The Bible is largely a medley of fables, mythologies, and legends. These legends contain a modicum of truth--how much cannot be determined. The reliable historian faithfully presents the facts contained in the materials at his command. These so-called sacred historians do not. With them history is secondary to theology and made subservient to it. Every event is represented as a special act of divine Providence and is tortured to uphold and serve their theological notions. Referring to the author or compiler of Judges, Dr. Oort says: "The writer has drawn most of his narratives from trustworthy sources.... Our gratitude to him would indeed be still greater than it is, if he had given us all that he found in his authorities unmixed and unaltered. But to an Israelite historian this seems to have been a simple impossibility" (Bible for Learners, Vol. I., p. 363). CHAPTER XXI. THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE. "There is a beautiful harmony between the principles of science and the teachings of the Bible."--Dr. Cheever. Bibliolaters, unacquainted with the principles of science, and scientists unacquainted with the teachings of the Bible, may accept this statement; those conversant with both cannot. In the Bible a thousand scientific errors may be found. The limits of this work preclude a presentation of them all. Enough will be given, however, to show that the teachings of the Bible conflict with the teachings of the ten principal sciences--Astronomy, Geology, Geography, Botany, Zoology, Ethnology, Physiology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics. Astronomy. "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light" (Gen. i, 3). "And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day" (5). "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also ... and the evening and the morning were the fourth day" (16, 19). The cause is supposed to precede the effect; but here the effect precedes the cause. Light and darkness, morning and evening, day and night exist before the sun. The Bible teaches us that the earth is older than the sun; science teaches us that the sun is older than the earth. In the creation of the universe God devoted five-sixths of his time to the creation of this little world of ours, while but a fragment of the remaining time was needed to create the countless worlds that exist outside of our solar system. Five brief words, "He made the stars also," record the history of their creation. According to the Bible, the oldest star is less than six thousand years old. What says the scientist? "I have observed stars, of which the light, it can be proved, must take two millions of years to reach this earth."--Sir William Herschel. "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon."