Surely it is the "_dignus vindice nodus_" in this
case. To tell us the earth's history within a brief space would be
impossible, and would have been for ages unintelligible if it could have
been told; to tell us of God's creation is possible--for it has been
done; and the record, unless misread, is intelligible for all time.
The narrative, if it is a revelation of Divine Creation in heaven, takes
up ground that none can trespass on. None can say "it is not so," unless
either he will show that the words will not bear the meaning, or that
the context and other Scripture contradict it.
[Footnote 1: "_In Thy book_ were all my members written, while _as yet
there were none_ of them" (Psa. cxxxix. 16).
"How did this all first come to be you?
_God thought about me_
and I grew."--_Macdonald_.]
So soon as the matter of earth and heaven (and all that is implied
therewith) originated "in the beginning," the narrative introduces to
our reverent contemplation the solemn conclave in heaven, when, in a
serial order and on separate days, God declared, for the guidance of the
ever potentially active forces, and for materials ever (as we know)
seeking combination and resolution,[1] the _form_ which the earth
surface is (it may be ever so gradually) to take and the _life-forms_
which are to be evolved.
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