ANTIQUITY OF MAN (continued).
Geological Evidence of Antiquity of Man.—General Conditions ofPost-glacial and Modern Periods.—Remains of Man in Caverns, in River-gravels, etc.—Palæocosmic and Neocosmic Men[294]
[CHAPTER XV.]
COMPARISONS AND CONCLUSIONS.
Geological Chronology.—Table of Succession of Life.—Points ofAgreement of the Two Records.—Parallelism of Genesis and PhysicalScience with Reference to the Origin and Early History of the World.—Conclusion[322]