e beholds with the eye of the mind what is shut and hid from
the eye of his body." From these premises Dr. Kurtz goes on to argue
that the pre-Adamic history of the past being _theologically_ in the
same category as the yet undeveloped history of the future, that record
of its leading events which occurs in the Mosaic narrative is simply
_prophecy_ described backwards; and that, coming under the prophetic
law, it ought of consequence to be subjected to the prophetic rule of
exposition. There are some very ingenious reasonings employed in
fortifying this point; and, after quoting from Eichhorn a passage to the
effect that the opening chapter in Genesis is much rather a creative
picture than a creative history, and from Ammon to the effect that the
author of it evidently takes the position of a beholder of creation, the
learned German concludes his general statement by remarking, that the
scenes of the chapter are prophetic tableaux, each containing a leading
phase of the drama of creation. "Before the eye of the seer," he says,
"scene after scene is unfolded, until at length, in the seven of them,
the course of creation, in its main _momenta_, has been fully
represented." The revelation has every characteristic of prophecy by
vision,--prophecy by eye-witnessing; and may be perhaps best understood
by regarding it simply as an exhibition of the actual phenomena of
creation presented to the mental eye of the prophet under the ordinary
laws of perspective, and truthfully described by him in the simple
language of his time.

In our own country a similar view has been taken by the author of a
singularly ingenious little work which issued about two years ago from
the press of Mr. Constable of Edinburgh, "The Mosaic Record in Harmony
with Geology."[17] The writer, however, exhibits, in dealing with his
subject, the characteristic sobriety of the Anglo-Saxon mind; and while
the leading features of his theory agree essentially with those of the
Continental one, he does not press it so far. In canvassing the _form_
of the revelation made to Moses in the opening of Genesis, he discusses
the nature of the inspiration enjoyed by that great prophet; and thus
retranslates literally from the Hebrew the passage in which the Divine
Being is himself introduced as speaking direct on the point in the
controversy raised by Aaron and Miriam. "And He [the Lord] said, hear
now my words: If he [Moses] were _your_ prophet [subordinate, or at
least