Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.

427

declarations of Scripture and the sensible demonstrations of geological science, pointedly contradict each other? Does not the Bible teach that the moment of the Supreme Being's first putting forth his creating power, was only about six thousand years ago? And do not the undeniable phenomena of stratification, and other facts, demonstrate that our globe (to say nothing of the rest of the solar system, and the astral universe,) has existed, has passed through countless changes, such as are continually in progress, and others of a more intense character, which rational estimation must suppose to have required a period for their production so vast as to fill us with astonishment,—which no calculator ventures to lay down,-which probably amounts to millions and millions of years?

Fully admitting the assumptions in the last query, I deny that of the preceding one.

It is to be lamented that the common habits of expression nourish the opinion, that the authority of Scripture maintains the commencement of dependent nature to have been as has been stated: and it is scarcely less to be lamented that theories have been propounded for conciliating the facts of nature and the Scripture narrative, which rest upon either a defective acquaintance with those facts, or a disregard to the plain use of language in that narrative. Of the former kind are the schemes for finding the time requisite for the terrene formations, in the period from the creation of the first man, to the Noachian Deluge; of the latter, those which interpret the days of successive operation, laid down in the primeval record, as if they were indefinite periods.

It will appear evident to any one who will reflect upon the case, that the records of revelation must have been written in the phraseology and idioms of the people and the age to which they were given; or they would have been unintelligible. Upon this principle we account for the manner in which natural phenomena are currently described; and for the expressions which impute to the Infinite Spirit the form, the organs, and the mental affections of a human being; and various other characteristics of the parabolic style of the Hebrew Scriptures. Such language was a condescension to the infirmities of mortals, and best adapted to the instruction of the general mass of mankind: but it is self-evident that it must be interpreted in a manner congruous with the perfect attributes of the Deity, and the reality of things.

A philological survey of the initial section of the Bible (Gen. i. 1, to ii. 3,) brings out the result :

i. That the first sentence is a simple, independent, all-comprehending, axiom, to this effect-that matter, elementary or combined, aggregated only or organized, and dependent sentient and intellectual beings, have not existed from eternity, either in self-continuity or succession, but had a beginning; that their beginning took place by the all-powerful will of ONE BEING, the Self-existent, Independent, and Infinite in all perfections; and that the date of that beginning is not made known.

ii. That, at a recent epoch, our planet was brought into a state of disorganization, detritus, or ruin, (perhaps we have no perfectly appropriate term,) from a former condition.*

iii. That it pleased the Almighty, Wise, and Benevolent Supreme, out of that state of ruin, to adjust the surface of the earth to its now existing condition; partly by the operation of the mechanical and chemical causes (what we usually call Laws of Nature,) which Himself had established; and partly, that is, whenever it was necessary, by His own creative power, or other immediate intervention; the whole extending through the period of six natural days.

It has been indeed maintained, that the conjunction and, with which the next sentence begins, connects the succeeding matter with the preceding, so as to forbid the intercalating of any considerable space of time. To this we reply, that the Hebrew conjunction, agreeably to the simplicity of ancient languages, expresses an annexation of subject or a continuation of speech, in any mode whatever, remote as well as proximate. For denoting such different modes of annexation, the Greek and other languages have a variety of par

* I beg that this position may be understood in the way which the preceding lectures explain. Prof. Powell's volume awakened my closer attention and directed my mind to what I regard as the more accurate interpretation of this verse, and which is therefore maintained in these lectures. Referring to the preceding paper, of which he speaks in kind and courteous terms, he has represented me as conceiving "that the beginning means an indefinitely long period, during which the successive formations recognized by Geology may have taken place." Connex. of Nat. and Div. Truth; p. 297. I venture to believe that this representation arose from oversight. My intention was to apply that word, not to a period, but to the first term of a period, the commencement of a series of operations; and that therefore the verb created is to be understood sensu prægnanti, as the Hebrew grammarians say.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.

429

ticles; but their use is in Hebrew compensated by the shades of meaning which the tone in oral speech, and the connexion in writing, could supply. To go no further than the first two leaves of the Hebrew Bible, we find this copula rendered in our authorized version, by thus, but, now, and also.

This interpretation is what I have been labouring to diffuse for more than thirty years, in private and in public, by preaching, by academical lecturing, and by printing. But it is not my interpretation, though I believe that I originally derived it from the sole study of the Bible-text. Clemens of Alexandria, Origen, Basil, Chrysostom, and Augustine, among the fathers (though not in a truly philosophical way, which was not to be expected), departed from the vulgar notion: and some judicious interpreters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have done the same, in particular, Bishop Patrick and Dr. David Jennings. Of modern Scripture critics I say nothing; for prejudice, justly or unjustly, may lie against them. Not that the question is to be settled by human authority. Our only appeal for decision is to the Bible itself, fairly interpreted. But the mention of venerable names may be useful, to allay the apprehensions of some good persons, who only hear obscurely of these subjects, and have not the means of forming an independent judgment on solid grounds.

I, therefore, with many, feel greatly obliged to Dr. Buckland for having come in aid of this, which I believe to be, the true sense and meaning of the sacred writers. I am framing no hypotheses in Geology; I only plead that the ground is clear, and that the dictates of Scripture interpose no bar to observations and reasonings upon the mineralogical constitution of the earth, and the remains of organized creatures which its strata disclose. If those investigations should lead us to attribute to the earth, and to the other planetary and astral spheres, an antiquity which millions or ten thousand millions of years might fail to represent, the divine records forbid not their deduction. Let but the geologist maintain what his science so loudly proclaims, that the universe around us has been formed, at whatever epoch, or through whatever succession of epochs, to us unknown, by the power and wisdom of an Almighty First Cause. Let him but reject the absurdities of pre-existent matter, of an eternal succession of finite beings, of formations without a former, laws without a lawgiver, and nature without a God. Let him but admit that man is but of yesterday, and that the design of revelation is to train

him to the noblest purity and happiness in the immortal enjoyment of his Creator's beneficence; and he will find the doctrines of the Bible not an impediment, but his aid and his joy.

I have written much more than I anticipated, and I will tax your indulgence no longer; otherwise, confirmation and illustration might be brought from various passages of Scripture, and it would plainly appear that a just interpretation of the idioms of the Hebrew language, marked with archaic simplicity, would show them to be susceptible of an unforced accommodation to philosophical truth; just as, in every modern language, phrases of current parlance, which, literally taken, would be absurd, are continually used by the masters of science as well as by common men. In such cases, error is neither given nor taken, and to affect philosophical precision would be miserable pedantry. This general principle may, I humbly think, be satisfactorily applied to the account of the Noachian Deluge, and to the obviating of some of its difficulties, though others will probably remain as a proper test of our disposition to rely implicitly on the infinite wisdom, goodness, and power of the glorious Author and Preserver of all things; "in whose hand are the deep places of the earth, and the strength of the hills is His also." J. P. S. Dec. 10, 1836.

[G G.]

Referring to page 312.

M. EUGENE BORÉ was sent by the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, on an oriental expedition for literary and scientific purposes. He has lately sent home from Persia a Report upon Chaldæa and its ancient and modern inhabitants. It has been published in the Révue Française, vol. XII.; and a large extract is given in the Sémeur of Oct. 2, 1839. From this article, which contains much philological and historical information, I extract a few sentences, tending to support the idea that the resting-place of the ark was in some less elevated part of the great mountain region to which the name of Ararat was anciently given.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.

431

"The Chaldeans inhabited the mountains whose extended chain over Mossoul, Diarbekir, Van, and Suleimania, covers the country with its innumerable ramifications. Secluded there and intrenched as in an impregnable fortress, they have constantly maintained themselves in their independence and wild liberty, which they have ever prized above every other enjoyment. Those mountains anciently bore the names of the Gorduian [Gordyæan ?], Carduian, or Cardou.

-The Syriac Version of the Old Testament does not say that the ark rested upon Mount Ararat, but on the top of Mount Cardou.* On the place here pointed out by tradition, the early Christians built the edifice which they called the Monastery of the Ark; in which they kept up an annual commemoration of the patriarch with his family coming out of the ark. The Mohammedan dervishes to the present day maintain in this place a perpetually burning lamp, in an oratory. -The mountains Cardou, Macis as called by the Armenians, and Ararat, are only links of the immense chain of the Taurus."

[H.]

Referred to at page 355.

In a recent publication, "The Stranger's Intellectual Guide to London, for 1839-40," by Mr. A. Booth, an account is given of the Geological Society; and in it occurs the following passage.

"The meetings of the Geological Society are perhaps the most popularly interesting to their attendants of any in town, and each member having the opportunity of admitting two visitors, the capacious meeting-room is generally well filled. The principal interest of these meetings is however derived from the discussions which

*

The Syriac has Cardu, the Arabic Carda; but the difference is not essential, as every one acquainted with the Shemitic languages must know. The bearing of this evidence is to support the opinions, that the name Ararat in the Hebrew text was intended to comprehend the whole mountainous district; and that the ark rested in some part of the lower, but yet hilly, region which lies eastward, and is called in Arrowsmith's maps, Karadaugh. The Latin Vulgate renders Ararat by Armenia.

« AnteriorContinua »