The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1894-01-04


book Some of these are very clearly marked
in the book ITSELF as for instance: "The genera
tiohs of the heavens and the EARTH ct chap
2:4. .'1he book Of the generations of Adam, "
from chap. to chap. 6:S 1.-THE generations Of
Noah" giving the history of Noah's family till
his death. from go 10 end of O. One OF the first
marks of these documents to be noticed is the
exclusive use of Elohtm, God, in the first sec
tion, and the introduction OF Jehovah (the
Lord In the next section beginning with ga
RECENsIoNs We are to remember that
there was no printing in those ages, but that
each copy was made independently by hand
and in different centuries, SO that naturally
there would be remodeling of the language,
explanatory notes, and adaptations Of anciont
names to the times Of the people for whom the
copy was made. ,@'t -. y,
This explains not little Of those later forms
which lead some to give much later date than
formerly to the authorship of Genesis We must
remember also that we have but one Hebrew
manuscript of the Old Testament thousand
years old.
THE HISTORY OF CREATION.
The Two Accounts of Creation.-It
lies on the face of the narrative that
there are two creation stories divided
at the fourth verse of chapter2. Many
of the higher critics insist that these
are two accounts of the same events
and cover precisely the same
period. BY insisting on these things
they can find contradictions enough in
, the two accounts, just as builder by
insisting that certain stones must be-
long to certain. place where they do
! not fit can prove that they belong to
two different buildings. But the con-
tradictions are chiefly created by the
critics, and are not in the narrative.
For /. 1t is unnatural that a writer,
even though uninspired, who was able
to write or compile such book as
Genesis should contradict himself in
such an open and useless way. 2. On
the face of them the narratives are not
intended to be parallel accounts, but
the second one is an enlargement of a
portion of the first, just as very com
monty on our maps there is placed in
some corner map of a small portion
on an enlarged scale. The narrative
in the first chapter of Genesis refers
to the whole work of creation from
the beginning up to the introduction of
man, and is world wide in it's theater
of action. That in Genesis second re-
fers to special local group of animals
contemporary with man in a special To-
cality, that of Eden. 3. Science de-
clares that the second ac-
count is an accurate picture
of the region where man was in
troduced at the time of his appear
ance Thus, Sir j. W. Dawson, Il. r.
S., f. G.. s., says: We know that i'm
mediately before the appearance of
post-glacial man there had been a
great submergence of the land in the
northern hemisphere, and that this
was of sufficient duration to destroy
all vegetation, from the lower and
more northern parts of the continents.
From this submergence the land rose,
destitute of vegetation, and probably,
for time, involved in mists and fogs
belonging to the continued precipita-
tion of a pluvial period. This is the
condition of things referred to in Gen.
2:5, and which was destined to give
place to the new creation of Eden. 4.
The second account does not declare
that everything was created in GER
tain order. The statement in Gen. 2:
10 does not say that God made animals
after Adam, but states the fact that
God made the animals out of the
ground, as in 1:24, as preliminary to
their naming by Adam. They may
have come again into that region after
Adams creation, but, whencesoever
they came, they were created by God.
The Creator.-Two names or titles
are given to God in these chapters.
Elohim, the Almighty, the Omnipotent
| 1t is plural in form, but with rare ex-
| ception is used with singular verb
| when it refers to the true God, though
when used of false god the verb is in
the plural. The plural, Elohim, is
Q) the plural of majesty; (2) it ex-
presses the variety and fullness of the
Divine attributes; (S) it is possible that
>the plural noun with the singular verb
implies the unity and yet the trinity of
God, however little those who first
used the expression may have under
stood it.
Jehovah, translated Lord, and
printed in small capitals, denotes the
eternal, self-existent spiritual nature
of God, and the union of the two de-
clares that the>Lord of Israel was the
same as the Creator.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
The wonderful harmony of the early
record and the facts of science is ore
of the clearest proofs of revelation and
inspiration. No savage fancy, nc
dream of early men, could have invent
ed such record of the previous ages
1t must have been a revelation from
the Maker Himself.
We should study Gods works as well
as His Word, because each throws
light upon the other, and we will no'
truly understand either without the
help Of the other.
i We learn that there is personal
spiritual God, distinct from the mate
rial universe.