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    eing , be rendered bleass , which w Wteniably its meaning in every other pfoee where it occurs , wMeh it does many hundred times in the Old Testament . Genesis iv . 15 , on which there is in the

    work referred to , a criticism j > f Dr . Lockier's , is well explained in the note m Mr . Wellbelovetf 3 Bible 5 it probably means , ** Jehovah worked & miraele before Cain , to assure him , that no one should kill him /* T . C H .

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    646 The Mte&iGak ACGouHiqfthe Creation vhidicnted , by Mr . Frend .

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    Sir , THE Mosaical account of the creation has been attacked for many ages on the pretext , that it is inconsistent with notions derived from sound

    philosophy . This charge has been lately revived in a discourse , delivered by Mr . Belsham at Warrington , which has been printed at the request of the congregation , who , from the powerful impression it made on their minds , are anxious that its influence may be more widely diffused . I am just as

    anxious to counteract this influence , for reasons which appear to me of very high importance , and I shall endeavour to place the subject before your readers in as dispassionate a manner as I can , that they ipay use their own understanding upon this very interesting portion of our sacred

    writings I shall first select those parts of Mr . Belsham ' s discourse , which contain his views of Moses , or whoever was the writer of the first chapter of Genesis . Of him it is said ia p . 6 , that he " manifestly errs in his

    philosophical theory ; " in p . 7 , the preacher declares his intention " to specify the mistakes into which he ( Moses , or the writer of Genesis , ch . L ) has been led by an erroneous philosophy /* In pa ^ e 16 it is said , "This curious narrative ( namely , the first chapter of

    Genesis ) expresses or implies certain moral truths of supreme and universal importance ; it also contains many great philosophical errors . " " Ia page 20 we read , €€ It is plain that this writer ' s system of philosophy is that which arises from the observations

    th& most obvious appearances 4 ? f the iH » iver $ e , and that he adapts his account of the creation to his owa philosophical speculations , which were probably those of the age in % which he

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    lived . It is evident * he& this writer believed , ttot \ igh % might esfc i ^ \^ abseuee of the sup . He regarded tfce firmament aa a aotid grab ,, whit& ten * , rated tire waters strove f rqapa % h $ w ^ tc ^ below . He conemvod the s « im and

    moon as mmps fixed w tfcg p oikj firm went . The stars h ( 3 regarded m ojwmental spangles in tbk firmament . " In page 26 we have this broad aaseiw tion made , ** It is apparent , 1 &at t ^ e narrative iu its plain and obvious sense cannot possibly be true , npr iqejeed in

    any sense whatever which the wpr < k will reasonably admit , because this writer ' s account of the creation ig $ - rectly and palpably inconsistent with what is now known and denaonstmte 4 to be the true theory pf the uuweirs ^ " In page 27 , " The efforts of learned men to reconcile the Mogaical

    cosmogony to philosophical truth have been preposterous in the extreme , aad have exposed revelation and its ^ dvocmtes to the scoffs of unbelievers . It would be far better to give up the point os untenable- The author , as we have seen , is right in his theology , but erroneous ia his philosophy /*

    Now , Sir , as I am not disposed to give up any part of the sacred writings on account of the scoffs of unbelievers , so will I not do it upon the confident , but to me erroneous , assertions of one who professes to believe in Christianity . So palpable a misrepresentation of the Mosaical account of the

    creation , could not have been expected from a person who is known to have made the Scriptures hia study 5 but there is evident proof in the extracts I have given , that the writer has not studied the first chapter of Geneeis in

    the original Hebrew . There is scarcely an assertion to which I can give my assent , except one , naively , " It is evident that this writer believed , that light might exist in the absence of the sun . "

    That light may exist in the absence of the sun will not be disputed , I think ? by any one who walks the streets Q * London , apd admires its effects ia the lamps , which , by the emission of ^»» produce so strong an illumination .

    Moses asserts , that Ijight wgs produced before the aw had the power of producing that effect whteh we qaUHteyli ^ h t . Now tim fl ^ &ertipn is ^ oitfiiM * - a ! ly called in question by pbilosopb e ^' * $ u > , forgetting the bienefits that tb ^ y

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1821, page 646, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2506/page/14/