the past nor to bear witness to some philosophical theory which the writer desires to maintain; they are written by one interested in life and for the purpose of conveying to others the interest which he himself possesses.

Thus the literary or scientific student of the Bible finds in the Book of Genesis a clear illustration and a cogent confirmation of the principles which I have stated in the preceding chapter. He finds this book composed of narratives which are epic or dramatic in their character, and it is quite clear that these narratives existed in some form long prior to the earliest date at which the Book of Genesis could have been composed or compiled.

But, further than this, his analysis makes clear to him the constituent elements of which the book is compiled. It shows him unmistakably in many instances that the narrative which he reads in the book is composed of two or more narratives, which previously existed, and which have been harmonized and woven together in one narrative by the editor or author of Genesis. That there are two such accounts of the creation will appear evident to most readers of the English Bible. The first account, contained in the first chapter and the first three verses of the second chapter, lays stress on the creation of the physical globe, represents God as creating man, male and female, in one act of creation, as making subject to them the powers of nature and the various animal races, and as consecrating the seventh or Sabbath day at the close of

the whole creative period. The second account, beginning with the fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis, passes by the creation of the heavens and the earth with a mere allusion, gives in detail the creation of man, represents the creation of woman as a companion for man as a subsequent event, if not an afterthought, and makes this whole story introductory to the drama of a first sin and the consequent expulsion from the garden.

It is not equally apparent to the casual student that there are two accounts of the deluge, because those two accounts have been by the editor woven into one; but modern scholars have shown that it is possible to separate this narrative into its constituent parts. If they have not proved that the narrative is composed of two preëxisting narratives, they have at least demonstrated that it may have been so composed. I can best exhibit this demonstration by repeating here the two stories of the deluge, as the modern scholar discovers them in the one story which we now possess:

ELOHIST NARRATIVE OF THE DELUGE

These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, (and) perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God

1 These two accounts are taken from the Analysis of Genesis in Genesis of Genesis, Professor B. W. Bacon, p. 109.

saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood: rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is how thou shalt make it: The length of the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under the heaven; everything that is in the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of the fowl after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second

month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

In the self-same day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind, and every fowl after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him : And the flood was forty days upon the earth. And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the water prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both fowl, and cattle, and beast, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

JAHVIST NARRATIVE OF THE DELUGE

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose. And Jahweh said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be an hundred and twenty years. The

Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men which were of old, the men of renown. And Jahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jahweh that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And Jahweh said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of

Jahweh.

And Jahweh said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and seven, the male and his female; and of the beasts that are not clean two, the male and his female; of the fowl also of the air, seven and seven, male and female: to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the ground. And Noah did according unto all that Jahweh commanded him.

And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creepeth upon the ground, there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah. And Jahweh shut him in. And it came