Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-03-20
For the Sunday Appeal
GEOLOGY AND GENESIS.
BY WILLIAM RossELLH.

Creation, given at the opening of Gen
esis, has proved a stumbling-block to
intelligent christians, and q fruitful
of skepticism. This has not
arisen from the narrative itself, but
from the error of the Church in claim
ing that it is a literal statement of
facts, while it is really a poem. As a
poem it groups together facts and
events in rapid succession, that were
actually far apart, and presents them
robed in the vivid coloring of exuber-
ant Imagination. To analyze a poem
by the matter of fact processes of
Science, is as absurd as it would be to
test the accuracy of the representa-
ton of a pIoughed field in an oil color
landscape, by the methods which
chemists use for a~scertaining the in
gradients of agricultural soils. This,
however, is the kind of treatment that
has been applied to the opening chap
ter OF Genesis by scientific adopts, and
the result is well known. A poet
says: 4" Tickle the earth with a hoe,
and it will laugh back with a harvest"
Here is an absolute truth beautifully
expressed, but question the statement
in a literal way, and it becomes non
sense. How could we tickle an acre
of ground, either with a hoe or a
feather? How could a field of clover
burst into a fit of laughter? Any
production that is rich with the hues
of poetical genius viii, in the same
way, lose its Iustre, like Cinderilla's
gorgeous array when midnight struck,
if handled by the chilly fingers of
matter of fact commonplace.
That the opening Of Genesis is po-
etc in its form, is proved by the Oc-
currence of words that are as exclu-
sively poetic as scott is, in English,
for a country residence, or cloud
capt tower" for a lofty ratification.
GaGthO-beast-for the prose CbGyah
is an instance. The structure of the
phrases is poetical, and there are in
stances of the oriental ornament of re-
curing sounds, as tObO0 and 6OhOo,
and other modes of purely poetical
p~hraseology. The nature of the struct-
ure Of the narrative can, however, be
understood with the nearest possible
approach to accuracy, by means of q
translation Of it, rendered as closely
as the English language will permit,
and this is what 1 have done below:
THE POEM OF THE SEVEN DAYS.
THE FIRST DAY.
In the beginning God created
The heavens and the earth.
tho earth was a desolation
a void;
Aud darkness was upon the face
OF the abyss.
the spirit of God was brooding
Upon the face Of the waters.
And God said:
Let there be light!
And there was light.
God saw the light
it was good.
And God divided between the light
the darkness.
God called to the light
DAY;
And to the darkness he called
NIGHr.
And it was evening,
And il was morning
One day.
THE SECOND DAY.
And God said:
Let there se a armament between tie
waters;
let il be a dividing
waters and waters.
And God made the armament.
he divided between the waters
Which were under the armament,
And the waters
Which were above the armament.
And it was so.
And God called to the armament
HEAVENS.
it was evening,
IL was morning
The second day.
THE THIRD DAY.
And God said:
the waters under the heavens
Be gathered together in one place;
And let the dry DANDY appear.
And it was so.
Aud he called to the dry dandE
EARTH;
And to the gathering Of the waters he
called
sEAs.
And God saw
That it was good.
And God said:
the earth bring forth tender grass:
seeding seed;
Fruit tree yielding fruit,
To its kind;
seed is in itself, upon the earth.
And it was SO.
And the earth brought forth tender grass;
seeding seed,
TO it's kind;
And tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in
itself,
To its kind.
And God saw
That it was good.
Alu IL was GNtuluEs I
And 1t was morning,
The third day.
THE FOURTH DAY.
And God said:
let there be lights in the armament
the heavens;
70 divide between the day
md the night.
md let them be for signs and for seasons,
md for days and for years.
md let them be tor lights in the frma-
ment
VI the heavens,
% light upon the earth.
And il was so.
md God made two great lights
The great light,
'or ruler Of the day;
And the small light,
or ruler of the night;
the stars.
md God set them in the armament
# the heavens;
o give light
the earth,
o rule In the day,
nd in the night;
to divide between the light
the darkness. ,
And God saw !
That it was good. !
nd it was evening,
nd il was morning D.,
The fourth day. !
h FIRTE DAT.
nd Sod said;