The Story of Creation

Excerpt from The Story of Creation

I Have a story to tell. It is one that many persons have told before me; but that is no reason why I should not tell it again. Others have given it in their way, and I give it in mine. Theirs may, in most respects, be the better way; and yet I may say some things which they have omitted, or possibly gain the attention of some persons who would not listen to a more elaborate effort, or to one made with a greater show of learning. My treatise is a brief one, and offered with little pretense; and yet, I have seen the time myself when I would have been glad to find, anywhere, just such a simple and easily understood rendering of this great subject as will be found in these pages. It is not enough to write for scholars; the story of creation is beginning to interest a large class of plain, unlearned men.

I offer great latitude here to the speculations of modern science. This will not strike all my readers favorably; but time, I think, will justify the course I have taken. I have lived to see the nebular hypothesis propounded, disputed, and at last quite generally accepted. The development hypothesis seems passing the same ordeal. It has not yet, by any means, been established, - but it is every year gaining ground with scientific men; and the question is already upon us, whether, in case that hypothesis were established, we could maintain our faith in the Bible. Some scientific men say no; some zealously religious men say no. Others, equally wise and equally good, say yes: the Mosaic cosmogony and the development hypothesis may be so interpreted as to stand in perfect harmony. In this work I take my stand with the latter class, and make my appeal to all honest inquirers and earnest workers, whether in the field of biblical interpretation or in that of scientific research. Whether we read from the rock-record or from the inspired Word, the story of creation is essentially the same.

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