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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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Mr . Fry ' s Observations on the First Chupter of Genesis . 283
Untitled Article
tion , that it is , in my view , highly desirable it should have a firmly-established credence in the minds of all the adherents to Christianity . If we conclude the Mosaic narrative , or what is commonly esteemed such , to he incompatible with the system of nature as elucidated by science , must not that confidence in the truth of its theology be greatly enfeebled , which u belief in its historical accuracy will < , t least tend to strengthen and
coniinn ? And viewing this account as false in its detail , how are we to re-« rar < i the language of the Decalogue Triven to the Hebrew nation , as proceeding from the Supreme Potentate , wherein his resting from his six days ' work is assigned as a reason for the sanctity of the seventh , which was
appointed to be the Sabbath ? Exod . xx . 1 1 : For in si < v days Jehovah madr heaven and earth , and the sea , and all that in them is , &c . If the representation in the first chapter of Genesis , concerning the divine transactions duriner six days be fictitious ,
• -J W ' which it certainly must be , if not correct in its philosophical statements , ( hen the declaration here evidently alluding to it , and not merely implying its verity , but positively adopting it as sacred truth , must also be of the same spurious character . On the contrary , if , as Moses asserts , Exod . xx .
1 , ( i < td spake alt these words , then the relation given of the six days and their occurrences , must be a description of certain facts and realities , which cannot be disbelieved without the authenticity of the whole Levitieal econo my being' rendered disputable , and the credibility of the . gospel
revelation being seriously affected and impaired . But it may be alleged , as * ' supposed refutation of the theory H'hich I am attempting to support , 1 but , in this passage of the Decalogue , ; is it stands recorded in Exodus , Jehov ; ih is said to have made the heavens ; i nd the earth in six : days . It is to
•) r a ^ ain remarked , that though made ls the . word used in the English Ver-S 1 ( > n , yet the Hebrew verb , so trans' ; i ^ l ( l in this and various other Inbailees , is not , as in Gen . i . 1 , frOIl , which means to create in the strictest Srnse , or to bring from nothing ; but ^ wV y as in the Kith verse , which sig'nlies to make in the sense of fashion-
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ing or preparing . Thus , in this book of Moses , Gen . vi . 14 , Make thee an ark of Gopher wood ; and ch . xxxv . 3 , 7 will make there an altar unto God the same verb is used , and obviousl y in the sense of making fit or faslrian
mg ; as the materials already existed which were to be fashioned into new forms , or prepared for the specified purposes . The word having * this signification in the Decalogue makes
it confirmatory of what has been advanced respecting the six days , and the employment of the Divine wisdom and power in these first divisions of time . In sij / days Jehovah prepared , or adjusted , the heat-ens and the earth . This Hebrew verb appears also in
Gen . i . 31 , and repeatedly in the beginning of the second chapter , and in the 3 d verse both of these words are used , and so as to shew their distinct significations : He rested from all the irorks which lie had created andpre- * pared . They appear likewise in the
prophecy of Isaiah with the same meanings ; ch . xlv . 18 : Thus saitk Jehovah , who created the heavens , God himself , irlto formed the earth and prejmrcd it . And Jeremiah , using
the latter word , says , ch . x . 12 , lie hath prepared the earth by his power , fie hath established the tear Id by his , icisdom , and stretched out the heaven , by his discretion . Moses does not , indeed , declare that he received the knowledge which bis account conveys immediately from God , nor to whom it was originally imparted ; but this silence cannot be
justly considered as sufficient to invalidate its divine authenticity . It' the narrative contain what may be fairiy deemed internal evidence of divine inspiration , this is equivalent to any assertion to that etfect , if not of greater validity , especially when corroborated by other sacred documents .
With such testimony , which is not wanting if the foregoing observations be well-founded , it is perceived as the pole-star of revelation , not only elevating the intellectual views with regard to the wisdom , goodness and power of the one eternal Deity , as
employed in the creation of the universal system with its countless worlds , and in the excellent adjustment and preparation of our own for the uses intended ; but it further prepares the
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1822, page 283, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2512/page/27/
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