BookRix

If any one is in search of accurate information regarding the age of
this earth, or its relation to the sun, moon, and stars, or regarding
the order in which plants and animals have appeared upon it, he is
referred to recent text-books in astronomy, geology, and palæontology.
No one for a moment dreams of referring a serious student of these
subjects to the Bible as a source of information. It is not the object
of the writers of Scripture to impart physical instruction or to enlarge
the bounds of scientific knowledge. But if any one wishes to know what
connection the world has with God, if he seeks to trace back all that
now is to the very fountain-head of life, if he desires to discover some
unifying principle, some illuminating purpose in the history of this
earth, then we confidently refer him to these and the subsequent
chapters of Scripture as his safest, and indeed his only, guide to the
information he seeks. Every writing must be judged by the object the
writer has in view. If the object of the writer of these chapters was to
convey physical information, then certainly it is imperfectly fulfilled.
But if his object was to give an intelligible account of God's relation
to the world and to man, then it must be owned that he has been
successful in the highest degree.