The mere matter of _time_ is in no way
the essential idea in the problem. The question of _how much time_ was
occupied in the work of Creation is of no importance, neither is the
question of _how long ago_ it took place. The one essential idea is that
the processes and methods of Creation are beyond us, for we have nothing
with which to measure it; Creation and the reign of "natural law" are
essentially incommensurable. The one thing that the doctrine of Creation
insists upon is that the origin of our world and of the things upon it
must have been brought about by some direct and unusual manifestation of
the power of the Being whom we call the Creator; and that since this
original Creation the things of nature have been perpetuated and
sustained by processes and methods which (though still essentially
inscrutable by us) we call the order of nature and the reign of natural
law.
But in view of the series of facts enumerated in the previous pages, the
doctrine of Creation is established by modern scientific discoveries
almost like the conclusion of a mathematical problem.
III
How are modern intelligent men and women to avoid any longer this
inevitable conclusion of a literal Creation as the method of origin for
our world and the things upon it?
The facts enumerated in the previous pages are not new; it is only the
present grouping and arrangement of them, and the conclusions drawn from
them, that are new.
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