happily unknown
to his modern critics.

The second of the alternatives above referred to, the mythical
hypothesis, has been advanced and ably supported, especially on the
continent of Europe, and by such English writers as are disposed to
apply the methods of modern rationalistic criticism to the Bible. In
one of its least objectionable forms it is thus stated by Professor
Powell:

"The narrative, then, of six periods of creation, followed by a
seventh similar period of rest and blessing, was clearly designed by
adaptation to their conceptions to enforce upon the Israelites the
institution of the Sabbath; and in whatever way its details may be
interpreted, it can not be regarded as an _historical_ statement of
the _primeval_ institution of a Sabbath; a supposition which is indeed
on other grounds sufficiently improbable, though often adopted. * * *
If, then, we would avoid the alternative of being compelled to admit
what must amount to impugning the truth of those portions at least of
the Old Testament, we surely are bound to give fair consideration to
the only suggestion which can set us entirely free from all the
difficulties arising from the geological contradiction which does and
must exist against any conceivable interpretation which retains the
assertion of the historical character of the details of the narrative,
as referring to the distinct transactions of each of the seven
periods. * * * The one great fact couched in the general assertion
that all things were created by the sole power of one Supreme Being is
the whole of the representation to which an historical character can
be assigned. As to the particular form in which the descriptive
narrative is conveyed, we merely affirm that it can not be history--it
may be poetry."[14]

The general ground on which this view is entertained is the supposed
irreconcilable contradiction between the literal interpretation of the
Mosaic record and the facts of geology. The real amount of this
difficulty we are not, in the present stage of our inquiry, prepared
to estimate. We can, however, readily understand that the hypothesis
depends on the supposition that the narrative of creation is posterior
in date to the Mosaic ritual, and that this plain and circumstantial
series of statements is a fable designed to support the Sabbatical
institution, instead of the rite being, as represented in the Bible
itself, a commemoration of the previously recorded fact. This is,
fortuna