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CHRIST CHURCH, LONDON.
OUTLINE of the BOOK of GENESIS
BEGINNINGS AND PROGRESS.
I. The Beginnings.—l-111.
1. Creation. I.
2. The Sabbath. 11:1-3.
3. Law and Order. 11:4-17.
4. The Family. 11:18-25.
5. Temptation. 111:1-5.
6. Sin. 111:6-7.
7. Judgment. 111:8-14.
8. Salvation. 111:15.
9. Chastisement. 111:16-24.
11. The Progress.—lV-L. J
1. The Family. IV:l-2.
2. Sin and Salvation. IV:3-15.
3. The Race. IV:16-26; V.
4. Sin and Judgment. VI-VIII.
5. The new Order —Noah to Abraham. IX-XI.
6. The new nation —Abraham to Joseph.
XII-L.
111. The Creation.—Gen. 1:1-27.
A. The Time. V. 1.
B. The creator. V. 1.
C. The. creation. Vs. 1-27.
1. The heavens and earth. V. 1.
2. Light. V. 3.
3. Day and night. V. 5.
4. Evening and Morning. V. 5.
5. The Firmament. V. 7.
6. Earth and Seas. Vs. 9-10.
7. Grass, herbs and trese. V. 12.
8. Sun, Moon and Stars. V. 16.
9. Sea Creatures, winged kind. V. 21.
10. and creeping things. V. 25.
11. Man. V. 27.
ii
The Lecture.
E begin now in the Book of Genesis
and we will remain there until the
first of May, and I am exceedingly
happy that we have the privilege
of spending so long a time in it,
because in many respects it is the
most fascinating book in the Old
Testament, and one of the most
stimulating fiom the standpoint of
W
study, in the Bible.
The special subject for tonight is 1 ‘The Cre
ation;” in Chapter I. 1:27. And I want that
we shall first have a glance at the time of the
creation. You will observe that the Bible does
not fix any date for the creation of the world.
And when you think for a moment you will
see how wise the Holy Spirit was in not fixing
any definite date. There evidently was a time
when the world was made, but the Holy Spirit
does not tell us the date, and hence we find
the scientists greatly at war with each other
as to the time when the earth was made, and
when all things on the earth were made. And
it is interesting to note how they differ greatly
among themselves with reference to this mat
ter. I have tabulated a list here that I want to
give you which is to me exceedingly interest
ing. I have here the names of some of the
greatest scientists in all the world, and I shall
give you some of their conclusions that they
have put up with reference to the time of the
creation of the world. Prof. Ramsay made it
The Golden Age for January 30, 1913.
THE CRE ATION
Wednesday Night Bible Lecture by Rev, Len G, Broughton, D,D,, of Christ Church, London
Reported for The Golden Age by M. I. H.—Copyright Applied for.
fully ten thousand million years. That is a
pretty good time for a fellow to figure on for a
certainty, but that is his conclusion. Eugene
Du Bois made it about one thousand million
years, so he and Prof. Ramsay are at war with
each other concerning it. Prof. Goodchild, an
other great scientist, says that the world has
only been in existence about seven hundred mil
lion years; Sir Chas. Lyell says four hundred
million years. Darwin (the late) says about
three hundred million years. Sir Oliver Lodge,
a great scientific authority banks his reputa
tion on its being in existence only about one
hundred million years. Sir George H. Darwin,
son of the late Mr. Darwin, says that'it has
been in existence about sixty hundred million
years. Prof. Sollas, about fifty-five million
years; Lord Kelvin, another great modern
scientist, says that at most, the world has been
in existence not over twenty-four million years;
Dr. Croll says about twenty million years; Prof.
Tait says at most, not over ten million years.
Do you see here that we have a discrepancy
between these men of nine thousand million
years as the time set for the creation of the
world? And yet, these men look askance at
us, and rather make sport of us, because we
do not throw down all our theories and views
of inspiration and of truth, and accept their
dogmatic statements. They deny being dog
matists, and laugh at us for daring to dogma
tize about things, and yet they come in as dog
matic a manner as any man ever did, and ask
us to accept their statements, when they are
apart themselves just nine thousand million
years.
Now, you can see the wisdom of the Spirit in
not fixing a time, a definite date for the crea
tion of the world. Here is what the Spirit
records for us: “In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the reath.” Suppose Prof.
Ramsay is right, and the world has been in
existence for ten thousand million years? There
is nothing in the Bible that will help us to say
he is not right. On the other hand, I don’t
know that he is. But, suppose he is, and the
world has been in existence for ten thousand
million years, that don’t interfere with the
statements in Genesis. Not at all! Genesis
goes back and takes a position with Prof. Ram
say, and says, “All right* Let it be ten thou
sand million years— ln the beginning—when
ever it was —God created the heavens and the
earth!”
On the other hand, suppose Prof. Tait is
right, who says it has been in existence only ten
million years. Well. All right! If Prof.
Tait is right, then Genesis is also right, for “In
the beginning’’ —whenever it was —God created
it.
Now, let us see for a moment the Creator, in
this same verse, “In the beginning God creat
ed the heavens and the earth.” I was reading
only today a statement by Herbert Spencer,
which will be interesting in this connection
with us. Herbert Spencer was one of the
greatest scientists the world ever produced,
though he was an agnostic and one of the most
pronounced that the world has ever seen, and
we have to take what he says in matters of
faith and religion with considerable salt. Here
is his statement. Writing of what he called
“the manifestations of the unknowable,” by
which he evidently meant the manifestations
of God’s power working in and through crea
tion, he says “That such manifestation must,
on scientific grounds take five distinct forms,
which he specifies thus: SPACE, TIME,
MATTER, MOTION, FORCE.
Now, turn with me to the first and second
verses of Genesis, and see the light, as it bears
down upon the deductions of those scientists.
And, mark you, Herbert Spencer doubtless had
never given any thought to these verses. Is
there any correspondence here between the de-
ductions of these verses and the deductions of
Herbert Spencer:
!“In the beginning TIME
God created the
heavens SPACE
and the earth MATTER
and the Spirit of
God FORCE
moved upon the _
face of the waters.” MOTION.
There are Spencer’s deductions.
Here is God’s word. I submit that that is
very striking.
Now, I want us to look for a little while
at the things created, or the creation itself.
(See analysis of Chapter I.)
But it is with reference to Man that I want
to speak. Here again it does not make any
difference at all to us as to when and how man
was created, so far as the teaching of the Word
of God is concerned. The one thing we in
sist upon is that “In the beginning, God creat
ed.” In the first place He created the earth;
then all things needed for the earth all the
forces and law that governs and controls it.
Then He created every form of life, animal and
vegetable. And by that we do not mean that
God made all these things at the time when He
created the earth, for He did not. Ido not - 4
have any idea that He did. But “in the be
ginning” of these things. “God created them.”
That is the point!
So far as I am concerned personally, if God
chose to bring man, for example, through a
tadpole and ape period of existence to his pres
ent state of physical perfection and beauty,
it is all right for me! lam not going to dis
cuss that thing one single moment with any
man, because it is not worth it. The thing that
I do insist upon is that God created man, and
if God saw fit to bring him through these evo
lutionary processes, all right. I have no ob
jection whatever. If God saw fit to take up
a bit of mud in His hand and squeeze it, and
knead it and blow on it and turn it out a man,
all right! I have no objection; his existence
is due to the creation proceeding under God.
If you ask me my mind about it, I think there
is nothing on the face of the earth as silly,
and senseless, as the way scientists account for
the origin of species.
Now, what are the deductions of the scien
tists with respect to the creation of man? I
will give it you in a word: “There has been
no fall of man; there has been a rise.” There
fore, if man ever fell at all he fell up, instead
of down. But, they say, “there has been no
fall but a rise from an ape-like ancestry, back
through a tapole and fish ancestry way to the
early beginnings of life, the origin of man is
being traced. That to me is the most un
thinkable nonsense that I have ever tried to get
into my head I will give you some of the
deductions of other scientists. First, take
Lord Kelvin. “Was there anything so absurd
as to Ihlieve that a number of atoms, by falling
together of their own accord, could make a
sprig of moss, a microbe, a living animal ?
It is utterly absurd, in respect to the coming
into existence or the growth, or the continua
tion of the molecular combinations presented
in the bodies of living things. Here, scientific
thought is compelled to accept the idea of crea
tive power. Forty years ago, I asked Liebig,
walking somewhere in the country, if he be
lieved that the grass and flowers which we saw
around us, grew by mere mechanical force. He
answered, “No, no more than I could believe
that a book of botany, describing them, could
grow by mere mechanical forces ”
Then, again Lord Kelvin, in an address to
the medical students of St. George’s Hospital,
(Continued on Page 14.)