t facts, had them
enwrapped in a tissue of unnecessary and false details. And therefore it
is, if I may so far anticipate my conclusion, that the narrative has no
direct concern with how, when, and where, the Creation slowly worked
itself out under the Divine guidance which is still elaborating the
great purpose of the "ages"; it confines our attention to what God, the
great Designer, did and said in heaven, as preliminary to all that was
to follow on earth. The former was not a proper subject for revelation,
because man would in time come to learn it by his studies on earth; but
the latter all ages could only learn--the first as well as the
latest--from a Divine Revelation.

Again, let me address a few words to those who are tempted, half
unconsciously perhaps, to think that any lengthy prelude and "elaborate"
explanation of Genesis must condemn the narrative _a priori_, or be
derogatory to the dignity of Revelation. Why the narrative should be
brief and concise I have just suggested. That it needs explanation of
_some_ sort is inevitable, because it _must_ be put into human language;
and directly such language is employed, we come upon such terms as "let
there be," "he created," and "days," which do not always call forth the
same ideas in all minds.

It will not have escaped the attention of any earnest student, that
Scripture has several different methods of describing things so as to
reveal them to men. This, a moment's reflection will enable us to
expect. However high and wonderful the things to be stated are, in order
to be brought within reach of human understanding _they must be
expressed in terms of human thought and experience_; and these are
imperfect and essentially inadequate. Hence it is, that many truths have
to be brought before us in special or peculiar ways.

How, for instance, are we told of the temptation and fall of man? How
are we to understand what was meant by the Tree of Life or the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil, or by the Serpent speaking and beguiling
Eve? We are at a great loss to give a precise explanation, though the
practical meaning is not difficult.

The facts may be none the less true, though from their transcendental
character it may have been necessary to put them down in mysterious,
possibly even in merely allegorical, language. Another instance of this
might be given in the account of Satan in the presence of the Lord as
described in the Book of Job, or of the lying Spirit