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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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an infallible canon for Scripture interpretation , —that no interpretation of Scripture ought to he admitted which is inconsistent with any well-authenticated facts in the material world ; or , in other words , where a passage is of doubtful meaning , or capable of different interpretations , it ought to be explained in such a manner as will best agree with the established discoveries of science . For , since the Author of revelation and the Author of universal nature are one and the same Infinite
Being , there must exist a complete harmony between the revelations of his word , and the facts or relations which are observed in the material universe ; otherwise , we could have no evidence that a revelation , pretending to come from the Almighty ,
was genuine and authentic . If , in any one instance , it could be shewn that an expression of Scripture directly contradicted a well-known fact in the material world } if , for example ,
it asserted , in express terms , to be literally understood , that the earth is a quiescent body in the centre of the universe , or that the moon is no larger than a mountain ; it would be a fair conclusion , either that the revelation
is not divine , or that the particular passage or passages are interpolations . To illustrate the canon now laid dawn , an example or two may be stated . If it be a fact that geological research has ascertained thatthe materials of the strata of the earth , are of a more ancient date than the Mosaic account
of the commencement of the present race of men ; the passages in the first chapter of Genesis , and other parts of Scripture , which refer to the origin of our world , must be explained as conveying the idea , that the earth was then merely arranged into its
present form and order , out of the materials which previously existed in a confused mass , and which had been created by the Almighty at a prior period in duration . For Moses no where asserts , that the materials of our globe were created or brought into existence out of nothing , at the
time to which his hjstory refers 5 but insinuates the contrary . 4 < For the earth / ' ( says he , ) prior to it » present constitution , " was without form and void , " &c . Again , if it be a fact that the universe is indefinitely extended * that , of many millions of vast globes Which diversify the voids of space ,
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only two or three have any immediate connexion with the earth , then it will appear most reasonable to conclude , that those expressions in the Mosaic historv of the creation , which
refer to the creation of the fixed stars , are not to be understood as referring to the time when they were brought into existence , as if they had been created about the same time with our
earth 5 but , as simply declaring the fact , that , at what period soever in duration they were created , they derived their existence from God . That they did not all commence their existence at that period , is demonstrable from the fact , that , within the space
of 2000 years past , and even within the space of the last two centuries , new stars have appeared in the heavens , which previously did not exist in the concave of the firmament ; which ,
consequently , have been created since the Mosaic period 5 or , at least , had undergone a change analogous to that which took place in our globe , when it emerged from a chaotic state to the form and order in which we now behold it .
Consequently , the phrase " God rested from all his works , " must be understood , not absolutely , or in reference to the whole system of nature , but merely in relation to our world ; and as importing , that the Creator then ceased to form any new species of beings on the terraqueous globe . The same canon will direct us in the
interpretation of those passages which refer to the last judgment , and the destruction of the present constitution of our globe . When , in reference to these events , it is said , that * the stars shall fall from heaven , " that •* the powers of heaven shall be shaken . ' * and " the earth and the heaven
shall flee away , " our knowledge of the system of nature leads us to conclude , either that such expressions are merely metaphorical , or that they describe only the appearance , not the reality of things . For it is impossible that the stars can ever fall to the earth , since each of them is of a size vastly
superior to our globe , and could never be attracted to its surface , without unhinging the laws and the fabric of universal nature . The appearance , however , of the 4 i heaven fleeing away , " would be produced , should the earth ' s diurnal rotation , at that period , be suddenly stopped , as will most probably happen , in which cane
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464 Oti 4 he Connexion of Science with Religion and a future State .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1818, page 484, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2479/page/12/
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