Man in Genesis and in Geology

JAMES D. DANA, LL. D.,

Professor in Xale College,

AS A TRIBUTE TO HIS

EMINENT ATTAINMENTS IN SCIENCE, AND IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF HIS SERVICES

PREFACE.

THE question How to adjust the facts of Science to the Bible? assumes not only that the Bible is a book of divine authority, but that its authority reaches over the world of physical phenomena with which Science is directly concerned, so that no fact declared by Science can be accepted as true if it conflicts with any statement of the Bible. The question How to adjust the Bible to the facts of Science? assumes that the Bible is constantly on trial, in respect of its truth and its divine authority; and that in any case of apparent conflict, the facts of Science must take precedence of the declarations of the Bible. Hence, on the one hand, the cry of infidelity is raised against men of Science, and on the other the Bible is set aside, at least in all that relates to the primeval history of the world and Man, as a book of crude and antiquated traditions. Either of these modes of viewing the relations of the Bible and Science is incomplete and illogical. The true method of physical Science keeps within its own province of the observation and induction of facts, and will not trespass upon the ground of Biblical criticism and interpretation. A sound Theology looks upon Nature as the handiwork of God, and while it accepts a supernatural Revelation upon evidence peculiar to itself, it accepts also every established fact of the physical universe as equally of divine origin and authority. Hence the devout inquirer after truth will be bent,-not upon devising some compromise between Science and the Bible, as presumably at variance, but upon ascertaining the exact facts of Nature, as a portion of God's testimony concerning Himself, and the precise meaning of the Bible according to legitimate principles of interpretation. When each class of declarations is fairly brought out by its own methods, if there is a seeming discrepancy, neither will be set aside as of inferior authority, but either some error of observation, induction, or interpretation will be suspected; or while both forms of testimony are accredited, the decision of the case will be held in abeyance, until a more advanced knowledge shall reconcile them from some higher plane, where the harmonies of all Science, physical and metaphysical, and of all Revelation, the secondary and the supernatu

ral, shall interblend without confusion or mistake. It is from this last point of view that this book has been written. It is neither a book of Science nor of Theology, but it aims to present the latest results of Science touching the origin and antiquity of Man, and his place in this mundane system, side by side with the account of his creation and functions in the book of Genesis, as interpreted by the critical tests of modern philology; and to suggest certain principles of adjustment between the record of Nature and the record of the Bible, without violence to the spirit of either.

The matter of the volume was originally given in a series of Sundayevening lectures, largely extemporaneous in form, and purposely popular, almost colloquial, in style. At the instance of the publisher, these have been prepared for the press from the reports of a competent and careful phonographer. No attempt has been made to elaborate them for scientific readers, though a few notes of reference to authorities and of ancillary topics have been added. The fourth lecture, on MAN'S DOMINION OVER NATURE, is somewhat more labored than the rest, having been delivered substantially to the Phi Beta Kappa Society in Harvard College, in 1865. The then recent death of Mr. EDWARD EVERETT naturally suggested the tribute to his memory as a typical Man.

If this little book shall do anything to diffuse sound views of the interpretation of the Bible in its allusions to the phenomena of Nature, and to strengthen the conviction that in Nature and the Bible alike one living and eternal God is declared the creator and lord of all, and Man His image as a spiritual power above Nature, the author will be fully recompensed for the risk of entering the lists as a disputant in an. untried field.

Having in view always the popular reader, the author has cited foreign authorities from English translations, wherever these exist, or has clothed their thoughts in English dress. Among American authors he acknowledges his special indebtedness to Professor JAMES D. DANA, of Yale College, and Professor ARNOLD GUYOT, of the College of New Jersey-men whom Science recognizes among her wisest Interpreters, and Revelation among her ablest Defenders.

NEW YORK, September, 1869.

CONTENTS.

LECTURE I.

THE OUTLINE OF CREATION IN GENESIS, 9-Moses the Author of

Genesis, 11-Origin of the Universe, 13—Biblical Idea of Creation,

15—Meaning of the Word Day, 17-Outline of Creation in Gene-

sis, 19—Ancient Cosmogonies, 21-Cosmogony of the Veda, 23—

The Genesis of Things Revealed by God, 25-Outline of Creation

in Genesis, 27.

LECTURE II.

THE CREATION OF MAN, 28-Harmony of Genesis and Geology, 29—

Man the Image of God, 33-Man the Head of the Creation, 35.