less dogmatic assertion on the subject on the part of the clergy into whose hands it may fall and thus prevent them from giving unnecessary offence.[1] Kuenen says: "People have wearied themselves in vain in the effort to reconcile the story which opens the Bible, with what men of science tell us. All kinds of crooked ways to this end have been tried, and that not only in learned books and in dry technical treatises, but in popular works: such as Hugh Miller's "Testimony of the Rocks." The more talent this and other works display and the more charmingly they are written, the more must we lament that their authors have made all their powers subservient to the hopeless task of reconciling the account of the creation in the Bible first chapter of Genesis with the results of scientific study; for it is impossible to gain even the appearance of success without doing injustice both to the biblical narrative and to the scientific discoveries."
The mistake made by listening to these ill=advised writers who are forever "reconciling" the facts of Science with the accounts in the Bible, has its own fruits in the disorganized condition of most people's minds on this subject. In the nature of things, the account of Genesis could not be the true one, and if we cease to teach it as exact, but realize that it was originally intended to be so, we will be doing what we can to keep society peaceful and to ensure the healthy progress of both our religious and political institutions.
- ↑ Bible for Learners. Boston, Roberts Bros., page 47.
