cry of early man for
the knowledge of his origin. There is no degradation here. Science is
no longer in doubt as to the origin of man within the evolutionary
process of the natural world, and it rightly rejects the first chapter
of Genesis as of value to modern research. But science should accept
it as a chapter in the history of anthropology, a chapter which has
only proved not to be true, because of the limited range of early man
in the facts about man, but a chapter, nevertheless, which has the
inherent value of a faithful record of man's search after truth. This
is a great position. This is the revelation which is made to us from
the first chapter of Genesis, and when the theologian is bold and able
enough to step outside the formularies of his ancient faith, and reach
the magnificent world of thought which lies in front of him by the
revelations of scientific discovery, he will consider the
anthropological interpretation of the Hebrew Bible as one of the
necessary elements of his equipment. There is on present lines a
whole world of thought between science and religion, although they
both have the same object. They both seek the great unknown. Science,
however, gives up all efforts in the past which have proved futile and
erroneous, cheerfully surrenders all errors of research and
interpretation, starts investigation afresh, begins new discoveries,
and rewrites the story they have to tell. Religion, on the other hand,
comes to a full stop when once she has made or accepted a discovery,
when once she has pronounced that the great unknown has become known
to her votaries and supporters. She is skilful to use the results of
science up to the point where they serve her purpose, and to use the
terms of science in order to build up her shattering position. But she
does not advance. She does not accept the first chapter of Genesis as
a wonderful revelation of the early stages of human investigation into
the realms of the unknown, but still keeps to her old formula of a
revelation of the deity as to the origin of man, and she does not see
that by this attitude she is lessening every day her capacity for
teaching truth.

I think the attitude of science to the Hebrew tradition is only a
little less unfortunate than that of religion. Professor Huxley
employed all the resources of his great knowledge to disprove the
scientific accuracy of the tradition, and when one rereads his
chapters on this subject[190] one wonders at the